This Time of Year

This time of year is always a happy time for me.    Tony spends a great deal of time working in the yard and making it look nice.  Although we have landscapers doing the mowing and trimming stuff for us, he still likes to buy annuals of all colors and put them throughout the  yard.  

We also had our taxes done the other day and were pleased to find out that we get refunds this year.  Usually, we have to pay either the federal or state and sometimes both, but this time, they are paying us.  Whoopee!!

We have a trip to Charlotte coming up.  Coleton and Anthony are on the same little league baseball team and they are playing this weekend.  Marie is out of town, so we can help Tony Jr., out a bit, as he is a coach on their team.  Tony and I will take care of Owen which will be a blast.  

Tony and I went to the Cape Fear Voices Writer's Award Dinner on the 10th.  I won an honorable mention for my article about 9-11.  It was called, "Another Day That Will Live in Infamy."  It was nice to be recognized.  I am still writing for the paper and doing some support work.  Check out the website at www.capefearvoices.org.  It's still being developed, but we like it. 

I'm having lunch with one of the editors tomorrow as well as a candidate for a sales position we have.  The editor said he wasn't great at interviewing so he asked me to go along.  I'm looking forward to it.  Interviewing people was one of my favorite things to do when I was working.  It's fun seeing if the skills people have fit the type of work associated with the opening.  

May will mark out 32 anniversary as well as the first time we will see Elizabeth in Florida.  

So, today was a good day.  Hope yours was too. 

This is what you do when your tax lady says, "Refund!!!!"

You go to one of your favorite restaurants for lunch!

The backyard with flowers and plants

A beautiful day for planting

Tony vacates one of his pots so I can plant my flowers

Yellow flowers--they are supposed to appeal to the hummingbirds!

Our Last Grandbaby

 

Yesterday at 11:23, our last grandbaby was born.  We got a message from David saying, "Mom and baby doing fine."   Wonderful, happy to hear it, but is it a boy or a girl?  

A few hours later, he told us that Elizabeth Claire Swegle, 8 pounds, 11 ounces was doing well.  

We don't have pictures to post yet, but she has dark hair and eyes and we're sure she is beautiful.

Thanks to Brenda for evening up the boy/girl mix a little bit!!

Shot Reaction

 

Tony and I got our second shot on Saturday.  Immediately after, we felt fine and went shopping.   Later that evening and going into the next day, we didn't feel 100%.  Both of us had low grade fevers and were really, really tired.  Today we feel better.  I'm still tired and achy, but Tony is up and moving!  

Not much is going on.  We see the effects of the decline in the virus down here.  Masks are still required everywhere, but it feels like we are moving in the right direction.  

It's good to see Dr. Faucci smiling on TV now even if he is delivering another warning about spiking.  

We bought a new office chair a few weeks ago that was supposed to be delivered today, but has been pushed back for the 3rd time until Thursday.   I think the excitement about getting a new chair is giving way to frustration.  Promise me the truth in delivery and I will be happy.  One more delay and I will be looking to cancel the order.   

The C section Brenda is supposed to have is now on for Tuesday, March 23.  Another delay!   OK, I admit it, I hate waiting.   I'm not a "pace" person.  I want it and I want it now.  

Dixie is well.  She goes with Tony to resupply the dog poop bag stations and really loves it.  She sits in the front seat in her car seat and barks as people going by and enjoys the sights and smells of the dog park.  She is quite a character and people just love her.   Dixie is convinced that she is human.  If Tony and I are sitting on the lanai with snacks, Dixie has to be there with us.   If it's 6:00 a.m. and we're still sleeping, she will jump up her doggie steps and settle right in.   We rarely call her a dog, she gets offended. 

Warmer weather is creeping up on us and it isn't a day too soon.  The landscapers are preparing new pine straw for our yard and trimming trees for spring.  All in all, it's really pretty down here. 

And so, I better get back to cleaning.  That never changes no matter what the temperature is!

I hope the worst of Covid is behind us and people all over the world are safe. 

Another beautiful day

Dixie chillin'

I love the beach!

Warmer Weather

I know I shouldn't complain about weather because I get pictures from Cleveland showing a foot of snow and huge ice chunks hanging from windows and trees.  We have had a ton of rain this year so far and it has been unusually cold.   But all of that is changing and we are starting to enjoy warmer weather again.  It was 79 degrees yesterday and again today.  We went to the beach yesterday and it was wonderful.  There were dozens of people out, many with dogs.   We didn't take Dixie with us, she isn't a beach kind of dog.  She tends to stay under our chairs and watch the water instead of playing in it.  

So we had our wine and cheese and watched sky divers land on the beach, dogs parading by, kids face planting in the sand and lots of women who should have worn suits that covered more!

We have been social butterflies of late.  We got our first Covid shot February 20 and go back for the second on March 13.  We went out for Tony's birthday to Joseph's, a favorite Italian restaurant, we had Donna and Bob over for a last dinner on Friday since they are going back to Cleveland on Monday and yesterday we went to the Palm Pointe Social, our neighborhood get together.  We always have a good time there, meeting new people and hearing about what everyone is doing. 

Our newest baby will be born sometime in March and we are getting more and more excited.  I can't wait to go to Florida to see Alex and the new baby.  Oh, I guess David and Brenda will be there too!!

I am still working with Cape Fear Voices and enjoying the creative outlet it gives me.  They are having a writer's award dinner in April and I have been nominated in three categories for best story.  Stay tuned for the results!

So, that's our story.  Busy, but enjoying things.  Hopefully, I'll be posting pictures of the new baby soon.

