Author: Bill

Well, as I mentioned on my last blog— I would be shooting a couple of wine pairings and that they usually run late enough, I generally do not have time to do much of anything by the time I get back and get the editing and posting done of those pictures. I was correct. I went from putting the pictures in my gallery straight into bed as I have to get up early to dive the next day. I did get a little reprieve this set. After the Thursday pairing tour, I was informed that the next mornings boat was cancelled. They only had 2 divers and they backed out at the last minute…… I used that opportunity to sleep in a little bit–and– actually did…. to almost 08:00~! Ermazing~!! The Friday pairing was out of the ordinary in several ways. 1) It was the second pairing in a row (due to high demand) 2) My Queen went on this one. I has asked her if she wanted to try one and she said yes- and wound up having a ball~! 3) We had to deal with a down pour and ensuing solid showers for the entire second half of the tour. (First time it has ever rained on us)  Most of our guests managed to stay fairly dry…… not quite the case with me as I moved around tending to boat duties and getting pictures. After we docked, I stood my ‘post’ on the dock helping guests off of the boat. Problem is, a bunch of the guests didn’t want to get wet, so they were very slow getting off of the boat, so I was soaked. All part of the job. Finally back home and dried off/out and sat down to edit and post pictures.

I tried to sleep in again this morning but my bladder wasn’t having it…. so up a little earlier than I wanted…… but it’s all good. The rain apparently spurred a growth spurt in our lawn and I decided that I would mow today but intermittent rain all day today (tis the season) kept the yard wet enough I did not want to attempt it. I instead used most of the quiet day to do my on-line learning for my Dive Master certification. That took the bulk of the day but it is done and I passed my exams. Now all I have left [I think] are a couple of in water tests (mostly swimming challenges)…….. Finally repaired to the couch for a movie my bride picked out…. she liked it…. me, not so much. Stopped to make me a couple of Tuna fish sammiches and now on here while watching/listening to the Raiders-Bengals game…… Hopefully dry enough tomorrow to mow…… we’ll see.

Good Night Y’all~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Thankx for stopping in~!

P1110094 <— Video

Got a late night ‘ping‘ last night that one of the cruise ships due in the next day has already cancelled. Wow— that was a shock~!! Knowing (or so I thought) I got to sleep in a little bit — I stayed up considerably later than usual watching re-runs of Seinfeld. It should have dawned on me that when my Bride went to bed early (because she had to get up to go to work) that I probably wasn’t going to sleep in any either. Dammit Emmit…….. This time it was her alarms turn to scare the bejesus out of me…. I laid there and tried in all earnest to ‘snooze’ a little bit — but that jolt awake also woke up my bladder and it became immediately impatient. While I waited for ‘my turn’ in the bathroom – I read a new message that came in saying the second cruise ship had cancelled. Dammit Emmit~!! Not a lot can be done about it except make the best out of what you have. Besides, I like being up with her so I can convince her to have a good breakfast…and… I can make it for her. Which I did and soon had her on her way out the door. I spent my extra couple of hours making me a wonderfully delicious breakfast, loading all my camera equipment and scrolling through FB, before making the quick skip into town to catch the boat. Without cruise ship guests, we had a staggering load of 4 guests on board. Because we were expecting a lot…. the boat was loaded with plenty of dive masters, which made my day free to do nothing but chase people for pictures….. and I did. I also got to ‘play’ a lot with my camera, trying new settings  and stuff. And boy did I….. I hope you see some of it in these most recent shots. The weather broke and and rained and the wind blew and we were all freezing (after all it was down into the upper 70’s~!!)  😉 until we got to hop back into that beautiful blue warm water~!! We’re moving back out to the North shore tomorrow– so back to more ‘sporty’ water……

The next two days will be long days for me. We have our semi-quarterly Wine Pairing cruise tomorrow afternoon. These have grown quite popular this past year – so popular in fact, we are doing 2 of them this week. Tomorrow and Friday afternoon. The Boss really likes when I ‘shoot’ these events – so 2 dives in the morning…. come back, upload dive pictures, shower and then head back to shoot the Wine Pairing. It’s usually 8:00ish before I get back from them, so there will probably not be any blogs…… FB will be ‘iffy‘ as well. Those shoots aren’t really hard, but definitely a pain in the touchas. Oh well, that’s what the boss wants, and the boss may not always be right…… but she is always the boss~~  😉  So I’ll get back on here as quick as I can.

