December 31

Busy around town-  Tina's birthday yesterday, Tuesday night dinner with Porter and Bill at O'Steen's Tuesday night, maddening crowds at the Fort Wednesday, Men's lunch today at Cracker Barrel, and now rest!

Saw these two plates in the last day or so-

 

December 29th

Kind of sad around here, the boys left a day early- but we had a terrific visit!

Looking forward to the summer baseball trip-

Buster Brown is headed to the Vet today- to see about his constant itching-  he's gotten himself raw in some spots! 

Took a couple of days off from the Fort to rest up-  back there tomorrow-  Headed to O'Steen's tonight for shrimp- Bill and Porter are here for a while- so we'll see them at least and maybe the Coles as well-  Yay!

UPDATE:  Bette just called- the Vet bill for  Buster so far is $511 dollars!  Still has some tests to go- worse than owning a car! 

December 27th

The grandboys safely arrived at 2130 on Christmas Day!  We had several folks over for Christmas Dinner, which is our Coquina tradition-  enjoyed that- 

Yesterday, the boys and I went down to Orlando for a pro basketball game between the Magic and the Miami Heat-  Had a terrific time!

For license plates, added a few more in the last couple of days, now up to 52 seen, need 10 more. Have all of the US but 4-  which is about average.  Added Manitoba for Canada. 

Today, the guys and us are headed down to St George Street to go shopping, then they want to head up to the Outlet Mall-  the weather has been wonderful, in the lower 80's everyday for the last two weeks- 

December 23rd

Busy Fort day today-  we did the several rooms approach again today-  Lots of families visiting.

I was supposed to have the back eblation today at 1445- but I reported feeling so much better to Dr Henry, and we agreed to forestall the operation- until I feel rough again!  Yay!

Saw these plates today:

December 22nd

Resting today, kind of tired actually-  Fort 10-2 tomorrow, then to the back Docs at 245 for the eblation. Actually been feeling lots better since the last round of shots.

Cleaned up the Blackboard portions for both classes at Lander for next semester, so all set to go there.  Leave here on Jan 8th.  Hoping to finish up in a week of classes, then head back home.

Bette's shoulder has been bothering her some lately, probably has to do with the fact she's invited some 20 folks over for Christmas dinner and is overdoing it.

Saw these plates at the Fort yesterday,

 

 

December 21st

Busy long day at the Fort yesterday, weather started out coolish, warmed up by leaving time- Big crowds, we fired cannons 5 times, all good shots- 

Saw these two plates Sunday- Puerto Rico is new for me!  Nice to grab a Hawaii as well- don't get to see that one too often. 

Pretty cool that Puerto Rico has our sister fort on the plate-  El Morro.

Back to the Fort today- 

December 18th

Another good Fort day-  we did something different today, we had like 3 volunteers and 3 Rangers sit in rooms today and give demonstrations, and it was terrific!  Lots of good visitor feedback-  Ranger Allen took this shot of me today, and posted it on the Castillo de San Marcos Facebook page, with the caption that VIP Jim was ready to explain the Fort's usage to visitors, which is what I do in Room 5!  It's set up as a storeroom and I flip the chart to explain what each of the Fort's 29 rooms were used for-  Love it!

Bingo tonight- 

Saw these today, including another Alaska!

Didn't actually see this, but noticed they are reissuing the basic plate for SC Jan of next year I believe

Thursday December 17th

Busy day today- 
Had men's lunch today over at Aunt Kate's, which is one of our more favorite places to go-
It's a chance to get some of the older guys around out for an airing-  look forward to my Thursday's!  Had a terrific fish sandwich today.

This fellow was on the pond today- believe it's a wood stork-

Saw this plate last night on the trolley tour:

Tomorrow is a Fort Day, then Bingo tomorrow night-  tomorrow is a cannon day!

December 16th

Active and fun day at the Fort today, we have a new procedure to count how many visitors we interact with, and today in four hours it was 105.  We also did a new Ranger talk today, the backpack demonstration-  great day of interacting with the visitors today-

Bette went to Cracker Barrel with Wendy and Vicky, then to the movies with Claire.  Tonight we are off to downtown for the annual Christmas Lights Trolley tour- should be pretty fun. 

