One last look at the Ocean. This is at the end of Johnson, not to far from Hollywood Blvd. We found a handicap parking place right at the start of the sand. I can't believe it took us eleven months to find this place. I guess we were focused on the job we were called to do. I remeber Sister Hogge telling us she and Elder Hogge would drive down to the beach and just watch the waves and the gulls. I thought I knew where she was talking about but could never find it. Now here it is and we leave in nine days. So with a tear in our eyes, we say "Farewell to Florida!"

Now that we are going home, it is too bad we have finally found the places to hang out. Maybe that is a good thing. I may have spent the whole year here instead if working. Elder Graff has now found the freight trains and I have a favorite place to enjoy the ocean and it's time to go back to the desert. If I turn up missing you can probably find me here. This is the place that the song refers to. At least the place I will think about when I hear it.

We drove down to Key Largo with the Sommerfeldts. We wanted to take the bridge over to the Island that goes through the Crocodile Lake National Reserve. That was rather disappointing. There is so much vegetation along the road that you can not see the water or any wildlife. These are canoes that you can rent after you get to the park. They charge $10.00 a car to enter. But the beach is nice and quiet. A good place to take your kids.

Devon Somera delivered the painting last night while we were at the Hollywood Chapel teaching. He did it from a drawing that our grand daughter Summer Sue Graff sent us. He is a very talented artist and he is getting ready to go on his mission. He is one of the young people that we have taught and have really enjoyed getting to know. He goes to the Nova YSA Branch. He has been doing a lot of baptisms for his family.

The Elmo and Hazel Hibbs saga continues. The dream I had the last night in Key West has netted 59 people and counting. What a great experience to end this mission on! I think I will write this into a talk. I am using parts of it as examples in the Firesides we have been having. There are things that show exactly how to enter different situations and how to make connections with the generations. Quite a learning experience for us. I have spent the last two weeks working on the project and I am still not through. But that is the way genealogy is; you are never finished.

Last Sunday was a special day for us. Rick Davis, who was one of our first new converts that we worked with in the Hollywood Ward, baptised his youngest daughter and his oldest daughter. His ex wife was even there for Church and the baptisms. It was a wonderful afternoon. He was just glowing! Our friend Clovis is getting a kitten that we found for him. The kitten is at the vets getting fixed and all the kitten shots. We get to take him to Clovis next Friday. Clovis has just received the Priesthood and is looking forward to going to the Orlando Temple and being sealed to his wife. That is something we will miss and it is hard to leave some of these special people. Margleth will be going to the temple soon and getting her endowments. The time has been flying by.

As you can tell we have a lot of dinner on the tables. KFC is running an ad where you get free jugs of soda with several combos. Earl was in seventh heaven. He kept saying "the Lord has blessed my tummy tonight with chicken!" He is another of our recent converts that we have worked with. He took 12 names to the temple in Orlando. We can now ad Earl to our list. Krispy Kreme Guzman, Taco Time Norvin, Firehouse Frederick, and now Chicken Earl. We are going to miss these little food interludes. Can't believe we leave in three weeks. The time to flying past. We have another Fireside on Sunday, September 18 and then we take the apartment apart and clean it and leave. We put the mattress on Craig's List to see if we could sell it. Don't know how that Will go. Maybe it will sell and maybe it won 't.

Our dinner with Earl at KFC! I messed up the first set of pictures and lost them. So we made another appointment and took the sisters with us this time. We owed them a dinner for helping with the talk in Spanish. Earl loves KFC and we wish we had a recorder to listen to him again expound on the virtue of the Colonel and what he can do with a chicken. He calls us his "white chicken family".

We stayed dry yesterday. I got to stay home all day and Elder Graff and Elder Sommerfeldt didn't have any problems when they went out. So Irene is making her way the coast. It looks like North Carolina is still in her path. Maybe she will clean house when she gets to Washington DC. Elder Spud is making his famous beans for the Bar B Que lunch tomorrow at Hollywood. Then we get to have dinner at Ceri Steele's home with Gil and Jill Almquist. They arrive today sometime. We are really looking forward to that! I have started filling boxes to send home. We are trying to not have the car as loaded as when we came here. Still haven't figured out what we will do with the mattress we bought. Spud keeps saying he will tie it to the top of the car. Yeah, right! Like, that's going to happen.

Here we all are! I will enlarge the picture if you will tell me how.

