Ft. Walton & More

The main reason that we ended up in this neck of the woods was our plan to stop by and see Rick and Jill Strama, who now live in Ft. Walton Beach. Rick and Jill used to be our neighbors for over 6 years in Lancaster, CA, along with their yellow lab, Roxanne (Mikey's first girlfriend.) Over those years we spent a lot of time with them doing all the things that friends do. From holidays to garage sales, Vegas trips, and just hanging out, they were constant companions over the last few years of our stay.

When they let us know that they were now located in the Florida panhandle, we made plans to stop by and see them. When we arrived here on Monday, we contacted them and of course, they asked us down for the weekend. So Friday afternoon we headed down, arriving around 6pm and looking forward to spending time with our friends who we hadn't seen in about 9 years. Our first evening was spent grilling steaks, drinking wine and beer, and talking about old times. Roxanne passed away a couple years ago, and they rescued a miniature Dachshund/Chihuahua mix named Romeo, who really thinks he's king of the hill! Abby and Romeo seemed to hit it off, but Romeo seemed to have "issues" with Mikey...must have been that male/macho thing! They basically got along well, but every so often Romeo would growl and show his teeth to let Mikey know it was his house, and it was really quite funny.

Their house is located on a large bayou leading to the Ft. Walton Bay and out to the Gulf. One of the first things we noticed when we arrived was their boat, and we made plans to cruise the waters on Saturday. So after a hearty breakfast at IHOP, we headed out on the boat. The weather was great as we marveled at the homes and boats along our ride. We ended up taking Abby and Mikey with us (Romeo decided he didn't want to go), and both enjoyed the ride, especially Abby. We were able to anchor on a beach near the opening to the Gulf, and let the dogs run, and Abby spent a lot of time retrieving a stick thrown into the water. From there we headed into the harbor passing the many restaurants and yachts in Destin. We were out for about 4 hours and enjoyed the swimming, both planned and unplanned as Russ fell into the water as we were leaving the beach! The rest of the day was spent relaxing, having KFC, and watching some college football. Jill's mom stopped for a brief visit with her dog, Rags, who Mikey took an instant liking to! He made little yipping sounds towards her that we've never heard him make!












After we made a hearty breakfast Sunday morning, we relaxed a bit and then headed home. They plan to come here for a visit and have invited us to their place for Thanksgiving. It's great spending time with them again.

When we returned home on Sunday, some mail had caught up with us, and a letter from our neighbor in Denham Springs let us know that his wife, Bonnie, had passed away on Oct. 23. Although we had only spent about a year and a half as their neighbor, Donald and Bonnie became good friends of ours. We had spent Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Eve at their home. Many an evening were spent with Donald and Russ fishing in the lake behind our home. Although Bonnie had been going through various treatments of chemo during the last year, she was always upbeat and gracious, a true Southern lady. We will miss Bonnie, and we ask all of our friends to pray for Donald as he continues to raise their 11-year-old granddaughter, Mia. She is a beautiful young lady, and Donald is a good and caring role model for her. We hope to see both of them when we return to Baton Rouge, and like them we will never forget the opportunity we had in getting to know Bonnie.

With all the activities going on here, we have decided that unless something extraordinary happens, we will only be updating the blog once a week. Right now we are shooting for Mondays. So far this week we have done the ice cream social, roasted hot dogs and s'mores around the campfire, played golf (Russ), and I've checked out the line dancing class and the exercise class twice. We have yet to make it down to play Holey Boards, which happens everyday at 2pm, nor have we played any of the nightly card games, where each night 20-30 people gather in the clubhouse. Tonight is Card Bingo, and we may mosey down or we may not. On average we are probably 10-15 years younger than most of the other people staying here, but we are already finding that we are having a hard time keeping up with them!

By the way when we awoke this morning, it was 39 degrees! Thought Florida was supposed to be warm!!