Author: Bill

Kind of a generic title, but as it turns out covers a lot of areas. Up a little earlier than I wanted to be up this morning to make sure my Bride had a good start to her unusual working on a Friday day…… Got coffee made and got her fed before she was gone. I was still battling hard to breathe, stomach bothering me and really just not in the mood to do anything. I guess you’ll have that every once in a while. I skipped breakfast because….. well- just because. I got caught up on my FB stuff. Haven’t had to do that in a bit….. fairly sure I’m caught up on the rest of the goings on back in the land of plenty and here on the island as well. Still pretty quiet here. We will start ramping up after the first week of  next month. The cruise ships will start showing up as well as people enjoying their little break away from crappy weather and ready to wind down a bit before the holidays, so I am enjoying the down time while I can. Caught up, I ran a quick list of what I needed to get done today, which prompted me to change shoes and shirt and head out for the lawn mower. Had the lawnmower gassed up and going by 09:00 and done with the yard by 10:00. About one more mowing and I’ll have it back in shape and hopefully only needing mowed once a week again. Tried to work on a chair that broke last night [cheap composite wood], but didn’t have what I needed, so I moved on out to the truck. Passenger seat belt was locked up and I shuddered at what I what I thought it was going to take to fix it. I pulled double D out of the mud pit it was sitting in and parked in the grass out front. I opened it up to let it air out. Driver floor board was ¼” deep in water…. I pulled all the mats and laid them out on the hood to try and get them dried a little bit. Sucked out as much water as I could and left the doors open to try and aid some drying. Got my brush and gave everything a good brushing. I finally got around to fixing the insulation around one back door – hopefully that slows down some of the water. I cleaned out a small pile of rotted meat out of the bed that had the little white wigglers in it and and aroma that was almost staggering, washed the bed out and by the time I was done with that, it was time to run to the airport to pick up Island ‘Son‘ coming back from his latest visit to the land of plenty.

HMmmm…. that made up most of the day, but now it doesn’t seem like that much…. go figure. Been battling with the doctors. The meds they want me to take for my new found stomach issues is $550.00 after insurance….. Awe HELL no~! I’ll put up with belly issues….. update— just got off the phone with the Digestive Care Center and I think we have a much more affordable solution…. more on that later. My Bride is working again tomorrow, so another early night for her and another early morning for me…….It’ll be nice to get a day ‘off’.  LOL

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

IMG_2324  <—Some after eating fun

Miss Paige

Hello all y’all…… been awhile I since I got on here. Our visit back to the states turned out to me much busier than I was expecting and the opportunity to write in the evenings was just not there. Not to say I didn’t thoroughly enjoy our time being taken up by little people (and some big ones) but writing on here was just not in the cards. SOOO much to talk about and it will be fun reliving some of it as I send my mind back to those 2 weeks. I am sure I will not [immediately] recall everything that went on, but I can pick from a multitude of different days and events to ramble about as needed.

I feel like I need to explain the rest of my absence a little bit as I’m sure some of you know that we have been back on our little rock for a handful of days now. Our last day in the states was one for the books….. We wound up traveling through 5 airports in an effort to get back here. We were up at 03:00 in the morning Saturday the 22nd to head back to our island. We arrived at Tampa FL airport (#1) to be there the recommended 2 hours before departure. We made it through TSA …. well, Angie did… but due to an awe-$hit…. I had to go back to the customer service desk to have my tickets re-printed to reflect my TSA Pre-approved status (lots of running) and eventually caught back up to my Bride. We made it to our gate where we were to be soon in Atlanta GA (#2), where we were supposed to hustle to the next gate to head back to the island…… however… due to an issue in Tampa, we sat in the plane long enough that by the time time we finally took off and landed….. we had missed our Atlanta flight to St. Croix. Dammit Emmit. The airlines rebooked us for another flight….. for the next day~! Oh hell no~! I helped the agents understand that was not a good option and other plans were eventually made. We boarded a plane to South Beach FL (#3) and took an UBER to Miami (#4) ((hour and 20 minute ride) before finally getting a flight back to St. Croix (#5)…. arriving at almost 10:00 at night, that was one very long day~! Somewhere in that process… I managed to pick up some kind of crud (not totally unconvinced I didn’t get what my Bride had) but the longer the day went the worse I started feeling. The next day (and the days following) I felt like I had been rode hard and put up wet. I felt bad enough that I didn’t immediately jump on the next dive boat. I am feeling considerably better but still nasty congested and struggle to breath after any mild exertion….. and have yet to make a dive. DAMMIT Emmit~! Our evenings have been pretty quiet, sitting on the couch watching TV. So….. that is why I have been so quiet since we got here….. tonight is the first time I have actually felt up to doing my stuff. While I didn’t take a ton of pictures while we were back….. I did take some. I’m just going to start at the beginning of the collection and put some up every night that I write until you see them all….. I’ll try and caption some for you.