It's time to do Apartment Inspections again. We have asked the powers to be to get all the information on one sheet of paper. Sister Sommerfeldt and I have been working on the project, but it is still not complete. We need the name of the apartment, address and phone number of the missionaries that live there; zone division; date and time of the appointment; conflicting Mission Activity; treats and "cleanliness focus". This month, we have been asked to show the young people how to pull out the fridge and stove and clean behind them. If we have time, we will also do the washer and dryers. We cleaned the vacuum cleaners last month. We have also taken bottles of Clorox and spray bottles for them to use in the showers to fight against MOLD. If I never have to fight that stuff again, I will be a happy camper!

These are part of our "tools of the trade". A list of all the stakes, wards, bishops and chapels we visit. Our trusty GPS, which we could not survive without, and our daily planner ( or brain). These little books cover six weeks and we could not function without them. Even when we list appointments down as neatly as possible, we have no shows, changes, directions and member numbers competing for the one line, one hour part of the page.

We start our last round of Apartment Inspections at the end of the week. For something that we really didn't want to do, it has been a very rewarding assignment. We have gotten to know the young people better and they have opened so many doors for us. We did the Key West apartment while we were down there last week. We took Elder Badillo down and brought Elder Sorenson back with us. That meant transferring their bikes as well as their luggage and them. We had a load in the van. With what the Porter's took and what we had to carry it probably added a good 700 pounds to the van. But we made the trip, the transfers and the presentations. Had a great time and we stayed in a beautiful hotel. It was the presidential suite at the Hilton. A complete apartment with two bedrooms and two baths, three TVs, complete kitchen, and king size beds. Nice digs!

We had 33 people sign the roll Sunday evening at the Snapper Creek YSA Fireside. There were 10 people that we taught at the Key West Chapel Saturday. The format was the same, just had to adjust it to fit the questions and interest. We are planning to teach at a combined ward function this coming Sunday. The Weston Ward and the Pembroke Pines Ward have agreed to let us do a Fireside that evening. I am using Elmo Hibbs as an example. I have developed a four generation chart for him. Hopefully Chris can find a death certificate for Hazel and we can find out what her maiden name was. We first met them at The Meadows Retirement Center, back in 1983. I had a dream about them Saturday night. Rae Myers told me that I had work to do. So, what can I say? It's past the 95 year rule.

Another laugh: We were at lunch with our friend Hilda at Stake and Shake. She asked us if we had read a certain book, I responded that I hadn't heard of "Life as a Mushroom". She and Spud began laughing very hard. She had actually said, "Life Everlasting". Yes, I am losing my hearing! Along with all the rest of the things going wrong. Then Spud asked the waitress how many butterflies it takes to make a steak. The flip chart menu advertised a "buttery steak burger". Then we take a trip to Key West and he orders a Tye Died Shrimp and Noodle dish at the floating boat restaurant. (Thai Pd ya). Oh well, we are senior citizens. We use to laugh at the funnies our parents and grand parents did. Now we are they!

The Irene Hurricane seems to be going up the coast off of Florida and now we hear that Virginia just had an earth quake. Wonder if it is connected to the one that hit Colorado? Maybe the local news will have something about it tonight.

The custom is to slice the arepa and fill it with cheese, chicken, black beans and salsa. I like mine with just butter on it. They were a great treat!

Like a great reward for doing Family History! The corn meal is very fine, more like a flour. We needed to wear a bib, though.

We were offered a great treat yesterday afternoon at the Castillo Home where we were teaching. Sister Castillo made us Arepas. It is made with a corn meal dough and fried in a molded skillet that you turn to bake the mixture on both sides. They are so soft then practically meld in your mouth. She showed me on the computer where you can get Venezuela recipes for that kind of food. What she showed me was all in Spanish, so i am going to have to try finding a web site in English.

I tried to capture the heavy rain that fell on us coming back from Miami Beach. The picture looks better than it actually was while we were driving. The ditches and canals are doing a pretty good job of moving the water along and back into the everglades or the ocean. We saw a pond in the process of being created today. Water run off is a constant problem. The highest places are still the trash mountains that are being created. Land height is only 27 inches and some places below sea level.

Another of the interesting trees that are blooming now. The floral spikes are about 12 inches long and hopefully you can see that they are a vivid magenta ( if that's a word they still use today). We see them along the free ways as we travel back and forth to the different parts of the mission. I am determined to buy a floral book of South Florida before we go home. There are so many things I don't have names for. The people we keep asking are not native to Florida, so not much information coming from them.

