Treasure Hunting

Years ago (ten to be exact) when we were building these Georgia homes as a family project, my brother-in-law, Scott, came down from Alaska to be our general contractor.  To our dismay, we made up the construction crew.  It was an interesting project to say the least!  Near the end of the project, our son, Tony, and his family came down to help with the final touches.  Our grandchildren, Sara, then 9, and Jesse, 7, were amazing helpers - staining siding, fetching and carrying, etc.  Scott, ever the educator, gave them a job one day counting bags of nickels he had from some vending venture.  His deal with them was they could keep half of whatever was there.  The kids diligently counted coins for one whole day, and made a neat accounting for Scott.  However, instead of giving him his share, they made a treasure map and buried the coins for him to find. 

We never knew if Scott had dug them up or not.  Tina, the kids' mom, and Sara and Jesse gave us the map to see if we could follow it before they gave it to Scott.  It was very clever - wish we still had it - even though most of the clues have been buried in the sands of time.  For sure the final two clues (essential) "the box of no good news" (an old TV console that someone had discarded on our out of the way property) and "X marks the spot" (two sticks that sat at the base of a tree on top of where the bag of coins was buried) were long gone.  But Ron and I had a general idea of where the right tree was.

When we cleared out the Florida house, we unearthed our old metal detector and brought it up here to Georgia.  This morning, we spent an hour or so finding two V cell batteries that actually had some juice in them and figuring out how to get the metal detector working and we set off to the far reaches of the property to look for treasure.

Lots of trees - all looking kind of similar.

Not sure if the coins are still here and we aren't exactly experts with the metal detector, but we checked around all he likely big trees.

When the detector pinged the first time, we found an old barbed wire fence.  Then we got a different noise right in front of a big old oak tree.  I was pretty sure it was a false alarm as Ron dug about a foot down without finding anything.  "They were children," I reminded Ron, "they wouldn't have buried it too deep!"

But the detector kept sounding, and Ron kept digging, and suddenly he hit paydirt!

Doubled bagged inside the big plastic garbage bag we found several zip lock bags full of nickels.

Wet and corroded, but still obviously, nickels! 

We probably should have waited for Sara and Jesse to come and help us find them, but Sara is married and Jesse is off to college.  We are almost at a point where we can hide our own Easter eggs, so it seemed smart to look for the treasure now. 



 

 

 



Blocking Weeds

Every year when we return to Georgia, we find our lawns neatly mowed thanks to our good friends and neighbors who take care of them for us.  However, all around the edge of the house and garage where the mowers can't reasonably reach, we find whole trees have grown.  Also, I like to be able to get into every building without getting my feet dirty if I'm barefoot.  So we mapped out a big project and set to work.

The worst area is along the side of the little garage and in front of our workshop area on the east side of the house.  So the first step was getting it level but where it would still drain properly away from the buildings.

Next step:  Lay out black plastic to inhibit weed growth.

Then after a trip to Wally World to pick up paver stones, and bags of pebbles and bark, we set the stones out to see how they fit. 

It all looks a lot better, and should be easier to mow and keep the weeds at bay.

40 bags of mulch, 36 stepping stones, 3 bags of pebbles, one roll of black plastic, and one roll of shade cloth, and about 40 hours of labor later, we are ready for the summer growing season in Georgia!

 

Bye Bye Boat

Since we're selling our Florida home, we put the boat on the market too.  Sad though we are to say good bye to a boat that we've owned and loved for 14 years, we couldn't leave it on the dock if we no longer owned the house.

Fortunately, we found a friend who will love and care for it!  Our neighbors, Connie and James,

went out with us to see how it ran, and introduced us to

a new island, a new restaurant and a new friendship!

From the dock on the bay side of Palm Island, we walked across the mangrove swamp to the beautiful resort of Rum Bay.



We had a great lunch looking out to the Gulf of Mexico.

It was a lovely day for a boat ride.  We saw so many birds, dolphins, and a few other boats.

Truly a wonderful way to spend a December day in Florida!



Christmas Boat Parade - Venice Florida

It's always nice to have friends who organize get-togethers to do interesting things!  Fran and Patti went up to the canal in  Venice on Wednesday and staked out a place for us to gather.  Since so many people come to this parade, we went up early to be sure we could find a parking place.

Fran and Patti



Bob and Rosemarie

Lis and Reall

Paul and Mary

 

As the sun started to go down, we rearranged our chairs so we were facing the canal and waited for the parade to begin!

Just a few of the many boats - and yes, they were all boats!

 

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!!