Good Night Y’all – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – and thankx for stopping back in~!

Our gorgeous little National Park – Buck Island

Note the reflection of the body of the plane

Lil Sis/Cuz Susie

Brother in Laws Joe & David and Son-in-Law Grant

Brother-in-law and Sister-in-law John & Maryloretto

My Cutie-Patootie~~

Up after a reasonably decent nights sleep for a change~! Actually was a little saddened to have to get up because I was sleeping so good. Back pain was at a minimum…. unfortunately belly pain made up for it as soon as I got up, but I kinda brought that one on myself, I guess. I had a couple or three drinks with my Queen last night and I’m going to assumption that’s what brought it on. I mean, it’s not like I got tore down or anything. Also, sadly, I have those bouts even when I haven’t been drinking….. so who the hell knows ?? Hopefully I get some answers next week. Got back to the house around my normal time, but launched [almost] straight into my plan of rinsing gear (and hanging it) then mowing the yard and weed eating. Took maybe a skosh longer than I planned, but I got it. I also got the ladder out and trimmed some limbs away from the power line coming to our house. I have been ‘threatening‘ to do that for a while and a chat with a local handyman persuaded me to just go ahead and do it~! Done~!! Put away mower, weed eater, gas, ladder and clippers and came inside to launch into editing pictures. Two very uneventful dives, Crap Viz and the fact I must have had my strobes out of position = not many saved pictures. Pictures are filled with back scatter…. DAMMIT Emmit. Just about the time I think I have that figured out, I get slapped up side the head with pictures like today. Oh well, gonna have to wait for a couple of weeks now to work on it now.

I have already got us checked in at the airport and everything so far, is on schedule~ [knocking on wood]….. I am in desperate need of a shower and hoping I get in another round of sleep like last night. Some aspirin, a sammich and sitting here cooled off has got my back and me feeling a bit better. Again, not looking forward to the travel – but excited that we get to see our people tomorrow night~! Probably no blog tomorrow and probably not Sunday as we have a big day planned out at Amanda’s. Still one or two open days left on our very busy schedule, better speak up soon… they’re going fast~!

Vera— couple of eel pix below~~>  [[see you soon]]  🙂

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

A decent night sleep continues to allude me…… [mostly] back problems preventing it, but 1 step at a time. Up before I wanted to be this morning but happy to get up and start moving. Weirdly, up and about makes my back feel ever so slightly better than trying to find a comfortable position in bed. I also know when I’m up, I’m not wallering around in bed and keeping my Queen awake. She needs all the rest she can get as well. I forced a breakfast biscuit into me this morning in anticipation of diving and chasing people for pictures. 20/20 hindsight…. I’m glad I did. Water was ‘sporty‘ today and getting our guests back on the boat after the dives turned out to be quite the challenge. Everybody finally reasonably safely back on the boat after each dive. Fairly small group of mostly ‘need some help’ divers. It wasn’t tough diving today…. just not easy. A couple of big turtles made for a nice start to the first dive and some fun pictures I’m hoping keep our guests content. ‘Viz’ still leaves a lot to be desired as well….. but the water is till plentiful warm (83°) and it sure was nice to be back in it. Lots of sunshine and a reasonably cooling breeze. Ya just gotta love and appreciate living a life that affords that kind of day almost every single day. Back at the house, my Bride has been overly busy getting ready for our return to the Land of Plenty, getting laundry all caught up and such things. I got my pictures done and was generally zero help to her, but I stayed out of her way…… so there’s that~~  😉

