Author: Bill

Out bright and early to pay rent and head into ‘work’. Dropped off rent, spent a few extra minutes with my Bride and then eased on into downtown Frederiksted to commence my day of employ. I arrived the same time as most of the students and instructor and soon set into snapping pictures….. A couple of hours later, everybody was donning gear and heading to that gorgeous blue water. I snapped pictures like I knew what I was doing and was soon under water (I was getting entry sots) heading for the next detail. Without going into a ton of detail…. I made 3 dives today…. first one being right at a half hour, the next one almost exactly an hour and the third one (which was quite the surprise to me) was just over an hour….. LOTS of swimming for the old fat boy today. Sadly… somewhere near the start of my day- I found out the power was out….. not only at the shop, but at our house as well, going out around 09:30 according to my Queen. I didn’t notice it so much as I was under water most of the day…… but by the time I got back to the house – it was dark-thirty and the friggin’ power was still out…… You all back in Indiana think Vectren sucks ??? they can’t hold a candle to this Mickey Mouse out fit here on this island….. this is our 6th outage just since we have been in our new place. The power company here [called WAPA – for Water And Power Authority] SUCKS~! That is the only way to put it. Hands down, the most corrupt, outfit I have ever had the disgust to know about. Way to much to go into here and don’t want this site to be a political stage or soap box for me…… just trust me… they SUCK~! So me and my Queen spent the next several hours sitting on the tail gate of my truck, drinking, smoking and chatting. I couldn’t even rinse my gear off [no power – no water] or me~! I took a bottle of drinking water and took a quick bird bath and rinsed off the really important part of my gear. We sat for a little over 2 hours before the power finally came back on…… 9½ freakin’ hours it was out~!!! PITIFUL~!!! I made a made dash while I still had a small streak of light and got my gear rinsed and hung up – before retreating indoors to lights and fans. I still need to get ME  rinsed and into something dry. I have yet to hook up either camera to download pictures yet – so I’m gonna have to put up some older pictures for you today……. Unexpected day off tomorrow and not 100% sure what I’m gonna do yet………. HMmmmm….   Home Depot maybe ???  😉

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

As I stated last night….. we had dinner at Blues last night. Another wonderful evening of friends, drinks, laughter, hugs and just a good time all around. Just for good measure…… I even wound up driving a friend home that had celebrated a little too much. Not the first time I have performed this maneuver for this particular friend. I would much rather do that than take a chance on him trying to drive….. especially on this island. I was much more careful this evening on the amount I had to drink and our drive home last night was cool, quiet and uneventful as you probably gathered from the fact that I wrote a full blog.

Up this morning to heavy gray clouds and what turned out to be another empty promise  of rain. I was a little run down today and just not in the mood to do much of anything. I didn’t charge my GoPro – I didn’t even pick up my new camera. Only thing I did of any effort was try to pay rent – and they weren’t home. The rest of the day was lounging and snacking. My Bride made a loaf of Banana bread that turned out pretty decent and we snacked on it a little bit…. and we watched Money Heist…. just started season # 3 (of 4) getting progressively better as it goes. And that’s about it…… still have lots of pictures from yesterday’s up hill journey that I hope you like. I am going back to work tomorrow. Not sure if I’ll get to use my new camera tomorrow or not….. we’ll see.

