Thanksgiving with good friends........and MORE work!

Again this year, we made plans to share Thanksgiving Dinner with our friends the Showalters and the Douglas'.  At our October dinner in Sebring, we started making plans, but were not quite sure what day we would celebrate!  Family always comes first .....but this year Buddy and Diane were doing Thanksgiving on Wednesday in Orlando, and Nathan and Krystal were doing their family get together on Sunday......so this year we would do Thanksgiving Day.  Once again we opted to do it at our place.

Everyone arrived around 3:00, and dinner was ready just before 5:00.  Buddy brought a homemade coconut cream pie, and Nathan and Krystal brought some mixed veggies for the meal, and two bottles of wine.  But Krystal decided to have a small glass of Rum Chada........and a second one with a shot of Cinnamon Whiskey!  For the rest of us it was beer or wine or water!!!

Dinner was perfect!  Turkey, Ham, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, mixed veggies, bread and rolls, and cranberry sauce, with Buddy coconut and Rich's pumpkin pies for dessert. Before leaving, we made our plans to get together in December and January.  Nathan and Krystal are doing a cruise in December -so we'll be watching Miss Ava........and Buddy and Diane want to come to Golden Corral.   January is at Nathan and Krystal's for Pizza on the Grill and target practise. 

Since Thursday it's been work, work, work!!!   I'm not sure which one of us moans the loudest!  The back and leg muscles are in panic mode!  (Although, Rich is considering a chiropractor)  A few days ago, while Rich was cutting lumber in the garage, he had a little visitor.  This turtle had made his way up the driveway, and was ready to enter the garage!

On  Sunday, Rich took a break from working on the dock, to help me plant the nine new azalea bushes, re stack the border stone and pour the lava rock.  Real pleased with how it turned out!   Rich has made a lot of progress on the dock/boathouse, but when taking out the board on the "land side" of the dock, he found the support boards attached to the seawall were all rotted.  He could literally pull them off the wall by hand.  Amazing that it had not given way a long time ago.  So that is on temporary hold until we make another trip to Home Depot.  In the meanwhile, we had a little sinkhole next to the dock, where the sprinkler had previously broken - so he dug that up and filled it with two bags of top soil to level it out.   And today I started the painting of the back deck.  That's a lot of fun trying to paint the front side through the trees!!!

Tomorrow is grocery shopping.........and I'm way behind on Xmas shopping, and have not even started any Xmas decorating!  Time flies when you're having fun?

Memory Lapse - or getting OLD? Cooking, Baking and Lots of Yard Work

 Funny story........ 😟  Looked at my blog this morning, and thought that Google had made some kind of changes that had erased everything that I had posted since the beginning of November!  Could not understand, tried to do some research to see if I missed some kind of upgrade or something.........then I got a call from my friend Tonyia today...........and she assured me that there was no problem with Google.......... and as much as I begged to differ......I had not posted one thing since the beginning of the month!  So.......am I really losing my memory, getting too old?  Has it been three weeks, and I have had nothing remotely interesting to share?

Well, actually.............there has not been a whole lot to share.

Have done a little baking and trying out some new recipes that I've found either on face book or on the Internet.    Made a really good ham and potato bake, some awesome Blackened Shrimp Pasta, which I failed to get a picture of, but here's the Boston Cream Poke Cake, and the Baked Ziti with Sausage that was one of our favorites.   Delicious - but way too much for the two of us - so I fixed a big plate and took it next door for John and Diane.

Rich and I have been doing a lot of yard work, (actually Rich a whole lot more than me!) 😅   Travelled into Sebring a week ago, dinner at Hibachi, and then a stop at Home Depot, where Rich managed to get ELEVEN 2X8X8ft treated boards into our Toyota Camry!  And I had to squeeze in the back seat for the ride home!  

So he is on his way to replacing most all the boards down on the boathouse.  And I've been cleaning up the mess in the garage where he's been doing all the sawing!  Looking so much better already - but then it will need painting!

Tomorrow we will head back to Sebring to pick up nine 2x8x8ft, and two 2x8x10ft pieces of lumber - and once again, I'll enjoy the ride home in the back seat!

Both of us have, for the last couple of weeks been trying to get the yard cleaned up.  Rich has done 99.9% of the power washing, completing the driveway, and concrete pad in the back yard, as well as the back deck, which is now reading for painting.  I've spent a lot of time pulling weeks, and cleaning up the flower beds around the house.  We've got the old wood from the dock ready to go out front for the garbage pick up Friday, and on Monday this week we had 9 new azalea plants delivered, which need to be planted!

