Author: Bill

Up fairly early this morning to get ready for a day of riding the trails…… I think~~ Communication has been a bit frazzled this week as the owners of the ATV business (our island kids) deal with what is apparently a really full house full of visitors. As far as I knew, I had to show up for ‘work’ this morning, riding round up on one tour this morning….. that quickly turned into riding a second tour, only this time I wasn’t the follow up,but more less ”free’ to free lance trying out some new photography….. which as it turns out was a whole set of fun……. I would take off at ‘my’ speed and get ahead on the trails and set up the perfect photo-op for certain places along the trail….. it worked out pretty good for the most part – but if I get to do it again — there is some fine tuning that would make it a lot better~!

Machines washed, filled with gas and put away – back home, mud rinsed off and working on getting everything posted. Don’t know if if it is our mickey mouse internet or the FB page I’m trying to post to – but getting one really fun video up – turned out to be a LOT bigger pain in the touchas than I planned on – BUT  – I [think] I finally got it done and hope it pays some good dividends in turning more business our way.

A mighty fine dinner of spaghetti….. maybe a smidge to late behind one or six drinks……  to keep me clear headed and walking straight…………..news about my little Sister has got me a bit off kilter as well….. she is too weak to take any kind of treatments and now she has been sent home under Hospice care and the hospice Doc’s are giving her 2 weeks……. absolutely the last thing I want to do is make another trip back to the states…. especially for that reason – but will do what I have to do………. Not really in the mood for much more chatter now……. My Bride is working at Blues tomorrow – and I think I am mowing yards for the better part of the day……..

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

Up bright and early even though I didn’t need to be….. as my dives for today wasn’t supposed to start until 1:00~ish…….. it was definitely 1:00~ish before we got out on the water……. was supposed to dive my most very favorite dive site [Armageddon] – but apparently, the buoy that marks the tie up spot, succumbed to the Sea waves and was missing, so we had to opt for another dive site. Sadly, being the first one to bail  into the beautiful blue water, by the time I got my fins on, I was already 100′ from the boat, being whisked away by a stronger than expected current……. Dammit Emmit~!  Unable to make it back to the boat, I dropped beneath the waves to catch up to the crew of divers……. current can sometimes be less strong under the surface…… some times……. Not so much in this case, but we finally rallied and met up at about 65′ and started our dive. The dive master in charge, called an ‘audible‘ and and turned the dive into a drift dive….. whether we like it or not. A challenging dive, but fun none the less, and by the time we all “kicked out brains out”, finally made it back aboard the boat, nonetheless for wear……. mostly. I hate swimming a current. Let us suffice to  say, I came on board with less than the ‘prescribed’ amount of air~~~` but safe on board and ready for the next dive.

Shallower, almost NO current and lots of photo Op’s…. I added two new extensions to my strobes today – so I was excited to get and try them out. I ‘improvised’ some added buoyancy to my camera – and as it turns out…. had a tad TOO much… my camera was now positively buoyant…. dammit Emmit….. but a quick rip and tear and I had it about where it needed to be [albeit a bit lopsided]……. lesson learned and moving forward…… SO much fun with this group – they let me ‘blind’ them with my new TWO big strobes and were good sports about it…. SOOOOO much to learn with this new set up….. but that’s half the fun…… too tired and too much to drink to go on much farther…….. guiding on ATV trails tomorrow….. mowing LOTS of grass on Wednesday while my Queen labors away at Blues…….. gonna be another busy week…….. Maybe diving Thursday  ?????

