Living the life most people just dream about~

Started the day off with brilliant sunshine and that beautiful blue water. I had a meeting to get to and my bride opted to join me for this one, so we forewent our usual breakfast. Meeting was oddly productive and I actually kind of enjoyed it…. took an hour and a half before we finally got out of it. My bride thought the [puny] excuse for a Bloody Mary was too spicy, so I drank hers (and two more) which is probably why the meeting was mostly enjoyable for me.  😉  Neither of us was particularly hungry, so we didn’t order anything to eat – but by the time we got out on the road, we both agreed, some chow was in order. After a quick stop by the Post Office to return a half a dozen things to Amazon (that didn’t fit, didn’t work or was plain ole the wrong thing) it was slightly after 11:00 and we agreed some Blues Backyard BBQ food and hooch was in order. We swung in to get the day started…….. My Queen had a fish sammich [sans bun] and I had my Turkey Bacon ranch…… one damn fine sammich, I don’t care who you are. We stayed for multiple drinks and chatted with friends who had also stopped in. Finally wound up back at the condo to recuperate a little bit – before heading out to the West end of the island for an Adaptive Divers meeting. Fun and interesting meeting where I learned a LOT more about what I think I’m interested in doing to become a ‘buddy’ for a disabled diver. Apparently lots of schooling to “just” be a buddy for a disabled diver – but sounds like a challenge I think I’m up for. MINIMUM requirement to be a buddy for a disabled diver is to hold a “Rescue Dive Certification” and as you may remember – I already have that – so I’m halfway there already. It sounds tough, but sounds like a challenge I would enjoy~~ More on that as it develops.

The one ‘perk’ to this meeting was location. Pretty much anywhere on the West end of the island almost guarantees a killer sunset – and this evening did not disappoint~! I hated to cut out of the meeting – but for about 20 minutes, I could not help myself – as I usually don’t get “those” sunset shots – and I absolutely had to share them with you all……. so I hope you enjoy them. We finally wrapped the meeting up and worked our way back to the middle of the island and the fabulous conditioned air our condo is filled with~~~ So I hope you enjoy the new pictures from today. Tomorrow is supposed to be a down day for us before we get really busy getting ready to come back to the states……..

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

That one would work~!

This one too~!

Turkey Bacon Ranch Sammich~!

Jimbo~!

The view for our meeting~

Lil ole Me  : )

For Becky~~

Now THAT’S a sunset~!

“Turtle” Street lights

 

Up and moving a smidge earlier than I would have liked, compliments of the new ‘neighbor’ above us. Bigfoot’s bowling alley has now decided to get a dog. She’s a cute little thing, but as a rescue, she comes flea bitten and in pretty ragged shape. (I got to ‘meet’ her one morning while smoking a cigarette) Poor little thing was obviously chewed up by fleas (and God only knows what else) and when she scratches herself, she apparently bounces her leg off of the floor – which when you’re sound asleep at 03:30 in the morning for the world sounds like someone knocking on our front door. For someone deaf as a rock – I hear that sound and get that fun little adrenalin rush that wakes you up and makes it really hard to go back to sleep. I haven’t said anything to neighbor yet – but if ‘Thumper’  (the dogs name is Charli but Thumper seems much more appropriate) don’t knock it the hell off soon —- that conversation WILL happen~! During the day, it is just annoying….. anytime between 21:00 and 08:00 is just plain ole unacceptable~!

Chatted off and on with our new neighbors next door a little bit, watched a bunch of Burn Notice and just enjoyed a day of leisure and some much anticipated sun light. All those pretty blues are now back as the now Summer sun beats down on our gorgeous Sea.

