We're baaaaacccccckkkk!

Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina in the morning!  We are off the island and back in the great state of NC. This is old news though.  We've been here a year now.  We finally found a house and have been working on it.  Pictures will follow!

Puerto Rico

In light of the fact that John and I are now living in Puerto Rico, I've decided to rename our blog. It is now, "The Adventures of Juan and Linda". Since my name is a Spanish word I don't need to change it. John will now be referred to as Juan. To say we are having an adventure is an understatement. All I can say is, "I'm soooooooo glad I took Spanish in high school and a college Spanish 4 years ago!" I'm way ahead of the game!!! Most residents here speak English in some varying degree except the man who installed our Direct TV. Now that was interesting. With hand gestures and pushing buttons on the remote controller he thought he had taught me how to DVR something. I listened intently and thought, "if I have any questions, I will just refer to the manual." Then I realized the manual is in Spanish only. Not like most things where it is in 4 different languages....no sir....just Spanish. Drats. I called our eldest who has Direct TV and he walked me through it. Yeah! Getting our car.......now THAT was an adventure. We thought we arrived at the right place only to find we were not. A wonderful man who happened to speak English told us we were in the wrong place. Since our rental car was parked in the parking garage we decided to take a taxi to get to the correct location. I got the cabbie's number and called him when we were done. We went to what we thought was the correct room and after waiting in line found that it was not. Needless to say, it took a long time. Oh, no one is in any real hurry here either. Seriously. NO ONE! After several hours we got back to our parked rental car and had to drive to another location to pick up our car. I promise pictures will follow soon! Until then......hasta la vista!

Thanksgiving Day

John and Cassandra and in just a few weeks their baby girl.

Jared and Karen.




I asked for a goofy pose and this is what I got.



Thanksgiving Day!

Me and my mum.

John to the rescue! I never go anywhere without my phone and mum never goes anywhere without candy in her pocket. Well, this was a day that neither of us took with us either of those things while we went for a little walk. All of a sudden mum's blood sugar plummets and I had to leave her and run to the house....which was almost another medical emergency, like a heart attack!! I got to the house, ran inside and yelled for John. "John ...(insert labored breathing)......grab the .....car keys........here's some......candy......go.........(still labored breathing).....get mum! Her blood sugar has dropped! John to the rescue! He ran from the house only to find mum just around the corner. She had continued to walk slowly. He so lovingly escorted her to the house while giving her candy to eat. I had interrupted his lunch and you can see he is wearing some of the jelly from his sandwich on his shirt.

Mum's visit

Only a few more hours and John and I will be gathering mum up for a visit. We can't wait! As crazy as mum and John are together, I've decided to document her entire visit. Please check in daily for recent photos and stories and trust me, there will be LOTS of them!

bobcat

 

Two Sundays ago I was sitting at the kitchen table finishing some things up for church when I looked out the window and saw a bobcat. It was about 20 feet from the window and was just still looking at me. I wanted John to see it and started yelling, "Bobcat John, Bobcat John....grab the camera!" LOL He jumped up and grabbed the camera. I was keeping an eye on it in case it decided to take off. It started to walk fairly quickly but I managed to get this picture. Not the best but glad I got it anyway!

Happy St. Patricks Day

I've been a slacker, I know! My last post was a Happy New Year greeting. I've just been very busy. Sunday I downloaded more photos from my camera and need to get them posted.....I promise I will....just not today. We are having a very busy week. Teaching the girls at church to cook on Wednesday and we have our bestest friends coming for the weekend. We are going to see Gladys Knight and her choir perform Saturday night. I know it will be a great evening. On top if everything, I have been keeping a baby and this ol' girl is no spring chicken anymore. I do have to say, I have my "baby arms" back! So,don't give up on me yet. I will be posting a whole bunch of photos. Until then, kiss your favorite Irish person! I know I will. tehe

