Living the life most people just dream about~

Battling some kind of stomach thing, I was up a lot earlier than I would have liked… but some things you have to contend with. Afraid to eat anything, I opted to skip my usual yummy little breakfast and nursed a bottle  of water all morning.  Looks like we had another turtle on the beach last night laying eggs. This one must have been much smaller, because nest and tracks were not at all impressive – at least not enough to take pictures of.  I went out on the beach and checked out the nest – then went and got me a couple of small buckets and gathered up some rocks and stones and sand that I’m gonna need for my up coming projects. We then loaded up into DD and headed for Home Depot for a couple of other odds and ends I needed for my projects. I found a way to maybe ease some of the headaches of going to this particular Home Depot. I found the item on line (that said they had in stock here) — and I saw a handy little button, when I clicked it, it sent me text, with a picture of the item, and  the row and bin number it was in. I couldn’t wait to see if it worked. I felt so tech savvy strolling through the store, referencing my phone…. woot-woot~!! The biggest jaw dropper of it…….. it was actually right there where it was supposed to be — HOT DAMN~! I may be on to something here~!!!    We stopped at Blues and dropped off some of the stuff and sat and had two or three drinks – no really…. we actually stopped drinking early and left. Again, a little leery of putting much of anything in my belly – I didn’t want to overdo it. The plan was to go back to the condo, watch a couple of movies and I was going to make some fish ( I knew I would have to eat something eventually, boys my size just can’t wander around on empty all day)

Got back and watched a couple of movies, neither of them worth mentioning. Second movie was uninteresting enough that I got up 3/4 of the way through it and started my fish. It should go without saying….. it was not Bass I was making…. this was Cod Loins or something like that….. definitely not Bass.  I’ll keep looking and trying though….. there is a lot of fish to try out. It wasn’t terrible, but much like my pizza itch — there is still some scratching to be done. My belly is already starting to grumble – so apparently whatever the deal is with my belly – it is still not happy. Maybe a couple of days of hard labor will fix it….. We’ll see starting bright and early tomorrow morning. Blues is closed for the next 3 days and I plan on using every bit of it to clean up several projects there. I’ll try to save enough energy to write a little bit though~~~  😉

Good night Ya’ll —– Thankx for stopping in~!

IMG_1863  <——Video

 

 

Today turned into a down day…… by the time we got woke up a little bit, made us a bite to eat and I got caught up on some pretty mundane on line stuff — I just really wasn’t in the mood to do much of anything…. so we didn’t. We sat and watched a couple of decent movies and that was about it. So not a lot to ramble on about tonight and not really feeling creative enough to wing it — so I’m gonna put up some pictures for you and call it a night.

Good night Ya’ll —– Thankx for stopping in~!

Another nice easy start to the day….. sept in a little bit (06:15) yes, dammit, that is sleeping in for me~! Rolled out of bed to a large bank of big ole gray clouds that would just not go away, so we were treated with the occasional rain showers all day long. It is actually a good thing as water levels on the island were getting low…. Had a bite to eat and then told my Queen I wanted to run into town to drop off the laundry and catch me a haircut and a shave. I had my first straight razor shave about 4 months ago for my 61st. birthday. A unique experience for me….. to have a total stranger hold a [very sharp] straight razor to your throat….. but I kinda liked it (go figure) but was in the mood for it, so we dropped off a load of laundry and went into town. The place I was going to try out was closed, so I headed on up to the place I have been going. A run down looking place that is usually filled with ‘locals’ sitting around shooting the breeze. The young guy that did my first straight razor shave was not there [again] – so I crawled up into George’s chair. George is an elderly gentleman, that I am guesstimating is in his late 70’s maybe early 80’s. His hands shake ever so lightly, but I still felt comfortable in letting him cut my hair and give him a shot at a shave. I told George, I wanted ‘some skin’ around my ears……. George took me at my word on that~~~~~  😉 Thankfully, the hair around my ears and my side burns still grow really quick, so I should recover from that fairly quick…. My shave was an experience….. let’s just say I left the shop with a couple of small trickles of blood from various parts of my head…… but nothing that I should suffer loss of consciousness from~~  😉 I gathered up my bride and we headed back to the condo for some conditioned air and rest.

