Bonnet House

The folks have been debating going to the Bonnet House.  The Bonnet House is a house designed by Frederic Clay Bartlett, an American artist from Chicago.  It is ranked high on the list of things to do in Fort Lauderdale.  The folks did not know how interesting it really would be and the cost is $20 a person.  Everything seems to cost $20 or more a person here.   Mama noticed that on Father's Day that fathers get in free, so they decided to see if Dad would get in free.  Yep, they didn't even ask if Dad was a father.

Construction began on the house in 1920 and took nearly 20 years to complete. The land was given to Frederic by his father-in-law, but then his wife died in 1925.  In 1931, he married Evelyn Fortune Lilly.  She lived to be 109.  Her last visit to the house was in 1995 at the age of 107.

Bonnet House

The inside of the house is probably not what you would expect.  The house has a courtyard in the middle.  You must go outside to enter each room.  Unfortunately, indoor photography is not allowed.  Mama was able to take photos in the courtyard. Everything in the house and on the outside is how the couple left it.  However, the TV and microwave that Evelyn used were removed to take the house back to the 30's and 40's era.

Door to the house and the tour guide.

Entering the courtyard.

Fountain in the center of the courtyard.

Outside of house in the courtyard.

Evelyn collected wooden animals.

Painting by Frederic

Flowers

Shell work done by Frederic

Ceiling in part of the courtyard.  Painted by Frederic and Evelyn.

 The inside is not glamorous, but it is nice.  The couple liked to relax here and had other homes.  They only came here in the winter.

Frederic had a stroke after being on his knees for days painting a floor at the age of 77.  Mama said it was sad standing on his last piece of work and knowing that he was unable to speak or paint for the last three years of his life.

Desert plants

There were always two swans that lived here.

Lots of these guys running around.

Orchid House

Path to the beach.  When the house was built, there were no trees blocking the view of the beach.

Mama said that there is a video of Evelyn talking about the home and she is 100 at the time.  She looked like she was maybe 80.

Mama was surprised to learn that Ali Wentworth, wife of George Stephanopoulos, is the great, great grand-daughter of Frederic. That is what the tour guide said, but we couldn't find anything on the Internet to back that up.  Mama thinks Ali is a hoot.

The folks enjoyed the tour and were very happy that it was only $20 instead of the normal $40.  Mama says it was worth $20, but not so sure about the $40. 

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Thinks That $20 That Dad Saved Should Be Spent On Him And No Dad, The Food You Bought Me Yesterday Does Not Count

Riding The Canals In A Water Taxi

The folks spent Saturday taking a water taxi up and down canals.  I think that would have been great fun, but no dogs were allowed.  The cost is $20 a person and parking is $5.  You can hop on and off the taxi all day long.  There are ten stops along the way and you can even switch to a different route, if you want.  Mama thought it was a little pricey, but it was a fun way to get around.  The folks had to wake up the ticket person to buy their tickets.  They could see him sleeping in the office.  It must be a pretty boring job. 

Waiting for the water taxi.

Mama was really surprised to learn that famous people live and have lived along the canal.

This was Dinah Shore's old house.

Andy Griffith used to live here.  It is now owned by the Firestone Family.

Desi and Lucy lived here.

Sonny and Cher's starter home is located here, but Mama didn't get a picture of it.

The homes are really expensive. The taxes on some of the homes are $1,800 a day.  That is what the boat captain said.  It is just crazy that people have that much money, isn't it?  Mama said she wouldn't like living on the canal because there is so much boat traffic.  There is not much privacy and it probably gets loud at night with boaters.

Here are more photos from the trip.

 

They passed by several yachts.  Some are owned by famous people.

The crew.

The folks got off the taxi and walked to the beach.

These trees bloom once a year.  Mama can't remember the name, but she thinks they are pretty.

The folks ate lunch at a pirate themed restaurant.  Mama will write a review on it later.  They planned on eating dinner at another restaurant on the canal, but Mama was concerned they might have a problem finding a seat on the taxi.  As the day went on, more and more people were wanting to ride and there were not enough seats, so those people had to wait until another taxi came by which is every 40 minutes. Mama was concerned that their wait could stretch into hours, so they opted to eat elsewhere.  The folks rode the taxi from end to end and it took three hours. They got off at two stops.  It was a long day and Mama came home tired.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Spent His Weekend In Air Conditioning

Treat, Mama, Treat

Scout asking for a treat.

Scout was begging for a treat this morning.  Do you know why she really wanted it?  She wanted me to move from the bed.  Normally when we get treats, Scout takes the bed on the floor and I take the dinette bed.  I fooled her today and stayed on the bed.  BOL!