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

IMG_3141  <—- video

We live right behind that smoke stack

same view – zoomed out…. see the stack ? That’s where I started from

this really shows the power of the wind – that is rebar, bent over

tree on the way back – better light

Up this morning feeling pretty good after sleeping all the way through the night…. Electricity was still on when we got up, so that was a plus~! A slow casual start until pings on the phone started coming in about island kids needing to borrow a truck, needing some help at the shop….. yadda, yadda, yadda…… other than giving up my truck for a while (and I wasn’t going to need it anyway) – none of it impacted me – so I left my Bride to contend with her part of it. I strapped on my walking shoes, inhaled a nuked biscuit with a smidge of butter/honey and a hard boiled egg – and I was off to places unknown for a walk-about. Had no idea where I was heading when I started out, but soon formulated a path quickly into my walk. This particular walk was going to take me up a hill…… a big hill….. how big?  DAMN big~! About ½ to ¾ way up it – I done figured I bit off a tad more than I could chew…… but being the hard headed stubborn old goat that I am – I pushed myself. Admittedly – I finally had to stop once in a while and get some air and let my heart rate slow down for a bit…. but I kept going….. making it by my guesstimate 9/10ths of the way up the hill. I wanted to top it – but didn’t honestly didn’t think I had it in me, so I quit while the quitting was good and started back down the slope. I got some awesome pictures from ‘up there’ but a little depressed I didn’t ”top” it. Better safe than sorry is the only logic I can come up with that made me feel a little bit better about myself. Tomorrow is another day. I was really looking forward to that walk back down it, until I got started. I’m guesstimating [again] that, that was about a 25° – 28° slope and it didn’t take but about a couple dozen steps to realize going down, wasn’t going to be the breeze I thought it would be either. Dammit Emmit~! I finally made it to mostly level ground and things returned to semi-normal….. Wow….. several lessons learned on todays journey……. I chatted briefly with a ‘local’ about halfway down the hill…. mentioning [as I patted my belly] that I was trying to work off some of that beer to make room for more. He laughed and said if I ‘do’ this hill a couple of more times – ”You’ll be good”. Words to live by I guess.  😉

I got my new camera up and running and played with it for a little bit. That little beggar is apparently a WHOLE LOT smarter than I will ever be – but OH the capability it has. ( It has a 166 page manual to it~!) I’ll put up a couple of the pictures I took today while ‘playing’ with it to give you an idea of what I’m talking about. I can’t wait to get it under water. We wound up going to Blues when my Queen got off of work….. but that’s whole other blog.  😉

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

Something about this ditch being cleaned out was very satisfying for me to look at~~

Again – something about this big ole tree just intrigues the hell out of me….

I guess imagining what all it has been through and seen…..

One of my resting places… [sucking air] – HARD~!

Up shortly after midnight last night to answer the call of some wildly unpopular stomach cramps. I ‘earned’ them though – so I can’t beef a whole lot about it. As she sometimes does when I have a long day out – diving, working or a happy combination of both – my Queen will surprise me with a big batch of egg salad…. 🙂  I can’t get enough of the stuff. This was an extra good batch (lots of onions) and I was starvin’ when I tied into it. Lord have mercy – I should know better than that by now……. but ….. being old, mostly stupid, hungry and had quite a bit to drink at that point – I went for it…… wiping out the better part of the egg salad and a roll of Ritz crackers. So I spent a half hour or so on the ‘throne’ last night paying for my gluttony…… and the egg salad with onions. It was worth every minute~! The rest of the night was [mercifully] uneventful and I woke up just in time for the electricity to go off. That’s always fun…. ya don’t want to open the fridge, cause you never know how long the electricity will be off….. no coffee and this morning it was already hot and stuffy…… so no fans….. ahhh – island life. After the first hour, I ran into town and got us breakfast…. eggs, waffles, bacon and all things wonderful [happy they had electricity]……. Closing the second hour – electricity came back on and we start getting back to our morning routine. I got caught up on the news and the misconstrued world that is FB (this planet is in sooo much trouble) before heading out on a small path of errands. Garbage hauled to the dump – check~! Went on into town to get the FOB  for my truck replaced (it kept coming apart – and for $250 I wasn’t going to put up with that) done at no charge~! Check~! Came back and picked up mail [with minimal issues]- Check~! Stopped by dive shop and bought new camera~! [[YAY]] – Check~! Came home to ‘play’ with new camera….. needs a memory card…. not included. Dammit…. Pulled out one of my old memory cards…. won’t work…. dammit. Tried second card…. won’t work…. double dammit. Ordered Google suggested cards from Amazon…. they won’t ship them here…. dammit. Had them sent to FL address to be forwarded here…. that worked. Smoked a cigarette and got pi$$ed thinking about not being able to send stuff straight to here. DAMMIT Emmit~! Went in and cancelled Amazon order….. to hell with them…… Went to electronics store and K-Mart in search of cards….. not gonna happen…. DAMMIT EMMIT~! See where this is going??? Bottom line…. now sitting here with a brand new expensive camera that I can’t use and frustrated to the teeth. G*DDAMMIT EMMIT~! My Queen fed me a nice meal and working on drink # ?. The sun has set and it’s cooling off a little….. Tomorrow should be a better day.

