Spaghetti Dinner - Movie - Tree Removal

(Auburndale, FL) Hi 81  Lo 63 --  It's warmed up and no humidity. Life is great when it comes to weather in Florida. No sandstorms like out west.

It's busy here in the winter. A lot of the snowbirds are here and the renters have now arrived. There's only a few houses left to rent out. They're also putting in a couple new houses on the empty lots. It's been fun meeting everyone at the clubhouse events. One such event was the spaghetti dinner.  The guy that makes the meal has done it for twenty some years. It was very good and we had a good turnout of the community members attending. The entertainment was a group of cloggers. There were various ages.  (Click on the pictures to enlarge).

Group opening many cans of tomato sauce.


The kitchen help.


Girl Cloggers


Good attendance

We had a free day, so we went to see the movie Hidden Figures. It's a true story from the 60's and the NASA program. It's very good and worth seeing it. A family movie that tells about our history in "our day".  I guess it tells our age but very true on how we lived as kids.



The next event later in  the week was the HOA (Home Owners Association) Installation Dinner. There were three people installed officers for this years members. It was a catered dinner of BBQ chicken and ribs, pork and beans, potato salad, Cole slaw and roll.  The place that catered the meal was  Smok'n Jim's. We were just there a couple days before so we knew it would be good.



The dessert was cake which was very good.












The biggest event to watch was the tree removal in our back yard. We had two trees that were dead. We didn't want them coming down this summer when we had winds and rain and when hurricane Matthew came through we were really worried.

Both trees together.

BEFORE


AFTER


Both trees died. One was struck by lightning which left it a dark gray/black in the inside and the other one was hollow in the middle and wouldn't last another big wind storm. They looked great this summer.

The guys did a wonderful job with the cutting down the trees, but they left quite a mess behind and put chippings in the drain system. We're hoping it gets cleared out before it starts raining or we'll be flooded under the house. The grate is welded shut, so they have to figure out how to open it.

This is in the drain, a lot of wood chips.


The craft class were making military mats. They are used in showers and bedside mat for military members in the field. We have a good turnout with the snowbirds joining us.





We have three large mats and three small shower mats completed.


I'll take them to the McDill AFB and Patrick AFB in April.

While we were out and about I saw this and had to take a picture.




See you next week.  We're headed to Nassau and Cozumel so next weeks blog will be filled with fun.