Month: August 2014

 

 

One year ago I was struggling through the aftermath of knee surgery. My thoughts one year later:

Am I happy I had it done? NO

Do I have less pain while walking? NO

Is my knee prettier? HELL NO

Am I able to do things better since I had the surgery? NO

Can I once again crawl across a wooden gym floor on my knees while in the Lotus position? NO

Am I knee pain free? NO

Do I wish I never had it done? HELL YES!

I hate my new knee and I want my old one back.  And, I still have a flipping alien living in my ankle (that was broken.) A little tidbit they left for me after my surgery.  I’m sure I paid extra for the frigging thing too!  I go to the Orthopedic specialist at the Stem Cell Center on Sept. 2nd to see what he says about my knee and I am hoping he will cut my ankle open and get this damn stitch out once and for all. The alien/stitch thing has been going on since March 31st of 2013!!

**ALIEN update:  I dug it out of my ankle with my hot pink TWEEZERMAN’S. I have been picking at the thing that was poking out of my ankle for a solid week. Before that I picked the hard thing off of it but it (as in not belonging to my body) got another one. It was like a mass of calloused skin. But now I’ve lost it and I wanted to look at it with my camera zoom and a magnifying glass. I want to see what the little shit alien looks like. Now I don’t have to embarrass myself by asking this doc about the Alien. That is unless the little shit decides to move back in. Then it’s war. Right now I have a hole on my ankle where the Alien was living.

The dog days of summer are here. HOLY HANNAH IN HADES it’s HOT. Not our normal warm weather, this shit is hot. I have perpetual sweat running down every crevice of my body. There is a constant rash under my boobs which would probably go away if I could wear a bra for longer than 1 hour. I just can’t stand to put one on, they are so hot, even though they lift the boobs up and help to alleviate the rash, I still can’t handle them.  These are the days I desperately wish I were a 34 A. The glory of not having to wear a bra is something that I haven’t enjoyed for many many years. Granted, back in my hippie days I went without but that was a L O N G time ago when they were still kind of perky and it wasn’t so gross. I’ve been told it’s going to get hotter next month. I can’t freaking wait. This will be my first September here, bring it on. Can you believe in 2 months it will be a year since we moved? How times flies when you’re sweating uncontrollably.

Last Sunday we took the Dude swimming again. This time we decided not to take Luck or Dooce, they’re not interested in swimming, but this boy is.

We have been sort of slow this week, seems like it’s taking longer to do everything. It has to be this oppressive damn heat. Bill has been working on the handrails and I have been bringing the rest of the kitchen stuff up from downstairs and out of boxes. Just trying to find places for “stuff” is exhausting. The other day Bill decided he would hang the curtain rods that we bought 5 months ago, along with the curtains. I got the ironing board out, set it up over the door in the bathroom and ironed FOR ALMOST 3 HOURS. There were six pairs of polyester curtains that the wrinkles seemed to be a part of the fabric. Like they were melted into the cheap material. Disgustingly hard to iron! We got the rods up and I hung the curtains a pair at a time as I was finished ironing them. They look nice, except for the wrinkles (I know Cleo, I look) they break up all the blue, they billow in the breeze AND they keep it much cooler in here. I had a huge mess to clean up because there was concrete dust everywhere from Bill hanging the rods. Concrete house = huge mess. If you are doing ANYTHING with the walls, it’s messy. Love hate relationship.

YAY for finally having curtains. I love the subdued look they add to the room. Kind of nice to have the glaring sun hidden from view. One thing we never considered building this house is the fact that when it  rains we have to close the windows because there is no roof overhang to keep the rain out. None. Zip. Nor is there a roof overhang to cut down on the sun. Because of the lack of any overhangs, all of the sawdust Bill produces is blown around and ultimately ends up on the window screens, then it rains and the sawdust ends up in my window tracks. They are disgusting. I long for the day when Bill is not using the table saw and making dirt. I’m sure he also looks forward to that time!

