Author: Bill

Sleep for us both last night was mildly better than the night before…….loaded with drugs Angie slinked off to bed fairly early and zapped out for about 4 hours before the hacking and coughing started again. She had asked about sleeping out on the couch and I initially said I didn’t like it because I wouldn’t be able to hear her if she needed help—- but I felt sorry for her last night and told her go on out. I know personally sometimes it’s easier/better to sleep “sitting up” on the couch. I laid in bed for a while trying to hear her and finally got up and shut the A/C off and opened our door so I could hear. I didn’t sleep well the rest of the night afraid I wouldn’t hear her, but finally made it long enough to get up when she did. She claims to be much better. She looked and acted like she felt better. Fever is gone and by late in the afternoon, she even drove out to the pharmacy to pick up more drugs for me and her. Secretly, I think she is trying to convince me she is well enough to go to work tomorrow. I told her I thought it was a bad idea — but Miss Hard head is going anyway…… boy there is a big shock~~ But I know she looks forward to that, so I’m not gonna be the horses a$$ to tell her no.

I spent a miserable afternoon on the phone with insurance companies trying to get Angie’s prescription service lined out. I think probably 3/4 of the issue is the kids we have to deal with at the pharmacy that don’t know squat about the billing part of it. The rest of it was a REALLY uncooperative PoS at the on-line pharmacy that I was trying to get set up with……. whole thing made me want a drink and a cigarette…… of which I’m doing neither right now. I have to have some blood work done (tomorrow) and Doc wanted me to stay on the wagon 3 days prior to the blood withdrawal. I haven’t had an alcoholic drink since Saturday night- so I should be good to go.

About ready to get back in the water, except there is no boat going out….. Dammit Emmit~! We’ll see what Thursday brings. For now, my truck has got 4 new tires, my Queen is feeling better and heading back to work, the swelling in my leg and foot are almost back to normal and as soon as I get the rest of my gear (which should be tomorrow) I’m ready to get back in the water. We’re almost back to normal in our little piece of the world.

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

My Queen had a most fitful night last night….. and trying to be helpful and comfort her, I stayed mostly awake rubbing and patting her which seemed to help – so it was worth it. When I felt her finally settle into a decent sleep – I went ahead and got up….. it was about time anyway. My Queen managed to get in a couple hours of sleep before she finally got up and stayed up.  “Doc” answered Angie’s email and called in an arsenal of stuff for her.  After we had our coffee and I made sure Angie was good to be left alone – I took off to run some errands and pick up Angie’s scripts once the pharmacy texted and said they were ready.

I drove to mid island….. I had to hit the electronics shop for a new remote for the TV. I guess when one thing goes – it all goes. Turns out, the entire middle chunk of the island was experiencing a power outage. Traffic lights were out, none of the stores had power (which meant no internet–no internet means cash only transactions)… As it turns out, the store had the remote I needed (and cheaper than ordering it from the states) and as I discovered…. the remote was $25 and I had exactly $25 in cash on me. Hot Durn~! First task completed successfully.  I normally carry quite a bit of cash on me [for just such occasions], but had forgot the the tow truck driver for my truck the other day was $90 [cash only] and I emptied most of my wallet for that….. so I lucked out. I grabbed my remote and hit a small back road down the side of the island to by pass that god awful mess I drove through coming down.

I cut back across and swooped into the grocery store parking lot. My Bride had requested multiple items and I was all to happy to get them for her. Put my mask on and shopped like I knew what I was doing. –AND– actually found everything on her list~!! [my bad, I was just reminded I forgot her cough drops) but still…. Of course I left all the big, strong, reusable, shopping bags at the house, so I purchased a couple of more. (I should be able to start re-selling them before to long) Got the truck loaded up and headed just up the road to the pharmacy. After a 46 minute wait in the drive through….. I gathered up my stuff and pulled out. Thinking I was short something I called Angie to confirm, but with no answer (she had the phone off taking a nap) and groceries getting warm – I headed back to the house. Everything unloaded and half put up before Angie heard me and got up. They shorted her one item…. DAMMIT EMMIT. A couple phone calls…. and off I went again to pick it up. Came back to discover the one item I needed from there was forgotten completely. DAMMIT EMMIT….. too tired, too late… I’ll get it tomorrow. Stopped by the Post Office. I had a notice from them saying my light was in for my camera….. but…. I’ll have to come back tomorrow to get it (don’t ask). Also stopped by the dive shop and picked up some gear that I had worked on….. I need one more thing back from the dive shop and back to the post office–and– my Queen to heal up (not necessarily in that order) and I can get back in the water~!!!! But that’s another day.

