Sicksgiving

Thanksgiving is approaching and so me and Brian are enjoying what seems to have become a little tradition for us at this time of year....  We're sick!  Again!

I don't know if somewhere along the line we were cruel to a turkey or whatever Holiday god controls this stuff, but once again, we are sick.  I started it off (thanks Candy!) 12 days ago and this weekend Brian started to show symptoms.  I think it's some new half-breed germ or bug that lets you enjoy a combination head and chest cold.  Sore throat leads to a cranium splitting headache which then transforms into head and chest congestion.  Fun, Fun.  

Takes a lot of the fun out of looking forward to the long weekend and then we have to decide between seeing family on the holiday and possibly spreading this thing, or staying home alone.  I hope we are better before Christmas and I have already gotten the rope and bubble wrap to lock Brian down with so he doesn't hurt himself again this year!  :-)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Bad Blogger! Bad Blogger Man!

I have been repeatedly chastised for not keeping up with this little old blog.  Not unfairly I have to admit.  I had a feeling that when I started this, that this might be a problem.  I should probably turn the reins over to Brian who is much better at managing his time!

So.....  it's catch up time!

We are back from Florida and things have been busy since then.  But before we left the land of sunshine and strong drinks, we did get a very good start on fixing up the guest room in the house.  Back to being a bad blogger, I did not get enough pictures taken of the room before we left so I will instead give you a teaser shot and then post an update with some better pictures next time we head back down there.

Once we were back in Wisconsin we had a lot to do.  Along with catching up at work, the CPA (Council For The Performing Arts) presentation of AMY GRANT was just around the corner.  I am not sure if everyone knows that Brian and I are on the board of directors for the CPA but we, along with all the other members of the board and our director Sandy were all looking forward to the concert.  We had worked long and hard getting it put together and I think it is safe to say that it went over better than any of us thought it would.  

Brian and I also hosted a little "meet and greet" party at our house before the concert.  Along with family and friends and those generous sponsors who helped us make the concert possible, we all enjoyed meeting Miss Grant prior to her very enjoyable concert.

I have not met very many "famous" people (okay, she was the first!) and really didn't know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised to find her a truly nice and gracious person.  She immediately put everyone at ease and mingled with our little group, shaking hands, posing for pictures, sharing stories.  I think everyone there wished we would have had more time to visit with her because she was such a likable person.  No stuffy, pretentious celebrity shenanigans at all.

The concert was great too.  I had expected to enjoy it, but did not expect to enjoy it as much as I did.  My impression of her was more....  formal I guess, but she has a bit of the red-neck rocker girl in her!  She sang all of her hits plus a couple of new ones and brought the crowd to it's feet before the evening was over.

Steve, Amy & Brian

Sandy, Amy and a Guest I should know the name of....  sorry!

Still mixing and mingling....

All in all, a very enjoyable and successful
evening for the CPA!

* Special Thank You to our niece, Jodi Guttman, for being our wine hostess and for jumping in

at the last moment and being our photographer for the evening!  You rock Jodi!

The Villages Car Show

We had a fun day today.  We went up to Spanish Village for our first visit to The Villages monthly Classic Car Show.  There were over 200 vintage cars on display around the town square, along with food vendors and live music.  It was a beautiful day and I really enjoyed myself.  I say "I" because this was one of those times that Brian was a good sport since "old cars" as he calls them, really don't interest him like they do me!

I took way too many pictures to post here but I will share a few of the cars I liked best at the show.  The first one to really catch my eye was this 1958 Chevy Bel Aire Convertible.  According to the small sign by the front tire, it was found in a junk yard, the body was removed from the frame and then both were completely restored along with the engine. A beautiful car no doubt.  I am not up on all the terms for "Classic Cars" but I divide them up in three groups; Classic - meaning as close to original as possible, Street Rods - customized for the track with much less emphasis on historical accuracy, and The Weird - customized to an almost cartoonish degree.  I much prefer the Classic category.

So, the car I liked best at the show?  A 1965 Ford Thunderbird Retractable Convertible.  Absolutely beautiful car in near mint condition.  You can tell that whoever owns (or owned it) took great care in either keeping it in, or restoring it to, near factory original condition.  I am no expert but it did not look like it had any major body work or repainting done, but I do think that the interior had been re-upholstered.  It was definitely my favorite car shown.

