Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Finally done landscaping!

Finally.....after 3 1/2 weeks, we have finished our landscaping on our RV lot.  As my son has said, you would have thought we were landscaping several acres instead of our small piece of paradise!  So, what all did we do?  Well.....we shoveled over 5 tons of rock, planted 21 trees/shrubs, concreted and grouted 50 16 x 16 patio pavers, and laid down 170 feet of split drain pipe for edging.  Oh yeah - we planted grass seed and fertilized the lawn too!


We looked like the Beverly Hillbillies after this outing to gather supplies!

The first load of rock was 3.8 tons! Thanks to Dave and June for letting us borrow their trailer and wheelbarrow! 

Getting ready to make the patio!

Hard and dirty work


Lots of scrub palmettos around the pine trees...they needed a good trimming!

"Before" picture

Another "before" picture - notice the piles of debris near the saw palmettos 
"After" picture looking from the driveway

Pindo Palms (front and back of RV) and small saw palmettos

Pindo Palm, Sago palm and trimmed saw palmettos.  There is a winged elm in there too!

Patio view from the driveway

Patio area with pavers; winged elm in right foreground of picture

View from the back corner of our lot


We have had a few days of "down time" to enjoy the sunsets here.  The colors of the sky and the clouds never cease to amaze me.  I'm not exactly sure what makes them so beautiful...maybe it's the proximity of the sea but boy are they something to see.....
Sunset from the Cedar Key pier

Sunset from Dock Street in Cedar Key

Sunset from our lot

Our good friends Gin and Syl had made plans to surprise us with a visit and, although I ended up knowing a few days in advance of their arrival, they were able to surprise Dan.  It was very cool to see the expression on his face.  They have graciously helped us with our landscaping (shoveling rock!) and we are so appreciative of everything that they did to make our place "purdy"!!

We also got to celebrate Dan's birthday together by having dinner at The Pickled Pelican!

We're not the Three Stooges but the Four Pelicans!
We've been having a great time catching up and this little garden sign that they gave us sums it up quite nicely....
Great times and great friends make great memories!

 Life is good!

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Catching up with friends and a new addition!

We had a great time visiting with our friends Dave and June.  Life on their farm is never dull and we had so many laughs!  Of course, I had to get my animal fix....

Tucker sticking his tongue out!  Too cute!!

Princess guarding the golf cart
Meet my namesake!  Isn't she cute?!!!  
Their new bull Rocky
I didn't care so much for this animal but had to take this picture for my son (sorry Gail!!)....

He was crawling up the side of one of Dave's buildings.  Yuck!  Sorry Amanda - sure hope Brandon doesn't have nightmares but I couldn't resist!  ;-)

We spent 5 days with Dave and June before we headed to our lot in Cedar Key.  We wanted to get here  before the Labor Day traffic hit the highways.  We are all settled in and now the fun begins as we want to do a bit of landscaping on our lot.  :-)    We bought six Pindo Palms to plant and Dan is working on getting those in now.  He is also planting some grass, thinning out the existing Palmettos, and extending our patio with pavers.   I've taken the "before" pictures and will post these and the "after" pictures once we are done.   We will then relax!

A few nights ago, I was counting the number of campgrounds that we have stayed at since we left PA in late July and when I got near a dozen, I knew it was too many! But there was a reason for that.....we had to route ourselves to get to Mississippi by mid-August to pick up our new addition.....
 

It's a Burgman 450 Scooter and is so much fun to ride!  I was anxious to take it out....
Haha - but don't have my motorcycle license!
It's so much quieter than the Harley and I sit up so much higher!  It's a neat way to putter around town!