FLYBYs

by Robin

We encountered so many flybys on Thursday. I thought I'd make a post about them.

First, we flew by the sunrise as we drove down to the first beach. I could have kicked myself for not being on the beach and catching this one coming up over the ocean. Could have made a million bucks in copyright sales!



I didn't take ANY pictures at the first beach we surf fished at. Didn't even take a single picture of my whiting. But, by the time friends arrived, they played, we had lunch and moved to a 2nd, flatter beach, I thought to pick up my camera.

We had numerous skim-bys or flybys on boards. I think I make them nervous. Every time I put the camera away, they'd have these fantastic long stretches of beach covered in a single opportunities. Camera back out; lots of falls & short runs. Oh well. Some things are not meant to be.


But then, we couldn't help but notice that we were getting buzzed by the Air Force. Whatever these are, they were doing flyby exercises, AKA touch-n-go's.


I thought about tricking strangers to my blog and claiming this was a tragic accident in the making.


Afterall, it looks like some of those disaster videoes where airliners don't make the runways and ditch in the ocean.


It makes even the locals stop & take notice. It is literally "beach, 2-lane road, base & runway, river" all in a very small strip of land. I would think that a pilot would really be nervous the first dozen tries at this, but then, it would become such a great memory too.



And then for out last flyby, we had a jelly "touchdown" on Simon Peter's foot. My kids were barely in the water. It just goes to show you that nobody is immune to jellyfish stings, even in January. We've had our share of jellyfish this year on our beaches. We manage to dodge them all year, until now.




Well, if you're going to live by the ocean, these are the things that you have to get used to flying by. Sunrises, kids, planes & jellyfish. They don't seem like likely bedfellows, but on Thursday, they were.

God bless & don't forget to get out to vote on Tuesday my fellow Floridians.

Robin
Robin

SKIMBOARDING in JANUARY

by Robin

Yes, that's right! Not snowboarding, but skimboarding. We have had a string of gorgous days in the low 80's. So, we planned over the weekend, to double-school on Wednesday and then take Thursday off. Friday, it was suppose to turn rainy, windy & cooler.

That's what we did!



Another family joined us in our plans. Sometimes we Moms need to get out of the house too and enjoy some surf fishing. I have found my fishing-homeschooling mom-music counterpart!! Even though we hardly catch a thing, we enjoy each other's company and the kids get along so well.

Oh, and I'm so thankful that pre-dawn trips to the beach, handling bait and getting wind-blown hair are all OK with her.

I would show you more pics of our day, but I don't have permission to put her kids up here publically.

God bless!
Robin

GARDENS & DRIP IRRIGATION

by Robin



My sons and I put another few layers of manure on the new garden. Yeah!! Then, today, I treated myself to 150 ft of new drip irrigation lines. I took apart our former chicken coop on Saturday and will use that wire & posts to make into climbing fences for the beans, cucumbers & squash.

We're in for sunny, 79 deg days all week. This will be an awesome side project kinda week.

God bless!

SURF FISHING

by Robin

I forgot to blog that over a week ago, we went surf fishing with friends of ours. We do the Fiddler's Guild with them. We were saying earlier about how the kids needed to have time to hang out together. We did many performances in December and many of the kids received instruments as holiday gifts. So, they were obviously all wanting to talk instead of play their instruments.

Then, I mentioned something about getting home early to prepare for surf fishing the next day. Little did I know, but one of the other moms is a HUGE fan of surf fishing. Well, it took about all of 2 seconds to commit & form a plan. By 6:10 a.m., my friend and I were on the phone with a more definite location. (That's a true friend who will get up at 6 am to hang out with you!)



Anyhow, the sunrise was gorgeous, as always in Florida! Temps were cool in the morning, but it took no time for the temps to rise.



The boys looked for sandfleas.



The seagulls were having their first cup of coffee.



"D" and I were set up & ready to go!

