Living the life most people just dream about~

After a much better nights sleep – probably aided by multiple glasses of vodka and cranberry….. I rolled out of the sack a little bit before 07:00 – kind of slept in, as it were. Enjoyed my early morning routine before my bride came staggering out behind me……. Greeted by massive dark clouds and a breeze that said rain was on the way…. we had a leisurely morning of coffee, news and Facebook…. I was supposed to horn in on a dive at Cane Bay this morning and my bride was going to lounge on the beach while I swam around underwater…… but the clouds and the wind spooked us both and we opted to sit at home and watch the idiot box.  We finally finished up Covert Affairs….. it ended almost like I was expecting, and neither of us are upset that we are done with it.  It was alright, but definitely not a ‘Justify’. During the course of finishing the series up, we got a ping from friends Shawn and Cynthia asking if we wanted to meet them at my new favorite place for pizza ?  Well hell yeah~!! So when they got done with their beautification ritual in down town Christiansted – they pinged us and said they were on their way to Off the Wall……. a small bar/restaurant just this side of Cane Bay….. We shut off the TV, changed clothes real quick and headed out the door.  2 minutes later, we pulled into the Off the Wall parking lot, just to discover they were closed…….WHAT the HELL ????!? On a Friday night…. really ????  A couple of minutes later Cynthia and Shawn pulled in besides us. She was even more confused, because she had checked on line to make sure they were open….. hahahahaha – that’ll learn her durn her….. as I explained to her, you can’t believe a damn word Google maps says about the establishments on their maps (Yeah Google…. I’m talking about you if you’re listening~!) We decided we would try out the next closest place (Rowdy Joe’s) since me and my bride have not tried it yet…… we drove back down the road and was soon in their parking lot.

We were seated right away, and after entirely too much friendly chatter (for me) we all had a drink. Everybody [except me] ordered a prime rib for dinner…… I opted for Asian style ribs, a full rack. HMMmmm….. I believe in trying everything at least once – but feel pretty confident, I won’t be ordering them any more. They weren’t bad, but they weren’t good either. Made, kind of like St. Louis style ribs with a weird [I’m presuming Asian rub] that I was just not a fan of. I prefer the smoky, tangy Kansas city style baby backs…… old habits die hard. The also had a pretty unique style of beans and rice – and while it didn’t look very good – it was actually pretty tasty. We all tried different desserts, and while all were tasty – none were noteworthy…… Another round of drinks and some more conversation until the ‘local talent’ showed up and was playing loud enough we had to yell at each other to talk – so we wrapped it up and called it a night. We always enjoy our time with Cynthia and Shawn and are looking forward to the next time already~~ Dang – already past my limit – so will quit here….. no new pictures from today…… so more from the dive Monday.

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

Rolled out after a pitiful nights sleep [dammit Emmit!] and greeted another gorgeous sunrise. Wasn’t up very long before my bride joined me. Made myself a small breakfast and grabbed my gear and headed out for a 2 tank dive at Salt River. Winds were up a little bit and the boat was crowded, but away we went. First dive site was a new one for me. “Pavilions” Gorgeous site, but visibility left a LOT to be desired. All the coral are starting to ‘bloom’ now [which is a good thing] – but it sure wreaks havoc with visibility. To complicate matters, it was pretty heavy overcast (not a lot of bright sunlight – AND – on my previous dive, I lost my magenta filter that allows me to take pictures that look like what I actually see down there. I ordered a total of 8 different lenses to replace it – and wouldn’t you know it…… not a single damn one of them was the right size~!!! One of the down sides of ordering on-line…… I can’t hold it in my hand and look at it and ensure it is the right thing……. I guess us old timers are bad about that kind of thing. So pictures will be that fuzzy green until my newest order arrives (in about a week) and see if that is the right lens………  Second dive site was Salt River West wall….. it’s kinda funny… I spent a year and a half trying to get to this dive site…. and today is now the 4th time I have dove it~! No worries though…. it’s kind of like the Pier…… you can dive it 100’s of times and not see the same thing twice~! Again…. fuzzy green pictures, so please accept my apologies for sub standard pictures……..

