Gamble Plantation

Due to to popular demand (thanks, Mellan), I will tell you a little about the Gamble Plantation.  After the 2nd Seminole War, Major Robert Gamble took advantage of the Armed Occupation Act and claimed 160 acres of land on the Manatee River.  He started a sugar plantation.  His holdings eventually grew to 3500 acres.  About 2 miles from the river landing, Maj. Gamble built his Antebellum home.  The home is built mostly of tabby and, of course, painted white.  It took more than 5 years to build the house.  Maj. Gamble was not married, but felt it neccesary to have this fine house because of his status  The view out the front of the house was of the Manatee River and he could see anyone arriving.  In fact, the land surrounding the mansion was cleared completely of trees so that no one could get close without being seen.  Remember the threat of the Seminole was very real.

 As a working plantation in a remote area, they had to be self-supporting; therefore, there were

 vegetable and herb gardens, farm animals, and water purefication.  His water purefication "plant" consisted of a good sized building, low to the ground, where rainwater was collected.  In order to get to the well the water flowed thru a limestone screen which took out most of the impurities  Really quite innovative.  The cistern is just to the rightt of the house in this picture.

Due to the 3rd Seminole War (hard-headed bunch, weren't they) and the dip in the sugar market, Maj. Gamble was forced to sell his holdings and move back to Tallahassee.  He had lived there a total of 12 years.

After the War Between the States, Confederate Secretary of State, Judah P. Benjamin stayed at the house before sailing to England.  All the Confederate Cabinet had a price on their heads and Benjamin was no exception.  Therefore he stayed at the house under the name "Mr. Howard", rarely leaving his room.

After his escape to England, he became a barrister and was quite successful.

A forced sale in 1872 saw the Patten family buy the plantation for $3000.  Since the house was large and upkeep was expensive, the Pattens built a home of their own a short distance away.  Note that this house is up on blocks instead of having a foundation

The Gamble house became a repository for all sorts of flotsam, including fertilizer (manure).  And so it went.

In 1926-27, the Daughters of the Confederacy obtained the broken-down mansion and gave it to the State of Florida.  The mansion is now near its orginal condition.  The walls are 12 inches thick, keeping it cool most of the time.  Floors, of course, have been replaced and some drywall added.  The furniture in the mansion is what a man like Maj. Gamble would have in his home.  Poor man had a string of bad luck.  After losing his plantation, he moved all the furniture to a warehouse in Tallahassee, which then burned down about a week later destroying everything.

We enjoyed touring the house and do recommend it.  The ranger had a good spiel and made it interesting.  The building is the oldest in Manatee County and the only antebellum remaining in South Florida.

God Bless

More Busyness

As I said the retreat was nice.  We were at the FFA Leadership Center. (for those who wonder, FFA stands for Future Farmers of America).  The grounds are lovely and the lake is nice, even if it is low.  TM got to go kayaking.  Our speaker on Saturday was very interesting.  He made the time very interactive, so we found out how some people think.  All together it was very restorative.In the afternoon, we came home and vegged; after all we got up early.  Breakfast was to be at 8a, so we were there by 10 of.  Guess what!  Only 1 person was up.  Imagine that.  They started dragging in by 8:30 or so.

Monday we drove  to Sarasota to visit with Michelle.  We had planned to go to the Ringling Museum, but we frittered away our time and got there too late to make it worth the $20 each.  We had stopped at the Manatee Viewing Center on the bay, which is really nice.  However, since the weather has been so warm, there were no manatees in sight - oh well.  (They have a pretty nice gift shop though).

Then we stopped at the Gamble Plantation.  It was built in the early 1850's and has been totally restored.  When the state of FL got it in 1927, it had been used to store fertilizer.  L

uckily the "aroma" is gone.  Interesting place.  The little house beside it is really a cistern If you want the history lesson, let me know and I will include it next time.

Michelle was to be done with midterms for the day at 3:30.  Someone, however, changed the rules.  Don't know why colleges do that to grandparents.  We caught up with her around 5p and went to Panera to eat.  She is looking good, but a little stressed, don't you know.  Next week will be better for her, since it is Spring Break.

All is well.  TD has been behaving himself for a change.

