Author: Bill

After going to bed really late… waiting another hour for my bride to join me, after a brutal day swimming and a lot to drink – I battled through an absolutely miserable nights sleep to get up to another gray over cast day. The plan was to get in a walk before my Bride got up and was ready for breakfast….. but it just didn’t happen. I hurt from tired sore muscles that aren’t used to doing what they been doing…. not getting any sleep to speak of and just feeling mostly like BLAH…… Angie finally rolled out…. we spent some time on line and had ‘breakfast‘ around Noon. I piddled a little bit, trying to get the 2nd bedroom emptied and clean before settling in for some Netflix. That led into dinner and a little bit of Designated Survivor (our newest series we are enjoying) and now on here with you. Doing my evening ‘stuff’ I just saw where the hotel we were supposed to be staying at for this last trip back [that got cancelled] has inexplicably decided to charge us the $800 for our ‘stay’ even though Expedia and the hotel each assured me last week – the stay had been cancelled and there would be no charge. I am beginning to believe that Expedia sucks as bad as Delta does when it comes to customer service – so I guess I get to spend most of tomorrow morning on the phone with those bunch of a$$-hats trying to get my money back……… for Pete’s sake~!!!

I updated my dive log to reflect a more accurate count of my certified dives. In doing so, found out that a couple of the dives I have logged, don’t really count. So now instead of being 2 dives away from my 200th dive – I am now 7 dives away. Not really an issue with my photog job —- and I feel a little better now that I am playing by the rules…. I can still log the time dived – just not as an official dive. I still have lots of new photo’s to put up – so I feel good about that too…… really no words left for tonight……….

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

Not really diving ‘for a living‘…. but it is giving me a LOT more dives than I would normally not be able to afford…. so kinda like diving for a living – because at this point for me – diving is living……………  It is now 19:00 hours (7:00pm for all you civilians out there)  😉 ….. I have now had ‘X‘ number of drinks…. 2 ‘Turkey breast sammiches’.. which tasted absolutely nothing like Turkey breast…. even when I loaded it up with Mayo and spicy mustard and a little Cajun seasoning…….. Really confusing to an alcohol soaked brain…… BUT – I now have ‘something’ solid in my belly and hopefully I will straighten out soon…….

I got my ole fat butt kicked today……. “shooting” the class of Dive Masters/Instructors being put through their paces today…… 3 dives today that kept me swimming my ‘brains’ out.. working to get that ‘perfect’ shot.  I figure I got close to a combined total of almost 2 ½  hours under water today… factor in another hour+ bobbing on the surface and another 4+ hours of class room stuff. A long day for the old fat boy. If you under stand buoyancy and photography combined… you’ll truly understand what I went through today. A simpler approach…. I showed up at class [4 minutes away from our house] at 09:00 this morning and didn’t get back until shortly after 5:00 this evening………. My Bride was/is being amazingly patient as I spend more and more time with my current assignment. I am happy she is finding things to do that she enjoys while I am out bobbing about in the beautiful Caribbean Sea…………

After today – I have decided that if this – or any local dive shop – wants more of this type of documentation of a class of some sort – I am going to have to ask for more compensation. Between the hours I spend away from my Queen (even though I am diving)…. I have to also factor in 3+ hours of photo editing every day after all the dives….. but especially with the upgrade of camera – I like to think I’m worth it…….  I haven’t even uploaded todays shots yet….. so not sure if you’ll see today’s pictures or some left over from other days.

I am now ‘off‘ for the next 4 days, but I think Island Daughter has some photography work she wants done on trail rides…… a whole new other dimension to capturing ‘the moment’ with a camera…… while driving an ATV one handed while trying to frame a shot…… but it’s a challenge…. I like it and it is apparently helping them out with their budding business……. busy, busy, busy —  but – it helps keep us old farts out of trouble~~~~  😉

