Author: rvingwithapurpose

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

It was another gorgeous early winter day. Beautiful sunshine, but very windy. High in the upper 40’s but the low tonight is again suppose to be 27. Still glad we winterized even though we have missed the 22 degrees predicted last week and other than peace of mind, so far it was probably not necessary. But, it’s another big thing to not worry about.

So what did we do today? We we walked to the Pine Mountain Community Center and voted in the infamous Alabama Senate Special Election. Alabama is once again getting awful publicity. We are so glad we will no longer be subjected to the endless and repetitive political commercials. Just think of all the good that could have been done with all the money spent on this election. Instead, the TV stations were the real winner in it all. Guess now they will have time to run more of the shyster commercials. Oh, joy.  The reason we never watch live TV – record and skip the commercials.

We spent time doing some things around the house. You know, the stuff you just have to do when you own a sticks and bricks. However, on the fun side, we worked on planning our January travels. We were able to get reservations for January 1 at Gulf State Park. We were sure they would be full but we were able to snag a water front site for the first week in January. Yea for us!! No, we aren’t going to skip Christmas and all the family gatherings because we love that too, but we’re really looking forward to a few days of just relaxing in Fred 2. We have really only used him for project travel and time in Tuscaloosa since we took delivery. After a few days in Gulf Shores relaxing and biking, and eating good food, we will head on down to Florida for our first two projects of 2018.

Sadly, no ducks today. They may have been blown away. Hope you are having a good week.

Monday, December 11, 2017

Today was a beautiful sunny day. It was warm with high in the low 50s. You can’t have better December days. Really nice. The ducks are back! Only four but hopefully the other two will return in a few days. Still haven’t seen the otter again so hopefully the ducks will be able to stay. The other birds were very active today too, now that the snow is melted.

We did some online shopping this morning waiting for it to warm up a little and then it was another moving day. Today we were working on cleaning out Max’s mother’s storage building at the house where she used to live. We have one antique library bookcase left in the house and a few items left the storage building and we will have her moved. We got everything moved today that requires two people. You know those little storage building can hold a lot of stuff. We had to take apart one of the large shelving units to get it out of the shed and into the truck and then put it back together at Helen’s. It will take a few more trips in the truck to get the remaining items because they are bulky but there is really not much left. Max should be able to finish it up later this week while Anne is in Tuscaloosa. That’s it for today. Moving stuff.

Sunday, December 10, 2017

Today was a bright and beautiful day. Cold this morning, but not as cold as was predicted. Interestingly, it was 6 degrees colder down in the valley, when we dropped off the mountain going to church. Unfortunately, the heat was not working in our worship center. The rest of the church was warm. We got a message just before leaving to come dressed warmly and bring blankets. When everyone arrived it really wasn’t that cold and we still had a wonderful service and message from Barry. We could have moved the service to the sanctuary but the choir was practicing for the 11:00 Christmas musical.

After Sunday School we returned to the mountain and went to Lee’s Chapel’s 11:00 service. Max’s Mom really wanted us and Marsha (Max’s sister) to come there today and stay for their combination Thanksgiving and Christmas Dinner. We all attended Lee’s Chapel in the past. They changed pastors last June and we had not met the new pastor. We enjoyed meeting him and his family and worshiping with Juno and Helen again. And the food was of course very good. It was still pretty cool this afternoon but we were determined to do some walking and ended with about 3 miles today.

Wild life sightings: The usual deer on the pond dam. They were pretty skittish today and didn’t take time to pose for pictures. Maybe they know they really stand out on the white snow. Much harder to see in our usual pine straw and leaves. Still haven’t seen the otter again and the ducks have not returned.

Thanks for the nice birthday wishes from everyone. Love you all. Have a good week.

Saturday, December 9, 2017

We still have snow. It was cold last night but only 28, not the 24 that was was predicted. The sun was out bright and shinny this morning, the first sun we have seen for several days. The snow was gorgeous with the bright sun. Definitely needed sunglasses. The temperature rose into the 40s by early afternoon and a lot of the snow melted. Tonight we still have 3 inches on the deck but the deck doesn’t get much sun. Tonight’s low is predicted to be 22.

Our day started with the camera and more pictures of the snow. Then Max prepared a wonderful birthday breakfast for Anne. We had sausage and cheese omelets. After breakfast Barry and Donna picked us up and we headed to Guntersville for a hike on the Honeycomb Trail from the TVA recreation area at the dam. There were geocaches along the trail so we got a little caching in today too. It’s been too long since the four of us have had time hiking and caching together. We found 14 caches.

It was a wonderful day that was topped off by dinner at The Top O’ The River restaurant in Guntersville. We were so hungry by the time we got there. They serve you cold slaw and cornbread while waiting on your entree. It was the best. We have always enjoyed their slaw and corn bread but today it was especially good. Our shrimp and catfish were also excellent. The hike the company, the food. All made for a really fun birthday.