We wound up watching a pretty decent movie, with Denzel Washington… called Out of Time…… I recommend it if you get the chance~! We also watched a couple of episodes of Kevin can Wait and Judge Judy and by then it was time to go get the laundry. We went and got the laundry and decided to stop by Blues for a drink and a bite to eat……. “JJ” was playing tonight….. the guy that does and AWESOME Johnny Cash…… infrequent downpours interrupted his performance a bit – but he was still on point and sounded good as always……

Was chatting with some guys at Blues and came across a possible new money making venture for me……. There is apparently only 1 guy on the entire island that cleans the hulls of boats (without having to take them out of the water) and he apparently charges a fortune to do it…… HMMMmmmm…. sounds like something right up my alley. Talking with Jim, he is willing to let me experiment on his boat…… lots to learn about it, but I’m a bit excited…… get to use my SCUBA gear AND get paid _ ? Oh HELL yeah~!! More on that as it develops……… Have some running to do tomorrow to get ready for a really big weekend at Blues….. will try and get some pictures for you as it takes off…… In the mean time… stay tuned………

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

 

We woke up this morning to a text from our Damn Neighbors saying they arrived safe and sound back in Alabama…… very happy to know that, but miss seeing them stumble out the door of their bedroom and being able to watch them wake up staring at the view off of our porch……. We sat out on the porch in silence and watched the waves roll in and (speaking for me personally) reflected back on the last couple of days with them while I sipped my coffee that doesn’t taste like coffee. I do not like coffee, so mine can’t taste like coffee  😉

We made a small breakfast and just kind of sat around and got caught up on the odds and ends we let slide when we have guests here….. I got all the snorkeling gear gathered up and put away, towels and sheets are all bagged ready for the laundry….. I got my SCUBA gear all gathered up and put in my gear bag and put away ready for my next diving adventure. We checked mail, caught up on  FB and other such nonsense….. I got caught up on my bill paying before settling in on the couch to spend some idiot box time with my bride.

It got to be time for Judge Judy and we were getting hungry. My Queen wanted a steak- so I fired up the grill and fed us. It’s the end of a nice quiet day now and I don’t have a lot to run on about – so I’m gonna put up a bunch of pictures from the past week I don’t think I’ve got to yet…….

Good night Ya’ll —– Thankx for stopping in~!

 

Slept in a teeny tiny bit this morning and then spent an hour or so chatting and waking up. We finally gathered ourselves up and headed downtown for some breakfast and shopping. We went to Toast Diner….. arguably the best place on the island for breakfast. We had been bragging to our damn neighbors about the Bloody Mary’s this place makes… I think we soundly proved our point this morning. Lord have mercy does that place know how to make a Bloody Mary – and you can order it to your specification….. including having that wonderfully delicious shrimp with it. Mike, Cammy and I all had Bloody Mary’s…. Mike and Cammy wound up getting a second one. We ordered a variety of yummy delicious breakfast items, including biscuits and gravy, meat lovers eggs (that had hot dogs in it!!!) pancakes, steak & eggs and soundly wiped most of it out. And of course, we had to have a round of breakfast bombs afterwards, this is a shot of 1/2 a shot of Jamison – 1/2 shot of Butterscotch Schnapps followed by an OJ back…..  it’s amazing – it taste a spooky lot like a pancake~!  HMMmm Good~! Finally couldn’t take any more and we headed out for a little more shopping for M/s Camelia and Michael. Cammy hunted for the perfect biniki (yes I know I spelled that wrong, but Dad always called them that after an episode of Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-IN and we both called it that afterward) and finally found some she liked. They wound up getting Island bracelets and a couple of other trinkets, greatly contributing to our islands economy.

Close to departure time, we headed back to the condo to cool off a little, relax and chat for a bit before we had the sad duty of hauling them off to the airport. I always hate that part of a visit……. it’s so great to see people and sucks terribly to see them go. Most people are never fortunate enough to have great neighbors…. even fewer to have ‘Damn Neighbors’. We are some of the fortunate ones. We started missing them before they even got through the gate and cannot wait until we can get together again.

We have now a sort of a tradition, according to my Queen, that we stop at Blues on the way back home from a drop off at the airport and have a drink to toast our departing family and friends. In true form….. the drink for our Damn Neighbors turned into several hours and probably one too many drinks. Safe travels Damn Neighbors….. we love and miss you and can’t wait to see you again~!

Good night Ya’ll —– Thankx for stopping in~!

My meat lovers special (It had hot dogs in it!)

She wasn’t happy I interrupted her drink  😉

Guess she was waiting to place her order…….

