Author: Bill

Well we roused a little earlier than usual and picked up our state side bunch and headed into downtown Frederiksted to ‘Polly’s by the Pier‘ for one of their famous breakfasts. We got in and actually got a couple of tables [side by side] – orders were placed and soon we are all enjoying one of those wonderfully delicious breakfasts that my Bride and I often enjoy. Bellies full, we collected some cooler bags and an actual cooler and headed out to Cottages by the Sea to start the packing process…… yes – sadly, our baby and her family are heading back to the states today. It has already been a week and while there were some trying times, some sun burns and other ailments, I think over all it was a huge success. They had to be out by noon, which was fairly rigorously enforced. A rain shower and a dead battery in my brides car added to the challenge of getting everybody to the airport – but we got them there and barely got our goodbyes said before my Queens car started over heating and we had to ski-daddle post haste. Got a ping saying everybody was on the plane and ready to head out – and now anxiously waiting to here that made it safely back to the land of plenty. We hardly even got away from the airport and already miss them. The bummer part of a family visit…… when they have to go back.

We got both vehicles back to the house, appointment made to have the car looked at, a little bit of food in our bellies, 1 or 5 drinks and here we sit, slowly easing back into our little island routine. We haul the island ‘kids’ to the air port tomorrow and start running their ATV business for them for the next week while they are gone……. I have already scheduled my next couple of dives (in between ATV days and my Queen has her ‘Blues’ days – so this coming week ought to shoot by as well……. pretty hectic life for a couple of old retired people…… still haven’t got results [or] time to follow up on recent medical issues – but honestly – have felt better this past week than I have this year….. so happy with that. I have a ton of pictures I am sure I have not shared with you yet – so will do that and TRY not to put up pictures that I already have……. work with me here – I’m an old guy……

Amanda and company are due in, in about a month or so…… already looking forward to that while we work, miss our baby and her family and try to get back into a routine for a bit…… Gotta love being retired on a tropical island~~~

Good Night Ya’ll + + + + + + + + + + + + + Thankx for stopping in~!

SCUBA diving, grilling burgers and dogs with Island relatives and lots and lots of fun in the sun…….. Our baby and her babies are wearing Oma and Papaw out. Spending as much time as we can together because Jeni and fam are headed back to Indiana tomorrow   🙁   So again too tired and late and still need a shower…. so these couple of words and some pictures for you tonight…….

Good Night Ya’ll * * * * * * * * * * * * * Thankx for stopping in~~!

Please excuse my absence good folks….. Jeni and family are in and we have managed to stay mostly busy and by the time we get back to the house, showered and wound down, it’s time for us old folks to hit the sack.

Yesterday was a bit of a cast off……. I picked up a bit of a bug and was out of commission for about 12 hours…. My Bride filled in for me while I was out, but I apparently have gotten past it now and we spent the better part of the day at the beach, before coming back here to meet Shawn and Cynthia. I grilled up a whole set of burgers and hot dogs and everybody got their belly full. Shawn & Cynthia are back up on their mountain top, Jen and company are back in their air conditioning and me and Angie have got the place straightened back up and enjoying some down time together…. Didn’t intend to write this much – but wanted Ya’ll know we’re still down here and kickin‘ and to get you some pictures up~! Mike and the 2 boys are going to do a Discover Dive tomorrow. I can’t wait for that — cause naturally I’m gonna tag along and take some pictures plus it seems like ages since I have been diving~!

Good Night Ya’ll – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Thankx for stopping in~!

Last night – I slept the sleep of Kings….. goodness gracious it was wonderful. I got my nice cool shower in, shaved, and went into our wonderfully cool bedroom and slid underneath fresh washed sheets that hung out in the sunshine to dry and fell promptly to sleep. A wonderful sleep…. nay… an amazing sleep. Better than that first night of Nyquil sleep…….. this was almost surgery quality sleep. My belly didn’t bother me, I didn’t have to get up to take a whizz……. I vaguely remember hearing my Bride try her best to sneak out quietly around 06:30ish…. before I repositioned my self just a little and went right back out until 08:00.  11 hours of deep quality, Oh My Gosh I can’t believe I did that sleep. Wowser~!! What I had to do to get that sleep totally sucked….. but man, it was almost worth it. We both lounged a little bit before springing into action to get ready for our visitors~! My Queen went grocery shopping (for us and the visitors) while I mowed and weedeated, as I don’t want to take time away during this brief visit to have to do that~! Time to head to the airport~! We took both vehicles to be able to accommodate the crowd. My Bride got pulled over by the ‘popo’ [again] on the way there….. it was almost funny, the cop doing a “U“ey to catch her dang near hit me doing it. I got to watch the whole thing….. funny as hell from my prospective. I waved as I went on by to the airport.

