The girls made it safely to FLL; Alex drove a good part of the way and then Leah took over and brought them home; they made it in about 13 hours keeping a healthy pace and driving on the safe side of the speed limits. Very proud of them!

On Monday, Alex took off for Gainesville at about 7 AM, and Leah went to school. Alex was able to mail me my medicines via UPS from Gainesville (I had only brought supplies for two weeks), and they made it here on Tuesday at about midday. Good job Alex! Leah discovered that her credit card was missing and then, to complicate matters, her car started acting up. She took the car in Tuesday to a mechanic who’s been looking after it for the last few months. She picked it up on Wednesday night and the mechanic could not find anything wrong; and so, he charged nothing. Very proud of her handling of all her responsibilities under adverse circumstances!

Jan and I have been working full time, while trying to get small projects done in between calls; doing them after work is a challenge since it starts getting dark at about 4 Pm and by 5:30 it is pitch black! At any rate, we had DirectTV installed late last Sunday, late enough not to see the Dolphins debacle, but early enough to see the Eagles send the Vikings packing… Additionally, progress has been made in the wood trimming, electrical trimmings (relocating or changing plugs/suckets), installing the mirrors in the kitchen bar, building the stairs rails and banisters (what a big job that is!), finishing the installation of the elevator, etc.

Yesterday, and for the first time since we’ve been here, it snowed (well, that could be an overstatement); in the middle of the afternoon the sky went gray and the white flakes started to fly. It lasted for about 15 minutes and then it stopped suddenly; the sun came back out and all the flakes melted. But it was terrific while it lasted!

Also yesterday we had another first: the first ever flat tire on the Escalade; holy Toledo, what a process that is to lower the spare tire (mounted underneath the trunk), shake it lose (from the hoisting wire), and then place the jack underneath the carriage; at any rate, live and learn…

Jan and I (and the pups) are driving back on Saturday, providing the local tire dealership receives the new tires we ordered on time tomorrow; otherwise, we will drive Sunday…