Staying At Our House Comes To An End, We're Back On The Road

First, I must start off with apologizing for not keeping this blog current. Gina and I are trying to find our groove in how we are going to keep our blog updated. Since Gina doesn’t like to write and she’s get frustrated with computers very easily. We know when we are at our house it’s hard to write since we seem to stay extremely busy. I know that I have time to write at night but my brain just refuses to concentrate the older it gets.

Friday
August 21, 2009

We started our morning off the usual way with our coffee outside. While sitting outside Gina noticed that Ashley & Parker’s pear tree had a bloom on it. Last year we let each child pick out a tree to plant in Gina’s garden in memory of our Son’s first anniversary in Heaven.

Ashley & Parker's Pear Tree


Pear Tree in Bloom

Here are a few more pictures of plants in bloom.


Aunt Nadine's Flower from Kentucky


Hisbiscus Plant from Texas


Blooms like a Butterfly


Blooms like a Trumpet


Oleander In Full Bloom

I left Gina admiring her flowers while I headed off to Baton Rouge. I wanted to see if I could get the old starter that I removed from the Honda rebuilt. I had called all auto parts stores in town and none of them had one and only one said they could order it but if would take two weeks. I called the dealer and they wanted 662 dollars and it would take them a week to get it. So, thanks to Rickey, my brother-in-law he reminded me of Charlie’s which rebuilds starters and alternators. I called Charlie’s and he said bring it in and he would take a look at it. So that’s where I was off to. I handed the old starter to the owner and he started to take it apart. He then went to get a brush assembly and installed it put it back together and tested it. Worked like a charm and then laid it back on the counter and said it would be fifty dollars cash. I don’t know what I was more amazed about. The fact that it was only fifty dollars or that it took him less than twenty minutes to rebuild the starter. From there I headed back to the house. I found Gina just chilling out in her garden.

Sometime that evening our ducks flew in to grab some food since it appears that is all they do lately. However, I did add some food to their feeder and petted them for a few minutes. After that they flew off to where ever they go when they are not here.

Me Feeding the Ducks


Me Petting the Duck


Beautiful Male Duck


Our Ducks All Together


Gina Thinks They're Kissing

After that Gina and I just relaxed for the night.

Saturday
August 22, 2009

We had our coffee outside after which I went inside to check my email. I saw that Joe & Sherri had emailed me that they would be at Hickory Creek COE on September 16th to the 20th. While I was checking out the campground Joe called me and we talked for a few minutes and he let me know that Don & Cheryl would be there too and to let me know what site they would be in. While I was making my reservation Gina was making homemade biscuits for breakfast since my dad was coming over to help me with some electrical work on our house. There were some items that I had not completed after the remodeling of our house. Dad showed up right when the biscuits were coming out of the oven. While we were in Kentucky we bought some ground smoked ham sausage and Gina cooked it too since we had not tried it yet. Gina is such a great cook and everything was delicious. My dad and I got started outside in hooking up the lights in the shed under the carport. Then we headed off to Home Depot to buy a light for under the carport and a flood light for illuminating Gina’s garden. We also bought a bulb for the security light mounted on the end of the house. This light also needed to be reconnected. While my dad and I were working on the lights I had asked Gina if she could find something in our shed. That got her started in cleaning out our shed since you could never find anything in there. This was not on her plan for the day but one thing led to another and before she knew it the shed was all nice and neat. We finished up around three o’clock right around the time that Shane & Nicole returned from their week long beach trip and we relinquished our grand dog sitting. Gina & I do not have any grandchildren yet but we do have four grand dogs.


For dinner I decided I would grill some pork tenderloin with bell peppers and onions for fajitas. Once I put them on the grill Gina and I took our showers and relaxed until the meat was done. This is an easy meal that tastes great and doesn’t require much of your time while it cooks. I’m not sure what time we went to bed but it was early for sure. Gina was so happy to have the ability to illuminate her garden at night with something other than tiki torches.

Sunday
August 23, 2009

After waking up this morning we enjoyed our coffee outside in the garden watching all the birds eating. There are so many birds that they just kind of wait their turn for food.

