Manana

 Today's project was to weed this area............. 

..........and then do some mulching.

I managed to get the area around the septic equipment area mulched, and rebuilt the frame around the water pipe, but ran out of steam part way through the weeding process.

Manana!

But Sue, I did fix the bathroom mirror as promised.

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Stay well.

Back To Work

 OK.   What did you folks do to the weather while we were away?When we left it was shorts weather.  Today I cut the lawn while layered up to a parka and gloves.

At the farm next door, a crew was harvesting the sunflower seeds.

It was impressive to watch the speed of their work.  On Thanksgiving yet!  

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That's all that happened here today.

Stay well.

Home Again

 It rained all the way home, which took some of the vitality out of the fall colours, but it was still a pretty trip through Pennsylvania.

Another interesting conversation at the border.  Coming back into Canada in the Nexus line you talk to a remote speaker and they see you on their screen.

- Anything to declare?

- A total of $265 U.S.

- What are you knitting ma'am?

- A toque for the homeless.

- Good for you (chuckle).  Have a nice day folks.

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All in all we had a great week.  Sunny and warm, with just one windy day.  Met some good folks.

We were surprised that we saw hardly any election signs.  Just two private, overdone Trump displays and one billboard sign for Harris.  You wouldn't know that they are just days away from possibly destroying democracy.

On one hand, it doesn't matter who wins.  Both sides want to renegotiate NAFTA, which will hurt Canada to some degree.  But the loss of democracy will end up hurting all of us a lot more.  Fingers crossed.

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That's all folks.

Stay well.

Reporting From Mercer, Pa.

 Looks like we will be the last guests in C building for a week or two.

They've blocked off the parking to make room for setting down appliances.  Every seven years, Holiday Inn Club Vacations will update their units.  This time, for this building, they will install new appliances throughout.

If we hadn't stayed at their Oceanfront Resort for those two days, we would have probably been happy with South Beach.   But we had to drive to the beach, and the pool was not heated because of a pipe break.  Disappointing, but we didn't let it ruin our vacation.  Had a great time!

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Ok, so we're on our way home.  Didn't go quite as planned.  We encountered an hour long delay at a road construction site where there had been an accident.  Another construction site delay later.

And then!  No hotels available!  Apparently the University of West Virginia football team has a game this weekend.  There are no hotels available all the way from south of Beckley, West Virginia to north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania!  Stupid football fanatics!

We finally found a bed in Mercer, Pennsylvania, just three hours from home.

If it wasn't for the Crown Royal Northern Harvest and water, I would be a raving lunatic.......shut up Al, it takes one to know one.

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The good news I suppose is that we'll  be home much earlier than planned.  There's always a silver lining!

Stay well.

My Mermaid

 A shoutout today to our neighbour Pat, who is looking out for our place this week while we're away.  Happy birthday Pat.  Hope that you enjoyed your day.

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We're really, really, glad that we didn't schedule much activity for today.  We're both hurting.  Eighteen holes of golf, in strong wind conditions, wore us out yesterday.  Four consecutive days with lots of walking.

So today, the only item on Mardi's list was to sit in the ocean.  Well, the ocean waves helped with that.

Meanwhile, the old guy just took it easy.

I didn't need the excitement!

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Tonight we headed out for dinner and then on to 88Keys.

There were different performers on tonight, Kin and Drew.

They did a good job of interacting with the audience.  But we only lasted for about an hour before heading back to the resort.

Tomorrow we start our journey home.  It's been a good week.

Stay well.

Old and Hurting, but Relaxed

 Two old people played golf today.  Both hurting.  But she let me win again!

Our partners today were two young guys.  One of them, Patrick, is a Tampa area resident.  When the evacuation order was issued, he and his wife relocated to her parents' house in Murrels Inlet.

Patrick knows that the power is out in his area, but doesn't know what kind of damage his home may have received.   Makes you stop and think and sympathize.  Life altering situation and nothing much that can be done right now.  Play golf and pretend that things will work out.

After golf we headed back to the condo to have a drink and give our aching bones a reprieve.

Tomorrow is a relax and recovery day.  Beach, pool and hot tub time.

Stay well.

David's Golfing Buddy

 Today we headed back to Brookgreen Gardens.  

We spent a few minutes listening to an author talk about his book, Raptors In The Ricelands, a fictional account of the slave contribution to the riches of the plantation owners.  In this case, he uses the word Raptors, not just to mean birds who eat other birds and animals, but to depict beings that use other beings for their own benefit.

Following that, we took the pontoon boat ride through the rice fields.

The Carolina Gold Rice is no longer grown, but wild Rice is present, and surprisingly, it smells like popcorn.

Following the boat ride, we toured the "zoo", which features local birds and animals.

A nice relaxing way to spend a day!

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Last night we ate at Bubba's Fish Shack in Murrell's Inlet.  Good food and, since we were outside on the second floor porch we were able to enjoy the female singer at the bar next door.  A nice evening.

Tonight we headed to 88 Keys, a nightclub with piano player entertainment.  

Dany is from near Asheville.  His home was saved but his village was wiped out by Hurricane Helene.  He put on a pretty good show.

However, the most interesting part of the night for us was........... 

when we arrived outside we were required to show I.D. because it was a nightclub.  Apparently, a customer was having a smoke and overheard that we were Canadian.

There were only a half dozen customers in the bar, but a while later one of them came over and said, "I hear that you're Canadian.  I'm from Grimsby."

To which I replied "Grimsby!  My son owns Trillium Hill Greenhouses in Grimsby."

"No kidding.  I'm Ron and I play hockey with David!"

I guess that I'll be seeing him at David's games.  What a small world!

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Tomorrow it's back to Whispering Pines for a game of golf.

Stay well.