Got a LOT accomplished today~! Love it when that happens! Got insurance on our truck….. tried to open a bank account here – but that fell flat because we can’t show proof of residency yet….. Dammit Emmit~!    Got Grand Daughter birthday gift ordered….. got a line on a couple of new places to look at and actually got to look at 3 different possible places to stay~~! Yay~!

First place was nice with a ‘view’ to die for, but the place was awful small…. not counting it out, we moved on to the second place…… nice~! Very, very nice~!!! Equally gorgeous view, ground floor, checks off almost every single box on our list…… on the beach [hate myself I didn’t get a picture of that view], gorgeous pool, nice complex………trouble is, it’s not available for another couple of weeks….. maybe – will have to wait probably until after the weekend for more details on that.  Drove out to a third place….. wasn’t able to go in….. supposed to be 3 bed/2 bath house….. has a nice pool, but vicious deep. It is also located on the side of a very steep hill surrounded by trees and mild jungle with dang little ‘view’.  Going out tomorrow morning to look at the inside of it…. but it is going to have to be mind blowing to change our minds, as we have already kind of made the decision on it. One other place to do a drive by tomorrow – so we’re trying to keep our minds open……. but # 2 today could very easily become our new permanent place – will just have to do the short term thing a little longer…… more details in a day or two.

Being Thursday, my bride knew that at Blues Backyard BBQ it was steak night, and those of you that know my bride, knows how she is with her steaks….. especially since I haven’t been able to do much grilling since we left Curacao… so being really close to Blues – we pulled in and moseyed on up to the bar – only to find our drinks already made and sitting there when we walked up……. yeah, maybe we have been spending a lot of time there   😉  Angie had her steak and I had a couple of hot dogs….. pickle, onion and a little mustard….. just good ole standard issue hot dogs – and they were wonderful~!  Angie had her steak with extra sautéed onions and halfway through complained she was full…… but somehow managed to  polish off the entire steak and onions  😉  We stayed and had drinks and listened to the local entertainment – A guy who thought he was a whole lot better than he actually was. His side kick had a nice voice – but apparently there is some kind of pi$$ing contest going on between them and he kept her mic turned down low enough you could barely hear her.  We listened to the first set and both agreed, neither of us wanted to hear the second set – so we finished our drinks, bid adieu to the folks at the bar and headed west to our little piece of the mountain.

Back home safe and sound, listening to roosters, dogs and a myriad of other noises out there….. probably gonna hit the showers and crash soon, to be well rest for tomorrow.

Thank you to all for the well wishes concerning my Blue Lights incident…. more locals confirmed today – that I was probably a lot luckier than I realized…. guess that what happens, when you’re half loaded, stupid and just trying to help….. it won’t happen again.

Thankx for stopping in~!

Well sport fans, friends and neighbors……. It’s been just over an hour and still have not got 1 single picture to load….. so going to see if I can get this to post…. Sorry~

Been a fun filled action packed kinda day where we got to run a lot [well – drive]….. determined to find a permanent something to drive so we can relieve ourselves of the bus – set out looking at more vehicles…. lots of disappointments. Finally came across a 2007 Toyota Texas Edition extended cab pick up…… wheeled and dealed with the owner and finally agreed to meet in the morning to finalize paperwork. I wasn’t really shot in the a$$ about the truck or the owner, but it was going to get us out of the bind we were about to get in……. We decided to ‘celebrate’ our accomplishment at out favorite watering hole since we were fairly close anyway…….. we were going tonight anyway because they had a band I wanted to check out – we just wound up there about 2 hours early.

Got to Blues Backyard BBQ – got a frosty cold Budweiser and was listening to the chatter and watching the band that was already there and starting to set up, when one of the owners comes and commences to tell me about a friend who is having health issues and had to move back to the states and had a really nice pickup she needed to sell. Looooong story shortened – called, went and checked it out and am closing the deal on the truck~! The truck is 2 years newer than the Toyota and $2500 LESS~! And – I feel good about this one – so in the next couple of days we should be the proud owners of our very own vehicle here on St. Croix — It’s not a Chevy — but it’s also not a Ford or a Toyota and will just have to do – but, it has a back seat and ample room for luggage so we can haul folks back and forth to the airport when they come to visit. (Again – we will rent a bus when there is a big crowd) As we sat and listened to Hudson and the Hoo Doo Cats (who were doing a bang up job by the way) and enjoying ice cold libations, the owner called me over and introduced me to a guy that may just have a place for us to live. Sounds like it has everything we’re looking for~! We are gonna check it out tomorrow~! WoW~!!!  What a great way to end what started out to be a really $%^&&*( kind of day.  During the course of the rest of the evening – talking with a couple of the locals at the bar – I told them about my adventures last night….. and I was informed by them – that it sounded like I apparently narrowly avoided one of the biggest scams on the island…… and that I could have very easily wound up with a bullet hole in me or my throat cut if the law hadn’t showed up when they did…. definitely a lesson learned……and I was just trying to be nice….. that’ll learn me durn me~!

