Monday, February 18, 2013

President's Day, February 18th

Lots has happened in a few weeks.  My son Nick and grandson Corey (11) flew in the same day that my daughter Kate and hubby Shawn and kids, Trinity (almost 9) and Jed (7) came in.  It was like a little mini-family reunion.  Homer and I slept in the camper just to give everyone more space, ourselves included.

The grandkids, as usual, had a great experience with Matt downstairs as he had Corey cracking a coconut and T.J. getting lessons on cutting up a pineapple, and always picking on Jed to straighten his collar.  Corey got stopped at security at the airport going home, as the liquid in the coconut could be suspicious, but they let him take it home.  His smile reminds me so much of my father--but then, Kate has a beautiful smile too!

 

 

Of course we did the Key West gig.  I've read that this is the most stolen sign in the U.S.  Unfortunately, the Toy Factory had just gone out of business the week previous and Fast Buck Freddie's (my favorite store) has also gone belly up.  So we walked blocks to do the Lighthouse Tour, and they had just changed their hours to close at 4:30.  We got there a few minutes before 5.  Oh well, good exercise.

 



Earlier that day we did the Martello Museum.  Very interesting building with some spooky history and Robert the Doll.  Check out:  www.Robertthedoll.org.  You won't be disappointed. 

Grandpa Homer took us all for a fishing trip and Jed got the biggest and the most fish, but he had the unfair advantage of having fishing lessons recently.  Jed takes after his grandma (me) and great-grandma (my mom)  with his fishing abilities, but also with the ability to have little processing or filtering of what comes from the brain to the mouth, as I find I'm becoming more like my mother (yikes!).  It's hilarious (sometimes).  I think of the old saying:  "You sweat less than any fat person I know."  It would be just like him to say something like that.  :-)  T.J. has inherited my mom's artistic ability.  I have zilch, and it's interesting to see that it skipped a couple of generations.  It amazes me what she can draw.


The kids love that grandpa will eat bugs, puts fish in his mouth, pick up snakes--anything for a scream or a laugh.  Now Jed will kiss fish!  They think Homer is the Bionic Grandpa with having no stomach, a pacemaker, and scar tissue like railroad tracks across his chest--and to think I still CAN'T keep up with him.

 

Ok, the above snake wasn't alive--but I got him to hold it. 

 

We visited the Dolphin Research Center in Marathon and the kids got to shake hands with a dolphin, something they'll remember forever.  I'd highly recommend it to anyone as the prices were quite reasonable and there's 3 levels of things to do with them and we did the least expensive.  I'd like to comment that these aren't the type of dolphins that you see on the menu at local restaurants.  One of dolphins is relation to the original Flipper, if you're old enough to remember that T.V. show.

 

You can cut and paste this clip if you care to see a dolphin clip:

 

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/z3my56gifi2fkbc/7SA7gJdacK?n=60672397

 

 

 

 

We gassed up the boat after the gang was gone and the clerk at the marina mentioned there was someone stranded with no gas by Monkey Island (aka Key Lois).  We borrowed a gas can with no cap and I believe we put about 4 gals in it.  We got his phone number and told him we were on our way.  The seas were rocking and this guy and his buddy said they were just outside the channel.  Ha, it took us a long time to find him and the phone barely had coverage, as he kept cutting out.  I had to talk with the wind and waves and wet, and relay it all to Homer.  They were actually way out at Hawk's Channel (not Kemp as we thought), out beyond Monkey Island at the end of the reef.  This guy kept saying things about good Karma, and how he'll make it up to us.  I had to get on the bow and try to hold the can so he could nab it without spilling it overboard.  My arms and shoulders aren't that strong and when we'd go up with a wave, they'd go down.  Eventually they grabbed it, gassed up and we met them back at the marina (Venture Out).   Phew, that was an adventure.  Even Homer told me I did good!  The boater told us he worked at a local restaurant and would make it up to us, but the phone call has yet to come.  At least they paid the gas from the can back to the marina, as the gal at the marina was waiting to close and go home.  Karma won't pay the gas we used in the rescue (Homer figured about $20-25) but it was good to help someone and have a laugh later.  The young man said other people stopped but didn't offer to help and a tow service would have cost them a fortune.

All the kids were gone by Feb. 8th and Tom Fox (a friend/like-son from where I retired at MDOT) was looking for a place to rent as he was going to do some ocean fishing with a Michigan friend.  We had a spare bed so I told him just to stay here.  He got to hang with us a few days and we got to show him that old people can still have fun.  I think we surprised him in many ways as several of our group are mid-70's to early 80's.  He's only half way there but has something to look forward to!

Tom caught some great fish that Boondock's (and most local restaurants) will cook for you.  Besides having the boiled shrimp special that night (69 cents each), they cooked his fish for $8.  Yum, was that good!