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

A mostly better night for me and maybe a bit better for Angie — I was up and had finished most of my morning stuff by the time she came stumbling out. I was mildly surprised yet happy when she stumbled back on into the bedroom and went back to sleep. She wound up sleeping a couple more hours and came out and said she was feeling much better. We settled in at the table with coffee and let the day amble on by. I made her some soup, with some Ritz and cheese later.  She continues to cough and gag……. dammit emmit. She sent a note to her doctor to see if she could get in Monday morning to see her. (yea- you can do that with our Doctor)  😉   I hope she can. She just got up and went over and laid down on the couch for a little bit. She’s has also developed a fever……..dammit…….. so cross your fingers Doc can get her in or at least phone in some stuff for her.

I did manage to get into town to get the ATV yard mowed and weed eatered as well as running out past the dump and dropping a bag of garbage off.  Back at the house, I offered to make Angie anything she wanted for dinner, thinking eating something should help. Angie is now sleeping quietly….. I hope she gets in a good nap. I don’t plan on going diving until I’m sure my Queen is on the mend. So things are almost back to normal…… almost~~

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

Sorry about not getting anything up on FB to tell you that I did do some writing on here last night. I had all good intentions but the Vodka and the brownies I had for dessert kinda snuck up on me and zapped me pretty good. I was in bed by 7:37 and asleep by 7:38-ish. Even though I wound up staying in bed for almost 11 hours, it was not the night of slumber and rest I was hoping for. My Queen has still got that nasty bark [cough] and ‘hocking‘ up wads of stringy stuff that almost turn my stomach to listen to. I get, she has to get rid of it– but jeeez~! I have already told her if she has not made noticeable improvement by Monday morning – she needs to transport her narrow touchas to see Doc. I’m not gonna give much wiggle room on this one. My leg continues to respond well to the antibiotics….. my stomach seems a little better with the inception of the probiotics… (you would think they would cancel each other out huh?). I am taking tomorrow off and probably Monday. I am waiting on camera parts and gear that I had sent out when we left. I really thought I would have everything back by now…… but that’s what happens when you try to think……. besides…. I want to make sure everything is healed before starting to soak it in sea water again……..

I have spent the vast majority of the day at the computer. Didn’t really want to do that – it’s just how it worked out. I ordered a couple of things we need, I think there was another Christmas present in there somewhere and I spent [by my calculations] entirely too much time getting more educated on all things Medicare for my Queen. Jesus- what a pain in the butt.

Gotta get the ATV yard knocked out tomorrow as they should not have any tours….. they were still dealing with guests when I drove by the other day……. I’m gonna have to pull my camera set up out of it’s hiding place and start charging batteries and get it put back together and ready for LOTS more time underwater. So, slowly ramping up to get ready to get back into my island life……. admittedly though, enjoying the quiet down time with my Queen………

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

Hello all…… thankx for tuning back in. Going to ramble for a bit….. probably not gonna make near as much sense to you as it does to me…… I knew what I want to say, it’s just that my brain probably ain’t gonna put it in the right order……..

