Another blessed year has flown by. Against most odds all parents are still
muddling along. Sarah, Murphy, and Polly live at home mostly, Mac is a junior
at University of Florida and Dani is living and working at the beach. We are
down to 3 cats, 4 dogs, 2 canaries, 5 chickens, a crayfish, a salamander, and a
squirrel (temporary, just waiting for him to get old enough to release). We
have had lots of fun and adventures on trips to Cumberland, a family cruise to
the Caribbean, a hiking trip to Utah and Colorado, a big trip to Nicaragua
including climbing several volcanoes(except not one of the ones that we were
planning to because it blew 2 weeks before we got there and it was closed)
volcano surfing (the only place in the world you can do it), getting our
advanced diving certification at Little Corn Island, veterinary conferences to
Denver and Gainesville,
a vet school 30th reunion at Palm Island, Florida and
several jaunts to St. Augustine to spend the night at a Bed and Breakfast and
shop or take a carriage ride to see all of the Christmas lights. We are about
to build a 2-3 car garage with an apartment over it (everyone seems to think it
is a Murphy apartment, I hope not) so Alan can have somewhere to keep his ’61
Corvette and work out equipment. We have permits and permission from Riverside
Avondale Preservation (or The Peoples Republic of Avondale as Alan calls them)
but have not broken ground yet.
Alan is currently killing himself doing P90X with Murphy and
much less reliably, Polly. He had to give up tennis for 3 months due to a bad
slip on our whale shark expedition and an old fracture at L5 that was
anteriorly displaced but he is back beating himself up on the tennis courts
again now. He has not learned enough in his 58 years not to get back on the
Revellers board when they had a resignation (luckily its only for 2 more years
or I would have to have imparted some of my wisdom on him!) He is still on the
session at church, interviewing for UF vet school applicants, attending Gator
and Jaguar home games, and just lost an associate vet who decided to leave
before finishing her on call schedule, so he has to pick up Christmas day call
now ( yes, I am disgruntled about this)! Alan’s story this year relates a
snippet of our Nicaraguan trip and as it covers a sensitive matter I will let
him tell it in his own words. I will say that climbing this volcano was the
most difficult physical task that I have ever completed (keep in mind that I
went through childbirth 4 times) and made me realize that somethings are beyond
my physical capacities now. So in Alan’s words
"Our hike up Conception started at 5:30 am when we were picked up
in the dark by two men in a truck. One was a portly driver who got winded just walking
to the back of the truck (obviously not the guide)…the other (our guide) was a
lean fit 20-something ex-Sandinista who does this trip once a week (we were in
trouble). I should have turned back then. In the dark, with the mountain
covered in fog, it doesn’t seem so daunting…but then you got started. It was
STRAIGHT UP, like Tarzan climbing the escarpment. There was NO trail, none. We
climbed over stumps and boulders and had to pull ourselves along with vines.
There were a few showers to make sure we stayed wet so when the Nicaraguan sun
came out we could get the full steamy eco-tourist experience. I have no idea
how hot it was as my watch can’t measure in degrees Kelvin. I felt like Cool
Hand Luke in the hotbox. It took us over
5 hours to reach the summit with the last 200 yards being hot volcanic scree
where you took 2 steps forward on your hands and knees and slid back 1, all the
while sucking in sulfurous gas (Beth tried to blame me for that one, imagine
that). After hours of rain forest conditions it was cold and windy on the top
(30 mph gusts). The trip down was much harder taking us 6 ½ hours. I took 2
camel backs of water in my pack and ran out half way down. I can’t describe how
much that sucked. We had to lower ourselves down over boulders and slipped and
fell repeatedly on top of losing our guide a few times. After reaching the
bottom we made it back to the farm we were staying and I realized as I pulled
off my clothes to get in the shower that I should never have worn cotton…Yuge
mistake. The 11 ½ hours of hiking in wet cotton apparently rubbed “things” a
bit raw….as a matter of fact, a great deal more than a bit. I thought it might
require some type of skin graft to ever appear normal again. To add insult to
injury we were supposed to ride horses the next day through Gen. Samosa’s Plantation.
I could hear the tour person laughing over the phone when Beth explained my
“predicament “to her. We opted for a massage instead. This also turned out to
be a...Yuge mistake. We caught a ride on a Tuk-Tuk to a bad part of town to see
Milton Duarte…the famous masseuse.
The dirt road with chickens running
everywhere combined with the stares of the local street gangs added to the
ambiance. I really think he did interrogation for Daniel Ortega during the
revolution. I kid you not, bare concrete walls and a tin roof, one stained
towel of questionable cleanliness and a table covered with bottles and jars.
