History is Made in Florida

Monday

My day started at 9:00pm last night when the phone rang.  I had to go up to court.  We were right in the middle of watching disk 2 of Massada.  So off I went got home at 1230am.  Takes me a bit to wind down and so I finished the movie, then read a little and was asleep by 2:30.  Slept great and was up and well rested before 8:00.

Today history should be made.  Since the Daytona 500 was rained out yesterday for the first time it is to be held today another first.  Just checked the radar and it looks like Florida still has a lot of rain.  Well I want to clean off the deck as it is in the 40s and that will let the deck finish melting and dry out.  Hopefully my sore back will be ok, too much shoveling on Saturday.

Now the race is delayed until 7:00pm tonight should be home after court in time to see it.  I went out to the garage for a while and finished up a mount I have been fabricating so that I can mount the new GPS using my RAM mounts.  It looks like an amateur made it but it works!  Now a little lunch some TV and maybe a nap and then court.

Busy night at court but I am home in time to see the end of the Race.  Wow a car hit one of the jet dryers during a caution.  Big fire and its now after midnight as they start the last 40 laps.  Lots of history being made.  Race started Monday and will finish after midnight.  Trying to make it to the end but pretty tired.  Oh no another wreck 9 to go.  Restart 6 to go.  Another wreck with 4 to go.  Restart green, white, checkered.  Final lap Matt Kenneth wins the 500.

Good night all

Tuesday

Where did the day go.  I got up early again and got ready for my annual physical at the DR.   That went well and they were ready for me when I got there to no waiting.  All my blood work numbers were good and no problems detected with the prodding and probing.  Hard to believe but its been 10 years since my last Colonoscopy so I have that to look forward to soon (not).

Then off to court lots of paperwork, and then home for an hour or so and then off to WW another not so good week, but I am inspired.  Then we had to shop at TOPS Market so did not get to Elizabeth's for a wonderful supper of spaghetti until almost 7:00 and they waited for us to eat :).

Both cats wanted a little snuggle time.

Then home relaxed a little by watching some recorded TV and then bed, a little reading and finally a good nights rest.

Wednesday

Up early again and got going for the day lots to do today.  Bonnie came home last night with an interesting idea so I am working on the details of that today.  Lots of bad weather in the midwest, that should change our forecast for the next few days.  Right now it still says 53 for Friday, wow.

Tornados in Kentucky

Bonnie's sister is still visiting from Reno, NV and is coming over tomorrow night for dinner.  We are planning to fire up the Smoker and have Turkey Breast.  So today I am getting it prepared with Pappy's rub again so it can marinate in the fridge overnight.

Have to get it thawed first over 9 lb..

Back to my research.

After lunch the turkey was ready to put the rub on and put in the fridge for overnight.

In the fridge for the night

It was a warm day and lots of melting took place and now at 9pm it is still 37 out.  Time for Survivor so I will get this posted (I recorded it).

Thanks for checking in.

A Mission

Thursday

Well after I went to bed the snow that was not sticking to the roads got cranked up and "Lake Enhanced", plus because we are out in the hills we ended up with a good 6 inches on the deck and more in the yard.  The NWS warnings that came in my email said it was falling at a rate of an inch an hour.  It is to get up to 40 today and stayed around 31 most of the night.  Lots to do now today, the snow and laundry will take most of the day.  Hope to read some not only blogs and email, but I find I keep picking up "Water for Elephants" to see what happens next.  Also have a couple of the weekly podcasts to catch up on.

Well I went out two time first to clear off the deck and later to do the driveway and around the house.  Now its 41 and the sun and temperature are helping out.  The wash is almost done and now its time for some NASCAR.  Today sets the grid for the Daytona 500 on Sunday.  Dual Gatoraide races is the process used, 6 drivers will go home today.  This is the first year the Sprint Cup cars are using fuel injection so lots of changes to keep up with.

Well the race was on I napped a little but they raced on and the field is set for Sunday.  We had Bonnie's Chili for supper and watched some more recordings.  Time to read a little and then off to dreamland.

Friday

Fresh thin blanket of snow this morning and a bit overcast.  Still in the low 30's just above freezing.  The plans today are to head downtown and visit Elizabeth at the Buffalo City Mission where she works.  Planning to take Alexus but its hard to get a teen to want to do much.  We plan to have lunch and then head back home.

So I picked up Elizabeth, it was raining and in the 40''s and we headed downtown Buffalo.

This is where Elizabeth works, the Mission mover here in 1984

This is her office

This is some of the sorted donated food, for distribution to families

This is the Agape room where clothing is given out from

This is why the Mission exists and is the front lobby.

