OUR EARLY EVENING STORM

This is a normal afternoon storm here in Florida. The picture was taken out of our side dining table window. The wind blew pretty good also but at least there were no tornado warnings, this time that is. This is another shot out the door window. The screen makes it look a little blury but it gives you an idea how strong these tropical storms can be. On the other hand, it's here one minute and gone the next. We need the rain so bad we are trying really hard not to complain.

Ding-a-Ling Deli and Jim

Jim is the newest team member of the Ding-a-Ling-Deli . He is doing an awsome job. Bruce has him slicing meats and cheeses, plus doing the inevitable, the dreaded dishes. I have him bringing food to our customers and working the register.....oh yeah, and wiping down the tables. He's great and we are so happy to have him with us.

Check out the head-band, it's working really good.

Cattle drive in Okeechobee, FL

We celebrated National Day of the Cowboy in Okeechobee, FL. It is the first time that it has ever been honored in a location east of the Mississippi. It started off with a hundred or so local cowboys and cowgirls from the various ranches in Okeechobee county, driving 50 head of cattle right down the middle of Hwy 70, moving east for 3 1/2 miles to the Agricultural Center. What a great facility this county has, the arena is covered, the 4H clubs and the FFA clubs had food concessions and there were other vendors offering so many different kinds of foods and drinks, it was hard to choose. There were cowboy poets entertaining the crowd, a world champion reining/working cowhorse and rider and then a rodeo featuring only the ranch hands from the various cattle ranches. It was great. This is the starting point by Flaggler Park.
One of the antique wagons, shown above. Below the ranches showing their flags.
Just one of the local 4H girls giving pony rides to the kids. Her horse is a barrel racing horse, the mare has a 4 year old filly back at the ranch and this little girl broke and trained it by herself. She uses it for barrel racing, also. Lily is loving this. She was enjoying this day so much, it was really hard getting her to agree to leave.
We got to the fairgrounds at 10:30 and stayed til 4 pm. Things were not quite over with yet but we were all getting very tired and it was sure hot. Lily's mom arrived with little Max and Kelly from Ft Lauderdale, they also enjoyed watching the different activities going on and they hope to return for the Labor Day rodeo coming up in September. It was just a great day all the way around.

The Praying Mantis and Lily with 2 of her buddies, Amber and Bandit

This is a Praying Mantis. Lily and I found it sitting on a bucket that we have placed under the motor home. The bucket is there to catch water from the air conditioner, we then use that water to give all of our plants a drink. As you all probably know, Florida is in a record setting drought and we are on limited watering, we can water one day a week, so in between we use this water to give our plants a good drink. It works out really well.

This is Lily Kai along with our two dogs. Amber is the little one and Bandit is the biggest one. Lily is so gentle with them and they really love her. Amber loves to take naps with Lily or sleeps with her during the night. Bandit on the other hand really just likes to be left alone. That's not a bad thing. Anyway, these are our dogs, they are Shih Tzu's, and we love them alot and are especially proud of how good they are around Lily Kai.

Just another day at Ding-a-Ling Deli

Pictured are: Linda and Bruce, they are the owners of the Ding-a-Ling Deli, and they are my bosses.

I'm not sure how I got to this point in my life but here I am and I am loving it.

Also, pictured are our morning regular's: They are Carolyn, Crystal and Don.

Yes, that is Bruce bringing, Don, his usual. I could set my clock by these guys. They are

great folks and really fun to know.

Carolyn and Don work for the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commision, while, Crystal works for the Seminole Tribe of Brighton, which is located right here in Okeechobee, FL.

Our evening ride....

We went to visit a neighbor she is raising orchids and they are just beautiful. We enjoyed seeing them. She has over 40 of them in her house.

Here's Ms. Lily Kai on our evening ride/walk. She rides, I walk. She's so darn cute..... She is doing great riding her trike, she gets it going so fast, I can hardly keep up.

As you can see I am still having a rough time manipulating where things go on this part of the post. Just need more practice, if anyone can help me out don't be shy.

PAPA AND LILY ENJOYING THEIR DAY

Go Diego, Go!!!! That's the word, ooopps, I mean those are the words of the day. Papa and Lily got busy building the Diego lego set, she is very good at this and very creative. Then there is Amber taking Lily for a ride on her bike. You think it's hot, you are right, they didn't go too far, but I thought it was pretty neat that Amber would do this.

JIM'S NEW LOOK !!

First of all, Jim tried dying his beard and it didn't turn out too good. I never got to see it because he shaved it all off before I had a chance. So, of course, he is growing it back in but it's like a brillo pad, ouch!!! The next thing I know he is doing some serious work in the bathroom and comes out with this new look. I love it!!

PROUD GRANDMAS

Good morning, America!! Trying to import pictures from yesterday's visit with Belinda and Margaret.

Oh my gosh, there it is, not bad, what do you think Margaret?

Trying to make photo a little bigger but keep running into a road block.

THIS IS OUR FIRST BLOG POSTING!!!

HERE WE GO!!!!

Ok, this is now #2 at trying to do the journaling without loosing it.

Today Belinda drove up from Ft Lauderdale, Fl to drop Lily Kai off, she will be with us for a week. We got to visit with Margaret, Belinda's, mum, she's here on holiday from England.

While here, Belinda helped me set up my first BLOG. Anyone out there know what blog means? This is going to be so much fun, I hope. She showed me how to import the pictures to this site, how to edit and post. It is going to be hit and miss from here forward but I will keep working at it.

What a great way to share what is going on in your life with your family and friends and so far it seems pretty easy. Well, not that easy, still trying to figure out how to navigate going back and forth, editing and then returning to where you were last. Hmmmmmmmm!!!!

Now I am going to post pics, here we go.