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all! We hope your Christmas was filled with love! Our Christmas call to Clinton was great! He is doing well although that whole week he battled bronchitis and saw the doctor 3 x's. Jared and Steven were here Christmas eve so they got to talk with their brother. John Jr. got here Christmas day evening. A lot of coming and going! Jared got off work earlier than expected so he and Karen left the same time Steven left his home to arrive at our house. The race was on to see who would arrive first. Steven called when he was near his dad's work and I told him that he was sure to beat his brother if he was that close. Little did we know that Jared had just pulled in the driveway. We joked with Steven and told him Jared was here but then when we found out he REALLY was here we started to laugh! Jared hung around outside to wait for Steven to pull up. As Steven pulled into the driveway he was met with his brother dancing and a "full moon" if you get my drift. What brothers do! That made my day.

A day in the life of a foggy brained organist.

Yesterday my brain matched the weather outside. It was foggy. We've had a week of rain and wind all due to a Nor'easter. I've been through small hurricanes and it was remarkably similar. We are fortunate that we had no flooding or power loss, although Thursday night it flickered off and on about 6 times. I tried to get a picture of the river but with the rain/wind combination, it got my lens wet and the picture didn't turn out. Sorry! Now back to the foggy brain........ Did you ever have one of those days? We went to church in the dreary weather. I did manage to have everything organized! I got into church, opened up the organ, placed my hymn book, flipped the on switch, checked my settings and then the fog really hit my brain! I looked at the book like it was a foreign language. I was having a hard time processing what I was looking at and making my hands work. I played prelude music. It was just okay. Opening hymn was okay. Sacrament hymn was okay. The chorister informs me that she thinks the congregation doesn't know our rest hymn. What???!!! It is a classic hymn!!! OMGoodness! I decided that the congregation needs to hear it a little louder than one would normally play. The chorister decides we need to hear it the whole way through before we sing. Okay. Since I'm a little on the short side and can't reach the organ pedals without much stretching, I got situated on the bench, leaned back so I could extend my leg to hit the "gas pedals" aka crescendo and other things. Basically it will make it sound a lot louder. I placed my hands over the keys, struck the keys with the first chord and you would've sworn a flock of 900 geese flew over the church!!! I quickly lifted my hands from the keyboard, leaned back again to undo the "gas pedals", looked at the congregation and said a quick, "sorry!" and then with shaking hands attempted to play the hymn. IT WAS NOT GOOD! I just wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Really. I managed to make it to the end, got off the bench and debated whether I wanted to go to the ladies room and barf or just go crawl into the arms of my hubby. I kept my head low and then looked towards John only to find him grinning wickedly at me. I will kick him later. I did slide into the pew beside him and felt that comfort of being in his arms. As I listened to the last speaker, I was perplexed as to why my brain had fogged out on me like it had and JUST HOW AM I GOING TO EVER GET BACK UP THERE AND PLAY AGAIN!!!! As I listened to the concluding speaker a calm came over me. My hands stopped shaking, my breathing slowed, the fog lifted from my brain and when the time came to play, I did it without any problems. I think the Lord was making me an object lesson for our young women at church for their lesson that day (being taught by me) was on, "Courage to try". I informed them that it took ALL the courage I had to go back up and play again. Later that evening I went to a stake choir practice. There is one woman there who is the best pianist, vocalist, I have ever met. She even plays the viola!!! Get out! Next to her my level of playing is chop sticks! I am in awe of talent of any kind, especially like hers. It makes me grateful we are not all alike. It would be a very boring world if we were.

Sunset

Sometimes there are no words to describe what we are blessed to see. This is one of those occasions. It was Sunday evening. We had a guest over for dinner and I commented on the beautiful colors the sunset was displaying over the water. I walked out the back door and came upon the most beautiful sunset I have ever witnessed. One thing about a sunrise or sunset, they change so quickly. The intense colors can be gone in just a few seconds. Again, I'm grabbing the camera and just like I said to the eagle, "Don't go away, don't go away!", I shot several photos. These two are what John and I declared the best!

Oh look! It's an eagle!