Without asking – I got up and started a Filet for my bride….. and a much wanted burger for me. I picked up some ‘white’ onions and was itching for a big ole slab on a burger~! I love onions, but in my advanced age – they are don’t much like me  anymore~~!  I got my Queen served up with her meal and finished my burger ‘just the way I like it’.  Toasted the buns ‘just the way I like ’em’ and was soon sitting down next to my bride who had already knocked out most of her fixin’s. MmMmMmmm-HMmmm~! One of the best burgers I have had in quite some time~!! That was a burger fit for my neighbors………. my Damn Neighbors~! I hope they come back soon (even though one of them is tryin’ to get all healthy stuff) so I can make them one~~~ Our bellies are now full, Angie has already had her shower and as soon as I post this – I’m headed for mine. The condo now smells like a heavenly 5 Star restaurant and we are enjoying the wonderfully cool A/C – as the normal cooling trade wind as fell off to nothin tonight.

I have a couple of club meetings tomorrow to contend with. First in the morning is Fish With A Vet (I’m the Treasurer) and then another later in the evening with Adaptive Diving (helping disabled people be able to make a dive) Hopefully some pictures from out and about from the day. For tonight….. the meal I worked on for my Queen and me~~~~~~~

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

Wow….. June already……May screamed by~! We will be back in Indiana a week from today. As you probably remember…. we have grand baby # 9 on the way~! Those in the know say it is a little girl and if that proves to be true – her name will be Kinsley Ray. I am tickled to death Jeni is having a little girl….. she needs one…. so does her husband Michael…… hehehehe…. It will be fun watching that~~ We will stay 2 weeks and try to get in 4 weeks worth of stuff in while we are there. It has been entirely too long since I have seen my girls and I’m long over due to give them all hugs.

Really quiet slow day today after a less than stellar nights sleep. A$$ hat never showed up and I finally faded off to sleep. Leisurely morning as I waited to find out who was [still] in my parking slot. I did a little bit of deducing and finally decided, it was our new neighbors. Charley and Vickey…. nice couple just got in yesterday. They had been out grocery shopping and came back to find their slot filled and not knowing any better, just parked in mine. He finally caught up to me and my suspicions were confirmed. I can’t really get mad at him, as he really didn’t know any better. His wife had apparently went out earlier and put a very nice note on the windshield of DD apologizing. I explained the process to him, so I think we’re good now as far as they are concerned.

Rest of the day was TV, smoking and reading. I am now into my second of three books that I ordered. This one is Mrs. Kennedy and Me. Actually a lot more interesting than I would have thought. First one was Five Days in November. That was outstanding~!! The third one is called Five Presidents. All three books are written by a Secret Service agent (Clint Hill). He led what is apparently an amazing life. The books [so far] are very well written and have some great photographs in them. One of the most famous photographs ever taken was when president Kennedy was shot – in that picture, there is a Secret Service agent crawling up over the rear of the car trying to cover the President and First lady using his body as a shield. That agent is Clint Hill. Even now I am getting goose bumps as I remember what I read about the event (Five Days in November) I highly recommend that book. While I was only 7 years old when that happened, I can vividly recall where I was in the house – and seeing my Mom break down in tears when she heard the news. Amazing what sticks in your mind……

Slow news day – so gonna quit here….. no new pictures – so I’ll dig up some from a year or so ago for ya~~~

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

 

More clouds this morning….. more rain today…….. breakfast, smoke breaks, rain and clouds……… Angie decided around 4:00 she wanted to go up to Blues for dinner. It had been most of the week since we had been up and it seemed like a reasonably good idea at the time…… Got up there and took the last parking spot on the ‘good’ side of the bar. Bar had lots of regulars and friends up there. We got a drink and melted into the Blues crowd. Local entertainment was belting out songs while the bar carried on being noisy enough you could barely hear him. Drinks and shots were coming around on a pretty regular basis and the crowd just got more fun as the evening went. I got a little bit ‘happy’ with my camera, satisfied with my new found ability to take a decent selfie – and hit up most of the people at the bar – whether I knew them or not……….   oops~~

About 20 minutes away from closing time – I paid our tab and gathered up my bride and headed for the truck. The plan to go up to Blues to get something to “eat” was lost early in the equation. I was really feeling the effects of a lot of alcohol with NOTHING in my stomach and I could tell from the look on Angie’s face – she was about >      < that far past me. I offered her a choice of Mickey D’s or a steak when she got home because I knew we BOTH needed something solid in our belly. She opted for Mickey D’s so away we went and a short 22 minutes later we had our chow. We munched on those wonderfully hot salty fries on the drive home and whipped into our parking lot, just to find someone, once again in our parking slot. This has happened multiple times and I was just in the right mood tonight to be a real a$$hole about it. So I know have the car ‘pinned’ into the slot – which will require them to come to me to move DD before they can get out —- and I have no intention of being nice about it~! We pay $2500 a month for the ‘privilege’ to park there and I’ll just be damned if I’m gonna be nice to some @#$%^&*( because they don’t want to drive down to the visitors parking spots.

