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Up bright and early this morning… no rhyme or reason that I can conjure up for this whacked out sleeping pattern. I’m sure it has nothing to do with alcohol intake or the massive amount of Mickey D food I inhaled…..  : )   Started our day out with another nice breakfast and after letting it settle a little bit, was loaded up and headed out for Cane Bay, a usually calm popular beach on the island. It’s about a 25 minute drive and we were there lickity split. Got us a parking spot and shady spot on the beach and a couple of minutes later I was in the water with snorkel gear and my camera. It is the first time I have got to really explore the bay. Waves were a little bit rougher than I have seen since we’ve been here, but I powered on through them. First 250′ of water (from the shore) was pretty stirred up from the wind and the waves so I headed out in to a little deeper water. Underwater scenery got much better as I headed out, but all the ‘good’ fish and scenery was in that deep water and made it hard to get close ups of them. I did manage to spot me a sting ray~! He was in about 25′ of water and I made a very valiant effort to get down to him (free diving) to try and get you a close up of him. I shot it on video during the dive, so you’ll see how far I float back up. Just hope I can get the video to load on here (internet has been real screwy these past couple of days) — Any how, got some pictures for you to look at and hopefully the videos will load and play. I’ll put them on FB as well. For reasons unknown, they load better on FB than they tend to on this web site. I continued to swim around and found a small school of squid. Only 8 or so and they’re really small. In the video they kinda look like fish – but they were definitely squid~! I finally lifted my head up to get a bearing on where I was at and thanks to a fairly decent little current, I popped up about a 1/2 mile from where I started. Rather than fight that current all the way back to where my Queen was, I opted to go into the shore and hike back to our spot on shore.

I drank me a nice cold beer and we sat and had a couple of cigarettes before I went back out chasing a small turtle I spotted from the bank. I never did get close enough to him to get a picture. I scoped out the area where he was at and with dang little else to look at there I came back in for another break with my bride. We went out for one more dip. I left all my snorkel gear on the beach and just rolled over on my back, crossed my legs, stuck my thumbs in the waist band of my trunks and drifted off. Such a peaceful and relaxing way to unwind and un-stress.  Kind of like an ocean therapy……. and really great therapy it was.  (It’s also a great way to get some sun under your man boobs~!)  😉  Definitely more of that in my future~! We finally came back to shore for another break, but a family with a couple of very whiny kids was right next to us, so we decided we were done with the beach for the day. We loaded up and before long was sitting at Blues enjoying cold adult beverages. Also, I had to try the shake of the day, as it is now up over $1000. No luck on the shake but the drinks were fabulous~! We packed it up after only a couple of drinks and headed back to rinse the salt off. Showered, fed and pooped – we’ll probably crash early. I think we’re checking out a new beach tomorrow. Dirty, thankless job — but somebody has to do it~!  😉

Good night ya’ll …… Thankx for stopping in~!

Actually slept til 07:30 this morning and woke up not feeling like I’d been beaten for a change. Starting to suspect [but don’t really want to admit to] that sitting on the couch all day may be causing some of the aches and pains in the morning…….. that would just suck~! Especially since it’s so easy to do and I’m really good at it~! My Queen made us a small breakfast while I sat and paid bills and getting caught up on some of the more unpleasant and mundane things that sadly are still required, even living in a tropical paradise.

After dishes were finished up, we gathered up the laundry that needed done, and paperwork I thought we were gonna need and off we went. Dropped the laundry off at a new little place that we found, they are quick and very reasonably priced. We have found that for no more than this place charges, it is well worth it to let them do it (supporting local economy as well) especially when you factor in our time and effort to do it using the beat up ass machines in the laundry room~~ We dropped the laundry off and headed for where I suspected the BMV was here on the island. Managed to drive right to it, found a place to park and walked up and got in line. Not a lot of difference between the BMV here and the ones back in Indiana, except that you do most of your waiting outside, being called into the building and subsequently being sent back outside multiple times. Oh – and they tend to yell at you. Not sure what these folks are angry about, but felt like it was a little bit rude for them to take it out on the poor folks just trying to take care of some business. Any how….. called into the building 4 or 5 times, being yelled at 4 times, producing enough paperwork to get a passport [or enlist] and $ 90.00 later (cash only please),  my bride and now have out Virgin Islands drivers license~! With our Senior Citizens discount – our license’s were $ 35.00 a piece (would have been $70.00 a piece without discount) and $20 to get the truck registration corrected. Took about an hour and a half, which really isn’t terrible, especially for island time. Certainly am glad that is over and done with for the next 5 years~! Nerves being about 3/4 shot after that, we both agreed a drink or 6 was in order.

