Author: Bill

Went to bed a little bit early last night knowing I was getting up early for diving. I struggle to call it work as I am doing TWO things I dearly love doing and getting paid to do it. Plus– my latest method of communicating my contact method has drastically increased the amount of tips I am getting….. so I definitely struggle with calling it work. Yeah, it can be a pain in the butt sometime…… but honestly, is there anything that isn’t once in a while ?? I just got good and asleep last night (early) just to be awaken by a clattering out in the driveway. No, it wasn’t Santa arriving early, but our [slightly inebriated) neighbor apparently bouncing off of parked cars and stationary buildings and cursing them for being in the way. He is usually driven home in that condition and dropped off at his house, so we put up with the traffic and the noise at his house…… guess he couldn’t find a ride last night. Anyhow— hearing that outside of our darken house got my adrenalin flowing….. so I got to go in and lay back down and watch the ceiling fan for ‘a while‘ before fading back off to sleep.

Up bright and early, a good hot breakfast, truck loaded and a short jaunt into town to board the boat. Still out on this end of the island because of our Christmas winds wreaking havoc with the water on our usual North Shore dive spots. Another really small boat today – with just 2 client divers. I “hate it” for the shop, but it sure is enjoyable having all that room on the boat. Plus, it is makes it really easy to get pictures of just two divers….. versus 10 or so…… Tomorrow from what I understand we have a boat full. Which is good for business. They are all off of the cruise ship that is coming in tomorrow. Those loads are usually fairly stressful, but can also be good in generating photography tips, so I’ll appreciate the opportunity~!! Also, like I said – I finally got the part I needed for my strobe and man-0-man was it nice having a fully functional camera again…… and because I had lots of ‘free’ time today …. got some crazy good pictures~! Can’t wait for you to see them~! Already had my shower and pictures up in my gallery already (another perk of a small boat load- I get done with editing usually really quick). So gonna get my FB stuff done and maybe get in bed a little bit early……. hopefully neighbor gets a ride tonight  😉

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

We were invited out to a Christmas party last night…. and went. We stayed much later than either of us expected and didn’t get back here until well after both of our bed times, so– very sorry, but I didn’t even get on line. I did make a couple of dives yesterday and got lots of nice pictures for you though- so I can share them. Even though I wanted to sleep in this morning after our late night. Ma-Nature decided that was not to be. I guess one of the hazards of getting older combined with being used to being up very early for work for 17 years every day.

Today was a lounging type recovery day for both of us. Oddly, the grass didn’t need mowed. I got all my other projects done a couple of days ago while there was no diving, so after a small but tasty breakfast we settled in to watch some idiot box entertainment. Turns out the first movie we watched, we’ve seen before but my bride wanted to watch it again…… Law Abiding Citizen. I like it well enough I didn’t mind watching it again (and turns out I forgot about half of it) Definite 10 out of 10. Second one was called Red Notice with Dwayne Johnson (Angie likes him) and Ryan somebody-or-other…… entertaining…… incredibly stupid, but entertaining. Third was a dorky ‘feel good‘ movie that I don’t remember the name of- but Angie likes them, so I suffer through one once in a while. This one was Christmas themed as most are this time of year……. Now I’m sitting here half heartedly listening to the Packers/Raven game while I type. Belly  is growling even though I polished off most of a scrumptious shrimp platter while watching movies, so I’ll go make me a sammich when I’m done here.

Diving tomorrow- every day that there is a boat going out this week. I finally got the part for my camera that I have been waiting the last two and a half weeks for – so I’ll be back to my full camera set up. Hopefully nothing goes wrong for a while. Several more parties lined up for the coming week…… Tis the season~~

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

Most interesting kind of day today……..It started out at 06:00 this morning when I opened my eyes and saw that my alarm was less than 1 minute from going off….. and I really hate it when it does that– for multiple reasons. I sat up in a hurry to shut the alarm off, pulling a muscle or straining something that probably shouldn’t have strained in the process…. but none-the-less. Got the alarm shut off, grabbed my shorts and slinked on out of the bedroom, happy that I did not wake my bride in the process of all that. Bathroom stuff done……. caught up on the news (boy ain’t that a mess) got all of my batteries off of charge and loaded them into where they needed to be. Put my camera together and hauled it and it’s case out to the truck. LOVE these mornings…. temps are dropping into the very low 80’s…. and occasionally even into the very upper 70’s.  Don’t have to run the A/C [which means drastically lower electric bills) a most righteous breeze to enjoy and wake up to. Because the windows are open you have to learn to tolerate dogs barking, cats meowing because they are in pain (or in heat) and the occasional peacock or horse, but the the really nice break on the electric bill makes it worth it. I did all my stuff including my standard issue wonderful breakfast and headed out for a morning of diving without rousing my Bride. I like that because I know if she is sleeping that late- she probably needs it.