Angie has already went to bed – and I’m sitting here fuming waiting for that a$$ hat to come pester me at 11:00 at night…… I think I have a bunch of fun pictures from Blues – so I’m gonna quit here and load those pictures… also want to get this posted in case the a$$ hat parked in my slot is a LOT bigger than me  😉

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

 

Another very cloudy, very rainy day greeted me after easing out onto the patio this morning. The good Lord knows the island needs the rain, but personally, I’d kinda like to see some sunshine now. Guess I need to work on my patience a little bit as they are now calling for this through the weekend. A big front stalled just South of Puerto Rico is bring all this…… It can go away any time it wants.

Another pretty typical day, breakfast, Burn Notice and smoke breaks. I finally had to get up and move and told Angie I was going to run up to the store for a couple of things. She must have been tired of playing her game and wanted to ride a long. It took longer to get to the store and back than it did for the time we spent in the store…. but still managed to drop $ 200 into the local economy – but now I am armed with A-1 Steak sauce and onions, just in case I screw up her steak again. Neither of us are hungry yet – so I may be off the hook for cooking tonight….. but I’m ready just in case  😉

Got a ping from an on line drug store we use, saying I needed to update some information – so I jumped on here to update, just to find that I couldn’t barely get a browser to open let alone get anything done. Island Internet……? It crossed my mind while we were watching a movie, that streaming TV shows worked fairly decent (which usually requires a pretty decent Wi-Fi signal)….. so what was the issue with my lap top? The modem sets about a foot below the TV and I thought maybe the couch next to the TV was blocking the signal to my lap top 25′ away from the modem. I thought surely that couldn’t be it, but what did I have to loose? I wrangled the modem out of it’s shelf and set it up on the arm of the couch – and what do you know…… screens started popping up on my lap tap almost as fast as I could click~! Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit~!! Not the ideal solution….. but until I get a new router and modem….. this may be a nice temporary fix. It took me almost an hour last night to get those couple of pictures put up on the blog. Hopefully much better tonight~!

The movie we watched was called The Perfect Game. Based on a real event. Cheech Marin stars in it – but a not a role you’re used to seeing him in. I would recommend it (for all ages)~! Signing off for now to see if I have picture loading power~~!

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

Yet another morning of lots of clouds and rain to wake up to….. still good as we are getting the intermittent showers versus the deluge that normally hits us. It is a really good thing for the island, but I feel bad for anybody vacationing here this week. The temperatures are still a wonderful warm, but it is not what you want when you’re wanting to lay on the beach and come back home with a show off tan (or sunburn). Still lots of fun things to do – you just don’t have that fabulous sunshine we have 95% of the time to do it in……..

After we finished breakfast and a little bit of TV, my bride started playing her game and me, for what turned out to be almost 3 hours, was on the phone with 9 different institutions chasing down some intel I needed for a recent tax issue that came up. I think I mentioned earlier, that I got a notice from the IRS saying that I didn’t file a specific 1099R from the year 2017 and because of it – they needed an additional $20K in taxes…….. not the type of mail you like to get. I forwarded the mail on to my tax lady and she has been chasing it. She sent me her information this morning and I spent the afore mentioned 3 hours getting the details she needed. To make a long, maddening story short —- We now “only” owe [another] $6000….. I guess I should be happy, but have just not quite got myself there yet. DAMMIT EMMIT~!! That’ll sure put a crimp in your fun budget…… but whadda ya gonna do ???

