Living the life most people just dream about~

The Neighbors had to leave the following morning and being ‘crispy’ in spots from the sun, they did not want to spend any more time on the beach before they left, so we hung out – had another nice breakfast compliments of my Bride and just relaxed and enjoyed each others company before we had to haul them off to the airport. Hugs and kisses all around and soon we were headed back to the middle of the island, already missing our friends. As become custom, we stopped at Blues to toast having visitors and as well as them leaving and wishing them a safe return. Also becoming almost customary, we wind up sitting there getting about half $hit faced and chatting it up with everyone else sitting there doing the same thing. We did not get to lay around and relax the next day which is something else we usually do – as we were asked to help our friends at Blues with an event they were partaking in. It was called Sunset BBQ on the Pier and a lot of the local establishments around the island came out to show off their talent in the BBQ arena. It wasn’t a competition but more of a “Hey, come try our stuff~!” We arrived at 10:00 the next morning to help get trucks loaded and ready to haul down to the pier. We got to the pier and started setting up the Blues Booth. We were told we had to be set up by 3:00pm – even though the actual event didn’t start until 6:00pm. We got all set up and then waited for the gates to open…… and boy-oh-boy did they open…….. At exactly 6:00pm the gates opened and by 6:02 we had people lined up at our table looking for BBQ Brisket and pulled pork….. and that line stayed there until around 08:45 when we finally ran out of food. Jim said this morning we served 476 sliders of BBQ. They also had a small bar set up on the side serving Island Girl and Key Lime Pie drink samples. I don’t know about the bartenders, but everyone else got their lips worked off, including the 5 people prepping and making the sliders. I came around to the serving side of the table to help Angie about 6:20 and didn’t leave until we were out of food.  WOW~!! We were all shot by the time the event was over, but still had to load up the trucks and get the stuff back to Blues. My Queen managed to get herself on the front pages of the newspaper during the whole process of the event. I managed to keep my big belly out of most pictures  😉  Nice turn out for the whole event, which was a fundraiser for various charities on the island. No doubt in my bald head, they did good for the event. By the time we got back to the condo, it was just past 10:00pm – a long day indeed for us old folks (which is why I didn’t get a blog out that night)……. At my limit again, so stopping here…….

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

Some of us got a little more relaxed before the big event than others~!  😉 

One of our views for the event

Grilled Pineapple – absolutely delicious~!!

My Bride on the front page~!

 

After an early bedtime last night, I rolled out much earlier than I would have liked, but felt reasonably refreshed from one of the better night’s sleep I’ve had in a while as far as actual rest goes. We didn’t do much today other than enjoy each others company and watch our newest series “The Unit“. With that being said, I’ll pick up from last night’s story. As it turns out, after we all went to bed, our Damn Neighbors apparently got them a nice small nap and feeling refreshed, got up for some late night shenanigans…. They apparently got up, unlocked the back patio gates and headed up to the pool for a very late night dip…… according to them – a skinny dip. They quickly found out the water in the pool was much to cold to actually get in, especially that time of the night/morning……. they apparently [successfully] made it back to the patio, came in and made them a drink and sat out there and smoked and drank for a little while longer. I am duly impressed they pulled this off without waking my Queen and me up, as our bedroom is right up against the patio. Our Damn  Neighbors….. just another reason to love them. So —– While me and Angie were up at our normal time the next morning, we tiptoed around the condo waiting for the neighbors to come staggering out….. which they finally did some 2.1/2 hours or so later…… that’ll teach them to gallivant around the condo in the middle of the night 😉  We had to laugh. No one got hurt (or arrested) so, it’s all good~!!! While they ‘woke up‘ – Angie made us a nice big breakfast (as per the established agenda) and after wolfing it down, we gathered up our beach gear and a cooler full of alcohol – and we were off to a requested beach – just this side of Sandy Point – a favorite place of multiple visitors.