Almost all the cars were fun to look at and I'm sure this one wouldn't be everyone's favorite but I have always liked the Thunderbirds from the 60's - that whole "Rat Pack" vibe I guess.  Along with this T-Bird there were a lot of others that I would love to have in my garage; several 64 - 67 Mustangs, 62 - 68 Corvettes, a 63 Buick Electra Convertible, two gorgeous 48 Lincoln Continentals (would have loved to have seen a few Continentals from the 60's) and one other that made me feel old.....

This is a 1977 Pontiac Gran Prix.  According to the documentation, it was purchased by a couple who "never let it see inclement weather" and is claimed to be completely original (except for tires) with no restoration work and 26,000 miles on the odometer.  

So what is so special about this car?  In 1977 when this car was new, I was a senior in High School!  It is now considered a "classic" so I guess I am too!  Oh how I lusted after this car.  At the time, Pontiac was on a roll and the Gran Prix was a hot seller all through out the 70's.  It's large and in charge and I still like it even after all these years.

All in all an enjoyable day.  That is The Villages... always something to do!

The Friendly Skies.....

I was leaving on a jet plane, and now I'm back again!  After a 5 day stay in Wisconsin I am back in Florida with Brian and Max.  It was a bit of a strange trip.  As everyone knows, Trina is in the hospital to have a large kidney stone removed from her left kidney.  Among the reasons I flew back, one was to host the Blackman's at our place before Trina's surgery and also to visit Trina in the hospital.  Unfortunately, things did not go completely as planned but we all hope Trina will be back on her feet soon.  Good luck Trina!

Of course while I was in Wisconsin I caught up on the goings on at Jefferson Bus and did the mid-month payroll.  Then it was off to Monday Night Bingo before heading back over to the hospital in Madison to keep Shelba company while we wait for Trina to heal.

All in all, it was sort of a an odd trip.  There seemed to be so much going on and a hectic schedule to keep that in certain ways, it didn't feel like a trip "home".  This was also a bit of a test for Brian.  Even after all the time we have spent in Florida, this trip was the first time that Brian was left on his own in Florida and I'm glad to report that he did fine.  At least that is what he told me!  But I like to think that he missed me!  :-)

Droid!

Seems odd, but our email troubles at work got us new cell phones.  So we are now part of the "Droid" collective.  Sounds like something out of Star Trek, doesn't it?  We got the new phones on Friday and are still in learning mode with them, but I think after an adjustment period, we will like them.

It's a sad story that no one is probably interested in....  we had Blackberry phones and everything was working fine.  Then our server at work took a crap and the new one had a new version of Microsoft Exchange (email software).  This messed up the Blackberrys.  Then the email.  Then we needed more memory.....   To get the Blackberrys to work was going to cost a bunch, new phones seemed easier.....

Anyway......  DROID!

Manners

Tonight after we got home from work, Brian had the Golden Girls on the TV and I overheard Blanche telling a story about one of her many "first" dates being on the way home from the Annual Fine Manners Ball......

Doesn't that have a nice ring to it?  Fine Manners Ball.  I wish we still lived in a time when such a thing actually existed, rather than just being a punch line in a sitcom.  No one pays much attention to manners anymore.  We are all too wrapped up in our own little traumas to pay much attention to others or to take the time to treat each other well.  Or to care about things like what is appropriate attire or which fork to use, or even how to speak politely and respectfully to each other.  I'm not saying we need to go back to Victorian ideals, but we are loosing more and more of our civility every day.  It is becoming a very selfish society.

And I know.....  some other cranky old man probably said very similar things about me and my generation thirty years ago.  The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Surf's Up?!

Has been a while since I updated the old blog.....  but then, aside from work, not much has been going on around here since we got back from Florida.  School has started.  It's always a bit hectic, but also as always, it settles back down again pretty quickly.

Did catch an interesting picture on the way home from dinner tonight (yeah, the Pinecone).  It was really windy today.  I mean really windy!  Especially up on the hill where our house sits.  Blew the cover off the grill and tossed the trash cans around.  But that wind also created a very cool cloud formation.  It looks like there is a 'wave' rolling in, ready to smash against our house!  Or, that all that wind is 'rolling' up the clouds and sweeping them away!  Nature can be really cool sometimes.

So, that is about it for now.  Will try to be better about updating!

Welcome Home

After recovering a bit from the long ride home, Monday came and it was back to work.  Got through the piles of stuff on our desks, finished up payroll and then it was off to Bingo!