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

The hope I had of sleeping in this morning (taking 2 Advil PM’s last night) went by the wayside when I heard/felt my Queen roll out of bed a couple of minutes before 06:00 and made me realize just how bad I had to whizz. I gave her a couple of minutes, got up, shut off the marvelous A/C, opened up the shutters, made the bed and then hurried on out to a [thankfully] empty bathroom. All ‘that’ out of the way – we had a [surprisingly] early tasty breakfast, I slid into a pair of shoes that I wasn’t worried about getting wet or ruining and headed for the beach.  I was looking forward to this walk, but that kind of changed as I got more into it. I had a wonderful blue sky above me as I started out….. which changed fairly quickly as I got closer to the beach. I wasn’t concerned, as a little rain might feel good as I got into the walking, as usually the first half mile or so I am coughing and hacking, sweating profusely until I get my walking gait and breathing into a decent pattern. I learned several things this morning though….as it turns out – fairly important things about walking along the beach…. at least, this beach. It is not the long gorgeous smooth sandy beach most folks envision…. this one has rocks…. big rocks and lots of them. Also, walking in the sand is much tougher than walking along a paved road….. goodness gracious – this was almost as bad as going up hill~!!! Probably the biggest OOPs I failed tot think about, is the amount of sand that winds up in your shoes…. then factor stepping/falling into the water once in a while – so that sand gets nice and gritty and takes off the first layer or so of your bare feel inside the shoes…… not to mention the occasional rock that feel like a small Cantaloupe. (Yes  <— that spelling is correct and a LOT different than I thought it was) But I digress….. about ¾ of a mile into my walk – it started to sprinkle, which indeed did feel good against the aforementioned sweating….. About 1 mile into my progress up the beach….. it started to rain….. still felt pretty good, but it was starting to get annoying. There were several sea wall type obstacles I had to navigate to continue my trek up the beach including some small rocky ledges and a couple of places I made a jump, looking back – I probably should have skipped. I did all that just to wind up in a location – I couldn’t go forward any more [didn’t feel like swimming] and there was no access back up to the road….. so I had to back track about an 1/8 of a mile before I finally found a yard I could sneak through to get back to the main road. Now, about 2 miles in and not quite a half mile from the house and it is pouring. There is no longer a dry spot on me, I am so wet, I can no longer activate my phone for pictures…… dammit Emmit~! So I soldiered on….. I mean, you can only get so wet. Back at the house, I dried off, changed clothes and spent the rest of the afternoon listening to it rain…. LOTS of rain….. and watching movies with my Bride. We really did need the rain tho….. just didn’t have to get it all at once.  😉  Diving tomorrow taking more pictures of the class room stuff~!

Good Night Ya’ll : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Thankx for stoppin in~!

Another Pelican

JUST got off the phone with Stephanie and wishing my ‘Mess‘ a happy birthday. ‘Mess’ would be Colton…. a now 5 year old bundle of energy that I’m fairly sure Mom and Dad have yet to understand exactly what they have in front of them with that young man. Even though I’m certain they’ll figure out before it’s too late and straighten his little a$$  butt up to ensure he grows up to be a decent young man……

Another day of diving today… schedule changed and today was diving wrecks~! The instructor led 4 trainee’s and 2 folks working on their wreck certs and for almost 2 hours – I chased people in and out of sunken barges and tugboats. Most of them sitting in fairly deep water (80’+) so picture taking with my little GoPro was a challenge with low light and heavy clouds overhead….. but as always – the little camera came through for me and produced some nice shots (altho a little creative editing never hurts anything). Did both dives on wrecks (5 boats in total) – a long day with a lot of swimming involved….. but I like it~! I love swimming around stuff like that. LOTS of pictures so it’ll be 3-4 days getting them all put up on here. A day ‘off’ tomorrow…… not much planned, but wanting to get in a walk. I think I’m gonna sway from the usual and walk into town and cut over and hit the beach and see if I can get in a mile or so in walking along the beach….. awww dang, right ???  😉   I’ll be sure to take plenty of pictures along the way so you can hate me for it…. LOL.

My Queen finally got to use her new crock pot tonight. Not 100% sure what it was she made – but it sure was tasty. I secretly think is she is trying to keep me from losing weight, cause she knows I’m too stupid to stop eating when I should. I could be wrong though. Really about it – we had a nice little rain shower than lasted almost 5 minutes [woo-hoo]. Keep an eye out on here and you will eventually see all the different things I have talked about… just might take a day or six. Until then………………

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

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MESS~!! Love ya buddy~!!