Apparently he is known for his "deep tissue" massage, and that
doesn't even come close to an accurate description. After the pain my legs were
already in and the 11 ½ hour hike in wet shorts induced rash in “the area” that
won't be named ... This wasn't a good idea.
To top it off he used some type of
oil that should never come in contact with abraded skin (see previous note).
I'm sure the screams ringing from the ghetto brought a smile to the old
Sandinista's heart. Of course I couldn't see his reaction since my eyes were
streaming tears uncontrollably at this point. To add to the experience, he was
really working his @$$ off in this Club Gitmo of a room so that when he bent
over, a torrent of his sweat dropped onto my face right in my eye socket ...
Mixing with the tears and acrid oils to just heighten the experience like a
Nicaraguan version of water boarding. " Despite this we had a great trip
and pretty good stories.
I still work 3 days a week in a
great practice with superb co-workers. I am so blessed to love (most days) what
I get paid to do. I am working hard to avoid my parent’s diabetes and shapes by
walking 3 miles daily, yoga 1-2 times weekly, High Intensity Interval Training
twice weekly, and a walk, jog, sprint workout once weekly. I am fairly
successful at achieving these goals. I muddle in my yard and garden and mostly
enjoy the chickens' escapades, though the great raccoon chicken massacre was traumatic
for all involved especially the 2 unfortunate hens that got grabbed. I noticed
a stray cat hanging around and I
decided that I needed to catch it, 
neuter it,
and give it a Rabies vaccine since there were so many raccoons around. As a
result I set out a trap and caught 8 raccoons, 1 opossum, and 2 of my cats
twice. The raccoons and opossum were relocated as per Fish and Wildlife’s
recommendations. The stray I thought was a male turned out to be a female and I
know this because Murphy trapped her kitten. We still have not caught momma but
at least there are less raccoons around to expose her to Rabies (and kitten
gets her last shots and spayed in 10 days)! Some of my highlights of the year
were the family cruise, the petroglyphs in Utah and Nicaragua, the fossils in
Utah, hiking and surfing volcanos in Nicaragua, riding through the hoodoos in
Bryce Canyon in Utah, hiking Peekaboo trail in Utah, swimming with the whale
sharks in Mexico, fossil hunting on Raccoon key, hiking on Cumberland, and
finally getting 3 pink lemons from my pink lemon tree (I’ve had it about 5
years now).
Sarah has 1 year left to finish
her Doctorate in Occupational Therapy. She nannies, works at Merrill and
Jacksonville Equine, pet sits, and does her full time student course load which
includes 5 days a month in Tampa at Nova Southeastern for her exams and clinic
stuff. She is still dating 
Jeff and he is a real trooper. He is patient with
her hectic schedule and crazy family and here is a prime example. We decided to
do a cruise for our family vacation and everyone (except Mac who suffers from
seasickness) thought it would be a great adventure to go swimming with the
whale sharks in Mexico as a full day excursion from Cozumel. We invited Jeff
(who is not a big fan of the ocean). Mac was hopeful that Jeff would decide not
to go swimming with the whale sharks and then he and Jeff could hang around in
Cozumel at Carlos and Charley’s or Senior Frogs or find something more fun than
3-4 hours of potentially rough seas on a full day side trip. Sarah assured us
that Jeff wanted to swim with the whale sharks and so Mac had no choice but to
double up on the Meclizine like the rest of us and take the 45 minute ferry
ride, hour bus ride, and 90 minute boat ride through rough seas (the trip had been
cancelled for the previous week due to rough seas and had just calmed down
enough that the tour guides were willing to risk it) to the whale shark viewing
site 30 miles off the coast. The boat bobs in rough seas over the whale sharks,
and a guide takes groups of 2 into the water over. You swim as long as you can
watching the whale sharks while the boat goes back to collect the last 2 people
and drop off the next batch before returning to collect you. Oh, did I mention
that Jeff does not like the ocean, and what I didn’t know until after we got
back from the excursion was that Jeff had never snorkeled before! Alan and I
went first, then Polly and Murphy, then Jeff and Sarah. Sarah dropped over the
side and frantically swam after the guide. Jeff was bobbing in 3 foot seas
trying not to swallow a gallon of water through his snorkel and watching as
Sarah instituted the Weldon emergency preparedness plan, every person for
themselves! Alan, Polly, and I went in 4 times, Mac and Sarah 3 times, and
Murphy and Jeff once each. As we headed back, the guide offered us sandwiches
and everyone but Sarah vigorously declined, Mac promptly threw up despite the
double Meclizine. We made the almost 3 hour return trip to the cruise ship. I
hope Jeff saw the whale sharks, he said he had fun, I fussed at Sarah and asked
why she would put him through that, I’m not sure you could plan a more
unpleasant experience for someone not overly fond of the ocean who had never
snorkeled before, but she said he wanted to do it. I told her he was a keeper
as well as a sport to cheerfully put up with conditions like that just to make
her happy!
