Living the life most people just dream about~

Woke up to an alarm this morning….. every time that happens, I like it less and less….. just a foul evil way to start a day – not exactly sure how I managed to do it for 34+ years…….. Anyhow – got up, got my morning stuff out of the way, charged my camera, grabbed my gear and was out the door by 07:30 leaving my Queen to her own devices…… I’d like to think she enjoys some alone time as much as I do…. Arrived at the pier with a couple of minutes to spare, only to have to sit and wait for another hour and half while I waited on the folks who didn’t feel the need to arrive on time. Then on top of that I found out we weren’t going to be able to dive the promised site (Armageddon) for several BULLSH*T reasons……. but – whadda ya gonna do – I was on the boat, my gear was assembled — so I went where the boat went….. First dive site was called the Deep Wrecks….. a tug boat and a car transport ferry which had been intentionally sank – makes for a fun dive other than the fact there was me and 17 other divers, plus dive masters…… entirely too many friggin’ people – but I tried to make the most of it. I took a bunch of fun pictures….. I haven’t got to look at them yet – as I spent the time with my Queen after I got home instead of uploading pictures.

Second dive site was Alien Nation – I have dove this site 3-4 times and never been a fan of it – but there again, you wind up going where the boat goes. At least this time, the dive master let us roam at our discretion and me and a friend on the dive got to bottle a$$ around and take some ‘artistic’ shots…… so- anxious to see what I wound up with. Finally back here, showered, fed and a “drink or two” – I’m relaxed and ready for bed already…… but gots to upload pictures first…. so I’m gonna sign off here and get that done. Local weather is calling for rain and storms almost all week as Hurricane Jerry and [now] Tropical storm Karen get ready to pound us…… should be an interesting week…….

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

Woke up this morning to 2 new turtle diggings— YAY~!!! Even though I didn’t get to actually see them (the turtles)….. my ‘sleuthing’ knowledge came in to play so I can ‘read’ the tracks and figure out what happened while we snoze [is that a word ?] the night away~~ So coordinates have been logged so I know where to look in two months for babies~!!  YaY~!

A nice breakfast and some of The Practice while we waited to hear from the garage here where DD is currently housed….. We both had medications waiting for us at the local pharmacy and still waiting on word about DD……Dammit Emmit~! Almost at zero hour, the garage called and said the computer’ in DD is deep fried to a crackly crunch and we would need a new one… Dammit Emmit~!  How much is that gonna be ? The computer will be $400+ and to hook it up and ‘tune’ it to DD will be another $300+ bucks…. DAMMIT EMMIT~! So – a minimum of $700……. Shaking my head….. but what are we gonna do??? GOTTA have wheels…… Crap~! How long will this take…. minimum 2 weeks, to get the part ordered and get it in…..Dammit Emmit~! So…… at least 2 weeks, no car….. gonna have to rent a car…… BUT – you can’t do that on this island without several weeks notice……CRAP~!!!  Luckily….. a friend made an offer shortly before they moved back to the ‘Land of Plenty’….. if I needed a vehicle….. I was welcome to use his truck (that he kept as he’ll be making multiple trips back to the island)…. so a couple of texts, a phone call or two….. and we now have ‘wheels’ to use while DD awaits repairs…… Somebody is smiling on us [a Little bit]……. Ironically, his truck is also a Dodge Dakota (albeit much newer)…. so for the interim…. we are getting around in DD 2.0   😉

After almost an hour of hiking to get our meds, get the truck, get back to get my Queen, we finally wound up – up at our favorite place…. Blues~~~  We sat and drank and had many marvelous conversations with friends and for the first time in 48 hours could actually relax and have a good time….. We wound up shutting Blues down and now back here in our wonderfully conditioned air….. I still don’t understand how some of these folks are getting by with out it~~?

I have full intention of making my 2-tank dive tomorrow morning on the West end of the island, now that I have wheels again….. supposed to have several days of rain after tomorrow and I have lined up a job a I can do indoors……. don’t really want to do it….. but if crap keeps going wrong for us — I won’t have much of a choice — -for now — looking forward to getting wet tomorrow and getting some great pictures for you~!!