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

I slept in a teeny tiny bit this morning after retiring for the night at a reasonably decent hour with a reasonably decent amount of alcohol in me….. only got really light headed once and I may have ‘agged’ that one on by bending over at the waist trying to pick up a very uncooperative pill I dropped. Trying to get back into the habit of eating better…. starting with breakfast – especially when I have a big day ahead… yesterday was riding trails. The riding part [other than loosening up stiff joints], is really pretty easy – it’s all the other stuff – jumping off the bike and running to the people who have got themselves in a jam…. running around tending to them at the scenic view places and then of course, washing and tending to the bikes at the end of the day. All of that was much easier yesterday as I started out with a right fine breakfast and did my best to stay hydrated during a very hot day. Still, I was looking forward to a day with nothing scheduled and taking my damned old sweet time doing it……… I indulged in a little bigger breakfast than usual – having some hash browns with my steak and eggs…… yes, steak and eggs – it pays to bring home that big ole chunk of meat that your Queen didn’t want to finish at dinner out a couple of days earlier…. I ran into town and dropped off a flash drive at the dive shop…. owner was needing them for more website design. That is a good thing for me as it will mean compensation in some form or another a little bit down the road. Finally back – I settled in on the laptop and the world that is FB. What a mess….. couldn’t take it much more and got up and did dishes while my Bride settled in with her newest game of Resident Evil 6….. When I reached under the sink – I noticed the paper towel the little grease can sits on was wet…… dammit Emmit. Further investigation revealed some pretty funky stuff leaking from the trap under the sink…… Dammit Emmit~!! So I finished the dishes, had Angie clean all of ‘her’ stuff out from under the sink and I crawled in to do my thing. Once a plumber – I guess, always a plumber. Thankx Dad. That done, mess cleaned up – crap put back under the sink… I settled back into my day of doing nothing. That was until I found what appeared to be a really good deal on a really good mattress. I hate the new mattress we bought and the #$%^&* store owner won’t do anything about it – so I jumped at it. Had to drive to mid-island… negotiated the deal – wrestled the very big Queen size mattress into the truck, strapped it down and hauled it back. Moved the current mattress into our now jammed packed full extra bedroom and then wrestled the new, really big, mattress into our bed frame. Dammit Emmit,  that’s a lot harder to do than it used to be. A tasty meal of ham, green beans and a couple slices of fried taters, dishes done, bed remade and Mama playing her game. The sun is setting giving us another gorgeous sunset…… and I get to dive tomorrow afternoon….. all is right in our little piece of the world again. (now to see how we done on the mattress)

Another request for good thoughts and prayers for a Brother of mine. He recently went through Prostate surgery for Cancer and is not doing as good as was hoped.  Ricky – my Brother…… Best wishes for your rapid healthy recovery. Hang in there~!

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

After crashing way early last night (9:00pm) I woke up a little after 05:00 and had to whizzz…. so I crawled out from underneath the the comfort of my new blanket and my wife draped over me. I was up for the duration, so I set into my routine to get it out of the way and be ready for a day of trail riding…. a very wet muddy day. A rain storm loud enough to wake me up [briefly] last night told me we were going to have bu-ku water up on the trails today and I could not have been more right. Turns out there were only 2 bikes on the first tour, so not real sure why I was called in – but I was there and already had the bikes moved over, so I figured a picture opportunity at the very least. One couple, newlyweds…. got them briefed on the bikes and were soon on our way. A fun couple, who didn’t abuse the bikes, rode sensibly and were delightfully engaging throughout the whole tour. You can’t hardly ask for better customers than that~! Only hitch to that tour and nobody’s fault – I managed to get a wasp inside my pants leg…. that in itself is bad enough, but this particular little dude is called a Jack Spaniard (or something like that) and their sting is reputed to burn for hours after they get ya. I have been stung by several of them before but it was always clearing out brush, etc. It held true to its history….. that was about 11:00 this morning and it has just now  quit burning in the last 30 minutes (It’s now 5:35pm) but when ever I get up to walk – I look a little like Fred Sanford when his Arthur-right-is is acting up…… guess he got into the muscle on my thigh……guess I shouldn’t complain…. he could have made it a little farther up my pants leg…… I told Jamal (the guide) if he did – I would have had to ride side saddle for the rest of the day……  🙂

Second tour [finally] showed up…. a young couple visiting from St. Thomas….. she wasn’t as good of a driver as she thought she was – and for times sake and her safety, we finally moved her to the back of her boyfriends bike for the duration of the tour…. stopping on the way back to put her back on the bike right before we hit the main road….. some folks have it, some don’t………. Back at the house soothing my sore leg with Vodka/Cran cherry [from the inside]  😉 and ready for a shower to wash the mud off. My Queen made us a tasty dinner of Chicken Stir fry, which was a hellva lot more stir fry than chicken – but it tasted good and has stopped my belly growling for the time being…… Tomorrow looks to be a down day for us….. unless maybe a dive opportunity pops up  😉  …….. a day of rest if not~~~~ Couple of random pictures from my phone that I finally loaded and some trail pictures for you.