Due to fairly rough conditions, the boat is going to be be out West for the next couple of days. I’m good with that and hopefully my last day of diving for the next couple of weeks starts with ARMAGEDDON~! Plus a short commute. The plan is to hopefully get back early enough tomorrow to mow our yard one more time before we leave, get my gear rinsed and pictures up by the end of the day. Saturday will be packing and making sure the house is secured before we head to the airport. While I absolutely, positively dread the whole traveling thing…. I can’t wait to get back for some family time with our babies and Grand Babies~!!! The plan right now is to be able to get something up here tomorrow as well…. but that could go South pretty easy, pretty quick…… and that applies for the next couple of weeks, so if I ain’t on here rambling, rest assured – we’re fine, just busy soaking up family and friends time while we can. I’ll eventually wind up back on here….. so bear with me. Better yet— try and snag a couple of minutes for a drink [of your choice] and a little bit of chat. Shoot me a text (812-480-2336) and let’s meet at the Yellow or Tequila’s for a get together (we’re staying in MTV this round), time of day should be irrelevant if you can sneak away for a handful of minutes………. our open days are booking quick – but will do what we can to accommodate~~!

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

Another day here on the island. A little TV, another couple of sappy romance movies. Fitful sleep, bite to eat. Some more Alone….. not only more sappy romance shows….. somehow managed to find a series ( I thought it was a single movie)…. 10 episodes~!!!   This first paragraph was written 2 hours ago……. the neighbors have been over [and just headed back to their place] and I have had ‘a couple‘ of vodka’s for the first time in a couple of weeks……. seems like maybe I’m becoming a ‘cheap‘ date…… and gonna stop here…… Oma is talking to Kylen and getting the low down on our visit  😉 I’m stopping here….. getting overly amped for our visit to squeeze our babies~!!!\

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

Up waaaaay past my bedtime last night watching a new series. The series is called Alone. I think it’s an older series. About 10 people taken out into the wilderness and dropped off to survive by themselves. Fairly hostile environment, getting worse as time wears on. Winner takes all of 1/2 million dollars. I would have loved to done that at a younger age. I think it would have been an easy half million dollars~! Fun part of it – this particular season has a guy from where other than…… St. Croix USVI. As it turns out, I know ‘of him’ and I have actually given his wife and Daughter a ride out to their compound here on the island. I have no idea how he did on the show….. I’m on episode # 5 and he is still there, but honestly don’t remember hearing how he did. From what I have seen so far, I don’t think he’s gonna make it.

We watched the third of a series of sappy Christmas movies and thankfully that is done now. I told my Bride I needed some non-sappy stuff for a little bit…. LOL. She made us some left over spaghetti and now trying to get you a couple of words up here. No boat again tomorrow…… dammit Emmit~! Guess I better brace for more sappy romance movies. Starting to get things lined up for our trip back. Being a bit more rigid on the fact we’re not going to do as much running as we have been doing. 500+ miles of driving every time we come back is just no longer going to be acceptable, so folks who want to visit can come to us this round……. with one or two notable exceptions…… We do have our set of folks we ‘have‘ to see when we come back…… regardless whether we have to drive or not  😉  So — a couple three more days and we’ll be back in PoCo. Hopefully I get to see some of you while we’re there.

