New Years, Patches & the beach clean up

We had the cozy pleasure of Jody & Renato joining us for 2 nights over New Years.....along with their 2 dogs. The weather was wet so that put a dampener on things.

If you think that the BP oil clean up down here is done....it is not. When we were in Biloxi we saw the same deep sand cleaning. This takes up the top 3 feet of sand and it goes through a screener to remove oil & tar. The sand is then placed back on the beach. These pictures were taken today in the middle of Gulf Shores beach, right at the end of AL59 where it ends at the gulf. They will work all the way (~15 miles) to the east shore of Mobile Bay. I'm sure this is continuing on the west side of the bay.

Patches has had an operation! A week ago she was throwing up for 2 days so she spent the night at the vets being checked and hydrated. When we took her home she was not throwing up anymore but she was not eating either. After 2 days of that back to the vet. An X-ray showed she had a twisted intestine and something was also blocking it. The vet operated last Monday, we visited her Tuesday and brought her home Wednesday. She is doing much better, back to enjoying views from several windows, lounging in the sun, her box, and napping on the bed.

Here at the park Judy has seen the fun the guys have playing poker so she has started ladies poker games on Friday afternoons. There have been 15 to 20+ women showing up to play every Friday. She now leads poker and water aerobics.

Christmas in Biloxi

Christmas morning we all slept in and about noon opened gifts. Mid afternoon Jody, Renato & I went back to his brothers. Judy was feeling like she was getting the flu so stayed home. When we arrived at Ivans the party was still going strong. Two fellows were playing guitars and singing for the rest of the group. The fruit, turkey and ham had a big dent in them and more food was being prepared. These folks also like their beer, and lots of it. When we returned to Jody & Renatos we spent Christmas evening watching two DVDs of the Bahnmiller Family Follies. These where all the movies Judy & I made starting with Jody's birth all the way to Randy coming home for a visit while he was in the Navy, took 3 hours to watch them. Sunday morning Renato fixed some good omelets and Judy & I drove back to Gulf Shores in the afternoon.

Sunday the weather turned real cold, down to 28 at night so we let the water run to keep the lines from freezing.

Christmas in Biloxi..the Nina & Pinta...but no Santa Maria

Thursday we drove to Biloxi to spend Christmas with Jody & Renato. We met them for a late lunch then toured a replica of Columbus' Nina & Pinta. Both we hand made in Brazil a few years ago and have been touring northern South America and all or North America, including the Great Lakes. They have also been in documentaries for television. It's amazing how small these ships are and how strong the men were who sailed off in them in the 1600s considering most thought the world was flat and they would fall off.

Renato made a pizza for supper on Thursday.....ever had hard boiled eggs on a pizza? Sounds a little strange? Guess what....it was dog gone good. I hope Jody is taking notes when Renato cooks.

On Christmas Eve we all went to church then over to Renato's brothers home. We learned about how Christmas is celebrated in Brazil. There we 12 or 15 relatives and friends and Ivan, Renato's brother, was BBQing some steak. He slices it thin and everyone snacks on it. There was a large large table outside piled high with fruit; apples, oranges, grapes, pineapples, melons and more; very colorful. And, of course, lots of beer. A little before midnight out comes a turkey & huge ham.....and the feast continued. We were told the party will continue all night but the four of us went home to bed.

The moon eclipse

Did you go outside at 2 or 3am to see the eclipse? We did. We missed the last one in the 1600s and will the next one 80 years from now so thought we'd best check this one out. The weather was good, 60 degrees and no clouds. There were a few neighbors out also, seems the retirees can find the time to do this.

Off to see Clayton & Pat

On Thursday we had a rental car for our trip to visit Clayton & pat outside St Augustine. FL. It's 420 miles so we didn't want to take the truck. We arrived about 6:30 and we had a nice steak supper. On Friday Clayton got to mix up half a recipe of Grandma Bahnmiller's Lebkuchens for Christmas. He wanted to do this so we certainly wanted to help! Later in the day we ran some errands & played some euchre & had a few drinks. We also got to see the wild turkeys that roam around the edge of the woods behind their home. That night Pat took us out to dinner (along with Tom & Kim) at a nice restaurant....it was Clayton's birthday. Saturday morning was baking day and we finished about 175 cookies. Clayton & Judy untangled and hung his birthday present from Scott, the green bamboo bird pictures. That evening we went to Tom & Kims for supper them we all had a hot game of dealers choice poker. I think pat & Clayton were the big winners. Sunday we drove back home and that evening we played euchre at the RV park, I was the low scorer so got my one buck back. We took Patches with us to Clayton & Pats and she was very well behaved, I think Clayton kinds likes her & she had a good time.

LuLu's Christmas boat parade

This evening we went to our third Christmas boat parade, it was as good as the first time we went. We took Dennis & Kathy with us after a nice shrimp supper at the Oyster House.

RV park Christmas program

Tonight the RV park held it's annual Christmas program. I went the first year we were here and not since. There was a lot of just singing by individuals or groups which does not excite me. I do remember one lady who was excellent.....she was a ventriloquist with her dummy. Unfortunately she wasn't here this time. I went to see a couple of our friends & neighbors who played Santa's elfs. Cute huh? Their hats vibrated and jingled which you can't see in the picture. There was a cute poem but otherwise just a bunch of singing.