Band packed up and we shut the place down and headed West to our humble abode…… here now, dealing with a very uncooperative internet tonight…. so not having a lot of new pictures to show you and really, really slow internet, I’m gonna leave it here with a picture of my new favorite sammich that I had for supper tonight…….

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

Smoked Turkey Bacon Ranch …… yum~!

My oh my how a day can change…. and how…… started our day off with a yummy-licious breakfast my Queen made for us. Decided we wanted to get out and check out some stuff – so jumped into the bus and headed for the local car dealer. We decided we didn’t necessarily need a Jeep so we broaden our search to include pick-em-um-up trucks…… would love to have my little black sled on the island……. but wish in one hand and sh*t in the other and see which hand fills up the quickest (another saying Dad used a lot)….. stopped by first to check progress on ‘our’ Jeep… still at a stand still there – wandered around the lot looking at what else was available…… NADDA — well, there was a lot of stuff available – but all of them were about $ 18000 over our budget….. Dammit Emmit~!

Drove out to the East side of the island to check out a Jeep our realtor had sent us a picture of….. finally found it. Nice looking Jeep until you look inside of it and discover most of the inside was gone~~ Trying to keep an open mind – I called the number and the young man told me… It’s a 2002 and it “does run”…… UMMmmm…. Thank you – Yeah… I don’t think that one would quite fit our needs… so we drove away. We drove around several condo complexes looking at potential sites, just so we could be familiar with them if something came up in them……. Headed back toward the house and wound up going by Blues Backyard BBQ….. and I guess by now you know how that wound up……… after probably entirely too many drinks… we decided to head back to the hills and both agreed we would hit up the local Subway near the house for a sammich to take home with us – which we did…. damn shame they were closed… it would have been a MUCH more peaceful night if they weren’t.

We had been told about a local eatery close to our turn off – so we decided we would stop and check it out. We walked in and quickly discovered we were the only non-locals in the place. We got a warm enough welcome and soon was immersed in local conversation. I ordered several finger foods to munch on and my Bride ordered her some stuff. I had some wonderfully delicious fish sticks and 3 ‘sliders’ that were almost full sized burgers and a half a dozen ‘wings’. By the time I had finished the fish sticks and the 3 “sliders” I was stuffed and then out came my 6 ‘wings’ – these things were wings and breast combined…. I couldn’t even think about eating them – so I had them boxed up to go. During all of this, I struck up a conversation with an older woman next to me (I found out later was 76 years old) and was mesmerized with her conversation…… unbeknownst to me – at the same time, my bride had got deep into a conversation with (what I found out later) was the local hot head…….. that’s where it started going South…….. the hot head started getting up in Angie’s face, becoming very loud and very boisterous….. then she started in on the old woman I was talking to (never was quite sure what it was about because they were speaking a slang Spanish that I struggled to understand) then turned back to Angie – I got up as the hot head moved back to Angie… I moved chairs out of the way ready to change the young woman’s mind if she started to do something ignorant…   without going into great detail, the old woman tired of the crap decided she wanted to go home….. I offered to drive her, but she said she lived “just over there” and could walk……hot head kept getting in her face, so I offered to walk her home and she gladly accepted……. I asked a guy at the bar to keep an eye on Angie (he was watching the whole thing as well)

A couple minutes down the road walking with the woman…. hot head shows up and starts calling me names and getting in the woman’s face….. fun…… she got increasingly hostile and violent towards the woman and I wound up dropping young hot head (a firm forearm to the top of her chest)….. oh yeah… it’s getting funner now…… Trying to keep the woman out of the road (pitch black with on coming traffic in the middle of nowhere) and hot head was REALLY upset with me, but at least keeping her distance now —-  I have not been called a “F**king white boy” that many times in as far as I can remember…….. Just about the time I thought I was going to have to set hot head back down again….. the pitch black night lit up in blue lights……. here we go~~~ Thankfully law enforcement showed up – and in a flash- we had 2 cars, four officers and a whole lot of blue lights……..