Good and sun roasted from the previous long day on the beach – I advised that everyone should wear T-shirt covers while swimming, happily, everybody complied. We got there just at the peak of the heat of the day and was there almost a solid four hours (which is like an entire day anywhere else in the states).  About 4:00 we decided we had swam and snorkeled all we wanted, so we loaded everything up and headed back to mid island. It was close to 5:00pm by the time we got back and we decided we wouldn’t have time to go get showers and all and still get to Blues, so we pulled in still covered in sand and salt water. It was Wings Wednesday after all and we couldn’t miss out on that~! We ordered 3 dozen wings, a burger and some fish and had them all wiped out in short order. We sat and drank, and carried on until once again last call was issued. We climbed into DD and eased our way back to the condo. We all got our showers, made some more drinks and then went out on the patio to enjoy that wonderful tropical breeze. That only lasted a couple of hours before we all agreed it was bed time. As we all took turns staggering off to bed – I was the last one. Another long wonderful day with friends. I shut everything down and headed for bed….. right after hiding the keys to the patio doors~~  😉

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

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When I left you Friday night – I had just finished up detailing you about our first afternoon with the Damn Neighbors. We all were up amazingly early the next morning considering how late we had went to bed. It had been agreed on earlier, that we were supposed to go downtown for a breakfast at Toast diner. A small quaint little place that makes a Bloody Mary to die for. We got there a little after 09:00 and we each had a custom built Bloody Mary. Weirdly, my Queen opted not to have one….. she says they are too spicy for her. We all had a bite to eat and then was headed for a day on the beach at Hotel on the Cay. Pretty little hotel that has a postcard quality beach.  Before we got out there – Cammy wanted to stimulate the local economy a little bit, and did a little bit of shopping before we caught the boat to get us out to the beach. The area outside of the hotel also has a nice bar for liquid refreshments and a small restaurant out near the bar where you can get some charcoaled goodness when you get hungry. We got us a cabana and some chairs and staked our position out on the beach. We spent the next 5 hours or so swimming, drinking, relaxing and just enjoying each others company. It was so great to be spending time with our Damn Neighbors again~!!! We got to see 5 different turtles…. some Urchins and Cammy said she saw a sting ray. No one else saw it and it was after we started drinking…. so we’re still on the fence about it.  We finally had about all the sun we could stand and headed back toward the truck. We got back to the condo, all had our showers and then went up to Blues for dinner and drinks. I inadvertently have already told you about the evening up there, mistakenly believing we stopped up there, their first night on the island. It was actually Tuesday night….. ( I told you I shouldn’t try to write when I’m tired or shot) We shut Blues Down then came back for more patio time and drinks. It was only a little after 10:00, but we all had a long hot day, mixed with LOTS of alcohol and soon all were in bed ((but apparently not for long for some people))

Angie and I were both up by 07:00 or so and we moved about the condo quietly while we let the neighbors sleep. After all, it had been a very long day for them and it included an obscene amount of alcohol, but that really shouldn’t come as much of a shock to any of you. They finally came staggering out around 09:30 or so…. looking like they had been rode hard and put up wet. I had noticed when I got up, that the patio and several things on it were not ‘quite’ like I remembered them from the night before……….HMMmmmmm…. …… ……. at my limit already -so will save for probably tomorrow. More pictures from those days~~~

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

Well I’m back – at least for the night…… we sadly dropped our Damn Neighbors off at the local airport this afternoon. They were only here for a total of 3 days – but good gosh a golly what a GREAT 3 days~!! We picked them up at the airport on Monday afternoon and stopped by Blues on the way back to the condo. Guess I don’t have to elaborate on how that went…… we were greeted with a rousing rendition of “Hey, it’s the Damn  Neighbors” as we walked in. I don’t know about them, but I got a small case of goose bumps when I heard it. It’s nice to be known and appreciated. Drinks flowed freely and soon everyone at the bar got to meet and ‘know’ the Damn Neighbors. We got us a bite to eat of burgers and BBQ – which did absolutely nothing to stem the effects of the river of alcohol we went through that afternoon/evening. We wound up shutting the place down ((they close at 7:00pm on Monday’s)) – We all loaded back into DD and headed back to the condo.  Expecting a long hot afternoon, I had set the AC real low – so we walked into a fabulously cool refreshing room. We made more drinks and adjourned to the patio to enjoy that cool sea breeze and each others company. I lost track who crashed first, but somewhere around 01:30 in the morning – I locked the place up and staggered into bed. Us ‘old’ folks ain’t use to them late hours and such  😉

Because we did our usual routine today of stopping at  Blues and “toasting” our guests leaving after we dropped them off at the airport – and subsequently getting mostly ‘plowed’ – I’m gonna stop here for the night….. because I have already shown you the pictures I took from that day (4/1) – I’ll share part of next days pictures from a wonderful day out at Hotel on the Cay….. more details about that on my next blog. Please NOTE: – We are working for Blues tomorrow at a competition called Sunset BBQ on the Pier. We are to report to Blues at 10:00 tomorrow morning and the evening is scheduled to go to until 9:00pm that evening. So by the time we break down, get everything hauled back to Blues and then back here – it is probably going to MUCH too late for the old fat boy to punch out any kind of writing – I intend to try – but please, don’t hold your breath….. I should get “back on track” Saturday night…….

