Category: Uncategorized

Woke up after another almost perfect night of sleep again thankx to that wonderful elixir they call Cortisone~! It wasn’t an uninterrupted sleep, but dang close to it. Got up bright and early to a heavy mix of clouds with intermittent sprinkles and showers – but lots of sunshine in between.

Told Jim I’d give him a hand with some chores he was wanting to get done up at Blues first thing this morning. Knocking them out quickly, we sat and chatted and had a couple of cold beers. I came back to the house to a hungry Bride, so I hustled on into the kitchen and whooped up a hearty breakfast for us. Eggs, bacon, sausage patties, sausage links, biscuits and some hash browns, all washed down with a glass of ice cold milk. I sat down on the couch to let my meal ‘settle’ a little bit and got a nasty case of TA (tired a$$) but I guess you’ll have that when you put that kind of a meal on top of 3 early morning Budweiser’s   😉  With breakfast nicely settled – I got up and got the dishes done before settling back into the couch for a day of television.  We did that most of the day and watched the occasional rain showers passing through. We even heard  a clap of thunder from one of them~! Believe it or not, that is the first time we have heard thunder since we left Indiana. I miss hearing it…. Thunderstorms were always a source of fascination to me. I want to see a hurricane [from a distance] as I would think it would have lightening and thunder in it. Guess living here, I need to be careful about asking for that now~~~  😉

Really about it — gonna call it quits here and get some more pictures put up for you. My photo program on this website is acting up and I could only get one picture blown up last night…… God only knows what’ll it do tonight.

Please take a couple of minutes out of your extra day off tomorrow to think about the real reason behind the holiday and be thankful for the men and women who helped make your freedom’s possible.

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

Wow – what a difference a day makes…… My Cortisone shot kicked in wonderfully and I slept the sleep of Kings last night, well – Kings that have to get up once to take a leak – but other than that — Wow~! It felt really good to get up out of bed this morning and not be dragging a$$ right off the bat. The original plan for the day was to spend at least part of the day at a beach (besides our own) to maybe get in a little snorkeling and then swing by and pick up our laundry.

My Queen was dealing with some gastric distress this morning, so we hung out waiting for that issue to clear up. Multiple trips to the WC made it increasingly clear, that the snorkeling was probably not going to happen, so instead, I made us a hearty breakfast while my Queen took it easy on the couch. We had our breakfast while watching what can only be described as 1980’s television. I swear that this island may actually be in a time warp – none-the-less, we enjoyed the older shows while we ate. We went out occasionally for a smoke and enjoyed our beach and watching an ever increasing build up of seaweed encroaching on our beach. The vast amount of the seaweed coming even has the locals stumped. Some say it is an indicator of a bad hurricane season as it means wind patterns are changing, others say just the opposite. I have no idea but am looking forward to seeing how the complex intends to get rid of it. It is not only unsightly, but if it lays out there too long, it will start to rot and stink. Sure hope they ain’t waiting for a hurricane to come along and blow it away~~~  😉

Later in the afternoon, while sitting through an early episode of Friends, I hear a knock on the door. Answering the door, I find a young man wearing a Viya hat and asking if I was having trouble with my internet~! You could have knocked me over with a feather…… Yes sir I am — Come on in. He came in, looked at my router – got on the phone with someone and within 10 minutes — we had internet~! Yay~!!!  I never did find out what the issue was, what they did to fix it or how/why they showed up (especially on a Saturday) but I’m damn sure glad they did. It is so nice not to have to wait 5-10 minutes for something to load, let alone actually work~! We can now stream movies and watch shows again (commercial free) that are more up to date~!

With that – I’m gonna get some pictures up for you (and hopefully not have to wait for 3 hours for them to load) – and then go get me a nice cool shower and see if I can knock out another good nights sleep…….. without having to get up this time  😉

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

 

Well hells bells…… still don’t have our internet, so we’re gonna have to work through the long weekend working off of our hot spot. It took almost 10 minutes just to get this site to load – so it’ll be interesting to see if I can get more pictures up.

