Vacation

And here we are, halfway through our Christmas vacation. We had a great time in Denver with Em, Beth, and Bob...and Hal the cat and Inu the Dog With the Golden Eyes. All five of 'em were well behaved! We didn't get to Denver quite as soon as we had hoped. We were scheduled to leave Orlando on 12/22 at 1:15 PM, but because of a broken oil cap on the Airbus, we had to wait for a new one to be delivered. From Kansas City. Where the planes were socked in by weather. We finally left at 11:30 PM and got in to Denver after 2 AM Mountain Time. We did get to know many of our fellow travelers-in-waiting, which was kind of fun. Fortunately, the the one man who visited the bar way too many times during the 10+ hours we were stuck was not allowed on the plane. But then, he could probably have flown to Denver all by himself -- he was a mile high already.

We enjoyed worship on Sunday at Beth's church and at night we saw the outdor Christmas lights at the Denver Botanic Center. Beautiful displays! We had snow on Christmas Day and again last Thursday; shoveled snow twice! That was the first time in many years, and we still had the knack. We enjoyed a great Christmas dinner together, talked, played games, read books, saw Bob's Old Navy store, and rested.
We left Denver on Friday. It was 3 degrees Friday morning before we left, and a humid 72 degrees when we landed in Orlando at 11 PM Friday night. Yesterday was just plain warm; we turned the AC back on last night! What a contrast!
Yesterday we worked on projects and got caught up with some things. A palm tree in the back yard had grown too close to the back wall and was close to pushing the wall footings out. The homeowners' association review board agreed with me, so I cut the 15 ft tree down. I didn't like doing that; it was a royal palm with a beautiful shape. I also pruned back the bougainvillea next to the palm. I think I cut out about 2/3 of the bush. My arms look like I've been herding cats, all scratched up from the thorns. I dropped a branch and it bounced into my right leg just above my ankle. A half inch thorn hit a vein straight on; I thought I was at the blood center making a donation for a couple of minutes. Gayle came to my rescue, patched me up, and I kept going. Can you see the difference from the picture in the previous post? Lots more light right now. I want to plant some bamboo in the open area by the wall.
This week I hope to build a couple of gates for the fenced area on the west side of the house. The old gates are tired and falling apart. I also want to do a little stucco work on the ledge in front of our kitchen window. There are dips that catch and hold water, and I will put a little slope to the ledge so the water can run off. Getting ready for school in a week is also in there somewhere. Should be fun...