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

Up bright and early this morning, a LOT less hung over, and ready for the day. I got me another breakfast sammich, my Queen had made me up a bottle of spark and a smoke or two with her and I was out the drive way for another day of work. I believe I stated earlier – I have been contracted to document the current DM/I class being taught (Dive Master / Instructor) at Cane Bay Dive Shop. I showed up just about the same time everybody else did and was soon into my photographer role. First 4 hours of this particular segment was class room work, and let’s face it – once you’ve taken a dozen or so ‘classroom’ shots – you’re pretty much relegated to sit and listen and be ready in case something of interest pops up that would make a good shot. Which I did…. occasionally sliding off to the side for a smoke.  A couple of other Instructors were teaching a Discover SCUBA course to a young family and as they suited up – I slid over and managed a couple of family shots for them as well. The class finally got a really quick break to inhale a sammich before donning gear and heading to that gorgeous water. For the next hour and a half I watched the 6 candidates being put through their paces and being graded on how well they were doing. The Instructor did not hold back and worked them hard the entire time. I actually had a couple of flashbacks to my time during Instructor training to be a skydiving JUMP Master / Instructor. This particular Instructor has been at it a long time and dang good at what he was doing. There were plenty of laughs during the course – but he always managed to get his point across and it was fun for me to watch the development of these 6 guys. Lots of clouds and mediocre water visibility made it challenging to get pictures – but my little GoPro really came through for me and I got some AWESOME shots [even if I have to say so myself]   I’ll share some of those pix on here tonight. As some serious lightning started popping, we made a quick exit out of the water and wrapped the day up. Another friend (and dive shop owner) hollered at me as I was leaving and commented, that the new camera I am interested in was ‘in’ and I could come look at it if I wanted to – – well – – YEAH~! I had to drop off my now malfunctioning regulator at his shop for repair anyway – so I might as well take a peek……… pretty…….. Before I committed to buying it though – I came home and talked to my Bride about it and made sure she was [reasonably] ‘okay’ with me getting it. She is….. YAY~! I told him I’d be by in the morning to get it. YAY~! The camera itself really ain’t THAT expensive…. but all the attachments I want/need for it kinda adds up a bit…. DAMMIT EMMIT~!  😉  ((I have to act like I’m upset about it))  😉   So – I now have the next couple of days ‘off’….. guess I’ll have to learn how to use my new toy~!    😉

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

Mostly forgot what it is like to have a job and a life…. but the past couple of days I have had a hard dose of it. Yesterday started off nice and slow…. a tasty breakfast my Queen made for us. I had full intentions of taking a nice long healthy walk and enjoy my ‘day off’. That changed shortly after breakfast when island Daughter said some of her family was doing a Discover SCUBA dive with Cane Bay Dive Shop and kind of hinted it would be great to have pictures of them doing it. I offered my services and she jumped at it. I met the group at CBDS and snapped some pictures as the group got their class room and paper work stuff out of the way and we were soon off into the water. Pretty typical class getting started – but we were all soon on our way out into the deep blue sea. Dive Master Michelle did her usual great job with her charges and as well as providing a spectacular dive, as every one got to see turtles, lots of fish and the biggest Stingray I believe I have ever saw~! I did manage to get a couple of pictures and a really nice video of it. The group spent almost 50 minutes underwater…. which is really good for a Discover dive. We got everybody out of the water, a couple of more photo’s taken, before I left them and headed back to my Bride. Gear rinsed, me rinsed and a handful of pictures uploaded for the ‘divers’.