Cruise ship in today and the morning boat was ALL cruise ship passengers. At this point here – I could probably do an entire page just on the ‘atmosphere’ around cruise ship divers…… but I won’t [right now]. I enjoyed the folks we had and spent a delightful 2 hours chasing them all around. Even with my sub-par light set up right now…. I still managed some shots I think our divers will be happy with. Sure do hope so. We were invited to an impromptu night out to celebrate a (diving) friends birthday. With nothing on the schedule we accepted….. even though it was to a place we swore we wouldn’t go back to….. especially on a Friday night. I guess some plans are just made to be changed or broken though. We met up and finally wound up with a table big enough for everybody. Most conversations were about diving and my Queen was the only non-diver there- but she held her own in all conversations.  The rest of the evening is better left to the imagination….. so I will leave it as saying my Queen and I left early…… she is now sleeping soundly in our nice cool bedroom. Not sure if I will see her [again] before I leave in the morning for more diving…… If I don’t………. let’s just say I hope she feels a lot better than I think she is going to   😉

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

An abrupt unexpected day off today…. kinda cool~~~ Made my Queen her [now] standard egg and cheese sammich before taking off for her half day at Blues. I tried to get her to let me add a slice of ham to it this morning, but she shot that proposal down toot sweet. Still happy she is having the egg and cheese. I got her on her way and made myself a wonderfully delicious breakfast for me. The more I do it, the better I get at it and the better it tastes. Yum~! Fortified with a good start to my day…. I launched into getting our newly acquired cameras, dialed in, mounted and working as designed. A project that turned out to be a hellva lot tougher than I expected. Course, I think part of it was that I’m an old fat nerd from the pre-internet days that doesn’t all to clear understand some of that newfangled world wide web stuff. After multiple trips up and down a very large step ladder, and in and out and setting at the computer…. I finally had a camera mounted, looking at what I wanted it to AND showing up on my phone~! Don’t write us old guys off to quick~! Getting the second camera mounted and ‘complying’ was fairly easy after that. Chatted with next door neighbor who strolled in for a while….. he headed out and I decided I needed to get ‘alerts’ when either of the camera’s activated. Took some doing and I may have uttered a discouraging word here and there….. but now when something activates either camera, I get a neat little tone and message on my phone telling me of the occasion……… Yay me~!

My Bride finally pinged and said she was headed this way….. just in time after I got my mess all cleaned up and feeling pretty danged special about my accomplishment. She got home and settled, drinks made and after seeing the camera set up on my phone, decided she needed to have it on her phone too. #$%^&^%$….. sure dear. I wound up having to take BOTH cameras down, re-set them, get them loaded into her phone, re-register them, sync them back to my lap top and make sure I still had them on my phone…… but I got it by golly…… and only took 2 or 7 drinks to do it. Look out Steve Jobs……   LOL~~

Next door neighbors stopped by to pick up some pot pies they ordered from Blues that my Bride brought back with her. Shared a drink and sat and chatted for a bit before heading back over to their place. My bride is starting to nod off every so slightly staring at whatever screen she is looking at. I finally confirmed I am diving tomorrow on a boat full of Cruise ship folks tomorrow. Not looking forward very much to that – but should be a decent opportunity for some good tips for photography work. We’ll see. I’m just happy to be getting back in the water. We’re having a definite lull in business now…… that should all change next week when busy season picks up. Good times~!

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

Hey, hi, how are ya~??? Jeeesh what some kind of day I have had……… Up long before I wanted, but Ma-Nature was mildly beckoning and I knew my bride needed up to be up in a bit—- so I reluctantly rolled out of the sack and staggered into the bath room. I’m usually in a lot better shape than that in the morning, but I stayed up later than I should have last night and then didn’t get a lot of sleep trying to calm my fidgeting Bride most of the night. Life goes on…. I finished up and came out to face the day mostly bright eyed and……. well lets just stick with bright eyed. I started the coffee and went in and got my Queen started on her day. She let me make her a [small] hot breakfast which pleases me to no end – before gathering up her stuff and headed to mid island for her full day of labor at Blues. She was barely out the door before I started my ‘hungry man’ breakfast in anticipation of my day. Not diving….. I loaded up all my lawn gear and took of for the yard I volunteered to help clean up for the young lady on FB. I put in a solid couple of hours and had the yard in as good shape as I was/am gonna get it without another dozen or so visits. I got a great big smile, an awesome hug and a great big thank you before loading back into the truck and heading out.