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

Up about normal after a decent night’s sleep…. muddling about for almost 3 hours before my bride came stumbling out. She obviously needed the sleep, while I equally enjoy my ‘quiet’ time while she sleeps. Her sleeping in eat up most of the morning, and by the time it was time for ‘breakfast’ – it was almost noon and we decided to just skip eating and wait to go up to Blues for an early dinner. I had been trying to talk myself out of having to go up to the WAPA office to beef about my over charge of my electric bill – but finally relegated myself to the task. I packed up everything I thought I’d need to debate my electric bill and headed out the door…… only to turn the key in the ignition on DD and be greeted with absolute silence. DAMMIT EMMIT~! No clicks, whirrs, grrr’s or anything to indicate it was even going to try and start. We get an inordinate amount of salt on the truck due to it’s parked location… and I thought…. dammit – the salt has got to it…. so I pulled off the battery connections, ground and polished everything back to factory settings – put the clamps back on and tightened them to plumbers settings (tighten it as absolutely tight as you physically can, then go one more turn)  😉  Turned the key – and NADDA~! SH*T~! I Commandeered a friendly in the parking lot to try and give me a jump – that turned out to be useless…… next step – getting help. I can do many, many things…. probably more than your average ‘man’…. but the one place I do not excel – and I am not afraid to say it – is mechanic’ing’….. Never have liked it, never been worth a crap at it. I can do the basic’s…. but outside of that – just not my gig. So an hour or so and a half a dozen phone calls later…. DD was hooked to a tow truck and hauled off to the garage…… just what we need at this point. DAMMIT EMMIT~! I waited for the phone call that said it was just a bum battery….. but NOOOooooo….. battery is fine…..now they need to do diagnostic’s…. Gee…. I can’t hardly wait for this diagnosis……..

So – finally into my ‘comfy’s’….. a bite to eat (even though it wasn’t Blues) and here we be……. On a lighter note – I did wake up to a couple of new turtle diggings this morning~! So we might get to have some babies yet this year~!! For now – I’m gonna head back to the couch for more of The Practice and hope this nasty feeling in my chest is just stress from a really messed up kinda day…… It’s not the same feeling I had ‘before’ so I’m not worried about it….yet.

Hopefully tomorrow brings good news about the truck and I can get my running done and then argue with the good folks at WAPA.

Happy Birthday to my Deuce~! Love ya Buddy~!

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

This one was considerably bigger – probably 250 Lbs

Up at 07:00 this morning which is more up to my speed and got to enjoy about a half an hour of quiet solitude before my Queen came stumbling out. Settling back into our routine now that we have been home for over 24 hours. Happy to report my belly is back to normal – which I am greatly relieved about. More computer time…… a little more time with the building manager as I take on a bit more responsibility with what is normally a land lord role. I’m not complaining about it – just some homework to do so I better understand what comes with the role. I think it will work out well in our favor around February when we have to approach our landlord and ask if he is willing to extend our lease. We have taken on the role of paying a lot of the HOA fees that he has been doing. We [obviously] get to deduct them from our rent payment – I think it will better help me understand the actual cost of living here. Initial statements that I’m seeing – is he is paying a LOT more than we realized in HOA fee’s. I am hesitant to make remarks this early about what he pays in fee’s, as I really don’t think this place is worth it – so I’m just gonna hush my mouth and ‘watch’ for a bit. I do, however believe, it will be a good thing for us.

Related – I have been trying to understand our WAPA bill (WAPA is the Southern Indiana equivalent of Vectren) Our bill this month (which is actually for July) is almost double what the past 5 months have been – and so far, no one has been able to explain why. UMMmmm… that ain’t gonna work for the old fat boy….. so tomorrow, I’m gonna waddle my big fat touchas down to the WAPA building and see if someone there can explain it. Course – my regular readers already know my ability to get along with the locals — so it ought to be worth a few words of amusement at the very least tomorrow night. I have already paid the bill – so they can’ threaten me with shut off…….. so – we’ll see.

Rest of the day was more of The Practice… smokin and just hanging out with my Baby….. in other words – a really good day. I have booked a 2-tank dive for Sunday at my most very favorite dive site (Armageddon)…. and the ‘Shallow Wrecks’- I wanted to get in a dive before then….. but that is the soonest date available…. I just hope weather don’t FUBAR them, as Hurricane Jerry is supposed to pass to the North of us those two days and provide less than stellar weather. We’ll see…. until then, some more older ‘fave’ pix of mine……………… (these are all taken on the island of Bonaire)

Slept in much later than I ever have…..09:00~~ Can’t imagine why…. getting up at 03:15 in the morning — hustling through airports all day…. being crammed into air planes and sitting for hours – travel 1600 miles, close down a bar, go shopping and not get into bed until 11:00m….. can’t imagine why this old fat guy was tired….. Got to go out for that first cigarette of the day and enjoy it while staring out at our beautiful blue Caribbean Sea instead of an awkward blue Lowe’s sign…… so much better~!