My Queen had mentioned earlier in the day that our favorite bar was supposed to be ‘opened’ for business tonight for the first time since this Covid mess started. Well — we had to go~! So we loaded up in the truck and took off for mid island and were soon pulling in. Amazingly we found a spot to park and there was even space at the bar according to the new standards. I was delighted to see no body was wearing a mask (we done covered my ‘stance’ on that – so just let it be please) and for the next couple of hours, we drank, hugged old friends, drank, laughed and just hung out in general. Those couple of hours went by like that >><< [snapping fingers]. We paid our tab – lots of hugs, handshakes and fist bumps and were soon on our way. What I failed to factor into that whole equation…. was for the length of the day I had already, the fact that I had very little food in me for that time span and that the dive ‘used up‘ most of that food, those handful of drinks I had kinda whupped up on the old fat boy. By the time I navigated us back to this end of the island – I was mostly FUBAR’d. And the longer I sat – the more FUBAR’d I got…… (hence no post last night)….. I barely got the rest of Cynthia’s pictures up before I ”had” to go to bed. I knew I had to work in the morning and I needed some recoup time. I made it up and out the door for work and sure was glad we got into the water right off the bat…… a great way to shake off a hangover~! Way over my limit already… so signing off for now~~~~~~~~~~~

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

After a pretty presentable nights sleep – rolled out to a bright sunny humid day with dang little breeze…. a bit stuffy, but from what I hear back in the states…. happy to have it versus weather that can still be described as a little bit ‘chilly’. Took a little longer to get my tired old touchas woke up to the point I wanted….. but I got my gear loaded into the truck, wolfed down a banana that is about 1 day past the point of good eatin’…. took my BP meds, had one last  smoke with my Bride and boogied on out the door to my first day of ‘work’. I use the term ‘work’ VERY loosely. The task I agreed to was to document the next 2 weeks of 6 guys going through a Dive Master/Instructor course for SCUBA diving. I arrived about the same time as the students and settled into my routine of snapping pictures. I’m not sure what it is about being the ‘photog’ at an event like that, that I like, but I do~! Something about having ‘free reign’ to crawl, duck, walk and mosey around all through what is supposed to be a fairly serious event I guess. For the next 2.½ hours or so I watched, learned and listen to the Instructor doing his thing. He is a friend of mine and was comfortable with me doing my thing without disrupting his class. Something I take immense satisfaction in……. We broke for an immensely short lunch before donning gear and heading out into that beautiful, blue, cool water…… By that point – I was ready…. my shirt and trunks were soaked in sweat and I wanted to get wet and cool off~! I got to spend the next 1.½ hours [mostly] underwater…. documenting some fairly intensive training as these guys started into a course that is absolutely bound to change the course of their diving careers. We worked in shallow water (less than 15′) for all of it. There were uncounted trips to the surface so the instructor could talk to his class, before sinking back under the water for more hands on type stuff. Having never been through that particular training – it was interesting to watch. It is spooky similar to the training I went through as a Skydiving Jump Master/Instructor so I could relate on a lot of different levels. I guess the biggest difference – is, this sport moves at probably less than 1 MPH where as in skydiving – you’re up around 120 MPH and have a LOT less time to deal with ‘issues’. Still fun to note the similarities in the two sports. Training finally wrapped up around 4:00 p.m. and there was NO complaints from me…… I spent probably an hour and a half underwater (plus uncounted trips to the surface) and my tired old a$$ was worn out.  Tomorrow was supposed to be a down day – but I have been invited by island Daughter to help document some of her family’s Discover SCUBA dives tomorrow. I have to alter some of my plans I had for the day – but oh so happy to do it and really looking forward to ‘shooting’ a fun family dive for her. For now – over my limit, mildly hammered and ready for a shower……..