Another early start to the day – but because I needed my morning time to get my bathroom stuff out of the way before I crawled onto the boat for a morning of diving. A slightly better nights sleep, a Jimmy Dean breakfast biscuit and I was on my way into town. It took an additional 30 minutes before the boat got loaded – but I am s.l.o.w.l.y getting used to NOTHING being on time [except me]. I have dove the first site we stopped at before – but only once – and I enjoyed the site and the dive. Second site was new to me and I equally enjoyed it – as I got to bottle-a$$ around and play a LOT  with my new camera. Still SO much to learn with that little thing…. but managed a handful of shots I am REALLY happy with. Like I said last night- good folks at this dive shop – but I don’t like their boat. Kinda like trying to make a dive out of a Sardine cane that sits to high out of the water…… but it still beats the heck out of a kick out shore dive……. First dive, all pictures are with my little GoPro….. second dive is with the new camera. Easiest way to tell new camera pictures – is the close ups are AWESOME and non-close ups will typically be a little blue in hue, but much sharper and crisper. As soon as I get my deep water housing, I’ll probably retire my GoPro and let kids and Grandkids use it when they come down……..

Back at the house, gear rinsed, a small handful of Honey do’s my Bride wanted done and I finally got to set down and edit pictures. I can tell I am getting pickier now about the pictures I take…. I took 200+ pictures and I saved 70+ of them……. hopefully you enjoy my ‘pickiness‘~~  😉 That done – The ole fat boy was about to starve. My little breakfast biscuit wore off about half way through that first dive. I invited my Queen out for dinner and away we went. First time ‘eating out’ since the whole Covid mess started…… we went down to Rhythms Bar at Rainbow beach – but it was packed to the as…… rafters. We circled around and wound up at Sandcastle’s – which was pleasantly empty and settled in at a table with a view to die for (besides my Queen)  😉  Goes with out saying, we ordered drinks….. and some Bang Bang Shrimp to get us started. The shrimp wasn’t bad [wasn’t Bang, Bang] but not bad. Angie order a steak Ka-Bob and I had a good ole Cheeseburger. Both meals were palatable – but not remarkable…. but neither of us had to cook…. we had each other and a view to die for. We also met a few new folks and got to chat with some old friends. We wrapped it up by sharing a piece of mediocre Key Lime pie. Now back here and really ready for a shower and some shut eye before heading back off to work tomorrow….. more diving and pictures. This retired life is tough…….  😉

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

Rolled out early after an early to bed messed up night of sleep. Was in bed and sawing Zzzz’s by 9:15pm only to wake up at 12:17 wide awake~!! Now what is that about?? I went back to sleep, but woke up almost on the hour, every hour afterward and kept having the same stupid dream each hour….. nuts~! 06:00 finally rolled around and I couldn’t take it….. so when I felt my Bride get up – I gave her a couple of minutes to get her bathroom stuff done – and I went ahead and got up…. thankful to be done with trying to sleep. I skipped my walk today as I had every intention of getting the clothes line finished…. today~! While Angie worked on breakfast…. I commenced to post hole digging…… nothing, let me repeat, there is nothing about that task there I enjoy~! To top it off — since we have not had a presentable rain in way over a month…. the ground here is harder than the Chinese alphabet. That’s not the expression I usually use for something hard – but I am trying to keep this site G rated…. or at least PG~~~ 😉  I finally busted out my big framing hammer and a hatchet and got enough of a hole started….that I could fill it with water and let it soak while I went in for breakfast. After a delightful breakfast – I trudged back out to ‘the hole’. The water was now gone at that point and I made some pretty decent progress with the posthole digger until I got back to ‘un-soaked’ dirt. More water and I let it soak while I worked on several parts of getting the clothes line back in usable condition. (A little island engineering). Angie said she would like to paint it, before I put the lines back on it – so I got her started doing that while I plugged away at the rest of it. Finally happy with my progress – I started putting everything back together until I was happy with it. Which was just in time for my Bride to come down and start painting that pole. Another 30 minutes and I was finally finished. My Queen now has a brand spanking new clothes line she is happy with – and I can get back to the business of walking, diving and taking pictures. Speaking of which – I have a 2-tank club dive, tomorrow with another local dive shop. I personally don’t really care for their boat – but they are good people and I am supporting their business as well as our club. It should be a good time plus I’ll get more pictures for you all.

Standing outside having a smoke – I noticed a small hawk that has been making an appearance lately. Just so happened, I had my new little camera with me – and managed a couple pictures of her. Beautiful little bird. I also tried my hand at the big gorgeous moon the last couple days – but I haven’t figured those settings out yet….. but I’m learning~!