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

Got one of the better night’s sleep I’ve had in a while and even managed to sleep in a little bit. Well, that is if you consider almost 07:00 sleeping in…. I certainly do.  Walked out to a gorgeous blue sky, a light breeze and that wonderful view. It’s hard not to have a good day – even if you have to help somebody move….. which I did, when you start the day like that. Let me clarify, I didn’t ‘have’ to help him move – I volunteered, but that doesn’t make it any more fun.  I had just got good and woke up when he pinged me and gave me directions out to where he lives. He did not mention it was smack in the middle, on top of one of the taller mountains on the island. Thankfully he met me about halfway up the mountain and I followed him from there. Other than when I said “WOW” to myself when  I saw his view – the first thing I said when I got out of the truck was ” how in THE HELL did you ever find this place”? Long story – but it made sense. Small place, but it looked comfortable and a view to die for. In between hauling box springs, mattresses, shelves and grills – I did manage to snap a couple of pictures for you during my drives up and down that mountain. He is moving to Frederiksted, so I drove to the other end of the island a couple of times before we finally had all the items that would only fit in a truck. It was nice to have a little drive time and just let random thoughts bounce around in my head while I was driving. It took us to almost 13:30 to get the stuff hauled – but we got it. Not that I didn’t enjoy helping him out – but I was glad when my part of it was done.  😉

My Bride straightened up and cleaned around the house in anticipation of our Damn Neighbors coming in tonight while I was out. I got back, got my shower and cleaned up ‘my’ bathroom as well for the impending visit. ‘My’ bathroom is attached to the second bedroom. I  know my Damn Neighbors love me like family, but am positive they don’t love me enough to walk into or use my bathroom under normal conditions. We sat and enjoyed the A/C and watched some American Pickers. We finished NUMB3RS and haven’t picked a new series to start yet. My # 1 fan (Vera) has given me several recommendations to check out and I have them written down. We’ll probably start looking into them after we recover from the Damn Neighbor visit 😉

Gonna wrap it up here….. pix from today and some more from the dive the other day. Again– Blogs may be skimpy or not at all for the next several days. Cross your fingers and hope the best for us (and the island)

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

Pictures do NOT do the view justice~

Salt River – Columbus anchored just off of the small point in the center of the picture

Sorry about the lapse in chatter on here…… last I wrote, I told you I probably wouldn’t get anything up the next night because we would be working late up at Blues for the expected crowd for Reverend Raven and the Chain Smoking Altar Boys. The crowd wasn’t quite as big as was expected – but we stayed for the full term and then helped them shut down. By the time we swung out through our local Mickey-D’s for a bite to eat – it was almost 23:00 (even though we made it through the drive-thru in a smokin’ 28 minutes~!!  Woot-woot~!! By the time we got back here and had our bite to eat – I was just too pooped to do anything other than fall into bed. I don’t think we even bothered with showers that night – we were that tired.

The next day – we got to sleep in [a little bit] but were soon up and out the door to get some odds and ends picked up for the arrival of our Damn Neighbors~!!  Woo-HOOO~!!! After a long loop around the island, we finally had what we needed. It was almost 15:00 by the time we looped back around to our side of the island and a drink sounded really good. So naturally we popped into Blues to quench our thirst. Turns out those drinks tasted really good too. Whew boy….. we decided we needed to stay and check out the entertainment (which turned out to be un-remarkable) and before we knew it, Eddy was hollering last call.  Dammit Emmit. We managed our way back to the condo and plopped down on the couch and I just could not convince myself to get my happy a$$ up to do any writing.

Today was a Board meeting of our Dive Club and they always start them off with a dive. Luckily – I got to make this one. Went to a nice site called North Star. Pretty reef with lots of sea life. Sadly, visibility lacked a little bit and it was real cloudy and my little camera does not do so good in low light, so I wound up saving only 25 of the 58 pictures I took on the dive. I have several other pictures I have snapped from the past couple of days including a gorgeous sunrise this morning. Too many to show you all at once – so I’ll spread them out over the next couple of blogs.

