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Got up bright and early this morning in anticipation of taking off for the West end of the island to participate in what they called a pier clean up. Only pier on the island big enough to host a cruise ship. A couple of local dive shops teamed up to sponsor the effort along with a local eatery that fed the divers when they were done. I’d say they had close to 40 divers for the event – and all of the divers spent their entire dive, swimming along side and under the full length of the pier picking refuse up off the sea floor. There were lots of plastic bottles and plastic cups, Mardi Gras beads, dive masks, a dive knife, miles and miles of fishing line including weights and hooks and a countless number of other types of junk that was picked up, bagged up and hauled back to the shore and collected. (you can see some pictures of FB about it at:  https://www.facebook.com/adventuresindivingstx )

It was the first time I had ever taken part in an event like that. They teamed me up with another lone diver and in we went. It was a lot different from all the other dives I’ve ever made. First off, I did not have a dive master with me to make sure I didn’t do anything dangerous or stupid – or to help keep an eye on my air supply. Actually, my dive buddy was apparently less experienced than I was (as far as ratings go) and she kept calling me the instructor….  I did manage not to get lost, or run out of air (barely) so I called the dive a success and feel a lot more confident about the fact, I think I could safely make a dive now without a dive master leading the way. Now I just have to find me a dive buddy~!

I got to do a little bit of site seeing while I was down there….. spotted 3 different small Moray Eels and a whole wad of Lobster~!   Water clarity left a lot to be desired as there were a lot of fins stirring up silt off the bottom – and every time you pulled on fishing line….. you usually pulled up a bunch of silt with it. I didn’t take my camera with me, as I was there to ‘work’……. so, sorry – no underwater pix today.

None-the-less- it was a dive – in that cool refreshing beautiful water – and it helped out the environment – or at least I like to think it does, and a great way to spend a Sunday morning.

Going furniture shopping tomorrow for some stuff for our new place (on the owners dime)……. woo-hoo~~

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

 

Past couple of days I have ventured out for odds and ends…. not a lot of adventure or picture taking opportunities… but am slowly discovering, our beautiful little island must be stuck in some kind of time warp. At least, that is what it feels like some time….. seriously….. 49 minutes to get through a McDonalds drive through……. ??  I went to the bank yesterday…. I wanted get an advance on my debit card for a couple of hundred bucks…… I needed a hundred dollar bill, a fifty dollar bill and some change…… Do you have an account here ? No  🙁   We can’t do that then……. okay, fair enough…. (pulling a wad of $20 bills from my wallet) can I please get a 100 and a 50 for this ?  No, we can’t do that. I’m sorry, what was that ? We can’t do that. I thought the young lady was pulling my leg, so I smiled and said, yeah right….. now can I please get a 100 and a 50 for this please ? I’m sorry, we can’t do that. REALLY ? Why not ? Bank policy. REALLY ? [still thinking she’s kidding] No Sir – bank policy, we cannot do that. Once I realized she was serious, I then started getting annoyed… (hard to believe huh?) You understand? All I want to do is exchange this (holding up a handful of $20) for a 100 and a 50 correct ? Yes, but we cannot do that. REALLY…….? I don’t want any extra money… just swap this [money] for a 100 and a 50……..?!?!? No, we cannot do that. ((Dammit Emmit~!)) I would like to speak with a manager please……[[eye roll]] … gone about 5 minutes and said manager shows up….. I explained to said manager what I wanted to do…… no problem….. you will need to do a cash advance….. [[eye roll – me this time]] and how do I go about doing that ??…… to make a really long story a little bit shorter……… I had to sign into a book – chat with a thoroughly upset woman, (not sure if she was upset with me or the fact she had to work for a living)  who made 4 different phone calls, left the office area twice, asked for 3 different forms of (picture) ID, filled out more f**king forms than I did when I enlisted in the USAF and roughly 50 minutes later….. I got my 100 and my 50……. JESUS H CHRIST~!!! Seriously…… I thought I was in an early 80’s episode of a bad sitcom…… I seriously expected to start to hear Rod Serling starting to narrate this event….. wow~~~

Went to Blues Backyard BBQ this afternoon to listen to Reverend Raven and the chain smoking alter boys….. Fine trio of men who did a really good job of mostly their own music… kind of a happy blend of blues and jazz with their own unique spin on it. Apparently the Reverend is kind of a big deal in the Chicago area (if you choose to believe him)….. but the group had a really nice sound….. if you get the chance to hear them – I would strongly recommend them.

