Jim and Sheryl Visit

Ron's sister, Sheryl, and her husband, Jim, came to visit us just before we headed from the Georgia house to the Florida house. 

Before we left Georgia, we took a trip down to the dam to have a look back at a big part of Lake Eufaula.

 We took Jim and Sheryl to one of our favorite places in Abbeyville, AL, Huggin' Molly's for lunch.

 

After enduring a 3 hour delay on I-75 on our way to the Florida house, we arrived at the Florida house and began to show them this area.  One of the places on our tour list is Solomon's Castle, where we went to lunch one day while they were with us.

And, on another day, lunch at one of the weirdest places in Florida, the Linger Lodge.

They wanted to see Manatees, so we went to the bay where Tampa Electric warms the waters so Manatees can come when the gulf cools off.  Not too many in residence yet, but we did see several.

Banyan trees are always fun.  This one is in downtown Venice, a couple of miles north of us.

We enjoyed the taxidermy display and the many unique retail items to be found at the Shell Factory in Ft Myers.  Then we went to the Ft Myers Flea market - where they picked up some Christmas presents and we stocked up on oranges.

The Great Paint Project of November 2014

When we built our Georgia house in 2006, my brother, David,  brought his sawmill to Georgia to help with the project.  We purchased a load of Cypress logs, and we cut the logs on site into boards that we later planed and stained and used to side our house. 

We restained the house every other year, but still the wood began to change colors - some turning dark, some turning lighter.  We decided this year we should paint it.

We chose a color that we thought was a pretty good match from the color chart at Home Depot - Sante Fe - a light tan color.  As Ron applied it to the detached garage first, it looked awfully PINK!  So back to the color charts - and we decided to use the Sante Fe for trim on the main house and pick a darker color that we could use for trim on the garage.

You never realize how high the peaks are, how much trim there is and how long it will take until you get started.  After 10 days with both of us working, we finally got to the last side.

I did what I could all around the house from the bottom to as far as I could reach from the three step ladder and the top of the air conditioner.  I had to leave the hard part - all the peaks that had to be done from the roof and the tall ladders to Ron. 

I even repainted our sign with the new colors - last step was putting it up!

When the sun shines on it, it looks red (color is Navajo Red), but when in the shade as the second picture shows, it looks dark brown.
We are pleased with the end result and all the hard work was worth it!

Rosie and the Giant Puffball

If you look closely behind the tractor right on the edge of the picture, you will spot what looks like a white ball.

Upon investigation, I realized it was the largest puffball mushroom I had ever seen.  I don't have my mushroom book with me, but I was pretty sure all puffballs are edible.

When slided, the flesh was pure white and firm - just about perfect....still, I wasn't sure about it's edibility.  So I posed the question on Facebook, thinking my many mushroom hunting friends would be able to identify it.

Fried in butter, it smelled lovely and looked really enticing.

Our friends, Patti and Fran, who were visiting from Florida, politely declined to help me eat it - as did my husband, Ron.
Most of the comments on Facebook were negative (as in, "Are you crazy?") But my younger sister, Anne, came through with her opinion and a confirmation that puffballs are essentially edible, so I ate one slice the first evening to see if I suffered any ill effects.  The next day, since I still felt fine, I ate the rest for breakfast.  Now looking for more!!

Weeds, Weeds, Weeds

As usual, we returned to our Georgia property to find lots of weeds waiting for us!

I'm about halfway through the big flower bed - Left it for last, as the smaller ones aren't so daunting.  Ron has been mowing and hauling away the weeds I pile up as I work.

I added a new flower bed, but I have a good excuse for this one...first of all, it's about the size I can handle, and secondly, it rounds off the corners for mowing more efficiently.

This is one of the smaller flower beds - before above with the pile of weeds that came out of it.  After is below - didn't get quite enough bark, but it will be done soon!

New neighbors, Jimmy and Clarice

And every night a beautiful sunset!

Pike Road Hay Art 2014

The town of Pike Road, Alabama, has a hay art contest every year.  Here are some of this year's offerings:

Trip South 2014 - Iowa

Somewhere in Nebraska, we always pass this arch.  One day we may even stop to see what it's all about.  Part of the scenery in our Disney World type ride across the U.S.A.

 

 

Ron's brothers live in Iowa, and his sister in Missouri, so we all met in Oelwein for a mini-family reunion. 

A Crawford tradition - gathering around a table to play poker or dice. 

 

 Sheryl and Jim came up from Missouri to visit.

Gary and Evie - We usually stay with them and enjoy the oasis they provide us in the middle of our trip!

Ron's brother, Dale, and wife, Katreena, live a few miles south in Hazelton.

Ron's niece, Debbie, stopped by to say hello.

Dale, Gary, Ron, Sheryl - It's been a while since these four have been together, so we all enjoyed a great visit!
 

 

 

 



Trip South October 2014 - Salt Lake City

We began our trip south in a mad rush this year which left me feeling a bit disorganized.  So far, we haven't missed anything vital, but it's always a bit troubling to leave in a hurry. Even though we had been planning the trip for a month, we waited until we had word that our Washington building permit was approved before we left.  Since we had been waiting since July for that day, we didn't want to leave if we had some minor detail that still needed us to hand carry some paper to the County.  On our last trip to the County Jennifer assured us that our application was complete, approved, and ready for "copying" - which takes another 24 hours.  We took it on faith that we could leave and ended up leaving after 1 p.m.  (We usually leave around 5 or 6 a.m. when we travel.)

My camera quit working before we even got to Stevens Pass, so the first pictures of the trip were done with my tablet and I can't figure out how to transfer them to the computer. But we had a really nice although short visit with Tony, Tina, Sara, and Jesse in Eastern Washington where we stopped for the first night. 

So the pictures on our trip log start after we left Tonasket and stopped in Wenatchee at Costco for a new camera.  First picture - the mighty Columbia River at Vantage.

Second stop:  Salt Lake City to see Cameron, Anne, Gavin and Marcus.

Anne's uncle, Robert, grows an interesting variety of pumpkins every year and then hosts a party for the grandkids to decorate and take home.

 

The kids got lots of adult help decorating their pumpkins. 

Siblings debating the BBQ of bratwurst. 

 

Mom helped - or was she just trying to keep warm around the campfire?

Marcus found a truck to play with while the bigger kids decorated pumpkins.



On to Iowa - where we saw miles of windmills as the sun rose to blind us for several hours as we traveled due East.