Here are some beach pictures:

If you look real close, you'll see an orange dot

near the two clouds in the middle of the page.

That's a sky diver!  

Tony checks out the water temperature

Lots of dogs enjoying the day!

I thought this was a hyena.  Turns out it was just a 

dog who loves the beach!

What a beautiful day.

Alex, Dixie and Brenda

Well, one thing you can say about Alex, Dixie and  Brenda is that they are all strong females!  

David sent us a video the other day showing Alex helping him put together a bookcase for her "apartment"  (her new room!)  There she was in Florida wearing just her unders with a drill in her little hand, applying the drill to a screw to join one section to another.   At 3 years old, she's helping to make furniture!!  OK, Daddy was there to lend a hand, but it was fun to hear her laugh because the drill was vibrating in her hand.  She did pretty well, telling Daddy once, "I need a little bit of help."  She was trying to put in the screw on the bottom of the bookcase and she turned the drill upside down.  Smart, I thought!

As far as Dixie is concerned, she and Tony had a tough time last night.  We were at Donna and Bob's condo in Sunset Beach watching the Super Bowl and Dixie had to go out.  Tony took her out front and it seemed like a long time before they came back.  It turns out that Dixie was mugged by two larger dogs--one on a leash and one who had flipped his lead.    Tony stepped in and picked her up during the fray and got roughed up a bit himself, but they both came through like troupers.  The owner was  extremely apologetic, but the larger dog just got away from him when the dog saw Dixie.   Dixie was a bit traumatized after the event.  After it was all over, she did a large poop.  We guessed that the dogs scared the shit right out of her!   She was quiet and hid the rest of the night.  Today she is fine.  When I took her out this morning, she wanted to go in the direction of where the dogs were last night.  It was like she was saying, "let me at 'em.  Now that I know how they roll, I can take them."  We didn't go that way!  Tony is fine--more worried about Dixie and his leather jacket than himself. 

And then, there is Brenda.  Strong, smart, beautiful, wise, Brenda.  She will give us (probably) our last grandbaby in March--just around the corner.  Tony and I don't know the sex of the baby.  I'm on the fence--both Brenda and David are such great "girl" parents, it would be nice to have another one.  And, we are "boy heavy" in terms of grandsons.  Still, it would be nice to have a Lakeland Swegle boy.  We'll just have to wait and see.  I know when the time comes, Brenda will have everything in good order at home and at work and then she will put her mind to giving us a beautiful new baby.  

So, there are the "women" that we love.  I can see Alex putting furniture together in her dorm room on Freshman move in day with her own drill and tools.  Dixie will not be fooled again by dogs she thinks are coming to play her and Brenda will, as always, be a wonderful mom, wife, attorney and person in general.  

We are lucky to have all of them in our lives. 

New

And so we begin a new administration.  I saw on Facebook that one of Biden's top aides said that the Trump administration left a bigger mess than they anticipated.  I think the translation to that is that the Democrats will need more than 4 years to fix everything.  

I'm not sure how I feel about that.   In 2016, I was one of the people who were saying we didn't need another politician in office--we needed a business person who would move away from status quo and lean toward monetary equality through Wall Street.  Well, that didn't seem to work out.   But, I don't think it's the political party who makes the country "great again."  I think it's how the administration inspires the people of America to be great.  

We can't let Covid be our "new normal."  We have to fix it.  We can't work in silo's--we have to work together.  We can't ask for someone's voter registration card before we decide to be friendly or not.  We have to have faith that we will have more in common with people than ideas that will keep us apart.  

That won't be easy.  I, for one, can hold a grudge until hell freezes over, but that has not translated to good things in my life for me.  If anything, it has made me have to work harder to maintain and grow relationships.  

I have faith in this administration, in part, because of the diversity in cabinet selections.  Some people equate the word, "diversity," to mean, "different from me."  And, they translate that into reasons why they are being shorted, financially or in terms of opportunity.  But I think it could mean that different people will bring different experiences and will have a voice to say, "hey, wait....you're not making things fair for all."   At least, I hope so.

I give credit to all political parties who have people willing to put themselves out there to get a job done.  My life could not take the scrutiny of examination required for these jobs.  

I hope that the days ahead bring peace to all and help us find our way through disease,  unrest and division.  I hope the new administration is strong on many fronts and peaceful when it needs to be. 

Riots

 

I have been reading about the Capitol riots for days now.  It happened, it was covered on the news, people were shocked, rioters went home and now people are being arrested.  

I have seen on Facebook that people on both sides are outraged and each are pointing fingers at the other.  

I have seen people comparing the riots to the BLM marches and insisting that the marches were worse than the riots.  

The latest is that the guy I call, "Horned Guy," has been arrested but won't eat jail food because he has certain food restrictions.  His mother appealed to the judge that heard his case that he needs to be fed the type of foods he eats.  This is not medical stuff, this is preference.  

I have read all of this stuff and I still feel that those who died in this mess have been lost in the media frenzy.  A policeman was beaten to death with a fire extinguisher.  A demonstrator was shot.  What will it take to make people stop?  To make people say, this is not worth it?  What will it take to make people pause and say, "really, this is how I was raised by my mother?"  

And now there is talk of assassinations at the inauguration.   Why?  Do the people who are rioting think that if President elect Biden is killed as well as the Democratic Vice President,  that Trump will be put back in office?  You can't kill democracy.  Maybe they have tried, but you can't.

Grow up.  Stand down.  Be proud in another way.  Stop the madness.