We have spent the bulk of the week, cleaning and straightening up around the condo and sitting around watching a crazy amount of TV. Guess we both needed it, but today was a get out and go day— started out going to the Orthopaedical Clinic. I managed to bugger up the only good shoulder I had left. I haven’t had a decent nights sleep since it happened and I did not want to go through the weekend not sleeping – I went in and asked for a Cortisone shot (LOVE that stuff~!) but like every other clinic I have ever been to, they insisted on me being examined and x-rays……. after all, I’m only 61 years old and had Cortisone put in dang near every joint in my body at one time or another – but what the hell do I know ? So I went through all the crap they wanted to put me through – they looked at the X-rays, and ruled out prescriptions and physical therapy and recommended….. wait for it………Cortisone~! Great gobs of hen sh*t Martha —! Sure wish I would have thought of that……. So, I got my Cortisone shot and was on my way….. can’t hardly wait to see what Island Prices for that morning is gonna cost……

Left the clinic, dropped off a load of laundry…. we’re trying out a local laundry service and then headed to Blues for some lunch. Haven’t been there in a week and figured we better make an appearance. My Queen got her a steak and I tried out a new sammich they were advertising. They called it a Lamb-borgini….. basically a burger made out of lamb and infused with Fetta Cheese…… oddly, wasn’t my cup of tea — I think it was the cheese . Lots of other people there were raving about it – so it had to just be my taste….. that’s okay though – They still have my Turkey Bacon Ranch~!!

Think I’m gonna call it here — looking forward to getting a decent night’s sleep as my Cortisone shot is kicking in nicely. Going to try and load a bunch of pictures from the last of the dive and some shots from our day at Rhythm’s and Rainbow beach.

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

Tie me to an ant hill and smother my ears in jelly~!!  Yet another attempt to get our internet fixed and yet another day of frustration dealing with what has got to be one of the most Mickey Mouse excuses for an internet outfit I have ever dealt with (VIYA – if you’re eavesdropping – it’s YOU I am talking about you worthless piece of SH*T~!) Jesus H. Christ — what a bunch of jerk water butt wipes~!!!!!!  Sorry – I had to get that out of my system….. I fully intend to light up their FB page as soon as I get this loaded…….. I thought AT&T was pathetic……. jeeeez — they can’t hold a candle to this bunch of sh*t stains…….

AnyWHO~~~~ (don’t ya hate when people say that) 😉  Our next day (Steph and the boys and us) — was spent at Rainbow beach – arguably one of the most popular beaches on the island.  I think part of that may be due to the fact that Rhythm’s Bar sits right next door to it. We have been to that bar multiple times, and it is always a fun experience — good food, the staff is fun and friendly and the views are to die for…… Steph said she wanted to check it our before they left – so away we went — it is on the West end of the island, so it is a 30 minute drive, but the water is almost always calm there – and it is a very pretty beach. We got there reasonably early and was the first people to pick out a spot on that gorgeous beach. A couple of small spots that hold bunches of small fish for novice snorkeler’s to OOh and Ahh about. Close to shore and easy to reach – although a strong surge that day added it’s own unique challenge to it, although as any good salt will tell you …… a calm sea does not a good sailor make (or snorkeler)

We swam, snorkeled and pitched balls the better part of the day, stopping for shade breaks and a nice ‘lunch’ break at Rhythm’s bar…..  I am comfortable saying everybody had a good time – including my ‘Mess’ who got himself a really nice nap in after a vigorous morning of bobbing about in the waves……… As the sun started it’s downward trek toward the horizon, we loaded up DD and headed back to the condo. Getting back, everybody rinsed off the salt, the grill was loaded up and we watched the sun set as my Deuce tried out his hand with my GoPro…….

Bellies full, a fun filled, sun filled day and soon everybody was heading for bed… getting rested for their last day on the island~~~

I’m going to try and load the rest of Stephie’s and my dive pictures- depending how it goes – maybe a few more. Good night ya’ll — Thankx for stopping in~!

Well dammit Emmit~! Never got a call from a manager – course, I was just smart enough not to hold my breath waiting for it and my appointment (with official ticket number) is for tomorrow….. so we’ll see what that brings. Right now my little hot spot seems to be working, so I’m gonna ramble a little but and then see if I can load some more pictures of me and Stephanie’s dive.

Spent the day, like the last 3 not doing much of anything. I made us a breakfast to kick start our day – only to wind up spending the bulk of it on the couch watching the idiot box….. happily, our cable does work – so at least we have a little bit of entertainment. We have been doing a little work on the place, cleaning it up and getting it back in shape from having the Jenkin’s crew here. Finally got the patio doors cleaned, so we can see that beautiful view again, the house has been swept multiple times and we have got most of the sand back out on the beach.

