Monday Morning

Well it was another cold day here in usually warm sunny Florida. The sun did shine but it was in the high 30's to start the day and never got out of the high 40's or low 50's with the wind blowing a steady breeze. I noticed some of the veggie had some color change from the wind and cold but there was no frost.

We slept great within the flannel sheets and it was hard to roll out to get ready for church; but we managed. We did our morning routines then got ready to meet up with Dan and Carol as we rode together to Bridge Point Church in St. Petersburg. We really like this pastor much more so than any we have visited except for the pastor in Riverview, but that venue is just too far away to become involved with on a weekly basis. I think we will try Bridge Point a couple more times before deciding to call it our home church while in Florida. They have 4 services a day on Sunday and the 10 AM was packed that we attended. We understand they are planning to start another campus downtown St.Pete and possibly one in the Seminole area as well. It would be exciting to be in on the ground floor of such a mission and church plant as we were with Element Church in Tampa.

Well after the service we were home before noon which helps our decision as well on spending so much time traveling to worship on Sunday's. With Element it was an hour or more especially when coming back through Tampa which was usually a slow down along I-4 and all the construction. I headed out to hand water the gardens as the wind had dried the ground out the past day or so despite the heavy rains. Everything looked as if it will survive and I did notice the tomato and bean plants had a little wind and chill burn to the outer leaves. The extreme wind also blew over some of the plants and only one leafed out bean plant was broken off.

We finished up some leftovers and then Nancy started on her sauce for a spaghetti dinner with our small group that was coming around 4:30. Kathryn made bruschetta with the chopped tomato's, herbs, mozzarella cheese and stuffed jalapeños and we had a glass of vino while watching the Broncos beat the Patriots in a very close game. We were thrilled with the final score. The second game had us at times rooting for the underdogs as we wanted Peyton Manning to go out with a big win because he had a chance against the Cardinals; but not the Panthers. The Panthers destroyed the Cards and we must confess they will be a power house for some time to come. We will play them twice a season as they are in our division(Bucs), oh well if Cam wasn't such a show off I could root for him but I know all of my mountain buddies root for their home team as do we. I was impressed with the team members giving out balls to the young kids in the stands on their touchdowns. That is a great gesture and helps with me disliking him less.

Nancy had a huge pot of spaghetti and sauce and Carol brought a huge salad as well. I decided after consuming a half dozen or so jalapeños poppers and the bruschetta to forego any spaghetti and just eat salad. I was very comfortable with that arrangement and not overly stuffed as we didn't eat until the small intermission between the games. Well they all left somewhere after the score was out of hand with the Panthers beating the Cardinals with an ugly stick. It was that lopsided from the get go. Oh well I feel the Card's need to get a Tim Tebow at QB to give them some youth in that position and a chance to be competitive next year. I do like their coach Bruce Ahrens as he is a players coach but is lacking a few key position players.

It wasn't long after the game I tuned into the final episode of the Alaskan show for this season and saw where one of the key pioneers re-injuried an existing hernia and the doctor told him it was severe. Those folks who live there year round have a tough life in the 6-8 months of cold weather but very exciting and the scenery is superb. I would love to experience that life in those 4 months of the growing season and all of the various jobs they do to make life easier during the long cold winters.

Well it was a great day of worship, fellowship with great friends and very tasty food and football. I'm sorry to say the football season is nearly over with just the big game in two weeks and then no more until next August when the pre-season starts. We(Bucs) have a new coach so maybe we will see some improvement for the home town team but I feel sure we will have to contend with the Panthers and Cam as they seem to have all the positions covered with good players. I would like to see Peyton go out with the big ring as he has been a testament to the good guys in the sport as well as has set some records with his play, Oh Well, LATER