Finally got that mess cleaned up <painfully> and settled in to get my bride fed. She wanted steak…… I wanted pizza. I actually wanted pizza last night, but that didn’t happen, so I take it when I can get it. I ordered a pizza to be delivered and put on a steak for Angie. My pizza showed up – just barely room temperature and really skimpy on toppings, which was quite stressful to me as it cost me $ 54.00 to get it…….. Ahhh Island Life. My mood must have transferred to my cooking, as after about 3 bites, Angie was up looking for A-1 sauce (my cue she doesn’t like the cook job on the steak). Well hells bells, I was out of onions [oops]…. and now she wants A-1……… pretty much the adequate end to that afternoon…… Rain forecast through the weekend now….. guess I better run up and get some onions and A-1 sauce or it’s gonna be a really long week….. Going to see if I can get pictures to load tonight. I went up and complained to the building manager about needing a new router….. but got the impression, she didn’t give a rats a$$ about my router problem…….. she’s probably out of onions too……..

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

Got up again this morning to solid grey skies and a light sprinkle in progress. HMMmmm…. guess maybe the forecast may be right for a change. Like I said, the island really needs the rain and this is the perfect way to get it. Nice slow drizzle over multiple days. I enjoyed the quiet of the morning for almost 2 hours before my Bride finally came wandering out. A very long very leisurely start to our morning finally having a bite to eat around 11:00. As per what is becoming habit – we watch our current series while we eat breakfast and then another episode or two afterwards to let our meal ‘settle’.  At some point – I get up to do dishes while Angie plays with her new toy (PS4).  After dishes today, I emptied all the trash cans in the house, plus the butt can on the patio, changed out the filter on the A/C, picked up all the empty boxes that have accumulated and got them all packaged up for the dumpster.  I needed to run up to the local hardware store, looking for some silicone for the truck windsheild. I figure if it’s going to rain all week – I can’t have water running into the cab that whole time. Angie wanted to come with me, so we closed the place up, I loaded all the trash into the back of DD and off we went. Our dumpster is located on the far end of the condo (a little over a 100 yards) and it’s a lot easier to haul a massive garbage bag down there than carry it.  Once that was done – headed for the hardware store. A small little place only  5 minutes or so from us. They didn’t have the little tube I wanted – but a caulking sized tube was available and I bought it. Back at the condo, I loaded the tube into my caulking gun and went out to work on DD. Not a ‘professional’ fix – but it look’s decent and should keep the rain out. I’m about due for a new set of tires on the truck, which will probably set me back a grand…… so don’t even want to think about a new windshield right now…….. but will probably get an estimate…. just for grins and giggles.

Rest of the afternoon has been smoke breaks in the rain and watching Burn Notice...… exciting huh ? Still have some pictures from the dive Monday, so I hope you enjoy them~~!

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

Sorry you all – but my stellar internet is punking out on me tonight…. I have tried for the last 45 minutes to get even one picture to load and it just ain’t happening….. maybe tomorrow~~~ sorry~~

 

Woke up to some seriously ominous looking clouds this morning and tell tale signs of an earlier rain shower. Revised forecasts pretty much all say now – we have rain forecasted for the rest of the week. Goodness knows the island needs it. Even so, I gathered up my gear and headed for the West end of the island looking forward to a dive, even if I didn’t get any pictures. Between heavy gray clouds (no sunlight) and still don’t have a new filter for my camera – I figured picture taking wasn’t going to be any good any way – but was looking forward to making a dive and spending some time under water. My Queen opted to stay at the condo and ravish whatever gets ravished in the God of War game she is playing. Due to Memorial Day activities on that end of the island and several other events going on – I had to park a couple of [small] blocks from the dive site and make that hike in full gear…… but finally got over there and met up with everybody and finally got to make that leap into that beautiful blue water. The dive turned out to be much, much better than I was hoping for. As it turns out I got some fairly decent pictures, even without my Magenta filter….. I can only image what my shots would have looked like with that filter~! As it turns out – I got my 9th filter in the mail today (yes – on a holiday) and wouldn’t you know it— it is not the right one either….. times like this I really hate Amazon~! Now I have to send them all back and STILL don’t have a filter. I went to the GoPro web site – and they don’t sell them….. Go Figure~~!