Jeff and he is a real trooper. He is patient with
her hectic schedule and crazy family and here is a prime example. We decided to
do a cruise for our family vacation and everyone (except Mac who suffers from
seasickness) thought it would be a great adventure to go swimming with the
whale sharks in Mexico as a full day excursion from Cozumel. We invited Jeff
(who is not a big fan of the ocean). Mac was hopeful that Jeff would decide not
to go swimming with the whale sharks and then he and Jeff could hang around in
Cozumel at Carlos and Charley’s or Senior Frogs or find something more fun than
3-4 hours of potentially rough seas on a full day side trip. Sarah assured us
that Jeff wanted to swim with the whale sharks and so Mac had no choice but to
double up on the Meclizine like the rest of us and take the 45 minute ferry
ride, hour bus ride, and 90 minute boat ride through rough seas (the trip had been
cancelled for the previous week due to rough seas and had just calmed down
enough that the tour guides were willing to risk it) to the whale shark viewing
site 30 miles off the coast. The boat bobs in rough seas over the whale sharks,
and a guide takes groups of 2 into the water over. You swim as long as you can
watching the whale sharks while the boat goes back to collect the last 2 people
and drop off the next batch before returning to collect you. Oh, did I mention
that Jeff does not like the ocean, and what I didn’t know until after we got
back from the excursion was that Jeff had never snorkeled before! Alan and I
went first, then Polly and Murphy, then Jeff and Sarah. Sarah dropped over the
side and frantically swam after the guide. Jeff was bobbing in 3 foot seas
trying not to swallow a gallon of water through his snorkel and watching as
Sarah instituted the Weldon emergency preparedness plan, every person for
themselves! Alan, Polly, and I went in 4 times, Mac and Sarah 3 times, and
Murphy and Jeff once each. As we headed back, the guide offered us sandwiches
and everyone but Sarah vigorously declined, Mac promptly threw up despite the
double Meclizine. We made the almost 3 hour return trip to the cruise ship. I
hope Jeff saw the whale sharks, he said he had fun, I fussed at Sarah and asked
why she would put him through that, I’m not sure you could plan a more
unpleasant experience for someone not overly fond of the ocean who had never
snorkeled before, but she said he wanted to do it. I told her he was a keeper
as well as a sport to cheerfully put up with conditions like that just to make
her happy!
Dani is still living at the beach
with Mishka and Eleni and loves it so much that we rarely see her unless she
has a Mishka or Huck (her roommate Elenis new kitten) problem. She came home
when Huck was not feeling well, when Mishka needed some blood work, when she
was headed out of town to drop Mishka for a visit, and when they turned the
power off at the beaches to enforce mandatory evacuation from the beach for
hurricane Matthew! No matter the reason I am always happy to see her. Dani and
Polly took Mishka and River to the pool
for a dip. While River was excitedly leaping in and out of the pool Mishka
watched from the side barking her warning to River, at least until she fell in,
sunk like a stone, and had to be fished out! Mishka has her own life jacket now
to hopefully avoid future mishaps! Dani and a bunch of friends went camping,
canoeing, and kayaking down the Sewanee near Gainesville for a fun excursion
and she visited Nik in Atlanta on her way to the mountains for a vacation this
summer. Even Dani has been to a Jaguar game this season (in the club section no
less) and yet still no home wins. Dani is looking for a new job that
encompasses both accounting and marketing and that might offer her an
opportunity to get a Masters in business. Hopefully she won't have tomove to
Atlanta to find what she is looking for.
Murphy is still working his way
through college. He is not particularly interested in anything, which makes it
harder. He loves River and Dribbles (dog and cat). He and his friends make a
pretty mean trivia team. He is very kind to Meme and Pop and plays Sequence
with Pop most weeks as well as giving him rides to and from appointments when
he can. He and 4 friends took a road trip to Charleston to eat, drink, be
merry, visit museums, and take a ghost tour. They stayed at one of the guys
roommates parents rental property, a 5 bedroom beach house. Apparently they did
such a great job cleaning up that the owners said they were welcome to come
back. Maybe I should invite Ben, Mac, Peter, and Chris to come visit here for a
weekend because Murph's not keeping this house very clean! He helped Robert put
up Meme and Pops hurricane shutters and we all made it through Matthew with
only a few days of no power. Murph was home alone 3 weeks later when a tree
from the park fell on our porch and crushed the porch roof and part of the deck
and fence. 7 weeks later the city has not removed the tree, too bad it didn’t
happen during the hurricane, that debris was removed in less than a week!
