Wanderings

Good news!! February has been the first month since last May that we have not had to return to the Tampa Bay area for doctors appointments!! The other missionaries serving with us usually take day trips on their P-Day to see the Florida sights. (In case you aren't familiar with missionary jargon, "P" stand for "preparation" and is intended to give missionaries a day off to shop, clean, wash, etc. The young missionaries need this more than we do, but we get a P-Day anyway. We are off most Saturdays as well, which they are not.) So the Kennedys decided to follow their example because we have not seen many of the places they talk about!

Our first adventure was on January 26th to St. Augustine. We had a leisurely breakfast in Melbourne and a beautiful drive up the coast on Hwy 1. It was a beautiful day and, because it was a Thursday, traffic wasn't bad. We arrived in St. Augustine in the early afternoon, had lunch in a French bakery (Denoel French Pastry Shop), and spent several hours exploring Castillo De San Marcos National Monument. By late afternoon, we were getting weary, so we hopped on I-95 South and headed home. We know there's much more to see there, but it's a start! Our 44th wedding anniversary was on the 27th so this was a trip to celebrate that as well.



It was windy!!




Castillo De San Marcos



On February 2nd we hit the road again to go to Archer (near Gainesville) to see Sue's brother Roger's place there. We have been there before, when it was a work in progress, but we wanted to see the results of his and wife Jan's hard work. At Ocala we left I-75 for SR 27 winding through the countryside and past many horse farms. Beautiful drive! We met them for lunch in Newberry and then spent several hours at their place.

The property is on an air strip so, of course, a hangar for Rog's airplane was built early on. Eventually he put a 28x60 manufactured home there also. There was a barn on the property when  they bought it, but it needed LOTS of work. We always love the time we spend with Rog and Jan so it was another great trip!



The hangar with Roger & his latest plane.




The house.




The barn where they work on their many projects!




Pretty property!



This week we went to Blue Spring State Park in Orange City, which is near I-4 between Orlando and Daytona. This is where the Manatees "winter" when the St. Johns River gets too cold for them. Again we had an ideal day: not too hot, not too cold. (We have had a very mild Winter so far this year.) We strolled along "a 1/3 mile boardwalk that follows the flowing Blue Spring run through a shady hardwood hammock" watching the Manatees, alligators, and other wildlife, toured the historical Thursby House built in 1872, and took a nature cruise on the St. Johns River. The St. Johns River is a 300 mile river that flows North and eventually flows into the Atlantic North of Jacksonville. This river flows past the East side of Deseret Ranch.



Thursby House




3 dark spots in center are Mantees




Our nature cruise boat.




Saw lots of gators!




And lots of birds! This is a Limpkin.



Friday the 17th was Rodeo Day in Osceola County. This is a ranch holiday. Whoopee! The Osceola County Fair was held in conjunction with the rodeo. We went to the fair for a couple of hours,but did not stay for the rodeo. It was a rainy day and by evening we were dragging.  Maybe next year we'll go to the rodeo because we later found out it was in an indoor arena. We did see some steers that boys on the ranch raised for 4H.



4H steers raised by Isaac & Jennings Genho.




Steers raised by Jason & Tanner Campbell.

 Conference Quote:

"In my life I have learned that sometimes I do not receive an answer to a prayer because the Lord knows I am not ready. When He does answer, it is often 'here a littleand there a little' because that is all that I can bear or all I am willing to do."  

Elder Robert D. Hales, "Waiting Upon The Lord: Thy Will Be Done", Ensign, November, 2011, p.73.

New Kids on the Block

There's a new breed of cow on the ranch. (The Braford breed is being phased out.)They are three quarter English (Red Pole and South Devon breeds) and one quarter Brahma. Erik says they breed well even when they are thinner. They are called "Deseret Red". Have a look:

We are in calving season right now. It's usually from mid-December to mid-March. The calves are soooo cute!! In September they will be weaned and shipped either to our grazing land in Southwest Georgia or to our feedlot in Kansas. They will be bought when they are about 1000# and a year old. Some of the heifers will be kept here on the ranch for replacement cows. In 2011 the ranch shipped 32,000+ calves with an average weight of 625 pounds.