I made more dog biscuits, this time with a recipe using wheat flour, honey, PNbutter milk and baking powder. I rolled them out and cut them with a glass, baked them and the dogs LOVE them. They are so spoiled, Bill makes dog food to mix in with the dry so they get some vitamins and nutrients from their food and I make them biscuits. Speaking of dogs, last Wednesday I got an email from my friend on Long Island asking if we could take their caretaker and one of their dogs to the vet.  Bill and I went up to get Sebastian and Milagro. Milagro has many cancerous tumors on his belly and my friend doesn’t know if the vet will put him down or not. They said it was up to us to make the decision and that they would respect whatever decision we made. Sebastian lifted Milagro into the bed of the truck and jumped in himself. Since we don’t like to have people in the back of the truck we insisted they (he and dog) got in the back seat. We drove down to the vet and wouldn’t you know it, the vet didn’t come this Wednesday, he had an emergency on the mainland. (This vet comes once a week from La Ceiba.) So, this Wed. it’s back to the vet with Milagro. Pets, it’s so hard.

On Monday we had some guys come up here wanting to do landscape work. Bill told them no twice before, then they called, he said no again so they came up, again. What didn’t they understand about NO? Soon after they left I noticed a lot of smoke coming up the driveway and thought they burned up their brakes going down the road. A little later when the smoke cleared I realized the truck was on it’s side on our driveway. Bill went down to see if everyone was ok, they were. Turns out they tried to go up our neighbor’s drive, something happened and they rolled their truck 6 times.

We had Walter over for dinner on Wednesday night. Bill made home made pizza dough and we cooked it on the grill. It was really good.  Other than working around here constantly we have not done anything fun. On Thursday I moved more boxes downstairs and organized stuff better, killing my back in the process. On Friday we were to go to our friends birthday celebration and we had every intention of going until Friday night came around. I was just taking a shower at 7:15. At that point in the day there was no way I was getting dressed and going anywhere. We ended up on the couch watching a movie and going to bed early. Early to bed, early to rise. The weekend sort of buzzed by. Sunday was a rainy day, it started right after I got back from the dog walk in the morning and it didn’t stop for most of the day. I baked some Amish cinnamon bread  and while it was still warm I took half a loaf down to John. It is yummy and super easy to make. I was having trouble with my oven and have concluded two things: #1. I use an oven thermometer because the oven is C, not F. Oven thermometers don’t work well if they are right against the glass of the door. #2. A ceiling fan directly above the gas oven makes it difficult to get an accurate temperature reading or even get the oven up to temp. I hope to remember these two things the next time. However, this time I lit the oven all alone. Normally I call Bill and make him light it after my gas oven explosion downstairs but I told myself I could do it and not blow up the house. YAY for me.

 

I took the dogs for their morning walk and it was a minefield of Hog Plum fruit. I hate these trees with a passion. They have flowers that cover everything including my screens and all over my porches, then they start to develop fruit and then the fruit falls all over the ground and rots and stinks and it’s squishy and slippery. UGH!!

 

I really planned to drive down to West Bay beach for the day but am even lacking the ambition to do that. I do have the strength to walk the one minute it takes to get to the neighbor’s pool though, and that is where I’m headed!!

That is if I don’t melt first!

 

 

 

Busy as bees here. Well, sort of, or Bill is. Although I did help put the poly on the island and the drawers and cupboards, I still need to poly the insides of the drawers, hopefully this weekend. Everyday something else gets checked off the list.

We have shelves and drawer fronts. I’m a happy girl. Like Gene @ Umbul Umbul said, “Happy wife, happy life.”  At this point I can’t find enough drawer pulls that I like for the kitchen so until I do, we will have none. My kitchen in Everson didn’t have any and it was fine.

