December Movies, Dining, Christmas, and Anniversary

December was a busy month. On the 9th I attended our genealogical society's monthly meeting for the DNA group in the afternoon, then I went over to the Heritage Center for the retirement party for Pam Cooper who was the Supervisor of the Archives Center and Genealogy Department. Thanks to her 30 years of work the Vero Beach Library's local history section went from 250 volumes to over 30,000 titles. 

Then I left Pam's retirement party and met Mike and our neighbor Barbara at the Italian Cousin in Sebastian for dinner. Mike and Barbara had the Sausage and Meatball Rigatoni and I had the Salmon Special with Mozzarella Sticks for an appetizer. Always a great place to eat!

On the 13th I went to our monthly Genealogical Society meeting and on the 16th Mike and I went to the Vero Beach Yacht Club for the monthly MOAA (Military Officers of America Assn.) luncheon. 

Fletcher and his friend Frankie drove up from Fort Lauderdale on Christmas Eve. After they got in, we drove up to the IMAX theater in West Melbourne to see Rogue One, A Star Wars Story in 3-D. After the movie we stopped at the Texas Roadhouse in Palm Bay for dinner. Mike, Fletcher and I ordered the Bacon Cheese Burger and Frankie had the Smokehouse Burger. We all ordered the Loaded Steak Fries with cheddar cheese and bacon bits. 

Christmas Day Mike and I drove over to my sister-in-laws for Christmas dinner with her son and her daughter and her husband and 3 sons. We had invited our neighbor Barbara over for dinner on Christmas evening, so since Fletcher and Frankie decided to stay at our house instead of going to Kissimmee I left them instructions on how to fix Pepper Steak in the crockpot. So when Mike and I got home, I only had to

November Happenings

I haven't posted since last month and thought I would update what's been going on.

My brother Cyril died October 27 - he would have been 90 in December. He had been in failing health for several months and my sister-in-law Elaine had been taking care of him at home. My niece's husband and sons would come over daily and help Elaine, so she did have some help. Cyril was 20 years older than me, so he was my "big" brother in years as well as in size. I really miss him.

Cyril's funeral was November 1 in Kissimmee. Our son Fletcher drove up from Fort Lauderdale and my first cousin Frances and her husband flew down from Illinois to be there. Elaine's brothers & sister and some of their children drove up from West Palm Beach. 

I had applied to join the Daughters of the American Revolution and my application was accepted. I was inducted in the Treasure Coast D.A.R. Chapter on Nov. 7 at their monthly luncheon. I received my certificate in the mail about a week later. I only had to prove  my relationship back to my 4th great grandfather Jacob Utley since he was already listed as a Patriot.

We had the shower in our guest bathroom resurfaced by Patrick at Resurface Specialist earlier this

Back to Normal after Hurricane Matthew

The rest of the month of October was pretty normal once the cleanup from the storm was done. And oh yes, all of the breakable stuff I had put away in drawers and closets in case any of our windows were broken - it took a LOT LONGER to put everything back than it did to put it away! But I'll do it again if we have another hurricane - which is very likely since we live in south Florida.

The monthly meeting of the Indian River Genealogical Society on the 11th was cancelled because the internet at the Vero Library hadn't been restored. 

On the morning of the 15th we drove down to the Home Show at Port St. Lucie and we took our neighbor Barb with us. We saw a product that we both liked - it was resurfacing a shower or bathtub/shower combination. We spoke with the owner Patrick from Resurface Specialist and made arrangements for him to come and give an estimate for our guest shower and Barb wanted an estimate for her guest bathroom. After the Home Show we

Hurricane Matthew and After

Not too long after my post on Oct. 6 our power went off at 11:30. By then we were having 30-40 mph winds with 55-60 mph gusts.

Fortunately earlier that day we had turned down the A/C cooler than usual so in case our power did go off, it would take longer for the house to heat up. Mike walked Tinker one last time that night and we went to bed.

On Friday Oct. 7 we were having more frequent bands of rain and stronger winds. During one of the "lulls" in the weather, Mike went over to Barb's house and started her generator so it would run her refrigerator. He then started our generator which he moved to the front of our storage shed and connected it to the house. We can run the refrigerator, lights and ceiling fans. 

