There's always somebody who has it worse...

Took Mamaw and Paps lobstering today.  The season is over after tomorrow, so Donnie thought he'd try his luck.  While it all started out well and good, it seems he pressed his luck, as things quickly turned south.


Looking good!



This is how Donnie dives for lobster...I would drown, for sure.

Paps, do you recognize those skinny ankles?!

Until the conservation officer showed up...and we couldn't find the
registration papers...because it wasn't our dinghy...because Dan
wanted us to take his dinghy out since Donnie had worked on the
engine...because Dan was in Key West...and it is his dinghy...
because he was there getting his paperwork in order to go to the Bahamas....
because he had all of his boat documentation with him in Key West...
yeah, there was some 'splainin' to do... 

So after that little detainment, to which I fried my back while waiting in the sun, I came home and decided to clean house and do laundry...because its what I do when I get upset and don't know what else to do.  Donnie went to Dave's workshop to go cut some teak, and pound some nails, and work out some frustration, because he usually goes to his pole barn back home when he gets upset and doesn't know what else to do.  At least we are both about doing something constructive.  He fashioned a screen on a teak frame to replace one of our hatchboards.  This way, when the temperture is not quite so hot, we can open up the boat for good air flow, and yet still keep our Willis detained. (oh yes, he's still detained, perhaps a little depresssed, but adjusting to life as a "boat cat" again, and no longer a "marina cat".)  Let's see...the good news?



It was a beautiful sunset...such that it was.  You could not see
it set on the horizon for the low lying clouds.  The
sky, however, looked like a watercolor painting.



And while Willis' scope of wandering has gotten
considerably smaller, I received this email today
regarding Lucky.  It seems she has safely, and
happily, relocated to an office located somewhere
on Hatteras Island, NC.  More details to follow!



Also in our email today was this photo from our daughter, Carissa,
who is serving our country at an undisclosed location somewhere
in a desert.  This sandstorm rolling in, is an all too often
occurance where she currently is deployed.
What a God-forsaken-looking place...

 So, in spite of our little hiccup earlier today, somebody, somewhere, always has it worse...keep all those who are suffering, or struggling, in your prayers, please.

Coco-nutty for lobsters!

The day started out hot and humid from the git-go.  We had 35mph sustained winds in last night's thunderstorm, but no damage anywhere in the marina...just chairs and umbrellas toppled over. Back in Indiana, a thunderstorm usually clears out the humidity- not in the Keys.  I'm sure glad the air conditioner works well on Marquesa, or sleeping would be mighty uncomfortable.

Mac and Jean came over for a picnic lunch. After a quick run to town
to fill the dinghy gas can,  we decided to go lobstering again today.



Look at this cute blue crab that was crawling along the
wall where Donnie was lobstering!  I wonder if these
are the same blue crabs like they have in Charleston?
What kind of crabs do you catch, Kenny?! (not THOSE crabs!)



Paps had never been lobstering before "in all his 78 years; and he ain't
never had more fun."  Every time Donnie brought one up, he'd say,
"Whew, son, that's a good one!"  It was his job to hold the mesh
bag so Donnie could "Drop that rascal in there with them other'uns!"

Donnie got six lobsters this trip, all legal size, of course.
We even had a conservation officer stop by today.
Only two days are left in the season...gotta go again tomorrow!



After a game of dominoes and a little pool time with the in-laws, Dan and
Biddi went with us to the Hurricane for Taco Tuesday, it's dollar taco night!
(I really don't know what this face is about...really, I don't)



We missed the sunset, so decided to make our own fun
with Dan and Biddi.  I've been wanting to try coconut
milk ever since I saw three green coconuts sitting outside
of Wendy's with straws in them! Donnie got Dan's boat
hook to knock them out of the tree (that was a hoot by
itself!) Then it required a cordless drill with a long drill bit.
Just like they do it on Survivor...NOT!!!

I was looking happy until I took a big drink...what a BIG disappointment :(
Still, it was another glorious day in paradise!

 

Beach Bash

I know you must think that all we do is party around here...I promise, that is not the case.  Besides, not all parties involve alcohol.  Today's Beach Bash was organized by the marina, as nearly half the folks here will be taking off for parts unknown in the coming weeks.  Willis was invited, but he did not attend, as he is still on lockdown.

Here he's trying to sweet talk Dad into an early curfew so he could
attend the Beach Bash.  No dice.

I caught one of Willis' buddies leaving the Beach Bash early looking to start a
party of his own.  Mondays is $1.00 draft beers at the KittyKat GoGo Lounge.



The party is in full swing!



I opted for a paddle boarding lesson from Ed...



Steady as she goes...

Hey, this is fun!

My honey did a great job playing his guitar and singing with everybody.
All that practicing with Bryan has paid off!

When I came home from the party this evening, I found our
guard cat, Willis, perched on the chart table, watching the hatch.

...and when Dad stepped out to "pee the boat", he
thought he might be able to pull a fast one, too.

...and when all else fails, Willis resorted to biting Mom...nice kitty.

He finally gave up and passed out...from a bit of boredom, a little depression,
thrown in with some KittyKat GoGo Lounge withdrawals.  Come to think
of it, here he looks like he got out for some of those $1.00 draft beers afterall!

