Everything is BIGGER in Texas!

Having a new or different experience is always fun. I have been blessed to do a lot in my life so sometimes new and different doesn’t come along very often.

This past weekend we had a great time with friends and it was definitely new and different.

Our good friends DW and SW celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary on their ranch near La Grange, Texas. You might remember them from my blogs from Bahrain.  They lived in the same building with us and SW worked with Hubby D in Saudi Arabia.

Our experience in the Middle East really helped to deepen our friendship and this weekend reminded me of all the great fun we had together in Bahrain.

Their ranch has limited bedrooms so they reserved rooms for their guests at the local hotels.  DW also told us if we wanted to drive a RV to the ranch we could hook up at the well house.  I really thought that would be a great idea.  Locate our bedroom close to the action and experience the ranch up close. As it turned out the idea proved to be brilliant.

This was our first time driving a RV.

We flew from Florida to Houston and picked up a small camper there.  This was the first time we have ever driven ourselves anywhere in a RV.

At the ranch SW helped us level the camper with jacks and plug into water and power at the well house. It was just down the hill from his “workshop.”

The workshop turned out to be a huge building filled with antique cars, motorcycles and other transportation memorabilia. He has a great collection. The workshop also has a huge bar and big screen TV. It is the ultimate man cave.



One of his cars was a very unique Rolls Royce.

Hubby D put together heaters to help keep the crowd warm in the workshop.

ES was our grill master.  HE WAS AMAZING!!!!!

Their home on the ranch is located about a mile and a half from the workshop and sits on a beautiful lake. They call the house their “guest house” and plan to build another home up on a bluff overlooking the lake. It is a beautiful area and just stunning!



SW and DW in their all terrain vehicle.

The first day SW gave us a tour in his all terrain vehicle. It reminded me of our jeep in Africa – open-air seating and a powerful engine to go up and down steep, rocky roads. We saw deer and signs of many other animals including coyotes.

This first day we helped get ready for the party. DW had it all planned out and we just had to follow her lead. This was really fun!

We had one unwanted visitor. Remember this is a ranch in Texas.





This is a dinosaur bone found in the County of Lafayette, where the ranch is located. 

The party was awesome and we met some great people.  SW and DW have terrific friends of all kinds.

The fire pit was very popular.

There were many unique places to sit around the party area.

The party started and ES was still grilling, cutting and preparing all the meat.  IT WAS AMAZINGLY GREAT!!!!!

The party goers watched the World Series and rooted for the Astros.

SW had fun hanging his new portrait of one of his favorite (?) politicians.

There were even some party "animals."

Oh, how sweet.  SW and DW, the adorable couple of the party!

Several of our friends from Bahrain were also at the party.  WOW!  This is great fun!

It was a reunion of the Bahrain Wive's Club.

And, Bahrain hubbies!

DW's mom joined the party but needed to leave early.  Bye Mom!

The day after the party we helped pick up a bit and wash dishes, dishes and more dishes. There were plenty of leftovers and we spent the evening watching the Houston Astros play in the World Series.

ND washed, cleaned and then washed some more.

Even the leftovers were awesome!

On Monday we were on the move back to Florida.

On our way out of the ranch, SW held the gate open for us.  It is a wonderful gate and one that he designed while in Bahrain. Hubby D had a part in the structural design. It was a great site to look back and see SW at the gate waving goodbye.  What a great end to a fabulous weekend.

As we neared Houston we looked for someplace to fill the gas tank of the RV.  They have this station that is more like a “road side destination.”  Buc-ees.  They say everything is bigger in Texas.

This was the biggest gas station I have ever seen!

They even had grocery carts inside.

This was just the popcorn isle.

When we made it through security and headed to our gate, I finally has some Tex-Mex.

It was quite a trip!  Thanks to DW and SW for such a unique experience and some great memories!

Cheers,
Brenda

A great BIG thanks to DW and SW for a terrific time in Texas.  It certainly will be a BIG memory!

The Proof is in the Pudding (or exterior paint)

This series of blogs have been almost a year in the making -- a long and rewarding process. I am happy it is close to the end.

Remember, the purpose of my blog is not only to share with friends and family but to also document life in a way I can remember the details. The details give life color and flavor. I don't want forget any of it.

And, so we begin with my planning process.

The proof of the pudding may be in the eating, but isn’t the satisfaction in the making and the anticipation? I think the same can be said for this project.

The planning and preparation was sometimes more joyful and creative than even the end result. It was the hard part, sometimes the messy and difficult part, but that is what made the process fulfilling.

