Christmas - New Year's Eve - Local Pics

 

Above is a picture I found on Facebook of the annual New Port Richey (town just north of where we live) Cotee River Christmas Boat Parade.  If parking wasn't an issue, I think we would go one of these years...but unless you want to park around 3 pm and wait for 4-5 hours, it just isn't the thing for us to do.

Christmas in Florida is not like Christmas in other areas around our wonderful country...daytime temps are generally in the upper 60's to lower 80's.  At night, it normally is around 55, give or take 10 degrees.  Turn the heater on for the night, A/C on for the day.  Oh, people bundle up because it is "so cold"... and I get many stares because I am in short pants, sleeveless shirt, and not cold at all.  I am not alone with my attire...to each their own.

A day or two after Christmas I did face-time with my oldest child, Michael, and 3 year old Addie and 2 month old Otis.  Of course, Addie is the only child who can communicate, and boy does she love to talk, move around, hide, and just enjoy herself.  At this time of year I get a number of people say, "You look like Santa!"  A man in his early twenties came up to me in the store and asked where his presents were.  I told him that he was just a bit old to think that I was Santa...but he did not like that.  I ignored him and went on with my business.  Anyway, with this in mind, I asked Addie if she thought I looked like Santa.  Her response, "I think you look like Grandpa!"  My heart melted...

Picture from Google

In Florida it is legal to light Fireworks on New Years Eve, New Years Day, and Fourth of July.  They can start selling Fireworks for up to 10 days before these dates.  So you know what happens....we have to deal with the Booms and the Bangs from a few days before Christmas, through New Years Day and beyond.  Now this does not bother me, and Marcia only gets alarmed when a "big one" goes off nearby unexpectedly, but Indy...well, she hears them before we do, and hides under the couch.  If I get up, she follows me...and when they are real bad, she leads me to the bathroom, or the kitchen, or wherever. Well, New Years Eve is very nerve wrecking for poor Indy.  Thank goodness we found a solution...

Yes, we get her high on ThunderWunder.  Directions call for one, but I give her two about 4 hours apart.  Gave her first one around 6 pm, when just a few random fireworks were going off.  Around 9:30, I gave her a second one.  The time she really was afraid was about 10 minutes before midnight through 12:30 or so.  In fact, she climbed up into my lap between my Kindle and my head...so much for trying to watch fireworks going off on our Blink Cameras!  By 1:00 am, she settled with just an occasional look when a big one went off nearby.  The last one I hears was at 3:30 am...she didn't seem to hear it at all.

      

All of these next groups of pictures (3 above and all the rest below) were taken in the last two weeks of December.  The pictures, for the most part, tell the story that...it is still spring, summer and/or fall here along West-Central Florida.   

     

(The tour boat above is like the sponge boat Agatha that Marcia's father once owned)

 

The owner of this boat forgot about "low tides"

     

 

All is well here in Florida.  Mom is doing fine back in Sacramento where we plan to be there for her 96th birthday.  All is well with the rest of our families too, for the most part. 

 

We hope you all have had a wonderful Christmas, and have a Great New Year! 

 

 

Thanksgiving, 70 years old, A Few Things I Am Thankful For

 

The Mayflower probably was 90 feet long (about the size of two large Class A Motorhomes put back-to-back), and around 25 wide, though we all know boats are less wide at the front and rear (bow and stern).  It carried 102 passengers and about 30 crew members...the first winter killed off 1/2 of the passengers.  Embarked from Plymouth, England, on September 16, 1620, it made landfall on Cape Cod at what is now Provincetown, Massachusetts, on November 21, 1620.  An exploring party arrived at the nearby site of Plymouth (in present-day Massachusetts) on December 21, and, according to tradition, the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock on December 26, 1620.

My confirmed Mayflower ancestors are William Brewster and his wife Mary, Stephen Hopkins and his wife Elizabeth,  John Howland. Edward Tilley and his wife Ann.  I learned about this connection back in the late 1980's...I was in my early 30's.  Ever since, Thanksgiving has been more meaningful to me.  Especially when it falls on my birthday, which won't happen again for another 3 or 4 years.  

 

Yes, I did just have my birthday a few days ago, and YES, I hit the BIG 7-0 !!!!  Enjoyed a big (BIG) Cowboy Ribeye Steak, about 3 1/2 inches thick.  It was so big, we have had leftovers twice, and still have a bit more for a roll-up or two.  Use to be able to buy these at Sams for like $40-$45...now days, it was $65!  When I turn 80, if I make it that long, it will certainly be over $100.  

 

 

Being it is Thanksgiving, I will mention a few things I am thankful for.

. . . Family and Friends, of course.  Grateful that my mom is still with us, and when I talked to her on my Birthday, she knew exactly who I was.  Thankful for my new Grandson, and of course, my Granddaughter, both of whom I saw live via the Internet on Google Meet, again on my Birthday.  And I am thankful for ALL of my family and ALL my friends

. . . Today, we paid off our new Camper Van !!!  Nice to not be in debt again.  We planned to pay it off within 18 months from when we bought it in July of 2024...we paid it off in 16 months.

. . . No Hurricanes!  Yes, if you listen to the radical Meteorologist, you will hear about the "Terrible Class 5" Hurricane Mellisa that hit Jamaica.  They seem to ignore the Tropical Cyclones that hit on the other side of the world, which together killed over 1,300 people, and did enormous damage.  Sure didn't see The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore standing out in any of those storms!  Hurricanes that the states equate to higher ratings, which is more $$$$ to the various stations that cover it.

. . . Our temperatures have been so mild these past eight weeks or so.  Today's high was around 82.  It is just past 7 pm, and it is 75 degrees.  But tomorrow's high is 70, Friday is 60, but we rebound back to 75 on Saturday.  Friday and Saturday night will require some heater time...but the cost of that is no different than the A/C we have run periodically during the day these past few weeks since we have a heat pump.  

. . . Gas is under $3 per gallon. 18 eggs under $5, sometime under $4. Car & RV insurance dropped about 5%.  Could have bought a Turkey for under $1 per pound, 49 cents if you buy $20 or more of other foods...but a full Turkey is a bit much for two people so I got a bone-in turkey breat for $1.99 per pound. Other food prices, outside of beef, have seen slight drops...but the increases have stopped for the most part.

. . . Family and Friends ... OH, I ALREADY SAID THAT, WELL, THAT IS WHAT I AM MOST GRATEFUL FOR!!!