No Hurricanes Here!

Yay! Hurricane season is, for this year at least, over!

That gives me 6 months to look into different types of hurricane shutters, see about an autotransfer switch for my generator, maybe take the generator out of its box & set it up...

Don't know if I'll actually do any of those things, but at least I have 6 months to think about it. ;-p

Tennessee 2

More pictures:


This was along the drive to somewhere. (Everything was quite a drive to get to - we really were up in the mountains!) :-)










Why they're called "The Smoky Mountains"









another picture of the stream









We had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe in Gatlinburg. All the Christmas lights were on in town - it was pretty.



This was at the horse ranch where we went riding. Another great view!

We ended up deciding not to go to Dollywood this trip - there was enough to do as it was, and not enough days to do more. We had a great time, though, and could really see the attraction Tennessee holds for so many people. What a beautiful place!

Tennessee 1

Lots of pictures!



Sun setting on the horse ranch












This is where we had Thanksgiving dinner. Inside is all solid, new-looking wood - beautiful - and the food was excellent. The dog you see running toward my daughter is Jedi, one of the farm dogs. He was a very friendly dog. He went with us on our trail ride, too!











Mama and baby posing for a picture before going into the stable for food.














The view from Nancy & Joe's house. That pond down below is part of their property. The house is at the top of a hill, and has a great view all around.









This isn't the house where we stayed - it's more family. They have a "bird ranch" here; an old barn full of rescued birds (parrots mostly), and they also have 17 rescued dogs. They stay busy.
The house where we stayed also has a gorgeous view, but my favorite view of all is from my sister's property. I didn't bring my camera when we went there, but of all the places we went during our trip, that was the one that made me want to live there. :-)
(Gotta do something about that darned cold weather, though!)

Vacation!

We're off to Tennessee for Thanksgiving! This will be my first really long drive since driving here to Florida from Massachusetts in 1989, so that should be interesting. I've got lots of good travelling music, though, and the girls have nice soft car pillows. The car is all set, with fluids & tire pressure & gas (to start, anyway). Pets and house are taken care of - my girlfriend T will be here taking care of everyone.

Not sure if we'll have internet out there (gasp!), so just in case:
Happy Thanksgiving to you!!!

Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself

Janet had some choice things to say about the availability these days of toys that are so high-tech and "imagination/parenting not required" in this post.

Hop on over and read it - she makes some witty, tongue-in-cheek observations, and some very good points. She's right - how many of us remember the "spaceship", "car" or "house" from a big ol' box - some of the most fun a kid can have, and no batteries required! My kids and I had some of the best playtimes with big boxes... and we did "that cloud looks like...", and we watched the bugs (outside!) carry out their business, and we made leaf prints, and potato prints, and all sorts of fun stuff, that we could do together, without a single battery, computer chip, or electrical outlet involved.

Now, I have nothing against technology - hell, I love it, but NOT as a replacement for parental responsibility...

Thanks, Janet, for saying it so well! :-)

Chilly Brrr!

It's 46 degrees outside as I write this. Brrr!!! Now I know some of you folks out in the colder reaches are thinking, 'yeah, it's starting to get cool, isn't it?' - let me clarify - this is FLORIDA - "cool" is around 65 degrees, m'kay? Anything in the forties is downright cold! Winter coat, gloves and hot chocolate cold! But the cool thing about Florida is that this afternoon, it could be in the 70's. Yeah. I like it here. :-)

PS - I just switched to the blogger beta to see if I like it better than the first one. =)

The Six-o-Clock DOG

Okay, remember the six-o-clock bird that lives around my yard?
Well, apparently it has taught my dog, Bear,



that 6am is time to wake up. More specifically, time for ME to wake up. During the week, I'm already up, but on the weekends, I don't set my alarm clock.
So, if I'm not acceptably mobile at that time, Bear will come to the side of my bed, and make this crazy high-pitched squeaky whining sound until I respond.

It's not a normal, dog-needs-something whine, either - it's this urgent, ohmygodhurryhurryhurrybutIhavenoideawhy sorta thing. He's not whining for food, because I feed the dogs at 7am, and they usually have some dry food left from the night before, as well. He's not whining to go out, because we have a dog door, and he can go in and out as he pleases.

He doesn't even require that I get up, just so long as I wake up and respond. Usually I pet his face & tell him to go lie down. I can't get mad at him - he's such a love. A really great dog. Just wish he understood sleeping in. LOL

Word Verification Off

Okay, it's been a little while, and word verification is a pain, so I've turned it back off.
Here's hoping the spam-bots will stay away for a bit...

Halloween in Elona

This past weekend was the start of Nightfall (Chapter 3 in the Guild Wars stories), as well as the Halloween event. Lion's Arch and Kamadan were decked out in Halloween spirit:


Even the clouds were haunted...


See the demon riding the horse?


The heiroglyphics on the wall changed to dancing skeletons...


The whole town had lots of dead & undead visitors.


There was fun for the townfolk.


And some of the usual Halloween mischief...


Even the wildlife got in on the fun!

There was a visit from the Mad King, too, but I missed that while I was out doing real world Halloween, which was also lots of fun. :-)

My New Boyfriend

He's a little shy, pretty quiet, but speaks in a lovely British accent when he does have something to say, has big blue eyes, and he's always polite. He's also happy to stand quietly in the room, waiting to be of service. And he's a snappy dresser. What more could you want? ;-) (see his photo below)











What?! You didn't really think I was through being happily single, did ya? LOL