Came back, got my gear hung up and got myself showered and we took off for a quick trip to one of the biggest grocery stores on the island to try and find me some breakfast sausage….. I would seriously pay good money for Schwan’s breakfast sausage I use to get, but I haven’t been able to get their web site to load in the last 5 days…….. anyhow…… we went through the store…. picked up a dozen things we didn’t plan on (and never did find the sausage I was looking for) and $ 100 bucks later – we were out the door. We stopped on the way back at the local butcher store ( the place that wigged me out on my last visit from the way it looked and smelled) and were very nicely surprised to walk in and see it [reasonably] clean and smelling nice (or at least, not smelling like a gut factory). I picked up a couple more pounds of ground beef and got 10 – 1.25″ thick Filet Mignon steaks for my Queen.

Back at the condo – I dropped on a steak for Angie and a burger for me while we watched more of Covert Affairs. Bellies full, my Queen is playing her game and I’m writing to you all. I may be able to horn in on a dive tomorrow morning at Cane Bay – and Angie will be able to spend some time on the beach while I dive…. will have to see…. weather here has been kinda weird, but either way – should have something to carry on about tomorrow and some more pictures…… won’t get them all up from today — so already have a couple of days of new pictures for you~!

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

 

 

Went to bed a little bit late last night, after watching Annie Walker and the cast of Covert Affairs screwing their way through most of the ‘bad’ guys on the planet. As typical as the show is becoming, it is picking up some interest these past couple of episodes…. actually interesting and making me want to see the next episode….. but we finally crawled into bed around 23:00 and slept reasonably sound until about 06:40 when I woke up and laid there and tried to talk myself out of how bad I didn’t have to pee…….. DAMMIT EMMIT~!  I finally conceded and staggered out to go do my duty……Since I was up – I went ahead and washed my face, combed my hair (yes I still do that, what is left of it)  and brushed my teeth before staggering out onto our patio to that gorgeous view~! I stood out there and enjoyed the first cigarette of the day while being bathed in already 80-° sunlight and that wonderful tropical breeze that is almost always out there~!!  It is now officially Summer here (or close enough) – it doesn’t take long after ‘Ole Sol’ raises it’s bright shiny head over the horizon, to become just down right toasty in the mornin’……….. An hour or so later, Angie came staggering out and we commenced into our day. A day by most standards was supposed to be a boring, do nothing kinda day and we were off to a hellva start. Around 11:00, Angie made us a wonderfully delicious brunch of Bacon, eggs, hash browns and some Kielbasa sausage (I have a hellva time finding regular breakfast sausage here on the island)…..  We watched multiple episodes of Cover Affairs (as it turns out, we were only on Season 4, instead of Season 5 like I thought earlier, and as I mentioned, these past several episodes have been really good)  I could tell from the way my bride was fidgeting, she was anxious to get back to her games…. so I got the game started and excused myself to address an issue that had been gnawing at me on the computer.

A day or so previous, I got a notice from the IRS saying there was something ‘missing’ on my 2017 tax return and I owed them an additional $20,000.00 dollars. DAMMIT EMMIT~! I had forwarded that mail to my tax account and was comfortable in the knowledge she would “take care of it”. I got a mail from her today explaining the issue and I that I “only” owed another $4,500.00~~~  Uh….. wait a minute….. that can’t be right. A half a dozen emails with my account, and another half a dozen phone calls all over the United States and now the whole amount is in question…. That all took place over several hours. Now, the original plan for the afternoon, was for me to run to the local butcher and pick up more filets for my Queen….. Wow – talk about that being blown out of the water…….. Now – almost 6 hours later….. dinner done, my bride playing her games and me sitting here still scratching my head trying to figure what in the hell is going on…… I relay it to you. Not exactly paradise today, but I have faith in my accountant that she will take care of it…… I hope  😉   No new pictures, so some from a year ago……. I have a two-tank dive scheduled in the morning….. so more fun pix coming up~!

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

DCIM100GOPROGOPR5040.