Back at the house….. I changed into my comfy clothes and immediately down shifted into a piddling mode. I was aiming for bottle a$$ing around but it just didn’t work out. First thing was our bedroom door. I saw this morning JUST before leaving it was about to fall off of it’s hinges….. So my drill, some ‘bigger/longer’ screws and soon our door was good as new. Next up….. security cameras. I dreaded it. I absolutely, shoot me in the leg, dreaded it. I dreaded it because I had to link them to the internet [for full effectiveness] and between our mickey mouse internet and my old man approach to all things ‘modern‘ — I was not looking forward to it. Turns out….. my fears were confirmed. I spent probably almost 4 hours trying different things to get the cameras online. DAMMIT EMMIT. The more I tried – the worse it got~!!  @#$%^&*&^%$ EMMIT~!!!!!  After 4 hours – I was at wit’s end…….. about that time my Bride rolled in with her smile saying “I’m Home”. I made us both a drink and settled in to listen about her day. Nothing new – She pressed me to talk about what [apparently obviously] had me about to explode. You know what….. a drink or to, my Queens guidance and I had that damn camera humming like it was supposed to……. without verbally or physically abusing somebody or something. Well dammit………… I have since had my (now established Wednesday thing) double quarter pounder…. although I usually do the 2 fish sammiches and save the burger for later… another handful of drinks and the day is looking much brighter…… not diving tomorrow [no boat] – so I guess I get to get the cameras put up…… my bride should only have to work a half day…… so maybe dinner out ????

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

Decided last night that I wanted to spend today with my Bride since I won’t get to the next couple of days (working at Blues) so I let the shop know I wasn’t gonna make today. One of the perks of this job is I have that kind of say. I don’t use it very often, but it’s nice to know I can. Angie slept in this morning which made me happy and also gave me a couple of hours to myself this morning while I caught up on the news. We had a nice big breakfast of pancakes, bacon and sausage. Angie wound up running to the store and Post Office. I got my new security lights in, so I’ll have that to work on tomorrow while Angie is at Blues. We finally settled in for a movie and just finished it. Seven Pounds with Will Smith. I’d give it a solid 8 out of 10. Stopping long enough to do this and FB now and then maybe another movie if we have time.

Gonna leave it at this as I feel like it may be getting a bit humdrum and I don’t want to bore you [too much] Got another nice on line tip from some divers from a couple of weeks ago….Yay~!! Really been sluffing on picture taking (above water)….. I’ll see what I can do about that. I think sometimes the random stuff I take can be almost as entertaining as the underwater stuff. We’ll see.

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

Well Dammit Emmit………nothing official planned today, so I got to sleep ‘in’ until my bladder started throwing an absolute fit right around 07:00. Even though I was mostly awake at that point- I would have really liked to just lay in bed until I felt more ready to get up…… Dear old Dad always said…… wish in one hand and S**t in the other and see which one fills up the quickest…. so life goes on. Got up, washed my face, teeth, combed what hair I have left and moseyed on out to greet the day. Cool, the Christmas winds blowing through the house, reasonably quiet…. I got my glass of lemon water and settled in to catch up on the days events. I have recently came across a newsletter, that is just that…. news. No opinions. It comes in your email. You get to read it and decide for your self. So far it seems to be legit and much more factual than anything I see on line. I like it. I’ll be glad to forward a link to you if you’re interested…. just send me your email address. An hour or so later, my bride came strangling out, got her a coff of cuppee and settled in on her end of the table as well. Wasn’t long though before she was up and out the door to have something or other checked on her car. Well let me tell you– I was starvin‘ Marvin — so I made me 3 eggs and and a handful of Lil Smokie sausages and I feasted. Angie came back a lot quicker than I expected and started making breakfast. When asked if I ate yet…. I fibbed ever so slightly and said yes…….. (Angie must have thought I was really hungry) and made me 3 eggs, 3-4 slices of bacon and a big ole chunk of steak left over from dinner the other night…. and a biscuit. Lord have Mercy….. I stepped up though….. cleaned my plate like I was gonna take a whoopin‘ if I didn’t. (that would come back to haunt me about 5 hours later)