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

After I logged out last night…. A series of texts came about and put me on the boat again this morning……… daaaammmmnnnnn-it……. Have to go diving again~!  I tried to make sure I didn’t set my sites to high after yesterday – because having two dives like those, back to back is just really friggin’ highly unlikely~! Rolled out about 10 til 06:00 this morning and had more of my typical routine than I cared for. My Queen, bless her heart – slept in again until almost 07:00. Batteries charged, beer cooler made, camera case set up and ready to go~!  Today’s load was a lot smaller and I knew most of them on the load….. including Jay and Rhonda which I haven’t had the pleasure of diving with in a while…….. a couple I have dove with now on multiple occasions and enjoy each dive with them. I found out today me and Jay apparently have the same affliction for pizza, so guess we’re gonna have to go on a pizza run soon – plus, they don’t get all testy when I swim circles around them experimenting with my camera taking pictures of them…. there are some that just get down right nasty about it………. visibility left a lot to be desired, and sea life left even more to be desired, but I was under that gorgeous blue water and swimming and taking pictures to my heart’s content…… as close to as I’m gonna get to perfection on this island…….. Back at ye oldde humble abode, gear rinsed, me showered and my Queen fed me an awesome spaghetti dinner. Sadly, to much to late, as I stupidly didn’t eat anything before I left – and I am now leaving butt tracks wherever I go because my a$$ is dragging…… but still a wonderfully great day~! Gear is now all cleaned, dried and stowed waiting for it’s next use (Monday afternoon off of the pier~!)

We are working for Shawn and Cynthia tomorrow…… they have a boat load of family in and in an effort to capitalize on every moment with them – have asked us to manage their business for them tomorrow. We have two tours tomorrow and even though we have managed to go almost 30 hours without any significant rain – I know those trails will be almost ski-able tomorrow….. plus the most recent forecast is calling for rain…. but only for tomorrow morning….. gotta love the West end………………  should be fun though and a different break from gliding through wonderfully warm blue Caribbean water. Still a ton of pictures to share with you, but here is some from today……………

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

Up bright and early this morning….. all my morning stuff happened the way it was supposed to for a change…… great  start to my day if I did nothing else. Up a couple of minutes before 06:00 this morning….. I had almost an hour to myself before my Bride came stumbling out. She had a big day yesterday and I am happy she slept in a little bit. Bump charged all my batteries…. camera, strobe and flood lights, loaded everything into the truck and was soon on my way to Salt River for a 2-tank dive off of my very favorite boat. The big bunch visiting from Indiana was on the boat again today and including myself and 2 dive masters – there were 16 people in the water. A LOT bigger crowd than I would normally dive with – but these are [almost] all very experienced divers and I didn’t have to worry a whole lot about having people on top of me. I hate it when that happens. First dive site is a top five favorite that I don’t get to dive very often because conditions have to be near perfect to moor up to it. We got to dive it today and it did not disappoint. Normally not a “sharky” kind of dive – we had 5 gorgeous Caribbean Reef sharks show up today…. 5~! Count ’em…. 5~! I spent a lot of time, air and energy trying to get them all into one shot…. but they were very uncooperative so I didn’t get that shot…… dammit Emmit~! It is still a very unique dive with a massive spire jutting up off of the sea floor and summiting about 65′ below the surface. Even without sharks – the life on this piece of rock is absolutely amazing….. mostly because of the current it receives coming up from the deep water….. another reason it is a tougher dive site [current] – but OH so worth it….. Back on the boat and heading to another tried and true site, Salt River East. This site usually holds sharks – but they tend to stay way much deeper than we are ‘supposed’ to go………. but today…… ah, yes, today……. the diving Gods were smiling on us and not only were there sharks, they were shallow (about 55′) and responded nicely to ‘calls’ to bring them in nice and close……. I had one close enough, I thought I was going to have to bounce him off of my camera…..! I loved it~! Just an awesome, awesome dive~!

Safely back home, gear rinsed, my Bride fed me a nice meal and having drinks now with my mind reeling from the dives today – I need to get the salt off me and hopefully a night sleep that was as great as the day was~! Nothing on the books for tomorrow…. working guiding a couple of tours for the ATV’s Saturday. Probably gonna use Sunday to chill and watch TV and already have a couple of  afternoon dives scheduled for Monday…… such a tough life……………..  😉

Almost forgot a shout out to our first…. Amanda – my Mouse — Happy Birthday Sweetheart~~~ I Love and miss you~~ DoD

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

A surprise 03:00 visit to the porcelain god this morning resulted in me sleeping in just a skosh this a.m.  I don’t know of it was the shrimp sauce, the bang bang shrimp, the half a dozen different booze’s I poured into me….. is booze’s even  a word?….. or a happy combination of all of them…… but Lord have mercy was that an experience. If I was a the religious type, I would have possibly thought it was the second coming or something close to that…… WOW….. anyhow [almost TMI huh?] I laid back down and slept the sleep of the worthy until I felt my Queen roll out getting ready for her day.

