We got up at 4 AM and were on the road by 4:50. It was 41 degrees out which was very cold. Early in the drive there was no traffic. We stopped at McDonalds at exit 271 in Ormond Beach for gas and McDonalds. I got a sausage and egg muffin and had coffee from my thermos. Gas at racewy across the street was 2.74. Our next stop was in Manning, SC about 40 miles South of Florence. We ate at the Taco Bell there and paid 2.48 per gallon. I had a soft taco. Traffic was stopped just North of Fayetteville, NC and was stop and go all the way to I-40. We stopped by Trader Joes to get some pizza then went to Bluebird to check it out. All looked well. The pilot in house 4 was out. I re-lit it but the burner is outside the box. Will deal with it tomorrow. Instead I hooked up house 3 heater to the thermostat for overnight. I'm not sure if the hot dawg is coming on. We got home around 4:50 and unloaded the car into a cold 62 degree house. Brrr. More of the same tonight.

We decided to leave tomorrow so are doing a mad scramble to clean the place. I setup Scooby to run in the kitchen while we go to the clubhouse for lunch. I had a BLT with fruit. Libbie had an angus burger with sweet potato fries. Went to Yoders to get the box of honeybelles we ordered. In the evening we stopped over at Peter and Christa's to say goodbye and thank them for a nice time Friday night. We had to run to Publix late to get toilet bowl cleaner and also a container of cut fruit for the trip.

We woke to thunder and lightning. I decided the freezer water line was frozen so turned the freezer off and tried it. I was correct!!! Now to put it back together requires special star washers that I don't have. We watched the Rose parade until it was over at 1 PM then went to the club house for the golfers buffet. No golfers came since it was a rainy day but we saw the blond from last night with her 2 kids this morning. I had a soup, sandwich and salad plus cookie for desert. We went to Home Depot afterwards to look for star washers for the water line but no luck.

Today I decided to tackle the refrigerator water lines. Took the whole thing apart but decided it may really be a frozen line in the door! Went to Ace Hardware for wire to unclog the waterline and also purchased a new cork screw to replace the plastic one which is broken. I also picked up some appliance epoxy spray paint. Did not get the line working before we had to get dressed to go to the party which started at 7. Peter and Christa invited us to their table which made it 8. We sat with Tony and Sigi from Germany and Heinen and Hoursey from Canada. We had nice horsedouevers, lobster and steak and an unbelievable chocolate cake for desert. I think we had 4 glasses of wine but I lost count. The bill without the bar tab was 190. My entertainment for the evening was a young blonde with a black shimmery form fitting mermaid gown. She couldn't move too much without having to hold the top up because it kept slipping. We kissed at midnight, said Happy new Year to everybody and left after a final dance at around 12:20. Just before leaving we chatted with a couple from Charleston we met at pub night. They have year old triplet grandchildren. The loser of the night was a guy in plaid with his wife in culottes. Christa was not happy with his sloppy dress.

Today was recovery day from Disney world. We didn't do much. We went out to find Orchidmania East of Bradenton and enjoyed the orchid place. Bought two phals with many stems. Kathy, the owner, wants to sell the place. She said she had an offer of 1.4 M$ several years back. 10 acres of land, a small house and 6 greenhouses with 15,000 square feet. The business seems to be mostly walk in retail. The warehouse was something to appreciate. It was a steel beamed building with concrete floor and restrooms. Next stop was the hydroponic farm. The owner designed some kind of stacking container which accepts liquid nutrients at the top and drains it down through all 5 layers. One quart of liquid 3 times a day is taken by each plant and only one tablespoon out the bottom. I photographed the farmers daughter and took lots of pics of all the veggies growing. We don't know who the market is but it seems to be a large u-pick operation. I really enjoyed the whole operation. Went over to pub night at 6:30 and the place was jammed. Where did all the people come from?