Angie finally caught up to me at the airport and we didn’t have to wait very long to see the faces we have been waiting the last 6 months to see~!! Jeni, Michael, Carter, Kayden, Kylen and our little Kinsley~! There was lots of hugs and kisses and smiles all around. The Halls are on St. Croix~!! We got everybody hauled out to our end of the island and settled into their cottages. The boys all seemed pretty stoked they get their ‘own’ place [attached with connecting doors to Mom and Dad’s place] — I think as the week wears on, Mom & Dad are gonna like it too~~  😉  Everybody was hungry, so we moseyed over next door for some burgers and other tasty stuff…. and of course some adult beverages….. It didn’t take much prodding to get the 3 oldest to go ‘play on the beach’ and even less time for them to wind up in the water. Soon it was Miss Kinsley turn. First time on a beach~!! Lot’s of things to learn, like the sands moves under your feet when the water comes up. She still has some warming up to do to it – but pretty sure by the time they are ready to head back – she’ll be a little beach girl~! It’ll be fun to watch, but for now – she has had a really big day and ready for some relaxation. I’m pretty sure they will all get some of that ‘good sleep’ tonight~! 😉  Not sure what we’re doing tomorrow, but it should be fun – whatever it is~!

Good Night Ya’ll & & & & & & & & & & & & Thankx for stopping in~!

Well I managed to get about 30 minutes sleep last night. I wound up staying up all night watching the idiot box and running to the bathroom about every 15  minutes. I managed one hour and a half stretch without going to the bathroom before I had to drink my second bottle of stuff at 03:00 this morning and it started all over again. Resorting to dabbing I still wound up raw and really sore by the time we had to load up (06:00) and head for the clinic.

That whole event at the clinic turned out to be the side show I was afraid of – but I finally wound up on the table and out like a light. About an hour later, they brought me back around and ushered me out the door. Definitely not a state side procedure. Good news [mostly]  however,  for the first time since I have been having these things done….. they found polyps this time. 9 of them to be exact and they were all successfully removed. Doc said he is satisfied none of them were ‘trouble’. He did note a couple areas of diverticulosis, and as a precaution, he took a biopsy, one from each side of my colon [left and right] and is sending them out to be tested. He said he does not have any reason to suspect any trouble out of them either but will let me know as soon as the test results are back (week or two)…… so – I’m pretty much back where I started but I sure have ruled out a lot of stuff~! I’m sure my Doc will have something to say about it as soon as she gets the results… so thank you all for your concerns……. but I am/will be fine.

Didn’t do much today – just too friggin’ tired…. helped with the laundry a little bit and watched a lot more TV……but for now – I’m gonna take me a nice cool shower and crawl into bed early for a good nights sleep because Jeni and Fam will be coming in tomorrow afternoon and I want to be ready for that~!! WOOO-HOOO~!!

Good Night Ya’ll + + + + + + + + + + + Thankx for stopping in~!

Tried to sleep in a little bit this morning….. a 06:00 wake up call from an angry belly forced me out of my comfort and into the bathroom. For very personal reasons…. I wanted pizza last night, because I wanted to eat until I couldn’t stand it any more – because it was going to be my last solid to eat for roughly 36 hours…. dammit Emmit. That is a long time for an old fat boy to go without eating~! Sadly, my regular pizza place was closed, so I called the local tavern that advertises the best pizza on the island……. that my readers is a friggin lie~! I have tried the pizza from the Lost Dog Pub a couple of times now, and it has sucked every time…. but I was desperate so I thought I’d give it another shot. Terrible idea…. terrible~! I managed a piece and a half before chucking the whole thing into the bed of my truck….ugh… nasty…. by then I have a pretty good snoot full of Vodka and not interested in eating anything else….. really bad idea again……. As I alluded to at the start…. I am only allowed clear liquids for the next 24+ hours and by 10:00 this morning, I was starving……. Guess I’m just gonna have to manage.