 

Opting to skip the alarm clock – I rolled out again plenty early for the same ole reasons – thankfully my bride slept in. A nice relaxed morning before we finally made our way up to Blues for the finishing touches on our paint job~! After I got Angie started on her detail – I got up on the roof of the stage to exam it. Lord what a mess. I could tell from a high vantage point yesterday it needed some work – but had no idea it was in that bad of shape. I mixed up a sizable batch of roof coating and drug it, roller and bucket up on top. I also got a brush and broom as it turns out, it was in serious need of scraping. About 45 minutes of scraping, brushing and sweeping and it was ready to paint. I launched into it with gusto – briefly reliving the times I spent with my Dad up on roofs. It didn’t take much of that brilliant 86° sunshine beating down on me to remind me that I was no longer in my 20’s and could handle that temperature easily….. but I stayed at it until I was happy with the job I had done. After all, I can’t let our local entertainment get dripped on during one of our many little down pours~! Happy with the job, I got down, cleaned up my tools and put them away and went to help Angie finish up her last couple of little tasks that she had been working on. By Noon – we were finished~! Yay~!!! Can’t say I’m upset about being finally done with that job….. it was a very time consuming tedious job – but boy-0-boy does the place look pretty now. Already talking to Jim about painting the exterior of the stage – but I think that will be a job for when we get back from our trip stateside. We sat and had a couple of drinks and a wonderful Tuna salad wrap for lunch before finally gathering ourselves up and coming back to the land of soft couches and conditioned air~!

A  little while back a ‘little bird’ told me that my Queen has been wanting a new Play Station (why my Queen didn’t say something about it to me is beyond my comprehension- but I digress) Anyhow — as soon as I heard that – I jumped on line and toot-sweet had a PS4 heading toward us. We have had it here for the past several days now and my bride finally confessed she was ‘itching’ to use it. So, mildly intoxicated from sitting at Blues and now nursing a drink at the condo…. seemed like as good as time as any to get it set up~! <Shrinking the story> Multiple grunts and groans to get down and around the TV stand – some mild swearing — it is now set up and my bride has been happily engrossed in her game for the last 3+ hours or so. (Believe it or not – she was quite the gamer before we left the states) Now I won’t feel as bad when I leave her to go make a dive(s) and leave her sitting here. Some pictures from today and then a shower…….

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

(Happy Anniversary Big Sis ~!)  ((Ela & Dan))

My Queen is gaming again~! (Yea, I know – you can’t see anything on the TV – but trust me – it’s there~!)

 

 

Up bright and early for a morning of painting but my Queen need an extra little bit of sleep and I did not want to take that away from her. She finally rolled out, we had coffee and woke up and soon was headed up to Blues for a day of painting since it didn’t look like we were going to get rained on this morning. A bit of a ‘late’ start after an evening of celebrating, but we finally got up there and started painting. The first several hours were fast and furious as I tried to get the parking lot side of the posts done before they opened for business. I didn’t make it, but was dang close…….. I then moved to the inside where I would be less conspicuous and tried to finish the entire section….. I made a couple of checks on my Bride who was on the other side of the yard doing detailed work, stopped for an occasional chug of H20 and to light a cigarette……. A sizable lunch crowd starting filing in and before I knew it – the crowd was gone and I was finishing up an entire section of fence. My back and knees were telling me I had been at it just enough to be done. Getting older really does suck. I can easily remember when that kind of day I would have barely broken a sweat – let alone be drenched in sweat and worn almost completely out. DAMMIT EMMIT~! We picked up all of our tools, cleaned brushes and rollers and put everything away and finally limped over to the bar and sat down for a drink……. and another, and another….. and another…..(you know where this is going)  😉  It got to be around 3:00ish and I could see in my Queen’s face – she was ‘done’….. drinking and doing anything else – so we loaded up and came home.

We got the condo nice and cooled off ( I  turn the AC up when I know we’re gonna be a way a while)….. we both got our showers and sat down to enjoy the cool. Angie finally told me she was ready to eat – so I dropped a steak on our little indoor grill and started sautéing some onions. (Woman eats an inordinate amount of onions). Just as her steak was about ready – I dropped me a 1/3 lb burger of local beef on there and we were soon enjoying our meal. Jim & Deb gifted us a really nice bottle of Champagne (for our anniversary) but after last night…. we’re probably gonna hold off and enjoy it later….. for now – I have got my post for the evening out of the way…… probably have enough pictures from today to put up – and then going to join my bride on the couch for some more Covert Affairs. Probably going back up to Blues for some ‘finishing touches’ tomorrow, but shouldn’t be near the day today was~~~

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

Not as many pictures taken as I thought….. but gonna leave it here for tonight~~~~~~