We got up early and left at 6:50 for Disney. It was a frosty 46 when we left. There was clear sailing all the way to the front gate. As we were paying the $14 fee Jennifer called that she smelled propane. We called the propane company to investigate. We wlaked up Main st and saw a High school marching band then wandered over to the Pirates. Talked to Jennifer again after the Pirates of the Caribbean. No trouble found and at least we were re-assured but the service call cost $95. We went to Small World but found the wait was 90 minutes. Picked up some hot cocoa from a 75 year old lady and walked towards the castle where we saw a bride to be. Took a picture of her and then the lights on the castle. We'll come back after dark to see them lit. Made it over to Tomorrowland and enjoyed a talking moving robotic garbage can. We learned the Carousel of Progress was still there and there was no line so we walked in and enjoyed the nostalgia. This attraction is 46 years old, first debut was the NY Worlds Fair!
Walked towards Main St and got caught in a crowd watching the Christmas parade. Enjoyed it and made our way down the street to the exit. Took a monorail to the Polynesian where we had lunch at Kona's. It was enjoyable. I had grilled chicken with Mango mayonnaise and crisp onions. Libbie had the coconut curry soup. After lunch we took the monorail to the next stop which was the Grand Floridian. This grand hotel had a walk in gingerbread house and a huge atrium tree. Went outside where they were serving roasted chestnuts and hot spiced cider. Yummy. Got on another monorail and changed trains at the ticketing center for an Epcot bound monorail. Epcot was very crowded. We got an express pass at the Land and then enjoyed a nostalig ride through the Carousel of Progress which was updated for 2009. The land was spectacular as usual. I photographed lots of the hydroponics exhibits. We then went up to China and watched the reflcetions surround movie of scenes from China. After a bathroom stop it was time for the bus to the Hollywood studios. We had dinner reservations at Mama Melroses which we ate dinner at after seeing the nearby Osbourne Family christmas lights. The lights were over the top. They were originally 2.3 million but now are at 5 million and are coordinated with music. Dinner was excellent - I had sausage over rigatoni and cheesecake for desert. We had a glass of Copolla Shiraz with dinner. After dinner we wairted for a bus back to the ticketing center where we took a monorail to the Magic kingdom again. We were able to see the fireworks from Main St in front of the castle then went to the back of the park to find Small World. There was no line at Small World. We enjoyed it very much then had hot chocolate since it was so cold. On the way out we took a seat on the side near the train station we drank our chocolate and watched an electric light parade before boarding a freezing ferry ride back to the parking lot. Dragged ourselves back into our car in Daisy row 28 at midnight and started the 2 hour drive back to Sarasota. We got back at 1:30 which was a half hour quicker.
What I would take away from our day in the parks. Strollers and people everywhere with long lines for everything. Our strategy of escaping to the Polynesian for dinner was excellent. The snow and xmas lights in Hollywood were a treat. Never before have I seen so many lights so well coordinated. The park employees were above all else. We saw a dancing street sweeper, a singing baton waving traffic director and generally happy "cast members". The ages of the help were also unbelievable from the 80 year old serving chestnuts to the 75 year old lady serving hot cocoa and generally gray hair cast members everywhere.

We slept late this morning then got up for breakfast and GMA. I hooked my laptop up for the first time since we got here. We then took a walk out to the natural area in front. It's a spectacularly beautiful day with crystal clear skies and pleasant temperatures. We may go to Disney tomorrow instead of Wednesday. We went to the Audobon Rookery in Venice this afternoon but there was not any activity. We saw 3 Herons sitting on nests. Picked up some gas at 2.61 at a Mobil station then took a long drive on Casey Key going North. We were amazed at the huge McMansions on the Gulf. We got to the clubhouse at 3:15 and found they stopped serving lunch at 3:15. For lunch instead we then went to Ryans where I had a Cuban. We next went to the Mall next door and picked up 2 belts in Penneys and ordered fruit in Yoders fruit store in front. For dinner we had soup and crackers and cheese during the sunset.

This morning I got the paper and was happily reading it until Libbie discovered that a paint can in the linen closet had exploded and leaked paint all over the floor. I threw all the old paint cans away covered with paint they were sitting in. Used a whole roll of paper towels to sop up paint that ran into the hallway. I will let the rest dry before attempting to clean it up. We then left for Selby and walked the garden. They were all set up for Christmas Lights which I took many pictures of. The forms were pretty cool. We came back to the club and had lunch. It was sports sunday and there were a few tables of morons in their team colors cheering ballgames. I wonder why this stuff is so exciting. I certainly don't get it. There was a spectacular sunset which we toasted with wine and cheese. We finished the evening by turning on WCPE and reading.

I had to go to Publix this morning for coffee because I forgot the can of Krogers. We got cleasned up and straightened up the house. Lorraine, Ted, Tom and Ann arrived around 2. We watched the Musnicki DVD segment of Doris's communion then went to the clubhouse for lunch. It was our treat and very nice. I had the Angus burger and fruit. Libbie had some nice sweet potato fries. After Tommy left, Lorraine and us went back to the condo and chatted a little about Ted's retirement and our families. We went to Publix afterward and got cheese, crackers, wine and soup for our pantry. Dinner was chicken pot pie soup. I have gotten into reading my Sandra Brown book, Mirror Image.