I think we both were having a little trouble working up any steam for it, but once we were there, it felt like old times again.  Several people welcomed us back and the crowd was definitely happy to see Brian!  They gave him quite a work out too....  $225.00 in 50/50 raffle tickets and I don't even know how many of the pull tabs he sold.  It was also Ron's birthday and Fran worked the crowd up and got them to sing "Happy Birthday" to him.  Not sure if he liked that or not....?!

Then, as is our typical Monday night routine, we headed up to the Pinecone for some supper.  Again, a welcome back from several of the employees.  (We spend too much time in restaurants!)  And so it goes.....

Hell of a way to start a trip....

We were up early and packing the car...... then things went wrong.  Not terribly wrong it turned out, but not the way we wanted to start our trip back to Wisconsin.

Before I get into the gory details, a small disclaimer.  If you hear this story from Brian, it may sound a bit different.  He likes to "color" his stories to, as he says, make them more interesting! 


Back to the story.  We were packing the car and Brian asked me to start it to let it cool down.  It was still hot in Florida, no surprise there.  So, in a hurry and not thinking I jumped in the car, started it up and started to back out of the garage.  Problem was, the rear hatch on the car was still open.  Luckily, I had thought to open the garage door though.  That didn't really make me feel better when after moving the car less than a foot, I heard a terrible sound - metal on metal.  Hit the brakes and I immediately knew what had happened.  Before I could even shut the car off and get out, Brian had heard the noise and came running from the house.

So, what did happen?  Well, first you have to know that garage doors in Florida have to be hurricane proof, able to withstand 155 MPH winds by code.  That means they are made of metal with large, pronounced "ribs" on the back of them.  When I backed the car up with the hatch open, the edge of the hatch caught on one of those ribs.  Since the noise scared the crap out of me, I stopped very quickly, but not before the car pushed the garage door down about a foot.  Now that I think of it, the garage door opener is probably what saved me, the car and the door from a lot more damage.  When the door was pushed by the car, the emergency release popped, unhooking the door from the opener.  If it hadn't, the door wouldn't have moved and more than likely damaged the hatch on the car, not to mention the door itself.

After a few choice curse words, we calmed down and saw that there was really no damage to the car or the door and I figured we could just reset the opener and miraculously every thing would be fine.  But no....  we weren't, or I should say, I wasn't that lucky.  The little bump must have been enough to pop something in the opener, or just enough to to twist the track, because when I tried to run the opener again (after getting the car safely out of the garage), it would only run a few inches before the opener would stop and just "click".  More choice curse words.  So, I unplugged it and we made a safe, if quiet exit from the house.

Brian of course found all of this extremely funny.  He had an evil little grin on his face for quite a while after we left.  To his credit, he knew how upset  I was about it and kept quiet.  But before we had even gotten  50 miles from the house, he was on his iPad, telling everyone about my little adventure!  It was nice that at least someone was enjoying the day!  But he made it up to me by arranging to have a new opener installed, all with the help of his iPad and cell phone.

Hell of a way to start the trip home!  But we made it.  Got home at about 10:30 PM on Thursday night.  Max took it all in stride too as you can see by the picture below.

Eating while going 70 miles an hour down the highway.  That's Max.

Packed and Ready to Go

Well, maybe ready to go, but with mixed feelings.  It's always nice to get home, but the getting there is a bitch.  The drive seems to be getting longer every time we do it!

We've had a lot of fun this trip, got a lot done at the house, and sweat a lot!  July is not usually a month we plan on visiting Florida, but since getting the house in April and wanting to spend time here this winter without having a lot of work to do, we made an exception.  Still plenty of little projects to do, but the big one - all the painting - is done.  No more glow in the dark orange, Pepto pink, and faded peach!

So, tomorrow we will be on the road.  Should be home late Friday.  Hope it will be a bit cooler in Wisconsin than it has been in Florida!

Out for a Golf Cart ride

Sunday was nice (but HOT as usual) and so after having brunch with Frank and Jim and Frank's cousin and his partner, we took a little tour of The Villages on good old Blanche, the golf cart.  Acting like tourists we know, but what the heck.

We've taken a lot of pictures of the inside of the house, so here is one of the outside.  We have gotten the landscaping spruced up a bit, but we still need to do something with the entrance.  Would like to get some shutters for the window and maybe a new front door.  Something a bit more welcoming.  House is a bit "too" white!