Went up and took care of some business for our landlord with the building manager….. collected a small basket of junk mail and came back while my bride made us breakfast. I went through the junk mail and the non-junk mail, and got almost everything done before we ate. Once we finished breakfast – I couldn’t bring myself to get back behind the computer again – so we sat down and spent what was left of the day watching The Practice — Gee – it sure is great to be back home. I’ll finish up the rest of my ‘chores’ tomorrow. Then I need to get busy working a little bit…. or get busy diving some more…..HMmmmm… what-to-do, what-to-do……..  😉

For now – I’m going back to watch more of The Practice….. not a lot to talk about today…. and no new pictures, so I’m done….. I’ll put up a couple of older pictures for you though~~

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

Woooowee what a day……….We rousted out at 03:15 this morning to get ready for our day. Bags packed and at the airport by 04:45 for our 05:33 flight into Charlotte North Carolina – followed up immediately by a flight to Miami by 11:40. Finally… an airport with a smoking lounge….. that would be a big negatory there storm trooper, as we had JUST enough time to make our next flight to our beautiful little island. DAMMIT Emmit~! Amazingly….. all flights on time…some even gaining a few extra minutes and before we knew it., we were back on St. Croix~!!!  Woo-HooO~! It really did feel good to get here….. not just to be done with being packed into airplanes like sardines and the general headache that goes with traveling through airports…… but we got DD loaded and got out of the airport – and we just felt like we were ‘home’. Driving on the right [left] side of the road… the salt air….. it just felt ‘right’. Plans had been made long ago – that if we made it home on time, we would stop by Blues first. Never mind, the condo was going to feel like a sauna, and there were NO staples in the fridge (eggs, bacon, OJ, hash browns, etc.) Blues was the first order of the day………

We whipped in and had our drinks waiting for us when we walked up to the bar. “Cheers” ain’t got NUTHIN’ on this place. Lots of friends already there including our ‘island kids’ waiting on us. Didn’t take but a second for us to be there like we never left. More friends rolled in and more booze flowed and it just got louder and better as it went…….   what a great welcome home~~! With no big surprise.. we shut Blues down….I kept the where-with-all about me enough to stop by the store and pick up the essentials for tomorrow…. then back to our warm, musty smelling condo. Cranked the A/C down, had a smoke or two — chatted with our damn neighbors for a little bit and here I be……. in horrible need of a shower and some down time……. I’ll work on that tomorrow~~ I did manage a couple of pix today – but honestly don’t remember how many……. Yup – I’m back home…. too messed up to remember how many pictures I took today…. so we’ll see…….

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

Slept in a wee bit this morning as most of the soccer squad and bike racers were gone and we were just plain ole worn out. We did get our “15 minutes” of fame last night on Caribbean life – although in actuality, it was more like 3 seconds, but they told us during filming — it might be 5 minutes – it might not be at all. I’m just tickled we made it at all. It was really a lot of fun to watch them film that whole piece of it. A lot of details to talk about that segment of filming, but much too late and much too tired to go into it tonight. I believe I also have some behind the scenes pictures that I can now share since the episode has aired. We both had to sign agreements not to post any pictures we took until after airing. Besides – I’m gonna have to look up when that was to find those pictures….. but we are now officially TV stars….. LOL – we won’t be charging [much] for autographs~~ 😉

Had breakfast with my Honey Bear this morning and our newest Grand Daughter Kinsley. Wanted to try and spend an extra couple of minutes with her. After that, my bride knocked out a load of laundry while I went and got the car cleaned up. I know you don’t have to clean up a rental – but it’s a LOT cheaper to pay a small cleaning fee that it is to pay that $250+ fee they charge you if they think you smoked in it. Of course we didn’t smoke in it [wink-wink] – just wanted the car to be nice and clean~~

Almost everybody got together tonight including big Sister and Bro-in-Law Daniel (who made it back down to Indiana in record time) at Hacienda for a one last get together before we cut out very early in the morning…. OMG what a crowd….. God bless the little girl that was assigned our table….. she did her best but eventually had to bring in 2 or 3 more folks for back up. We make up quite the crowd when we all get together like that. Intimidating, even for a seasoned professional to deal with. For my part – Valium would have been a damn good idea…. for me and the server……. it is nice to have the kids and everybody there – but it sure is hard on this old mans nerves after a while. Still great to see everybody one last time before we head back out to our little island. Great times and fun here, but we are ready to get back to our little piece of paradise….. Not sure if I’ll get anything put up tomorrow night as we travel all day. We are supposed to be back on the island by 3:30 our time…. which naturally means stopping at Blues on the way home — and you know how that usually ends…. We will have to get up about 03:15 in the morning to start our day tomorrow. You remember what the 0 in 03:15 stands for don’t you ???   0H my God it’s early……… but – we’ll see how the day goes.