We stopped at Blues on the way back and soothed our nerves with ice cold refreshing adult beverages  😉 and tried our luck on the shake of the day (at almost $1000 now) After enough drinks to cool us off and calm our nerves – we headed back to the condo. Last week, one of the shows we watched was called Super Size Me.…. older documentary about a guy who ate nothing but McDonalds meals for 30 days -but still a lot more eye opening that I expected – but every since I watched it – I have had a nasty hankering for some Mickey D’s — so we decided to brave the notorious wait in line times one more time. My Queen ordered a Quarter pounder with cheese, small fries and an apple pie. I ordered a Filet-0-Fish, a double quarter pounder with cheese, small fries and an apple pie. Actually got everything we ordered and got it in just under 20 minutes, which is mind bending compared to the last couple visits…… probably because we got our VI license now.   😉

Good night Ya’ll — Thankx for stopping in~!

Jim ^

REALLY fresh chicken nuggets at this Mickey D’s~!!

and the sea weed continues to roll in  🙁

This morning was more like what we are accustomed to waking up to – gorgeous sunrise with hardly a cloud in site….. waves were crashing on the beach and just an overall gorgeous day. Took it easy  getting ready and was out the door a few minutes before 08:00 heading for Blues. I took the lattice off of the fence and my bride started painting while I started building the gate needed for the new fence. We stayed right at it for a steady 3 hours and finally – the fence project is done~! Lining up new fencing to existing turned out to be more challenging than I expected, but for using a lot of salvaged material, I don’t think it turned out to bad.  Jim now has added another gate he would like built to my list of things he’d like done – so plenty of projects to keep me as busy as I want to be. The plan is to take a day or two ‘off’ and get some odds and ends done that we have been needing to do (like get our drivers license changed) and I think we’re due for some snorkeling…. probably going to go to Cane Bay for that. We finished up and sat and had 1 or 5 drinks while we cooled off a little bit and caught up on some of the chatter at the bar.

Finally came back to the condo to suck up some conditioned air and get much needed showers. My Queen requested a steak for dinner, so I fired up the grill and dropped a steak on for her (with sautéed onions) and a couple of burgers for me. You’ll see several more burgers in the pictures…. I always make a couple of extra’s for a quick snack or meal. A couple of drops of Olive oil and 30 seconds in the microwave and they are almost as good as straight off of the grill. I’m a little bit befuddled as to the meat here…… it’s just not what I was used to back in the states. I don’t know if they add extra stuff to it because they know it’s being shipped a long way, but it just doesn’t taste the same as back in Indiana…. I dunno, maybe I’m nuts or something….. I’m sure I’ll figure it out soon though.

Finished up our dinner while watching C.H.I.P.s (the movie) – remake of the old series on TV. It wasn’t bad…..it wasn’t good, but entertaining enough for an HBO movie. We watched the sun set and now have a mind bending amount of sea weed washing up. Came out of no where and is just bombarding the beach. It has done this once before…. we don’t like it – it takes away from the beauty of the beach and can get quite odorous if it sits out there too long. Not a heckva lot we can do about it – but wait for it to wash back out…… That’s it for today —

Good night Ya’ll ….. Thankx for stopping in~!

Jim

Woke up to another down pour this morning and with more clouds looming in the distance so I canceled painting plans for the day. I did run up to see if Jim needed help with anything, but Eddie was up there helping him, so he said he was good to go. I came back to the condo and made breakfast for my Queen and me. I love me a nice big breakfast when I know I get to sit and relax after I’ve eaten and let it ‘settle’ when I’m done eating. We sat and watched Sunday Morning with Jane Pauly and caught up on the goings on back in the states. When that was over I got up and did my dishes and then came back to settle in for another afternoon of movies. Started a documentary about a state run hospital in New York in the early 70’s, but it turned out to be not near as interesting as I was expecting, so we switched it off. Watched a movie called Hard Rain – (Christian Slater plays an armored truck guard who has to deal with thieves, the crooked police, a fierce Indiana rainfall, and a flooded town while trying to protect three million dollars in the company vehicle ) Boatload of stars in it (see what I did there ?)  😉  Entertaining if nothing else…..Next one was The New Daughter with Kevin Costner – this one turned out to be kind of a horror show (which neither of us were expecting),  I would not recommend it unless you just like stupid horror movies~~ My Queen cooked up a massive slice of ham with smashed taters and green beans, I swear this woman is trying to get me fat (ter) – [oh quit it – you were all thinking it~!]  😉  Next movie was World Trade Center with Nicki Cage…. supposedly based on actual events during 9/11/01 — very well acted movie and multiple goose bump scenes.  Highly recommend this one if you haven’t already seen it.