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

Wow…. a difference between days……… I woke up a minute or two before 05:00 this morning ready for the world….. course, I went to bed around 9:00pm last night…. so 05:00 would have been fine…. but my brain said ‘Oh HELL no~!’ and snoozed for another hour or so before my bladder screamed out ” hey fat boy – time to get up~!”  Just about the time my Bride started breakfast – I  donned my official walking shoes and headed out the door for a walk-about……. it’s getting where I look forward to my walks and hate them all at the same time. I can actually see a ‘tiny’ reduction in my big ole belly….. I’m breathing just a teeny tiny smidge better and I can ‘feel’ the tiniest teeny bit of improvement in my overall condition. So at least I feel like I am making some kind of improvement.  That’s a good thing -cause if I hadn’t seen SOME kind improvement by now – I would probably give up. I am sitting here mealing on left over cheeseburger-macaroni and stuffed green peepers… trying to feel good about it. I’m trying to get my Bride to join me, cause she is apparently now of the the mind set – not eating, is the best way to loose weight. I know that is not right- but convincing her of it is a whole other conversation……. I mean after all, I am shoveling down these vile green things – she should have to have at least one……. JUST  got a picture of my ‘mini-Jeni’ in sunglasses….. gosh that little $hit is gorgeous….. course I may be a little bit bias……

I spent the day, running around the island, trying to get what I needed to get my Queen’s [now defunct] clothes line repaired….. Admittedly, I am the reason it is inoperable…… but why go there~~~~~?   Literally though…. 3 different trips to center/mid East parts of the island…….. almost feel like I’m back in Indiana…… almost~! Finally got back after checking mail on the last run…… by then I had, had 3 beers at BLUE’S  [had to check in since I was near]…. and one or a handful of drinks once I got back to the house….. I tried to do some posthole diggin’ once I made my last trip — but yea – NO – that wasn’t going to happen….. now I’m sitting here trying to eat and write….. and that is BARELY  workin’ out….. so gonna try and get today’s pictures up….. if not – I have lots of dive pictures leftover……………. Whew-weee…… I gotta stop drinking BEFORE I start writing you all……………..

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

Up a smidge earlier than I would have liked this morning – but it was to get ready to go diving – so I was good with it~! I made me a breakfast biscuit, a shot of orange juice and a shot of milk and I was ready to go. Showed up a little early (if you’re 10 minutes early – you’re on time) got loaded on the boat and got my gear set up. Wound up diving 2 favorites today (North Star and Salt River West) Two deep dives with lots and lots of fun stuff to look at and take pictures of. I was a smidge disappointed I couldn’t take my new camera with me [too deep] but that will soon pass as soon as my new housing gets here. Sadly, living on this island, you have to tolerate what should be a 5-7 day mail time – expect and wait almost a month for. It’s funny….. my girls can send me something, and it gets here in that 5-7 day time frame – but when a “big company” does it – it takes them damn near a month….. please explain that one to me…….. The dives however, did NOT  disappoint. Had one uncooperative Reef shark, a VERY cooperative Nurse shark [ I actually got to ‘pet’ her], a big ole Hawksbill turtle……… AND…… wait for it…. A juvenile Frog fish…… Now for those of you unfamiliar with underwater life — seeing a Frog fish is a big deal~!!! Seeing  a Juvenile Frog fish is HUGE~!!! I would have loved to had my ‘good’ camera with me for some close ups – but alas – water was too deep without the housing I’m waiting on, I couldn’t take it with me…… but I got what shots I could, and cropped it  to make it look like I was closer to my subject. Can’t wait for the housing and get the new camera into deep water~! Both dives were outstanding~!!! I felt good enough after the dives – I offered a ride (on the way home) to a couple of locals thumbing down the road – and was ‘rewarded‘ by being pestered for cigarettes and money when I dropped them off at their destination…. you’re welcome……… jeeessh……

Back home… my Queen made us a drink, I got my gear rinsed and hung, another drink or three in me…. fed a might righteous dinner of ham, smashed taters and green beans and here I am.

IF our flight wouldn’t have been cancelled [again]… we would be back in Indiana right now celebrating our newest Grand Daughters [Kinsley] birthday. A  big one year old~! It just absolutely breaks our heart that we are missing it……… we are also going to miss my ‘Mess” birthday as well. Our Grand Son Colt coming up here in 4 days…… DAMMIT EMMIT~!!!! But ya gotta play the hand you’re dealt – so we ‘face time’ with smiles and birthday wishes (presents sent earlier) and wipe away the tears after we hang up. Have already decided the trip back in December will be ‘a little longer’ than we usually stay, to try and help make up for it.

So a happy and sad day here in paradise for Oma & Pa-Paw….. and life goes on.