My Queen made her a couple of eggs and sat there and ate them while I quietly sniffed the air…… she had to go into work, so I’m happy she ate- She is getting her work day out of the way so she can be off when my Honey bear and her crowd comes in on Wednesday afternoon~!!!! While she was at work, I cleaned around the house a bit before taking off to get some last minute details ironed out. I told ya’ll I have been dealing with stomach issues. I have grown tired of it and have recently been trying to get it diagnosed. I have EKG’s done, a CT scan done, I have had a myriad of stool samples tested and analyzed…. everything so far has come back negative [which is good] One last thing left…. is a colonoscopy…. and I am having it done first thing in the morning. Today is my ‘prep’ day and here in about 25 minutes I drink my first bottle of stuff, to start the purging process. Thus, nothing to eat since last night at 7:00 and that nasty a$$ pizza…….. so hungry I am…. and hungrier I will get….. I am only allowed clear liquids until tomorrow when I am done with my procedure. Good thing Vodka is clear huh ?  😉

I held off sharing all this because I didn’t want the folks who care about and love me worrying or asking a bunch of dopey questions. As soon as I get my test results back – I will share them everybody…. until then, please hang tight. I will stop at the first place I think I can get something decent to eat after my procedure and start catching up on food…. us fat boys don’t do well going without food….. Keep your fingers crossed for me please.

Good Night Ya’ll – – – – – – – – – – – – – Thankx for stopping in~!

I know, goofy title……but I was thinking I’m ‘ramping up‘, getting ready for the next couple of days………but ya know…… today was a whole lot like yesterday. Only exception was our breakfast — We had Polly’s this morning and I had my favorite Polly’s breakfast – The Hen House Special…. A big ole waffle [plain] – 2 scrambled eggs and a couple of sausage with a side order of sausage…..MmMm good~! All washed down with a big ole glass of milk……… The rest of the day was uncanny similar to yesterday. One other exception – — the weather…OMG, wind picked up, it started raining and the temperature dropped almost 15°…… wow – it felt nice, almost chilly. Got tired of sitting here at the computer, so moved to the couch for some TV and popcorn. Watching movies. [Amazingly, we still have internet]…….. Nothing noteworthy, but just a really nice relaxing day enjoying a rare cool day off.

Maybe one drink to many at this point to try and continue to make sense…….. so gonna quit right about now……. long hungry day tomorrow. Maybe something else to ramble about…. being mugged at KFC or something…….. not a shark attack…. but more realistically …believable…..maybe. Tired.

Good Night Ya’ll + + + + + + + + + + + + Thankx for stopping in~!

First day off after a very long busy week and I was ready for it. Wasn’t ready for the 05:00 wake call I got from a very angry stomach – but once I got that out of the way – I went in and laid back down, fell back asleep  and actually slept in until almost 08:00~! Guess I needed it~! A nice easy start to the day, a nice tasty breakfast that my Bride whooped up and I spent the day mostly on-line, paying bills and doing follow ups with places that needed it.

It got to be close to 4:00 and I started in our anniversary dinner. I fired up the grill and got a couple of baked taters started. I had 2 nice T-Bones resting on the counter, I stripped a couple of ears of corn and got their bath ready and started sautéing some onions and make sure timing was right to getting everything going so it all finished up at the same time (allowing ample resting time for when the steaks come off of the grill as well) A little bit rusty on my grilling, but it came back pretty quick and by 6:00 had what I considered a pretty decent meal put together to celebrate our 43rd anniversary (even though it was last Wednesday). Even had the steak temperatures perfect – which is a bit of a challenge with 1½” steaks and a new grill you’re not real familiar with yet…… but it all worked out. I made some garlic toast to accent the meal and we wrapped it up with some Haggen Das Strawberry ice cream. I hustled up and got the dishes done and the kitchen straightened up so I could hurry up and sit back down with my Bride. Bellies full, we are sitting with the Phillies and Sox game playing in the background. Don’t know who is winning – or honestly care…….

Probably going to do a wonderfully delicious Polly’s breakfast in the morning and do a whole lot more of what we did today. Monday starts what is going to be a taxing day or two for me……. more details as Monday and Tuesday wear on…. Wednesday, my Honeybear and her crew come in – which will be the beginning of what should be an outstanding week~! Lots of fun stuff planned….. but it’ll be great just to have them near us for a while~~ So gonna leave it here for now….. I have some random pictures that I don’t remember if I have shared or not…….

Good Night Ya’ll * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Thankx for stopping in~!