Shut the backyard down and met some friends at another local bar for drinks and a bite to eat… They had a small band playing there that didn’t sound bad – but was entirely too loud for where they were playing. The bar made a mediocre drink and the food really nothing to talk about – but the company was outstanding…….. just glad I didn’t have to pay using a check……..  😉

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

Sorry ya’ll…….  I got nuthin’~~~!

Thankx for stoppin’ in~~

We went and looked at the unit here in the complex – and mostly liked what we saw – but it had 2 big drawbacks….. first, I wouldn’t be allowed to have a grill on the patio ( I would have to go up the hill to a common area) and 2) they wanted a $3600 non-refundable deposit…..Uhmmmmm….no~!    The grill thing I could have probably worked around…. but that 3600 bucks was the equivalent of raising the rent by $300 a month….. so we politely declined the opportunity and reached out to the guy about the place we looked at yesterday on the beach, and accepted their terms. We put down first, last and security deposit and will move in on the 1st of April~!   Wa-Hooo~!! No more short term places~!! We will actually be  able to empty our suit cases and start living mostly normal again. I have already procured a nice big grill (and will be able to use it on my patio) for the place – so we are on our way~!

Best part of that is – we will now be able to show proof of residency and be able to get our USVI drivers license and actually become part of the island~! We can’t wait – but unfortunately – that is exactly what we will have to do for the next week…. is wait, as the place is not available until the first. We like it where we are at – but it will still be nice to have our own place……… and I’m sure our realtor Kat will be glad to be done putting up with us (for a while)  We still want her to get us first refusal on the place we really want when it finally becomes available~!   😉

We stopped by Blues backyard BBQ for a couple of celebratory drinks and I had me a Turkey Bacon Ranch sammich~!! Finally came back to the condo – to relax and finish off the season of Hell’s Kitchen that we have been watching.

That’s about it – so I’m gonna leave it here with you. I’m gonna put up a couple of pictures that I hope you haven’t seen yet then drag my tired butt off to bed……

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

Another mostly slow day today — watching Gordon Ramsey berate people and then headed out to re-check a place we are thinking about making our ‘permanent’ place. Nice 2 bedroom directly on the beach. It’s not the best swimming beach on the island by far, but it is on the beach…. We are also going to look at another place tomorrow, not on the beach, but actually in the same complex we’re in now…… We’re hoping for a few better amenities than the beach place offers….. so more on that tomorrow.

We did stop in at Blues for a couple of drinks and to let them know we are still alive and kicking….. stopped and picked up some Mickey-D’s on the way home (49 minutes to get through the drive through….. we are definitely not in Kansas any more) and came back and enjoyed our Quarter pounders while we watched more Hell’s Kitchen.

Not a heckva lot else to ramble about, so I’m gonna leave you with a poem I learned from my Dad….. I think I may have put this up here a long time ago – but it is a timeless classic and in my opinion – words to live by. I think the original version came from Milton Berle, and I think Dear Old Dad may have remembered it slightly different – but this was Dad’s version and the one I memorized…. so feel free to copy or share.

I’d rather be a could be,
If I couldn’t be an are.
For a could be, is a maybe,
With a chance of touching par.
I’d rather be a has been,
Than a might have been by far.
For a might have been, has never been.
But a has was once an are.

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

  View from our possible new place…..

Surfer Duuuuuude………..

 in all his magnificence

Another day of R & R for me and my Bride — a nice breakfast whipped up by yours truly….. and taking it easy the entire day….. we have got into binge watching episodes of Hells Kitchen and that’s what we did for most of the day. It’s got a whole new spin on it watching it uncensored……. Did have one small development today that added some ‘spin’ to our day — shortly after I finished up washing my dishes…. I noticed our water had gained a very disconcerting yellow color to it. I cornered the local maintenance dude and asked him about it – he said they were probably working on the pipes somewhere and that it should clear up in 3 or 4 hours after they are done with their work. He confirmed it was definitely not fit for consumption in that condition and then sheepishly admitted that he don’t drink it under the best of conditions…… UMmm …. thankx for that piece of intel.  I have heard it both ways – fit to drink – and probably shouldn’t….. that does probably explain why the past 12 hours I have contracted what can probably only be described as a case of Montezuma’s revenge….. a really bad case of it…. AHhhh – island life….. SO many things to learn yet….. guess we will be switching to bottled water….. Oh good — something else we will need to spend money on…….  Still, we are on a gorgeous island where the temperature is in in the low 80°s every day with warm tropical breezes every day….. which makes it extra enjoyable especially since I have received multiple pictures today of snow back in Indiana (on the First Day of Spring)…. Hehehehe…. ya’ll have fun with that~!

