Rain, rain, go away ...

Okay, it hasn't been raining for the past few days, but there has been talk of more hurricanes/tropical storms. This makes me nervous. I'm hoping they head somewhere besides Florida.

Here are some pictures from our first tropical storm experience with Fay:

I took this photo during our drive home from work that Thursday, lots of rain and some wind.

This is the view out our front door sometime during the day on Friday. It doesn't look too bad out. But, look how much better our yard looks in general!

The University was closed for the tropical storm on Friday. It's like having a snow day without the snow! We were very fortunate in that we only lost electricity from about 2:30 a.m. until 9:00 a.m. and for about an hour that afternoon. I was hesitant to do laundry or anything that required lengthy periods of electricity as it did flicker on and off some. So, we spent a lot of the day just hanging out with Gus and watching the Olympics.

Because I wasn't sure what to expect, I took a couple of my potted plants in the house. Gus ate part of the marigolds, and they made him sick. He spent several days sleeping continuously.

Let's Doze It Down!

Yesterday, Don and his bulldozer came to fix our yard. The previous owner had scattered plants thorughout it, had stacks of wood and trees that had died and fallen over, lots of stumps and general junk. We hired Don to level out the yard and rid us of all of these items. He was a great deal and did a nice job. I think this makes our home appear much more inviting while still maintaining the privacy that the trees by the road provide. It was a wonderful thing to come home to!





In addition to clearing the brush, Don found this old metal portion of a bench. This looks like something fun to play with.

Rain and Fire

On Saturday, we had tickets to go to a St. Louis Cardinals spring training game in Jupiter, Florida. We woke up and were ready to depart by our 7:30 a.m. goal. Then, we turned on the news and learned of thunderstorms which were supposed to hit south Florida at approximately the same time the game started. We checked a few other weather sources and agreed that we did not want to spend 7-8 hours in the car to sit in the rain or to get there to find that the game had been cancelled. So, instead we went to breakfast.

Later in the day, Chad decided to work on our "yard." It needs a lot of work, including getting rid of some piles of wood that we're guessing have been there for several years. Chad called a friend and set one of the piles on fire. Although it is a small change, we view it as a drastic improvement. Later this week, a man with a dozer is coming to continue our "yard" work.

Yard Work

This stupid bush was in the way of my view out the kitchen window. So, Chad cut it down.

Exciting News!

We've purchased a home in Micanopy, Florida. It is a 2-bed, 3-bath home on 5 acres with a much shorter drive to work than what we've been making for the last few months. The house needs a little bit of work, but this is such an exciting time for us!