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

Up this morning after a mildly better nights sleep. Not sure if fixing the sag in the mattress was any part of it, but woke up a lot less sore than previous couple of mornings. Still congested enough I decided to drop out of diving this morning. I go through air fast enough the way it is when I dive, I don’t want to have to fight for it if I don’t need to. I’m glad I did. Most of the congestion is cleared up now and I feel comfortable enough to resume diving. Sadly, there is no boat scheduled, so I guess I get an extra recuperation day whether I need it or not. Pretty tame day here at the house…. my butt hurt from sitting in this chair so I moved pretty quickly to the couch. Watched a couple of movies that weren’t good enough [in my humble opinion] to try and remember them, so nothing to share with you about them. That’s pretty much it….. tame, tame, tame. We are coming back the end of this week, so we’re starting to get amped up about that~! Can’t wait to squeeze them babies and grand babies~!!!

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

Well the last time I wrote, I told you I was feeling pretty puny…. wowser- I didn’t know the half of it. I spent about half the night on the couch wrapped up in a hoodie and several towels (using them as blankets). I was freezing to death and burning up at the same time. Got up after a fitful night and felt like I had been rode hard and put up wet. Real heavy congestion in my chest, back felt like I had been beat with a bat…… the old fat boy was in pretty pitiful shape. What made it even worse, was it was my Bride’s birthday. Here when I was supposed to be making the day all about her – she was waiting on me hand and foot. When I am feeling poorly, as a rule, I just want to be left alone…… and my Bride, please her heart, wanted to make me feel better. I let her do as much as I could figure I could stand, but hated the fact it was her birthday and I was getting all the attention. Part of my ‘afflictions’ last night was a headache that was making me sick to my stomach and unable to focus on anything, unless I put my glasses on (I usually only need them for close up stuff) Thankfully, the headache was gone when I went to bed last night, but my back and my belly were driving me nuts. Jeez I can’t wait to see what stateside doc says…… A miserable night last night as nothing I could do to get into a position where my [very lower] back didn’t hurt. Once again my bride rubbed creams and lotions and stuff trying to ease some of my pain. I finally got up. I didn’t want to eat, but forced a piece of sausage and a half of biscuit in me to appease my Queen. She made this righteous biscuits and gravy with bacon (even though I told her I wasn’t hungry) – so I kinda ‘had‘ to eat a little something. Thankfully, no sign of a headache, but vision was still FUBAR’d. Dammit Emmit~! Wanting to try and be some what productive, I fixed the center support on our bed….. hoping maybe that will help alleviate some of the back pain….. and then after my “massive” breakfast…… I set out to mow the yard. Yeah…. probably not the smartest move I’ve ever made, but I told myself (and Angie several times) if I get feeling puny, I’ll quit. I didn’t set any speed records, but I finally got ‘er done. Cheese & Crackers this getting older stuff sucks~! I even got the ATV yard done. In my mind, I have to be able to justify “being able to dive”…. so if I can do all of that mowin’ and weed eating – I can surely dive– pay no mind to that fact I couldn’t hardly breathe~~ Seriously though (and I have already told Angie) that if my chest hasn’t cleared up any by morning, I’m keeping my happy a$$ here at the house. My vision is about back to normal now….. so there’s that I guess~~~

Happy Birthday to my Cousin/Lil Sis — Susie~~ Luv Ya Darlin’~!

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

Up bright and early this morning to get ready to go diving after our wicked little storm last night. Gear all put together and loaded in the truck. I made me a delicious breakfast (and later regretted it) and headed out the door. Roads were a disaster…. gravel drive ways all washed out onto them, trees down…. tons of palm fronds everywhere… amazingly….we never lost power [[knocking on wood]]…. it blinked once and stuttered coming back on, which seems to have fried our little electronic picture frame. Dammit Emmit~! It is on my to-do list tomorrow to see if I can get it going again. Everything else fared fairly well [[again, knocking on wood]]. Rain….OMG…. most reliable intel that I could get said we got a little over 4″ in just a couple of hours. It looks it…. As I closed up the place last night we had a small river running down the side of the house and all the leaves and sticks are now stretched out in a nice line showing the path of the water. From what I can tell, we have another couple days of sketchy weather….. the skies certainly look it.

