More Florida Pics

Paul and Bob with their "Cubanos"

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Les and Bob finding sea urchins on the beach

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Kite Boarders

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Student Drum Core at the Saturday Farmer's Market

(They had great moves; I didn't capture their flair!)

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Birthday in Florida

We spent Paul's birthday in Florida with my sister Leslie and her husband Bobby. It was Bobby's birthday the following Friday, so we had lots of celebrating to do.

First Beer of the Trip

(or maybe it was the 2nd, whose is that on the floor?)

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Leslie Testing Out Her Camera

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Sponge Docks in Tarpon Springs

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Sisters at Lunch

(I look like a poodle; darn humidity!)

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Beach Day at Pass-a-Grille Beach

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More pictures to come...I've reached Blogger's size limit!

What I Got for Christmas

I know that some people will laugh, but I am so excited about what I got for Christmas!

The old toilet in this bathroom was a hideous baby blue with a nasty wooden seat that I could never keep clean. When we moved in, I said it was going to be one of the first things to go. Ten years later, it's finally history.

:-)

We also put in this beautiful kitchen sink and faucet to replace the old ones that the previous owner had just rigged up and always leaked. Wish I had a picture of both the toilet and the sink so you could see the "before and after."

The sink is extra-deep, with the right basin larger than the other, and the faucet is really high with a pull-down sprayer. I LOVE IT!!! It fits really big pots and pans, and is so shiny and clean.

I'm not sure what my next project will be. Maybe refinishing the kitchen cabinets and replacing the blue formica countertops. (The last holdout of the 80's pink and blue flowers that our house was decorated with when we bought it...I have spent years eradicating THAT.) But if I do work on the kitchen, I will want to put in new appliances, so I'll have to think about that for a while. Maybe just a new dishwasher so we don't have to wash our dishes by hand BEFORE putting them in the dishwasher???

Happy New Year everyone!
T.

Long Overdue Update

Yeah, yeah, yeah...I know I need to get better about posting. One of the social media pieces I just read stressed the importance of consistent and timely blog postings. The problem is, most of the time, nothing really happens around here. To us, anyway.

I do have a couple of things I can write about now. We spent Thanksgiving in Florida, and it was heavenly. We got Paul a TV so he could watch football on T-Day, and I cooked a ham and scalloped potatoes for Paul's brother Neal and his wife Eva and their son Michael who came down from New York. The next night we went down to Straub Park to watch the lighting of the Christmas tree. Very cold for St. Petersburg -- but then I always seem to bring the cold weather with me!

Here's a picture of the sunset off our deck:

Had a great time and can't wait to go back.

This last weekend, I spent Sunday up at Fremont Pass (by Leadville, CO) for an Avalanche Training Seminar put on by the Summit Rescue Group. Talk about going from one extreme to another! It was -15 degrees wind chill. Here's a great shot of the volunteers around Rescue One. Kindof gives you an idea about what kind of a day it was...

But I had a great time and learned a lot. And I LOVE my new Sorel Glacier boots! They are rated to 100 below zero, and worth every penny! The only thing that got cold was my hands, so I need to do some research on new gloves. I need something where I can get my finger(s) out to take pictures, but not expose my whole hand.

Ideas, anyone????

T.

Learning as I go...

Today I created my first "widget," which is linked to my Twitter account. It should show up in the left-hand column -- do you see it? I also set up a twittermail account. Now any time I post something on Twitter, it should show up on my "widget." I envision using this for work, adding a widget to our website and blog, which can be valuable for breaking news. Using twittermail, I can post "tweets" from my Blackberry, which should be really valuable when I'm not in the office or at a computer with internet access.

Of course, I've got to get a LOT faster than I was today. I can't spend all day doing this if there's an emergency!

I'm modeling this after the Los Angeles Fire Department, which does an awesome job of using technology. I'm still figuring out how facebook fits into all of this, but the blog and twitter are no-brainers!

Enjoy the snow!
T.

Family Members

The main blog picture is a picture of my husband Paul, myself, and our dog Bogie at Lake Dillon near our house. We had to have Bogie put to sleep last summer. Hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life. We don't have kids, so he was my little boy. No more dogs for us; my heart just can't take it.

So here's a picture of our other two family members: Rowdy and Samson. Rowdy was so upset after the dog died that we had to get him a brother. Took him a little while to warm up, but now they're the best of friends.

Hi everyone and welcome to my Blog!

I don't know that I'll be able to update it as frequently as other people do, but I wanted to at least get the website reserved and get a start. I also signed up for Facebook and Twitter today, so I'm really moving forward into the 21st century!

I only hope I'll have the time to keep up with all of them; I have a hotmail account that I used to check religiously and now I hardly check at all. Right now I have 723 messages in that Inbox! They're mostly advertisements from websites I shop at, since I don't like to give my "real" email address to those places, but still...and now I've opened a gmail account, a Facebook account, a Twitter account, AND a blog??? I must be crazy; I don't have that much spare time!

OK, so here's my first post. Tomorrow I hope to have more time to learn how to add photos and other cool things like my Mom does. Check out her blog at:

http://duene-myplace.blogspot.com/

She is a wonderful artist and photographer, and now a VERY proud grandmother.

More later,
T.