We got up at the usual time and had breakfast. All the restaurants are closed today so we need to bring any food with us. Hit the road by 6:50 AM. The roads were surprisingly dry. I-40 was crowded but once we got on I-95 it was light. We didn't hit rain until Florence. I stopped at Florence and topped off for 2.35. The rain then got heavier and pretty bad as we headed South. I was expecting us to leave the rain at Savannah and we did. The sun actually came out before it began raining again. OPur next gas stop was in St MAry at GA exit 3 where I got gas for 2.45. Not a great deal but Libbie had to pee. We continued on our way in the rain. We saw a few SUV turnovers with the only traffic slowdown in Orlando near the downtown area. We saw a truck with a flat tire and a little further there was another turnover on the exit ramp. When we got off the highway on Clark Rd we stopped at a 7-11 and picked up some Chardonnay to toast the sunset which was going on. We were finally south of the storm. Arrived at the condo at around 6 PM as the sun was setting. Mark next door seemed to have several family members renting the unit on the other side of them and they were preparing a Christmas ham dinner. In the evening I set up the scooba and had it wash the kitchen floor. It did the job but I expected it to be cleaner. Dinner was frozen chicken gargonzola dinner from Trader Joes and organic veggies, all of which we brought in the ice chest in the car.

We took a walk in the back today to look at the Oak tree which was cut up and moved to the street. In he morning we had a Christmas gift of the Wii Fit plus which we later played. The new games are interesting. Dinner was cooked shrimp in the shell and veggies. Lorraine called today saying she got our card amd would come to Sarasota for lunch on Dec 26 with Tommy and Ann. We saw the weather was going to be rainy on our drive. Packed our suitcases and got the car ready for the morning trip.

After GMA I went over to the greenhouse to see how the heater was doing. It still was stinky in there. I looked at the exhaust and noticed it was tilted. I went home to change clothes and also to do groceries. Had to take a bad dump as well so it was good to go home. After groceries I went to the greenhouse and raised the flue which was leaning downwards. This broke the supports off the chimney outside. After calling around for a new flue which is 7 inches in diameter, I decided to rebuild the old one. NB Handy which is out Poole Rd has the 7 inch in 26 gauge which is the heavier flue pipes. I took the burner down and cleaned the rust off it and also inspected the heat exchanger with a flashlight. Used some electric fence wire to support the flue so that it rises. I also took apart the flue to see if there was anything blocking it but it was clear. Tested it and then went home for lunch. Picked up some big washers at Ace and repaired the flue then went to the greenhouse and installed it. I also ran the generator for 5 minutes. I also verified that the greenhouse smelled OK. Left the furnace set for Big Bertha to come on tonight. After a dinner of Currey chicken over noodles we went back out at 7:30 PM. All was well with the heater. There were no fumes. We went around and lloked at Christmas lights afterward. The winner was the one on Penny Road. He has added a snow machine this year. We enjoyed the lights in downtown Apex and also behind the post office where there was a ob scene and actually a line waiting to see "Santa".

Today didn't work like it was supposed to. Libbie called that the big heater in House 1 was not working. I did a lot of diagnosis taking things apart before I found out that the vent block switch on top of the heater tripped. I think it was affected by water dripping on it while it was hot. It tripped at a false temperature. It requires a manual reset so the heater was dead. I forced the Hot Dog to come on and take over with a jumper wire. I guess I need an emergency override. The system is built to switch the control out and use the big heater but not the other way around. In the meantime we smelled bad exhaust in house 4. The flame was rolling outside the box. I ended up cleaning a mud dabber out of 4 of the orifices on the burner to stop this and restore the flame to normal. While there I also replaced a section of bench top under heater 2 which was destroyed by crawling around on top of the bench. Dinner was pasta. I didn't paint in the foyer but I did sand the spackle job from yesterday and second coat a few areas with spackle.

We slept late today. After reading the newspaper we tackled the foyer. Got everything ready then went to Lowes to get ceiling paint. We did this because we wanted to mail the batch of Christmas Cards at the Post Office. The mailboxes were full. I carried the letters inside. I painted the ceiling in the foyer. It ended up getting damaged since I made a second pass on wet popcorn ceiling which took some of the popcorn off. I also sanded and spackled the walls. Libbie made her usual yummy pizza which we ate during 60 minutes. This was a very tiring day.

It was a wet night but it stayed above freezing. Anne Nicholas called about the snow and things. We had clear sailing to Hoffman today at North Hills. Waited in line with Jim at the theater. The shopping center was pretty busy and beautifully decorated for Christmas. We left home at 11:45 and stood in line for auditorium 8, the one on the right. The production was spectacular. It was clearly the best Hoffman I have seen. Standouts were Olympia the doll played by a little Korean girl and the Muse played by Kate Lindsey. I looked her up when I got home. she's well on her way to being a superstar. We stopped at Trader Joes on the way home and got wine for dinner along with Pasta for next week and almonds. Libbie got tons of boxes. Afterwards I enjoyed reading the reviews of people attending the HD version around the country. Good stuff. I hooked up Hoffman in my MP3 player which I downloaded yesterday. It was the Dec 3 premier. Dinner was shrimp with veggies. We enjoyed listening to hoffman during dinner.