Good Night Y’all # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # Thankx for stopping in~!

P1110038 <— Turtle Video

My alarm went off this morning and scared the bejesus out of me. It’s rare when I am actually sleeping soundly when that infernal thing goes off. Finally got it quieted and stumbled out of the bedroom to get myself ready for the day. I got an ‘extra’ half hour to get ready because I wasn’t going to have to make that drive to mid island today. I was under the mistaken impression there was a cruise ship in today and even though there was NOT…….. the boat was about as full as it could be. I had a bunch of ‘new to me’ folks on the boat, so I introduced myself to each of them and did my spiel about the photography that was going to happen on the day’s dives. Both dives turned out to be a lot more of a challenge than I cared for. More than the other two dive masters cared for, but we did what we had to do to make sure our guests were safe and having an enjoyable diving experience. Very happy to be finally back at the dock – I headed home and in short order was having a drink with my Queen and editing pictures. Because both dives were mildly shorter than usual and we had a short boat ride back to the dock and I only had a 3 minute drive to the house, I had my pictures edited and posted by just a smidge after 4:00~! Now I could get all kind of attached to that~! I made me a small…. well, not really small….. I made me a respectable turkey sammich with lettuce and ‘mater’s. MmMm good. I then sliced up the better part of the remaining tomato and cut it up. Sprinkled it [lightly] with salt and some pepper and gulped that down. MmMm good~! Dessert was a couple of Hostess crème filled cupcakes. Have any of you noticed how small those things are getting ??? That’s ridiculous…. they used to be the size of a pregnant hockey puck….. now their tiny little things not much bigger than a…… well, I can’t think of anything that size just yet….. but you get what I’m sayin’~~~ pitiful~!

I just found out the dive boat is not taking off until 10:00 tomorrow morning (it normally leaves at 08:30)….. giving a little extra time to maybe recruit a couple of divers from one of the cruise ships. Yup- you read that right…. tomorrow we are supposed to have two ships in at the same time. I have seen that once or twice since we’ve been here. Go for a year and something with no cruise ships, now they’re bringing them in two at a time. And then the government wonders why our Covid cases are going through the ceiling……. bunch of nimrods…… Oh well, that too shall pass I reckon….. for now — I get to stay up late [if I want] and sleep in a little bit [if I can].

Happy Birthday to my number ONE fan – Mrs. Vera Johnson~!

Good Night Y’all * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Thankx for stopping in~!

Up much earlier than I would have liked even though I did go to bed at a mostly decent hour. I had to whizz really bad and was mostly awake by the time I got done….. so I just stayed up. Hopefully it will let me go to bed (and fall asleep) early tonight in anticipation of a busy day on the boat tomorrow. The boat is on my end of the island for the next couple of days, so my commute is drastically reduced. According to the manifest, we have a very full boat tomorrow, which means I will be very busy taking pictures. That’s always a challenge with that many people, but I like it.

A fairly productive day off today. After catching up on all the news that is news, I spent more time than I cared for cleaning up the pile of mail that had accumulated on the table. I got some more Medicare stuff straightened out [for both of us]. I got my MRI scheduled (later this month) I called and chatted with the glass place that was supposed to get my new wind shield for the truck [over a month ago]….that conversation fell through, will have to try again after diving tomorrow. Ran out to the dump and dropped off gar-bage’…. stopped in town at the neighbors store (dive shop) and picked up a nifty new case for all my underwater camera gear (the one I had died a tragic death) and a new mask. I finally got the other ‘new mask’ to stop fogging, but do not like that it leaks when I am on my back or looking up….. both of which I do a lot while diving. I am honestly excited about the mask I got today….. I can’t wait to try it out. I’ll keep the other one has a back up. Came back and wrapped up a couple other odds and ends before settling in on the couch for more movies and a big ole platter of shrimp. Just as the movie started, got a phone call from a friend I haven’t seen in a while. He said he had a little time and asked if we could get together. I told him come on out, which he did. We munched on shrimp and shot the breeze for an hour or so before he had to take off for work. It was good to see him again.

Back to the couch and have watched a couple of movies. We have been watching the sappy feel good movies Angie likes. Gonna have to take a chance on a movie for “me” soon…. but here lately have been danged hard to come by. Lots of quality time with my Bride today though and that was the important part.

Good Night Y’all < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < Thankx for stopping in~!

