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Entries by Dana (254)

Sunday
Oct172010

Alrighty Then...Here I Am...Warts and All...

To answer some questions from Jill about the house... The window all the way to the viewer's right is a bedroom window.If you look at the front doors, there is a large window over the doors. The entry/foyer ceiling rises two stories.The photo below is from a house the same as ours that is currently for sale. It illustrates what I am trying to explain. The window over the door lights the bridge that crosses over the foyer.
This is the view in our house... The garage is your basic three car garage. We park 2 cars where the big door is and behind the other door is where we stash the lawn stuff, bicycles etc..


Pig Update: Last week when we drove the boys to their school bus pick-up at the gates to our development, we were greeted by this sight... Even I will admit that the pig situation is out of control. One must drive very carefully after dark. They continue to ravage the side yard next door and have also wrecked havoc on other nearby yards. The other morning I was walking The Girlz at 5:30 AM and there were three huge pigs in the middle of the street about five doors up. Thank goodness Taffy was busy looking the other way and Rico had no interest at all in the pigs. I quickly spun around and rapidly walked toward home, fearing that if Taffy saw the pigs and started barking, the pigs would charge us or something. Stacie has a friend who is a "country girl." Said friend has a pig trap. They trap the young pigs, raise them up on proper feed and then slaughter and eat them. They have a large extended family. Stacie and the boys were at a pig roast/birthday party for the friend's son and a whole pig was spit roasted in the yard. So I told Summer (the friend) that she could put a pig trap in back of our house. I did this because the neighbors have decided, in their infinite city slicker wisdom, to poison the pigs. I'd rather see them well fed for a few months and then do their pigly duty to feed a poorish country family of people willing to raise their own food to help get by...sigh...Either way, I feel for the pigs.


The Sarasota British Club: In an effort to meet new people, we joined. We went to our first social event last night, a tenth anniversary party for the club. As a cliffhanger, all I can say is that I don't have the energy to write about it tonight...you'll just have to endure the suspense until tomorrow...

Thursday
Sep232010

These Little Piggies Went to Market

This is our house...
and this is our backyard...
And these were our wild pigs...

But two nights ago they did this to my neighbor's yard...

 

 

So today a man showed up with a truck with some cages and an ATV and he went back there and he rounded up the poor pigs and piglets. When I asked him where they were going he said he had a farm "down thar on SR70 down by Arcadia and I'll fatten up the big ones and raise up the littler ones 'cause I sell some jerky and sausage made from genuine wild pigs if you're interested in that kind of stuff."

 When I told my neighbor how sad I was that the piggles would soon be someone's snack food, she said merely, "Wait 'til it's your lawn next time. It happens all the time and the developer has the pig catcher on retainer.You're the new kid on the block. You'll get over liking them just like I did."

I repeat...much sadness abounds here at Chez Dana.  The neighbor is threatening to report the alligators next.  Some people want natural Florida without the natural.  For those people I offer a beautiful golf resort lakeside home on the other coast where everything is all manicured and picture perfect and no weeds or non-designer clothing is allowed.  I know that the present owners are awaiting the perfect buyers...

 

Thursday
Sep162010

Ok, Jill...You Win

Where have I been rather than here writing?  Nowhere.  What have I been doing rather than writing?  Nothing much.  My daughter and her two sons now live with us and somewhere in this new familial configuration I've lost what I previously considered my life.  I drive children to school bus stops.  I shop for food...lots of food.  I supervise the pool.  I'm trying to get back to "Me."  I've been reading again and it feels so good.  I am presently reading The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell.  So far I really like it.  It's my kind of book.

So, I'm trying to get back in synch.  Writing this is a start.  Thanks Jill for the gentle prod...

 

Sunday
Sep052010

Those Wacky South Floridians...From Today's Palm Beach Post

Editor's note: South Florida is home to some of the most unusual folks and crimes anywhere. Here are our picks for this month's most "interesting" incidents in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast.

Looking to score at the doughnut store

Delray Beach: A woman was in a doughnut shop in the 2000 block of West Atlantic Avenue when a man came up and asked her to give him a hug. She obliged. While she was paying for her coffee, the man kissed the back of her neck and tried to give her a shoulder massage. All this attention made her very nervous she said, so she reported the incident to the police.

The break-in and theft were bad enough

Wellington: A couple woke up at approximately 3:30 a.m. to find their garage and car door open. Nothing was stolen from the vehicle. A backpack, laptop computer and $100 cash were stolen from the house. The burglar defecated in the couple’s toilet before leaving.

It's all about you, man

Delray Beach: A man drove away from a crash he caused involving five cars and a pedestrian in the 300 block of Southwest Fourth Street. When contacted by phone, he first told police his car was parked and he was in Pompano Beach. Then he said he had left the scene because his license was suspended and he was afraid his insurance would not pay to have his car fixed. He was told about the injuries to the others but was interested only in his car.

