Meet Jello, the new bird😊

Dave and Ashley delivered Jello today, a yellow rescue Cockatiel to go with our Pudding.  She/he is settling right in 😍.

Tony & Alissa down from CT for a visit.....

Alice, Alissa, Tony, David & Ashley.

Tony and Alissa were down from CT for a few days....staying at her snow-bird parents home a bit further South. Had a nice dinner with them at the local Durango's and a visit afterwards...they'll be back for breakfast before flying home on Saturday. Always nice to have them come South!

Nice mini-vacation at Stephen Foster Folk Culture State Park...

Last week \we spent some time at Stephen Foster Folk Culture State Park, the place where we found our Buddy the hound two years ago in February. https://photos.app.goo.gl/xY44aRTqTXMnvZNs9
Click the link above for some snaps from this campout.

We've reconnected recently with some snow-bird friends from CT, and celebrated some birthdays with friends from the old FL camping group.

Life is going pretty good.  There are some health issues being addressed (hopefully!) as we move forward.

Heading out January 19th to O'Leno State Park...

It seems like forever since we last camped!  During the last camp out we dropped the transmission of our toad (tow vehicle), a 2018 Ford Focus) and it took over a month for repairs to be completed...so we've been off the road so to speak.  This morning we're heading out to O'Leno State Park.  https://www.floridastateparks.org/parks-and-trails/oleno-state-park and we're just a little nervous as this will be first time towing the car since the transmission failure.
This is a particularly beautiful time of year here in  Central Florida, and it'll be good to get back into the countryside after the Holiday period.  I'll post photo's here after the trip.

Christmas Day, 2019

We had dinner at David & Ashley's Christmas Day. There was us, Joanna, Ashley's father and step-mother and of course their multiple pets. Dave did the cooking as he's good at it :) and Ashley is the hostess with the mostest.  A relaxing and nice family day.

Where in the devil is that Christmas card from the Titusville Payette’s?

Where in the devil is that Christmas card from the Titusville Payette’s?  Stand down and away from your mailbox, folks. It’s not coming, it’s not in the mail, and you’re blocking traffic.  Quite a few years ago we were steady, reliable Christmas Card mailers. We had a database (ok, a list) and we added to it as we met new people, and subtracted from it when friends and relatives died or moved without leaving a forwarding address or, like our friends the Bakers of Oregon, moved so often from one coast to the other our typing fingers hurt trying to keep up.

For over a decade we’ve run a Blog :https//bobpayette.blogspot.com/ that has links to photo’s of our comings and goings and short rants about what we’ve done lately. Think of it as a Christmas Letter that’s run amuck, so that when you’re really bored you can look at what we’re doing and count your blessings.  We’re also pretty active on Facebook, and keep in touch with friends (that haven’t yet blocked me) and relatives through that medium.  So, if you’re on Facebook and we’re not friends and want to be, send me a request and we’ll probably say yes unless I’m in an especially crotchety mood.

That all having been said, if you’ve read this rant to this point,  you should probably have a glass of wine (or a cup of coffee) and do something creative.

Cheers, and Merry Christmas!  Bob

Falcon 9 Launch of JCSAT-18/KACFIC-1 communications satellite from Cape Canaveral, as seen from our deck in Titus Village, Titusville FL....

Above:  View of Falcon 9 on drone ship, 8:50 after liftoff from Cape Canaveral.  Wonderful that they've perfected the recovery of that very expensive first stage....This drone ship snap is from Florida Today.

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipNSNJ7hNH8t9vzumf-lloR_BGJCb8e5QmOzhylFThis is an .051 short segment of film I shot from our deck just prior to the launch....

This clip is 04:33 in length...again, shot from the deck and shows the Falcon 9 as she comes up over the Eastern horizon.  Love these night launches!  During the day, since we're facing dead East, the sun glare can be pretty difficult to work with in filming with the smart phone.....