We were able to have lunch at the Mission with Elizabeth, they serve 3 meals a day two seatings each.  Those coming to a meal attend a chapel service first and then eat.  There are also two dorms where you can stay 3 nights but you have to leave during the day.  There is also a 2 year program for those interested and rooms to stay and study in downstairs.

From there we headed out to Java Village to see if we could help with the cupcake production for the big party on Sunday.

My first assignment was a "man job"

An outlet needed replaced.

The start of the butterfly decorations

Filling in the centers

Wings and Feelers

Cupcake baking

Ready for icing

So we had to leave about 4:30 and about 25 of the 100 cupcakes had been baked, I have heard since they did get finished late last night.  Alexus and I headed for our house.  Elizabeth met us there and we all headed for Applebee's in Batavia.  I think we all enjoyed our meals but wow lots of WW points.

Afterward we went to BJ's and Bonnie picked out a new TV, wow its 55 inches and right now seems really big.

Our new TV

The wind is howling and its almost midnight I am off to bed, it is to snow all night.



Saturday

Well it stormed all night and it still is this morning but we only have about 6 inches of snow but it is getting blown all over and forming drifts.  Still not real cold 28 so thats good.  Almost time to head up to court for a few hours.

Up to court for a couple hours, boy is the wind blowing plus some some periods of heavy snow.  When its snowing and blowing you can not see my truck parked 20 feet from the building.  Once home we worked on the new TV a little and some other things.  The girls are coming for supper and a movie around 6.

I waited until about 5 then went out to clean the driveway and around the house.  Heavy wet sticky snow.  The large blower on the tractor plugged up a couple times, the small one was fine.  Took about an hour but I got it down.  Leftovers for supper and we decided to watch Annie, the original version.

Movies over and its about time for bed.  Big Party tomorrow.

Sunday

Today is Bonnie's moms 80th Birthday.  We are all headed for a big celebration with over 60 people right after church.  The sun is out this morning and forecast is for more of the same today so no snow or high winds to contend with.

After a powerful church service we headed over to Byrncliff for the party.  It was a great party and it was nice for to have all of Bonnie's siblings together and get a couple pictures.  Mom belongs to about 22 different organizations and I think they were all represented by the 60+ people that were there.

All the finished cupcakes

Part of the crowd

The birthday girl

Pastor Norm, Mom and Dad

All Our Children

We had a great time and it was fun to visit with everyone and catchup on all the family news.

Got home to find out the Daytona 500 has been rained out and will be run tomorrow.  Oh well.

Guess we will watch the recorded shows and get this posted.  Have a great week and Thanks for Checking In.

32 Relatives celebrated together today

Food Day

Monday

First the promised update on the ribs.  Bonnie and I really enjoyed them.  They actually exceeded my expectations by quite a bit.  They were tender and tasty.

I left home about 10:30 to pick up the girls to go out to lunch.  Bonnie had already left to take her sister to the Dr. for her post op check up.

On the way to Grover's we took a quick drive by the house I grew up in to see the new siding and windows that the new owners have put in.

My childhood home

I was hoping to get to Grover's before the noon lunch rush.  We got there about 11:45am but still had a 40 minute wait until the first shift finished.  There are only about 15-18 tables and limited seating at the bar.  You sign your name on a chalkboard and then try to find a place to stand and stay out of the way of the servers.

The building was President Grover Cleveland's hunting lodge

We finally got seated and looked over the menu.

Happy to finally get a table

We focused on this part of the menu 12oz burgers

Another table opens up

We ordered Cheeseburger soup to share and we each got a burger and shared fries and onion rings.

Soup and 3 spoons

Alexus takes her turn

The feast is spread out.  AKA the WW Special.

Could barely open wide enough to bite it

3 of the many satisfied and full customers, yes we have to go boxes

After lunch we stopped at BJ's so Elizabeth could shop.  I ran into a contractor that I used to work with when I was in the 911 Center.  Then on to the Galleria so Alexus could find some jeans at Old Navy.  I visited the Apple store and wandered about a little then got a cat nap in the car.  Then we headed home.

No supper for me tonight I am still stuffed, Bonnie had some more of the ribs and a baked potato.

Tuesday

Up this morning and got ready for a busy day.  I got dressed and headed to Attica to attend a funeral service for a former coworker's Mom.  I thought I was early by 15 minutes.  Nope I had the time wrong and was 15 minutes late.  But I was able to catch most of the service which was very nice and very well attended.  I was able to visit with him afterward and assure him the days will get busy.  Do we ever get over mourning for our parents, after all they gave us our life.  I know I still miss mine and remember lots of good times with them.