Our guest speaker was Marvin J. Ballard and Elder Gay from the Seventies. They told us of experiences they both had had during their missions as youths. Not unlike today, except the biggest difference is that the missionaries are not encouraged to memorize the lessons. they are to teach from the heart and with the spirit. It was a great experience to listen to the young missionaries sing the hymns. Especially, "We'll bring the world the truth!" They do such a great job.

Just got word from home that our house has water problems in the wall connecting the utility room, office and our bathroom. We think it is being caused by the toilet in the upstairs bathroom. Apparently the wall board is buckling and is moldy. Not a fun think to go home to. We have a Mission Conference to attend tomorrow morning. We are told there will be a guest speaker. The senior Elders have a lottery going on who it will be. Will let you know later who it is.

We just finished a week of Zone Conferences. Sister Anderson gave another talk about being ready in case of an emergency. We are to head to Key West this coming weekend and another tropical storm is scheduled to hit from South Africa. We are rather nervous about being out on the bridges if the storm actually arrives. We will be driving "Bertha" the 15 passenger van. Elder and Sister Porter, Pete Arnett, and Elder Ensign will be going down with us. Then we have to bring Elder Sorenson back with us. We are doing a Family History Workshop and the Porter's will be doing an Employment Workshop. We will be holding it in the new chapel that was just put up. It is not dedicated yet, they still have a long punch list to complete before it can be dedicated. Should be a lot of fun. The Porter's are fun to be around.

Today's headline is: "$10.99 for a frozen rose! Who would want a frozen rose?" We were heading home from a teaching session at the Ft Lauderdale Chapel and we drove past a Floral Shop. The sign actually said, "$10.99 for a dozen roses." Yes, we both need to get our eyes checked when we get home. The first week home we will be doing a round of doctors. My leg is felling better now that I graduated into "old lady socks". I tried the knee hi type and can't take the pressure under my knees. So now I am enduring the thigh hi. After five hours, they start creeping down my leg. So I am contending with the folding and rolling that I remember from my grandmothers era. Yes, time has marched on and here I am, OLD!

The living room at the Mission Home. Sister Anderson has invited all the senior couples to enjoy Family home Evening once a month at the Mission home. We will have a pot luck dinner each month. Elder Graff is going to organize the menus, so that we take turns bringing the different dishes. Not really pot luck; but when you get older, you want to KNOW what to expect at dinner! On the left is the formal dining area where the departing missionaries are enjoying a meal with President and Sister Anderson before they fly home the next day.

This is Elder Weese, Sister Lauren and the Spud and I. Elder Beer is taking the picture. We have been going down to the El Portal Chapel for several weeks. We call it our Taco Bell night. Elder Graff has been buying a box of Tacos and drinks and taking them to the chapel to eat while we are teaching. If you look close, you can see the small fan Spud has been using to try and keep the rooms that we teach in cooler. As soon as we were finished with Lauren, we taught Norvin. Both Spanish speaking. The elders translate for us and sometimes help me type, when my eyes give out on me. This eye thing is frustrating. In the evenings it is the worst. And most of our appointments are in the evening. Another challenge to work around; but the young missionaries have been great about helping.

The senior couples at work at the Mission Home, getting ready to serve dinner to the departing missionaries. Sister Anderson fixed Chile and Cheese Grits. My favorite! I could have made a meal just on them. She served it with Bar B Que Brisket and Green beans and rolls. Then we had peach cobbler and ice cream for dessert. Yes, once again I'm talking about the food we have encountered on this mission.

Now for the question of the month! What is this thing? They are growing on a tree at the El Portal Chapel. The skin is a pale green and is soft like a peach, but hard like a nut. It is the size of a large lime. i haven't found anyone that can identify it. When we go back to the chapel, I will take a picture of the tree. When you look at it from the stem down, it looks like a star.

This is one of the vendors on Key Biscayne Island. Spud is trying their fried corn cakes. It was like a pancake made with corn kernels and fried in a ring, so that they were the same size. Not bad! They also had brats and cold drinks, The cold drinks were the best. At the other end of the island they have a state park and on one side they have a Sea Aquarium. This should be on every one's list of places to visit in Miami.

The Somerfeldts went on a half day off with us to Key Biscayne Island. Wish we had known about this place when the kids were here. They have a lovely swimming area and water toy rentals. You can see the skyline of Miami in the background. It looks like I have spent the mission time eating. I guess we have! The Sommerfeldts have tried to get us to walk with them at night. Spud tells them he is afraid the critters will get him.