After that had settled a little bit….. I convinced my now very full self to get out and mow the yard…. only one section needed it (from where I had to raise the blade from the last mowing) but that usually is an all or nothing event. I got my trusty little lawn mower….. wheeled it around, checked the oil [good]…. filled it full of gas….. rolled it over to my ‘official’ starting point, grabbed the pull rope, gently tugged it (here lately it has been “locking up” and I almost lost an elbow the last time I didn’t check it) HmmMmM…… it’s not turning, let the line in a little, still not turning…… looooong story short…… my trusty little mower was Kaput…. shot….. done…. finitto…… just done. Dammit Emmit. Only a year and half old…. but it did not surprise me. That little thing has seen some serious Shi……. stuff. I am honestly surprised it made it this long.  Sad- but I have to move on….. a not so quick [expensive] trip to Home Depot and I now have another purty new mower to keep my yard looking like a golf course. Not how I had the day planned…… but it very rarely every goes the way I plan it anymore….. Dammit Emmit.

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

Pretty standard issue day yesterday. Back from diving – got pictures edited and put up, enough time for a quick shower and out the door to meet up with our islands kids for dinner. A fine dinner it was….. there was some Bang, Bang shrimp, some salad, Fried shrimp and a LOT of steak….. a mighty fine meal…. even better company. Again [I’m getting better] I let my camera lay and just enjoyed the company and the atmosphere. We ate until we were all stuffed, before waddling out to our respective vehicles and moseyed off into the now set sun. Kids went up the mountain while we headed toward our humble abode. Turns out- we were the last one to get to our house because we had to turn around and go back because someone forget their phone……..  (Was entirely too tired to write anything when we got back… sorry) A fairly early night for both of us as I was stupid tired and knew I had a day of diving coming up. We both crashed by 9:00pm. Next morning up long before my alarm went off….. I got batteries all loaded and, got everything loaded in to the truck. Wasn’t feeling a 100% this morning and not sure why. I tried to talk myself out of eating breakfast, but went ahead and made me my standard 2 eggs, sausage and a small glass of milk. Like this morning, I am always glad when I do. Even though today was one of the easiest days I have had on the boat in a while….. 6′ – 8′ swells made for a less than smooth ride on the water. Sporty as it were. We got both dives in and no body got hurt, so it was a good day. Visibility was sooooo bad the second dive … [how bad was it?] We were lucky to be able to see 30′. Getting any pictures became almost impossible. The boat is moving out West for tomorrow….. much calmer water out here…. and hopefully good visibility. I did not get in the part I needed for my strobe, so I am still employing some island engineering, trying to get them both to work. What sucks, is tomorrow afternoon….. I am on the afternoon boat as well, which is our monthly “JR” dive….. and the last thing I need is to try and MacGyver the lights while I’m chasing them little pollywogs. Choices are slim at this point, so I’m just going to have to make due.

Already had my shower, some left overs for dinner, so a full belly…..a ‘couple‘ of drinks and I’m just about ready for bed. Unexplainably tired these last couple of days, so trying to get the rest my body is indicating I need. More and more I am starting to understand [and believe] the old proverb that ‘getting older is not for wussies’. (I cleaned up it up a skosh). For now….. some pictures from today….. tomorrow, another dive or three and more pictures. (My Queen is on the mend as well~!)

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

We both wound up sleeping in just a skosh this morning….. normally a good thing but my Bride was supposed to be up early enough to start her day off in anticipation of heading to Blues. None-the-less…..we got up at the same time and while Angie did her thing in the bathroom, I pranced around the house starting coffee and opening shutters to let the breeze through. Yes- prancing….. I had to whizz….. bad, really bad, but I managed to hold it until it was ‘my turn’ in our one teeny tiny little bathroom. Just one of a myriad of reasons I like to get up early, or at least a handful of minutes before my Bride does. While she gathered herself and got things together for her day at Blues – I made her an egg and cheese sammich. Not what I consider a good ‘get the day started properly’ kind of breakfast…… but it was hot and [I think] better than a bowl of Frosted Flakes. Happily, even though in her mind she was running late’- she sat and ate all of it with a small glass of milk. Finished that up, grabbed her stuff and was out the door.

