Living the life most people just dream about~

Didn’t get the kind of sleep we were hoping for last night…. I think maybe we were both almost ‘to’ tired. You ever do that – get yourself so tired and worn out that sleeping becomes a chore?? I hate it when that happens. I spent the morning working on the proceeds from the Corn Hole Tournament yesterday. We surpassed even what I thought. We grossed $5200.00 and change~!!!  I still have to get final expense numbers, but I’ll bet we come close to netting $4500.00~~! A great, great day for the organization~! Made the effort yesterday all worth it~!

After a tasty brunch whipped up by my bride, we spent the rest of the day on the couch watching a new series. It’s called Bosch – and we both took an instant liking to it. We are already into Season # 2 now. I definitely recommend it, but be advised – there is language and scenes definitely not suitable for kiddlies in the show~! Thank you for the recommendations rolling in — we have checked some of them out and several of them require being purchased – and we aren’t up for that [yet]. All we have is Amazon Prime – but pretty sure it will be a while before we run out of things to watch. Besides – as soon as I get back into a regular routine, I plan on being busy and not watching near as much of the boob tube — but by all means…. keeping suggestions coming…. I’m keeping a list so we can check them out as we need new shows.

Plan on looking at some furniture tomorrow – the Love seat we sit on was worn out when we got here and now it is plain old shot and causing us both back and hip pain if we sit on it for to long. Not sure if the landlord will spring for new stuff – but even if he don’t, we may buy at least buy a new Love seat for us. Then we got some grocery shopping to do and then probably back for more Bosch. I’m trying to take it a little easy while I get used to this new BP med…… not my gig, but still trying to take “better care of myself”  😉   Gonna wrap it up here and hopefully get that good restful nights sleep we were hoping for last night. More pictures of the Tournament yesterday and I think I still have a couple of pictures left over from my last dive.

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

IMG_1917 <—– Video

That’s how I feel as I start this…….. Today was the 2nd Annual Fish With a Vet USVI “Corn Hole Tournament” — and I am tickled to pieces to announce – it was a huge success~!!  HUGE~!!!!  We had an amazing turn out – I am guesstimating probably 200 folks – Blues Backyard was packed~! We got up there just after they opened (11:00) and starting setting up. My bride worked as bar-back for Blues while I wrangled the tournament for Fish With A Vet. My first time doing something like that – and while I initially didn’t think it was going to be that big of a challenge – I could not have been more wrong~! We had 32 teams signed up for the event – which made a full score board. Getting the teams organized and ready to compete for their assigned boards was akin to only what I can describe as herding chickens~! [or maybe cats]  Although it started off a little bit shaky, by the time we started the second round, everything had mostly settled into a nice rhythm and was going relatively smooth. We had a DJ and some live music during the event, cold liquid refreshment was flowing steadily, we had gorgeous beautiful blue skies dotted with breath reviving clouds to help keep things cooled off and the smell of BBQ permeated the entire yard. Absolutely wonderful~!

We had a DJ from the local radio station on hand for announcements and he did his usual great job (shout out to Rocky) keeping the afternoon lively and moving along.  A handful of volunteers manned the tables for the raffles, acted as score keepers and 50/50 drawing while another raffles off Rum Cakes she had made. Which ALL proceeds went to our organization. I big, big “extra” for the afternoon – was the winner of the 50/50 drawing – donated his half back to the organization~!!  ($750.00~!!)  The tournament finally wound down to the semi-finals and the place was buzzing watching the play off. Winners finally wrapped up the contest and collected their prize money. Blues started winding down and by 18:15 – we had cleaned up and cleared out. SO many people worked their collective A$$eS off to pull the whole event off – but it turned out so great, it is really hard to put it to words.

My Queen and I both are worn out – we got back here dog tired and wringing wet with sweat. I cranked down the A/C and we’re both just kind of sitting in our own little daze thinking about the day that started off so calmly at 11:00 and trying to muster up enough energy to eat a bite and get into the shower….. Should be a really good nights sleep for both of us tonight~! Some pictures from today……..

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

 

Got a little bit better sleep last night after bombarding my own a$$ with a bunch of OTC medicines…… still not that good restful sleep I’m looking for though…… Spent the bulk of the day watching a wonderful [short] series called Big Pacific… fascinating bio on the biggest ocean on the planet…. only about 5 episodes long – but well worth the watch~! Had a couple of recommendations come in from my number 1 fan and one of my best friends – so anxious to scope them out. We watched a couple of more movies — again, nothing noteworthy…. well, there was one: Bad vs. Bad – absolutely, positively, do NOT  waste your time on it. I can say with full and utter confidence, probably one of the DUMBEST damn movies I have watched in memory…..  jeesh……..