Back from diving yesterday…. got my pictures edited and put up when, for reasons I’ll probably never be sure of, I asked my Bride if she would like to go out for dinner. Probably one of the last things I wanted to do at that moment, but it popped out, she accepted and reservations were made. Yes – you make reservations 3 hours before you show up- No, it is not my rule because I think it’s stupid, but that’s what most places want you to do here on the island, so that’s what you do. Somewhere during the process – I wound up inviting one of the Dive Masters from the shop along (with his girlfriend). My Queen and I both got our showers and were soon out the door (which is why I didn’t get anything else done on line last night) We met up with Ken and Carol and had a wonderful, meal [even though mine was grossly undercooked and I sent it back]. We enjoyed a nice sunset, a couple of drinks and good conversation…… and I [very uncharacteristically] did not take one single picture…… sometimes it’s just nicer that way.

Up early this morning for yet another day of diving…. that’s 5 days in a row for those of you that are counting. Suffering an [apparently massive] brain fart – I thought my bride had to be at work this morning, so I went in and woke her up. Sadly it took me several minutes to understand that I’m just an idiot and she did not have to get up before apologizing profusely, closed the bedroom door and hoped she went back to sleep. Jeesh what an idiot…….. I got all of my stuff bump charged, packed up and loaded into the truck and sliding out as quietly as I could. (My Queen did go back to sleep and slept in a little bit) Yay~~

The dives this morning were unextraordinary….. nice dives, but nothing super cool happened. I had sharks, eels and turtles… and dozens of gorgeous shots, but no near death experiences or anything. Back at the dock – boat unloaded and a mostly aggravating drive back…. some of the ‘locals’ take driving  on this island to an entirely different level of crazy……. Today’s pictures edited and loaded and ready to share. We are having drinks and trying to figure out what we’re gonna do for dinner……

The way it stands right now – I will not be doing any diving for the next 2½ weeks~! ONE exception…. Son-in-Law Michael and two oldest boys are saying they want to SCUBA dive….. just so happens I know someone that can make that happen~! So- if they don’t back out – I may get to make a dive with them and take some pictures of them~! Plus we have a week of doing the ATV business when Jeni and Family leave…… gonna be a busy couple of weeks “off”. Bound to be some pictures from all of that though~!

Good Night Ya’ll – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Thankx for stopping in~!

Happy Anniversary to big Sis Ela and hubby Daniel~!

Hey Ya’ll……. this is [I think] gonna be fairly brief……… wonderful diving today…. sharks, turtle and other fun stuff…. AND—- it is our 43rd anniversary! Got up and got the day started….. my Bride quickly out the door for her day of labor at Blues Back Yard BBQ….. me shortly behind her for a day spent beneath the waves, chasing divers for pictures AND I managed a couple of extra shots that I’m extra proud of…… and of course I’m gonna share them with you.

I stopped on the way back to the house and [eventually] wound up with some 1½” T-bone steaks, some fresh corn on the cob, a couple of big ole baking ‘taters’ and some scrumpdillious stuff for dessert. I knew my Queen would be much too tired to want to go out for a nice dinner – so I was gonna provide one for her here in the comfort of our  little abode. I figured I could slap the big ole chunks of meat on the grill and let them simmer while I got everything else done. My Bride, having a similar thought – stopped and picked up some favorite Mickey D’s stuff for us. A couple of drinks and she confessed, she would rather wait for an earlier calmer evening for her meal…… so we tied into what she brought. I had 2 fish sammiches [with onions]….. I really wanted the Double Quarter pounder with cheese she had got for me as well…… but talked myself out of it – in my never ending battle to not look like a complete HOG. About that time, our next door neighbors’ showed up for a drink and some conversation……. I finally talked Mitch into taking my double cheeseburger….. sacrifices must be made…. and we are now in the process of taking showers and getting ready for bed. We are both working again tomorrow…… my Bride until noon and I should be back by 1:30 – 2:00. Starting the process of getting ready for our Baby and her babies……. Can’t wait~!!

I complete veered away from the fact – that my Bride and I have been married 43 years now…. together… closer to 45. I used to think it was depressing to think that I have been married over half of my life….. but realistically…… I wouldn’t have it any other way. My Bride tolerates more ‘stuff‘ from me than any 3 people should…. I don’t know how she does it – but Damn glad she does……. I’m looking forward to the next 43 years to see what they bring   😉   Love you Baby~~~

More diving tomorrow~!

Good Night Ya’ll = = = = = = = = = = = = = Thankx for stopping in~!