I am supposed to help a buddy move tomorrow before we get to go and pick up our Damn  Neighbors tomorrow night~!!! Can’t wait….. I’m gonna try and get a little something written before we go get them (they’re coming in late)…… won’t commit to getting anything written for the next three or four days after that though….. I suspicion there may be an alcohol influence preventing it  😉

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

Papaya~!

Views of the North Shore

After a slow casual start to our day…. I was up early but my bride managed an extra two and a half hours sleep…. we got up woke up and generally got up for the day. Angie made us another nice steak and eggs breakfast [more left over steak from something] – that was wonderfully delicious….. an episode or two of NUMB3RS and it was soon time to take off for my Queen’s doctor appointment. Other than a persistent cough, nothing really wrong with her as we took off for her appointment. After waiting an hour past appointment time – she finally made it in. For an old broad her age, Doc says she is in pretty decent shape. Doc suspects new blood pressure medicine may be the reason for the persistent cough. Now ain’t that a bunch of hooey~!! More on that as we learn more…… still crap though~!  Stopped on the way from Doc to pick up more [expensive, and what I think unnecessary] drugs and again on our way. We decided to stop at Blues on the way home for a drink or twelve (it turned out much closer to twelve). Managed not to eat anything which just exasperated the entire situation….. but we sure did have a good time. For a Thursday night the place was hoppin’~!! The local entertainment turned out to be a lot of fun – and during one trip up to the stage to deliver a well earned shot – he coerced me (altho it really didn’t take a lot) to do a bit of singin’~! I knocked out a couple of Johnny Cash songs (as much as I could remember) – and I’d like to think the crowd enjoyed it. If I had known I was going to wind up singing – I would not have drank near as much as I could have remembered a lot more of the words 😉  It was fun either way……..  Last call was finally called and we all gathered ourselves up and headed our perspective ways. Back here now safe and sound in our nice cool condo – I didn’t think I would manage more than a paragraph or two – but – WOOHOO – look at me go~!  🙂

We are Bar Backing up at Blues tomorrow night for another engagement of Reverend Raven and the Chain Smoking Altar Boys – so we are looking forward to sleeping in and relaxing for the better part of the early day tomorrow, before going up and working our lips off for that last part of the evening. It will probably be entirely too late by the time we get home to do much writing – but reference what I’m doing now, so who the hell knows…….

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

Up bright and early again after a decent night sleep. I bought a new pillow at K-Mart the other day and I think it helped – but still not what I’m after. I’m thinking about ordering one of those ‘My Pillows‘ that I have seen on TV. Have any of you ever tried one ? Please leave me a comment if you have and if you like it, as I don’t think I’m gonna be happy with the one I bought. My Bride followed me out after a half hour or so and we both set about waking up. It soon came time for me to leave to meet Bob on the road to the Carambola Resort. We met and after traversing ‘The Beast’ were soon at the resort. Pretty place, well maintained and looks like it would be expensive to live there. We were there to hit some golf balls. Now as I stated last night – I do not ‘golf’….. but we weren’t playing, we were going to hang out on the driving range. I was using some clubs Bob brought along. Now let me just say, these clubs have seen some use…. but we weren’t there to set records….. well, I wasn’t there, to set records. We had a lot of fun, taking turns watching each other swatting at golf balls then critiquing each others hit with maybe a small bull session between each attempt (apparently Bob is not a golfer either) but we were having a good time. After about 30 minutes of that nonsense, Greg showed up to join us. Apparently Greg is a golfer…. or at least wants to be one. He had a full set of [clean, usable, nice looking] clubs, golf shoes and did ‘golf’ kind of things, like clean the head of the clubs and stuff…… Rest of the morning took on a more serious note but was still a lot of fun, spending time with these guys. I openly, freely and proudly admit – I SUCK at hitting golf balls – but I own that and still had a lot of fun. Curious what new pains I get to discover in the morning from that little venture.

Back at the condo and taking it easy with my Queen, finishing up the 5th season of NUMB3RS, the electricity went off for (according to Angie) the 2nd time of the day, so we went and smoked and came back in to electricity back on, so settled back in to our show, just to have the electricity go off again…. and again and then again, only this time, after 30 minutes, it was still not back on. We heard that the outage this time was island wide, so we decided to head up to Blues for drinks and dinner as they have a backup generator that actually works….. unlike the PoS that services this condo.

