Merry Christmas from SIT!

To keep up with my tradition I am calling 2016 “The Year That Cruised By.”

Seems it really doesn’t matter anymore what year it is, they all cruise by at an amazing rate. Our year started out with us buying a little home in Vero Beach Florida. Why did we pick this place you ask? Well, location, location, location is the answer. Oh and fishing right out of our door almost. So we are now officially snowbirds! The best part is we have a guest room so if you want an escape you can just let us know. Oh and we will continue to maintain our blog as you never know what we might be up too.

We did some work to the place before we moved in. Then once in we decided to go ahead and do more! Guess we want to make sure our “beach bungalow” is beachy!  

We bought a small older boat to get out onto the Indian River, AKA Intracoastal Waterway. So you can probably guess what we did besides work on the house! Oh and there are several golf courses not too far away as well. Oh and did I mention a huge dog park about 2 miles from us and the beach is only 5 minutes. Well by now you can see why location is the descriptive word!

We returned home mid-April and had a beautiful spring. Steve got the garden ready and we enjoyed having home grown tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, and cantaloupe. We decided to put the 5th-wheel in a small RV park in Cascade for the summer. This way we could get out of town and try some fishing without having to haul it each time. It worked out nicely although Steve wasn’t thrilled that the fishing this summer wasn’t very productive. It turns out it wasn’t for most fishermen. Oh well we will try again this coming year.

I think house rehab is in our DNA as we decided to go ahead and sell another rental property. This one just happens to have been the one that brought Steve and I together. We spent a couple of weeks getting it pretty and then sold it ourselves. We were quite happy with the process and pleased at how quickly it sold. I don’t know if we will continue the trend in 2017 with another one but you never know.

The rest of the time was spent enjoying family and friends. I also flew down to California to see my brothers and Steve’s brother. I made a quick trip in June to Washington to surprise a dear friend for her 80^th birthday. I won’t name names as it is not nice to tell someone else’s age! Izzy went with me and we made a quick stop in Portland. I visited a cousin and Izzy visited Mia! Well played actually.

Not sure what 2017 has in store for us or any of you, but we hope it is filled with great health, adventures, love, and peace!

How about golfing with the wildlife?

November 20-December 25

We have been busy with getting things taken care of around our place. The yard needed some attention so we tackled that, but also needed to have some fun. We have managed to get out golfing a few times since we arrived and one of those times we were playing with the wildlife. I must admit we seem to be a bit better at golf than they are!

Any of the courses we have played since we got back to Florida have provided us with an audience of birds, turtles, and alligators. We pretty much let the alligators play through if they happen to be near the tee box, fairway or green!

 Hanging Out

 Hitching a Ride

Pals

Besides golfing we did decide to go ahead and do some further remodeling in the house. We have now replaced the living room floor with the same flooring we put in the bedrooms in February and painted the living room and dining area. It sure has made the living room look better. We are now working on a wall to add a special effect.  When it is completed I will post some before and after pictures of our “beach bungalow.”

When not having this type of fun we fish. We decided to go out on the Intracoastal Waterway at our end of the river with a guide. Steve enjoys doing this once so he can learn from the locals about the best places and times. He has been researching a lot so plans on getting our boat out with the goal of finding the elusive Snook and other great tasting fish that swim around here. I pretty much just cast and catch!

Speaking of catching, we had a fun morning with Captain Brian and caught a lot of fish, of which we only kept one. I once again was the successful fisher person and caught the biggest fish and the only red fish. It was fun to catch and made a couple of great dinners and is a very nice tasting fish.

We have also enjoyed walks along the boardwalk that is at the ocean and nature walks at a nearby park. Both of which you get to see different things. This family was attempting to get their two young boys to cooperate long enough to get the perfect Christmas card picture before the waves hit their sleigh!

Izzy has been having fun at the dog park and on walks. I think she likes these days much better than when we are out golfing or fishing, and especially when we are doing the work around the house. She pretty much lets me know when it is time for her to go out and play or have her dinner.

 

I Want More!

 Nature Walk to the Bay

Christmas has sped by along with the year once again. The community here held a Christmas dinner and party so we attended. We sat with our neighbors who are becoming good friends and enjoyed meeting a few more people.  I will post our annual Christmas letter so those of you that don’t receive it can take a gander if you choose.

 

Friends Betty and Steve at end of table

Neighbors and Great People

Stay tuned for home improvement updates and my new project!

Cheers from SIT!