Back from the states….. the land of plenty…… the cold land of plenty….. the damn cold land of plenty…….. did I mention it was cold ?? Seeing our babies and our grand babies was wonderful….. loved it~! So nice to see and spend time with everyone. I got to spend at least a little bit of time with everyone I wanted to see (within reason) so I’m calling the trip mostly successful~~ Sad part is, I still drove dang near 500 miles again. I’m doing something wrong I think. If I fly 2000 miles to come back to PoCo……. I really don’t think I should have to drive all over Hell’s half acre to see folks. Wouldn’t you think that some of them would be willing to jump in a vehicle and drive a little bit see my Queen and I ? With the exception of those that came and met me up at the Yellow— That was the not the case. Dammit Emmit.

After a [happily and uneventful] couple of plane rides….. we are back on our little island. And it’s warm~! After pushing a lawn mower through some very tall grass for almost 2 hours or so, it became HOT~! How hot ?? Damn hot~~! Weed eating made it even better (and hot)….. got our yard finally finished, loaded everything up in the truck to go knock out the ATV yard….. but they still had bikes, cars and customers all over the place so I just quietly drove on by. I’ll get to it here in a day or so.

Not sure if I covered it yet or not…. so backing up a bit. I called the place I planned on getting my tires from last night and explained my predicament. They said no problem – call ‘our guy’ he has a key to our lot and can drop it off and they would get to it first thing in the morning…… Their ‘guy’ was a young-ish fellow that I will presume is from Puerto Rico. He spoke about as good English as I do Spanish, but I digress. I finally got him here, my truck loaded and hauled off. Called the VIPD to file a case about my tires (per Landlord request….. I thought it was useless, but I’m pretty sure she is covering herself) I was told I need to come in and report it. Oh good, yes, I don’t mind hiking a couple of miles+ in this heat [see weed eater comment] to file a report, that you all really should be taking from the scene.

A memorable night’s sleep….. our room, our bed, no noise but the hum of the AC and fans…… slept like a baby and woke up of my own volition. Ditto my Bride. Nothing in the fridge as we never did wind up going to the store before we retired for the night last night….. so some coffee, a handful of pills and our day was started. The tire place called and needed clarification of tire size— Dammit Emmit we covered that already…. but all straighten up and then he said my truck would be ready in an hour or so…………….. wow 596 words already…… jeeez……

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

crap……. don’t have any pictures ready to put up….. sorry~~ Maybe tomorrow.

I managed to get myself just tired enough tonight that I wasn’t gonna get on here and write……. best laid plans I guess. I come  up with a song though for my FB music trivia that is appropriate [in my mind] for tonight….. and it got me thinking that there is an above average chance….. that I won’t be on here for the next week or so- but I’m gonna do my level best to write at LEAST a couple times while we are back in the land of plenty…….. I don’t want to lose any of you- my faithful readers.. I can almost promise you nothing tomorrow night. We don’t land in Evansville until almost 10:00 at night and that is already WAY past our bed time, so you don’t have to look for anything tomorrow night. Our schedule is starting to fill up pretty quick for our visit back to the states- but I would like to think we’ll get back to the house, a couple of nights, early enough to jump on here and holler out a couple of lines and drop some pictures. For now though—- I’m pooped. A LONG day tomorrow but OH SO worth it to hug and squeeze and kiss kids and grandbabies we haven’t seen in a while………

If I don’t manage to get on here before then….. I hope each and every one of you get to spend some special time with special people, be it family or friends or a magical mix of both and that you have a wonderfully marvelous Thanksgiving~!

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

Found out dives today were out here on my end of the island again…. Yay~!! MUCH less driving for me. Had to park 3 blocks away because everything was blocked off for another cruise ship that came in today….. Dammit Emmit~! A couple of good dives though. First was the Deep Wrecks. A sunken car hauler sitting next to a sunken tug boat. LOTS of life on both vessels. Got to see the biggest spotted moray eel I have seen to date. (Vera– warning.. lots of pictures of the Eel) Gorgeous eel and it hung out and let me take as many pictures of it as I wanted. I even have some video of it~! Beautiful~!! The tug boat had a small sting ray cruise by and several Atlantic Spade fish… big beautiful fish. The second dive is called a drift dive. You bail off of the boat and just let the current carry you. Great way to effortlessly cover a lot of ground. This one was just right… a slow current that gave you lots of time to nose around. Couple of the divers carrying spears with them, hit the jackpot on Lion Fish (invasive species that we kill on site)…. On a normal dive… we usually see 2 or 3 of the Lion Fish. Today we killed somewhere close to 30 of them~! We lost count because there was so many… but we definitely put a dent in the population~! Just a real good day in the water.