God Bless

Still Silly

Ok, next morning, I am eating a scone and TD comes sniffing around.  I held out a piece and he actually took it.   You guessed, he buried it in his bed.  So when TM took him for a walk, I got the scone out of the bed and threw it away.  Didn't want a lot of crumbs.  Well, when he came back, he started looking for it!  He moved his bed all around and even looked under the couch.  I don't think he guessed who took it.

Thursday started off good for me, as I made my follow-up visit to the ear doc.  The ear is all dried out and the infection gone (cross your fingers).  The small hole is still in the eardrum, but he doesn't think it will affect the hearing at all.  If it does, we are looking a surgery to rebuild the eardrum.  Doesn't that sound like fun?  I am wearing the hearing aid again. :)

Later I picked up Lesly, the preacher's wife, and we went to lunch.  there is a tea room not far away called Lavender and Lace.  Quite a pretty place.  The food was excellent.  We spend a lot of time talking and finding out more about each other.  Guess we were together about 3 hours and enjoyed every minute of it.

Friday, I am getting ready to go to excerise when the phone rings and the church secretary wants to know when I will be there to help with the cooking.  Say what?  I thought I was supposed to come in at noon and pull pork.  I thought wrong.  I left right away, stopped at the store for onions and was at the building by 10a.  Immediately started cooking hamburger for tacos.  We got the taco meat done, then went to lunch.  First time I have been to Boston Market and the food was good.  Lacks a little on atmosphere.  When we came back, Lesly and TM were there to help us pull pork.  That meat sure was hot!  But that is the best time to pull.  After we finished all the meat and packed everything up to transport to the site for the church retreat, I was bushed.   At least I got to go home for an hour or so and rest before heading out to the retreat.  It was a good evening and everyone liked the bar-b-q.  And there was plenty of food.

better go now, will catch up on the rest of the retreat later.]

God Bless

Silly Dog

This morning I gave TD a treat of puperoni.  That is not his favorite treat - not even close.  First he had to smell my hands to make sure I wasn't keeping something back.   Then he took the treat and laid on his bed.  Then he got up from the bed, moments later I noticed that one corner was turned over.  So I asked TM to look and see if TD had buried his treat.  He had!  So TM just straighted the bed back out.  Yep, TD went right back and re-buried the treat.  A bit later, I straightened the bed out.  TD did not go back to it because he knew that we were all leaving for the day.

We drove up to Wildwood today to see how much it would be to stay at 3 Flags next season.  The lady was so nice and friendly.  The price is excellent, so now we have some decisions to make.

We went on to Ocala where I could go to Hobby Lobby and pick up a few things.  Really, I didn't get much, I promise.  I could have gotten more, but.....

Then we went back to Clermont and out to dinner with Richard and Mellan.  Today was Richard's birthday and he picked Cracker Barrel.  Good spot, we all like it.  We all had a really enjoyable evening.

God Bless

Still Here

Just been busy.  Last week was quite busy.  We drove into Clermont 3 days.  Monday to take Nick to the vet.  Tuesday for Mellan's birthday and Friday just to spend time with Richard & Mellan.  Thursday we went over to Patrick AFB, about a 2 hr. drive, so TM could get his new ID card.  Even if his birthday is not til the 30th, Medicare and the AF have made him officially 65.  Poor baby.

Saturday we had our postponed Sweetheart Banquet at the church.  It had been planned for the 14th, but the Daytona 500 got in our way.  Not that it runs thru here, but that so many people were going to be there.  We had about 40 people at the banquet and had a really good time.

Monday, I went to the ear doctor.  Some people at church had recommended this clinic and they were so right.  Dr. Rooney was pretty much all business.  He took a culture and started me on a treatment regime.  When he gets the culture back, he will know if he started the right meds.  I can't wear my hearing aid until I see him again on the 12th. :(  He said there is a small hole in my eardrum and when we get the infection cleared we will see if treatment is needed for that.

See, not too exciting a life; but I will try to be more faithful in blogging.  You can also keep up with us on facebook.

God Bless

Marathon Thursday

Hope you are thinking about a 26 mile run!  Not happening.

