February 8, 2024 # 39

1984 on the back of the Tara J, his 28 foot cabin cruiser. 

 

Happy 39th Anniversary to US... We were married in the courthouse, in Bradenton, with my Aunt as a witness. The above photo is the only wedding picture taken. He wore jeans and a cowboy shirt because that is all he owned.

1986 My sons backyard wedding

for my sons wedding he had acquired dress pants and a white shirt. I bought it, he wore it.

Feb 9th 1985 birthday party at my aunts house. Skipper my jokester cousin. 
we called it our reception, we had all my family, and it was FREE and the day after we got married

1987 Christmas, we bought a Corvette and the shirts and hats were to ride with tops off and look at Christmas lights

Photos for the Church Directory.

I know this is crazy, but this is all but 2 others of photos of us together in a photo in 39 years

There are very few photos of us together, look at the face below and guess why???

2017

32nd Anniversary

Now and Then, Past and Present

We were married at the courthouse and this is the only wedding photo we have, a snap shot taken by my cousin.
No engagement ring, No big wedding, No photos, no honeymoon, no money other than our two paychecks. It was an emotional wedding, even the cake was in tiers.
Wait! there was no cake..

YET IT WORKED FOR 32 YEARS..

Stephens House-Manatee Historical Village

 

 HEY..HGTV.. this bedroom is ONLY 80 sq. feet and has no attached bathroom.. In fact the potty is out in the back yard.. The bath part is sitting on the dresser. Feel like crying? hold your home made teddy bear while rocking to comfort yourself.

Or step out on the back porch and enjoy the room while sitting in the porch swing.

Now get up and take 10 steps off the porch to pump the water for your bath and cooking...

I am so bad... this is a 7 AM update to this post... Guess what I forgot??? Bob says this morning whit our first cup of coffee... What is today's date? MS thinks a full minute and says OH!

Today is our 31st Anniversary and I totally forgot... and this is not the first time. soooo To Bob and Myself..

30th "Celebration" OUR Style

For any celebration we eat lunch out, not dinner, as most of you do. We go to bed much to early to eat dinner out.

We decided for our 30th Anniversary we wanted a BURGER.. Five Guys was our choice because the balmy temps were at 75 and brilliant sunshine, blues skies and white puffy clourds. PLUS Five Guys has  picnic tables on the sidewalks.

We sat in the filtered shade of 3 palm trees, and people watched. The day was perfect, the burgers were perfect, the company was perfect..  FG is next door to a Mexican Restaurant and Petco.... a steady stream of dogs going in and out and sitting under the tables while their owners eat, gave us much joy. Free entertainment.

NOTE: we had Sara Lee Coconut Cream Pie for Dinner at 4 PM...

We stopped in Petco for the 40 pound bag of dog food, and as I was doing you know what, Bob said....

"I am taking your camera if you don't come ON"... what ever could he have meant?

The Thing IS.... on the way to the car I took one more photo... can you guess what this was on?

Scroll Down

for the answer....

A brand new Shelby Cobra Mustang... can you believe 2 OTHER old ladies were laughing at me while I stooped down to take this in the front grill?

What is wrong with them?????

Ghost of Anniversary's Past..

Friday morning Bob and I stood warming ourselves at the sliding glass door. I realized his profile was in the reflection... I asked him to hold still, don't move and this is what I got. I love this ghost photo and love him. Today is our 30th Anniversary.  When he saw this photo, he said OLD man in the sea, I said no, Old man in the Trees... He is, was and always will be a Salty Old Seadog..

Our story of how we met is in a prior post HERE

Thursday I said to him, let's go to Golden Corral for lunch, We have not been in ages. I thought for a minute and said, "No, we can do it on Saturday".

He said "why not on Sunday, since it is the 8th.''

 I said ''what has that got do do with it?''     He said The 8 th??

I said ''OOOOHHHH"  I totally forgot it was our anniversary.  4 years ago we both forgot it until late in the day.

As part of the celebration weekend, we had breakfast on Saturday at Golden Corral and will eat out again today, the ''8''...

In the collage you see our two plates and the view from our table. They open at 7:30 and because we get up at 5 we have to wait hours and pop in the door as they open it, first in the door. we have to wait 5 minutes for them to put out the fresh baked biscuits which is why we go there, biscuits and sausage gravy.

Bob and Sandra 29 Years Today

We were married at the courthouse and this is the only wedding photo we have, a snap shot taken by my cousin.
No engagement ring, No big wedding, No photos, no honeymoon, no money other than our two paychecks. 
YET IT WORKED FOR 29 YEARS..

CLICK AND SCROLL FOR PHOTOS ON  OTHER POSTS ON OUR OTHER ANNIVERSARIES..

On the Way to Staples - Reflections

LOOK WHAT I FOUND.... on the way to Staples to buy a new KINDLE... Reflections in a retention pond.

I pulled behind the shopping center to see what was in the retention pond. YIKES. they posted a tow away sign.. I parked anyway and left my door open for a quick getaway and walked to the NEW Wall of Bamboo they planted trying to ruin my view.
I peered through the bamboo below and saw the above

 I told Bob I climbed through a spot like the one above to get these shots, he said you do know there could be gators in there. NOW he tells me.

UPDATE.. until we were driving to the gym this morning, we both forgot today is our 28th Anniversary.
SOOOO Happy Anniversary to US

Twenty Seven Years Today...