Back at the house, everything rinsed, editing pictures and having drinks with my Bride…… Island kids came by and needed a drive to the airport— so I obliged and brought their vehicle back here to the house. I know it’s hard to believe but the airport charges outrageous amounts to leave a vehicle there over 5 hours….. so it’s common practice to be dropped off and picked up when shuttling to and from the island. Pictures are finally all edited and put up. Bellies are full…. eating whatever left overs we have trying to get the fridge emptied out or at least thinned down so we don’t lose anything to spoilage while we are back in the land of plenty. Although I was pressured to do the 2 morning dives tomorrow- I opted out of them because I didn’t want to press my luck. I still intend to do the JR dive, but that dive never gets over 40′ deep and it is just one dive. I will still have a 24 hour surface interval after doing it before flying. Have a bunch of last minute things to get done before leaving….. so working on them already….. looking forward to seeing friends and family although I hear it is already ridiculous cold. What is that about ???? I hope I run into some of Y’all while we’re back. See ya soon.

Good night Y’all > > > > > > > > > > > > > Thankx for stopping in~!

PB180175  <——EEL Video

JUST back from a nice dinner out with our island kids. It was supposed to be us and them for billing, but they swooped in under the guise of ‘Our Thanksgiving to you‘ and paid the whole bill. A delightful evening with company being at the top of the list. We have been pelted with rain almost all day and the evening breeze was a nice cool damp-ish kinda breeze that made small goose bumps pop up when it hits you just right. (Especially if you have been on the island long enough for 75 degrees to feel cool to you)~~ We chatted, drank, ate and laughed for a couple of hours enjoying that nice cool breeze before finally calling it for the night. The ‘kids‘ just pinged me to let me know they have made it back to the top of their mountain. My bride is sitting across from me quietly engrossed in what ever it is she is looking at, smiling to herself. I have already had my shower, so that, a very full belly of some stir fry with a batch of chicken thrown in, good company….. a couple bites of a dessert so sweet it makes your teeth hurt….. and I am looking forward to an early night hitting the sack. I thought I only had one more day of diving before we head back to the land of plenty…. but a heart felt ‘plea’ to take pictures Saturday afternoon has now added an extra day of diving to my schedule.

You are not supposed to fly within 24 hours of diving…. but doing the math…. I can get in this one dive and have exactly 24 hours lay off before climbing into the wild blue yonder. Stay calm—- I wouldn’t do it if I thought for a second I could get hurt by doing it. I may be crazy- but like to think I am NOT overly stupid~~ The dive is our monthly “JR” dive….. where we get a load of kids that are learning how to SCUBA dive….. most have their parents with them – and I have to confess…. it makes for some really great pictures….. the kids with their parents diving. Will still give me ample time to get packed and ready for our trip back to the land of plenty.

Two fun dives today on our end of the island….. so I got to hang out here an extra half hour plus got back a half hour earlier than usual. Nothing heart racing about today’s dives…… but some nice pictures out of both of them……. 2 dives tomorrow morning… again on this end, so I have a little extra time at home with my bride. Even Saturday’s dive is out here… so saving me LOTS in gas~! For now— gonna leave you some pix from today and heading for bed.