Before the storm broke we took this picture of the skyline of Miami. We decided to leave and try to head back north before we got pelted with rain. When it rains so hard, it gets dangerous to be driving on the freeway. Our dark glasses are still helping, but as many crazy drivers as there are out there, it is better to get home and stay there until the rain stops.

This is a time of reflection for us as we wind down this mission in Florida. We have met some wonderful people and have had some of the most amazing experiences you can imagine. It will be hard to leave here. We would like to come back for the South Florida Temple Open House. It would be great if we could go through a session will all the people we have taught. Elder Graff is away this morning helping move Elders out of one apartment and into another. Next week we will be involved in four Zone Conferences. Mostly listening and helping serve. We get to teach another recent convert again next Tuesday. He brought an amazing pedigree chart to our first session. We found a distant cousin that has done a lot of the temple work. The work only reflects what is on his father's side. He knows his mother's name and death date, but nothing more. I am trying to work on that. His father is still living and is 80 years old. We hope Tim can get him to reflect on what he might know about the mother's parents. Always a challenge. I use Ancestry as much as possible. That has been a big help to us with what we do.

Brendon Fisher has arrived in Ft Lauderdale! He is the nephew of our daughter in law, Kimberly Fisher. We got to feed him last night at the arrivals dinner and then again today at the lunch for the Transfer Meeting. He is sitting with his new companion. We served croissants with sliced ham, turkey and cheese; potato salad, chips and chocolate chip blond brownies. When we feed the young missionaries, there is never anything left to wrap up. Just wash down the table tops and sweep the floor and lock the door. We get to take a nap and then back to do the Finishers Dinner at the Mission Home. Then fall into bed and off to the eye doctor tomorrow.

This is Norvin and the Elders Weese and Beer. We are teaching at the El Portal Chapel. We also shared a twelve pack of tacos from Taco Bell. We had a very enjoyable evening and have three more friends to miss when we go home. Elder Graff thinks Norvin is too short for Sister Guzman, but I think they would be a great couple.

This is the iron fence that encloses the chapel we taught at Saturday evening. All the neighboring homes have bars on the windows and gated enclosures. Not a good place to be later at night. The young elders were riding their bikes to and from their apartment. That makes us very nervous, but they act like things are just fine. So we trust the Lord to watch over them.

This is one of the chapels where we do our teaching appointments. It was a Walgreen Drug Store before the church bought it and made it into a chapel. There is not one window in the building, but other than that, the inside looks exactly like any other chapel we have been in. We taught a Spanish speaking young man here. The elders that made the appointment for us, were there to translate for us. We qualified seven names for him to take to the Temple.

We followed this gator removal truck for awhile the other afternoon. We were on our way to Coral Springs to a teaching appointment and saw the truck. We thought we could find out where they were going, but we got separated in traffic and lost sight of it. There is a lift gate at the back, where they load the gators and then slide them into a cage like enclosure to transport them back to the Everglades. Nor unlike a "dog catcher", but the gators are released back into the wild, far from the populated neighborhoods where they have been found. The raccoons are released back into the Everglades also. They are a food source for the gators.

Tator and Gator meet at the ranch. He has been watching so many "Swamp People" shows, that he thinks he can talk to thew now. He is sure he can handle any size that comes along. Although, I think he would be the first back in the car and the last one out of the building if actually faced with one that is still alive. Even that tiny snake had him running backwards the other evening. A couple of the elders came face to face with a gator the other day while they were out knocking on doors. This is definitely something that one needs to expect and be wary of. We live in a "wildlife rules" environment here.

Our adventure at the Deseret Ranches began with renting the van at the airport at 8:27 pm on Monday evening. Our fearless leader, Elder Graff made us leave Tuesday morning at 6:30 am from Plantation. We picked up our group; the Sommerfeldts, the Steimles, the Collins and the Beagleys. I elected to sit in the back and Sister Steimle and Sister Beagley joined me. Sister Beagley asked Elder Graff to stop at every Dairy Queen we saw advertised on the road side. It got to be quite funny, becasue Elder Graff likes to keep on his schedule. His internal clock didn't say it was time for treats every twenty miles. She really got to him and we laughed all the way up and back. But we finally stopped at a Dairy Queen on the way home. Good milk shakes! We turned the van in at the airport at 8:27 pm that night. So Spud's internal clock was right on the money.

One of the Cyprus swamps on the ranch. The guide explain about the Cyprus knees that you can see among the trees. They only reach about 12 inches out of the water. They are harvested and polished and sold at tourist shops everywhere in Florida. They have several in the visitors center. The alligators love to live in these swamps, where they feed on the fish and snakes and ducks and rats and small animals. Pretty but deadly!