I mentioned the other day that yesterday would be a 3 dive day— the last dive of the day being our “Jr” Dive day where parents bring their kids out and either drop them off with us or come with them and make a dive with them. Lately we have been getting more parents coming along on the dive. I’d like to think the ability to be able to get a professional photograph of them and their kids underwater maybe had a little bit to do with that. Hey- a guy can wish can’t he ??  😉  The dive went off without a hitch and the kids were every bit as much of a challenge as I thought they were gonna be, but everyone had a good time and nobody got hurt. That’s a win to me every time. At the end of the dive, there was a bit of a gathering for one of our Junior Dive Masters to celebrate her birthday. There was drinks, pizza and cake and we all sat around and chatted a bit. From there we left and went to the ‘Staff’ house for another celebration. One of the newer Instructor/Divemaster just finished her final Chemo treatment and has been declared cancer free. Always, always a good thing~! I went out and hung out there for a little bit. Long enough to drink a beer or two and give my good wishes to the young lady the party was for. While I was there, the boss asked me if I was ‘on the boat tomorrow’? I told her that I had not intended to be. She then indicated we had a very special guest on board the boat and that I probably needed to be on it. Alrighty then~!! Who needs a day off right ? As it turns out our VIP was none other than the Governor of the US Virgin Islands himself and his Daughter. Yes, I can see why the boss wanted me on the load. So I cut out of the second party because I no longer had the next day off to edit 3 dives worth of pictures. (That equates to approx. 700 pictures to go through) Knowing the number of people looking forward to seeing their pictures…… I went back to the house and sat down and dutifully started editing pictures……. until a little after 10:30 to get them all done and posted….. I dropped straight into bed after that which is why you didn’t see or hear from me last night.

So now— The Governor’s dive pictures are all edited and posted [please do not make any statements on Face Book about the Governor diving today…… I’m not sure if the boss wants that advertised yet or not-Thankx] So I am taking tomorrow off to spend the day with my Queen, then diving the rest of the week. We have 2 cruise ships in on the same day this week….. ought to be interesting to see if they let the people off of the ship this time.

Good Night Y’all : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Thankx for stopping in~!

Mildly better nights sleep– up well before my alarm ( I didn’t want to wake up my Bride, who did not have to get up early)…… out, bathroom stuff done and settled in with my lemon water and the news. Got up and loaded all the batteries into their respective slots and got everything hauled out to the truck. Came in and made breakfast and caught up on a little bit of FB before heading out the door. A fairly rough day on the water…. my bad… not rough… sporty~~ 😉  Visibility is still all over the place, but I got a little better grade of pictures today. LOTS of cooperative critters under the water today. I tried out my new mask and absolutely hate it. It doesn’t fit like my old one… it leaks and fogs up terribly, but in all fairness, so did my old one when I got it….. they take a little bit of care and breaking in before they become good and usable. I just hate that break in period. I’m gonna give it another 3 – 5 dives and if it’s not any better, am gonna go shopping again. Them beggars ain’t cheap- so I need to make absolutely sure it’s not gonna work before I spring for another one.

Came home to an email from ‘Doc’– wanted to know if I would be available later in the day…. she wants to call and discuss my Gallbladder Ultrasound. OH-oh….. I got a bad feeling about this….. she usually just puts it all in an email, so I’m a bit concerned she wants to talk. She was supposed to have called 15 minutes ago……… as I was typing that… my phone rang. In a nut shell…. my liver and my gallbladder are fine. She said there was a comment in the paperwork that my pancreas is slightly larger than normal. She looked at a CT scan of my pancreas from last year and said it was normal then. She said that if there was no history of pancreas stuff in my family- she wouldn’t bat an eye about it being slightly larger, but because of family history, she would like me to have an MRI done. She said the MRI is strictly an over abundance of caution on her part, but wants to make sure nothing is left unchecked. Guess I can’t fault her for that.  I guess since it’s for her peace of mind…. I should have asked if she’d pay for it~~ 😉  Obviously I’m kidding. So- I’m gonna get that scheduled now. I kinda wish they’d find ‘something [minor]’ soon….. I’m running out of parts to check~! And according to Doc– my body could just be telling me…. it’s time to lay off the booze for a while. Dammit Emmit~

Good Night Y’all * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Thankx for stopping in~!