Around 3:00 headed up to Blues to drop off some [long over due] birthday presents and some state side goodies to the Blues crew. R & B Connection was the band playing tonight (my Queens favorite band) – so we had to stay up and listen to them for a while – all the time chatting it up with the fine group of folks that makes up the Blues crowd.

With nothing more than a can of Vienna sausage and a small pack of Ritz crackers in me – it didn’t take long before I was up on plane. Knowing what was coming, I grabbed my bride and headed for the car. I made a pit stop through Mickey D’s for some much needed sustenance….. after all I have been eating reasonably ‘healthy’ all week    😉  My Queen is under the much misguided impression by not eating anything she will lose weight. While I admire her stamina not to eat – I hate what she is doing to herself…… but I learned long ago – just to STFU and move on….. although admittedly, I am not very good at it  😉  I have inhaled ‘my’ portion of the Mickey D order and now chatting with you.. but not for very long…. I need a shower and some sleep before a very long tomorrow up at Blues for our Fish With A Vet fundraiser Corn Hole Tournament. While I am in charge of the tournament tomorrow – I expect to be able to snap off a couple or 12 photo’s for you~~ Until then……………

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

Happy Birthday to my baby Sis Nelia…. Love ya Sis – can’t wait to see ya again~!

 

 

 

Past several days friends on the island have been complaining loud and long about the island internet service providers….. I guess it finally caught up to me…. Geeeesh – you talk about slow~! Not sure I’m gonna get to finish this let alone get any more pictures loaded….. just another thing I miss about living in the land of plenty~~ (dives like the ones yesterday help make up for that though~~)    😉

Today was a mostly do nothing [physical] kind of day. A short night, most of which was spent on the couch, because of a constant dry hacking cough that I was afraid was keeping my bride awake. Me and ‘Doc’ both suspect it is being caused by my new BP meds – so Doc called in a different prescription…. I just started taking it yesterday morning – so hopefully that cough goes way soon. Our couch is lumpy and does not sleep well – especially when you have a coughing ‘spell’ every 10-15 minutes….. I may have got 3 hours sleep last night, so I am looking forward to hitting the hay soon~~

I spent the better part of the day on the computer, paying bills and getting caught up on club activities (Treasurer duties and Points Officer stuff)  I finally broke down and ordered an air fryer…. trying to work on that eating healthier heart smart stuff….. After about a 2 hour search, I finally found one I like and put it in my [online] cart — go to check out and wouldn’t you know it….?….. they don’t ship to the Virgin Islands. I’ll be just go to hell~! Not sure where people think we’re at – but it is U.S. Virgin Islands….. we’re part of the States~!!! (mostly)  I figured out a way to get it here – it’s just gonna cost me a fortune in shipping now~~  🙁   But I’ll be eating [a little] healthier now~!  🙂

Finally got to settle in on the couch with my Queen and we watched a couple of movies…… none worth mentioning. We’re still trying to come up with a new series we like (and still looking for recommendations) Nothing planned for tomorrow and hopefully not a lot of computer stuff to do (that requires internet) I guess I can go down to the VIYA building (our internet provider) and stage a small protest  😉 Maybe next AT&T because they suck almost as bad~!  More pictures from the dives if I can get them to load……………….

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

Got up a little earlier than I wanted….. hoping to sleep in after my day of hard labor yesterday. Got woke up and moving before gathering up the laundry and getting my dive gear together and heading for a morning of diving. Dropped the laundry off and headed out to the North shore and Cane Bay – arguably one of the favorite beach spots on the island. I like going in the middle of the week – because it is almost deserted. Met up with several friends for a 2-tank dive. I was relaxed going into the water with this group after my ‘incident’, as 2 of them were Rescue Divers and one of them was a medic on the island, so if something were to go wrong I had an above average chance of coming out of it. Both dives required a lengthy kick out [from the shore] but I made both with little issue. Two very nice dives, with the second one being one of the most enjoyable dives I have been on in a while. I got to bottle ass around and go at a super slow fun pace. Very enjoyable dive. Got to see 3 different turtles, a shark, couple of squid, a [rare] white Sea Cucumber and a rock fish who actually let me get a good shot of him~! I finally got my tanks turned in and my gear rinsed off before meeting up with 2 more dear friends (and their gorgeous Daughters) for a couple of drinks and a bite to eat at Off the Wall bar. Off the Wall has been the place for my ‘favorite’ pizza on the island….. up until today…… I ordered the pizza and was looking forward to it almost as much as I was looking forward to the dives. We had a waitress with a real attitude that got worse as our visit when on. I don’t know if me pi$$ing her off had anything to do with it, but my pizza was the worst I have had on the island… (and the beer was far from cold) – her rude lousy attitude didn’t make it any better either. No worries though – I let her know what I thought of her attitude with the tip that I left her – and I’m gonna let the owner know what I thought of his place of business with a Trip Advisor review. Only high light of being there was getting to catch up with our friends and enjoying their company.

