Visiting with friends in Dothan

It was 25° with a wind chill of 18° this morning when we got up. Gayle fixed oatmeal for breakfast and cut up some oranges to go with it. We spent the morning relaxing and visiting before Mike and I (and Tinker) left to drive down to Dothan.

We had planned on eating a light lunch at Ms. Boomer's in downtown Dothan, but it had closed back in November. I had worked at the original Mrs. Boomer's for 7 years as the day manager. The restaurant had moved back to its original location a couple of years ago and it would have been fun to see it again. Oh well! We decided to go to Bojangles for lunch and had some chicken tenders with fries for lunch.

After lunch we drove by our old house in Dothan and it had been painted white (it had been a light beige or eggshell color).

From February 2015

We drove over to WalMart Supercenter on US-231 north and got gas ($1.999 a gal) and to do some shopping. We found a soft plush throw for Tinker and he could hardly wait for me to unwrap it when we got back to the car.

We still had some time before we were to see our friends W.T. and Glenda, so we stopped at Dakota Coffee and got a couple cups of coffee. Then we

Traveling to Ozark, Alabama

We got up at 7:00 this morning. It was 42° then with a wind chill of 35°. We drank some coffee, packed our suitcases and stuff in the car and cargo box and left the house a little before 9:00.

We drove west on CR-512 to I-95 north and then got on US-192 at West Melbourne. This morning we saw several groups of wild turkeys (the most we've ever seen on US-192) and I managed to get a photo of a few turkeys.

From February 2015

We got onto the Florida Turnpike ($4.50 toll) at St. Cloud and drove north to Lake City. We stopped at a Marathon station at 1:00 and got gas ($2.359 a gal.) before getting onto I-10 west. We saw this warning sign at one of the rest areas we stopped at on I-10.

From February 2015

We exited I-10 at exit 130 and drove north on US-231 to Dothan and around the Circle to US-231 North to Ozark. We arrived at our friends' house at 5:00 after driving 470 miles today. The temp was 37° with a wind chill

Last minute errands & packing for our trip

We've been busy the last few days getting things together for our trip to Alabama and Texas to visit with family and friends.

We've been watching the weather forecasts for the places we'll be staying at on our trip and it is going to be COLD! I went through our closets and got out our cold weather clothes so we could pick out the things we would need for our trip.

We took Tinker in this morning to the groomer's to get a bath and give him a little trim. We didn't want them to give him his usual short cut since it's going to be in the 20's and 30's for low temps where we're headed.

I had a dental appointment this afternoon and had Mike drop me off at the dentist's so he could pick Tinker up when he was finished at the groomer's. After Mike picked Tinker up, he just came on to the dentist's to wait for me and then we did a little last minute shopping and then stopped at the

Valentine's Day

This morning Mike and I drove down to Hale Groves to check out their retail store. We have driven past there many times and have never stopped in. They had a lot more than just citrus fruit. They had vegetables of all kinds, shelves and shelves of products made from citrus - jams, jellies, marmalades, salad dressings, barbecue sauces, hot sauces and the list could go on. We tasted some of the samples they had out for temple oranges, honeybells, red and white grapefruit to name a few. We will definitely come back after our trip and do some shopping.

We stopped at Sebastian's Roadside restaurant for lunch and actually had breakfast. One of their specials was a Cheesesteak Omelet with peppers and mushrooms and it was REALLY good. Mike ordered hash browns and a biscuit and I ordered grits and a biscuit to go with the omelets.

Today is Valentine's Day and we decided to just eat dinner

Visiting with Family & House Painting

We made a trip over to Kissimmee on the 1st to see my cousin Frances and her husband Jack at their time share and have lunch there. Frances had invited my brother and sister-in-law, but Cyril didn't feel like going out.

Frances fixed a meat loaf, roasted potatoes, corn and green beans and then a yellow cake with chocolate frosting for dessert - everything was delicious. Everything is furnished at the time share, Frances and Jack just have to bring their clothes and food.

From Visiting with Friends & Family

After lunch we all drove over to Cyril and Elaine's to visit with them - at least today we did take pictures. We have been known to bring our camera and then forget to take photos.

From Visiting with Friends & Family

Mike and I left about 3:00 to head back home. We did stop at Tractor Supply in St. Cloud to buy a couple of bags of corn to feed the squirrels in our yard.

Mike finished painting the walls on the house on the 4th.

From House Painting

I finished painting the white quoins (masonry blocks) on the front corners of the house and had started painting the window trim. The north and south walls of our house have a high peak and Mike measured the wall and it is

New Paint Color on House & Cousins Drop By

On the 13th I attended genealogical society's monthly meeting and the guest speaker's topic was DNA testing and genealogy research - something I was really interested in learning more about and I learned a lot that day. Mike and I had just sent off our DNA samples to Ancestry the week before and we're curious to see what the results will be, but it will be weeks before we are notified of the results.

Mike went to Home Depot on the 14th and bought 5 gallons of blue paint and 2 gallons of white that we are going to paint the house with - plus all the rollers and supplies we'll need.

Mike started painting the house on the 15th and I have noted on the photos which is the old color of the house and the new color we're painting it.

From House Painting

We had planned on going to the MOAA luncheon on the 23rd but Mike started coming down with a cold the day before, so we didn't go.

I've been checking on Ancestry to see when they received our DNA samples and when they would start testing them. They started the lab testing on mine on the 23rd and they started on Mike's on the 26th, we're excited to see what the results will be for our ethnicity and see if our DNA

Fletcher's Visit and Good Friends Stop By

Fletcher drove up from Ft. Lauderdale for a overnight visit on the 3rd. I made chocolate chip cookies before he came and used my new KitchenAid hand mixer I bought a few days before. I had noticed the last few times I used my old hand mixer (I think we got it for a wedding gift 47 years ago) and I could smell it getting hot and figured it must be time to replace it. I really love this new KitchenAid mixer - it's like night and day compared to my old one. We went out to eat for dinner at the Sebastian Roadside restaurant which has become one of our two favorite places in town to eat at. Mike ordered their Reuben sandwich and Fletcher and I had their French Dip.

Before Fletcher left on Sunday afternoon we went to lunch at Woody's Bar-B-Que. We had met our friends up there for lunch once and Fletcher was with us and he ordered fried okra. Fletcher said he was craving some fried okra and he remembered eating it at Woody's. Just before Fletcher left to go home, I handed him a box filled with chocolate chip cookies I had baked before he got here - I actually made 2 batches and hid one while he was here. I wonder how many cookies were left in the box by the time he got home?

Mike had his 2nd laser surgery to take care of the cloudiness of the back membrane on his lens implant on the 6th. It only takes a couple of minutes to do the laser surgery.

On the 9th our globe-trotting friends Bob (Bob is responsible for Mike and I meeting) and Beverly stopped by for a quick visit. They had returned to the