These calves ran away when I got too close!

 

One Saturday early this month when I started off for my walk, Chuck warned me that he thought he saw a still-born calf when he came back from town. Sure enough, there was a mother cow hovering over her calf near the fence and the calf was definitely not alive. The mother cow was valiantly trying to keep the circling buzzards away. Erik & Renee Jacobsen were also walking, so I told them and Erik said he'd take care of it.

Poor mommy cow!

Christmas Gifts

Christmas is almost here and the "fun", sometimes stressful, activity of shopping for gifts is over for us. Much as we hope we have bought or made the "perfect" gift for those we hold dear, we know in our hearts that the perfect gift was given to each one of us over two thousand years ago.

Heavenly Father gave us the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ gave us the gift of the atonement so that we may have eternal life. His life and example teach us how to live so we can return to our Heavenly Father. To help us we have been given the gift of the Holy Ghost, the gift of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the gift of the scriptures, the gift of prophets, and the gift of the restored Church of Jesus Christ. Whenever we think of things we are grateful for --family, friends, our country, our freedoms, abundance, etc.--we realize that all that we have and all that we are have been gifts from a loving Heavenly Father.

May we ever humble ourselves before Him expressing our gratitude in word and in deed!   John 3:16-17

Merry Christmas & Happiness in 2012!

The Kennedys

December on the Ranch

December just seems to get out of control and this year is no exception. December 2nd was Grayson's 2nd birthday, but we celebrated it on the 1st with a family dinner, i.e. both sets of grandparents, Aunt Laura, cousin Bayer (17 mo), and the Welling family, who are family by choice not birth!



Grayson and his "Cars" cake.



The ranch Christmas party was held on Friday, Dec. 2nd. For us that meant spending the morning at the rodeo grounds cleaning up and decorating. The party began at 5:30 P.M. with a choice of steak, ribs, or hamburgers for dinner, entertainment by some of the talented people on the ranch, inflatable slide for the kids, and, of course, Santa Claus! What a fun evening!

Natalie & Evelyn Wright talk to Santa.

On Dec.5th for Family Home Evening, we decorated the Carroll House. The men worked outside putting up the lights. (CK doesn't like doing this so he loved all the help!) The women worked inside putting up the tree and other decorations. Wish we had all this help at home! On the 12th, Joe Snider (Housing Foreman) let the elders spend the day at the Carroll House doing some overdue maintenance, i.e. pressure cleaning the porch ceiling and soffitts, and putting edging and mulch on the flower beds. The men also spent a day at the Jacobsen's getting their landscaping ready for "the wedding".

Yesterday, Erik and Renee Jacobsen's oldest child, Jessica, was married in the Orlando temple to Randall Raban from St. Johns, AZ. (Erik is the ranch's GM) The missionaries helped with a brunch before the wedding and a dinner after the wedding for family and close friends from out of town. We also helped with the reception which was held in a huge white tent on the Jacobsen's front lawn. They had a perfect day weather-wise. Sunny in the mid 70's. Everything went very well, especially considering it was their first wedding. One down and three more daughters to go! Temple Marriage We are relaxing and recovering today! Don't think we'll go caroling with our ward this evening. However, the ward Christmas party on the 14th was great.




Randall & Jessica Raban

  

Today my Primary children were so tired from the dancing and the sugar!



Where did November go?

November was busy, but didn't realize SK totally missed making at least ONE blog entry!! So here goes, an update on November...

Erik Jacobsen, Gen. Manager of the ranch, enlisted the missionary couples to help with the annual Family History Seminar put on by the Cocoa Stake. Erik is on the Cocoa Stake High Council and is responsible for the Family History Library in the Stake Ctr. This year's seminar, "Trace Your Roots - and leave a legacy of love" was held on November 5th from 8:30 AM - 3 PM. We had several hundred participants, mostly not of our faith. Four different classes were offered each hour, after a joint opening session, for a total of 20 classes. There was information for beginners, instruction on how to use technology and research tools, and

information on researching specific geographic locations, as well as "miscellaneous" classes such as "Researching Maiden Names", "No Brick Walls, Just Detours", "The Pitfalls of Secondary Sources", and "African-American Research". All of the presenters were very experienced and knowledgeable. Although the missionary couples spent most of the time "directing traffic" helping participants get to the classes, we also got to sit in on several of the classes. The seminar was free to the public, as are most of the church's excellent genealogy resources. Trace Your Roots!