This is one of the many, many golf cart trails throughout The Villages.  Sort of hard to tell, but to the right of the path, in the "dip", is the entrance to one of the many tunnels that allow the carts to go under the streets where the car traffic is.  This one is very close to the town center, Lake Sumter Landing, so we use this one a lot.

 

One of the many golf courses throughout The Villages.  This one - haven't the slightest idea what the name of it is - is on the way to Colony Plaza, the closest shopping center to where we live, so again, we travel this path a lot too!

Max

Florida seems to be agreeing with Max.  He has had far more good days since we have been here than bad and as you can see, is taking life pretty easy!  He is not thrilled with the heat down here, or the strange texture of the grass (or what Florida calls grass - if it were growing in Wisconsin, we'd kill it!) but all in all has been a real trouper.  We have a bit of a hard time getting him to get out of bed in the morning though!

Shop at your own risk....

Once again, we were out stimulating the economy.  Frank and Jim told us about a place called "Dockside Imports" in Leesburg.  Leesburg again.  That was the site of our little adventure trying to find the Comcast cable TV store.  But we worked up our courage and headed out.  It was actually pretty easy to find and was an interesting store.  We found some things that we really liked, but at the same time, there was some serious ugly in that place!

The best buy of the day was the bamboo plant we got for that empty corner of the living room.  Getting it out of the store and into the car was a bit tricky though......

Missing Wisconsin

Raining here today - nothing like what we heard WI, especially Milwaukee got last night - and so we are sticking close to home.  Did take Blanche out for a ride to Wal Mart and luckily got back to the house before the rain hit.  But I find myself craving a good cup of coffee.....  The Pinecone might not be a classy place, but damn they got the best coffee!

The Villages

Okay, so by now I'm sure that everyone might be getting a bit tired of hearing about all of our little projects.  So here are some pictures of The Villages.  It really is a beautiful place and they take great care of it.  I can't imagine how many gardeners and maintenance people they must have.....

Downtown Sumter Landing

Johnny Rocket's on the corner of the square

Street leading away from the square in Sumter Landing

How every one gets around in The Villages!

Entrance to the Lake Miniola Community Center

Lobby of the Lake Miniola Community Center

Doesn't everyone keep their printers in the closet?

Tuesday's project was to put an outlet in our Master Bedroom Closet.  Why, you might ask?  Well, we needed a printer down here but didn't want to have it sitting out in the living room by the desk.  Let's face it, no matter how great a printer may be, they ain't pretty!  We bought a wireless one (which works amazingly, by the way) and then thought, the closet would be the best place for it.  Only problem was, no electricity......

So, we decided to tap off an outlet on the other side of the closet wall.  The small hole was our best guess, the big hole was where the outlet eventually ended up.  That was after I had to wire it twice.  You know how it is, do something in a hurry and you end up doing it again!  Brian caught me thinking the whole thing over in this shot.....   should have thought a bit harder and then I wouldn't have had to do it again!  

Polo Friends

On Monday, we had lunch with two new (well not so new, but I'll get to that in a bit) friends we have met here in The Villages.  We met Sue and Phyllis at the first Polo Game we ever attended.  Hard to believe that was almost a year ago already.  They were sitting behind us and got a kick out of our confusion about the rules.  The most confusing part for me was that in Polo, once a team scores a goal, they change goal posts!  A team would score a goal, then immediately turn and head, hell bent for election, to the opposite goal!  Then of course they had to explain the whole, "divot stomping" thing to us too.  They were very nice, funny and patient with us and when they heard we were thinking of moving to The Villages, they gave us their email addresses.  Between then and now, Brian has emailed them with questions several times and we always got a prompt and friendly response.

Now that we are official "Villagers", we invited them to have lunch with us at Two Jays.  It was nice talking to them face to face rather than through email.  They are a couple of fun loving ladies though.  Always keeping busy and they both have a great sense of humor.  They gave us even more information about the ins and outs of Village Life.  

Florida Morning

This morning I was sitting out in the screen room and even though it was warm, it was just a beautiful day. This was the view this morning.  Not a bad way to start the day.....