Up at Blues we settled in at the bar and soon had cold drinks in our hands. About half way through my first drink, I got a call from friends Cynthia and Shawn….. Dammit, at my limit already….. I’ll pick this up tomorrow…. some pictures from today….. Doctors appointment for my Queen tomorrow (shouldn’t be anything serious)

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

IMG_0635    <—-Video

 

After a fairly decent night’s sleep (even though my Queen said I was running a marathon in my sleep ((I think she’s nuts))) I rolled out to partly cloudy skies yet another beautiful sunrise…. even though I did not get a picture of this one…. I enjoyed almost an hour of quiet before my Bride joined me in the world of the awake……… The plan for today, was to get the laundry dropped off (we had several weeks worth plus ‘guests’ sheets and towels to get done) and then head up to Blues for some work on the fence. NOT~! By the time we got good and started, it was entirely too late to contend with fence stuff – so we gathered up said laundry and headed out. We pulled in to an empty parking lot at our preferred laundry, which means only one thing – they were closed. That’s a new piece of intel there….. so we cut across island to another laundry we use for just such occasions. We dropped off almost 50 lbs. of laundry and was told we could pick it up by 17:00 (5pm for all you civilians out there). We decided we needed to go to K-mart and pick up some better curtains for our second bedroom, as the current ones didn’t block out much sunlight. We made it across island to our preferred K-Mart (there is actually 2 of them on the island) and picked up black out curtains (so guest can sleep late if they prefer), I got me a new high fa-lootin’ towel for my shower (current towel only gets me about half dried off -so I have to stand in front of a fan to finish drying off~!) and a couple of other odds and ends (which included Ho-Hos and Twinkies) before we checked out and headed back to mid-island. Neither of us had breakfast, so we figured we stop and have a bite  at our favorite ‘watering hole’ – and possibly a drink or six. (It was closer to six) We wound up back at the condo cooling off and waiting before we could go get our laundry….. which we finally did. On the drive back to the condo – we figured we better stop by Blues and make sure everything was okay there (after all – it had been a couple of hours since we were there~!). So we stopped, had a couple of drinks or six, before finally winding up  back here. I guess I have accepted an invitation to swat some golf balls around tomorrow morning……. That ought to be a hoot ( I don’t “golf”)…. but if nothing else, I should be able to score a couple of nice pictures for you.

Until then, I’m gonna put up some pictures from Nelia and Jamie’s visit I don’t think you seen yet.

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

Jamie at the Eastern most point of the United States~!

Neil & Jamie at Point Udall

Fire on the mountain just an hour or so after we were there~~!

 

Up early again, by my own volition this time, to see another beautiful sunrise. I settled in to my morning routine for almost an hour before my Bride came stumbling out. A little bit before 08:00, I jumped into more presentable attire and went out to take my pick-um truck, up to the local garage. I dropped it off  and moseyed my way back to the condo. A short refreshing walk of about 20 minutes, which includes several stops for picture taking. I know some of you like the flora on our beautiful island and these walks are great for those kind of pictures. I made it back and settled in for a nice steak and eggs breakfast that Angie made using some of the steak she brought back from Blues the other night. It was delicious~! We spent the rest of the day watching NUMB3RS and taking it easy. Finally got the phone call from the garage saying DD was ready. I took off for the walk back up to the garage. Something that I did not take note of on my initial walk from the garage, was that about of the walk was downhill~! No worries — I sure picked up on it on that walk back to the garage. While it was not a steep hill, it sure got the ole fat boy sweating and a huffin’ and puffin’. Probably need a lot more of that, but that’s a whole different conversation. I arrived at the shop slightly sweaty and breathing hard, glad that part was over.

The mechanic commenced to tell me what all he done and what all still needed to be done. Seems there are a couple of evaporation lines that need to be replaced and a transmission something or other. It’s dang funny that the truck has been running just fine without all that other stuff – They did fix most of the stuff I wanted them too, so a mere $550.00 later – DD is mostly good to go……. I think….. I hate taking a vehicle to a mechanic, especially this outfit. According to most friends on the island, there are no ‘good, trustworthy’ mechanics on the island and you just have to kinda hope for the best. The only advantage to this place is, I can walk back to the condo and back (without dying) I’m waiting on a quote from the garage to fix the other stuff…… gee, I can’t hardly wait to see how much that is going to be~~ So goes life on the island. Gonna get laundry done tomorrow and spend a couple of hours up at Blues working on the outside of the fence getting it ready to paint and then put up new mesh on it. Will probably stay for lunch and drinks….  😉

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