Today is our anniversary. Technically….. 41 years we have been married. A pretty good stretch by any ones imagination….. and seldom heard of in todays world. Yes – we have had our disagreements, fights and all the other ugly stuff that comes in between….. but in the end….. 41+ years we have been a husband and wife team……. good and bad… fun and not so fun…. we stuck it out and made it work. She believed in me when she probably shouldn’t have and likewise, I in her, her in me….. the good thing is, we both saw the ‘better’ in each of us when times were bad or shaky. We took off this early afternoon ( we were rained out from painting at Blues) for an afternoon to celebrate our accomplishment, only to be shut down in three different places because they were closed (AHHhh island life). We wound up at a place less than a mile from our condo that neither of us really ‘cared’ for – but we were both starving at that point – so what the hell. We were greeted reasonably promptly………… in an amorous mood… I ordered a bottle of Champagne and two glasses…. the evening just got better from there. We were there WELL before the evening menu went into affect, but a genuine smile and small wink – got my Queen a steak from the dinner menu. I ordered a pizza [since it was on the menu] and we enjoyed each others company while we whittled away at a decent bottle of iced down Champagne.

A presentable steak dinner showed up with Sautéed onions and my Queen (via my request) launched right into. Shortly afterward, a passable presentation of a pizza showed up. We both enjoyed steak, Sautéed onions, pizza, Champagne, and each others company. During the course of the afternoon, we enjoyed our meal, several smoke breaks out on a gorgeous beach and each others company, something today’s generation will probably never ‘get’. Kind of a surprise, I requested the bartender to offer up her best shot at Chocolate Martini’s….. while they were not “Ruth-at the Red Geranium” quality — they weren’t bad… and my Queen indulged in them with gusto.  We chatted at length, about visits “home”, how long we think we’ll stay here and many topics more on that subject. We finished the evening up with one more round of Crown and Cokes and Grey Goose and Cranberry…… putting a ‘finishing touch’ on a pretty great evening to wrap up celebrating 41 years.

We talked of the past, present and future….. a conversation that will test us even more the next couple of years….. but ya know…. after 41+ years together…. living on a tropical island in paradise……. that conversation, should be a piece of cake (hopefully chocolate)  😉

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

What was left of my Queen’s steak~~~  😉

A NOT “Ruth at the Red Geranium” Chocolate Martini

I actually slept in a little bit this morning but was still up moving around an hour or so before my Queen followed me out. A leisurely morning and a small brunch ( it was just after 11:00 before we got around to eating). Started watching more Covert Affairs….. show is getting entirely too predictable, but we are now into the last season of it – so we kinda gotta finish it~!

Decided around 2:00 we needed to get some shopping done. 2 hours, 3 stores later and almost $350.00 – we were done. Ouch~ but in all fairness, we had not done a big grocery run since well before Angie went back to the states, plus we stocked up on some ‘hurricane supplies‘….. so while that was painful…. it could have been a lot worse I guess. Finally got everything put away and settled back in for more Covert Affairs and now taking time to drop you a couple of lines.

Tomorrow, even though it is our anniversary, unless it rains, we will spend the day up at Blues trying to finish the green paint up. Probably not the ideal way to spend an anniversary, but after 41 years…. we’re pretty comfortable doing something other than what social convention calls for. Besides I told Jim we will have the fence done before we take off for the states. I figure 1 good long day or two fairly easy days we’ll have it finished. Dinner plans for tomorrow got way-laid because the place I was thinking about going is closed on Sundays…. go figure – and – we’ll probably be too pooped to go out afterwards anyways. I’ll make it up to her one way or the other~~  I also want to get in another two or six dives before we go back. No new pictures, so more old favorites…..

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

 

Up again early after a slightly better nights sleep. My Queen did manage to sleep in again a little extra this morning – but not much. After a relaxed morning, I got my Bride to agree to go to dinner with me tonight at a place that was advertising a fresh lobster feast. In anticipation of that, we had a light breakfast to hold us over until dinner time and several more episodes of Covert Affairs.

