Florida Update

Sorry that I have not posted a lot of late; I've been distracted lazing about! Seriously, although this has been a wonderful trip/vacation, there hasn't been much to blog about; mostly because I usually blog when I'm pissed off or something (which has certainly not been the case these days!)

How can I complain about going for a leisurely bike ride or down to Venice for lunch or going shopping? I found three pairs of shoes! Yes, three. I guess this is what I collect these days; shoes and books.

Today we're headed off to the Ringling Brothers Circus Museum (I'll post more on this later) and to Total Wine (they sell liquor in Total Wine stores here in FL) so I can get Mr. B some Bombay Sapphire Gin and some sort of decent scotch (at roughly 45% LESS than what I'd pay for it in NC).

Lucy continues to do well although she won't sleep with me on the bed here since it's a bit short on one side and I'm continually kicking her.

She's quite taken with Grandpa T who has been walking her (along with Brook) every morning. She's gotten to the point where, if he leaves the RV, she looks out the window watching for him.

The bad news for her (so to speak) is that she now has two good behavior Nazi's to contend with (Grammy's still the soft touch, ever on hand with the box of chewies or a special treat (even if it's just a carrot)).

Back in NC, Mr. B is in the groove of working LONG days and not much else. He does, however, think to send me occasional pictures of my kids back home. Here is Lily helping him get ready for work (at 4:49 am, ugh!)

Ciao!

Mrs. B

Trip Update: In Sarasota!!!

We're now in Sarasota; arrived yesterday safe and sound. Lucy was very excited to be back in the RV!

Mom and I hung out at the pool for a few hours while Grandpa T dog-sat. Here's a picture of Lucy taken at sunset last evening.

All's fine...one thing about being on a nice, relaxing vacation; there is not always a lot to report but...sleep, eat, have fun, talk, sleep, eat, have fun, talk...repeat!

Mr. B reports that life's ok back home; he's busy working long days and the cats are into mischief but doing ok. Thanks to brother Jon for stopping by the other evening and hanging out with them for a while; I'm sure they appreciated the company!

Here's a picture of the two of them helping Mr. B get ready for work this morning:

Until next time!

Mrs. B

PS

Dumb thing posted itself before I had the pictures uploaded. Hopefully they are there now!

Lucy Goes Swimming

Well, sort of.

After several attempts to get her into the pool yesterday, I was finally successful, but, as you'll see from this video, she really did not want to be in the water!

I am also posting a video of her trying to figure out how to get her ball out of the water without getting INTO the water. She eventually realized that, if she waited long enough, the ball would drift over to the side and she could snatch it out.

Life's great here in sunny FL...can't complain, y'all!

Mrs. B

Trip Update

So far, all's been well on our trip. The only frustrating thing (and, really, only a mild frustration) has been I've not been able to hook up wirelessly to my step-mom's network. We had a time of it last year and finally got it figured out. We sat down yesterday (with the instructions we'd written down last year (thinking we were so smart to do so)) and, crap. It won't work. We called the router company (Linksys) and they were zero help since, apparently the warranty on the router has expired and they don't offer free technical support after that. Since I am able to plug into the router via a cable and at least get to the Internet (and email and Facebook and My Blog), no sense in paying money for me for a few days, right?

Anyway. We had a nice time in Ocala with Mom and Dad B and Fritz (although Fritz and Lucy got into a bit one day while Lucy was on her leash and he got too close to her; no harm, though). We never saw the cats Snoopy and Peanut (other than in pictures Dad B took of them sitting outside our bedroom door at 5:00 am). We had lots of talk time, went out to lunch, went on a long walk, had a nice dinner at home when I arrived, etc. We'll be stopping back there on our way home, I believe that will be St. Pat's Day!

We drove down to Weeki Wachi (home of the famous Weeki Wachee Mermaids) Thursday. Margot made a fantastic standing rib roast for our welcome dinner. Yum (although Lucy did not get any). Yesterday we went to a Thai place for lunch, sat around a played games and chatted. Today has been laid-back as well (other than the wireless connection frustration noted above; this, as my Father pointed out, begs a Blog entry of its own). Tonight, we're going to a dinner theater to see "Thoroughly Modern Millie". I've never seen it, so, it will be a lot of fun.

I'm hoping the pool water will warm up sufficiently so that I can get into the pool and see if I can't lure The Goose in there as well. I think she'll go for it this year.

Oh, and, in general, Lucy is doing quite well with resident cats Timmy Timmy and Porter. They are both very handsome boys; Timmy Timmy has been a bit shyer (likely because Lucy took off after him the first night we were here) than Porter (who talks up a blue streak and has already swiped Lucy once across the nose when she got too close).