Did manage a couple of dives today, but visibility left a lot to be desired. I did manage a couple of decent shots even with that viz. Not very many though. Not many critters out and about either. I think the storm may have had them a little bit spooked. Even though there is another boat tomorrow – I am sitting it out. Had about all I care for this week (without going into a lot of detail) Did something on the boat or close proximity, that put my back in spasms and a headache that almost made me sick to my stomach. Honestly have no idea what. Got the boat docked up, unloaded and back here – I immediately popped 3 extra strength Excedrin….. sadly it didn’t do much good. I have now popped a handful of muscle relaxers and they seem to be kicking in. Whatever I did– I did it up good….. wow.

Rain has just started again…… like we need more. Radar shows quite a bit out there….. lovely. Looks like I may have to mow the yard in the rain…. That’s always fun~~ Neighbor stopped by. We fed him and chatted a bit. My stomach issues came up and he proceeded to tell me that my issues sound just like what his Mother recently passed away from. His Dad is a Doctor and he is fairly well versed on such things [according to him]. He said at my next appointment, I need to ask them about Peritoneal cancer…… Angie did a quick Google on it – and the symptoms sound a lot like mine — but also a lot like a dozen other things…. so I’m not gonna panic [yet]…….great, something else to think about. Tomorrows a new day…… if we don’t get washed away  😉  We’ll see what it brings~~

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

Got to sleep in a smidge this morning because I wasn’t running out the door to dive. I had an appointment for 10:00 to get my truck worked on. Even though yesterday was a no alcohol day and dang little to eat, my belly just wasn’t up for anything in it. I was hungry, but knew better than to press the issue, especially since I was going to be ‘on the road’ and away from the comfortable confines of my bathroom. I got to the shop 30 minutes early, I wanted it to be able to cool off before my appointment time. Color me flabbergasted….. my truck went in at 10:00 on the nose. The estimate said an hour and a half for the repair and the truck was sitting there ready for me at 11:35. You could have knocked me over with a feather~! I also did get to put eyeballs on the motor mounts. Probably not in optimum condition, but it’ll wait, thus saving me 600 and some odd dollars. I left there and ran by the drug store to pick up some Actifed. Another big difference here on the island…… even back when we left – even if you wanted a packet of Actifed with only a dozen pills in it – you had to fill out forms and sign your life away….. here, you can get a couple of bottles (of 100) without hardly a blink of an eye. Guess we don’t have the meth probably they do back in the states. Got that done and stopped and filled up the truck with gas and figuring I would surprise my Bride – I swung by Mickey D’s and picked up dinner. She usually did that on Wednesday or Thursday after she got off work and because she hasn’t been working these past couple of weeks (Blues is closed for the slow season and some maintenance)….. we haven’t been getting our ‘weekly dose’ of McDonalds. By that time, (it was right at noon) I pulled in and OMG did it smell good. My now very empty belly came to life with a vengeance~! Angie had “confessed” to me some time back – that she always got a medium ‘fries’ and munched on them on the drive home. Every since she said that, they have been on the back of my brain……. guess what I did ? I also ordered enough food to feed a small army. That happens when you’re starvin’ and your nose is seriously sucking up some Micky D’s aroma. Plus~!! I was in and out in under 6 minutes~!!! I thought about pinching myself to see if I was dreaming…… but I was to busy munching on hot, salty french fries to dwell on it. I was going to launch into how much we enjoyed “lunch” when I got home, (it’s was fabulous!) but I’m close to my limit, it is pouring rain, there is lightening flashing everywhere with some awesome thunder rolling and the lights have flickered once already – so I’m going to try and get this posted before we lose power~! Diving tomorrow~!!

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