Fortunately Tinker hasn't been too nervous in the storm. But he's not too crazy about having to go outside to do his business with this storm and we try to take him out when it's not raining really hard. 

Hurricane Matthew stayed about 45-50 miles east of our coastline, so we didn't get the full brunt of the storm. But we did get 74 mph gusts Friday and 4½" of rain. 

By mid-afternoon Friday the worst was over and we went outside to see if we had any damage. The roof looks good and there was no damage to house or the storage shed - but the oak trees and the yard are another matter!

The tops of the trees have been stripped and are now all over the front yard. Our side lot looks worse.

Before the Storm

Preparing for Hurricane Matthew

Mike finally decided to trade in his Droid Bionic phone for a Samsung Galaxy 7 after doing some research on the Galaxy 7. So on the 3rd of this month, we went down to the Verizon store in Vero and traded in his old phone for the Samsung. As always with a new cell phone, there are differences from the old phone and Mike has been learning about the Galaxy's features.

We have spent this last week preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Matthew - buying bottled water, a few non-perishable groceries and filling the gas tank in the Outback and the gas cans we use for the generator. We didn't have too much outside stuff to put away, but I have a lot of potted plants that we moved inside of the garage. 

Mike and I grew up in Lake Worth, FL and we know what to expect with a hurricane. But this is Tinker's first hurricane and we'll see how he does. Fortunately he doesn't have any anxiety during thunderstorms - I guess as long as he has his best friend Bear, everything will be OK.

We have no shutters on our house and I moved everything that was breakable away from the windows - putting smaller items in dresser drawers and larger items in closets. Our house went through the 2005-06 hurricanes. We know there was roof damage, but according to Barb (our neighbor) she doesn't remember the previous owners having any windows damaged. I did go around the house taking photos of everything and I took photos outside of our house, trees and landscaping. 

Mike got Barb's and our generator ready with the extension cords, so they would be ready in case our power goes out. Barb always goes to stay with a friend in town during the storms, but Mike will be able to keep her refrigerator running if we lose power.

So now we just sit and wait for Matthew to arrive. We haven't had any rain today, but since about 4 p.m. the winds have been picking up. We've been getting winds averaging around 20-30 mph with wind gusts from 30 to almost 50 mph. We did have some rain about an hour ago, but it has stopped.

We still have power, but as the winds increase I'm not sure how much longer it will last.

House, dog & cat sitting

Fletcher came up from Ft. Lauderdale for a visit on Labor Day weekend. He brought his dog Vala and Doug's dog Diva to visit also. Tinker, Vala and Diva all get along well together, but I know Tinker is always glad when they go back home and he has "his" house and us all to himself. I fixed Fletcher's favorite meal of Pepper Steak and rice on Sunday for dinner. Monday before he left to go back home we went to Sebastian Roadside restaurant for a late breakfast. 

While Fletcher was here we talked about how the wifi signal could be better in the family room especially when we're watching movies on Apple TV. The wifi router is in the office on the other side of the house and Fletcher suggested that we get a wifi extender. So on Labor Day after Fletcher went back home, I went down to Best Buy in Vero and bought a wifi extender. I put it about half way between the family room and the office and it seems to have improved our wifi reception.

Fletcher flew up to Boston on the 23rd to visit some friends and Mike and I (and Tinker)

D.A.R. application, Mike's PT and other things

Mike spent the first 2 weeks of this month going to physical therapy 3 days a week as follow-up to his knee replacement surgery.

We drove up to West Melbourne on the 3rd to see the movie Star Trek Beyond at the IMAX theater there. Afterwards we stopped at 5 Guys to have a couple of bacon cheeseburgers and fries - the small cheeseburgers. 

We had some sad news that a high school friend of Mike's had died earlier this month and we drove down to Lake Worth on the 13th to attend his funeral. 

Before our next door neighbor moved several months ago, she gave me about 2 dozen Flaming Torch bromeliads from her garden and a few of them are blooming. 

I've been kind of toying with the idea for years of joining the Daughters of the American Revolution. So this month on the 25th I met with Laura from the D.A.R. at the Vero Library and we went over the records and documentation I have proving my relationship back to my