Poor Scout!  BOL!

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Getting Smarter Every Day

"Will It Shoot Out?"

Yesterday, I was out walking with Scout and Mama.  Scout was right on my butt.  Mama said "Scout, you better be careful!"  Mama started laughing.  When she stopped laughing, she told us about something that happened with Jack when she first adopted him.  According to the story, Mama was visiting Grandma with Jack.  Mama's nephew who was about eight at the time was visiting.  We will call the nephew "N" to protect his privacy.  BOL!   N had never really been around dogs.  He was fascinated by Jack. Mama took Jack out for a walk and N wanted to go along.  N kept asking Mama all sorts of questions about Jack including his "bathroom habits".   N kept walking directly behind Jack's butt.  Mama kept telling N to give Jack room.  Mama turned around and N was squatted down and his face was inches away from Jack's butt.  Mama told him he better be careful because Jack might need to go to the bathroom.  N said "Is it going to SHOOT OUT?"  BOL!   Poor Jack.  He had to wait for N to leave before he could do his "business".

There isn't much going on here today.  We had storms yesterday.  We may have more today.  The neighbors that ran over the frog have left.  It is now just us and the people behind us.  We can't figure out how many dogs they have.  We see new ones almost every day.  Mama thinks maybe the lady is a dog sitter or something.  The couple is not very friendly, but we still say "hi" to them when we see them. Their black dog is big and he hates us.  He tries to get at us whenever he is out.  His people walk him on a flexi leash.  Mama has a very strong dislike for flexi leashes. She says people don't have control over their dogs when they use them, especially big dogs.

Thanks to Bunny, my half sister, for telling us about the Blogger app.  We didn't know there was one. We loaded it and Mama said she will try it. We are really behind in our apps.   We just found out there is one for finding vets.  It is really good if you travel.  It is by IAMS - Vet 24/7.  It is an Android app.  We don't have a smart phone, but we have a tablet.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Might Teach A Kid A Lesson If They Get To Close To His Butt

RIP Mr. Frog

 As you know, there are only a few of us living here.  We have a neighbor one site over from us and a neighbor to the back of us.  There was a huge frog that had been living under our rig.  It looks like he decided to go for a  hop around and ended up in the street.  What are the odds that our neighbor would come home at that time and and run him over?  Yep, he is flattened in the middle of the street.  It is not a pretty sight, so no photos will be posted. He is covered in flies.  I swear, you should see how fast the flies come out here.  Our poop is covered in flies before Mama can even bag it.  Anyway, we are sad the frog was killed.  He was fun to watch.

My sister, Scout, being sassy.

Yesterday, Mama and I took a walk at noon time.  We left Scout behind.  We were having a grand time, but then I stepped on some burrs.  Mama didn't realize that is what I had done.  She kept asking me what was wrong.  I didn't limp but I was walking really slow.  When we got home, she took Scout out and when she came in, I was trying to pull the burrs out.  Ouch!  She said "Oh, you poor baby!"  She removed the burrs and put some medicine on my paw.  It is fine now.  She did a quick search on Cheatgrass to be sure it wasn't that because a fellow blogger had huge problems with that and her dog.  Cheatgrass looks different, so that is good.
 

This is what was in my foot.  There were several burrs.

Our bully sticks arrived safely on Monday. Mama ordered us some huge bones, but we are not fond of them. Mama received her mail, too.  She is waiting for her prescriptions and then that it is for now. 

Mama cleaned out two cabinets and ended up throwing out a whole bag of garbage.  She still feels like it is not organized because she still has two plastic bins of junk, but now she can put the laptop away at night in one of the cabinets instead of leaving it on the counter.  Speaking of our laptop, its' days are limited.  Our battery will not charge again.  We had replaced the cord on the laptop earlier this year and that solved the problem for a few months.  The cord allows us to work off of electricity but it will not charge the battery.  That is the same thing the old cord did.  The battery has been replaced twice.  It is such a pain. It is several years old, so it is time to replace it.  Mama just doesn't want to spend the money.  She wants to replace the window shades in here first and hopes the laptop can hang on until Christmas.  We have a tablet, but she finds it difficult to do much on it other than browsing and it seems to have trouble with our Wi-Fi at times.

We may get storms today and maybe some flooding.  We are not worried because we don't expect it to be as bad as last Friday. Dad may have trouble getting home from work though due to possible flooding and the President is in town today.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Upset With The Neighbors For Driving Over Mr. Frog

A Funny From The Past

Mama likes to see what people are reading on our blog if it isn't the current days post.  She normally knows what the post is about by the title, but the other day one came up that she didn't remember.  She read it and started laughing.  She said "Jack was so funny!"  Today, is the second anniversary of Jack's death.  Mama has been pretty sad because she still really misses him and he has been on her mind so much lately.  Since I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Jack, I thought it would be nice to re-visit the blog post that made Mama laugh last week as a small tribute to Jack, the founder of our blog.