That’s about it friends, neighbors and sports fans….. My bride has already crashed and I’m not to far behind her. If the weather cooperates, I would like to finish up the fence job at Blues tomorrow.

Good night Ya’ll …… Thankx for stopping in~!

Shot from old light house

Sandy Point

Slept in a bit this morning but still didn’t feel rested. It poured again this morning with much needed rain here until about noon and then overcast and sprinkles the rest of the day. I think they’re calling for rain again tomorrow as well – which will FUBAR any plans I had to finish the fence tomorrow. Will still go up to see if Jim needs any more barrels cut up.

We ate and watched movies most of the day. The movies were all unremarkable enough, I can’t even think of any of their names right now.  🙁   That’s about it, so I’m gonna quit right here and put up some pictures for you from days past – may be new to you, may not,  but still should be fun to look at.

Good night Ya’ll —- Thankx for stopping in~!

 

Up bright and early this morning to be up at Blues for today’s project. Was treated to another spectacular sunrise. Never get tired of those, even if it means being up earlier than I want to be. After some coffee and getting woke up, I gathered up my stuff and my bride and away we went. Angie helped me empty out the stock  before moving onto cleaning up some of the lattice work we’re using on the fence I built. While she started on that, I started in trying to rat proof the storage room by putting up small mesh steel screen to keep them gnawing little buggers out. I was correct yesterday saying that it would be warm in that room up against the ceiling…. wooo-weee….. and I have multiple little holes in my fingers and hands from manipulating that screen. It took me almost 3 hours, but I finally got it finished and everything put back in the stock room while Angie put on a coat of primer on the fence. The plan is to go up Sunday morning and put on the final coat of paint on the fence and I’ll try and get the gate built and installed as well, so we can wrap that project up. Jim has already given me my next assignment when I’m ready for something new to work on  🙂

After we cleaned up, we sat down at the bar just as it opened up and had us a handful of refreshing adult beverages. Today’s special was grilled chicken (a half of chicken) and we looked at enough of them being consumed around the bar, that we decided to order us a couple to take home with us. We were both sweaty and dirty and wanted to get a shower before we ate. We got home and started soaking up the conditioned air and finally cooled off…… getting hungry in the process, so sat and had our (wonderfully delicious) grilled chicken while we sat and watched a movie (Rememory) fairly decent flick, a little far fetched but entertaining. We also watched Frozen Ground with Nicki Cage [I’m tight enough with him I don’t have to call him Nicholas — wink, wink] – that was a good movie, based on real events. I would definitely recommend watching it. We paused during the movie to go out and enjoy a more beautiful than usual sunset. Won’t ever get tired of those either. We have now had our showers, my Queen is chatting on the phone and I am regaling you fine folks of the day’s tales – We’re taking tomorrow “off” and have made no plans for the day – so we’ll see what it brings.

Good night Ya’ll —- Thankx for stopping in~!

Missed the opportunity to sleep in this morning……dammit Emmit…..Not sure what is going on, but have only had one decent nights sleep in about the last month. I’m sleeping [mostly] all the way through the night – but between 06:00-06:30 I’m waking up and usually feel like I have been mildly beaten with a bat. My Queen swears she’s not beating up on me while I sleep   😉  I think maybe the mattress… not sure – will have to see if it continues.

Didn’t need to go up to Blues, so we lounged around until my bride made us a nice breakfast. We sat and watched Season 1 of Caribbean Life…… a couple of the episodes were filmed here on St. Croix – and we recognized every place they showed. It was filmed here 4 years ago but the only real noticeable difference is the roads. Apparently they have not done any maintenance on them since. Kinda neat though, as we watched that show all of the time when we were in the states and now actually being here and recognizing all the different places they showed.

