A Season of Illnesses

I am really tired of being sick, I have had a cold or flu or both pretty much since the Saturday after Thanksgiving. A couple of days last week I felt like I was finally well again, but Saturday afternoon my sinuses started up again and I started coughing and have a sore throat, again. This past six weeks has left me feeling weak and vulnerable, and it seems like I catch a cold anytime someone in the room sneezes.
It has also been a time of reflection, not just the new year, but also my mother’s passing, and my sisters’ lack of respect for the dead. I have had a new calling extended and accepted, in which I would like to be very involved, but also do not want to be giving my cold to anyone else. I have also had plenty of time to consider old friends and past places. There are so many along the way that I miss, some from Alexandria and Crystal City, some now in Potomac Ward, and of course, one from the trip to China.

To Catch a

During the Christmas – New Years holiday I watched the old movie “To Catch a Thief” with Cary Grant, a pretty good show; amazing how much more entertaining most of the old movies are without a lot of blood and gore or explicit sex, violence or foul language. Now days most movies and even the animated cartoons are rather vulgar, even compared to the entertainment offered just a decade ago.

Projects, Projects, Projects

The weather is supposed to be nice for the next week-and-a-half, and I really need to get the shed finished. My second biggest project will be to get the boat emptied out and cleaned up so we can get it up for sale. I will need to spend some time, probably only one morning cleaning up and prepping the garden so Jeannine can plant when she gets back next weekend. And, when I have the rototiller going I might as well go ahead and make the trench for the retaining wall alongside the driveway. Then I will be ready to pour some concrete to set the interlocking retaining wall blocks, and move the soil from around the shed slab out to the wall area, and top it with filter fabric and red-rock. That should give me more room to park the Kia and I will be able to move the boat over about a foot-and-a-half. Then I have more room to park the Jeep in the driveway, but I am still thinking about making a red-rock area with stepping stones on the side towards the front door so people will be able walk around the vehicles parked in the driveway without having to walk in the grass.

Missing old friends

I would really have liked to visit some of our other friends while we are in Utah, but with the winter storm we did not get the chance. It would have been especially nice to see Bonnie Taylor, the Austins, the Wards, and the Smiths. My love to all of you, you are dear friends and I miss you.

Aspirations for the New Year

It would be nice not to start out the New Year heavier than this year, and then start a serious exercise routine. I’m thinking weights on Monday mornings, Tuesday evenings, Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings or evenings. That would give me four workouts a week, and I want to get on the treadmill or the strider the rest of the days- really would not hurt to do the treadmill M, W, F, and the strider on T, TH, S. That would work with the Bishop’s schedule for Bishopric on Wednesday nights and leave all of Sunday open. Even if I only do twenty minutes at a time, I need to get started, just watching my diet is not doing enough, I need to raise my activity level enough to get back in shape and weights are an easy way to start. Ideally would be to do the weights on the schedule, and get on the strider or treadmill a couple of times each day.

Mother

“Lois Louise (Wilson) Biggs March 14 1923 - December 5 2010 Beloved Mother, passed away in her sleep four o'clock in the morning on Sunday, You are loved and missed, Rest in Peace.”
In one year I can go to the Temple and do both my Mother and Father's work, have them sealed together and me sealerd to them.

Winter in South Florida

A couple of friends posted photos of snow in Utah last night, and I am again reminded of how nice it is to live in South Florida, especially during the winter. There may be a trip to Utah coming up between Christmas and New Years, so far no tickets booked, but maybe. I have been in Utah for Christmas before, and although I do enjoy the visit, the view of the snow-covered mountains, and the strong feeling of the Spirit I get whenever I am in Utah, I really do not think I could live there year-round; glad I have a paid for house in South Florida.
For the next week we have highs in the low-to-mid eights and lows in the upper sixties- while Utah was down to twenty-nine degrees last night and expected to be even colder tonight. I do enjoy the cooling temperatures in winter; I just like them to stay sub-tropical.