This is the day of the big snow - forecasts from a trace to 2 inches. More to the West. I went to the grocery store for milk. What a zoo. It was like the day before Xmas at the mall. Later Libbie wanted triscuits and egg nog so we both went over after some yummy soup. It was 54 on the back porch so we stayed indoors for our soup. I hooked Mars up to the Jtag today. All is working. Byonics did not come so I'll keep writing software. Dinner was shrimp and veggies. IT rained instead of snowed this evening.

Worked on making DVD's most of today. Did a little bit of work on Mars but spent much of the day on the old VHS tapes. Arlene called wanting to know about Aunt Helen. She thinks she's going home. she didn't hear the conference call correctly. We went to Walmart to get tires, left the car and went cross the street to Charleys for lunch. I had 12 spices noodles and chicken with a house salad. Libbie had potato soup and a half grilled sandwich. When I got back to Walmart I found they didn't have my tires. Took the car to "Just Tires" and waited for almost 2 hours while they put four new Kelly tires on for $390 bottom line with taxes, etc. Dinner was Crab Cakes on toast. I layed down after dinner to watch HGTV but fell asleep.

Worked on setting up the packet TNC to a radio to see if I could monitor radio traffic.
Dinner was chicken over Briyani. Loved it.

Did the grocery run and also listened to the conference call with Aunt Helen's therapists. They have no release date. The DVD recorder arrived. I immediately started recording the old VHS tapes onto. The process is working very well which is surprising. I had hoped that this was not going to be a gizmo relegated to the closet. Dinner was grilled chicken and the Polonta veggies which were excellent.

Today I worked on the software for Mars since the Byonics APRS radio is on it's way. I'm going to need something to periodically beacon status out onto the APRS network and want to have it ready by the time the device arrives. I borrowed the LOGE one wire routines because it was made to handle multiple one wire buses with DS1820 temperature devices. I also want to use it to monitor power and the generator. APRS has a telemetry frame that I want to employ for this purpose. I wanted to work on the MAAVS website but never got around to it. Spent a lot of time reading about the APRS protocol. Dinner was Briyani which was yummy. Watched the Disney holiday lighting special on HGTV again. I want to get over to Disney World this holiday.

We both got up early today. Libbie was done sleeping. I went out to get the paper. It's not too cold, around 40, and it's raining. Sunday Morning this morning was qquite good. They had a nice story about Paul McCartney and also the Pnocchio illustrator. The house 2 heater had a CO2 leak in the chimmney. I bought a new stove pipe elbow from Home Depot and installed it in the afternoon. It went in pretty easily. The whole thing needs replacing with a heavy duty metal instead of the light gauge stuff I used. I hope it doesn't leak anymore. I need a sensitive CO2 detector. Dinner was Libbie's excellent pizza.

Worked on Joomla most of the day. Found a gallery application for the CMS system, Phoca Gallery after initially trying several other gallery programs that I didn't like. In late afternoon after the first Met broadcast of the season Il Trittico, I went outside and pulled the tall but dead Marigolds. I planted the daffodil bulbs in freezing temperatures. It was really cold but it's supposed to rain so I wanted the job done. I was waiting for frost to zap the marigolds which happened last night. Dinner was baked potato and boiled shrimp with a bottle of Shiraz. I communicated with some guy on the TinyTrak group about terminal programs. He seemed clueless.

I ordered a TinyTrack with built in 2 meter radio today for communicating with the greenhouse. It cost 250 with the antenna but is self contained. I'll pair it with the Venus project now renamed Mars for this purpose. Mars has an Atmega128 along with a 232 port and header for the OneWire interface. I will use it for greenouse monitoring and packet control to the TinyTrak device. Dinner was cheese and crackers and some of the ham delights which were originally going to go to Jennifer but she was sick today so Libbie brought them home.

Sent most of the pics to Ken today for the MAAVS Memo. These are the convention pics I took as well as the ones from Lenny and Ann-Marie. In the afternoon I went over to the greenhouse with my nail gun and put a new piece of plastic on the end wall by the propane tanks. My hands were freezing as I did this job. We used the heat from the Hot Dawg heater to warm our hands. Dinner was Salmon and Broccoli but no wine.

It's the day after our party. I got the controller card working and mounted in it's plastic housing although it's not needed right away. Dinner was Trader Joe's frozen chicken with peppers. Libbie didn't like the peppers but I loved them! It was a tasty dish.