Not doing business

Lake Worth: A thief with apparently one thing in mind walked into a business in the 1200 block of South Dixie Highway, went directly to the paper aisle, grabbed a roll of Scott toilet paper and walked out without paying for it. The man was detained, then arrested and taken to the county jail. Cost of the purloined paper: $1.19.

Hate when that happens

Loxahatchee/The Acreage: A drunken man got his hand stuck inside a mailbox in the 4000 block of Coconut Boulevard. To free his hand, the man bent the mailbox, damaging it. When a deputy tried to talk to the man, he was incoherent. He told the deputy he was walking home from West Palm Beach and did not know where his car was.

Some people hang wreaths instead

Jupiter: Several officers were sent to a store in the 1600 block of West Indiantown Road just before 5 p.m. when a couple of callers reported a man and a woman took a shotgun into the business. Officers set up a perimeter around the business; a little while later the man walked through the front doors and was taken into custody. The officers then went inside and found the double-barrel shotgun propped up against a cash register. The gun was secured and the woman was found and taken into custody. The two were questioned at headquarters, and the man said they had taken the gun to the store to measure it for mounting hooks. The gun, the man said, didn’t work, was an antique, and they wanted to hang it on their wall as part of their Christmas decorations. He also said he didn’t realize he was doing anything illegal.

Don't block the traffic

West Palm Beach: Police on surveillance saw a woman waving to motorists at the corner of 13th Street and North Dixie Highway. A Jeep stopped and the woman got in. They drove to a spot in the 1900 block of North Flagler Drive and parked, but left two minutes later. An officer followed the vehicle, and while they were stopped at a red light he saw the woman providing her sexual services to the man who was driving. When the light turned green, the Jeep did not move, prompting other vehicles to blow their horns. The man eventually made a turn, pulled over at a drug store and let the woman out. Police apprehended the man, who said the woman asked for $40 for her services, but settled for the $15 he had. He was arrested and released on the scene. The woman, also apprehended, was taken to the county jail based on previous convictions for similar crimes.

Urine trouble

Delray Beach: A caller complained that a woman wearing an orange shirt and blue shorts was urinating on her neighbor’s lawn in the 100 block of Swinton Circle. The woman said that she was on her way to a friend’s house and was too far from a bathroom so she decided to go on an unknown person’s lawn. She did not realize that there were people outside or that she had committed a crime by exposing herself.

Maybe the police can't swim

Boca Raton: When police responded to a call in the 6400 block of Pondapple Road, the trespasser ran straight through the house, out the back door and jumped into the swimming pool trying to avoid arrest.

Pet testing

Delray Beach: A man placed posters about his missing cat throughout the neighborhood around the 400 block of Southwest 27th Avenue. Someone called and said that she had found the cat, but wouldn’t give it back because it looked younger than the poster picture and that she had decided to adopt it. After some discussion, she agreed to return the cat only if it looked exactly like the photo and responded to the owner’s dog in a way that showed they were friends.

Wednesday
Aug112010

New Neighbors and Other things

We've been in our new home for  almost three weeks. 

 

We, encompasses John,  Me, daughter Stacie and grandsons soon-to-be eight year old Preston and nine year old, Zach.  Six days after we moved in, step-daughter Louise, her husband David and their fifteen year old Harry arrived from the UK.  Our boys here immediately fell in love with Harry.  He is wonderful with the younger boys. 

 

 Harry and Preston look like brothers.

Three Happy Monkeys

Louise and David Love the Pool (and each other)

Stacie Doing What Stacie Does Best...It's a hard life here at Chez Dana, but someone's gotta do it

 

 

 Louise et al have gone off to Orlando for a few days.  In their absence, our boys have become friends with the children next door.  We thought the kids were maybe five and six, but they are actually the same ages as our boys, eight and nine.  They are adopted from Russia and were malnourished.  Their Mom operates an adoption agency for couples wishing Russian children.  They also have an eighteen month old who is normal sizewise.  We had the two elder children over for the afternoon of swimming.  Taffy was lifeguard.  She's a swimming fool by the way.  We can't keep her out of the pool when the kids swim.

 

We have met other new neighbors as well.  This is our backyard. 

The other morning as we enjoyed our coffee on the lanai I saw across the lake what I thought were puppies romping.  Then a huge boar appeared.  The "puppies" ran off but the boar sauntered across the yard about 50ft away and into the neighbor's yard.  We were astonished.  Preston and I looked out the front door about fifteen minutes later and he was slowly crossing the street.

Have I mentioned how happy I am to be living here?