A few years back a salmon commercial involving a grizzly bear and a man ran the email circuit. The man spoke with a British accent and said to the bear, "Oh look! It's an eagle!" After that, our family would say that line in the British accent. (Kind of like the Monty Python and the Holy Grail stuff) Anyway, we moved here and lo and behold...there are eagles! I've seen them....heard them...(and yes, they sound just like they do on TV) but had yet to capture this majestic bird on film. Okay...I meant digital. The other morning I was practicing the music I will be playing on the organ this Sunday (ya, I'm still in shock over that one!) when something flying near the window caught my eye. It flew into the tree at the river's edge and I just knew it was the eagle! I grabbed my camera all the while saying out loud, "Don't fly away, don't fly away!" I got out the back door and got this picture of him/her in the tree. I was so excited. I tried to get a little closer but he/she didn't like me getting that close and flew away.

Church Organist

I have recently been called to the position of church organist. Never ever having played the organ before I thought this will be a great area of growth for me! I found this video and have proclaimed this man MY HERO!!!! Just amazing! Enjoy!!

Oh!! Turn the music off on my blog before you watch the video. Also, I thought it would create a link to view but it hasn't so copy and paste it into a new window to view. At least until I figure out how to do this! Yet another thing to learn. :o)

http://deseretbook.com/video/view/360

Snake!

Let me preface the story I'm about to tell with this: I had just heard of an area resident who had the unpleasant experience of being bitten by a copperhead snake on the ankle. Okay...enough said, right? I have been fully aware that copperheads seem to be more troublesome in the fall and it is finally fall! I walk outside scanning the ground before me wishing I had my rubber boots on instead of flip flops. My boots had a bad tear in them so I threw them out. Okay..on to my story.

This past Saturday was a beautiful fall day. I was determined to prepare my cold frame for planting. Just the thoughts of fresh spinach and lettuce in November got me motivated. I got my gardening gloves on and proceeded to my cold frame which is up against the south facing wall of our house. I slid the glass doors open and looked carefully inside to be sure there were NO snakes. All clear! I proceeded to yank the grass out by hand and realized I would need my gardening tools. I grabbed them and started digging the grass out by the roots. It was difficult being bent over trying to reach all the grass so I removed the 2 glass doors from the frame and climbed inside. I used my tool, right handed then left handed all the while ranking the grass roots up. I needed to reposition myself inside this little structure so I stood up.......turned to my right.......and AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! There was a snake INSIDE my cold frame just inches from my sandaled feet and bare legs. I did the only thing I knew to do. I screamed and jumped out! Let me tell you.....I don't believe I have ever been so scared in my life. The snake was coiled up and posed to strike. Now mind you....remember the copperhead bite was fresh in my little brain. I was so shook up I called my knight in shining armor...my hubbie. The call went something like this, "John!!!" He asks, "Are you okay?" "NO I'M NOT OKAY!!" He then asked, "What's wrong?" I told him the story and he did the unthinkable. He laughed. I thought, "Oh no, you did NOT just do that!" I was in tears. He said he was sorry...that he shouldn't have laughed and then he proceeded to tell me, "Just go to the garage, get the hoe and kill it!" Several thoughts were running through my head now. 1. I have just had the scare of my life. 2. My knight in shining armor is showing some tarnish. 3. He wanted me to kill this snake all by myself?! I can only describe the reaction to his comments like this: Just squirt lighter fluid on an open flame. Mad...I was soooooo mad! I hung up, stomped to the garage, couldn't find the hoe, found the garden rake instead and stomped over to the snake. He was curled up on the inside top part of the frame. I opened the door and he proceeded to crawl up the side of the house. I tried to get him on my rake but he dropped down between the frame and the house. Being so pumped full of adrenaline now I yanked the cold frame one handed off the brick foundation and tried to shoosh the snake. He finally got curled around the one wrung of the garden rake and I thought, "What the heck am I to do with it now!?" I started walking to the water's edge with the rake extended straight out from me, got 1/2 way to the water and asked myself, "How will I get him off the rake?" Okay, bad idea. I turned around, headed to the garage because we have some deep sided buckets in there. I will just put him in a bucket and then JOHN can deal with it when he gets home. The snake decides to jump off the rake just as I passed my back door. What!? I can't have him near the back door where he could scare me again. I then raised the rake over my head and brought it down on the snake. I killed it. I did it again for safe measure. I got the bucket, put the snake in and stomped into the house hyperventilating and called John. I said or rather hissed (ha ha get it..hissed!), "I KILLED THE SNAKE AND I HOPE YOU ARE HAPPY!" Well, that was it. My day was ruined. Feeling very spent by my fright and kill, I retired to the safety of my home. Even though I killed the snake I felt defeated. I then felt guilty!!! Yep, because by the time I realized it wasn't a copperhead, I knew it was a juvenile rat snake. (see previous entry of John killing what he thought was a copperhead). Here is a picture of the snake in the bucket. John was pleased I was in a better mood on Sunday and tried to joke saying he was going to skin the snake and make me a pair of boots. With finger pointed directly at him I said, "You have not redeemed yourself from yesterday so you are not allowed to joke about it yet!" To his credit he did finish preparing the soil for the planting of my little crop. I got my stuff planted on Tuesday. I will be heading to the store to buy new boots this week. :0)