I think I stated last night, I was NOT diving today because there was nobody going out. Realizing my availability, I answered a ‘request’ on FB from a young lady that needed some help getting her yard back in shape because her lawn mower died. We connected, chatted a little bit and by 10:00ish– I was at her house with my pick up filled with lawn maintenance equipment. What I was not equipped for, physically or mentally, was the fact that parts of the yard looked like it hadn’t been touched since the Jurassic period……. OMG. However, I volunteered and let it not ever be said I back out of my word. I spent the next 4+ hours mowing, weed eating, clipping, dragging palm fronds, dragging small trees and stacking all of that, while dodging small barking dogs. In brilliant sunshine and 86 degree weather. It made for quite a day. A real life saver during my work was the fact that I filled up my drinking jug that my Grandson Will got me, with nice cold water, so I had plenty of water to keep me hydrated. My weed eater finally broke down to the point I needed tools to fix it, however at that point, the young lady’s yard however looked SOOO much better, even though there is a roughly 10′ x 35′ piece of Jurassic grass that I didn’t get to. I explained the situation and told her I would return ASAP to “finish what I started”. With a mile wide smile, she said thank you and waved enthusiastically as I pulled away. Apparently her land lord had been giving her static about the way the yard looked……. What I did today should keep him off her back for a couple of weeks at least.

Back at the house, filthy, sweaty and tired, my Bride already there…. I hauled my stuff in, had a couple of drinks, went out and fixed the weed eater and then put everything away and came back in for more drinks. My bride indicated she would like Taco’s for dinner….. so I jumped in the shower, put on some clean duds and away we went. Bellies full, a gorgeous sunset to watch while we ate (no pictures- believe it or not) and here we are. One highlight when I got back — we have enough for a boat load tomorrow…. so I get to go diving~!!! YEA~~~~!!!!

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

Hey- Guess what day it is???? Just kidding – but it is Hump Day… already smack dab in the middle of the week already….. Goofy scary how fast time keeps going. Dear old Dad always said it gets faster the older you get….. he sure was not kidding~! My Bride went on to work this morning like I was sure she was gonna do. I got up with her to ‘check’ on her and made her a hot breakfast to get her day started. She looked and sounded really pretty good, so I begrudgingly let her head out. Once again (in quite a while) I was left to my own devices…… I like those days~! Other than going to mid-island to give away some blood and making a trip to the Post Office to pick up my new strobe- my day was wide open. I did not have to ‘fast’ for my blood draw (I just wasn’t allowed to drink alcohol for 3 days) so I whooped me up a big ole breakfast and enjoyed it while perusing the silliness that is FB. Done with that…. I changed into ‘travelin’ clothes’ and headed out the road. Amazingly, I walked into the clinic and right up to the window without any waiting. I did have to sit in the waiting room for about 10 minutes before I was called in. I was duly impressed. I was even more impressed with the young man “in training” that did my blood draw. Polite, easy to understand and did one of the most painless draws I have ever had done.  I even told him ” nicely done” and the look on his face said he appreciated that remark. Back to my end of the island……..Post office…… no strobe–Dammit Emmit~! Stopped by Mitch’s shop to get my now long overdue regulators…… they weren’t in either… DAMMIT EMMIT~! Back to the house….. I started piddling…….. for those of you uneducated on piddling……. piddling is an ever so slightly quicker more organized version of bottle-assing around. I have spent years refining the two. While piddling…. went on line and signed up for text notification when my strobe would move…… turns out that was a right fine idea……… it finally showed up in ‘our’ post office and I could come and get it when ever I wanted. I took off immediately and got it. Brought it back only and tore into it, only to find out a piece was missing…….. D@#$%^&*T  EMMIT~!!! Phone calls to California made and everything in place now to rectify the situation PDQ~! Back to piddling…..

My Bride finally pinged and said she was on her way home, so I cleaned up my piddling mess and readied the place for her arrival. Drinks made, we have the Mickey D’s dinner she brought home with her. Neighbor stopped by to say my Regulators made it in but he forgot to bring them with him………. OF COURSE he did……. just not my day I guess. My Bride is working again tomorrow….. I apparently am not diving as there is no one scheduled on the boat but me…….. guess I better work on a piddling schedule for tomorrow. Some diving pictures I don’t think you’ve seen yet.

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