She was ”returning to work” after a couple of weeks off and I know she was excited about it whether she admitted it or not. She got her stuff done and was soon on her way, which left me sitting here all alone to my own devices. That’s every Wednesday now – so I try to schedule stuff to keep me busy while she is gone for the day. Because I am expecting yet more [friggin’] rain this week – I wanted to get grass mowing out of the way. So shortly after myBride departed – I loaded up the lawn mower, the weed eater and gas cans and headed into the ATV yard to get it back into ‘presentable condition’ for customers. Grass was much easier to cut this time as it wasn’t knee high to me this time…… There is [was] a massive a$$ bush in the back of the yard that been eating at me and today I tied into it…… I was doing good until I got into a mess of razor wire buried in underneath it that shut me down. I learned a very hard lesson while stationed in Germany, not to mess with that stuff unless you have the gloves to deal with it. Which I do – I just didn’t have them with me…… after all – – how many times do you run into official razor wire while you’re mowing your lawn ??? Done as much as I could and came back to the house to tie into our yard……. lots of little details that took some extra effort – but our yard done…. I came in, did dishes, cleaned and piddled waiting for my Queen to get back from her day of labor. Finally home, I have been plying her with booze, made her some steak and a baked potato, which she [thankfully] ate most of…….. Dishes are done and I am now looking forward to a MUCH needed shower…… JUST found out I get to dive tomorrow (YAY) – so more underwater pictures for you….. for now – I’m gonna enjoy my quiet time with my Queen before I sneak in for that shower~!

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

Well Go**amn it EMMIT…… I have tried 4 times to load pictures and it won’t let me. I don’t know if it is this Mickey Mouse web site or our Muickey Mouse internet (I tried resetting the modem) if it is flat not going to let me load pictures tonight….. so sorry…… maybe tomorrow ?

Up a smidge earlier than I would have liked, but I was going diving so it didn’t really matter. I got up, got my morning stuff done and set into recharging all of my batteries that have sat quietly for that past couple of weeks…. [pitiful I’m tellin’ ya – pitiful~!] Batteries charged, camera put together and settings changed for deep water pictures….. I loaded my gear, kissed my bride goom-bye and I was off. The boat was leaving from the pier today, so I had a 4 minute drive instead of the usual 25 minute drive. The dive shop has another group of Instructors in, visiting us and logging a whole wad of dives with the dive shop. These Instructors, I found out are from Indiana. Well I had to squirm my way onto at least one of those loads…… which I did, this morning. Turns out they are from somewhere up near Chicago…… no – I did not pay enough attention to remember from exactly where. Several of them professed of knowing where Evansville is is, but that was about the extent of it. Not a bad bunch of folks to dive with – a damn site better than the last bunch of ‘professionals‘ that I dove with. On two sites this morning that are fun – but not known for holding ”fun” sea life….. like sharks and eels. So I got a lot of topography shots and practiced a little bit on my mostly unwilling subjects from Indiana.

Back at the humble abode, I got me and my gear rinsed and settle in to edit pictures. The subject of Dinner came up and in short order we both agreed we needed to go out to eat. Pictures finished [but not posted] we scurried off to the little place we went a couple of days ago. We settled in with a drink and a view to die for and the threat of yet again more rain. The clouds dispersed and we were left with that gorgeous sea sunset to take in. We had a young man as a server, whom I suspect was fairly new at his job – but we made the best of it, laughing with him, one of the owners that drifted by to see what the merriment was all about and the one other couple at another table. I had more Bang Bang Shrimp that my Bride made me share with her because she didn’t want to order an appetizer…. $%^&*… but I love her and [begrudgingly] shared my Shrimp….@#$%$#…… I guess subconsciously, I didn’t think I had enough shrimp – so I ordered the fried shrimp platter for my entree….. woo-boy… got enough shrimp now~! AND – it was pretty tasty~! I wouldn’t write home to Mom about it – but pretty decent. My Queen got her a magnum steak…. it was cooked exactly as ordered and was a smidge too rare for her – so she ate around the edges until she was full and the rest came home with us for what is sure to be a righteous steak and egg breakfast. We finished the meal with a Cappuccino Fudge covered Brownie with a scoop of Vanilla ice cream and it was smack your Momma good~! Just to be sure we had the appropriate amount of dessert – we each had a [fairly decent] Chocolate Martini as well. Obscenely full, we gathered our  stuff and made the [thankfully short] 5 minute drive back to the house. Bloated and full…… I’m ready for some serious sleep. My Bride is working at Blues tomorrow and I’m gonna spend the better part of the day mowing grass while she is gone….. clean my schedule up, so hopefully more diving on Thursday~!