Saw this one today, plus added Alaska, Kansas and Nebraska-  48 down, 14 left. 7 US and 7 Canadian provinces..... 

December 15th

Did the Fort yesterday, nice easy day-  a few school groups- 

Be leaving soon with three huge bundles for the Salvation Army, plus a vacuum, and an older piece of luggage we had- then on over to O'Steens to meet Wendy and her sisters, since Steve is fishing down in the Everglades.....

Fort tomorrow-

Worked on travel stuff most of the day, fine tuned the Baseball trip, worked on the spring training trip some, which I may or may not go-  got an itinerary change for the March Dallas flights for the Raffa wedding.

December 13th End of week plate report

Moved up to 45 seen, 17 left.  Added Manitoba, Nova Scotia, New Mex, Vermont.

December 13th Sunday update

Wow, some beautiful weather this weekend!  74 out just now, was supposed to be almost 80, but it clouded over.  We had the open house at the Fort last night, and the boat regatta, which was attended by several thousand folks downtown-  Quite the show-- we fired cannons off to start the show- 

Sadly, we had an incident, a couple fell into the moat, just kind of pitched over the side, he seemed to be ok, her, not so much, but it didn't seem to be any broken bones at least-  they fell into soft grass, and not the coquina.   It's mighty dark out there, I was in the water battery most of the night, and had a great concern that someone would loose their balance or trip and head into the sea-  but that didn't happen.  Yay. 

Printer messed up, got a new one at Wal Mart, other printer decided to work of course when it hooked up to Bette's laptop. 

Medical report:  Bette's shoulder is coming along, she's in PT twice a week, got yelled at for not wearing her sling, and got told it would be up to 18 months before she gets a green light- as I warned her! 

I have the back eblation on December 23rd  not sure what time yet, but usually very early in the morning.. 

Bingo Friday night, Tuesday night a bunch of us from the compound are taking a chartered trolly ride through town.  That's always fun better when is 65 at night! 

Finished up the semester at Lander, all good, except for one student who cheated, and got an F. 
Will be heading up to Carolina for at least a week on Jan 8th. 

That's all caught up, plus this plate this morning on the way to McDonalds-

Motorcycle plate

 

 



December 11th

Busy Fort day today, Friday, which means lots of school groups-  not some very nice ones today, loud and undisciplined.   We didn't have the 330 cannon shoot, since we didn't have enough volunteers, so I left at 3 today.

Tomorrow is family day-  long day, and an open house from 6-8 and a big boat regatta, where we shoot off the cannons to start it.  The Fort by candlelight. 

Off to Bingo in a bit- 

Learned I have my back eblation on Dec 23rd sometime- 

Saw these today: 

December 9th

Bad news, Tracy's visit is over.  Bette drove her to her to her plane this morning. Had a very nice visit- Dinner last night at O'Steens. 

I didn't go to the Fort today, woke up with a very sore hip- think I may have messed up a muscle climbing the steps at the Fort on Sunday-  thought I would give it a rest.

Also had to compute final grades and deal with a student discipline problem- so the day off was good. 

Catching up on plates, found 3 more US ones  now up to 41 all told...

Dec 6th

May try to get in a day at the Fort, looks like rain again though.  Big British day today.

Catching up on the state plates seen, up to 38 seen so far, 24 left

Dec 5th Rainout at the Fort, Tracy arrives!

Had a big day planned at the Fort for today, but it rained most of the day and I left at 1 pm.  Most all of the planned demonstrations got cancelled, and there weren't too many visitors.

Tracy safely arrived at 0845, and she and Bette are out phone shopping and grocery shopping. 

Think I'll take tomorrow off as well. 

Saw these today:

December 4th

Another crazy day at the Fort, way too many groups of school kids.  Fired cannons today out on the front lawn.  Tomorrow is a big celebration day-  Long day as well, ends with a parade.
Very windy and cool today, temps about middle 50's with 20 mph winds.

Saw this plate today:

December 2nd- Regular Wednesday

Not busy at all today at the Fort.   Next up is a volunteer meeting tomorrow night. 
Saw these plates today:

 

Here's the states and provinces found so far this month:  after 2 days!

 

  29 so far