After a semi reasonable nights sleep….. up and moving along with my Queen as we both readied for a day of work. My stomach felt better, but not as good as the past week or so…… dammit…….. Got my batteries all bumped charged and loaded into the camera and everything loaded into the truck. I talked myself out of breakfast because I was running a little bit behind and my belly wasn’t calling for chow – although I did finally wind up nuking a sausage, egg and cheese biscuit and inhaling it right before I left. Glad I did as usual. Dive conditions were nasty this morning…. especially on the first dive… wow….. LOTS of crap in the water that made getting decent pictures a real challenge. Second dive site was mildly better and had a couple of friendly sharks and a gorgeous turtle. Had some equipment malfunction (out of the water) so I stopped by the dive shop on the way home and picked up new replacement parts….. I was about due to replace them any way. Another place I don’t even try to skimp on…. dive equipment. Kind of like my parachute…… when you’re your life is depending on it….. don’t go cheap.

Sadly, nothing from Doc yet. I would imagine she is plenty backed up and I’m sure she’ll get to it as quick as she can. One of the very few island “professionals” I have dealt with that I believe in and trust. Scratched the itch for some KFC for dinner. I ran drove uptown, found a parking spot right next door, a young lady (employee) standing outside, smiled, said ‘Good Afternoon‘ AND opened the door for me. I went in and went straight up to the counter and got another smile and “Good Afternoon” [[it is island custom to greet people with good morning, day, afternoon, etc.]] They had everything I ordered (except pies), boxed it up immediately and handed it to me. I thought I was dreaming (or hallucinating)- wow, wow, wow….. I could get all kind of used to that~! AND the chicken was reasonably prepared…. actually had a little bit of crunch to it~! Probably new employees……  😉

Diving again tomorrow and on both boats on Saturday. We are having our semi-quarterly “JR” dive Saturday afternoon. It’s a lot of fun chasing all them little pollywogs around, but a lot of work too. It’s worth it though. Turn out is getting better and better with more parents staying to go diving with their kids. Neat to see~!

Good Night Y’all – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Thankx for stopping in~!

What a weird kind of day…….. Cruise ship was supposed to be in…. not! Omicron strikes again~! Dive boat was all booked up for cruise ship divers and suddenly empty now– so no diving today……. I had all intentions of mowing today and woke up to a down pour. Seeing the big mud puddles out in the drive way indicated that we got a lot of rain……dammit emmit~~~ Had coffee with my Queen then made her an egg and cheese sammich that she has taken a liking to and got her on her way for her return to Blues fixing sides for them. I sat online for a while before getting up to make me my standard issue yummy little breakfast. Finished that up and started doing some home work on cameras. I have been wanting to get me a ‘nicer’ camera for use on land. My camera I use for diving takes some gorgeous pictures above water as well as under, but just not what I have been wanting. I put out a feeler on FB asking about places on island to buy good cameras. Apparently there is no where for that. Shocker~!! An acquaintance who is heavy into photography reached out and we got into a heckva conversation. It turned out to be very enlightening as well as informative conversation. By the time I was finished chatting with him, I went back on line and started researching again with my newfound information and actually felt like I knew what I was doing this time. Makes a world of difference when you know what you’re looking for. When I got away from photography back in the 80’s?… 90’s… hell I don’t remember…. nobody knew what a digital camera was or at least couldn’t afford them at the time. I eventually had [several] different digitals, but never another good one like my 35mm camera. Time Warp ahead 30+? years. My, how camera’s have changed. I knew that from my underwater camera— but the big cameras in the 35mm format….wow~! Anyhow…. I have a nice camera picked out with a couple of ‘accessories‘. I have discussed it with my Bride and she reluctantly agreed I could get it if I wanted it (it’s not cheap). I’m gonna sit and let it ‘simmer’ awhile before I make that investment. I did manage to get the yard mowed in the middle of all that. The sun shined bright enough and we had a nice enough breeze to dry out the grass enough to get it mowed. I could have waited, but it looks like I will [hopefully] be diving the next 3 days and I didn’t want it to get out of control.

Angie has another ]half] day at Blues tomorrow and I have a boatload of people that ‘need’ their pictures taken underwater……… Still no word from Doc yet…….. I am having my first drink since the day after Christmas and as wonderful as it tastes, after 1 drink I have a nasty ‘ache‘ in the pit of my belly that I haven’t had in over a week…… so not sure I’m gonna finish the second drink………. getting older sucks~!

