Sittin’ when the evening comes

November 22nd, 2024
Key Palms RV Resort, Key Largo (71m).
Seventies, with a cool breeze. Low sixtys tonight and low seventies tomorrow.
We are settled in for a long stay.

November 23rd, 2024
Good Morning Key Largo!
I had a great night sleep, got up at 6am and went grocery shopping. Buddy is adjusting to the new area and all it’s noises, so he kept Carol up part of the night and I had a 1am outhouse call with him.

Free chicken across from the grocery store parking lot

Easy day relaxing and enjoying the area.

November 24th, 2024
Awsome morning, 62° and the view over Florida Bay is beautiful. We actually look out over Blackwater Sound, which is part of Florida Bay.
We went shopping and bought some house plants to decorate the trailer but no souvenirs.

Carol bought new air plants

November 25th, 2024
We were going to sleep in this morning, but Buddy decided differently. He sat on the floor looking at the bed using his low deep growl, telling us, “time to get up”. We got up, said goodmorning and Carol took him out. After doing his thing, he led Carol down to the dock for his morning walk.
When Buddy was young he didn’t care for wooden walkways, but he would cautiously walk on them. Now, we can’t keep him off of them. He enjoys going out on the dock and looking in the water. He misses nothing!

We were shopping yesterday and realized that no matter where we are, we aren’t tourist any more. We are locals.Wherever we are is home. We don’t buy souvenirs, we buy groceries, anything we need, and home decor, of where we are (souvenirs).
Made an appointment for routine maintenance on the truck, twelve hundred dollars and change. WOW!
We went grocery shopping today to get ready for Thanksgiving, chicken (this year), stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy and a vegetable, can’t wait.
Tuesday will be a good day to pick up any last minute things we need. The truck will probably be in the shop for maintenance on Wednesday, and everything is closed on Thursday. Thanksgiving, has a special meaning this year. Being able to reflect on everything we have to be thankful for. Look at where we started, where we are, and what we are doing. The good times in life are easy, but as a couple we have made it through the tough times. Our marriage is definitely time tested. To truly appreciate life, I believe you have to experience the trials and tribulations as well as the good. That is where your true character shows up.
We have been planning on having our main meal of the day at noon, since it gets dark so early, but haven’t made the adjustment yet. We are planning a simple meal tonight so that we don’t miss the sunset.

Sittin’ on the dock of the bay watchin’ the sun fade away. I’m not sure what Buddy is looking at.

November 26th, 2024
Buddy didn’t sleep well last night. We had more road noise than usual. We have new neighbors now with a large motorhome between us and the road, that should help reduce the road noise.
We went to an RV shop to buy supplies and the woman that runs the store has a dog. She has a female Rottweiler that is very friendly. She (the dog) came up to check out Buddy and he starts growling at her, (a dog three to four times larger than him) and didn’t stop. The problem was that Buddy was attacked by a Rottweiler when he was a puppy. He wasn’t hurt, Carol protected him from the dog and she wasn’t hurt either. Buddy remembers that and he doesn’t like Rottweilers. Buddy does stand up for himself. He is a bad ass.
We have bread out drying to make stuffing for Thanksgiving. The yeast smell is so strong, it will take a while for it to clear out of the trailer (days), and I don’t know what we smell like. The fume are so strong we could feel it in our eyes. We need more of an open area to do this or a way to hang the bread outside yet protected.
They have cable tv connections here so I decided to connect and see if it worked without a cable box. I ran the TV through setup and we have about twenty more channels. We should be able to get some local news now.
I dropped off Bertha (our truck) to get the maintenance performed. They will probably have it most of Wednesday, but that’s ok because we can walk everywhere we would need to go.
We are sittin’ on the dock watching another beautiful sunset. Can’t imagine life being any better.

November 27th, 2024
Carol wants to start walking more for all the reasons you can imaging. We walked down to Rowell’s Waterfront park this morning. This is a park we know well. In the cool of the morning there are a lot of fish in the shallows for us to see. Even though it is a small park there is always something going on. A favorite for dog owners, they can let their dogs off leash to play ball and other games and no one complains. Everyone monitors their dogs well and their is never a problem. There is a nice beach area and swimming hole.

Grunt Shoal

Sphyraena barracuda

Carol and I are breaking bread together. This is something we do every year. We are not taking communion or sharing a meal, we are breaking bread to make stuffing. My mom’s stuffing for Thanksgiving, which I love.
We just finished lunch and Chris called to tell me that Bertha was ready. The shop is only a half mile away so I walked down and picked her up. Lubed up and ready to go, she is a nice ride.
While we were walking around the beach and docks this evening we saw more barracuda and a couple of tarpon. The barracuda are all small but I bet their parents aren’t. I have seen more barracuda today than previously. Are they making a comeback? Da-dum da-dum.

Venus over Florida bay

November 28th, 2024
Wishing everyone an abundance of blessings throughout the holiday season and years to come!

Buddy practicing mindfulness

When Buddy decides to be mindful there is nothing you can do.
After Buddy was finished they came in and we spent the morning calling our sisters, then we started preparing our dinner.
Talked to both my sisters this morning to find out that Carol had a bad fall at her neighbors. Bruised, cut and sore but she is doing well considering the severity of the fall.
Sue and her husband are well and going to their oldest son’s for Thanksgiving. She is looking forward to the time with him and his family. I enjoyed our conversations as I usually do, and hope that Sue enjoyed her day and Carol will start to feel better soon.
Carol’s sister is well and her husband has a few aches and pains but the doctors are working the problem.

I had the celery and onions on the shelf of the griddle and the shelf fell.

Celery and onions on the ground

What a mess

The bowls fell straight down and we only lost about half the celery and onions. Since Carol had prepared more than needed and we had more of each that we could cut, no worries.

Celery and onions on the griddle

Carol preparing stuffing

Chicken on the griddle

Chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, vegetables and dessert. We also had a bowl of food for Buddy.

GREAT MEAL!!!

Time to clean-up and relax.

During our night time walk around the waterfront we saw a four to five foot Nurse shark.

Nurse sharks are nocturnal, slow moving docile bottom dwellers that are found in the warm shallow waters of the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific. A peaceful animal that can defend itself.

November 29th, 2024
Nice cool morning and the clouds are giving us a shocking blue sky.
We had coffee and talked to my sister Carol, who seems to be about the same. After that we headed to the park to enjoy the morning.
So hot outside that I decided to go in to our air-conditioned (mobile) home.

November, 30th, 2024
Just the norm, coffee and a nice morning walk. We did talk to my sister and she sounds better and I believe she feels a little better.

Saturday in the park