Paid some bills, sat and stared out at our view and watched more of the idiot box. We did manage to get a contractor in here to get an estimate on getting a washer and dryer. He’s gonna work something up and let us know in the morning. We currently have to walk the length of the complex, to a laundry room that has 3 machines (3 washers and 3 dryers). They cost $2.00 per cycle and typically don’t work worth a crap……. so to get a load done typically costs us $ 8.00 – plus a ton of aggravation……..I talked to the owner and he said he would entertain letting us put in a washer & dryer in the unit provided we split the cost with him — and I’m good with that – so we’ll see where that goes.

We had a visit from the local ‘lawn mowers’ – something you don’t see everyday… but taking it in stride as part of living on this island.

Gonna wrap it up here and see if the hot spot will load some pictures for me. Good night ya’ll — Thankx for stopping in~!

Sorry for the long delays in writing, but I am dealing with a malfunctioning little hot spot and some of the worse customer service I have ever dealt with, with our current internet supplier. I made a call 7 days ago and informed them of our issues. They set up and appointment for 6 days later. Understanding the entire island is dealing with these issues, I patiently waited until my appointment day. Then waited that entire day, as I wanted to be sure to be here when they showed up. And I waited……… and waited. 5:00 that afternoon – I called customer service again… they said their repair guy was on the job and just running a little bit late. Okay, I can deal with that. 8:00 came and went and I gave up on the guy. Called again at 09:00 this morning to inquire happened to the repair person……. only to be told they have no record of my repair ticket or telephone calls…….. What in the hell ???  I just talked to you 12 hours ago!?!?! Choking back the urge to yell – I scheduled ANOTHER appointment… at least this one is a little quicker – only having to wait 4 days this time. I [politely] asked how do I know the same thing will not happen again ? The young lady gave me a ‘ticket number’… AHHH…. a ticket number~!  Woo-Hoo~!  That and a dollar will get me a cup of coffee (maybe)….. not entirely happy with the way the conversation went – I again politely told the young lady I would like to speak with a manager. Absolutely~!! Except there are no managers currently available…… but I will have one call you the minute they are available~!!! Al-Righty-then…… looking forward to the call. Guess I may as well enjoy looking forward to the call…. as it’s been almost 3 hours now and still nadda~~~ Not going to hold my breath….. and will wait as patiently as possible for my next appointment….. Shouldn’t have to worry this time though, cause I have a ticket number~!  😉

Picking up from the last page……. we wrapped up our dive of the shallow wrecks and loaded back into the boat to head for our second location known as Spratt Hall. Shallower water with a reef that is still in pretty good condition (apparently a lot of the reef was destroyed during the hurricanes)- this reef held lots of coral, sponges and aquatic life, including a couple of Sting Ray’s~! I behaved myself and did not chase after them [[much]]  😉  I sucked my air up considerably faster than everyone else, so I headed up to the boat for some beer and pine apple while the others on the dive spent the last of their air.  Stephie finally came up and we enjoyed the sunshine and a quiet calm ride back to the dock. It was nice to make a couple of dives with my own equipment….. it was even nicer making those dives with my Daughter. Especially now, we don’t get to spend much time together as it is and to be able to do it, doing something we both enjoy and can share makes it extra enjoyable……….  🙂

Now to see if I can get some pictures to load……. Thankx for stopping in~!

 

Hey ya’ll…..I’m back, at least I think so for a bit. First time I have been able to get on here in 4 days……Not sure if I’ll be able to get any pictures to load (and I have a ‘ton’ of them) – but at least I can catch up a little bit about our adventures……

Last we chatted, we had done the Hamm’s Bluff Light house adventure….. There was some recuperating done the following day, so it was a beach kinda day. We headed out fairly early that morning and went back out to Cane Bay, only to be greeted by a much stronger than normal winds, that made snorkeling no fun (because the water was so stirred up) and sitting on the beach was painful from blowing sand – so we loaded Double D up again and took off for the Buccaneer Resort again. Arriving still fairly early, we had the place almost to ourselves, and settled in for what turned into the rest of the day at this small little cove, snorkeling, swimming and stopping for the occasional shade break and some snacks. Not much to the day – just enjoying the day and each others company. Came back, got the salt rinsed off of everybody and headed up to Blues Backyard for hotdogs, burgers and Smoked Turkey-Bacon-Ranch sammiches~!  Bellies full, we headed back to the condo again for a much needed night’s sleep.