Some of the cattle on the ranch. Mind you, all these photos are taken from the inside of the shuttle bus that we rode in. I wasn't about to get out and take my chances with the critters along the road. We saw a wild hog that was dropped by one of the cowboys. These hogs make life very difficult for the cattle and the cowboys. They are continually digging holes in the ground and the cattle and horses keep stepping in them and breaking a leg. So it is "hunting season" all the time for "hogs".

There are six artesian wells on the ranch. The state of Florida has been trying to get the water away from the ranch. the city of Orlando thinks they need the water more than the ranch does. Then there are the neighboring cities that would like to get their hands on it. These wells water all the cattle and the citrus orchards on the ranch and provide the canals for the gators to swim in.

This is a picture of the skin of a rattle snake that was shot on the ranch. It is 11 feet long. The picture is hanging outside on the porch wall. They have all of the dangerous snakes on the ranch. I would be afraid to let my children go out and play in the yard. Let alone play in the ditches. this is a different world here in Florida. The eighty paid employees have a house on the ranch and there are play yards everywhere.

This is "Gus". He is longer than the couch to the right of the picture. He was scaring the pickers in the Orange grove, so they had to put him down. So now he greets all the visitors at the center. Sister Sommerfeldt took his picture with Elder Graff, we hope to get a copy of that and put it on the blog. They have over 1100 miles of canals on the ranch and alligators occupy any of them that they want.

We started out our of the Deseret Ranches at the Visitor's Center. I was sitting in the back of the van and went to sleep before we got to the ranch, so I didn't enjoy the drive into it. The ranch is 30 miles wide and 55 miles long, comprising 290,000 acres. They run 44,000 cows, an assortment of bulls and produce over 30,000 calves each fall. They ship the calves to Nebraska to feed them out and sell them.

Well, the reaction was less than I had hoped for. So, we forge on through the next two months and hope that we can make a difference in a few lives. We spent Monday afternoon at the Coral Springs area with Sister Guzman and Sister Edwards. It was Sister Edwards birthday, so we took them to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. She presented us with a picture that she had painted for us. It is of a starfish, with the words, "You are the difference." Then I begin to cry. It will be so hard to leave these young people. They are truly the wind beneath our feet.

We spent the afternoon putting together our proposition for the new Family History program we have developed for the new converts. We have an interview with President and Sister Anderson tomorrow after the staff meeting. I printed off the booklet "To Turn the Hearts. . ." to base our proposals on. Sharon is going to call us this evening after the baptism in her ward. This is her first introduction to a new convert. We are anxious to hear how it goes. It will be interesting to see what President Anderson has to tell us. He has been asked to speak in our Hollywood Ward the last Sunday of this month. Brother Torsok has indicated that they will serve lunch to them after church. That should be a lot of fun. Especially if the young missionaries stick around. We have twelve baptisms scheduled for July 24th. That should be something to see.

Saturday, we were invited to pick avocados and could have as many as we wanted. We took the Sommerfeldts and we cleaned the tree off. We left a box full with the lady who owns the tree and brought the rest home. We plan to make guacamole for the staff meeting Monday. We are also going to divide up the others between all the other senior couples. We have three in a brown paper bag and hopefully will be ripe enough to mash tomorrow.

Nancy told us to ripen several and peel and mash them and stir some lemon juice into it and then measure it out into zip lock bags and freeze them. Then you can have guacamole anytime you want it. We bought several types of dorito chips to go with it.

We hit Golden Coral with a vengeance. These young people know how to eat and stack their plates. They almost put Elder Graff to shame! The bar-b-que Chicken was some of the best ever. And the chocolate layer cake was . . . (all over my face!) Glad they offered plenty of napkins! They offer a great salad bar, and the grapes were the best ever. It was raining when we got there and cleared up enough for us to get back on the bus, then let lose again and dropped a couple of inches for the next two hours. Glad we were on the bus and headed home. Ben Mena helped me with the starfish story and we gave out pins to the people that did not get them on the last trip. I had book marks with a real starfish on them for the second timers.

Even though this is a poor picture, I am adding it to show you how heavy the humidity is back here. The camera lens was all fogged over. But Elder Graff is standing by the picture of an alligator on the side of the bus. It was decorated very colorfully. There was a picture of the statue of liberty on the other side. The bus did have the kneeling feature, but the driver wasn't sure how to work it, so it was a long step just to get into the bus.