Stopped at Blues on the way home for a drink or two and catch up with the crowd there before swinging out to pick up our laundry and heading back to the condo. Laundry put away, showered and ready for some shut eye, I’m tickled I made it through the day with hardly an issue…. there was a couple instances of getting  light headed, but fairly sure that is due to new BP meds. I’m mostly sure that will go away as soon as I get used to the new meds~~

Lots and lots of pictures for you if I can get this mickey mouse internet to work. Too many pix for one day, so will spread them out over the next couple of days.

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

The rain held off – I worked my butt off and I lived~!!! Rolled out entirely too early for a retired person – but I wanted to be up early enough to get all my bathroom stuff out of the way and make myself a decent breakfast before heading back to the job site. I showed up on time and promptly went to work and for the next almost 4 hours – stayed at it at a pace I was content with. Lots of clouds and about a 30 mph breeze helped keep me cool and taking a couple of quick water breaks when I felt the need. Not proud of the pace I worked at – but not ashamed of it either – accepting the fact that I will probably never be as good or fast at that kind of work as I used to be….. and I’m good with that  🙂

Came back to the house – showered and prepped what I needed for the dive club meeting. We loaded up and arrived to a sweltering meeting room at Leather Back brewing company. First time at that location, but it wasn’t long before we had the place organized and folks were filing in. Attendance was down just a little bit, but I think all enjoyed the presentation put on by a bunch of young ladies from the Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge and the work they do with our local population of Leather Back Turtles. These are the big boys of the turtle world reaching upwards of 800 lbs~! (these are not the turtles we get up on our beach) Meeting finally wrapped up and we are now back at our nice cool condo.

I have a two-tank dive scheduled for tomorrow morning with a couple of buddies and I can’t wait — I miss diving. Afterwards, we’re supposed to meet up with good friends for beer and pizza at a local place (that currently has my favorite pizza~!) and I’m looking forward to that just as much as I am diving~!

I’m gonna wrap it up here…. kinda short, but I’m tired and need another shower… so pictures from the dive club meeting and hopefully LOTS of good underwater pictures for you tomorrow~!

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

 

Up bright and early this morning (sans yapping dog) checked my BP which is now part of my morning routine, at least for a while…… and went and enjoyed a cigarette while looking out over that gorgeous Sea right off of our back stoop.  I had several things to clean up on the computer which I knocked out fairly quick and before I knew it – it was time to head to my Veterans organization meeting. The meeting went amazingly smooth and over in right an hour. I had to stop by the bank and pick up some ‘seed’ money for the money pouches for upcoming fund raiser. We are putting on a Corn Hole Tournament up at Blues Backyard. Last years tournament was fun and successful. Crossing my fingers for the same this year as well.

Came home and spent some time back on the computer, as I found out — the transmission for the truck is in – Yay~! Now it has to clear customs before I can pay MORE shipping to get it to the garage – Boo~! Also realized today was the last day for our rental car, so I had to scramble to get it renewed  🙁  Got an email sent off to ‘Doc’ about BP medicine side effects, still waiting for a reply to that… AND a notice from the State of Indiana I owe them an additional $54.92 from that 2017 mess and I need to remit immediately.  🙁

My bride was hungry and wanted a cheeseburger – so I whooped up a couple of burgers for us and we enjoyed them while we watched a small series about the Great Barrier reef in Australia….. fascinating place and # 1 on my life list to visit (and dive~!) I am supposed to go back to friends house tomorrow morning to finish the roof, but weather is calling for a chance of rain – so not sure if that is gonna happen or not. I got invited to make a dive with a couple of buddies on Wednesday. My ‘wait’ time is not quite up yet, but my incision looks really good, so I plan on making the dives with them~!! Woo-hoo… been entirely to long~! I have been really bad about not getting much in the way of new pictures for you this past 2-3 weeks…. I’ll try my best to do a better job about that.  I guess I’m comfortable enough on the island, that many of the sites on the island are becoming routine to me…. I  keep forgetting, they are not to you~ but until then – some oldies you may have not seen yet.