Wordless Wednesday

Gone Fishing

Last night John finally got the dream date he's always wanted. We went fishing together. Armed with 2 poles, tackle box, bucket, bait and rain gear we headed off to the fishing hole. John baited my pole with shrimp and after a very brief re-acquaintance with the workings of the fishing pole, I cast my line out. I will sum last night up with this: Linda 3, John......none, nada, zip, NOTHING! We fished until dark trying to give John every chance to catch at least one or even a nibble. We headed back home, gear in tow and my one fish in the bucket. The other 2 were too small to keep. I had the poles on my one shoulder and the flashlight in the other. We were about 1/2 way home when I said, "Stop! I smell something." (and sniffing around just for effect) "I smell a skunk!" Then looking at John I said, "Someone's been skunked!!!!" He fell for it and I will NOT excuse THIS PUN: HOOK, LINE AND SINKER!!!! Let's just say, the contest is now on. He must redeem his manhood and challenge me again. I just said, "A woman's gotta do what a woman's gotta do!"

Internet finally!

It has taken almost a full month to figure out what kind of internet service to get here and it hasn't been fun either. I was so mad and frustrated. I just knew I was going to die a slow and painful death of internet withdrawal. I envisioned myself lying on the floor, prostrated, eyes rolled back in my head and well....you get the picture. Verizon is the provider in the area but they don't offer DSL at my location, only dial up. That was out of the question. On to cable then? Nope. The cable company doesn't come to our door. Hmmmmmm.....okay. I didn't want cable anyway, just cable internet and so that settled that. Okay, satellite then? Nope. Oh, they (2 companies) could provide it but I must give up my first born child. Yah, way too expensive for my taste and I just didn't like the idea of "renting" their little dish every month either. Broadband you say? Yes! I got with Verizon and got that cute little thing you plug into the usb port. Finally! No, wait a second.....why am I ALWAYS getting booted off? Yep...99.9% of the time I was booted off repeatedly. Well, that isn't going to work either. I got word of another wireless company, went to their store and signed up. I called Verizon and canceled then installed Ntelos. It was soooooooooooooooooooo slooooooooowwwww. I just knew I was going to die. After 2 days of trying to figure this out on my own, I called tech support. A lovely young man checked my connection, saw I wasn't roaming, updated the tower/card relationship and voila! I am up and running. Now dear friends and family I can post pictures and fun stuff like that. Oh by the way, Verizon allowed only 5100 mb of downloads per billing cycle. Do you realize just how little that is!? Have I learned anything from this? NO. I'm still impatient as ever when it comes to tech stuff! Having said that, I just know God is going to offer me another chance to learn patience. And one would think 4 sons would have offered me plenty of chances! I must be a terribly stubborn soul.