After a mostly FUBAR’d night of sleep for Michael and me….. primarily because our two ‘hens’ sat out on the patio and ‘clucked’ until entirely too friggin late…. we rolled out of bed this morning with only minimal hangovers. We tried to be good boys and not drink until we fell out of chairs, but our Queens had other idea’s……… Any how — we got up, tried to wake up, gathered up our gear, chairs, drinks and loaded up DD for a trip to Cane Bay. Arguably one of the best places on the planet for snorkeling and diving….. and yay us…. we were doing both~! Michael wanted to make another dive and I of course, had to tag along to document it. One of the points of interest we were going to hit on our dive was Sea Biscuit — the largest ‘Sea horse’ on earth. We went with Greg again who did a capitol job leading the dive. After an entirely toooo long of a surface swim [depending on who you ask] – Greg finally motioned to sink to the ocean floor. After a brief mask adjustment, we all sunk to about 20′ and away we went. Wasn’t but a couple of minutes before Sea Biscuit came into view. We stopped for the appropriate photo op and then were off to swim an absolutely beautiful reef filled with some of the biggest fan corals I have ever seen.  Greg eased us out North just a little bit so Michael got to get a glimpse of ‘the wall’. Even as a diver now with a little bit of experience…… I can tell you, it can be intimidating to swim upon a crest that drops from 35′ to over 3000′. I feel safe saying, Michael was duly impressed. We finished the dive after about 35 minutes, seeing a ‘go-zillion‘ different fish and a big pretty sting ray~! Greg did a really good job leading the dive. After a post dive review, Greg took off, we decided a drink was in order to celebrate the dive. We moseyed (yes mosey is a thing) over to Eat at Cane Bay and had drinks, some fish sammiches, some wings, shrimp, conch fritters, burgers and fries…… and some more drinks. Appetites and thirsts sated – we headed back across the road for more snorkeling. What another great afternoon. By 3:00 we were all pooped…. sun and watered out……. We agreed the plan was to go back and chill a bit….. which led to a couple of short naps for the rookies  😉

We finally got up and moving and decided the plan of action was to hit Blues for a drink or two…… yea, yea – go ahead and laugh……. and then stop at KFC for some chicken~! We wound up shutting down Blues and headed for KFC. The KFC near us finally reopened about 2 weeks ago, and I have been dying for some of it…….. and tonight – it happened~!! Butter my butt and call me a biscuit did it happen….. I’m pretty sure I’ll be laying eggs by morning…. but it was soooooo worth it~! (I think)   😉   Everybody has now had their showers and the damn neighbors are already in bed sleeping off what I hope was a day as wonderful to them as it was to us. My Queen is catching up on her stuff and I presume will be heading for bed shortly. I am going to load up a bunch of pictures from today, close the place up – and follow suit as quick as I can.

Our damn neighbors are going home tomorrow  🙁    As a good send off — we plan on going to Toast Diner for the mother of all send offs. This place makes a wonderful breakfast and has an AWESOME Bloody Mary bar….. hehehehe…. we’re gonna make sure our damn neighbors get to sleep on the flight home…..   😉

Good night Ya’ll —– Thankx for stopping in~!

Well I cut you off short yesterday because I had already hit my 500 word guideline…… but it basically involved a bunch of drinking and general hilarity…… Gonna leave it at that, because have so much more to cover from today…. The day started out a lot slower today as we were trying to recoup from the previous night…… we laid around and watched that gorgeous ocean roll in until my bride finally got up and started on some breakfast. Bellies filled, and brains mostly cleared up – we decided to hit the boardwalk again for some flip flop and hat shopping before boarding the good ship Lollipop to head on out to Hotel on the Cay. (NO – that is not the actual name of the boat – that’s just what popped into my semi functioning brain right now) We unboarded….deboarded… we got off of the boat and headed to the beach, got us a cabanna (;-)) and a couple of chairs and was quickly into that beautiful water. I spent a couple of minutes with Hot neighbor making sure her mask was adjusted properly and she was off like a herd of turtles….. snorkeling like she was born doing it.. Cool neighbor was right behind her and I soon was in the mix. Although a fairly small beach, we managed to see, LOTS of conch, I saw [about] a 3′ barracuda, we saw a monster crab inside a conch shell and the highlight of the day – a gorgeous green turtle~! Not wanting to risk sun poisoning, we stopped periodically for some shade and drinks…. yea, yea, okay – so we chose alcohol poisoning over sun poisoning…. sue me……. After about 4 hours, we finally agreed the beach was getting too crowded for our liking so decided we needed to head back to our ‘private’ beach from the day before. We loaded up back up on the good ship Lollipop and headed back to the main land (The beach we were at is on a tiny little island about 3 minutes off of the shore of the mainland).