Back in October - at our monthly get together with friends the Showalters, and the Douglas's.....we made plans to get together again this year for Thanksgiving.  Originally it was planned for Friday or Saturday, assuming family get togethers on Thursday...........but last weekend we realized none of us had plans for Thanksgiving Day.............so we're doing a late afternoon dinner here at our place.  Everyone sharing in the food preparation.   And - we're hoping that Nate and Krystal bring Miss Ava - so we can get our "dog fix"!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Last Day in Cocoa Beach

Hard to believe that the week is just about over.  Really just kind of lazy today.... Rich was busy on the market.  But the weather again today was beautiful, and lots of activity on the beach.  Great people watching and bird watching today.

Once again the morning started with a beautiful sunrise....best of the week.

Got most everything pack away, so we can head out without a lot of last minute packing in the morning.  Refrigerator empty with t exception of some wine, Rum Chata, and 1/2 an onion, peanut butter and jelly..........but no bread.  So we drank our coffee, Rich finished his donuts and what was left of his chocolate bar, and I nibbled on a couple of week old chocolate chip cookies!!!  Just went across the street to McDonald for dinner and then a nice walk on the beach.

Beautiful night.......great waves......

Lots of activity on the beach.....

Sitting on the balcony and looking across the beach and ocean is awesome.  I could take living here with this view every single day.

Back home tomorrow.........and have to admit, I'm looking forward to that as well.  Ready to plan for Thanksgiving, Christmas and spending time with family and friends.

Sunrise, Cocoa Pier, Anacapri...........and more.

So like every other morning, we begin with a beautiful sunrise.........and today was a beautiful one..........

Later in the afternoon, we decided to wander on over to Cocoa Beach Pier.  We have not been there in several years.  Actually the last time was probably 2011 or 2012, when our friends Nathan and Krystal came and stayed with us a couple of days.     On the way there Trump Supporters were out and about cheering.  Drivers were honking horns , yelling Go Trump, and giving the Thumbs UP!!  

Pier has really changed so much, and the Rikki Tikki Hut at the end of the pier obviously was damaged in the Hurricane, so we could not walk all the way out.   Parking is $10 (what a rip off).......but as we were getting ready to pay, people in a car that was leaving told us to wait and use their spot it still had several hours left....THEN another couple stopped us, and gave us a pass to walk out on the pier and not have to pay $2 per person.  Really are some considerate people out there.........

Here are some pictures from the day. 

Trump Supporters

Arriving at Cocoa Beach Pier

Tons of places to sit along the pier, both on the peir and under cover ......

Lots of people outside on the pier enjoying a drink......lots of people fishing off the dock.  Can rent poles for fishing.......and the keep track of the fish caught each day.  This picture show the roof of the bar at the end of the dock - serious damage!!!  Unfortunately we could no walk to the end..........

There are some great views from the pier.  If you look off to the south there was a really nice beach - and lots of people were out enjoying the waves......

As we looked north from the pier we saw two cruise ships that were pulling out from Port Canavaral;  Regents Cruise Lines ( which I've not hear of before) and Carnival Cruise.

From there we headed out for dinner and decided to go to one of our favorite restaurants here in Cocoa Beach.  Anacapri.   Rich ordered Linguine and meatballs, and I ordered the Shrimp Scampi.  We have eaten here every time we come to the beach and everything has been delicious.  But my Shrimp Scampi was terrible......linguine tastted like it had just been pulled from a pot of warm water, and butter or oil was poured over it.  Even the shrimp was tough.   Rich's meal was very good, but mine was very disappointing.

Went back to the room................and a couple of hours later decided to walk across the street to Denny's for dessert!   WOW!  Rich opted for the Banana Split and I ordered the apple carmel crunch with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  As you can see they were HUGE!!  OMG.............I'll never get to sleep tonight after all this!

Anyway - Fun day.  One more day left before we head for home on Saturday.    Really enjoying this ocean front unit.

Tuesday and Wednesday - Chillin......and enjoying the weather

Been up every morning in time to catch the sunrise.  Amazing how each day is so different.  Sunrise, perfect weather, people watching............and just chillin'

Tuesday morning sunrise.......Lot's of people taking pictures.

 Tuesday evening we headed over to Merritt Island for Chinese Buffet.  Nothing as good as Hibachi at home..........but it was good, and we left very very full. 

Wednesday morning sunrise was probably my favorite so far........even managed to capture some of the birds flying across the sun.......

Lot's of fishing boats out in the morning - but a little too far away to get a good picture........and this guy spent quite a while along the shore in front of us.  Looks like he's trying to catch himself some bait. 

Wednesday night Rich cooked cheeseburgers  down in the picnic pavilion.....while I fried some taters, and warmed up some beans.   Mmmmm.  good!

Rich headed to bed normal time.........I stayed up and watched game 7 of the World Series.  Great Game #7........and Chicago Cubs was the series winner!  Great game - 10 innings, neck and neck, nail biting good, but was after 1:00 am when I finally went to bed!