We're here!

Dear friends and family.....well, we've finally made the move and arrived safely. No, we are not all unpacked! I am at the library entering this post because I have had the worst time trying to get internet service where we live. No DSL available so instead of satellite, I've chosen wireless broadband. My device should be in on Thursday and if all goes well..... I will be up and running. I will then be able to post photos. We love the area! It is so wonderful to look out the kitchen window and see the beautiful river. I promise to post lots of photos soon. Love to all and miss all of you!

What a gem!

Last year John and I took a week off and saw the sights in western NC. We stopped in Hiddenite, NC, home of a gem mine. From past experience we knew to wear our worst clothes for sluicing. You will have orange mud all over you! We found some stones that look promising and took them to the gemologist on site. There were several which would be worth having cut but we chose a topaz. I just got it in the mail this past week and was thrilled with how it turned out. It's not a precious gem per se, but to me it is precious. A momento of a wonderful week spent with my best friend, aka my husband.

John Jr.'s Birthday

Happy Birthday John Jr.! He chose pepperoni rolls for his birthday dinner. It was a toss up with lasagna and he even tried to get me to make both! I wasn't falling for it! We also had fresh from the garden salad and instead of cake, he chose cookie dough ice cream. Yum!

Garden update

I love my garden but I HATE to weed so this year I'm trying something different to keep down the weeds. I'm using cardboard between my rows and thought it would be great to plant my tomatoes surrounded by cardboard. I laid the cardboard down and using a utility knife, cut holes where the tomato would go. I measured the recommended distance between plants and voila! Tomatoes! I used the cages over them and this helped to keep the cardboard down. I needed to add some bricks as well. My thought is that; 1. It will keeps weeds down. 2. It will help to keep the soil at an even temperature. 3. It will keep the moisture level in the soil consistent. It was time to add the remaining plants to the garden so on Saturday I planted corn, yellow neck squash, zucchini, basil, parsley, green beans, and summer lettuce. My snow peas have started to bloom and my spinach is growing like mad! It is soooo good! I've made a yummy spinach salad with almonds, mandarin oranges, bacon and the a poppy seed dressing. If anyone wants the recipe, email me!

Hide and Go "Skink?"

For the last few years we've had a skink living in our storage building. He stays pretty much to himself only coming out to catch some rays or scare me on occasion! I caught this male lizard peeking out. He's a male because the male's head will turn red during mating season. Hey...if you are gonna live in an area with all kinds of neat animals it's good to learn about them. Don't you think?






Which leads me to this entry.....the other day our eldest son came in the house informing me that dad was killing a copperhead snake. I had to go out and investigate!!! Picture John, John Jr., and Steven all looking at a dead snake and admiring their "kill". I got beside them and said, "That is not a copperhead." A chorus of male voices replied, "Yes it is!" The lone single female in the household again said,"No, it is NOT a copperhead." Then the maleness comes out of them and I hear, "Oh, ya! Well, what is it then?!" I was honest and said, "I don't know but I do know it is a non venomous snake." I LOVE the internet at times like this! I found what it is..ahem...was. A juvenile rat snake either a black or yellow but I'm leaning toward the yellow which is, and I quote, "often mistaken for a copperhead." So, there ya have it!

How does your garden grow?

Spring has finally sprung and what a difference a few days make! We got some much needed rain and warmer temperatures. My cold frame was a huge success. I've been eating fresh lettuce for over a month. My potatoes have sprouted, the snow peas are up, the spinach is growing, (no John, they are NOT weeds!) we have beets, beets and more beets and carrots. I LOVE beets and I'm the only one who does. I can eat them pickled, plain, harvard....just about any way you fix them. I hope to have enough spinach to use for juicing. I love my juicer! I love the surpises that come up in the garden every year. So far this year it is cilantro. I must have 10 little sprouts up. I will need to relocate them but I plan to use a lot of it! Guacamole anyone?