We all agreed, a bite to eat and A drink (BA-HAAaaaa) was in order before we headed out for more snorkeling, so we headed out to the West end of the island and stopped in at Louie & Nacho’s….. a fun little bar on the way to ‘our’ beach. Found us a comfy spot in the shade, with a magnificent view and ordered a round of drinks…. and then another round….. then we ordered some Ceviche, some loaded tater tots and nachos…. then more drinks, and then some shots (Cinnamon Toast shots) Smack my mouth them things go down easy~!! Then we ordered more drinks….and more shots….well – you get the picture….. The highlight of the day though…… me, Michael and Cammy went down for a cigarette…… we were standing there chatting and chatting with folks as they passed by……. when a young lady, with no real resemblance to Darryl Hannah walked by. I smiled and said Good afternoon, how Ya’ll doin’ today ?? I know there was only one of her, but I say Ya’ll a lot – so get over it…… as she got up to us, she turned toward us, smiled sweetly………… and if I’m lyin, I’m dyin’ this chick turned to us and went/said: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=dolphin+sound+effect&view=detail&mid=0B7D9E27D4CD5E175A0F0B7D9E27D4CD5E175A0F&FORM=VIRE   I’m serious and not (very) drunk……. I was amazed and impressed, but mostly in shock…we all three looked at each other in udder shock and disbelief….. and she never blinked, cracked a smile or anything as she strolled on by~!!!

I’m already over my word limit…. but gonna ramble a little more…. I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to recreate that sound (it’s really hard on the throat). We never did make it to the beach….. but had one of the most wonderful afternoons 4 friends could have – and a big part of it was due to that young lady who spoke Dolphin….. yea, well …. and some booze.

Michael is going to make another dive tomorrow and I’m tagging along….more great pix to follow….. here some from today….

Good night Ya’ll —– Thankx for stopping in~!

Can you hear me know

I can hear the ocean from here

Right after the Dolphin chick………

Rolled out of bed bright and early this morning because we ‘behaved’ ourselves at Blues last night and only drank half the content of the bar…….. The damn neighbors were signed up to make a ‘Discover SCUBA’ dive this morning. Not wanting to cook anything and everybody hungry, we decided to head out for the West end early and stop in at Polly’s for a bite to eat before the big dive~! We all had a hot satisfying breakfast and headed across the street to meet the Dive Master for the dive – one Mr. Greg Gapen of Latitude 17 SCUBA. It wasn’t long before the damn neighbors were into their classroom portion of the training and before we knew we were headed for the water to put on our gear. Gear loaded the practical application came along. Cammy was struggling with water issues in her mask and finally painfully decided to give it up and sit on the sidelines with my Queen. Mike soldiered on through the rest of the practical application and before we knew were kicking our way out to the pier. Mike did a great job as I just motored along behind him ( I did not want to distract him) about halfway through the dive, I finally decided Mike was stable enough that I eased up beside him and gave him a small pinch on the back of his arm…… poor guy, I thought he was going to swallow his regulator….. but it was funny as hell~!  There is absolutely no doubt in my bald headed mind — my good friend Michael, had completely forgot I was even in the water with him, let alone right behind him. He made a nice recovery though and we continued with what apparently was one of the most amazing things (other than getting married and his kids being born, yadda, yadda, yadda) that has ever happened to him~! He got to see some pretty cool stuff, scorpion fish and flounders and a big bait ball. To say he was amped when he came out of the water was an understatement~!! (It’s after 10:00 here and he still carrying on about it)  😉 We decided drinks were in order (BIG shock there huh?) so we headed down the road a bit to Rhythms Bar for cold adult refreshments (Pain Killers turned out to be a very popular option) and a little bit to nibble on. ( Was told today you burn approx. 650 calories for an hour of diving) Who knew ??? Well…. the Dive Master did… duh~~~

Cammy was distressed she couldn’t complete the course and I told her I would try to help her. Rainbow Beach (next to the bar) was packed and not suitable for a training environment – so we headed out toward Sandy Point. Again, some of the most beautiful water you can ever imagine. I worked with Cammy for about an hour, and before you knew it – she was out snorkeling like she has been doing it her whole life. She now wants to try the SCUBA course again — so we’re gonna go practice some more at Hotel on the Cay – so she can smash the course on her next try. Already over my limit here, so gonna quit and put up a bunch of fun “G” rated pictures for you. I have over 75 pix and a couple of fun videos. Will put smaller video’s on, bigger ones, sorry – you’ll have to look at on FB. More as the adventures of the Damn Neighbors unfold…….