She caught the first and ONLY fish of the day. This is a bluefish. I felt so awful for her because the fish bit her and she bled profusely over it. I don't know why I didn't use my brain and help her get the fish off. It's not that she isn't competent. I call it, "Early-Morning Brain fog." She was on meds that made it harder for her blog to clot and so it was unfortunate that the whole thing happened.




It is highly unlikely to get skunked like that on an early morning surf. I can only blame that (possibly) fish like the incoming tide and ours was an outgoing tide the entire morning.


Well, there is nothing like a beautiful day on the beach, enjoying the company of good friends.




The language of friendship is not words but meanings. ~Henry David Thoreau

GARDEN REPORT - New Garden!!

... some assembly required.

by Robin

You'll have to forgive me if I have strange typos or dangling participals in this blog. My fingers are numb, my arms are like jello and my brain is exhausted. You see, for two weekends now, we've been working on a new garden.

We were so very excited to be eating our homegrown broccoli on a weekly basis.



It's not a beautiful garden, but it did manage to survive the first round of freezing temps. My okra stopped producing, so they are gone. The beans are long gone too. But the broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, herbs and tomato plants are still there. I brought some inside for the freeze and others were covered with a plastic tarp.



We women have to be very careful how we approach our husband when requesting to tear up our yard. We had a garden in this spot before and Jack had requested that we let the gravesite (as he loves to call it) to grow over with grass. I complied. However, with inflation beginning to take it's toll on our grocery bill, it gave us more reason to reconsider our plot of grass.

What is so important about grass? It's attractive, yes. But, there is so much upkeep over grass. Watering. Fertilizing. Mowing. I do think it is a bit overrated. (Especially in 90+ deg heat)



So, I presented my idea to Jack to go all-out in that sunny corner of the yard with a new garden. I didn't even have to bat an eyelash and he was game for it. As soon as we came home from church, we put on work clothes. He smoked a turkey while we all took turns with the tiller & then many times of raking out the dead grass to see where we still needed to till.



I have to say, we were mighty pleased with our progress. Me and Simon Peter (yes, yes... I know, my grammar stinks here) took off to the local home improvement store and we bought 10 bags of topsoil. As you can see, it didn't go very far. Looks slightly darker, but honestly, didn't put a dent in what I wanted to accomplish.



A week later, I was networking with the local Urban Hillbilly and she tells me that her raised beds are 100% horse manure. What? Well, that sounds so very easy compared to months & months & months of composting. I had already put a bunch of fish bodies in holes in the garden, but that was going to be labor intensive for minimal fertilizer. So.... I decided to head out to the local horse farms.



On my first (& only stop since I was so blessed) stop, I was able to score a number to the owner and she was readily agreeable to letting me have some of their manure. Thank you Ms. Horse lady!!!

Bright & early this morning (about 10 am), I loaded up the boys (i.e. free labor) and we headed off with 2 big tubs, 2 recycle bins and 2 shovels. We made friends with the horses, the barn kitty and went to work.



We put four SUV loads (of 4 bins each time) into the new Garden (#2). As you can see, we barely made a dent in this hill. It didn't smell bad either (IMO), although my youngest may find that debatable.



And went back for a 5th load of manure for the original garden (#1). I dumped the recycle bins into it right away and am holding onto the other 2 tubs, full of poo, for the spring planting. Garden #2 is now a few inches deep of pure horse manure (straw & some dirt). It is getting a slight raised-up look.



I do hope that in a month, when my fingers & arms have recovered, I can go back and get another couple/few loads right before I plant. I'm interested in seeing if I can get spinach & lettuce to grow in the better soil. Heaven knows that it doesn't like the sandy soil that God gave us here in Florida. Plus, we will be installing another drip irrigation system for this garden. I hope to have amazing results this year.

Thanks for following me through this super-poopy post. Hope it didn't stink (LOL).

God bless America!
Robin

19 YEARS!

by Robin

Today is our anniversary. Quiet day but nothing matters except that I am with him.

Jack, you're my everything.

Love you.
Me.