Goodbye Old Friend

We had to say goodbye to a dear friend this week. Our beloved Sparky aka: the Sparkinator, Spark Dog, Sparkle, Sparky Max, Spark Spark passed away Thursday morning. He was 15 & 1/2 years young. Sparky was an accomplished singer with 3 songs in his repertoire: Happy Birthday, Who Let The Dogs Out, and How Much Is That Doggie In The Window. In his younger days he was an avid squirrel chaser, never actually catching one (thank goodness) but loving the game. He greeted all visitors to our home until his hearing and sight declined. He never married. God be with you till we meet again.

Clinton's mission pictures

After 7 months Clinton finally got some pictures to us! Yeah! His favorite P Day was at Chatsworth Castle. He was near Sherwood Forest and got a picture of the Major Oak. Other pictures are of him during a FHE (family home evening) game, Preston temple, Preston MTC, other missionaries, his first flat in Mansfield and snow in Grimsby. He's doing great and LOVES his mission.

Steven's Birthday

Happy 21st Birthday Steven! Steven chose his mum's fabulous fried chicken sandwiches for his birthday meal and an ice cream cake for his birthday cake. I ordered the cake and when I picked it up I noticed it had a 19 on it instead of a 21! I said, "It's a lovely cake however, I know he won't like the 19 on it!" No problem, it was removed and replaced with a 21. I got it home safely until I tried to put it in the freezer when the WHOLE cake fell out of the container right into the freezer taking with it a good deal of the decorative frosting. OH NO! So, the cake didn't look that great and to top things off, Steven was sick for his birthday. He did enjoy the quillow I made for him. He knew he was getting it because he had asked for one and he helped choose the fabric. I made it a little longer than the one I made him several years ago and it worked out great. He loved it. He stayed wrapped up in it while he was sick. Hopefully 22 will be without incident!

Florida Trip

John and my brother Lee both turned 50 in January and thanks to Lee's wife Jeanne, we were able to take a trip to Florida to celebrate it! Yeah! What a week we had! We had a lot of "firsts" on this trip! It's the first time the 4 of us went off together for a whole week, sans kids! We can do that now that the kiddies are grown! Lee, the #1 Steeler fan was elated when Pittsburgh won the playoffs on his birthday! And now I'm happy to say we won the Super Bowl. What a game! Things we did while in Florida......golf, pool, beach, kayaking, wrestled alligators and shell hunting and just plain enjoying one another 's company. When we kayaked in the bay, we had dolphins come up along side us. Wow! John and I were in a 2 man kayak and I swore I would hurt him if he dumped me out of it and yes, he did. Later realizing we were in alligator waters. Thanks John. I told him I loved him, been married to him for years, but I'll be DOGGONED if I will EVER get in a kayak with him again! We switched out with Lee and Jeanne and took the singles. Maybe we can do this again next year?! I hope so!

I live vicariously through my children

My children all know I am NOT the adventurist. I like my feet planted firmly on the ground. Okay, I'm somewhat of a safety freak. I like my doors locked, I won't go bungy jumping, skydiving, snowboarding, skateboarding, skim boarding, hang gliding....well, you get the idea. Can you tell I HATE heights? So, when my children share pictures of their adventures I am torn between, "Wow, I wish I could do that!" and "Just what were you thinking?!" Jared sent me photos of his recent ski trip. This has been an annual event for years now. Just after Christmas, he along with a bunch of friends go snowboarding and they always have a blast. Just so you all know I'm not a real "dud", I have added horse back riding to my bucket list. I went riding with my cousin years ago (30 years ago!) and LOVED it. When I got into a gallop with the horse, I was in heaven. My hair was blowing in the wind and I was free! So, will I be Eddie Money and sing, "I wanna go back and do it all over but I can't go back I know." OR throw caution to the wind and try it again? Stay tuned!

Happy 50th Birthday John

It is official now! John is OLD!!! Happy 50th to you!!! George and Cathy showed up the morning of his birthday with his headstone and dead flowers. His gag gift from me was a huge calculator so he can see the buttons because he is in bifocal denial.