Friendly faces

Although we have made some new acquaintances since we arrived 2+ months ago, we haven't really made any "friends".  We are friendly with the two woman that prepare our coffee at the Ornery Attitude coffee shop in the Fishermen's Village and of course, all the wonderful people that work and volunteer at the shelter.  But friends...not really.

This past week has found us visited by friendly faces.  First off, a former coworker, Brian and his girlfriend, Rachel were down visiting his parents.  They are staying just a few miles north of us.   We met last Sunday for lunch at Gators, a sports bar a few minutes from us.  The weather was nice enough to sit outside, although there was a cool wind blowing.  The food was adequate but nothing special and we won't go there again. 


After lunch we went to the shelter and introduced them to our favorite dogs.  Mr. Bill really enjoys Sirus (a big, white American bulldog), Baby (another big, white bulldog with a black eye patch), Roxanne (a black and white pointer mix who has been at the shelter since November) and Will (a brown pitbull terrier that can climb over the fences so has to be in a kennel with a "lid").  My favorites include Tigre (a white and brindled pitbull terrier with a coat like silk), Buddy (a small brindled pitbull) and Diamond (a beautiful black pitbull terrier with a white chest).  Diamond has been adopted since their visit and Buddy was supposed to go home but he was still there today.  You can see all of our doggies here.  From there we stopped at FV and had a cup of coffee outside in the sun.


It was a nice day and a nice visit.


Last week my former husband's brother, David and his wife, Paula came to say hello.  They arrived around noon on Thursday.  We started our visit by going to lunch across the bridge in PG.  I can't remember the name of the restaurant but they advertise the "best pressed cuban sandwiches" which the boys enjoyed and Mr. Bill says that's true.  I had a really good chicken salad sandwich and Paula had a wrap filled with cooked spinach and cheese.  She liked it so much that she got another one on Saturday.

We drove to Ponce de Leon Park so they could see one of the beach possibilities for the next day.  A visit to the wildlife center was enjoyed by all of us.  David, Mr. Bill and I watched one of the volunteers feed the pelicans and share some of his knowledge, which was very interesting.  Paula left early to sit on the beach for awhile.  We went to FV to check out the menu from one of the restaurants that we thought they would enjoy and stopped for a cup of coffee.  We left there and went for a walk along the river to Laishley Park.  They spotted the Laishley Crab House and after looking at the menu, decided they would like to have dinner there.  It was a 30 minute wait, just enough time to hustle back to the car and bring it back.  We got one of the "beepers" and dashed back to FV, jumped in the car and headed back.  Mr. Bill dropped Paula and me off while he and David parked the car.  The beeper went off just as Paula and I started up the stairs.  We were never sure if it was perfect timing or if we had finally gotten back in range.  They treated us to an excellent dinner and marvelous company.

On Friday the weather looked pretty good.  We stopped at the City Deli for sandwiches and drove north to Venice Beach.  There were quite a few people on the beach although there was a cool wind blowing.  Although Paula found us the "perfect" spot by the dunes, I was chilly and kept my fleece on but David and Paula seemed very comfortable.

We went for a walk to the jetty and back before returning home early so that Mr. Bill and I could go to the Rays vs Yankees game.

They went to dinner at Carrabbas while we went to one of the longest games I can remember.  The Yankees didn't send anyone whose name was familiar, except Jorge Posada.  We had standing room tickets so got there early in order to get a space on the rail above the Yankees bullpen.  We went to a game earlier in the week and nearly froze to death because a cold wind was blowing but the weather was warmer on this night.


Saturday brought temps near 80, finally!  Mr. Bill, David and I headed to Ft. Myers for a ballgame...Red Sox vs Orioles.  Again, we got there early and got great standing room spaces with a nice wide rail to lean on along the third base line.  

Paula enjoyed having the day to herself including a nap on the sand at Ponce de Leon Park.  We met near the park after the game.  She and David headed north to Tampa to visit more family; Mr. Bill and I headed to FV for a coffee by the river.  It was great to sit on our swing, basking in the sun with shorts and no need for a sweatshirt.


It was fun seeing friends and family from home.  It was also good to get back to our routine and see our doggies today.  It poured rain this afternoon so I started painting the lanai ceiling and Mr. Bill installed a new kitchen faucet.  It's fabulous!

Thank you very much, Mr. Bill...xoxoxo

Bittersweet

Yesterday we spent the day at the North Port Feed Supply Country Market with our favorite dog from the shelter, Cheyenne.  We took her there to introduce the shelter to those not familiar with it, raise a little money for the shelter and maybe interest someone in rescuing a shelter dog.  We did not go in an attempt to get any particular dog adopted. 

She is such a great dog and I wondered how she ended up at the shelter.  She is seven years old, housebroken, crate trained, walks nicely on a leash and knows some commands.  How could anyone give up such a good dog.  As it turns out, her family moved and could not take her with them.  I like to think they were heart broken, I know I would have been.  


It was billed as a farmer's market but actually, rather than vegetables and such they had vendors with crafts, chickens, rabbits, goats and other assorted farm items.  They did have some vendors with hamburgers (which we didn't eat) and hot dogs (which were very yummy) and there was a live band.  The best of all, it was outside and the weather had warmed up; the sun actually came out.  