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

Parris wave

 

Didn’t wind up getting to sleep until 01:00 this morning only to be roused much earlier this morning than we wanted by another rendition of girl soccer players and bike riders rattling through the hallways and slamming doors. So this is gonna probably be brief so I can get a shower and get my touchas in the sack. Pretty much everything I had planned for today got blowed right out the friggin window when my Queen decided a different schedule was needed. Please note, I said different, not better~~  😉  Anyhow- we wound up meeting one of my Sisters for a fun lunch at Lamasco’s – while we drank, nibbled and chatted. A fun 3 hours that just blew past and before we knew it – we had to run off to the next planned event…… some time with Amanda and family now that they are back from their romp in Canada and Chicago. Another couple of hours shot by before we had to take off to have an impromptu birthday party for our Grand son Will. His birthday is not til next weekend… but we won’t be here – so we had our own private little party along with a tasty meal Stephie whipped up. Dinner, cake and watching the boys romp for a while – before we had to scoot from there as well.

It sounds short – but after yesterday – I am whooped. Happily I think my belly is starting to line out (even after the Long John’s Silver last night) and just about in time for our trip back to the island….. which juuuust about figures~~~~but – I think it’ll line out much quicker and better once we are back on the island…… Not a lot of new pictures today– so I’ll try and put up some I think you may have not seen. Tomorrow has the makings of a very long day as we start saying ‘Good-bye’ to everyone….. the not fun part of coming back for a visit……

By-the-way—- if you’re reading this early…… My Queen and I are supposed to be on an episode of Caribbean Life tonight on HGTV….. making a appearance at the end of the St. Croix episode…… 8:00pm on HGTV channel…. give us a watch – it ought to be a hoot.

Happy Birthday Susan~!!

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

traffic in Indianapolis

 

Up much earlier than either of us wanted to due a million kids getting up and ready for various competitions that are staying here in the hotel. Finally got up and going and was out the door by 10:00. Jumped in the car and drove for 3.5 hours to just outside of Cincinnati to help one of Angie’s Sisters celebrate her 50th wedding anniversary. We stayed and chatted and caught up with a blue dozen nieces and nephews and in-laws for right at 4 hours – before giving hugs and kisses and crawling back in the car to drive for another 3.5 hours back. I am firmly convinced my a$$ has lost most of the circulation in it by now….. but well worth it. We were going to stay the night there and drive back in the morning…. but that would have short changed our schedule here even worse than it already is…… so we are back now at the hotel in Evansville. Due to continuing GI issues…. I skipped breakfast this morning and passed on the tasty looking meal at the party….. but could not take it any more by the time we got to the hotel, so I stopped and snagged up a couple of pieces of fish and chicken from Long John’s Silvers. I know it’s gonna be a mistake that I am going to pay dearly for (probably in the next hour) but smack my mouth is that some good stuff~! HmMmMmmm~!

Gonna cut this short so I can get in the sack and prepare for tomorrow…. it is already well past my bedtime. I’m thinking I’ll try sleeping on my stomach tonight and see if it will allow some blood circulation in my butt~!  😉

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

IMG_2648  <— Video

Well we didn’t get to do the lunch originally planned with Cousin’s but did wind up getting to spend an hour or so with them before they had to run off. The one big difference in this visit and the last….. is everything we had scheduled this time has changed at least once….. but we are making it work for the most part. Still getting to see everybody we want….. maybe for not as long as we want – but ya gotta roll with the punches. Came back to the hotel just long enough to clean up a little bit before heading out to my Honey bear’s for a little get together with Daughters, Nephews, Grand kids and the likes. Kids bounced and splash in the pool…. Mike tried to burn the woods down with a fire originally meant for making S’mores. Mosquitoes munched on us while we munched on burgers and dogs and sat enjoyed each others company. Soon time for little peoples baths and bedtime – so we all bid adieu and headed back to our respective abodes.

I know this is short – but it’s late, I’m tired and need a shower and some shut eye. We have a looooong day tomorrow. We are driving to Cincinnati to see Rachael and attend one of Angie’s Sisters Anniversary party. They have been married for 50 years. Quite an accomplishment, especially in today’s world. I’m thinking about getting her husband a sympathy card….. anybody that puts up with his old lady deserves sympathy……. especially for 50 years~~      😉  Not wanting to pay for 2 hotels rooms (one there and the one we’re in) – the plan is to drive back here after the party. It’s a fairly comfortable 3.5 hour drive one way — so 7 hours on the road tomorrow, plus putting up with the Kentucky bunch…. I’ll need all the rest I can get (and a drink when we get back).

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

I don’t know what in the hell was going on here……

My Queen ready for bed…………. Alex – on the phone [damn kids]  🙂