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

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Kinsley (my Mini-Jeni)~~~ <3

A little better night’s sleep to wake up from, especially after staying up and finishing Money Heist….. weird kind of ending to it (I suspect they ended it that way to leave it open for another season) – there was also a small clip following it that showed how they made several scenes from the movie and a little bit of history on it – that was kinda neat.  Island Daughter came by to borrow my truck and Angie went with her for a little bit of ‘girl’ time. I used that time for taking a walk after making me a nice strong breakfast to prepare for it. This particular walk I got a deluge of phone calls and texts and somewhere in the process of closing all those (to preserve battery strength) I managed to close my walk program, so I lost about half the data on the walk. I put in just over an hour at what I conservatively guesstimate to be about 2½ miles. Had a small hill in the mix, but nothing like the other day. I got back just about the time my truck did – so I cleaned up a little bit and headed out. First stop was for pictures of classroom learning and testing. Like I said the last night – once you’ve taken a couple of shots of folks studying and taking tests.. you’re pretty much done for the day. So I headed to Home Depot….. dreading every minute of it – and I was not disappointed. I only managed to find 1 out of the three things I was looking for – and that one I had to ask 5 different people about. 3 sent me to the wrong location, 1 ‘we’re out’ and the 5th one took me right to it……just aggravating~! Left there and dealt with island traffic all the way back to the West end. You rarely ever get over 30-35 mph here…… so when I get stuck behind folks doing 15-20…. it is maddening to me. Passing on any of these roads is dang near impossible~! Factor in, a pain-in-the-touchas experience at the post office… dealing with the bank trying to get my address changed and a booking site that charged me $800+ for a hotel room that was cancelled, all finally caught up to me. I’ll get the money back for the hotel – it’s just the fact it happened when it shouldn’t have, and now it’ll probably be 2-3 weeks before I get it back. Dammit Emmit~! So my afternoon was pretty crappy – but my Bride plied me with alcohol and food and things don’t look quite as bad right now…….. just ‘gets my goat’ when it happens. Guess maybe I better look into that Valium prescription Angie says I need…… Hopefully ‘fun’ diving tomorrow morning…. I know that’ll help~!

Good Night Ya’ll ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Thankx for stoppin in~!

Hoping to sleep in a little bit since getting to bed late last night waiting on getting electricity back, getting gear rinsed, my shower and editing a ton of pictures……. and getting a blog written. Other than a Midnight trip to relieve the pressure on my bladder and a handful of goofy dreams, I was sleeping fairly peacefully only to be awaken by the hum of a weed eater right out side our window…. 07:02…… Dammit Emmit~! It figures….. our ‘yard guy’, picked early this morning to work on the yard that is about a month over due. Up, and moving – settled in for a coff of cuppee and the news for the day. Disturbing what is going on in the world today…. any of you that know me, know that I am an avid supporter of Law Enforcement….. but I am sick to death of the crap going on in the world today. Was the cop wrong ? I don’t  know – I wasn’t there to see it with my own eyes – and absolutely refuse to believe any kind of video or news release I see or hear about it. My take – if the cop is guilty…. shoot his a$$. Period…… but the looting going on ‘in the name of’ the victim is pure BS~! and you won’t change my mind otherwise…. so tired of ”listening” to that mess – I signed out and spent the rest of the day with my Queen, not doing much of anything.

We got a couple of small rain showers during the course of the day….. but not even enough to settle the dust real good. We continue to watch Money Heist. In the last season now…. good stuff~! My Queen made stuffed peppers for dinner and now here I am chatting with you. Had a couple of ‘fun’ dives scheduled for tomorrow – but that has since been rescheduled to Thursday. Tomorrow is all book work for the Dive Master/ Instructor class I have been taking pictures of, and lets face it. Once you have pictures of people studying and taking tests…. you’re pretty much done, so the rest of this week looks really tame for me…. and I’m not really upset about it, as I have some small odds and ends I need to get done around here anyway. I played with my camera a little bit and learned a little more about it…… I wound up getting some AWESOME close up pictures yesterday underwater….. I’ll put them on here to give you an idea the capability that little camera has. SOOO much more to learn about it – but small steps. For now, enjoying having something that will expand my photography abilities.

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

The next series of pictures are all of what are called Christmas Tree Worms……

I still haven’t figured out the ‘White Balance’ on this camera yet… hence the blue color

Been ‘dyin’ to try and get these kind of shots…..

A small Brittle Star,  Star fish inside

A Large Christmas Tree Worm