Another volunteer had taken a 1 1/2 year old Akita mix named Apollo.  I thought it was going to be an interesting day because Apollo can be quite a handful.  However, both dogs were very well behaved (except when Apollo peed on our cooler).  They were good with kids and uninterested in the farm animals, even the fowl.  I thoroughly enjoyed getting a chance to spend four hours with Cheyenne.


It's all Bill's fault!  He discovered her first.  I let him take any questionable dogs first, then giving me an idea of how they are on a leash.  I don't have any interest in being dragged off my feet by some big bully that doesn't behave well when outside.  Cheyenne would run from one side of her kennel to the other, acting wild.  She had a little sign on her kennel, drawn by a child, telling everyone that she acted wild inside but she is very mild mannered.  She is, in fact, perfect.  She never pulls unless she really has to go to the bathroom and enjoys sitting with you, just being loved.  She has a beautiful, expressive face.  We had started a routine of each walking four or five dogs in an hour and when one of us brought her out, we knew we were done.  We would sit together with her and give her some extra love and attention.  She liked to crawl up onto our laps and give us kisses.  It was hard to take her in when we needed to leave and sometimes I would ask for 5 more minutes...pleeeeeeese

We had her back to the shelter by 3ish, unloaded the crates, boxes, table and chairs that had been taken in two vehicles.  When we left we noticed a couple and their two children playing with Cheyenne in the fenced area where people can get to know a dog before they take one home.

When we went this afternoon, the first thing I did was check her kennel...it was empty and her little sign was gone.  She went home with yesterday's family and the shelter staff said they were a good family.  I hope they have a big yard where she can roll around and scratch her back, which she loves.  I hope they give her a big, soft bed where she can spread out and soak up some sun.  I hope they take her for nice, long walks  so she can stay in good shape.  She was heavy when she arrived at the shelter but had lost weight and was nice and thin.  I hope they give her as much love as she would have had with us.

It's not a very good photo of me.  (I didn't know Bill was taking the picture but he says I should have known because I was looking right at him.   In my defense, he was pointing the camera in my direction but I thought he was playing around with the camera, trying to get everything just right and he would let me know when he was ready.) It doesn't really matter, this is the only photo of me and Cheyenne so it will do just fine.

Bittersweet...pleasure alloyed with pain  We are both happy that after 2 1/2 months, Cheyenne has found a new home.  I'm especially sad that it isn't with us.  


I promise to do my best not to fall in love with another shelter dog; at least not until we can actually have a dog.


Thanks for stopping by...
;o)

A day full of exercise

What a long night it was.  We stopped late yesterday afternoon for a Dunkin Donuts coffee and specifically requested DECAF.  Well, apparently, decaf it was NOT.  I was up reading a quilting magazine until after 0130.  Don't get me wrong, I bought extra magazines for the ride down and didn't read all of them, so it was nice to be looking at all the pretty things, but not at that hour.  Mr. Bill said he had trouble sleeping, as well.  That will teach us. 

We did not exercise yesterday but we made up for it today.  We started with a trip to the shelter and walked several dogs each.  We even stopped in to visit with the cats before we left.  You can check out their website here if you want to know more about where we spend some of our time and the animals we are enjoying. 


After an exciting lunch of salad, again, we spent some time at the gym.  Mr. Bill decided we should walk extra long today to make up for not walking yesterday.  Whatever...  We parked at Fishermen's Village and walked along the nice path along the river (and under the bridges) to Laishey Park on the other side and we just kept walking.  By the time we returned to FV Bill had walked for one hour and 35 minutes.  I admit I took a small (20 min.) break and waited for him on one of the piers, sitting and soaking up the sun.  I saw more than one fish jumping out of the water.  Pretty cool. 

Bill is on a mission to lose 20 pounds before we return home.  I'm thinking that his real plan is to lose about 120 +/- pounds by exercising me to death and going home alone.  ;o)

Since we started the South Beach Diet again I am feeling a lot like my sister-in-law, Paula.  She is a wonderful cook (that's not the part I feel like) and I love eating everything she makes.  I'm reminded of her because she no sooner finishes one meal and she is thinking about what to have for the next meal.  That's exactly what I've been doing!  No sooner do we finish lunch than I'm talking about "what's for dinner".   We finish dinner and I'm wondering what we should have for dinner tomorrow.  One of the SBD recipes is Pesto Broiled Tomatoes.  Yum, they are so good we had them again tonight except I added fat free mozzarella on top.

We got to Skype with Greg and Ella tonight.  It's so much fun to see them and Ella just talks up a storm.  She kept saying "Papa Bill come back" every time he went to check dinner.  I love it!  

Greg had a question about the camera that Bill bought yesterday.  The answer is...the camera came with an EF-S 18-55 IS lens and the zoom lens is an EFS 55-250 mm with image stabilizer.  He took it along today when we checked on the eagles.

Wendy asked if we had any big plans for the rest of the week.  The answer is...no, not really.   We seem to spend a lot of time shopping (Walmart, K-mart, Lowe's, Home Depot, grocery store, Goodwill) and will continue to go to the shelter and continue to exercise.  Maybe we will check the map again and find somewhere to explore.

Oh yeah, this is for my quilty friends.  I'm working on sewing the end triangles on the blooming 9-patch which is set out in the spare room.  It's the only way I can keep the strips in order.  

Thanks for stopping by...

;o)