Sleepless Nights

It s another sleepless night- for some reason it is after midnight and I am up at the computer- I went to bed early enough- about ten-thirty, but gave up and got back up when it became apparent I was not going to be able to sleep, again. I haven’t had this problem for some time, months at least, but tonight, despite waking up before six this morning, I am awake, not necessarily alert, but definitely awake.
I bought an air compressor today and a pneumatic nailgun to use on the storage shed/exercise room I am building in the back yard, and I spent a few minutes getting it ready. Putting on the quick-connects for the hose, nailgun and tire inflator. Tomorrow afternoon, if the weather cooperates I should be able to start using it to nail down the siding on the wall that will be adjacent to the screen room. Right now that framing is lying flat on the slab, waiting for decent weather so I can complete it. I had put off getting the compressor and nailgun, trying to decide if it would speed things up enough to justify the expense, but, with Jeannine's urging I bought one. I hope it turns out to be as much a time-saver as we think it should be.
My thoughts these past few days have been a bit melancholy, remembering special people in Alexandria, and in Utah, that I miss. I keep thinking of the trip to China . . . and of the many Church performances that we had in Alexandria – I miss the choirs singing – the Ward I am in now is struggling to come up with enough people to act as a choir for Christmas – it would be nice to get a dozen or more, but last Sunday it looked like they only had six or seven.
I have been following a Blog every couple days, and seem to notice when there are no new posts for several days. I wonder if anyone will every find and follow this one? And, I wonder how my friend in Utah is- haven't heard anything there for several months now . . .

A couple of days in the Keys

Five months ago, in June, we went camping at Bahia Honda State Park in the lower Keys, I had read several travel reviews on Bahia Honda, some good and some bad- our own experiences were, for the most part, quite good. After a four-hour-plus drive, we arrived at the Park and began setting up our camp. One of the reviews I'd read mentioned encountering rather aggressive raccoons (ever see John Candy in "The Great Outdoors") so we had planned on keeping everything inside the Jeep overnight. we did have a pretty good thunderstorm with quite a bit of wind and a little rain, but I think the raccoons stayed safely tucked in somewhere, as we saw no sign whatsoever of any critters.
We plan to return to the keys again on October 8th, again, just overnight, but this time we should be a bit more prepared. It has still been hot during the days and quite warm at night, I hope by the time we are camping it will have cooled a bit. If not I just might pack along a window AC unit for our tent!
This coming weekend I am again going down to the Keys camping, this time I will be taking the Indian River canoe I bought, and I will be using it to snorkel and fish the famous "Flats" of the Florida Keys. Even if I don"t catch anything it should be a nice experience.
The Weather is supposed to cooperate - highs of 82 and 83 degrees and lows of 75 & 76, this time with sunny skies. hope to have more to post afterward, maybe with photos this time.

Friday afternoons

Once a month we travel a couple of hours to Orlando and spend the evening at the Temple. We always leave refreshed, recharged, and often reflective on the thoughts and feelings we've had. frequently these trips include a hotel stay and a day at Disney or Sea World (we have annual passes for both), and this has become our version of a "Date Night". We still ocassionally go out to dinner or a show in Port St. Lucie, but it has become less frequent, possibly because there are so few movies coming out that we are interested in seeing. I find some of the comments from friends and acquaintances' on the various movies they have seen to be rather disturbing - simply put- is this a movie that I would want to be seen coming out of by the Savior?

Seasonal Afternoon Thunderstorms

Here, in Southern Florida we frequently have summer afternoon thunderstorms - annoying things that develop in the afternoon from the convection currents of the warm, humid landscape. While they frequently interrupt plans, and occasionally dampen spirits, they do a decent job of watering what passes for lawn (mostly barely controlled weeds and undergrowth).

I was rather dismayed recently when I checked a friend’s blog, only to discover that the only things he had posted were the meaningless, petty things that irritated him and in great detail. With his job, I had thought he would have many insightful and interesting things to post. But, alas, a blog is really only written for the writer, anyone else is just an observer.

However, I did decide that this blog would be more of an introverted view (or perhaps his really is too?)