Back at the condo – I got the pictures loaded and then settled in for a couple of episodes of Burn Notice. I like that show more and more and I think Angie is starting to warm up to it now. We have seen several characters from Covert Affairs starring in some episodes…. so I guess once your cast as a spy – it kind of sticks with you.  😉

Still heavy clouds as the sun sank below the horizon. Not a lot on the schedule for this coming week. I left my gear at the dive shop for it’s ‘annual inspection’ so no more diving for me for a bit — I need to get some silicone for DD as she has managed to develop a nasty leak around the windshield – that popped up this morning on my drive to the West end….. outside of that – looks to be a relatively calm week….. maybe~~  😉

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

Saw a turtle right off the bat as we started out dive

Easy peezy kinda day today — a little bit of breakfast — some episodes of Burn Notice – some God of War for my Queen while I started a new book I have been wanting to read. Really relaxed laid back kind of day.  Big gray clouds rolled through off and on all day and the last one finally dropped a smidgeon of rain and then was gone. Angie is making soup and grilled cheese for dinner as I type this.

I am supposed to make a dive tomorrow morning before our dive club Board meeting, but we’ll have to see what the weather does. If you believe the “Internet Explorer” forecast – we are supposed to have thunderstorms for the next 5 days….. I wouldn’t take that bet at 10 to 1 odds…….. but we’ll see. No new pictures and really not a lot else to rattle on about – so I’m gonna quit here for tonight~~ Hopefully  bunches of new pictures tomorrow~~

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

My Queen, having probably 1 or 4 too many drinks up at Rowdy Joes last night, decided she needed to hit the sack early last night. After watching that little bit of event unfold – I was happy she recognized it and headed for the bedroom. By 20:20, she was sound asleep and I was left to the solitude of our condo. I got out my issue of 500 words out to you all (I hope you enjoyed it) and a mere 2 something hours later crawled into bed with her.

We both rolled out about 07:00 this morning….. 11 hours for my Queen and a respectable 7+ hours for me…… and I was good with that. The bulk of the day today was computer time, God Of War [which I surprised her with this morning], a little bit of breakfast and Burn Notice. I [so far] love the series, my Bride is taking her time warming up to it. It kinda reminds me of Justify… good looking male lead (but NO where as good looking as Ray Lynn was) – a lot of gratuitous bikini shots on a Miami beach… and he’s a little bit funny………. So while I like it — Angie is still on the fence – but she now has a new God of War game to play and chomps at the bit to play it every chance she gets~!!  I keep myself busy, cooking, doing dishes and ‘stuff’ on the computer until she wears out the battery on her controller – -so life is good again in our little corner of paradise…….

I was going to start this post tonight by saying I don’t have “diddly” to talk about – but – already half way through my ‘word quota’…… we went up to Blues for the evening…. I delivered a new “101st Airborne ” flag for Jim, to be put up on their flag pole in honor of Memorial Day – and then commenced to drink ourselves half way into oblivion….. we finally shut Blues down and staggered our happy a$$e$ back to the condo. I gave my Queen the option as we left —  Mickey D’s, KFC or I would cook her a steak when we got home for dinner, as a choice of something to eat… [she seriously needed  food in her belly at that point]……… silly, silly, boy…. I knew the answer to that question before I even asked…… so – 20 minutes later, we were home, fresh drinks made (like we needed it) and I had a 1.25″ Filet Mignon on our little grill for my bride~~~~~ Sautéed up one entire onion – and 40 minutes later set it down in front of my Queen……… about 8 minutes later it was ALL gone……. That makes me happy~!!  : )   I made me an awesome cheeseburger to enjoy while she inhaled her steak……

Here I sit now, ready to wash dishes….. while my bride ‘God of War’s the hell out of her new game~!! Life for us is good here on our gorgeous little island once again………

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

It certainly does~!!

\

A new “101st” Flag for Memorial day~!