I was pulled to the side and questioned….. I guess being the only “f**king white boy” in the crowd – I stood out a bit……. After I explained to the cop who I was, and what I was doing with these two women in the middle of nowhere…. I was freed to go. I hiked my ass back to the bar, paid my bill, gathered up my Queen and sca-doodled my happy ass outta there……. Just another day in the islands…… Ya-man…… 😉

Longer than usual – but I thought you’d get a kick hearing about it…. (I was gonna do a selfie with the blue lights in the back ground – but it didn’t seem like the prudent thing to do at the time)…….. Thankx for stopping in~!

Not much went on today, running around looking at places to live and Jeeps to drive — never found anything of interest other than stopping at Blues for a bite to eat…..

Not feeling it tonight folks – so I’m gonna try and get some pictures loaded that I don’t think you’ve seen yet and call it a night………

Thankx for stopping in~!

Well, my little AT&T hot spot is still officially dead, but the hotspot on my phone is trying to step up and keep me on line — so I’m gonna try and get something up here while it seems to be working.

My Queen and I journeyed out to a local place about 20 minutes from us called Rhythm’s — a small beach bar located on Rainbow beach. Not sure yet how the beach got it’s name, but looking forward to finding out. A local R&B band was scheduled for tonight. We had heard them before at Blues Backyard BBQ – and my Queen wanted to hear them again. The boys were on point tonight, sounding really good. We sat and had drinks and listened to them, all the while watching the crowd there at the bar. Good heavens, you can’t believe the likes of people there, tall, short, black, white, brown, skinny, not so skinny, lesbians, gay’s, Jamaican, Puerto Rican, Latino, Japanese, Americans…… the wildest mix of  human kind you would ever want to lay eyes on….. in every stage of dress, from bikini clad to full blown dressed up……. it was quite an experience, to sit and watch that throng of humanity. There was every type of hand shake, to hugs, fist bumps, waving…. constantly… all those people, drinking, eating, listening to music having a wonderful time. We were there over 3 hours and I did not see one instance of hostility or aggression anywhere in that multitude of different people. Just people enjoying each others company and getting along. It does the soul good to see that….. I hope I get to see it again and again and again and again………. The whole time having a spectacular sunset going on in the background~! Maybe that was the reason for such a peaceful event….. don’t know – but sure hope it stays that way.

I’m gonna stop here and see if I can get some pictures to load…… sorry I missed you last night, but we were completely off of the grid….. have a good evening and thankx for stopping in~!

I GOTTA try this – at least once~!!

IMG_4628

Guten abend mein  (German for Good Evening) fellow peoples…… not sure how much of this I’m gonna get done. Writing this from our new abode….. 3rd place in about 6 weeks. No greeter – we walked in and am figuring the joint out for ourselves so far…… and one of the first things we are figuring out, is that internet service out here is probably gonna suck as bad as it did at the last place~! Being optimistic though…… I am about 3/4 sh*t faced and trying to figure that technical stuff out in this condition is probably not the best route to go – so tomorrow in the light of a new (sober) day – I may be able to figure something better out. Nice little place, perched 1/2 – 3/4 way up on a small mountain…. 3 bedroom, 2 bath….. huge yard…… if the owner would drop about $10K in upgrades they could get 3 x’s the money for it. Thankfully for us though, they haven’t done that yet and for the first time in 8+ months, we are staying some where under budget~!! Yay us~!!

I have snapped a couple of pictures, but only God knows if I’m gonna get them to load or not. I still have about half of the pictures from the last place that I haven’t loaded yet because of crappy internet….. (sorry about the no post thing last night – but it wouldn’t even let me log in)

So here we are — just outside of Frederiksted, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands…. it is quiet and dark way out here in the boonies……. we unloaded all our gear and set out in search of the closest bar/restaurant for a bite and a drink. We found one just a couple of minutes away…… and in true form…. I drank more than I ate…. probably not a good idea – but seemed like the thing to do at the time. My Queen had a big serving of mussels and I had Mahi bites for an appetizer and Snapper for my entrée…. delicious…. and this place knows how to make a drink…. wow….. So it all worked out, we ate, we drank, met several good people who all gave us ‘leads’ on possible housing and I managed to find my way back up the mountain to our new place.