Next day was a day for me and Stephanie — Oma graciously agreed to watch the boys again while Steph and I went out for a couple of dives. We arrived at the shop a little bit early because I [finally] broke down and ordered my own BCD and Regulators and they had come in and I wanted to get acquainted with them before using them. Having got that out of the way, we loaded up into the boat and out across that beautiful blue water. Our first stop was a location called ‘Shallow Wrecks’, While not technically a wreck, there was a large barge that had been sank along with a couple of truck chassis. I cannot adequately describe how good it felt to step off the back of that boat into some of the prettiest blue water I’ve seen in a long, long time. Absolutely breath taking….. and incredible visibility. I am guesstimating an easy 60′-70’…… just wow~! Only took about a minute to get to a massive barge laying in about 65′ feet of water. Beautiful marine life abound. It was so much fun floating around looking at that big ole thing. There were multiple large holes cut in it to sink it, and you could peer into them to see some of the insides of the craft. Kind of an eerie feeling as you peeked into the bowels of the boat, with the brilliant rays of sunlight streaking through openings allowing a glimpse of the interior. If you ever seen the move ‘The Deep’ (with Jacqueline Bisset, Nick Nolte, Dick Anthony Williams, 1977 ) you’ll understand  the feeling I was getting. You’ll also find out where my fascination with Green Moray Eels comes from  😉   Older movie but definitely worth watching.

I’m already at my 500 words – so gonna break it off here and try and get some pictures to load for you. Hopefully can get back in here tomorrow for some more….

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

 

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Hey ya’ll…… came back from the airport yesterday to find out our internet had taken a giant dump….. [[boo-hiss]]….. messed with it as much as I dared.   I tried the hot spot on my phone and couldn’t get anything to come up – so I was not able to get on here and regale you of the day’s adventure – so being on the tail of a fairly taxing day….. I crawled into bed and ‘died’…………….Got up this morning, dug out our little AT&T hot spot and am now once again connected ((mostly)).

Yesterday was a grand day as we headed out to the far West end of the island to try and find Hamm’s Bluff lighthouse. The light house was built around 1915 and decommissioned in 1996. It sits perched high upon a bluff on the NW corner of the island at approx. 360′ above sea level. A bit of a daunting trail up to it, especially for retiree’s that have not had a heckva lot of physical activity in the last year, but we loaded up our ‘gear’ and headed out for the adventure.  Some of us got winded about halfway up the trail, so we opted to sit in the shade while the younger set continued on up the hill…… after catching our breath (and a couple of cigarettes to make breathing even tougher) we continued on up the trail and eventually made it to the top to catch up to the younger set~~ I can honestly say it was worth every ounce of sweat that poured out of us and all of the huffing and puffing. Absolutely beautiful. It was a little bit depressing, the condition it is now in, but after sitting mostly unattended for the last 22 years, the salt and weather have taken it’s toll on it. That and my personal beef, that all the filthy humans that have felt the need to drop their trash up there and de-face the light house.

Even with all the disgusting things the filthy humans have managed to inflict on the light house, it still has the tendency to hold you in awe as you look at the views it offers. Especially when you try and imagine the sites that grand ole light house has seen in the last hundred years or so. After thoroughly exploring the light house and soaking up as much of the views as we could take, we started our journey back down the mountain. Gotta tell you — SO much easier going down that path than up……. 😉   Came back home, cleaned up a little bit and then loaded up the Bus and Double D’s to head to the airport to drop Josh off as he had to head back to reality to get back to work.

We have Steph, my Deuce and my mess staying with us a couple of extra days, to meet up with Josh later in the week. Today Steph wanted to get in some more beach time, so we headed out to Cane Bay again, to discover that the restaurant was closed and the bay was extremely windy and the water choppy. We hung out for about an hour before we decided to pack it up and head back to the Buccaneer and their protected little cove.  We got us a quick bite to eat and then commenced to spend the next 5 hours just having a ball, breaking occasionally for shade breaks and snacks. Worn out and sun crisped, we finally came back to the condo for showers and supper. As Steph is [trying] to get the worn out little beggars to bed – I write this and am going to TRY and get some pictures up for you……..