We were up early to get the rice ready for our Young-at-Heart at church.   Had to go by Wal-mart to pick up 4 gallons of tea and were at the building by 10:45.  We had a really good crowd with several visitors.  I met a lady from Clinto, TN and she knows several people from Laurel.  It was fun talking to her.

Our speaker was the tax collector.  Does that sound about dull as dishwater?  Well, this chubby little fellow was really funny.  He was talking about their customer service and some of the people that come in there with "complaints".  Had us all laughing.

The food, of course, was plentiful and good.  I tried not too eat too much and did a fair job.  We hung around & helped clean up.  Then it was back to Wally world for our own shopping.  We got home around 2:30.

By the time TM took TD for a walk (or 2) and checked his e-mail, it was time for him to go help set up for the camp pot luck supper.  I thought I might get a few minutes to rest, but, oh well.

He called me to come on over to the rec hall, so I heated up the leftover rice and was on my way. 

Again, we had a pretty good crowd and the food was plentiful and good.  Again, I tried to keep from eating too much, which wasn't hard since I didn't feel like my lunch had fully digested.

After the potluck, I managed to rest for about 15 minutes before I took my "finger foods" and headed out for the ladies devo.  The food there looked good, but I was wa-y-y too full.  Plus being tired.  We did have a nice devo though.  Had 11 ladies there, including the hostess.

Now you know, it was a marathon FOOD Thursday!

Friday, we had thought to go back to Clermont, but Richard called and said Mellan was just too tired and needed a day of rest.  I am glad she realized that.  It didn't bother us at all to stay home and do laudry and rest.

Saturday morning we went to the Hilltop Church of Christ.  TM for a men's breakfast and me for a ladies gathering.  His was over by 10a and he was to pick me up at 1p.  I texted him around 12:15 that he shouldn't come til 1:30.  Can you believe the whole thing ran a little late?  It was really inspiring.  The main speaker was interesting.  She did a kind of stand-up comedy routine based on the book of Esther.  But she did manage to get her point across of using every moment in time to God's glory.  There were 5 of us from Central and around 100 ladies all together.

Sheila sent me a text asking us to dinner - thank goodness I had my phone on vibrate.  I forwarded it to Don and he called her to get details.

We went over there about 4p and had such a nice time.  Sheila was doing the cooking - after all it was for Michael's birthday - so I was in the kitchen talking with her.  Michael & TM were talking computer stuff.  Mary and her boyfriend, Kyle, were doing homework.  Sheila made lasagna and it was wonderful!  We enjoyed the visit so very much.  They are all so busy that we don't see them often enough.  Sheila and Mary took some of the jewelry I had made recently.  Mary took some of the scrapbook pages I have been making.  

TD stayed in the back yard.  Around 7:30 he barked a couple of times (he is not a barky dog), so we figured it was time to go.  Actually there was probably someone walking by that made him bark, but we did need to get home.  We made it back by 9p.

Well, I guess I have rattled on long enough.

God Bless

Nice day

Got up around 8:30.  We had washed towels last night and after I got dressed, I got ready to take them and hang them out.  TM said "Oh, I was going to do that".  So I said "I can do it, you put the dishes away."  Well, he whined, yes whined, "I don't know where all that stuff goes."  So, I "reluctantly" said "OK, we'll swap."  I did get the better part of the deal since I didn't have to go out in 50 degree weather plus it took a lot less time to put the few dishes away.

Later, I went over to help decorate for the ladies salad luncheon.  The luncheon started at 11:30 and we had a good crowd of about 30.  Lots of food - and no 2 salads were the same.  It was all good.  There was so much left, that several of us took plates to our sweeties.  TM really appreciated it.  After lunch was time for crafts.  There were about 10 of us there, each doing our own thing and, of course, talking.  It was nice to get to know some of the women a little better.  I made a pretty blue necklace.

Then, I went to get a pedicure.  The place I go does a great job massaging and lotioning the feet and legs.  Oh-h, it felt good.

On my way back, I picked up the mail and there was a package from Apryl.  Yipee, new clothes!  She did a great job picking things out for us.  I called and told her she could be my fashion consultant anytime!

So that's it.  Looking forward to going to Clermont tomorrow and seeing Mellan and others.

God Bless