Highlight of the evening was talking with a couple of family members who are making plans to come see us…. that just made my day – hell, possibly my week~~  : ))  My little Sister and my Cousin/Nephew [long story I’ll go into at some other time]…… can’t wait to see them and show them this beautiful island and some of our gathering places. No doubt in my bald headed mind they will absolutely fall in love with this place~! As would any of you others that want to come visit. We’ll pick you up at the airport, put you up, chauffer you around, show off our gorgeous island and make sure you have an absolute ball……. you won’t be able to help yourself – and it won’t be our fault if you want to move here~~

Gonna try and get some pictures up for you…. catch ya later — Thankx for stopping in~!!

Garage/smoking area

front yarrrrd  ( pirate speak)  😉

house  (and the bus)

neighborhood

Fan Coral / Lobster bush

Lobster

Fan Coral  ; )

My Bride in the kitchen

Drinks to celebrate ~!

Our 2 new neighbors (don’t you wish you could chill like the one in the back??)

Villa Morales

HOTTT Stuff~!

Gonna be a short one tonight ya’ll……. spent the first half of the day dealing with car dealers…… and nothing went even close to what I was hoping for…. it’ll apparently be at least another week before we get our jeep – so I had to extend the rental period on the ‘bus’ again…. ouch  🙁

Been waiting since last week to hit Blues Backyard BBQ tonight. They had what was supposed to be one of the better hotter bands on the island.  Mama’s Black Sheep. You may have seen postings my bride put up about them. As it turns out – it is two women (from their poster, I thought one was a dude) and I guess both are of the Lesbian persuasion……. One played acoustic guitar and the other played one of the more unique percussion set ups I’ve seen in a while. They had a good sound – but I was not overly impressed. They played a lot of original music – and it too had a good sound – but just not my cup of tea…… I guess I am more comfortable with stuff I am familiar with…. go figure huh ? Anyhow – sat there until closing chatting with lots and lots of good folks….. realtors, fellow veterans, dive shop owners and just good folk in general. Closing was late tonight (8:00) because of the band. Seems to be pretty common to close down [what I consider] early everywhere we have been on the island. I think I like it. I think it cuts down on the number of people being really trashed and trying to drive….. but I could be wrong~

Anyhow, between downpours today…. I wandered around the yard and took some pictures of the local flora in the unit where we are at….. not the gorgeous sea views I normally put up – but I know I have a small following of folks who enjoy the various unique plants we have here on the island and since we’re leaving this place Friday morning (moving to a different part of the island) I figured I’d capture some of it for them…….. Not sure what I’ll get up between now and the weekend because of the move — but we’ll see.

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

Been a messed up kinda day here……. couldn’t get much done because glacier internet speeds……. which is the frustration piece…… still no new houses on the market, so still stuck in temporary housing….frustration…… it will be nice not to be living out of suit cases…. Finally gave up on trying to get anything done and after talking with a dear friend today realized I haven’t had any pizza since we been on the island and I was about due. I had already mapped them out and there was a little spot on my map that said it was just a few dozen blocks away. Kind of hard to go by the map any more, because a lot of those places are shut down now due to hurricane damage. We took off anyway and happily found out they were recently re-opened for business. I ordered a medium all meat with onions and mushrooms and my Queen got her some kind of casserole. We got it in fairly decent time, jumped back in the bus and came home to watch a movie while I had hot pizza and cold beer~!

Popped in a movie I have been wanting to see for a while – called 13 hours. It is about the siege on Benghazi…… excellent movie~! I highly recommend it. Movie was interrupted one time by a drunk neighbor……. we kind of seem to attract them….  😉 but this was a drunk neighbor….. not a damn neighbor…. we love and miss our damn neighbors~

Neighbor is gone — movie is done, my belly hurts from too much pizza and beer (but OH SO worth it)…. I’m gonna try and get you some pictures up here and then go take a shower and call it a day – tomorrow looks to be a much more productive day…  : )

Thankx for stoppin’ in~~!  : )  ( I had several more pictures to load – but looks like it ain’t gonna happen tonight….. sorry~)

Every time I look at this plant/tree– I see that neurotic chicken off of Finding Dorey (or Nemo or one of them cartoon fishes)

See it ?

Same way with the small tree in the background – I see Big Bird……….

See it ? No…..HHMmmm wonder if I’m drinking to much….. Nah….  😉

Obligatory Sea shot  : )

Maybe……………..

Thankx for stopping in…………. : )

Not a lot went on today….. we have found to most places to be fairly crowded on Sunday’s, so we hung around the apartment/condo…. had a nice breakfast and watched a bunch of episodes of Hell’s Kitchen…….. with not a lot to comment about today, I’m gonna leave you with a poem that was a favorite of my Dad’s and some more pictures from yesterday.

I hope you enjoy the poem as much as I did when Dad tried to recite it to me~~