August 15, 2007
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I Never Want to Leave Home Again!…..well, at least for a while….LOL
We returned back to our Alabama home late Monday, which was really earlier than we had thought we would. It turns out that the neighbor in Port Charlotte that was taking care of our lawn was doing a wonderful job. We did, however, lose one of our best peach trees to the drought. All the citrus faired well, surprisingly. With my sister, the Beast and I all pitching in, we got most of our personal things packed into the van and decided to head for Fort Lauderdale early. We figured the Beast and I could finish up in a day or so (with some of the things he wanted to do to the yard being the most time consuming) after the consulting job was completed.
We got to Fort Lauderdale around dinner time Monday evening and settled in at my sister’s for the night. My granddaughter was going to drop off my new little great-granddaughter around 7-7:30 am the next day so she could make it to work on time. Everyone went to bed early because we had made the trip from NE Alabama to Port Charlotte in one day…it was pure hell since the Beast’s truck in NOT comfortable and there were three of us sharing the one seat. Guess who got to be *monkey in the middle*? You got it! Me.
We met with our real estate agent the next day. We had already picked up a paper to see what was on the market and knew we would get details of the recent sales, etc. so we could decide what we were going to do about our house there. It was NOT good news, folks.
The end result was that I actually cried. I really love that house and so many things that we had built into it were things I had dreamed of having. It was built with a lot of love. I felt like we were giving away one of our children. It hurt me that much but we dropped the price significantly in the hope of a sale so we will be spared the upcoming homeowners insurance (along with the $1000 jump in cost) and spiriling taxes.
On a happier note, the new great-granddaughter was a sweetie pie. I really did not realize just how young she was since I was thinking she was a little over three months old. DUH! She was only a couple days over two months old. Makes a difference folks. She was still in the stage where she was asleep more than she was awake and it was feeding time with almost every waking moment. But she was a cutie. She loved when I talked to her and I discovered she liked to look in the toy mirrors on her exercise gym toy. I could have done without the stinky poopy diapers (I had forgotten how bad formula could be) but the four days I got to watch her were good times for me. I WAS however, glad when it was over. Those days are OVER for me, thank goodness. Watching a baby from 7:30 until 5:30 or so is a LOT for an old lady like me (grin).
My sister and I didn’t get to do much during the week but we did manage to get out Saturday for a little shopping and a lunch together before the Beast was done and headed out to pick me up. We left and returned to our Port Charlotte house to find the lawn nicely manicured and one dead tree that our thoughtful neighbor had gone ahead and cut down for us. All the Beast had to do was a little trimming. So, Sunday we were ready to head back up to our Alabama home. It took us until about noon before we could bid the house adieu and head on out. We decided we would drive until around 7pm or so and then stop for the night. Good thing because we ran into some horrendous rain in Southern Georgia. In fact, there had to have been a tornado nearby because of the debris that was blowing AT us (and against the flow of the rain). For the first time, my hubby actually pulled off the road to wait for the rain to subside a bit before we went on. In only a few blocks, there were trees all over the road that had been blown down or pushed over, not sure which. We stopped to eat and then checked into a nearby motel a bit early.
But by 6am, we were on the road again, anxious to get home. We decided we would NOT attempt to unload the van for a day or, maybe, two. We just wanted to get home. I swear to you, the house never looked so good as when we pulled into our own driveway. After opening the house, turning the water back on, the AC on and a few other things, I dragged in the cooler, put stuff away and then just collapsed on our couch. The Beast had to go inspect the trees because it was obvious that there had been no rain in our absence. It looks like we lost one pear tree but I am trying to be optomistic about it. It had obviously been confused because it had bloomed just before we left. Now it looks half-dead. Other than that, however, everything was fine.
I ran out of pain pills for my back on the last day (Monday) and ended up having to make an appointment with my doctor so I can get a refill. I head there tomorrow morning so I might actually be able to be on my feet for more than 5 minutes at a time. It’s the reason I waited until now to bring this up to date.
On Friday, the hubby will travel down to Anniston to pick up our new doberman puppy. I will definitely be reporting on how that goes. As I sit here, his cage is up and his bed is sitting in it (don’t worry, the door will be open but we want him to be used to it for when we travel. I would rather err on the side of safetly since it’s tough to get them to sit still with a seat belt on….LOL
We have his toys, his vitamins, his collars and leash, his Pro Plan Puppy food and some small little chew bones. He will be one happy puppy, I hope. He will probably have a tough time the frist few nights and miss his siblings. There were either eight or nine of them….all from good champion bloodlines. No, we have no intention of either showing OR breeding him. Been there, done that when my kids were young. Not for us now. In fact, I wouldn’t have even considered such a high energy dog except that we know he can be trained to run with my hubby on one of our scooters we have. If you get National Geographic Channel, try watching Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer. He’s an amazing dog rehabilitator and showed us clearly how come our first doberman was our best one. We did everything right with her and didn’t take the same time and effort with our others. It gives me great hope.
Well, have a wonderful evening and a great day tomorrow. I shall return.
