Thanksgiving 2005

Finally! The Tyndells (and Ahrens')got together for Thanksgiving! Although there was no big kids/little kids table distinction, we still had a great time filled with dressing, um...food, and many cute pups!

Ode to Aku

Here is a picture of our pet parrot, Aku, from Mali. Melissa, who lived in our house in Mali after us, sent this picture. Aku was a strange pet, and all the Malians thought we were weird to feed her and let her climb all over the mango tree instead of eating Aku.

HDR Open House

Last week, the office I work in had an Open House for clients, sub-consultants, and other branch office employees. Here is some of the C-44 Project team hanging out: Aaron, Deborah, and Edgardo.

Alright, alright...We'll Fix Them!

This morning, great friends and neighbors united to begin the process of fence fixing! Even though "Gamma" is predicted to hit as a tropical storm next week, we figured it was ok to start the posts. Thanks for everyone's help (neighbor, Mike, and Aaron, who also works at GeoSyntec with Jeff, all pitched in)!

Hooray for Dickey Betts!

For those that didn't know, Dickey Betts used to be in the Allman Brothers Band, but now he tours on his own. During the Garlic Festival, he came to Delray Beach, so we went to check it out. He played all the old classics that the Allman Brothers don't play anymore, so Jeff and I were super happy.

A Dangerous Characteristic

This is also from Donald's birthday night inside some club we found. Even in the darkness, even in sepia camera settings (this is the ONLY way I will keep my eyes open in a picture at night Jeff discovered that night), and EVEN though it's not the focus of the picture, you can tell how POINTY my elbows are! Beware!

Donald's Birthday

Jeff's friend from JMU, Donald, came down to visit last weekend, AND we went out to celebrate his birthday on Saturday. We found this cool place in Delray to hang out, got some apps, and discovered the mojito. Annette and Jeffrey came along for the ride as well. Good fun.

The Only Place Left

Not only did we get an armoir while in SC, but we found this fun chair too (also a great deal...have I mentioned how nice shopping is NOT in Florida?) So, we had to put the chair in the back of the Monty and force Karma and Zen to sleep in the chair the whole way back. Thank goodness they don't argue too much about sleeping in the car. It made for some fun car sleeping photos, as usual.

Some of you might be figuring out that I don't have a very exciting life, hence, all the dog pictures! Although, I have to admit, this scheduled, "normal" life is a welcome change from where I was just a year ago.

The Story of the Armoir

When we visited my family in SC after Wilma, we decided to go to the outlets in Gaffney. Behold! We found the only armoir (or piece of furniture) that Jeff and I have been able to agree upon for 70% off! Hooray! So, of course we had to buy it. Little did we know that 1.the store wouldn't help us put it on the roof of the car or 2. there was no trailer available in the whole town.
Thankfully, South Carolinians are some of the nicest people in the world and we recruited some strong gents off the sidewalk to help us put a 700 pound monstrocity on the Monty.

Here is everyone trying to figure out if it's tied down good enough and how to get this tarp around the whole thing in case it rained. I really thought it would slow us down back to Florida and kill the gas mileage, but it didn't! Hooray again! Monty is such a good boy.

We're in the Running...

For biggest pile on the street! Jeff took the demolished shed down piece by piece with a sledgehammer. Maybe it wasn't the best tool, but I think he was pretty pleased with himself and all the banging and destruction involved. So anyway, all those pieces had to be hauled to the street with the debris. The city has been pretty good about picking stuff up, so soon it will all be gone and we can mow again. I just don't want to think about all this stuff going in landfills. So sad...

Before and After Wilma: All Open Sky

Well, not much is going on in Delray Beach lately...a little hurricane recovery (believe me, not much, the way Home Depot has been bombarded by all citizens), many walks with the now-confined dogs without a backyard, and catching up at work. It looks like South Florida is on its way back to normal...well, at least we are getting some traffic lights back.

Congratulations PT!

My uncle Paul won 1st place for his home in the 2005 Parade of Old Ferry Estates! Go PT!

Oh So Rare Zen

Usually, getting a picture of Zen is very difficult since she's pretty energetic/spastic. The newly arrived dogs (pups no more! they reached one year old last week!) seem to feel right at home at Mom and Dad's house, and have been relaxing a bit. Jeff snuck this photo opportunity during lunch.

It must have been about 40 degrees this morning, which is the coldest Karma and Zen have ever experienced, being Florida dogs. It was so funny taking them out for a walk and seeing their cold, frisky footsteps. I thought the "no dogs on the furniture" rule would hold for them during this visit since that was the way it always was with pets growing up. BUT, Zen won them over with the innocent eyes and Karma triumphed in a "Queen of the Couch" kind of way. It's great how dogs make you take life less seriously and notice the little things.

Hurricane Wilma

I suppose we are "real Floridians" now that we made it through a real Hurricane. The news was predicting a Category 1, but at the last minute, we decided to nail up the windows anyway. We sure are glad we did since it turned out stronger with 115 mph winds in Delray! The house made it through fine, but our yard got a bit thrashed. We look at it as an excuse to do the yardwork we've been putting off for quite a while. I will post some more pictures up later when the internet connection is better, but for now, here is the house side yard afterwards (with flattened shed!). After two days of yardwork, no progression of utilities' work, and our offices being closed from no power, we decided that this would be a great excuse to come visit my parents in SC for a few days. We made it here last night at 2am ready to plug up the laptops in the morning. The latest is that power will be restored to South Florida by November 22nd?! Camping out at home with candles and a grill doesn't bother us, but the traffic lights all blew away, and people have been getting crazy with driving and searching for water. To say the least, we were afraid of what others may do in light of the aftermath. For now, we will try to make up work and enjoy some family time! Be thinking of all the people in Central America and Mexico that had the worst of it. We were so lucky. Only one more month of hurricane season!

The Many Sides of Karma

Since Karma is such an attention lover, I thought I would take advantage.

Giant Softball

Here is the famous GeoSyntec Softball team from this past summer. Famous for copious amounts of wild fans rather than impressive ball skills.

For those that haven't heard...

We are officially homeowners! We closed on the house early! Labor Day weekend began with the closing and continued through with moving and the necessary beginning of painting. Jeff's priority was to epoxy the gargage floor and mine was to clean/paint the insides of the kitchen cabinets (to match the indigo Morroccan dishes!). Thankfully, the weather was cloudy, so I didn't feel too bad about giving up beach time for home improvements. Home Depot is our new favorite hangout, obviously. We are even more excited about being homeowners now that the moving part is over...no regrets. It's nice to have more space and the authority to paint, garden, and change whatever we want about the space we live in. So...phone numbers are still the same, but our address is now 764 Mallard Drive, Delray Beach, FL 33444.

Introducing Matthew Christopher Tully...

After a long night of waiting for the delivery room to open up, Jeff's sister, Debbie, finally had Matthew Christopher! Hooray! Everyone is fine and healthy! The Tully family is complete and it looks like Kaitlyn is ready to be a good big sister. Congratulations Debbie and Chris!

The Bon Festival

Here is a group of us at the Morikami Museum. This Japanese festival takes place every year to celebrate the passing of loved ones. Later that night, lighted lanturns were pushed out onto the pond, but those pictures didn't come out...blast it all.

They Love Each Other

This is what the puppies do in the car...so trips are pretty easy with them to say the least. It looks like Karma is using Zen as her pillow since she's the alpha dog.