I headed straight to court from there and then to the bank and post office.  Had a nice surprise shortly after I got there, a FaceTime call from Reagan our almost 2 year old GD.  We had a good chat, I did most of the talking and she responded by pointing to her ears, nose, mouth etc as I asked her where they were.  Also saying Poppy a lot and waving to me.  It was a nice visit, unfortunately she is not feeling well, maybe and ear infection, so hope she feels better real soon.   I put in a couple hours and then home.  I got the trash collected and now a few minutes to update the blog and relax before heading to WW.  Elizabeth has promised a good salad for supper.  Just looked out its snowing and 34 degrees.  Forecast for the next couple days is temperatures in the 40's and maybe some rain.

Well after yesterdays lunch I gained a little, time to get serious about the program again.  We had salad for supper at Elizabeths and a couple pieces of Valentines chocolate.  We watched Hawaii Five O  and my buddy Pooh Bear kept me company.

He looks pretty comfortable

Then home and watched a little TV and read.

I have an eight o'clock dentists appointment in the morning so early to bed tonight I hope.  My appointment card says 11 but they have me in the book for 8am so I can make that work.

Wednesday

Up at the crack of dawn and headed to Attica for my 8:00AM dentist appointment.  Just before I left the house a heavy down pour of ice balls came down.  The hill out front was solid ice and the cars were moving slowly.  No problems on the drive over and an hour later I had two new fillings.  I stopped over at church to copy Sunday's sermon.  Then later worked on it and uploaded it to iTunes.  We try to get them all recorded and uploaded there.  Just search the podcast area of the iTunes store for First Baptist Church Attica and you should find them.  We had some audio problems on the first ones but they are sounding pretty good now.  Then I went over to Ace hardware to pick up some screws that I needed as I am working on a mount that will work with my new GPS for the motor home and my RAM mounts.

It snowed all afternoon but it is 36 so is not sticking on the roads just the grass, its been an odd winter.  Bonnie got home on time and is busy making spaghetti for supper, oh boy.

Yummy

The spaghetti was great and Bonnie made chili for another night.

No real plans for the rest of the evening just tracking Bonnie's sisters flights from Reno.  So I will get this posted.

Thanks for Checking In.

Buddy can you Spare a Rib

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Thursday

Woke to a rainy day this morning not a hard rain just gentle and it will hit 40 today.  Changing my wash schedule and plan to do all the wash today, less stress for Fridays when I also go up to court.

I started the new book last night, first real printed on paper book I have read in a while.  Boy is the type small and no button like on the Kindle to make the font larger :(.  So my eyes tired quickly, but I got through the intro and the first chapter.

Heard some beeping and the Propane Truck is here, wow he dropped off over 400 bucks of propane.  Last refill was just about 6 weeks ago, another :(

At over $2 a gallon that truck is worth a lot 

Lots of blog reading this morning and of course I finished the laundry before lunch.  The dentist called and wants Alexus there early so I will pick her up as soon as her bus drops her off.  Then her mom will pick her up here and stay for supper.

Well we got there almost a half hour early and they took her right in and she was out quickly with a new filling and sealant on her teeth.  Alexus snapped a picture of the SPCA that was raided yesterday, still lots of activity there. (They say there were over 300 cats there.) (Now saying over 500)

A drive by picture on the way home from the dentist.

We cleaned up lots of the leftovers for supper tonight.  Alexus worked on her homework using our computers and we caught up on recorded TV.

Elizabeth brought the dessert.

It was very good, but lots of points!!

Friday

I woke up feeling like I had slept till 10am, but the clock said 7:50.  So I got a good start on the day, the sun was out for a while but it ended up snowing a little, just a dusting.  I worked up at court for a couple hours and then came back home and watched some podcasts.

More leftovers for supper tonight and watching recorded TV.  Pretty much an easy day.  Our income tax returns were filed yesterday and today they were accepted.  Now to wait for the refunds and wonder if we will be audited.

Saturday

We are back to a winter wonderland this morning just a trace of snow but everything is white.  We both had a lazy morning and decided to watch the first 3 hours of Masada around noon.  Its a two disk movie and blockbuster only sends me one at a time.

During the movie we got a snow thunderstorm, with a couple real good boomers.

After the movie I got about 10lbs of spare ribs Bonnie brought home yesterday prepared with Pappy's rub for tomorrow in the the smoker.  Think we will try Apple wood smoke this time.

All rubbed down and ready to rest overnight in the fridge.

I was out to check the mail earlier as I did not have to work at court today, the papers were here but not the mail.  So I went out about 4:30 to check the mail.  Our mail was there, along with mail for 3 of our neighbors, nice job Post Office.  They look like bills so they won't mind waiting.