As for projects today, Donnie got in the water and scrubbed along the waterline. We should have raised the bottom paint an inch or so, as we are "riding low" fully loaded for living aboard.  He also cleaned our intakes, and Dan's intakes.  Oh, yeah, he gave the air conditioning a fresh water flush, and it seemed to calm the funky smell a bit.  We have had to have the air conditioning on continuously as it was 81 degrees at 7am this morning, with nearly 80% humidity.  I feel sorry for the boats here that have no air...it's been really sticky!
 Donnie also cleaned Dan's carburetor on his dinghy motor...it still wasn't running well after he had it serviced last week.  He found the source of the problem, and put it all back together.  My hubby is such a good Mr. Fix-It :)

So after I typed all of that, I started asking myself...what exactly did I accomplish today?!  I went on a little shopping trip with Mamaw and Biddi this morning.  I helped Biddi with storing her canned goods as they are provisioning for the Bahamas.  I did my usual boat chores, took a shower, and got my beach party dinner contribution together....in other words, not a whole heckuva lot.  Oh wait, I did oil the teak topsides this morning. And after lunch, Dan, Biddi, Donnie and I took a dinghy ride for about an hour in their boat to try out Donnie's mechanical genious. His engine purred purr-fectly.

At the present moment, believe it or not, I am feeling a little boat sick!  I am sitting on the Vberth, messing around on the computer, and we are rocking all about.

A thunderstorm just blew in from the north, across the Gulf.  Those white
flashes you see are raindrops. I think I need to cash it in on typing
 anymore tonight...still, a perfect day in paradise :)

Lobsterfest :)

I have no right to complain about anything, and y'all have every right to hate us... Let's just get that out of the way so we can get on to the good stuff.


Donnie, Dan and I went lobstering today..which more accurately means
that Dan and I followed Donnie along the rocks in the dinghy while
Donnie went after 'em with his tickle stick.



In the first 10 minutes, he had six legal six lobsters!



In all, we had 10 tails today, to add to the 5 already in the freezer!



Biddi is all decked out in her UK finery...it's game time!



Donnie and Dan called each other on a commercial break to discuss
the plans for grilling the lobsters!  Actually, it seemed easier for
them to store each other's phone numbers by simply calling each other!



Final Four, baby!  Dan is doing the happy dance :)

With the game over, now on to even better things...grilling lobsters
as the sun was going down.  Is this not perfect?!



Looking good, smelling even better...and check out the sunset!



Dah-ling....you're looking mah-velous!!!



The best meal in the Keys...look at those happy faces :)



Mmm mmm good! Paps offered up this bite for Elliebug.

Donnie offered up this whole tail for Jennessa!  Dan thought it was
for Greg so he was going to steal it :)

And, as promised, I offered up a bite of lobster for my  97 yo Grandma.
Here's to ya' Grandma...I wish you were here with me right now!!!

And while we were have a Lobsterfest, Willis was back on house arrest-
SERIOUS house arrest.  He was gone all last night and all of today, until
about 5:30pm.  His days at the KittyKat GoGo Lounge are OVER.  I have no
laundry money left, and I'm afraid he's picked up a social disease, or worse,
fleas.  Since the air conditioning is running on Marquesa, he's also
on lock down.  They'll be no busting through the screens this time.
He wouldn't even smile for the camera...he's just sitting at the top of
the ladder praying for a quick escape. All is still well in paradise :)

Saturday already?!

You know you've got the "Keys disease" when you don't know the day of the week or the date of the month.  I can't believe March is nearly gone already.  You think I would have been clued in watching March Madness (waytogo Butler!)  Tomorrow we'll have to watch the Kentucky game with our friends from Louisville, Dan & Biddi.  Donnie got three more lobster tails today, so the plan tomorrow is lobster on the grill and margaritas during halftime of the KY game.  Today was "Love your Liver Day" after last night's escapade on Biddi and the Beast.  Donnie was not feeling so very good today...he thinks he's "coming down with something".  (We'll just let him go on and think that.)

I did laundry while Donnie and Dan were out lobstering this morning.  That means, Danny drives the dink, and Donnie does all the diving for lobster!  He must have got into some featherweed again (like he did with Greg last week) as he's itching and burning again tonight. 

Donnie and I hung out by the pool this afternoon, while dinner was going in the crockpot.  The plan today was dinner with Dan and Biddi during halftime of the Butler game.  Go Dawgs!

I made Fran's recipe of crock pot chicken and it was delicious!  If you
look behind Dan and Biddi's head, you'll see a couple of catamarans
that came in today and are anchored on the Gulf- which is still crazy calm. 

After the game was over, we attended to our nightly ritual of watching
the sun go down.  While it was beautiful, no green flash tonight. 

Dave and Bert joined us tonight for the sundowning.  They have been living
here for 14 years.  Dave is employed with Banana Bay, and he was the one who
introduced us to this place years ago.  Believe it or not, they are from
Anderson, IN.  He's a few years older than Donnie. Small world, eh?