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

Here I am again……… kinda feel like a pin ball this week. On again, off again and all over the place. There have been a couple of days where I was just plain ole worn out. The days I have been doing my Dive Master classes in particular are taxing- because I have to use my brain too  😉    Yesterday we had to tread water for 15 minutes….. easy enough to do in salt water……. but you got an extra point, if your hands were up out of the water for the last two minutes. Well brothers and sisters let me tell ya…… I need all the ‘extra’ points I can get. I have been pretty much nailing all the other stuff but just making the median scores. Not that I ain’t been tryin’ though~! We have 3 big swim tests coming up…… tests that score a lot…… tests that I am dreading….. because I’m not sure I can complete them let alone complete them in the allotted time. One for sure, I’m fairly certain, I’m not going to ‘make it’. It is a very long swim (400 yards without mask, snorkel or fins) and it is timed.  The other one is twice the distance, but you get to use mask, fins and a snorkel. I can rely on my legs for that and just hope my lungs hold out.      The other one…… Uuggh… I have not had a usable Rotator Cuff in my right shoulder now for probably close to 10 years and conventional swimming [for me] is almost impossible. I can’t throw a baseball more than about 30′ without intense pain. There are a couple of styles of swimming (on the surface) I can do – but will never be able to cover that distance in that time span. The other two – I should be able to do. I may not set any records doing it… but I’ll be able to do. The third one is towing an “unconscious/tired” diver for a 150 yards. Here again, mostly done by legs and mine haven’t failed met yet. Just that one friggin’ swim~!! It is starting to haunt me when I am trying to go to sleep at night. I just may corral the Instructor and have him go out and time me and get it over with. Or I guess I could get him drunk and bribe him…..  😉  JUST kidding~!! He has a lot more class than that. If I score enough ‘bonus’ points…. all I need is to score a”1” on that swim….. but that means completing the swim……. Should be an interesting day in the water.

Speaking of interesting days…… a tad bit ‘sporty’ out on the water today….. sure made it interesting trying to get back on the boat…….. hot diggety dog…. but we all made it and no one got hurt~!! There was lots of shark action for me today as well…… so I have LOTS of shark pictures for you today~!! I think the rest of my days are short ones until we leave. I have some on-line stuff to get done, but the web site is officially FUBAR’d…… so I can’t do that yet~~~ Gotta love all this new age, internet web thingys stuff you get to deal with now days……….

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

PB160001  <—- Rough Water video

I have managed to get myself busy enough (maybe too busy??)… that I’m having a heckva time trying to keep up with the others things I normally do…… Not sure yet if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I know there are at least a couple of folks who actually look forward to reading my ramblings on here each night (luv ya Vera) but as I start admitting that I am no longer 25 years old…… well- I still am in my brain…. but my body is screaming “hold on just a second fat boy”………  Today was a very light boat today…… we actually had twice as many staff as we did guests…. yes- 2 divers and 4 staff. A couple of them are working on their Dive Master certification. Technically, I am too, but I’m taking a little different path than the two young whipper snappers that are zooming around the ocean like they don’t have a freekin‘ brain…… fun (although terribly annoying) to watch. We got finished with both dives….. I actually did nothing except take pictures those 2 loads…… it was kinda nice. Afterward – we all met up out West beside the Pier for some hands on Dive Master training…… while I am taking a slightly different approach….. it has been made clear my certification will not be “handed” to me…. I will have to earn it. So we spent a couple of hours being put to the test…… I will admit- I may have got to ‘slide’ through a couple of the assignments, but the Instructor also made sure I was capable of doing what was needed by telling me to perform demonstrations of certain tasks. I did as asked and he was happy with what he saw. I am not going to let the certification be “handed” to me…. I have a lot more pride than that…… but graciously accept a ‘pass’ here and there. Finally done for the day… back home with my Bride. A Dinner of stuffed green peppers and corn on the cob. I didn’t think I was hungry but made short order of everything on my plate when it was set in front of me…….yum~!

Filling out forms for Medicare, trying to get on line training done for Dive Master…. still need to get showered up and ready for bed so I can do pretty much the same thing all over again tomorrow……. I guess from your side of this conversation…. it sounds like I might be whining…… nothing farther from the truth~! Just hope ‘some’ of you understand a little better, when I don’t get on here and ramble a little bit for you~~~ Pix from today……

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