Sister Elaine Hill works at the Family History Library on Tuesdays with another sister who lives on the ranch. On the 15th SK went with her and spent the morning doing indexing, i.e. working on the 1870 British census. That's a great service opportunity that you can do at home! For information on indexing, see Trace Your Roots link above.

The missionary Elders have been working on the Buckstrand Lane house and things are progressing well.

The house was built in the 1950's and they gutted it down to the studs. Everything will be new. We have lots of pictures of the work in progress:



This is the "before" picture.




Elder Kennedy during the gutting process.




More gutting!




The metal roof goes on.




Tyvek moisture barrier goes over outside studs.





The Sister missionaries have been very busy in November as well. We wanted to finish up all our Humanitarian projects earlier than usual so that the charities could have them early in December, well before Christmas. (Also, so we could focus some attention on Christmas gifts for our children and grandchildren!)

Tomorrow we will take everything to the Osceola Council on Aging, the agency that distributes them to organizations serving children and families in Osceola County. Here's the results of our efforts:



Rag quilts, crocheted scarves, fleece balls, teddy bears,
felt Christmas stockings, knit stockings, wooden toys.




Jumpers and shirts for girls 1-7.



We continue to appreciate serving here at the Florida ranch where we can still use our St Pete doctors and enjoy visits with family. The annual Kennedy Reunion, now in its 65th year, is so near and dear to CK's heart that nothing will keep him away from it! We left the ranch on Thanksgiving, attended the reunion on Saturday the 26th and returned on Monday the 28th. Only a Church Service mission would allow this! The other missionaries used the holiday to visit friends or sightsee in other parts of Florida.



CK with brothers Jack (L) & George (R) and sister Nell.

 Conference Quote:

"We declare our belief in Jesus Christ and accept Him as our Savior. He will bless us and guide us in all of our efforts. As we labor here in mortality, He will strengthen us and bring us peace in time of trials. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints walk by faith in Him whose Church it is."

                                                                                                

L. Tom Perry
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Morning Walks

Morning walks are much more pleasant now that the weather has been cooler. The mornings have been in the high 50's or 60's for the past several weeks. The Carroll House is a mile from Deer Park Road , an easy walk on Deseret Lane which is paved. There's lots to see and it is a welcome contrast to my walks in St Pete!



Beautiful sunrises!




Morning fog






Fascinating cobwbs on fences & in the pasture



Cows, of course





Quarter horses





Deer




Florida Sandhill Crane




Jake & Sarah Birch (minus 2 yr. old Ruby)
Jake is training to be a foreman.




Scott & Taylor Smith out for a Saturday ride
Scott is an accountant.




Chad & Teri Smith also out for a Saturday ride!.
Chad is Human Resources Manager




Heavy equipment!
(Nice to know somebody's working.)

Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. ( Revelation 4:11)



Water,Water Everywhere!

We've been having a storm system passing through our area this weekend. We woke up this morning surrounded by water! Yesterday we got about 11 inches and it is still raining off and on to add to that. Also have wind with gusts up to 30 mph. We lost power for several hours this A.M. and for a short time this P.M. Airboats come in handy when there's flooding and we heard some out and about this morning. The Carroll House is built on a raised foundation so there was water under the house also!!

The one bright spot in our rainy Saturday was a visit from our good friends, Todd & Julie Bangerter, from St. Petersburg! He is the new Bishop in St Pete Ward.



West side of our front lawn.
Taken from porch on West side.
The handicap ramp is in the foreground.




Looking at West side of back lawn.
Grass area is location of septic tank.




Lawn on West side.




Back of house looking North




East side




Landscrape timber "floating" on sidewalk
 at back of house.Hedges around the house
 will need new mulch under them.




Looking SE from front porch.
(The house faces South.)



Looking SW from front porch.
Can you spot the picnic table?




Our "lake" in the front yard!


This is a reminder to be prepared! After all, "it wasn't raining when Noah built the ark!"
Provident Living