Feeding Time


Lined Up Waiting Their Turn

For lunch we decided to make a homemade pizza. Back a few weeks ago Gina and I had a pizza cooking contest between us and now we decided to just combine our own techniques to make just one great pizza. We invited Shane & Nicole to enjoy it with us. After which we went outside to enjoy this unbelievable weather God has so graciously blessed us with today. While we were outside Nicole commented that she couldn’t believe she was sitting outside in Louisiana in blue jeans and not sweating to death in August. Shane & Nicole Ichat’ed with Ashley and Parker while I relaxed on the swing unaware Gina was taking pictures.

Shane & Nicole on IChat with Parker in Grenada


It's a Hard Life But Someone Has To Do It

While I was taking a nap on the swing Gina was painting the sealer on her concrete bulldog. After the sealer dried she then placed it in her new flower bed next to the rock that looks like it has a paw print in it.

The Finished Product


Here's to the United States Marine
(Our Statue of a Devil Dog)

She continued working in her garden doing what she always does when she is at our house. Since she took a picture of me when I didn’t know it I thought I would take one of her to show you all what she does out in her garden.

Gina Doing Her Thing

The highlight of the day came around nine o’clock tonight when Ashley called us up on Ichat to let us know that she just received her white coat and sent us some pictures of the ceremony. She has worked so hard to reach this milestone and we are so proud of her reaching this milestone.

Ashley Receiving Her White Coat


Congratulations Ashley!!

We Love You and are Very Proud of You


Ashley & Parker Standing in front of her favorite tree
(Flamboyant Tree)


One Step Closer to Fullfilling Her Dream (Dr. Jenkins)

Great Couple with a Beautful Sunset

Monday
August 24, 2009

I woke up at 5:30 this morning since Gina had a follow-up doctor’s appointment at 8:15. I stuck my head out the door to see if the weatherman was right. He predicted that the temperature would be 64 degrees and sure enough it was. I then woke Gina up with a cup of coffee and told her she had to come outside quick to enjoy this beautiful morning of cool weather. We had our coffee on the swing just soaking up this beautiful weather. I have been telling Gina everyday for the last week that I was having hitchitch and couldn’t wait to get back on the road. So with that comment we went inside to get ready for the doctor’s visit. I dropped Gina off at the doctor’s office and then went to the Volvo dealer to exchange the ac air filter since I picked up the wrong one last week. I then went back to pick up Gina and headed back to the house to start packing up and completing a few last minute tasks before we could get on the road. While I was doing that Gina left to run some errands.

Aunt Nell and Uncle Jim stopped by to bid us farewell. She also made one of her famous almond coffee cakes for us to take on the road. My dad then stopped by to say goodbye and then Gina & I went down to my sister’s house to see the progress on remodeling their new kitchen and to tell them goodbye. We still had more tasks to get done but around 10:30 I had to lie down but had trouble going to sleep. Two weeks at our house was just too much and I was so excited to get back on the road that my adrenaline was in overdrive. Gina said that I finally fell asleep around eleven o’clock. She on the other hand stayed up to bath Angel & Zoey and she said she finally made it to bed around two o’clock in the morning. A very busy day getting everything donebut we would be on the road tomorrow. Yee Haw!!!!!

Tuesday
August 25, 2009

I woke up at three o’clock this morning and jumped in the shower. I was out and fully dressed by 3:20. I woke Gina up at 3:30 and she popped up even though she hadn’t been asleep long. We were all hooked up and heading down the highway by 4:30. I stopped at five o’clock to fill up with diesel. We got back on the road heading east. Gina didn’t last long in the front seat before she told me she was going to go lay down to sleep for a little while. Both Angel and Zoey slept while Gina napped on and off. We definitely woke them up too early. Gina finally came back up to the front seat around eleven o’clock to fix me a cup of coffee and to give me a snack. We just enjoyed the view and talked about how many times we made this trip between Louisiana to Florida while we were stationed here from 1986 to 1989 and then again from 1993 to 1996.

We arrived at the Mayport Naval Station located in Mayport, Florida around four o’clock. We got unhooked and set up. We will be here for four days and then depart on Saturday August 29th heading for Parris Island. Here are a few pictures of the campground.

The Entrance Sign


Our Site


Our View

We took the dogs for a walk and enjoyed the view while remembering and talking about our memories of when we lived here. Pizza Hut on base in their support of the campground offers ten dollar large pizza’s (anyway you want them) on Tuesday’s. We went to the exchange to look around and then went to Pizza Hut to order our ten dollar meat lover’s pizza. We then went back to the camper and enjoyed our pizza then I was pretty much asleep by nine o’clock.

Until tomorrow, Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.