Just before dark Bonnie spotted the deer digging through the snow to get at the grass in the back yard.  Interesting how their backs were covered with snow and it did not melt.  Too dark to grab a picture.

NASCAR starts today so I guess we will watch some of that this evening.  Pretty thrilling end to the race.

Sunday

Up and getting ready to head to Attica for Church.  No new snow overnight but it is down to 24.

As soon as we got home I fired up the smoker and put the apple wood bisquettes in it.  Then took down the ribs and put them in the smoker.

Spread them out on the racks

Into the smoker for 4 or five hours

On one of my trips down to baste the ribs I saw a Red Cardinal on the deck eating sunflower seeds.  Bonnie got home after helping her sister who just had surgery Thursday.  Then she went to an antique co-op and bought a few things.

The first rack is done and ready to eat the others will be soon to follow.

Off after a little over 4 1/2 hours

Well they look good and Bonnie had a sample and said they were good.  I want to get this posted so I will report in the next blog on how they were.

Thanks for Checking In.

Smokey Butt

Monday

Today is nice and sunny and I was awake and up early.  I have been wondering this morning if we will ever move again.  Its a lot of work and we are comfortable here.  We had such a good time with family yesterday that I would hate to miss out on that.

My Dell PC is acting strangely so not sure what I will do about that.  It does not go into the sleep mode properly and then does not want to wake up.  Guess I will try shutting it all the way down for a while, at least until I get the taxes done.  If I have to replace it, it will be a Mac.

I have more snow to clean up around the house and deck today, make a run to the post office and then up to court later today for a session.  Add to that to fill the bird feeder.  Guess I will read a few more blogs and catch up on those cyber friends.

So after about an hour outside I have cleaned up the snow around the house and garage.  Then I swept the water out of the garage and cleaned off the deck.  Still some seed left in the feeder so decided to wait on that.

Before lunch I decided to prepare the pork for tomorrow using the Pappy's rub.

Bonnie got a good deal on these

The mustard is used as the "glue" to keep the rub on the meat

Adding the rub

Wrapped and then into the refrigerator for the night

 After I put the pork in the refrigerator I heated a bowl of soup for lunch and saved room for a nice piece of pie.

My birthday pie.  I like the hearts, I am the favorite son-in-law (there is a story there)

Now maybe a nap before court.  Well I did doze a time or two for a few minutes.

Busy night at court even though there were not many cases on the calendar, we had a few show up out of the blue.  Lots of snow melted today and the next couple days will be more of the same.

Time for a little reading now and then hopefully a good nights sleep.


Tuesday

Happy Valentines Day!

My daughter woke me with a call to wish me a Happy Valentines Day, it was a good thing as I needed to get the smoker set up and started.  So that is heating up and I will put the meat on shortly.  Then its off to do some errands work at court some.  Then back home collect the trash and take it out.  Then off to WW.  Wow I better get going.

Meat is on and ready to go

Smoke is on

I let the meat smoke and cook while I was gone and it did just fine and finished in about 5 hours.

All done oh boy

Now its off to WW and then Elizabeths for hopefully some good pulled pork.  Gained a little this week, have to try harder next week.

Well the pork butt was a success.  We all had a nice salad that Elizabeth made and then potato's and the pork.  I know it was good because Alexus had three helpings and she is a very picky eater.  Guess I should have taken some pictures of the cut up product but we were all anxious to eat it.

Home now looking forward to finishing my book tonight.  I am fasting now for blood work tomorrow.  Note to self do not have lab work done the day after Valentine's Day.  It will be interesting to see how these numbers turn out.  TV time now, then finish my book and get to bed a little earlier than usual.

Bonnie gave me her heart on a silver platter for Valentines.

Wednesday

Up early this morning.  Got dressed and headed to the lab for blood work.  I walked in right at my appointment time and they took me right in.  Then I had a deposit to make at the bank and that went smoothly also.  I quite often stop at Charlies for breakfast after my lab work but did not feel like it today.  So I stopped for gas, I wanted to use a prepaid card and so went in to give them that.  I had to give an amount so I told them $70.  The card had $71 left on it and I did not think it would take that much.  Well the pump shut off at $70 and the tank was not quite full.  So now I had $1.00 left on that card.

Back home I swept out the garage and shoveled the little bit of snow that was around the pavers.  Its warm 37 so I left the garage doors open to let it dry out some.  Now to catch up on some video podcasts.

Pretty easy day today.  Ready to watch Survivor tonight and then start a new book "Water for Elephants" which I got for my birthday.  Another good day, Thanks for Checking In.