Hopefully I'll get some good pictures of all the action here in Weeki Wachee!

We'll be here until Tuesday when we'll drive further south to spend some time with Mom and Dad and Brook in Sarasota.

Ciao for now.

Mrs. B (and Lucy)

I Love My Dog

I wish I had a good pix to post of me and my Goose (a recent one), but, I don't. Maybe we can remedy this on our road trip together this year.

This was actually taken yesterday during our walk in the snow at home

Anyway. I love my dog. Yeah, sometimes (at home) she is a royal pain in the butt. She gets too excited, she hates most other dogs, she constantly has her nose up Pete and/or Lily's butt, she eats their toys, she drives me nuts.

But, on the road today, I've been reminded how wonderful dogs can be. And, Lucy is a real trooper in the car. Seriously! I can put her in the back of the SUV on her bed and she'll stay put sleeping for hours and hours. We left at 7:09. I stopped in SC (just past the South of the Border place) just after 9. I did not let her out then. Around 11 or so, we stopped at the tail end of SC (the same rest area we were at last year). She was really happy to get out and do her business. I stopped a few other times to get food, gas, use facilities, etc. Lucy just hung out on her bed and kept an eye out for "mom".

Finally, we pulled into Mom and Dad B's around 5:30. Oh boy! Lucy has behaved exceptionally well. As has Fritz. Lucy got lots of hugs and kisses from her grandparents and dug out all of Fritz's toys and ran around with them (she's angling for Hedgehog II). Now, she's on the bed with me, sleeping away.

Oh, I forgot. Two people today approached me and said, "What a lovely dog!"

Ok, she's not always perfect. But, she's mine and I'm so happy to have her with me on this trip!

Mrs. B.

A to Z

Another Facebook note that's going onto my Blog since 2/3 of the people on Facebook ignore them, anyway :-) From Analee.

Mrs. B

A - Age: Older than I was last year at this time

B - Beer of Choice: This changes on a frequent basis. Right now I'm partial to Arrogant Bastard Ale

C - Chore You Hate: Cleaning out the lint trap in the dryer

D - Dog's Name: Lucy

E - Essential Item I Use Everyday: Toilet paper

F - Favorite TV Show: No real one favorite; I like I Love Lucy, The Tudors, Dexter and 24. I did like The Office but sort of got burned out on it

G - Gold or Silver: I like both but I look better in gold

H - Hometown: San Diego, CA

I - Instruments You Play(ed): Piano

J - Favorite Juice: Again, this changes. Right now it's Ruby Red Light

K - Whose Butt You'd Like to Kick: Pleading the 5th...

L - Last Place You Ate: As in anything? Sitting right here at the kitchen table noshing on some nuts a few minutes ago. As in out, I believe that was...uh...freak! I can't remember the last restaurant we ate out at! It's been a while. I guess that's good...

M - Mom: Dina and Margot (yes I am lucky enough to have two!) and MIL Roberta

N - Nicknames: Christina (technically my middle name), Framus, Amos, Mousie, E

O - Overnight Hospital Stays: Thankfully only one (when I had my tonsils out at age 4 or 5)

P - Pet Peeve: Dishonesty (see previous post), illogical thinking, disorganization

Q - Quotes You Like: Way way way too many to write down here!

R - Right or Left Handed: Left

S - Siblings: Two sisters (one older, one younger) and two younger brothers

T - Time You Wake Up: Depends on the day and time of year. Now that Mr. B is leaving for work earlier, I'm up earlier

U- Underwear: What about it? I've got a lot of it and wear it frequently :-)

V - Vegetable You Dislike: I don't really care for yellow squash

W - Ways You Run Late: I am hardly ever late and if I am, it's usually due to something out of my control

X-Rays You've Had: Teeth. Maybe my collar bone when I broke it as a child. My hips (bone density screening)

Y – Yummy Food(s) You Make: Burritos, lasagna, white chicken chili, Cajun beans, on and on and on

Z - Zodiac: Sagittarius (but closet Capricorn)

Remembering Clyde

Clyde left us a year ago today (well, technically it was 2/29 but since there is not 2/29 this year, we figured 3/1 would be the remembrance day on off-leap years).

I finished his album many months ago but have yet to write his poem. I wanted to have it done by this point in time, but, it's just not coming to me. And, you can't rush these things.

So, for now, I'll content myself with thinking about Our Sweet Pal while I look at Pete and Lily and see their future spread out ahead of them. Hopefully, many many years; and, just as hopefully, as wonderful as ours were with Clyde.

Mrs. B