Good Night Y’all > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Thankx for stoppin in~!

Up at at ’em this morning, raring to go and starving. Sadly, I couldn’t do anything about the starving part for a while. Today was my day for an Ultra Sound and I was supposed to fast. I got my Bride on her way to the ATV yard and I fiddled with my dive gear and some odds and ends before getting into the truck and headed for mid-island. I got to the clinic about 10 minutes before my scheduled appointment time…… yes, us ‘old’ people do that….. well, old people and people raised properly do – arrive before their appointment time. I signed in and waited for almost 45 minutes past my appointment time….. so much for being punctual, but I will continue to always be early for my appointments. The young lady behind the glass did manage to look up from her phone one time to say that “sorry, we’re running late”. Finally in and waiting on the table. Now I have to tell you…… I have been to multiple Ultra Sounds….. but was always a spectator while my Bride had her belly lubed up. Now granted, it’s been a while since I have spectated one of those procedures…. and I remember each of them clearly— I’m here to tell you, my Ultra Sound was a HELLVA  lot different. Wow…. I guess this feller was gonna make durn sure he got the right angles. Woo-wee…. he dug that thing in and rolled it around, poked, pushed, slid and lifted with it. Had me on my back, my left side, back on my back, right side. I was half expecting him to tell me to get up on my haunches and bark like a dog there for a while (I wouldn’t have done it). Man…… that was a work out. He would have me ‘take a deep breath and hold it’. Once he told me to do it before he told me to breathe normally after holding my breath one time. I gave it the old college trying and tried to inhale some more….. thought I was gonna float off the table at that point……. but let out a quick rush of air and then another inhale……”Oh…. did I forget to tell you to breather after that last one….?” Yes……. You couldn’t tell by the way my eyes were bugging out ? I didn’t actually say that, but confess it did run through my mind. Finally done – he said Doc should get the result later this afternoon. I paid my bill and headed home. Haven’t heard anything from Doc yet….. suspect I won’t for a couple of days (I think tomorrow is a day off) besides, I don’t know if someone else has to ‘read’ those things or not and then tell Doc. Guess I’ll find out when I find out. I’ll let you all know as soon as I hear something.

My Queen pinged to say she had a flat tire, but Nick was helping her with it. Woman is harder on tires than anyone I know. Not like me….. I have people come in to do it….. LOL  😉  I didn’t get back in time to make the available afternoon dive boat and there is no dive boat tomorrow [Dammit Emmit]…. Another cruise ship was supposed to be in tomorrow, but has already been told by the island “Don’t Bother” we’re not gonna let you unload…….. Almost laughable…almost~  I’d hate to be a Cruise Line owner these days……….

I Forgot to wish my Honey bear a Happy Birthday from here yesterday….. xo

Good Night Y’all ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^  Thankx for stopping in~!

Actually slept until my alarm went off this morning. I like it in that it means I was sleeping soundly [and I did ALL night–Yay me~!!!] but don’t like it because it wakes my Bride up if I don’t get it turned off quick enough.  Got up, got my bathroom stuff all done and came out happy in knowledge that I slept soundly and felt great~! I settled in at the computer with my glass of lemon water and caught up on the news, before getting up and loading all my freshly charged batteries and putting my camera back together and hauling everything out to the truck. Wow, seems like last year since the last time I did that~! …..groan…. LOL….. Came back in and made a scrumptious little breakfast. Tried to take my time and enjoy it, but I was starvin’……. so it didn’t last long~~ Finally time to go–! I gave my Queen a kiss and was out the door~! It sure did feel good stepping back on that boat. The crew was happy to see me as well~! We had 8 divers and they were all soon on board and we were off. A little bit ‘sporty’ out there today but the water was a gorgeous blue and the visibility was awesome. Had a couple of divers that required a little extra attention so I was kinda doing double duty today and didn’t get to do a lot of roaming for pictures but I’m not complaining. It was just nice to be back in the water. An enjoyable group overall and both dives went without any issues to speak of. Now back, pictures are done so I have new dive pictures to share with you.

I have my clinic appointment to get my scans done tomorrow. Even though everything has actually been ‘normal’ for the first time in over 4 years…. I’m gonna go ahead and get them done so I can figure out what the issue is. I have a sneaking suspicion what it is— but want to make sure before I chatter on about it. So for now good people please keep your fingers crossed this rash of good health continues……

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