Every seat had a seal belt on this new bus. It is about time this feature was added to every seat. It was a very smooth ride, but we had to stop twice to reset the computer. I'm not sure just exactly what was happening, and I don't think Elder Graff did either. He said the restroom was smaller than on an airplane, which is not big to begin with. It was in the middle of the bus and you had to climb down a few steps to get into it.

Bishop Hoopes trying to look cool as we head to Orlando to do baptisms with the youth in the Hollywood Ward. The noise level was quite tolerable for as many teenagers as we had on the bus. It was a new bus from Germany and very comfortable. NO EATING and DRINKING signs all over the inside. We drove 62 miles an hour or 100 kilometers. No more no less. The 3 hour trip- took 4 hours and 15 minutes.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY tomorrow. It has been a long time since we were not home to watch the fireworks from the drive way and have ice cream bars. Jiffy and the rest are continuing the tradition and I hope they take pictures for us. They just put up a new flag to fly for Nathan while he is on his fourth deployment. He is still in Indiana as I write this, but will be leaving soon with the 222. The local unit from Southern Utah. It is the first unit he went with on his first deployment to Iraq. We have been invited to a picnic at the Collins' in DelRay Beach. Then we have a teaching appointment tomorrow afternoon at Coconut Creek. We have also been invited to a workshop in that ward with the Elders and the Relief Society. We hope to make several one on one appointments after the workshop. We only have three months left! I can't believe how fast the time has gone by.

Today was Fast Sunday and as usual we thoroughly enjoyed listening to the members of the Hollywood Ward bear their testimonies. Our friend Margleth from Nicaragua told about leaving home to come to the United States and how much she loves living here and being a part of the United States. She learned English and holds down a job, is raising three children and is trying to do her part to be a good American. She is a wonderful example of what people from other countries should be doing if they want to live here. She appreciates the freedom to worship where she wants and to have a voice in government. She said she hopes to one day to be able to go back to Nicaragua and visit her family that still lives there, but that this is her home and she is glad to have the chance to raise her children in this county.

Jiffy sent us another picture of Taylor and some of the other missionaries he is serving with in Nicaragua. His letters are so much fun to read. He is loving the work and the people of Nicaragua. They had a lot of fun on their excursion to the volcano and sand boarding. So it sounds like they play as hard as they work. He has to walk everywhere they go. Out missionaries here get cars and bikes. There is a big difference in circumstances for each mission.

We were invited to a Samoan Wedding Reception last night at the Hollywood Chapel. The young couple were married in the Orlando Temple and got to the reception only 30 minutes late. We got there 30 minutes early, so we were more than ready to eat when the dinner started. They offered chicken, glass noodles with vegetables and beef, corn beef wrapped in spinach, rice, cole slaw, bread fruit cooked like squash, rolls and butter and twelve different kinds of dessert. We had to leave before the dancing started, because we had to get a couple of missionaries home before curfew. The food was very good and lots of it. The young people met at the Young Single Adult Ward, where they have been attending. Now we hope they will come to the Hollywood Ward. They belong to a fun family.

We finally got on a train in Florida! This is the Tri County Rail and is the coolest place in South Florida to spend a hot and humid afternoon. It is two stories and of course we climbed up the stairs to catch the view. Train tracks are not laid in the most beautiful parts of cities. So our view consisted of weed filled back yards, junk lots and rotting fences. Occasionally we saw some beautiful neighborhoods, then back to non report ables. But we had fun and are thinking about taking Amtrak to Orlando one of these days.

We talked the Sommerfeldts into joining us on train ride up to West Palm. It cost $5.00 for the round trip and took three hours from Broward Station. We drove into the station going the wrong way and a cab driver tried to convince us that we had to pay $50.00 for breaking the parking lot law. Spud challenged him and he started laughing and said "Welcome to Florida!"

As you can see, we were following to close to get this picture of the dog being driven down the road in a convertible. The driver got mad at us and tried to get away from us, but we turned at the same corner and made the same U turn. He must of thought we were trying to harass him. He finally went in another direction. But we still got a picture or sorts. You never can tell what will drive by.

The baby ducks that have survived seem to come by every ten days or so. We are not sure where or how far they roam, but eventually they come by the window. One of the mother ducks is sitting on a nest again. I had no idea that they would have that many batches of chicks.
Here some of the older ducks are trying in muscle their way into the feeding circle. In this picture there are four of the babies that were hatched two weeks before Easter. It has been fun to watch them grow up. These still do not have feathers. They are still in the down stage.