Me & Steph have a 2 tank dive tomorrow – so should have some underwater pictures for you if I can get them to load~~~~

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

 

The “Mom’s” of the house wanted to spend their day on the beach at a neat little place here called Hotel on the Cay. A nice sized hotel sitting on a very small island right off the boardwalk of downtown Christiansted. It is about a 2 minute boat ride out to the island. They have cabana’s, umbrella’s, chairs etc. you can rent and one of the prettiest, kid friendly beaches around. After the guys made breakfast for the Mom’s we loaded up into the bus and headed for the island. After we got to the island, we got us a couple of loungers and a cabana and was soon set up and heading for that gorgeous blue water. We swam and snorkeled stopping about every hour for a shade break and some snacks – then took a break around lunch to get in on some of the menu being offered from the grill.

We did a little paddle boat riding and managed to snag another kayak so me and Will could make a lap around the bay before coming back for some more swimming and snorkeling. I managed to get out for a little bit of snorkeling on my own and managed to come across a Barracuda that was about 3′ long and also managed to get a couple shots of a sting ray cruising through the area~! We spent the bulk of the day having a wonderful time with each others company. Finally decided everybody had about as much sun as we needed and started packing up to head back to the condo. We got here, got gear cleaned and everybody got a shower before taking off to head out to the North shore to Eat @ Cane Bay for a nice Mother’s Day meal. Outstanding meal for some outstanding Mom’s~!!

Now back at the condo again and most are off to bed already, worn out by a great day…….. There was some chatter about making the hike up to an old light house out on the Northern tip of the island – but we’ll see what the sun baked folks feel like in the morning……  😉

I hope all you Mom’s out there had a great day as well.  Good night ya’ll — thankx for stopping in~!

 

Decision was made that today was going to be spent at a beach… and the first beach we were going to check out was at the Buccaneer Hotel and Resort. Nice not so small resort located about 10 minutes outside of town. Pulled into a mostly empty parking lot around 10:15 and walked around to one of the prettiest beaches we have been to so far. No waves to speak of, fairly gentle slope into the water…. very nice. We got us a couple of beach chairs and set up camp and was soon headed to the water. The water was a touch brisk this morning, but once you were in it felt Oh so nice~! Water had quite a bit of silt in it, but still awfully pretty. We swam, snorkeled and played to our hearts content. After an hour or so – we came out for a shade break, have some snacks and make sure no one was getting cooked. As it happens, there is a nice little bar/restaurant right there on the beach and by the time we got to our lounge chairs, a young lady was there asking if we would like drinks. Well yes indeed, thank you very much. Drinks and snacks taken care of, we all headed back to the water. After another hour or so, another break, more drinks….. yessir – that was working out pretty well. Stephanie managed to wrangle a kayak (supposed to be for hotel guests only) and me and my Deuce jumped in and was soon headed for the small reef just outside of the swimming area. After a sight seeing tour of the area, I came in and swapped out passengers and took Stephanie and my Mess (Colton) for the same sight seeing tour. Wrapped that up and brought them back into the beach and Will decided he needed another ride, so he loaded up and away we went (after I dumped both of us when my foot got hung up trying to speed load into the kayak) but we got everything righted, my foot in and away we went. This time we checked out the rocks along the far shore looking for fishes or whatever we could scare up. Sea life must have seen us coming and went and hid cause we didn’t see anything except a bunch of that gorgeous water. Sea hunt over with, we went and turned the kayak back in and returned for a little bit more swimming.

It got to be going on 4:00 by then and we figured everybody was about swam and sunned out, so we loaded up and headed back for the condo. I got the gear all cleaned and put up while everybody got their showers. I took a quick shower and then we headed up to Blues for a bite to eat and some adult beverages. Bellies full and everybody worn out, we are now back at the condo, winding down for the evening. The ”Mom’s” of the group want to go to Hotel on the Cay tomorrow, so we’re gonna get some rest and try to be ready for another big day tomorrow.

Good night ya’ll — I hope you have a Happy Mother’s Day tomorrow to all the Mom’s reading — Thankx for stopping in~!