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

 

 

A nice relaxing Sunday besides the fact that I got woke up by our upstairs neighbors [new] yapping dog….. then got yapped at some more when I went out for my morning cigarette. Didn’t take long for me to go up and let said neighbor know I was unpleased with the whole yapping dog thing…….. My bride made us a nice breakfast and I just kind of lounged taking it easy trying to further recoup from my little ‘Aw $hit‘ yesterday. I finished up some paperwork for the dive club and my other group before settling in for some couch time. We finished up Rescue Me – which had a really nice finale by the way and started looking for more shows to watch – and happily excepting recommendations. I also took a lot of reprimands today via FB and phone calls from friends, family and loved ones for being stupid yesterday, or not careful enough, or not paying enough attention to what I was doing…… however you want to phrase it. While I appreciate everyone’s concern for my well being….. that is a little hard to take after owning up to one of the most embarrassing events in my life. For the better part of 50 years…. I was it~! (at least in my mind) Not better than anybody else, but for the most part, the ruler of my domain – romping through life on my terms with damn little argument. That mostly ended yesterday and now today – I am being scolded like a 6 year old…. what in the hell ???? How does that happen literally overnight ??  Decided to get out of the house a little bit and run to the West end of the island to pick up my SCUBA gear ( I had it in the shop for it’s annual maintenance) and I’ll be just go to hell if I didn’t get scolded by the shop owner for not being more careful, after my bride shot her mouth off about what happened…… I swear – I think going forward – I’ll just not say anything…… jeez people – I’m 62…. not 6. It’s not like I did any of that stuff on purpose…. and I’m still [I hope] a long way from a wheel chair or nursing home. I know it’s done primarily out of love and concern for my well being, but geeesh people- lighten up a little bit….. I’m new at this no longer being Superman thing even though my oldest Daughter says I will always be Superman to her   😉    I Love you too Mouse~~

Found out that dear friend and # 1 Fan Vera has been in the hospital with the flu and or pneumonia…… I think she is back home now and I wish her the very best for a speedy recovery…… she keeps my inbox on the blog busy and keeps me on my toes writing. Please send your good thoughts her way for a speedy recovery~~~

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

Been laying low the past 3 days…. mostly because I was so tired I didn’t want to move. I guess our trip to the states and the running done when we got back here finally caught up to me. I checked out of the hospital a lot earlier than the doctors advised and the following couple of weeks, I wound up doing pretty much everything they said I shouldn’t. I guess it finally caught up to me. Finally feeling like I had ‘recouped’ enough – I agreed to help a friend work on his roof.

I was almost 400 words into this story and realized I hadn’t even got good and started, so backing up – I’m gonna give you the ‘Readers Digest‘ version: Wound up dang near feinting while trying to stand up from a shade break….. left the job to come back to the condo for a couple of bottles of energy drinks (Spark) – back on the job feeling much better – for about 30 minutes – then I HAD to take a break because I could not hardly hold my paint roller (on a 12’ extension pole) – more energy drink…. dang near passed out trying to climb the ladder back up to the roof……. stabilized, back to work…… forced myself to finish the section I was painting before I finally had to tell my buddy that I had to wimp out on him.

In my mind I tried to justify it – I had been sick, didn’t eat enough, out in a blazing hot sun, but I had to accept the fact I just couldn’t go on [safely] any more. It was the first time in well over 50 years I had to walk off a job because I couldn’t hack it~! That is one tough bitter pill to swallow right there~! But due in a large part to a promise I made to my bride, I made that call ( I promised her I would be careful) An assessment of the situation, working ‘weak’, working on a very narrow ledge, 15′ off of the ground, in intense heat, with little or no chance of a decent rescue if I went down – I really didn’t have to think about it very long.

By the time I told my buddy I needed to stop – I was about to be in trouble. He helped me to the ground, got me cooled off and some liquids in me and a candy bar to nibble on. We sat and sipped a couple of beers while looking at one of the prettiest views you can imagine. I finally felt decent enough to head back to the house.

Cooled off, showered and rehydrated – I am feeling great now. I plan on going back Monday to help finish what I started – but I intend to be better prepared and a hellva lot smarter. I promise~

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

Kylen, my Honeybear and Kinsley Ray

One of our sunsets

Fun up at Blues

Another Sunset

And a sunrise

The roof I was working on-

The view from my rest area

 

Wasn’t going to put up anything at all tonight – but didn’t want you to check in for nothin’…… I guess the past several weeks is finally catching up to me. I have the energy of a lump of mud and my body has several new little aches and pains. I don’t think any of them are serious and just the end result of getting used to new meds and finally slowing down enough to let my body rest. Which I did a LOT of today……My bride ran into town for a Mani/Pedi while I sat my happy a$$ on the couch and did a whole bunch of nothing.

Angie has already wandered off to bed and I’m just waiting to get tired enough to fall asleep….. a challenge I have been struggling with now for far to long.  Tomorrow is Emancipation Day here on the island…… kind of a independence day for the locals the way I understand it. I don’t remember much about the last two so it could not have been to memorable. I know the 4th of July is really pretty tame here on the island – so not a lot to look forward to…… dammit – guess I’ll just have to rest some more~~ 😉

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