Murphy seems to have "a bad motivator" which is one reason why he is
still working on graduating (that plus the multiple times he has changed his
major and schools). I'm going to go out on a limb and predict he will graduate
by next December. Keep your fingers crossed!
Polly is working at Merrill and
Jacksonville Equine and pet sits too. She is applying to vet school at Florida
this year (they didn’t receive her transcript last year). She is working on a
couple of research projects that she hopes to publish as well. Momo is still
her pride and joy but she has added Gandolph the Cray and Alexander salamander
and Quirrel the squirrel to her menagerie. Polly described the "worst day
of her life" earlier this year one night at dinner time. It started with a
doctor's appointment which included a vaccine (Polly is needle phobic). She
left the doctor's and headed to work but on the way got a flat tire. She called
work to let them know she was running late and got out to change the tire. She
was annoyed when a "creepy" guy stopped, watched her change the tire,
and then after she finished, offered to help. She hurried to work, walked in,
and Becky pointed out to her that her pants were split wide open in the back,
(hence the creepy guy watching instead of helping). Her first client was a
large woman with a small sick dog. She had no shoes on (not sure why) and had
trouble getting up from her chair in the waiting room so Polly helped her. As she
headed towards the exam room, the woman tripped on her dog, fell on top of
Polly, knocking her to the floor, and burst into tears sobbing on Polly who was
trapped underneath her, and telling her to please just put her and her dog out
of their misery while Polly lay pinned to the floor unable to move! Polly has
been attending the Jaguar games with us and it hasn't been a good year for
them. Last week she entertained herself at the game by watching a drunk
opposing team couple. They were standing the whole time so the elderly couple
behind them could not see. This her for some reason, so after a
quarter of the elderly couple peeking around them, Polly went to the security
guy and reported them. He asked them nicely to sit some of the time so people behind
them could see. The female tried to get the male to be considerate but he
became belligerent. She turned and apologized to the elderly couple and they
just tried to watch the game but now the wobbly drunk man was turned around
talking to them and touching them and blocking their view even more. So
security came to escort them out and as they carried the drunken guy out
because he couldn't walk, the woman turned around trying to spot who ratted
them out, when her eyes met Pollys 3 rows up, Polly gave her a head nod and the
women's eyes widened, shocked that such an innocent looking person could be the
cause of her demise! Polly said it was her best experience at the stadium this
year because justice was served!
Mac is a junior in Civil
engineering at UF. He loves UF and just had a road trip to LSU with his core of
friends for “the best football experience of his life” (keep in mind the
Jaguars have set that bar pretty low recently). He plays intramural football,
soccer, and kickball with his friends and his goal this year was to win at
least one game. At 0 for 28, he did not succeed. Apparently either a very
unlucky group or not a very athletic one. Polly had to room with Mac and Murphy
on the family cruise this summer. After unpacking, they came to our room and
Polly was complaining that her room smelled like poop and B.O. within 5 minutes
of their arrival. Mac observed
"yeah, you really won the roommate lottery, didn't you!" Mac has been
working on becoming an adult. He moved out of the dorms so he could learn to
pay his bills, do his own grocery shopping and cooking, clean his apartment, do
his own laundry (at least I hope he is doing it), and learn to live
independently. Every now and then he and
his roommates cook and eat a meal together. They decided that it would be nice
to do a roommate/friend Thanksgiving and prepare an entire Thanksgiving feast.
Mac is my turkey helper and he gets up early on Thanksgivings to help me make
stuffing, stuff the turkey, load it in the bag, and put it in the oven. As a
result, he knows how long it takes to cook a turkey, but what he didn't take
into account was how long it takes to thaw a turkey! Mac went out, bought a
frozen turkey, stuffed it, put it in a bag, and tried to cook it. It took
longer than he had anticipated to cook, so when it was finally done he took it
out and carved it immediately without removing the stuffing. After carving it,
he started looking for the stuffing but the turkey was so moist (probably from
the melted ice) that the stuffing had just mixed with the juices and carved
meat and it was one big mush! But he said it tasted good and everyone enjoyed
the feast (except the unexpected vegan who couldn't eat anything because they
didn't know she was coming and everyone had used butter!)
Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays
to all and have a Happy New Year! Love, Alan, Beth, Sarah, Dani, Murphy, Polly,
and Mac