 Today is our 27th Anniversary. Our story is a little long, but I want to share some of it.

In May of 1984, after making a total mess of my life with less than stellar choices, 40 years old, divorced and in a state of never want to see another man in my life, I fled from the chaos of my life in Georgia, here to Florida.

I found a job as greeter dispatcher in Sears Automotive. And also found 2 other part time jobs just to live and pay bills. I moved here with everything I owned in the back of a very small, not paid for Nissan Pick Up Truck.

 I will skip the DETAILS because they are not pretty and this is a happy post. I plead temporary insanity for the years it took me to reach 40. I swore I would never look at a man again.

Bob was a mechanic working in the shop at Sears, I was at the desk greeting and writing tickets and giving them out to the mechanics. I started there May of 1984.  Bob says but I have no memory of it, that from the day I walked in, he was in love, but I ignored him and at times was plain rude,

as in when he said "I like your earrings" my reply was "Sooo?"    (I have no memory of this)

What Bob does, while waiting on the MadSnapper

 At the time CB's were in most cars and trucks, so being newly independent, I installed my own CB in my truck. It worked but had a lot of static when I keyed. I ask the manager if someone could take a look at it and he said, pull it in Bob bay, he is really good with radios. I did and he said, you did a good job, you just have the ground wire on a screw that is picking up engine noise, he moved the wire and it was ready to TALK.
Bob says: What's your CB handle and I will give you a shout today when I get off work and test it, mine is HORRIBLE. say what? I thought?
I replied "mine is Cherokee Rose" and thanks for helping me.

My friends dog, all dogs love  Bob

 In the interest of blog land reading time, I will skip the rest of the details. We started talking on the CB every afternoon, and I got my first Kiss BEFORE we even had a date. When he left Sears at 3 I was driving to my 2nd job as a waitress, and we talked. He drove past the restaurant where i worked and waved at me each day, for about a month. On his 48th Birthday, he keyed the radio and said, "I see you still in your truck, I think I will stop for a KISS" and he raced his little GTO up beside my truck and leaned in the window and KISSED me. we had never even been out together.  SEE ABOVE POEM... since my family thought I was nuts and I thought I was nuts, I followed my heart.....

NOT his Harley, he just wants it

and four months later we were married and here we are, Married 27 years.....TODAY!

Can you tell he is one of my favorite subjects to photograph? Happy Anniversary Bob, I still love you.

Happy Anniversary to my Funny Valentine

Last year was our Silver Anniversary and if my math skills are correct that makes today our
26 Anniversary

Funny Valentine GLOVES......

People in Snow country cover your eyes please. It is spring here and Spring does weird things to my husband. He drags out these THINGS in the above photos and starts putting dirt in containers and poking seeds in the dirt.

Last month, Valentine cut a tomato for a sandwich and left about 20 slimy seeds on the counter. I started to clean them up and he shouts NO I want those. He takes them outside and pokes them in dirt that he added to tiny little cups. YOU guessed it, he is putting those 12 inch tomato plants in buckets.  I never know what will be growing in his bucket garden.

Above is the "special utensil" he uses to poke holes in the dirt. (looks like a screw driver doesn't it?)
Bob grows trees, bushes, veggies, what ever comes through our kitchen and has a seed in it, Will Grow In Our Yard.

No, it is NOT our car, but we both wish it were.... if you have one to give away, it would make a great anniversary gift.
Happy 26th Anniversary to my funny (have seed will plant) Valentine

Silver Anniversary!

Today is our Silver Anniversary.

We met in an automotive garage, we chatted on a CB radio.

Meet Horrible and Cherokee Rose ( our CB handles in 1984) chatting turned to dating and dating to marriage and here we are Married a Quarter of a Century

This photo was taken in December 1984 a few weeks before we were married on Feb 08, 1985.

Side by side – Year by year

We Blinked and 25 years gone!

A marriage anniversary is the celebration of love, trust, partnership, tolerance and tenacity. The order varies for any given year.

Bob and Me at my son's backyard wedding in 1986

PS....no one should mention I don't look like I did in this picture.

The difficulty with married life is that we fall in love with a personality, but must live with a character

Click on photo to see me and the puppies

1985 our back yard puppy farm we inherited from a neighbor, 5 sets of idential twins, one litter. Max is the one we kept.

In our case make that 2 human Characters who love humor and 4 canine characters over 25 years, we now have only 2 Canine Characters.

Feb 8, 1985, we were married in the courthouse so no wedding photos to post here. Second marriage, grown children and a new and wonderful life together. Just the 2 of us. NOT. we both love animals, especially dogs. the year we married we found Max next door.

Max and his daddy Bob, Max was with us for the first 15 years, he did everything with daddy. We do not tell Jake and Baby, Max was daddies favorite character, including mommy.

When Max died in 2002 we added Baby Girl and Cooper, then in 2005 we added Jake.

Our celebration today of 25 years does and always will include the two of us and our wonderful four paw children.

I close with a few comments on marriage from the internet well.

Spouse: someone who'll stand by you through all the trouble you wouldn't have had if you'd stayed single   Anonymous

Coming together is the beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.  Henry Ford

It calls for a celebration when a couple has been together for a quarter of a century and their relationship has survived the battles of this disparaging world Anonymous

The secret of a happy marriage remains a secret    Henny Youngman
Rita Rudner said my favorite......
I love being married. It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.