Started getting hungry around 15:00 (3:00pm) Neither of us felt like cooking and I wanted to see if Jim made it back yet – so we jumped in DD and ran up to Blues for a couple of drinks. We also got some of their wonderfully delicious wings (today is Wing Wednesday) boxed up to take with us so we could get comfy with the final couple episodes of Caribbean Life and eat wings while watching it. While sitting at the bar, Angie got into a conversation with a woman sitting next to her and the subject of remembering people’s names came up. From what I could gather, her job apparently requires her to remember a lot of peoples names and I eves dropped as she discussed her method. That is something that I have been working on really hard since we got to the island….. is remembering the names of the myriad of people we have met. For those of you that know me at all, should remember that even on a good day I struggled to remember MY name about half the time. The struggle is real, although the ‘trick’ I have been using lately does seem to help some. Hells bells – even Angie has asked me who is “so & so’s” name on a couple of occasions. Lady at the bar uses a word association type thing… where as I try to picture someone I already know with the same name that kind of resembles this person. Not fool proof, but I am doing probably 60% better at retaining the name. I know some people, that can meet someone once – and recall their name meeting them a year later. Kinda blows my mind a little bit. I have sort of the same gift with music and remembering songs people like. It would be a fun conversation over drinks to chat with someone in that field…. maybe learn some more tips….. even more fun to meet them a year later and see if  they remember YOUR name  😉

Good night Ya’ll —- Thankx for stopping in~!

(I think I finally figured out the whole ‘blowing pictures up’ thing – so including a couple from yesterday – hopefully easier to see)

Hopefully this post will be a little less messed up than last night’s….  while I did have 1 or 12 drinks this afternoon/evening…. I’m not in near as bad a shape as I was last night  😉

I cut out early this morning to be up at Blues by 07:00 to help with a couple of things while Jim is rehabbing a bad back. I cut up some barrels for their firewood supply for them and then spent a couple of hours cleaning and organizing their stock room. Not really hard work, but tedious and the fact it was raining most of the time added to the challenge (yes – we do have the very rare days when it is not gorgeous sunshine all day and it does rain all day). Finished that up and made a run to get some propane cylinders filled for them. Finally done with helping out, I sat down at the bar for a couple of ice cold Budweiser’s. Because I didn’t eat anything before I left and it was now around 1:00 – I ordered me one of those wonderfully delicious turkey bacon ranch sammiches. That is just a some kind of wonderful bit of goodness right there. My Queen showed up shortly after I finished eating and I sat and had a drink with her before we loaded up and came back to the condo.

The rain picked up and pretty soon it started lightening and thundering. I have been waiting since our adventure started for a tropical ‘storm’….. not a hurricane (although I still want to see one from a distance)….. but have been wanting to hear thunder travel over the water. I was not disappointed. I guess because of the lack of hills and buildings and such, for the sound to bounce off of – the thunder had a such a wonderful sound and just went on for ever. It was amazing. There is no way I will ever be able to adequately put into words how different it sounds. Awesome, awesome, awesome~! The lightening and thunder finally tapered off and I came in to get my shower and make me a bite to eat.

As I sit and write this now, my bride beckoned me out to have a cigarette with her. As we stood out on the patio we could see another storm far, far away (estimating 50 miles) — but can still see the occasional lightening bolt. The thunder finally makes it to us but not much more than a grumble by the time it gets here, low enough it is almost drowned out by the waves breaking on the beach. Still an amazing site to see the large white clouds light up as the lightening flashes inside them. So, something else I can check off of my life list – and something else to really look forward to in the future now that I know they are as awesome as I always thought it would be. (did I mention I thought it was awesome?)  😉

Good night ya’ll ……. Thankx for stopping in~!

IMG_6128 IMG_6145

Went grocery shopping today….. one of those…awwe F**K I don[t want to do this… one of those $ 350.00+ at check out don’t want to do this shopping trips…… had to be done though. Came home, unloaded everything and decided a trip up to Blues was the thing to do………. as it turns out… not a brilliant move on my part… (good ting for those little red lines under words, or this would be so f**ked up you wouldn’t be able to read it posts)…. got home, got the expensive damn d=groceries unloaded and decided to go up to Blues for a drink or two…. BAAA-HAAAA… a drink or TWO— that’s funny right there – I don’t care who you are….. I have been looking for a drink that isn’t quite as detrimental to my helath as some of the ones I usually have (I.e. vodka plus ________ fill in the blank) Mr. Timothy Mcsomething or other was more than happy to help try different  drinks….. but he wasn’t the one getting slowly pickled……. Finally quit and heade dback to the condo where we ran into our new temporary neighbors…. Sheri, Sheli or something like that and 3 or 4 other guys I can’t recall tjeir names right now. zNice bunch of folks, we had a good time disuccing our beautiful island. My Queen is going to take them on a tour of sorts tomorrow while I render my particular skills to a friend in need….. sounds kinda kinky don’t when I say it like that – but don’t try and read anything into it you nasty people…..  😉

I’m gonna quit while I;m not so much ahead….loading the ONE sinle picture I took today and weirdly it kinda sums up the my whole day…… hahahaha…I think..

Good night ya’lll — thankx for stopping in~!