The wall and sliding doors in the office were covered with my work orders.  I did not take any of them down until that specific portion of the work was complete.

During the remodeling process I worked with over 30 tradesmen. It did not take me long to realize I had to be REALLY, REALLY organized.

We are now finally nearing the very end of the process of remodeling, tearing down and putting back up again our new home in Florida.

It often seems like it has taken an extremely long time to complete.  However we did not start the interior until January 9. Every painter, electrician and plumber was 100% booked from August through December finishing work for all the snow birds (retirees) that come to Florida in the winter. We could not start on the interior for four months after buying the house.

We decided to go forward on the landscaping and exterior first while we waited on the other tradesmen for the interior!

Here is the first photo taken on the day we purchased our home.

After the major landscaping was done on the outside and the paint had been applied the house looks so so so so so much better than the original “Floridian Coral.”

Here are the before and after shots. Palms were removed or replaced and stumps ground out of the yard. However the best part is the new color.

BEFORE

AFTER

Along the way there were challenges and a great deal of fun with LW. He loved watching the cement mixer and landscape trucks. I don't think the interior was as much for him.

LW even enjoyed playing with the concrete forms.

"Oma, let me do that!"

After the concrete cured, the texture was applied.

Painting the exterior did not take long, but there were times when I just couldn't watch because the painters had to go up so high.

Even the driveway columns have a new color and new numbers.  Granddaughter MVL helped Hubby D install the numbers.  

We spent a lot of time on the front of the house, however the back was just important.  The back of the house faces the tee box for the 6th hole of the Classic course of the Suntree Golf and Country Club.  It is like having two front yards.

The first thing we did was to add 8 palm trees.

As we added the palms we also dug out a bed for shrubs all the way across the back of the pool enclosure.

 After we finished working in the yard, we started on the interior.  However the work in the front was not finished. We developed a plumbing problem caused by the roots of a large palm.  The palm had to be removed and new pipes installed.

BEFORE -- Here is how the house looked from the golf course. It was rather plain.

AFTER - the palms will take a couple of years to become stately, but it is an improvement from before.

Finally we are done with the front and back yards -- new paint on everything and great landscaping.  Now we were ready to start on the living spaces.  What fun!!!

Cheers, Brenda

Just a quick update from Florida.

Hurricane Irma was a unique experience. I don’t think Hubby D or I would like to do it again.  The build up lasted over a week and the storm was nerve-racking.

This was the calm before the storm.

Many times during the day Sunday we could not see the golf course.

The storm winds and rain did not start arriving in our area until Saturday, Sept. 9 with the most severe storm starting Sunday night. However, the grocery store was out of water, bread and other essentials the previous Tuesday morning. The gas stations ran out of gas long before the storm hit.

One of my own preparations was to find our battery powered weather radio I purchased some time ago. It will also charge your electronic devices so I was looking forward to seeing if it really worked.  We gave one to BHB and she said it took a lot of cranking to create enough of a charge.

The roads were packed all week with people leaving the Miami area. I suppose it was a good thing that the build up was so long and so many were able to leave, but the week long stress was more than I would have liked. When I was growing up in Oklahoma we usually had only a few minutes to prepare before a tornado hit.  



Even before the heavier rains hit, our gutters were overwhelmed with rain water.

This video was taken early in the storm before the winds increased. Unfortunately if you are reading this in an email, you will have to go to my blog to view my videos.  https://brendahyde.blogspot.com

Sustained winds were 85 mph overnight Sunday when they were at their peak. The strong gusts lasted well into Monday.

The strong winds started on Sunday evening.

There was a time during the night Sunday (early Monday) when it sounded like the windows were being power washed by the strong rains.

This video was taken about 1AM, Monday when the rain was pelting our windows.

The lake behind our house came well out of its banks making the green for the 5th hole of the golf course a complete island.  



Our new palms lost several fronds.

We were lucky and the damage to our home from the storm was minimal. We were only out of power and water for about 12 hours although our water is still under a “boil alert." We have a small hole in our roof over the garage that will need to be fixed and we lost one of our majestic tall palms.



Luckily the palm is leaning towards an open grassy area.  I will have to have it cut down before it falls all the way.

But these problems are small.

We spent Monday morning cutting up tree limbs and gathering palm fronds. 


BHB stopped by to check on us. They lost some shingles and fencing. There are also trees down in her yard.