Had our hearts warmed a bit this morning when I got a text from our local bar friends asking if everything is okay……. we have not made an appearance at the Backyard in almost a week and they were worried about us and was just checking in to make sure we were okay and to make sure we didn’t need anything……. good people~!

Because we have not been out and about, I haven’t had the chance for many pictures….. so I spent a little time out on our porch watching another gorgeous sunset and snapped a couple of shots of it for you…… So – even when you are getting hit with outrageous insurance payments, doctors appointments, no permanent place to live (C’mon Kat~!) and a pesky case of running to the bathroom to fart (you hope) – when you see something like this sunset — it’s hard not to smile and know that even though you terribly miss your family, you’re worried about bills and places to live and you dread one more trip to the bathroom, that you did make the right choice……..

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

Started the day out just taking it easy (seriously, this retirement stuff is great~!) Had some coffee, caught up on computer stuff and took it easy until noon when it was time to go for my bride’s doctor appointment. Sure glad we had an appointment this time as we [only] sat there for a half hour this time instead of the 15 minutes we waited when we ‘walked in’ ….. guess that’s the same everywhere….. hurry up and wait. Finally got called and was relieved to find out everything was hunky-dory with my Queen. Blood test and everything all came back clean — Yay~!! The FNP talked with her for a bit about a couple of other things I had concerns about (nothing life threatening) and we were off. Because I was in the middle of finding out about how bad we got shafted on our health insurance – I wanted to get back and wrap that up.

What a load of crap – our provider switched to another carrier and apparently “just because they wanted to” our premium went up $ 300 per month….. and because I wasn’t aware of it – my premium payments didn’t cover as much as they were supposed to and they were on the verge of dropping our coverage. It would have been a godamn novelty to let me in on that piece of intel~!     Jeez Louise why does that have to be so friggin’ hard in this day of communication??? Anyhow….. $1500 later, our coverage is back solid in place and we are good to go now (except for the additional $3600 a year it’s going to cost us) Dammit Emmit~! Kinda feels like someone is not wanting us to enjoy our retirement as much…… but- life goes on – and it is going on with us being on our island – so we’ll make do and continue to enjoy ourselves as long and as much as we can.

Not a lot of pictures for you tonight — guess I’m gonna have to get my butt out and about and get busy taking some.

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

Sunset from our living room

Well I semi-unintentionally took a couple of days off…… been trying to get my Queen healed up, my foot healed up and find a place to live. Thankfully we are making head way on my Queen and my foot….. Angie is feeling much better, but still runs down pretty quickly, so our outings have been fairly brief.

I did make my first dive on this island Friday. Tried out a dive shop I have been chatting with for a while and went and did a dive with them on the Frederiksted pier. Thankfully, the dive turned out much better than what I thought it was going to. Once we got out away from the beach (it was a shore dive) – the water cleared up very nicely and when we got out around the pilings of the pier, I was very happy to see some beautiful corals growing as well as a generous dose of marine life – including an octopus that looked like he had been in an ass whoppin’ contest and lost. He only had 2 full length tentacles… the other 6 looked like they had been torn or chewed off – but he seemed to be doing pretty good none-the-less and in time will re-grow the other tentacles back. I ashamedly must say that I did not get any pictures, as I have managed to stow my charging cable for my GoPro in a place where I can no longer find it. Damn it Emmit~! No worries though – I will find it and will be shooting more underwater pix in no time.

In the interest of not making our situations worse, we opted to sit out of the St. Patrick’s day celebration here on the island. It is apparently quite the event though. We could see some of it from our gallery (porch) and could hear very loud music all day long. We could see part of the parade from our gallery as well. Apparently most of the island shuts down for the celebration. Looked and sounded like a hellva an event — oh well, we’ll catch it next year.