ID Day

Today, our friends Frank and Jim came over to visit.  Our plan was to do a little shopping and then have lunch.  At the last minute we decided to stop at the Villages Closing Office and finally get our Villages IDs.  Sounds simple, huh?  Well, after we filled out the paperwork, we had to have our pictures taken for our IDs.  After they took Brian's picture, the machine jammed up.  We all had a good laugh out of that and even the people at the office were teasing him about "breaking the camera".  My picture printed out fine (lousy picture of me though - way too much of a close up!) but for some reason they couldn't "finalize" Brian's.

The guy taking the pictures was very nice, but he couldn't get the printer to work so they had to call Shirley.  We have had the pleasure of meeting Shirley before.  She has let her job go to her head.  Oh hell, let's just say it, she's a bitch.  She tried several times to get the printer to work, at one point dropping the roll of laminating film and I had to bite my lip not to laugh as it went rolling across the floor!

But after several tries, they got it to work and so now we are officially VILLAGE PEOPLE!  With our new IDs we have complete access to all the golf courses, pools, rec centers, etc.

________________________________________________________

After all that fun, we had lunch at Johnny Rocket's and then went shopping.  Not much luck at the first place, but the second - Kirklands - was a gold mine.  Since the housing market is especially lousy here in Florida, every home decorating place and furniture store are either closing or having really big sales.  Got a few few things for the walls and center pieces for the dinning room table and coffee table.  Here are some pictures of how the place is shaping up!

Pink No More!

It almost killed me, but finally there is NO MORE PINK in the house!  Last night I finished painting the master bath.  I really like the color we picked, but it was strange....  before all the horrible pink was gone, seeing the two colors on the wall at the same time made me not like the new green.  But when I finally got rid of all the pink, the green looked much better.  Thank God.

Looks like bad Neapolitan Ice Cream!

Much Better!

On Saturday, Kane's Furniture delivered our new kitchen table and desk.  It was so hot....  I felt sorry for the delivery guys.  They were soaked and looked beat but then, they were young so I suppose they could handle it better than me!  Then we took Blanche the Golf Cart for a ride to Wal-Mart and to Steak & Shake for supper.  It was still warm out, but with the sun down and the breeze the cart kicked up, it wasn't too bad.

Aside from Painting....

We have done some other things than paint while we have been here too.  We have been out stimulating the economy with some shopping, I hung a new ceiling fan in the guest bedroom, hung a lot of drapes.  And of course we have managed to eat a lot!

 

I need to tell this next story before Brian does because he got way too big of a kick out of it.  He likes to twist the stories to, as he puts it, "make them more entertaining"!  

Since there is no Pine Cone down here for us to hang out at, we have settled on IHOP.  They have good food, great coffee and the best onion rings either of have ever had.  But they also have pancakes.  Pancakes with everything.  I swear when you go to the john, every fourth piece of toilet paper is a pancake!  So, I wanted breakfast the other day and I asked if I could possibly get eggs, bacon and hash browns, without pancakes.  I wanted toast instead.  So, the waitress flips the menu over and says, "I'll give you the Senior Quick Breakfast....."  Brian broke out in fits of laughter, since he knows how I feel about getting older.  I think the poor waitress thought she had really insulted us.  But she made a point of telling us that she was trying to do me a favor by letting me order from the "Senior Menu".  Brian of course did not take it that way!

Today, we are waiting for a furniture delivery.  A kitchen table and small desk for the living room.  Then I'm sure it will be off to eat, what who knows.....  I still have lots of painting to do.  The Master Bath and the guest room.  I don't really mind it, but I tell ya, it was a lot easier 10 years ago!  Maybe I am ready for the Senior Menu!

Painting

People do a lot of different things on vacation.  Some like the beach, or fishing, or theme parks.  Me, I paint!  :-)  And I have made some progress.  Here are some before and after pictures we took.  (Have to apologize for the damn "spots" on some of the pictures.  I think my trusty camera is finally dying.)

Before......

After....

Before....

After...  (You can still see a bit of the lovely pink in the bathroom - yuck!)

Comcast and Chocolate

Today was our first full day in Florida.  As usual, our DVR took a poop.  It seems like every time we leave Florida, when we get back, either the cable or the internet aren't working.

So, we called Comcast and survived the long and frustrating call tree, talked to a technician and after him telling me to do all the things I had already tried, he said we needed to swap the DVR.  Sounded simple, but since they didn't give us the correct directions to one of their 'stores', we spent over two hours driving around some of the seedier parts of Florida.  But we got a different one (new is a word Comcast doesn't understand) and then went to meet our friends, Frank and Jim, for supper at Lone Star.