A really big SPECIAL thank you to all our friends for their concerns. The many, many phone calls, emails and texts were greatly appreciated. We had offers to evacuate to Tampa and Charlotte. Tampa would not have been a good thing and we actually offered them our home for their evacuation. And, unfortunately I think Charlotte is experiencing the remnants of Irma right now.

I have to admit it would have been fun to visit friends, but we are very happy we stayed so we could start the clean up process quickly.

All in all, we came out great. However we are going to get estimates on hurricane shutters. It was just too terribly stressful.

Cheers,
Brenda

The first small loss in the hurricane

We are preparing for Hurricane Irma and just experienced our first casualty.

This little guy was on our pool deck as we were packing up all the furniture. When I walked up to him to take his picture, he jumped into the pool. I tried to catch him but he kept swimming for the bottom.

Poor froggie.

This is just the down side to living in a tropical paradise.  Hurricanes.

Hopefully Hurricane Irma will keep going west until it leaves Florida for the Gulf of Mexico.  But I think that is wishful thinking.  It really does look like we might get a big storm here.

This is a historical look at the month of September from 1851 to 2016.

Guess we can't avoid hurricanes.

Daughter BHB and her family are staying here in Viera and I think Hubby D and I might as well.  Things have been getting better over the last 24 hours and the storm seems to be weakening and moving to the west.

We had invitations from friends around the area in Florida and outside Florida to evacuate and come stay with them.  We were tempted to accept one invitation to Charlotte, North Carolina and take our golf clubs.  However, it will probably rain hard up there as well.  But . . .  it would have been fun.

BHB's husband, RB just returned from 2 weeks in Texas.  His team took a whole bunch of boats and rescued several hundred people.  We are very proud of him.  He has worked many disasters and has already been put on standby to go to the Keys for this hurricane.

There are a few more "irreplaceable" items still to go in water proof boxes. Most of the rest is stacked in a safe area or stowed away.  

The last precious items to be boxed up.  Really don't want to loose anything, but these can't be replaced so I will put them in a water tight container.

One good characteristic of a typical hurricane is you generally have plenty of notice and you can prepare your house for the worst to happen. Harvey was the exception because of the heavy rains.

All the patio furniture is in the foyer.

The sand bags were all taken so I used top soil to brace our front door.  

We placed our Persian rugs we brought back from the Middle East in our spare bathroom.  It is an interior room without windows. I remember from my youth in Oklahoma that an interior room is supposed to be the best room in the house during a tornado. Since we might be on the East side of the storm, there is a good chance there will be tornados.

For now, we are waiting on the next update.  Keep your fingers crossed that the loss of froggie is the worst we will experience. LOL

Cheers,
Brenda


P.S. Just one "upbeat" comment.... Wednesday I watched little LW's soccer practice with his class of two-year-olds.  PRECIOUS!!!! (He was definitely the best kicker.)

Hurricanes and Floods

The craziness here in Florida as Hurricane Irma approaches reminds me of snow in Virginia.  All the East Coast weatherman had to do was mention there was a slight chance of flurries and the grocery store would be completely cleaned out.

This morning I snagged some of the last cases of water at our local grocery store AT 6:45AM.

When I arrived at the store there were already around 50 or 60 people in line. When the store finally opened, I let a couple of elderly people go in front of me which could have been a problem.  However when I finally arrived at the water, the clerk was able to load 4 cases into my basket.  Then the water was all gone (until the next shipment arrives)!

Just 2 days ago we were at the beach with LW.

At least with a hurricane, you have lots of warning that one is approaching.

It has been a busy week for disasters.  The lady (IB) who owns the company that cleans my house told me she was going to Texas to do some insurance work and she was going to pull a trailer of donated items.

IB and I are loading goodies from my golf cart into her van.

I immediately organized my Ladies Golf Group to gather up some donations for the families in Texas.  It reminded me so much of when I had FAMILIES Magazine and we organized a Teddy bear drive (Hugs from DC) for the tornado victims in Moore, Oklahoma.

The ladies pulled together a good load of REALLY wonderful items that overfilled my golf cart and made a nice addition to IB's trailer.  It felt really good.  Maybe it is time for me to look around for a "cause" here in Florida.

Maybe I will just wait a week and Mother Nature will create one for me.  I HOPE NOT!

Hopefully I will be blogging about how we missed most of the storm.  Time will tell.

But Hubby D and I have plenty of water, canned food, candles and a couple of bottles of some great wine that we would not want destroyed in the storm.

Cheers,
Brenda