Speaking of small world, who did I happen to be sunbathing by at the pool, but the OWNERS of Red Gold, hailing from Frankton, IN.  Now that's really crazy!  They started with 25 employees many years ago, and now have over 1500 fulltime and another 500 seasonal workers.  They were such nice, unassuming people, you would never have known they are l-o-a-d-e-d.  We really enjoyed visiting with them.  They are headed to Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow, then they fly back to IN on Weds.  They were lamenting about having to go back to the cold weather.

Not that we've had any cold weather down here.  In fact, since January 31st, we've had only ONE day that we wore long sleeves.  It clearly is getting even hotter now, too.  The daily temp is in the mid-80's and higher, the humidity is up, the wind is down, and the overnight low is still 75 degrees.  We finally broke down and turned on the air conditioning today.  That lasted about two hours.  While it felt great to have the cabin cooled down, the blower was emitting some nasty boat funk.  I couldn't stand it any longer, and had Donnie shut it down and open all the windows again.  He's gonna try a fresh water flush, but I'm thinking we need to change out the hoses, too.  Another boat project on the list.  Donnie did manage to put a new zinc on the prop shaft today, which needed to be done. 

And then there's Willis...house arrest is not working out.  I now have a Houdini on my hands.  He was out all last night, and most of today.  I found him back on the boat when we returned from the pool, so he went back on lockdown when we left to go watch the Butler game at 4:30pm.  By the time I returned at halftime to collect our crockpot dinner, he had planned a great escape and busted out through the screen.  I had locked up the quarters as I needed the laundry money, but wouldn't you know he's taken to lifting the loose change we keep in a basket on the table.  What he doesn't know is the joke is on him.  He won't get too far at the Kitty Kat GoGo Lounge when he starts tucking dimes, nickels, and pennies.  I have faith that he will return before sunrise with his tail between his legs, perhaps looking a little worse for the wear.  He knows where his food bowl is, and he presently is a cat of very little means.  He won't go far.  Besides, he now has to wear a collar with his name and phone number on it.  That might deter some of his lady friends as well, since he clearly is spoken for.  Just another day in paradise :)

So much news...



Willis seems to be taking his modified house
 arrest all in stride this morning.



It must have been a rough night at the
Kitty Kat GoGo Lounge.

We're on to him now...he slinks off at night with his pockets full of
my laundry money.  It seems that cats tuck quarters, not dollar bills.



It was a sad day for Dan, he had to buy 192.5 gallons of diesel fuel.
Can you believe the guy wouldn't sell us seven gallons?!



Here's Ray, Donnie, Dan and Biddi discussing the virtues of
"blow boaters" over go-fast boats, lobstering, and SPORES
(Stupid People on Rental Equipment).  Ray is the co-owner of
Sun n' Fun Rentals, the outfit we may offer sunset sail charters
through the next winter season.

Dan and Donnie helped motivate each other to polish and wax their
boats today, before the heat got to be too much.  Donnie also sold
the captain's chair today- for real this time. The chair is gone and
we've got some money in our pockets once again!

This afternoon we played a game of dominoes at the pool with Fran,
Mac and Jean, while Kenny swam and got the last bit of sun.  They
leave for home on Hatteras Island, NC, early in the morning.

The gang then all met at Burdines for a farewell dinner.  L-R; Bryan,
Dick, Karen, Jean, Mac, me, Donnie, Fran, Kenny and Polly.  The
food was wonderful, as always, and the music was great, too.
We listened to Jo Mama, and it gave Paps happy feet!

We finished in time to catch the sunset back at our pointe.  Wouldn't
you know, we saw the green flash AGAIN tonight!  The conditions have
been perfect the last several days, no clouds and no waves.  It's
been simply beautiful.  I don't know if it was the music or the
romantical sunset, but Paps was feeling a little frisky, I think.
He sure made a hasty exit for home...OMG!
(Of course, Donnie and Dan had a hey-day with that one)

The sun goes down, and look who's up!
Notice he's looking longingly toward the mangroves.

Look closely!  Willis was caught red-handed, making a run for the
Kitty Kat GoGo Lounge.  I found two quarters on the sidewalk that
he dropped while making his exit in haste.

"Mom, I'm sorry about taking your laundry money, but you DID say
I could go out at night if I stayed home all day and was really good."
(Does he not look like a Mainecoon here, all hunched up?)

Donnie got permission to go lobstering around the
retaining wall of the marina.  Don't ask me why he
has his flashlight down his drawers...
it's Donnie, what can I say?!

Got one! But it was catch and release, he was a hair too small :(

What a gorgeous evening.



It was a late night with Max & Mandy, Dan & Biddi,
and us, watching the KY vs. OSU game.  Here Dan is
giving Max & Mandy crap about their mascot,
Brutus the Buckeye...he was well into his cups
(along with Max, Mandy and Donnie).



"Elliebug!"  Dan had to call Elliebug...kind of like how Michael's buddy
Craig drunk calls Donnie every now and then.  Thankfully,
Kentucky won!  Tomorrow it's the Butler game; same time, same boat.

I am stone cold sober, my husband however, is not.  I think
he fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow!
Just another glorious day in paradise :)