Then, while Tom was here--friends of Glenna and Dave Cook (Paul and Suzanne Gerhart) needed a spare bedroom and we were glad to help out.  What an opportunity as Glenna dusted (I hate dusting) and did laundry for me.  We bumped Tom to the Jimmy Buffet bed and we all came and went as we pleased.  Paul is an arbitrator/mediator and sure had some interesting experiences in his career.

So, today is the 18th and the house is empty.  I feel like I have empty nest syndrome.  Ha!  Now, no more excuses for not taking my bike rides and adhering to my diet, tho the weather has been very cool and windy with one full day of rain (a couple of days back) and we actually had the heat on last night!  I know, you don't feel sorry for us with the cool weather, as I hear most of you are swamped with snow.  See the cartoon my sister-in-law Deb sent.

And then..... Boondock's shrimp tomorrow and Wednesday is Spaghetti for $5 at the Moose Lodge (sounds like more excuses).  At least I don't have to do my monthly weigh in to Weight Watcher's until March.

Friday, Feb. 1st Update

Boy, we've been busy.  We've had lots of company and have made some new friends.  People are so friendly down here and I've been told that I'll talk to anyone.  What's the old saying?-- Strangers are friends that we haven't met yet.  :-)  Funny, I hate talking on the phone though (maybe all those years of switchboard work) or maybe I am becoming my mother after all !!

Cousin Ed and his son Chris came down for a few days and a good time was had.  The guys went out in the boat and fished (nothing major was caught, just lots of smaller ones), we did the usual sightseeing, the restaurants, the bat house and drove down to Key West (again).  None of this is helping my diet any!  Here's the link to the bat tower, very interesting.  Hope it opens for you, or you can Google it.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugarloaf_Key_Bat_Tower

Glenna and Dave Cook have arrived from Colorado and live on the airstrip behind us, or in front of us, depending which direction you look.  Dave is helping to build an airplane that had been started years ago and he'll be speeding that process along.  He's built several airplanes and helped with others--sooooooo I've been showing Glenna all the "ins and outs" of where to shop, buy sandals, Salvation Army, etc.  It's been tough, but somebody's gotta do it!  I've gotta say, she's a quick learner. 

We've trained her on the best of the "Happy Hours" and she doesn't hardly drink.  She's the one that told me I talk to anybody, and now today I caught her talking to a stranger in the grocery store.  HA, busted!  Dave took a commercial flight back to Colorado yesterday, then he will be flying his airplane back here as he missed his plane and flying.  I hope he has a safe trip back.

An article was in the Keynoter News that the Fat Albert Blimp will be shut down mid March.  OH NO, so sad.  It cost lots to run and maintain and is outdated with the new satellites now.  My suggestion would be to make it a National Landmark (or museum) and run it on donations or fees to tour the site, but they didn't ask my opinion and probably won't.  If you notice my picture with clouds and see a spec in the middle, that's Fat Albert waaaaaaaaay up in the sky.  I'm gonna miss him, but it no longer was meant to be.

Homer and I went to Key West last Saturday to check out a friend of Homer's daughter (Jean).  You know, the oldest daughter (she hates it when I say that--sorry Jean).  Anyway, Deeter I believe his name was--well his wife had a booth at the Art Fair and she sure made beautiful jewelry.  I wish I had such talent!  Then we ran into Glenna and her friend JoAnn at the Art Fair.  JoAnn is the gal with the parrot MiMi that ate dinner with us last year at Salute` Restaurant.  That was a great memory, as I've NEVER knew that parrots could be potty trained, but MiMi is!

I went back to Key West with Glenna yesterday (when she dropped Dave off to the airport).  She wanted to stop and shop at the Ross Store.  With construction and one-ways, it took us almost 3 tries to get there.  Siri on our Iphone was not construction savvy.  Anyway, there was this cool chicken in the parking lot that I was chasing around to get her picture, as she was camouflaged with the rocks in the background.  A guy said to me:  "Lady, it's just a chicken."  I told him I knew that, but we have grandkids that are cammo EVERYTHING, so this is for the TenBroeke Gang.  (You're Welcome)

Another pic is Homer with our friend's Jack-A-Wa Wa dog (half Chihuahua and half Jack Russell).  She's a sweetheart of a pup, named Mia.

The big tent you'll notice is how they fumigate for termites.  Wouldn't you just love having to re-wash your dishes, strip all your bedding, drapes, whatever?  Geese, those darn little bugs.  Or maybe it was for cockroaches?

Oh ya, we have some stone crab traps set and Homer came home with 13 one day.  Yum.  They only sell for $25 a lb.  They're as good as lobster, and Matt our landlord showed us how to boil and crack them.  You twist off one of the claws and throw the crab back.  They grow it back in about a year I was told.

Starting tomorrow--my children and grandkids will be coming late in the day and staying for several days.  Wooo Hooo!  I should have lots more pictures for the next update.