That is where the above picture comes in.  I was so tired and frustrated from chasing all over Florida to get a new DVR that I thought I deserved a treat.  What I didn't know was that it was big enough to feed at least four people!  But I gave it a good try.  Ended up bringing half of it home.  Damn it was good though!  Brian was more restrained and ordered a much more sensible sized dessert.  But it was nice to see our friends again and thank them with dinner for all they do for us when we are not in Florida.  They look after the house here as if it were their own.  Ate too much, laughed a lot.

Tomorrow if I have finally digested all the food I ate, the painting will begin!

Traveling

We have driven to Florida countless times and every time, it seems to be a bit different.  This trip could be summed up by two words: CONSTRUCTION and HEAT.  Illinois is always a joy - takes like 7 hours to go from one end to the other - but this time we got the extra fun of almost constant Road Construction.  And they don't mess around when they start ripping up the roads.  Signs like "Road Construction Next 46 Miles" where common.  Hell, not common, but constant.  46 miles, 52 miles, 38 miles.  Luckily, the longest delay we had in Illinois was maybe 45 minutes.  Now in Georgia, we had one that lasted almost and hour and a half, but there weren't as many.

Now lets talk heat.  The second day - Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia - the temp the car was showing was 99 degrees!  It would fluctuate down a few degrees at times, but stayed at 99 most of the time.  We stopped about half way through Georgia for lunch at a McDonalds.  We always park in back so we can let Max stretch his legs before we go through the drive-thru.  We got out of the car and the heat hit like a hammer.  I thought Max was going to drop dead and the tires on the car explode.  But we pushed on!

We stayed over night in Cordele, GA and the heat didn't let up.  On the road again on Sunday, when we crossed the border into Florida it started to rain hard and the temp dropped 22 degrees, from 98 to 76, in a little over 2 minutes.  The rain didn't last, but neither did the cool temps.  It was back up to 92 within the hour.  But we made it!  Got to the house early afternoon on Sunday and it was great to stop and relax.  Max did really well on the trip but he too was glad to find a 'not moving' spot to relax on.  He hit the couch and stayed there most of the rest of the day.  After a trip to the store for supplies, we all enjoyed a good night's rest after the long drive.

Bartending for the CPA

Heat, Tractor Pulls, Mosquitos....  Another interesting night volunteering for the Council for the Performing Arts.  This year, like last, the CPA manned one of the beer selling stations at the Jefferson County Fair.  And as last year it was a success, but unlike last year, it was HOT and HUMID.  Very hot and humid.  Rained pretty hard for a bit but that did nothing to ease the humidity.

Then there were the mosquitos.  Hundreds of them.  And every one of the bastards where hungry.  The humidity and bugs took some of the fun out of the night, but still I think we both enjoyed it. Most of the fair goers were in good spirits in spite of the heat and bugs.  Did I mention the damn bugs?!

The theme for the fair this year is "The Year of the Pig".  Not sure if they were playing off the Chinese calendar or not.  I don't pay much attention to fairs or the Chinese calendar for that matter.  But the people seemed to be enjoying themselves.  We were under the grandstands where the Tractor Pulls were going on.  Loud!  The constant smell of diesel smoke in the air just added to the ambiance.  Like the fair, I'm not sure I get the attraction to pulling tractors, but hey whatever floats your boat.  And the CPA can use all the money we can earn.  Like last year, we should make over $1,000 so it was worth the work.  They are going to do it again on Saturday night, but with any luck me and Brian will be - finally - on our way to Florida!

Once we got home, we were reminded again that we are not 20 years old anymore.  6 hours on the uneven ground under the grandstand and the heat and bugs.....   we hit the showers and then it was butt to couch.

Count Down To Florida

After a lot of false starts, it looks like we are actually going to head to Florida this coming Friday, the 9th. The new house still needs a lot of work; still have several rooms to paint, windows need dressing, guest room needs a bed and Steve needs a coffee pot!

We are going to take a little more time to drive down than we usually do. Will stop more often so Steve can exercise "the clot" and Max will need a few more stops now that he is getting older. Brian will be well entertained on the trip. He will have his GPS and also his new iPad so he can surf the net and try to beat his personal best at Backgammon.

With luck we will arrive at The Villages mid-day on Sunday, the 11th. Stay tuned for updates on the trip!