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

Wow – 30 hours into this gig.. and it’s like being back in downtown Posey County in Hysteric New Harmony. Our damn neighbors are here and the alcohol and off colored comments are flowing like water over Niagara Falls.  Their first night, (last night) was just like being back at our house…… It should go without saying – there was a weeeee bit of alcohol involved….. I cannot speak for my Queen and Michael – but me and Cammy polished off a full bottle of Vodka…… and then some…… wooooo-doggy~! It was so much fun, just like the good old days in ‘The Harm’ as I hear it is now being called…… Sounds a bit silly to me, but what do I know….. I’m just a sun baked islander now  😉

This morning after a v-e-r-y slow start, we got some breakfast in us and headed out to for some Touristy stuff…… Took the damn neighbors down to the boardwalk — fed some very unappreciative Tarpons some sausage that they spit back out, we walked the board walk and hit up a couple of the local stores for some ocean shoes, so the neighbors will ready for some swimming.

From there we took them to a local scenic overview where we OOhed and Ahhhed over the sights. We decided to head on out East and do Point Udall – it was pretty clear agreement that anything involving much effort was ruled out for the rest of the day. So a nice 25 minute driving, enjoying some of the most beautiful scenery you every want to lay your eyes on – and we were at Point Udall — the Eastern most Point of the United States……. Everyone got their fill of the scenery, but especially Gazelle neighbor (because she is soooo graceful) who managed to fall down a very small set of steps — and we had NOT been drinking [at that point] although there may have been some residual alcohol involved….. 😉

We stopped on the way back at Cramer Beach, so the damn neighbors could see that beautiful beach — Gazelle neighbor waded in and washed her wounds off from falling down the steps…… we finally loaded up and headed back for a dose of conditioned air. We spread some Neosporin on Gazelles wound – then headed up to introduce our damn neighbors to Blues. My Queens favorite band was just starting to play when we got there and the boys were on point~!! We were only going to get a bite to eat and have a ‘drink or two’ because I and my damn neighbors are going to make a SCUBA dive tomorrow~!!!!  Woot-Woot~!!![[but I digress]]….we did get a bite to eat – and a drink or two… then three or four…. then five or six…… before we knew it, they were calling last call. Dammit Emmit~! We are now safely home, showers are being taken and hoping for a good nights sleep in anticipation of a really great day tomorrow~! There will definitely be pictures. In the mean time….. here are some shots from the last 30 hours or so…. Disclaimer: If you’re easily offended… you should probably skip the pictures  😉

Not sure when I’ll get back on here – so please keep checking in…. I am battling internet issues….. and drunken crazy damn neighbors~~  😉

Good night Ya’ll —– Thankx for checking in~!

 

Woke up a little earlier than I had planned, guess I’m just excited about the prospect of seeing our damn neighbors for the first time in almost a year. I ran up to Blues bright and early to restock their wood supply for them. Finished up in about an hour and stayed and had a beer and cigarette while I chatted with Jim. Headed back to the condo to get started on the rest of the stuff we needed to do in preparation for tomorrow. We finally got all the deliveries we were waiting for, so we took off to finish our grocery shopping. That’s always a treat here on the island. I have been struggling to adapt to the culture here on the island. Since I retired, I have always been up for island time…… but I gotta tell you. A whole bunch of the people on this island have taken island time to a whole new level. Smother my ears in jelly and tie me to an ant hill…….I am talking about the Picasso’s of taking things slow and easy…… and my favorite part of it, is if you show any annoyance at the fact they are slower than paint drying….. they have an eye roll that you can see from space….. really chaps my cheeks when they do that. I have been threatening to start calling them on it when they do that, but my bride is concerned for my health if I do.  Angie said today she thinks maybe I need to get a prescription for  Valium…. That seemed a bit harsh, but she may be on to something…….

FINALLY back from shopping….. made 5 trips to get everything in the house – but finally done. I know you’ll probably find it hard to believe, but I felt as if a drink was in order…… well what the hell…. several drinks…..  😉     I’m about done for the day now. I need a shower and some sleep for the big day tomorrow…. so I’m gonna call it a wrap —

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