Today we went and looked at a possible long term place. 3 bed – 2.5 bath with a pool. Looked great in the pictures. What the pictures didn’t mention, it is about 30 minutes out in the middle of no where and 3/4th the way up a mountain. You access the house by going up a very small one lane road that is exceptionally steep and has 3 dandy switchbacks in it. Seriously, this road would have a Grand Canyon mule saying ‘Oh, HELL no’….. We both discussed the ramifications of coming back from Blues backyard, about half hammered, in the dark and trying to negotiate that road…..Uhmm …..No~! That was not the only reason we opted not to take the house – several other issues contributed to it. The place had one hellva view though…wow~! I did snap one picture from up there so you get an idea of how high up we were…. Came back to the condo and took it easy for the rest of the day…..

We have a follow up Doctors appointment for my Bride to get results from blood tests….. not sure what else the day will bring – Catch ya again tomorrow [I hope] Good night ya’ll…… Thankx for stopping in~!

view from the house

Off the wall bar

Off the wall bar

Started our day off this morning with my bride telling me she thought she needed to go to the clinic. Not knowing where that was exactly at, I looked it up and away we went. She told me she thought she had another UTI  (Urinary Tract Infection) — Got to the clinic and got in fairly quickly. FNP ran a couple of tests and came back with the diagnosis of a Kidney infection…… Dammit Emmit~!

My Queen got a shot in the touchas and was sent off for blood and urine samples as the FNP wanted to make sure she wasn’t missing anything. So we drove to a different clinic for those samples. Then we drove to the pharmacy to get prescriptions filled. Finished all that up in time to stop by Blues for a quick beer and then meet up with our realtor to look at a couple of places. Both nice, but nothing I would “write home to Mom” about. Realtor is supposed to be lining up a couple of more for us to see. When we finished with the showings – Angie said she was tired and wanted to go lay down, so we headed back to the condo. Got the place cooled down and got her settled. I took off for the grocery store. Because I hadn’t eaten yet (and it’s now 3:00) I swung past Blues for a beer and a smoked turkey, bacon and ranch sammich……. woo-doggy that is some kind of wonderful eating right there~! Finished the sammich and a couple of more beers for good measure – then headed out to the store….. Jeez was that a mess…. but I Got-R-Done and headed back to tend to my bride.

Just got back and got the groceries put away when she came rolling out of the bedroom. Feeling a little bit better, but still sore from shots and blood draws. We repaired to the living room for some ‘Gordon’ (Hell’s Kitchen)… did you know when you stream movies (or TV shows) from Amazon – that they are not censored ?  Adds a whole new dimension to watching that show with all the ‘bleeps’ gone….. and there were a lot of bleeps to remove — wow. We watched Gordon until Angie got tired and headed off to bed and now here I sit…… gonna load more random pictures [maybe] and then head that way myself.

I have my first dive (on this island) scheduled for tomorrow – looking forward to that~! Good night ya’ll — Thankx for stopping in~!!

Didn’t get a hellva lot accomplished today…….. I took DD into the shop for some PM work and just to get it good and checked out. My Queen opted to stay at home as she wasn’t feeling quite up to snuff – so I drove in and dropped the truck off. I walked down to Blues Backyard BBQ (500 yards or so away) and set down and enjoyed an ice cold beer….. and another and another and another….. until 4:00 in the afternoon ( I dropped the truck off at 10:30)…….. wow…. I was kinda glad I had that little walk to get back to the truck – It gave me a chance to clear my head a little bit. DD was ready. Still a couple of things need done, but parts need to be ordered, so it’ll probably be a couple of weeks before anything else happens.

Stopped by the store for a couple of things, then came home to tend to my bride. Not sure what is going on with her. I suspect she has picked up some kind of bug but then again, maybe just worn out from a fun filled week. We’ll see what a good night’s sleep will do for her.

So I’m gonna leave it at this — I still have a butt load of pictures to share, so I’ll see if I can get them to load. Have a good night ya’ll….. Thankx for stopping in~!

Well Dammit Emmit~!! My internet is dying on me and I can’t get any more pictures to load…… Maybe tomorrow.

B