The Family Project

The pictures are out of order but will give a general idea of the activities here of late. Jon and Kristie arrived Feb 28th, ready to work and play. Jon replaced parts of the kitchen and laundry room floors that were rotten. That task involved a lot more than just taking up the linoleum and putting down new floor covering. The cabinets and sink had to be taken out, then after the floor boards were replaced, the cupboards were rebuilt. He did an excellent job. Also put a drawer in the desk in the kitchen, fixed the pantry door, put a roof extension on the sewing shop, caulked around the sinks and counters, and repaired a waterspot on the ceiling in the living room.

Grandma was real glad to see them!!!
And so was Grandpa

It wasn't all work for Jon - boy. We took them all to a U Pick farm/ orchard. We picked grapefruit, oranges, and lemons. We were given a taste of what we picked, and pumellos, calamundas (Marlie Jo really liked the taste of those little sour citrus) too.

this is Dee, one of the farm workers, holding the bucket for Jon.

The oranges are ready to pick, and new blossoms are blooming

The strawberries they grow are planted in pots, and the pots are set on poles 5 pots high. It is so fun to pick those berries. They are a variety that is really nice and sweet too. The kids had a good time there.

Fishing for tilapia and turtles, preoccupied Damion's mind , until the 'gator threatened to take the bait. There were no nibbles and the fishing / turtle hunting lost it's priority.

This 'gator was spotted in the swamp behing Mom and Dad's house. There is at least one 'gater back there we know now, and I'm guessing probably a lot more we didn't see. A man the other night said 'gators only do 2 things...eat and reproduce. No one bothers the ones in that swamp. I don't even wanna think about how many more lurk in the weeds and underbrush. At the small fellowship meal Sunday, we were told about the lady that lived just a few houses down (lives in a nursing home now and someone else lives in her house) that had a little poodle. She almost always walked her dog, but this time she let him out the back door...the dog yipped one time from the back yard. The 'gator was enjoying tender poodle by the time she got to the door to see what the noise was about. She lost her dog and felt horrible. I keep telling Gilbert there are many dangers lurking in those ponds. He still thinks it's real fun to dart out when the door is open. Last week 3 times he got out. Twice he went to visit his little Westie friend around the corner... Macy. She is soooo cute. She walks around the same time we do in the morning so they greet one another regularly. Pretty funny.

One day we were late. Macy was watching out the window.

How cute is that???

I walked Gilbert one night, and heard what sounded like a stick dragging across the road. I aimed the flashlight in the direction of the noise and illuminated a very slow moving armidillo. Mom said they roll into a ball when frightened, so I let Gilbert chase it, but it just waddled a little faster to get away. I was a little afraid it'd turn and bite Gilbert so I didn't keep following it. I had a picture of one we saw the day we took the kids to feed the scrub jays, but...it's lost on my hard drive somewhere. Sorry. . Here is all I have as evidence we really did see an armidillo. Jon and Kristie were trying to follow it into the underbrush...

The effort to feed the birds was fruitless. They had already taken their fill from the ones that were there before us. They did come out and gave the kids a little idea of what they looked like. The lack of success was not from lack of effort though. Look how hard they were trying...

After telling the family about our escapade with the armadillo I had company the next night when I walked Gilbert. We saw no armadillos, but on the way back to the house Jon discovered this fine (???) specimen...a wolf spider. The main body was probably the size of my index finger or less. With those hair legs spread out it could easily cover a half dollar. That was all the look ~see I needed on that one. I don't like spiders!!!

This is our Grandaughter standing in front of a century plant ( I think that's what it is). It stands a good 6 feet tall. We thought it was pretty interesting. The tips of each of those big leaves has a sharp spike. It'll make you sit up and take notice if you back into one.

Our exploration of the village with the kids wouldn't have been complete without confronting the cranes. We did that on a regular basis. And you can only take so many general pictures until you just have to do something different. How's this?

Marlie Jo was taking pictures for a comptetition . Here are a couple she took of her sister. I see a photography career in her future.

Can you guess what this is??? Nope not a native with tribal adornment.

Kristie is modeling beautiful bracelets that Mom's neighbors sister makes. Can you guess what she uses?

Give up?

She uses silver plated table ware!!! And they are just beautiful, every single one.

We travelled to Punta Gorda a few weeks ago to check on the house my folks want to sell there. It was a long day. They sooooooooo need to sell this property and have someone love it.


This is a very large Prickly Pear. They weren't kidding when they named this cactus. The sharp spines on it are 2 or 3 inches long and very painful if accidently bumped into. This one has buds on it. And as I look at these pictures, I don't see the barbs on it that the little ones have on them. I need to inspect it closer now. The little ones that grow wild behind the house are trecherous to step near.

A neighbor of Mom 's made this beautiful quilt. It's made of over 1000 "yo yo" circles about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. I cannot begin to imagine the time it took. What a treasure.

You can get a little idea of the size, comparing the pen lying on the quilt. Aren't those Yo Yo's pretty all sewed together?

Mom saw the vascular surgeon this week, certain she was destined for major surgery to bypass occluded vessels in her legs. We were anticipating having to make arrangements to go home, and come back for surgery and recovery when it could be scheduled. We were thankful to discover a very honest and up front Dr. that clearly described Mom's leg pain as being related to neuropathy rather than poor circulation. He furthermore said while he could agree to do the surgery, it would not give the expected and desired out come of improving Mom's leg pain. While this news was not all good, it was such a blessing to have him tell her she wasn't going to die or lose her extremities because of the occulded blood vessels. As she makes more and more effort to walk longer distances, collateral circulation will improve, and naturally bypass the occluded vessels. Presently he is satisfied that her legs are getting sufficient blood flow, judging by the pink color, and the absence of sores that don't heal. That was a very heavy weight lifted from all our shoulders. Mom will see him for re evaluation in 3 more months.

And so, our Snow Bird status is about to come to a close as we try to wrap things up and begin gathering our things to head home. It has been a productive time here. I think we are leaving things in better shape than when we came. We've appreciated and enjoyed our time with Mom. She has been above and beyond a super hostess, sharing her space, time and resources with us while we've been here. And we have tried to replenish, and restore, fix up, clean up and help maintain the things around the house that were too big a job for Mom and Dad to tackle. We have also enjoyed getting to know more of the Village residents, and better acquainted with those we met when we were here before. This little Christian village, though it isn't perfect, IS a little slice of Heaven on earth. The residents all share that common bond in Christ and that sure makes a huge difference in how people relate to one another. The motto here is "Helping one another 'till Jesus comes" and that's really how they live. Many of the residents here could not live independantly outside of a community such as this because they do rely on the help and assistance given by other residents. They take servanthood seriously. We'll miss that part of not being here too. There is a deep sense of satisfaction spending days helping others.

We are looking ahead now to home turf, preparing for outside work and gardening. I have to say if nothing else were gained, we are going home healthy and strong, because we have been outside in the fresh air, and exercising muscles that would have become weak and flabby in the winter at home. A Win/ Win in my book.

The next installment to the blog will probably be on the trip home or even after our arrival. We do plan to stop in Holmes County for a little respite before jumping into the spring work at home. Looking forward to sharing those moments too.

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