We were soon at R.A.W. and seated with a drink. Cute little waitress that did a slightly above average job starting hauling out our meal. We started with an appetizer of peel and eat shrimp (that sadly turned out to be the highlight of the evening) followed up by a lobster salad slider and a very small bowl of Lobster Bisque (par at best) The entrée was a half a Lobster with a reasonable mix of greens to compliment the meal. The Lobster was advertised as fresh – but I had serious doubts….. serious doubts~! Sadly, I’m also equally sure the peas were frozen and the carrots ill prepared as well. Now I will be the first to admit – I am not a ‘Chef’…. but I have prepared and cooked a lot of food for a lot of people and am dang sure that 99.99% of those people will tell you, the ole fat boy knows his way around food and it’s preparation……. I wouldn’t have minded the meal being like that so much, if the price wasn’t $ 75….. EACH~! Yup, you read that right, so by the time you factored in our drinks – our meal was just over $ 200.00…. minus tip and I wasn’t going to ‘jip’ the waitress because the food was barely par. AAHhhh, island life. Now I don’t mind spending that kind of money for a meal…. but it damn sure better be top notch…… this was just barely mid notch. Sad. We have an anniversary coming up on Sunday and I have plans on taking us out to a place I haven’t been before that comes nicely recommended from a couple of friends. We are going to spend the bulk of the day painting up at Blues – so a nice meal to celebrate at the end of that day may be just the thing~! More on that as it develops.

On the drive home, Angie said she wanted to stop by Blues and wish the bartender (Tim) a happy birthday. Sounded like a good enough reason to me~! So we pulled in, got a drink, wished Tim a Happy Birthday and were soon chatting with all the ‘regulars’ who happened to be up there. A weirdly quick 2.5 hours later, Tim was calling last call. We paid our tab and headed back here…… what a great evening~! So – now time for a shower and some sleep….. a couple of pictures from today and maybe more favorites from the past….. if I can get anything to load….. our wonderful island internet has been “in a mood” these past couple of days~~~~~

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

Black Strap Rum Cake

My new friend up at Blues

 

Rolled out a whole lot earlier than I would have liked – but I was awake and had to pee….. so whadda ya gonna do ????  😉  (get up and pee~!) My Queen did really good – she managed to sleep in until almost 10:00. I envy her being able to do that and happy she is doing it because she obviously needed it. I spent the time paying bills, catching up on some odds and ends and all the stuff that is Face Book.

Pretty laid back day today – we skipped breakfast and lunch and sat and watched “Covert Affairs” – now well into Season # 3 and the crafty little slut that is Anne Walker. (I’m warming up more to the show now since the ‘lead’ is in her underwear more)   😉  It got to be close to 4:00pm and my Bride expressed an interest in getting something to eat “up at Blues”. Yeah – right Baby, it’s Thursday night (steak night at Blues) – so we cleaned up a little bit and headed up to our home away from home…… a couple of drinks, then steak for my Queen and I opted for the meatball sub…… my sammich was very tasty and my Bride was content with her steak (even though she said it was no where as good as mine…. (( I think she was just sucking up)) We finished our meals and sat and chatted with the crowd at the bar. I managed to lose my a$$ at ‘3’s away’ tonight – but I am still ‘up’ in the grand scheme of things. Just a lot of fun and a good time up there every time. We shut them down and headed back here….. I think I’m caught up on dive pictures, so will share a couple of favorites from a year or so past. Guess I need to book a couple of more dives huh ???  😉

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

 

 

I told you we had a meeting of our local dive club called CRABBS (Caribbean Reef Association of Bubble Blowers St. Croix)  As the points office of the club – I am usually the first person there and get everything set up I need to take attendance. We got there about 20 after 5:00 and was set up and ready to go by 5:45. The meeting went well with some rousing games of Bingo, but instead of numbers, we used pictures of different types of sea life in the squares. It was pretty neat and I think everyone had a good time trying to identify some of the creatures they saw. Meeting went a little long and we hung out for a little bit – so it was fairly late when we got back here – and I very honestly was just too tired and not in the mood to try and write. On a good note – Angie’s doctor appointment went well though~!

Rolled out of bed fairly early this morning while my Bride managed to sleep in a little bit. Really good quality sleep continues to allude me (unless I have just plain old worn myself out during the day) not sure what the issue is, but it sure is aggravating~! Didn’t get much done today other than getting laundry taken care of. Still watching Covert Affairs and still on the fence about it. Starting to have a lot more mush sappy kind of stuff in it – which usually spells the decline of a show…. there is only 5 seasons to the show and we’re halfway through season two, so we’ll probably wind up finishing it.

That’s about it, sports fans, friends and neighbors… a mix of pictures for you tonight and we’ll see what the rest of the week brings.

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

View from our meeting place

All set up and ready to sign in~!

Fish identification bingo~! (Those are Sergeant Majors in the picture)