FYI:  For those of you who didn't know Jack, he was a huge TV fan.  He couldn't watch Animal Planet or America's Funniest Home Videos alone because he would try and attack the TV.  If a greyhound was on TV, he would whine.   He loved Judge Judy.  Scout and I don't watch TV, but we know when Judge Judy goes off, it is time for us to take a walk.  BOL!

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Knows If It Wasn't For Jack, He And Scout Wouldn't Have Been Adopted Into This Home And Thus We Wouldn't Be On A HUGE Adventure.

Originally posted on October 28, 2010

GROUNDED

Jack and Scout

Jack and Scout reporting to you this morning.

Jack: We were grounded yesterday. NO TV!

Scout: Yep, grounded, no TV.

Jack: No People's Court, Judge Judy, The Talk, etc, etc.

Scout: I really don't care for TV much so it didn't bother me. There is a commercial I like though. It has a whale in it and I've been imitating his sounds which is driving Mama crazy! LOL Jack loves his TV though, so he was very upset that he couldn't watch it.

Jack: It's Scout's fault that we got in trouble.

Scout: You could have said "NO" Jack, but you didn't.

Jack: What did we do? Well, we got Mama up around 2 a.m. to go outside. That's not why we got in trouble though.

Scout: No, we do that a lot.

Jack: We got in trouble because we did zoomies around the yard. Mama told us to come in and we just ran circles around her.

Scout: It was so funny! Mama was standing out in the middle of the yard dressed in her jammies. Her arms were flapping and she kept yelling at us to get in the house. We just kept running circles around her.

Jack: Mama said it looked like she was a lion tamer in the circus.

Scout: It was a lot of fun, but Mama didn't think it was. She said "YOU'RE GROUNDED, NO TV!" I just laughed and said "whatever". It was worth loosing TV for a day.

Jack: So, yesterday, I missed all of my favorite shows. I hope I can catch up on Days Of Our Lives today because it was at a dramatic part when it ended on Tuesday.

Scout: I'm sure you didn't miss anything, Jack. That show moves slower than a turtle.

Jack: So, that's why we were grounded yesterday. We didn't get Mama up last night, so we are golden today.

Scout: Yeah, we are golden. LOL

Jack and Scout
The Ungrounded Greyhounds

The Beach

Now, don't get excited.  We didn't go to the beach, but the folks did.  Mama said no dogs were allowed and it was too crowded anyway.  They drove to Hugh Taylor Birch State Park because there is a tunnel that you walk through to get to the beach. 

The tunnel that goes under the street and to the beach.

People enjoying the beach.

Mama said that it seemed much brighter in person than in these photos.  The folks took these photos and headed down the street to find something to eat.  They decided the walk was too far and decided to head back to the park.  Mama wanted to walk the Hammock Trail.  She thought it would have huge trees covering the trail like an umbrella.  It was not.

She worried about snakes falling from the trees, so it wasn't very enjoyable.  They both felt like bugs were crawling on them after getting off the trail.  I think it would have been fun!  Scout says she was happy to stay at home in the air conditioning.

The folks took another wrong turn and the next thing they knew, they were being asked for their passports.  BOL!   They turned into the port where you board cruise ships.  Dad told the officer that he took a wrong turn and the officer said it happens all the time.  Duh!  There were no signs to say it wasn't a regular street.  They took Dad's driver's license and held it until they turned around.  I guess they wanted to make sure they didn't make a break for the cruise ship.

The folks ate some good food this weekend and we all know that makes Mama happy.  She will update her blog on that later today. 

There was a 20% chance of rain yesterday.  We had four heavy downpours.  I guess that is just the norm here.  We were out walking twice when it happened, so we ducked under a porch for a while. 

There are some ducks here that Scout really likes.  She really had them on the run the other day, but Dad said that wasn't very nice.  He is the "fun police" you know. 

The ducks that Scout likes.

Scout watching the ducks.  The ducks are near the top of the photo.

Everyone left yesterday but the guy who seems to live here permanently and then one motor home came in last night.  The count if you are keeping track is now three of us staying in our section.   Two of the cats seem to think they should live under our motor home.  I think it makes life interesting, but Mama not so much. 

Our regular mail and our bully sticks are supposed to be delivered today.  Our paws are crossed.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Memorized By Cats