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

After an almost lazy start to the day….. had to get up a skosh sooner than I wanted to, because my bladder issued an ultimatum that I did not want to challenge….. I begrudgingly rolled out and stumbled into the bathroom. Only highlight of that moment was I didn’t have to make the bed because the plan was to do the second load of laundry this morning. After having took what felt like an hour whizz…. washed my teeth and my faced and combed what’s left of my hair and stumbled out of the can to greet the day [you should be able to hear Johnny Cash singing lightly in the background]    😉   My Queen hadn’t been up real long and joined me for my first smoke of the day….. almost as good as the one after a nice meal. We settled into our morning routine and my Bride soon started breakfast. While she did that, I stripped the bed, gathered up the rest of the load of laundry, went outside and uncovered the wash machine (yes – it sits outside), got it plugged in and loaded it up. After a right fine tasty breakfast – I went out, emptied the machine and set about hanging the clothes on the line to dry [no dryer-waaay to expensive to use]…. and I’ll be Go**amn if it didn’t start drizzling while I was hanging them on the line. No biggie I thought – these showers usually only last 4-5 minutes and a fresh rain shower rinse will make the clothes feel and smell that much better……. yeah….. It continued to rain [off and on] for the next…… well, it hasn’t really quit yet, so I don’t know how long – but it’s been 7 hours since I hung them and they are literally dripping rain water right now, so they have been REALLY good and rinsed….. and then some.

We went and picked our island ‘kids‘ up from the airport with their newest family member (Evv – Shawn’s new service animal) and no sooner got them dropped off at the shop to get their car when it started raining again….. friggin clothes ain’t never gonna dry~~~ We left them to their own accord and came back to the house, to sit and watch it continue to rain…… sure am glad I don’t have any trails to ride for the next day or so. We’d have to put pontoons on the bikes…. yikes, what a mess……  although the trails are in serious need of maintenance, but I don’t have to worry about helping Shawn with that because he’s afraid I’ll out work his young a$$ and he don’t want to be embarrassed by an old man…..  😉

So here I sit – we cheaped out for dinner, just wiping out leftovers and watching it RAIN……. jeez Louise……. I reached out about maybe getting on the boat in the morning (especially since it’s gonna be on this end of the island~!)  Still waiting to hear back from the shop – but it sounds promising~! I’m due~!!

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

First real down day since we have been back on island. There were still a couple of things to do – mostly by my bride, breakfast and laundry. I got a password breach notification and had to change the password on a dozen and a half sites. I helped fold laundry (I’m not a complete bum) and I got all the passwords updated. The rest of the day has been pretty relaxed, which I think we both needed. Having drinks right now and enjoying some overcast skies and a fairly nice cool breeze brought in by some passing rainstorms, providing a little relief from a still hot summer sun. Gonna get this and my FB stuff done, do the dishes if they’re still sitting there and then settle in for some couch and TV time for the rest of the evening before showers and bedtime.

Picking up the island kids and dog from the airport tomorrow. I think we have one more load of laundry to punch out and the yard needs mowed again already. The daily little rain showers we have been getting have got it in growing overdrive mode. Probably means the yard at the ATV place will need mowed again soon too. I’ll probably go ahead and knock them both out in the next day or so again – so I can finally get my touchas scheduled on a boat for some salt water therapy….. I am way overdue. Gonna have to retrain myself on how to use my camera again~~~

Really not a lot else going on as we try and settle back into our island routine. Had a wonderful time with friends up at Blues last night. Other than putting on a mask when you went to the bar to pick up your drink, you could not really tell there was any issue with ‘restrictions’…. well, that and the fact we still can’t sit at the bar…. but could hang out at the small counter 7’ away from the bar. So silly…….. Update from my Niece says my little Sister is not doing well at all. As bad as I hate it, it is not really a big surprise to me after seeing her on our last trip back.

Gonna leave it right here….. already tired and confused enough, I have forgotten what pictures I have already put up….. I’ll see if I can look back and then get you some new ones up here.

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