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| We played Hidden Creek Golf Course on Monday, March 31st. Laura blasts her way out of a sandtap on the 2nd. hole; and, believe it or not, the other picture shows my TEE SHOT (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) on the 6th. hole (a par-3) ! Unfortunately I ended up taking THREE putts to sink the darn thing! |
 
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Easter Monday Night! B-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R! We went to see the NY Yankees play Philadelphia Phillies at the Yankees' winter home, Legends Field, Tampa. Despite three layers of clothing (sweaters, hoodies, etc.) we darn near went into hypothermia as the evening temperature slipped into the single digits Celsius! A stong wind coming in off Tampa Bay (just a couple of miles from Legends Field) helped to chill us to the bone! How cold was it, Mike? It was so cold we left in the bottom of the seventh inning 'cause we couldn't take anymore! At that point the Yankees' were leading 13 to 4 over Philly so I guess the term foregone conclusion would apply here! Click HERE for some photos from the game! |
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If it is possible for an animal to look stunned, this one is it! Just look at that face!
A face only a mother could love, but she died laughing at it!
Thursday, March 13th.
F-I-V-E ! (Well, with inflation and all, you know!) A beautiful day for a round of golf at Hidden Creek Golf Club. Laura and I, along with Liz and Arnold, enjoyed nine holes of golf while dodging a wild fox squirrel, some suspiciously guilty-looking ducks, and a rather sleepy alligator! To see some photographic evidence of our day on the links, click the guy in the golf cart on the left side below!
Just trying out my new digital camera ~ Kodak's Z812 IS (8 megapixels, 12X optical zoom w/ image stabilization). These are a few examples of the various flora and fauna that are found in and around the park where we live.To see a larger version of any of these pictures, just click on one of them!
Sunday, March 9th. We were at Florida's version of England's Ascot Race Day at the Little Everglades Ranch, outside Dade City. Florida's only steeplechase event: four races over the hurdles and two flat races. This was our second year attending this event and this year our friends from Truro, N.S., Tom and Lois Chmiel, came along with us. While the horse races were themselves fun to watch, the spectators were as much the attraction as the races...like Ascot, the hats were the hit of the day (they even have a hat contest!). Jack Russell terriers are the other attraction of the day: several terrier races preceeded the horse events. Fancy dress and tuxedos were the order of the day for some. White tents with linen table clothes and champagne flutes abounded, while others dined on hot dogs and beer on the tailgates of their pickups! We were among the common folk on the inside of the track, along the homestetch, with a cooler full of drinks and sandwiches and our cameras at the ready. The sun cooperated throughout the day and the temperature stayed below the scorching level reached at last year's race! |
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Monday, March 3rd. We attended the Florida Strawberry Festival in nearby Plant City (30 minutes from here). A real scorcher of a day - temperature 29C at parade time. Of course, after the parade (which took an hour and a half to pass by our vantage point!) we made our own strawberry shortcake...of course we ate it, too! We took so many pictures and short video clips that I had to create another page! For the pictures and NEW!!!!!!!!! video clips from Parade Day, click on the MIDDLE strawberry!!! =============> |
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Sunday,January 20th., 2008
| We went to see this Broadway show at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. One of the leads was played by Georgia Engel (she played naive Georgette, Ted Baxter's wife on the Mary Tyler Moore Show). No, that's not Georgia in the image at the right! A very good show with a unique premise. Lots of laughs, although the music was largely forgettable. Had great seats, eight rows from the stage! |
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Monday, January 28th. Went for a walk at Morris Bridge State Park a few miles from home and saw our first alligator! Also saw a cormorant having a fish lunch and a few turtles enjoying the afternoon sun! To see larger versions of these pictures, just click on one of them! |
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Thursday, February 7th. We saw the space shuttle Atlantis launched successfully from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Thursday, February 7th. The shuttle is on its way to the International Space Station for a two-week mission. The shuttle lifted off at 2:45:25 Eastern/3:45:25 Atlantic time. Been there; done that; now I've got the t-shirt to prove it! Finally got my video uploaded to YouTube! Check it out at the right side of page.
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Thursday, February 14th. We saw the 2006 Tony-winning musical of the year Jersey Boys at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. Jersey Boys is the story of the rise of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons in the 1960's. The show was two hours of fantastic music, laughs, tears, and some eye-opening truths about one of the most successful singing groups of the sixties! Well-worth seeing, if you are &ldquo of a certain age &rdquo , you'll find it hard to keep your feet and hands still as familiar tunes wash over you and take you back to your teenage years! The story line will also expose some unpleasant moments in the history of the group - but is capped off by their eventual induction into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. Completely sold out on Broadway for two years now, if you ever find yourself near the road company production, don't miss it! To see the road company's remaining tour dates, click on the show's logo! For a short clip of the Jersey Boys at the 2006 Tony Awards, click the screen at the far right! And, yes, that IS Joe Pesci in the intro to this clip, and yes, he was closely involved with the early days of the Four Seasons! &ldquo Ey, who knew? &rdquo Enjoy!!! |
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| Lightning Lose 3-2! An agonizing defeat when the Lightning had finally gotten on the board and tied the game with two quick goals 33 seconds apart in the dying minutes of the game, but Washington came back with the game-winning goal 38 seconds later! With only three minutes left to go, the Lightning pulled Holmqvist from the net, but to no avail! Shots on goal: Tampa 41; Wash. 35 |
 
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Frankie Valli and the.....!!!! Well, that voice you remember is still there and the nine-piece back-up band is sensational, although the new Four Seasons made for a somewhat disconcerting backdrop to Valli's concert...(their ages collectively barely surpass his!) and their almost-comical choreography looked like it was borrowed from Disney's High School Musical! That being said, we were there to see and hear Valli himself, and he didn't disappoint.....the voice is as good as it was thirty years ago; the falsetto rang clear and true in the familiar melodies of the sixties. A somewhat reverse-order stroll through the group's hits, interspersed with tracks from his newest album Romancing the Sixties (in his own words, &ldquo ...songs I wished I'd recorded.&rdquo ) the group's biggest hits were saved for the end: Sherry, Big Girls Don't Cry, Rag Doll, Dawn, Walk Like A Man. The near-sell-out crowd at Eckerd Hall gave several appreciative standing ovations throughtout the evening and a lengthy one at the night's end. While, to sustain the illusion of time travel, we may have preferred the Seasons to be closer to Valli's age (and dressed in suit jackets!) the sound was the thing and the sound is still there...in spades!!!!!! To hear the Four Season's first smash hit, Sherry, click the video screen at the far right! |
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| AN INTERESTING WEBLINK ...CLICK ON ANY OF THE ICONS AT THE RIGHT TO GO TO THEIR WEBPAGE! |
Baby Blues® comic strips   
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Miscellaneous Stuff
A Sandhill Crane and one of her young. The Sandhill Crane is a rather large bird, averaging 4 ft. in height and with a 7-foot wingspan. Their honking call is also rather loud! 
This is the park where we spend the winter 
and here is the pool in our park.
The pool temp this week is 80F ........................................................................................................................seems even Floridians will swim in this temperature!
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