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

Thankfully – a full night of A/C without issues, other than sleeping in some funky position that left me walking around like Igor off of Young Frankenstein for a while [what hump?]  After a small breakfast – I ran into town to the dive shop, to discuss my newest photo assignment. I have been tasked with documenting a Dive Master course for the Dive shop. There are 12 more classes between now and the middle of next month and almost every single one of them involve class room AND in the water training and I have been asked to document it. I happily accepted it and it all starts tomorrow~!  Came back to the house excited about the job and content not to do much else the rest of the day. And that’s exactly what I did. We watched a couple [of really stupid] movies to wile the hours away. It is blistering hot here (low 90°’s) and uncharacteristically without hardly any wind….. so it feels really hot. We set up a couple of small fans and it is very tolerable while we watch TV. Not a lot else to ramble about, so I won’t. Still have lots of new dive pictures to share with you and will be getting even more when I start ‘work’ tomorrow. So here ya go~!

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

Still not sure why – but that’s still funny to me. Up a little bit early to what I thought was the sound of our brand spanking new air conditioner blowing a rod…. but a subsequent follow up running of it [quietly] makes me think maybe I was  dreaming it ?? Guess I’ll find out tonight. Plans for a trip to Home Depot faded pretty quickly as I stewed about how much money that is going to cost me to get everything I need, just to take care of a lawn – I really shouldn’t have to in the first place last night. Even with the [apparently imagined] A/C issues – I felt presentably rested and kind of raring to go – so after finishing up basic morning stuff – I strapped on my good ‘walking’ shoes and headed out the door. My logic was it will be much cooler earlier in the morning…….. I could not have been any more wrong if I tried. The bulk of my walk today was UP hill, even though my little tracker thing don’t show it on the main page now. Scrolling a little deeper into it – I had an elevation gain pf 252′. That may not seem like a lot – but I am here to argue with you. For an old, fat, out of shape, 50 year smoker…. that’s a LOT~!!! But I stuck with it and finally made it back to the house. I told my bride I wound up walking in the middle of the road to stay out of the reach of unfriendly chained up dogs. I told her there were 87 or 88 dogs barking at me and trying to get to me. I couldn’t be sure because one of them was running in circles and I may have counted him twice. Once I went as far as I could up the hill – it turned into a dead end and I had to come back down the same way….. through all those dogs again. There wasn’t actually that many…. but for a little bit it seemed like it,  as they were all howling and growling. Made it down through them without issue only to have a guy come busting out of his gated yard onto the road I was on….. before the gate could close – his 2 dogs came out to check me out. The one little mutt I wasn’t so much worried about, but he had what I guess was some kind of Shepard/Werewolf mix and he looked mighty excited about me approaching his property line. The owner was long gone by the time I got up there, so I scooped up a couple of presentable size rocks just in case I was going to have to contend with Shepard/Werewolf dog. He may have bit me – but I wasn’t going down without a fight. Thankfully, he just sat there and showed me his teeth as I walked quietly by and I got to finally drop the small boulders I was carrying. YEAH…… go for a walk they said…. It’s good for your health they said… may be – but it sure is hard on the nerves.

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

As the title alludes to…. [did you look it up??] I did absolutely nothing today…. Nothing, Nadda, zilch, zippo. I didn’t walk, skip or past go.  Watched a couple of movies that aren’t worth mentioning. I did get up to the post office to mail a letter (yes – us old folks still do that) so I guess I got a teeny tiny bit done. I think I’m gonna rectify that tomorrow…. even if it’s just walking…… but my Queen has ”okayed” lawn maintenance equipment – so I may go shopping~! Which means I have to try it out when I get back……. we’ll see. For right now though….. I’m done for tonight… here are some pictures from the past several days/dives.

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