Rainy day

Today is a thundery (really no such word), rainy day.  That's ok though, the flowers and grass like the rain.  Yesterday, when the weather was much more pleasant, I took some flower pictures from around the yard so I will post them to perk up my day.  We keep experimenting with different perennials to see how they will do.......plants grow so different here than in the summers in Indiana.

All the plants in our front and back yard have been basically put there by us.   This is one of my favorite areas.  The lilies bloom all summer and the green leave stay during the winter months.  

The next three blooms are from the lilies - above.   So pretty!

The rose bush is next to our mailbox and is my pride and joy.  It is full of delicate pink roses throughout summer and fall.

Mom's mother's day gift was a magnolia tree.  I never dreamed that it would have so many flowers so quickly.

The cannas in the back grow too tall for their own good.   We need to tie them up otherwise the flowers just pull the stems to the ground.

Love Geraniums!

Simple petunias add so much to the pool boarder.

Mom is floating in the pool as I take pictures.

One of my pool hats.  Dave got me this for Christmas.

Kacey is not much into selfies.  Such an attitude!

It's Been Too, too long!

Oh my!   It has been so long since I have been on my blog.  My only excuse is that I have been living life!

Many of you had heard about the rain we received less than a month ago.  27 inches in 24 hours!   But that was not even the shocking part of the storm - it was the lightning that flashed every second for 8 hours.  I never saw anything like that in my life.  We were lucky.  No flooding or damage but we could not leave the subdivision for 24 hours because the water was too deep.  No school for two days, also.  Some lost their homes, their cars, their furniture and personal belongings.  A few people lost their life.  It was  a very sad time.

 

The extreme rain brought out critters from the woods.  The first guy is a chaser snake and yes, if he is frightened he will chase you.  He is very fast but not poisonous.  The second is a corn snake about 5 feet long trying to get into our garage.  OH, NO YOU DON'T!  He is also not poisonous.  But the news has been letting us know that the rattle snakes also have had to move out of the flooded areas and be on your look out of them.....especially if you have a dog.

We love having company and Kathy and Terry Cox spent a day visiting.  We did so much.....

Ate at the beach

Visited Fort Pickens

Drove part of the Island

Visited Joe Patties

Drove down Palafox downtown Pensacola

Drove through historic Pensacola

Kathy loves retirement and lives in Clearwater.  Pretty cool, huh?

Terry also loves retirement and golfs at least once a week.

Looking down the tunnels at Fort Pickens.

Shrimp boats at Joe Patties.

The Jubicks moved in 4 houses down from us just two weeks before us.  They have been a blessing to our family from day one!   We were honored to be invited to the change of command when Lamont was assigned the duty of commander of a squad.  (Air Force) 

Such an honor for him!   But since we moved here, he has had several honors bestowed upon him.  We are so fortunate to have people like Lamont keeping our country safe.  The picture below shows Nicole pinning the medal (or is a ribbon) on him.  It was an incredible ceremony and we are so thankful that we have them in our lives.    

Five or six weeks ago Mom fell in the bathroom.  Once we got her to the couch, I noticed that something was wrong with her memory.  I called 911 immediately worrying about a stroke.  Well, she lost the last three years of her memory.   Had NO memory of living in Florida.   As the day went on, the tests came back ok and her memory slowly returned.   Now all is fine.  She did take four weeks of therapy for strength and balance control.  It was scary when I thought she would not remember anything of our new life in Florida.  But as I have said, all is good now.  What actually happened?   Mom says she did not hit her head but the doctor thinks she must of hit it on the tile floor.  We had some quick lessons on how the brain works!

It is beautiful here with temps in the 80's - maybe 90 degrees tomorrow.  That means the pool is warm and comfy for swimming which I do every day.

The pictures below are the pool, the pine trees with sunset, and the mall at Spanish Fort,AL.  

Well, you know how sunny it has been.  My hair is almost blond from the sun.  Dave should be coming down in about a month for a month and Ron will be here for a week this summer.

I hope everyone is ready for a great summer.......all of you up north deserve it!!!!

The Power of Water

The pictures above show the weather today on Pensacola Beach. 80°, beautiful blue skies, fluffy white clouds, and hundreds of people out at the beach enjoying the weather.  Several days ago things were quite different though. We went through the worst rain, thunder, and lightning storm I have ever seen.  We received approximately 27 inches of rain in 24 hours. Oh my gosh,  it was unbelievable.  For us it wasn't the rain that was so bizarre but the amount of lightning and thunder that went on for about 8 to 10 hours 2 nights in a row nonstop. The rooms were lit up as if the lights were on  because there was so much lightning.

The picture below reminds me more of those days and nights. Even though we were very lucky and had no damage and no water standing in our yard, many people were not as lucky.  Highway 98 is the only main road through Gulf Breeze.    About 5 to 8 miles down 98 to the west several subdivisions got hit so bad with the rain that the water collected in the street and then rose up into the yards to the house and many of the houses had one to 3 feet of water standing throughout the house.  With the heat here flooding of the house is serious.  Mold grows almost instantly and the carpeting and often the walls have to be removed. This is what's happened to many of these people. Matter fact many of them still have the water standing in their yard and street.  Now what makes this worse for these people,  they did not live in a flood plane area and did not have flood insurance. Of course, the regular house insurance does not cover flood.  They have lost almost everything and have no help. Some people have totally lost their house because the damage was so extreme.

The city, county, and state have a lot of work to do to repair damaged roads.  Some of the roads caved in because of sinkholes.  A few lives have been lost because of this happening in Pensacola.

 Never underestimate the damage mother nature can do when she unleashes her power!



Kathy and Terry Cox are coming in on Thursday and we have lots to do. We plan on going to Fort Pickens, Pensacola Beach, historic Pensacola, and Joe Patties.   And Friday we have a very special ceremony to attend honoring a friend of ours. I will write more about that later. It looks like we are going to have good weather this week and no matter where you are I hope you have good weather also. Take care all!