 

I decided the boys needed new beds. I wanted them made out of waterproof material but not plastic stuff. We went to a shop called Waldinas AKA Valdinas. I think it’s Waldinas because the email is waldinawonderwoman@….I like this Waldina chick already. We opted for the less costly Guatemalan Sunbrella imposter. It was $30.00 a yard cheaper than the US Sunbrella, which costs Waldina’s $1000.00 / roll. These ARE dog beds and Highway DOES have a tendency to destroy all dog beds, except the heavy ones from Costco. He hasn’t destroyed one of those yet. We ordered them late Wednesday afternoon and she said they would be ready the next day and they would call me. Yeah right. You’ll call me. HAH!! No call on Thursday, which was no surprise. I planned to stop by on Friday when I went out. Friday morning at 9 AM they called, the cushions were ready. I ran to the bank and then grabbed the new beds and came home. I was anxious to give them to the boys. I went up on the back porch and took them out of the bag, threw the first one down on the ground and Highway jumped on it, attacked the bed and grabbed the corner in his teeth and started shaking his head. We were both very quick to stop that particular behavior. When we left yesterday I put the 2 new beds on the table so he wouldn’t eat them. I don’t know what I was thinking buying new dog beds but once I get fixated on something usually nothing can change my direction. You may say I border on the side of obsessive. Maybe. And Bill, I know exactly what is going through your mind at this very moment. Not funny. The point of this whole convo is that my boy dogs have new waterproof orange beds.

 

I also decided we (I) needed a sideboard for the house. Dian who owns Umbul Umbul (love that store and Annie’s) just received a shipment from Bali. In fact they were closed WHEN WE DROVE BY ON MONDAY. I think it’s the first I have ever driven by and not stopped. The container was parked across from the store and there was stuff that I wanted to buy sitting everywhere. As we drove by, I wiped the drool from my chin and told myself she had a sideboard I wanted. I just knew it.

Yesterday we had to go to Coxen Hole and Sandy Bay so we stopped at Umbul Umbul. I swear I am there more than anyone else. The first thing I saw was a sideboard. It had my name on it. Well, mentally it did. Bill is very much not interested in the stuff there It’s not that he doesn’t like it,  it all stems from him being a woodworker, these pieces are not made to his likings. But they are so damn cool I don’t care. We looked around and checked out the 2 levels below, Bill had enough and went out to sit in the truck with the air on. The piece I wanted didn’t have a price so Gene went to ask Dian. She had advertised they were overstocked and she was having a sale on the Teak furniture, which is what the piece I wanted was. Gene came in with the price and I went out to talk to Bill. He was like, whatever and came back in to look at it, looked at the broken rail and said easy fix, they loaded it, I paid and we left. We stopped to look at a new used Hyundai Santa Fe for me but they want too much for it, cars are very expensive down here. There is a Mitsubishi Outlander on the mainland, like I drove in the US but 1 year OLDER and they want $7500.00. Mine was in excellent shape and booked for 2 grand. WTH?? We got home, got the furniture off the truck and inside but it was too heavy to carry upstairs. Or so I thought. Amazingly, I allowed it to sit downstairs overnight. Yes, it bothered me, I really wanted to put it where it belonged in the house.

I spent my Friday night drinking wine out of the bottle (there wasn’t enough left to warrant the effort to pour) and watching a stooopid chick flick called The Other Woman. I only watched it because Leslie Mann is in it and I think she is hysterical. After that I watched Mission Blue on Netflix. It’s about the amazing Dr. Sylvia Earle. What a woman! If you are interested in all things related to the ocean check it out.

The rain woke me again last night as it was blowing across the room and onto the bed. It was thundering and lightning so I let Dooce in to go downstairs and hide in her hidey hole, the guest shower. It is a bunker for her. I went back to bed because the porch was still dry so the boys were OK. I couldn’t go back to sleep, after playing Angry Birds and getting, well, ANGRY, I played Yahtzee, Pinterested for awhile and ended up on the porch with the boys. I brought them both inside with me and they followed me into the bedroom. By now Dooce was hiding in a corner of the upstairs closet. Luck went over right away and licked Bill, who was sleeping. Luck ended up sleeping on my side of the floor with his head under the bed, Highway was in the middle of the room and Dooce was tucked away securely in a tiny corner. Bill got up with the boys and made bacon. I was planning to stay in bed and sleep since it was pouring but the bacon was like an elixir, drawing me from the bedroom with that pungent high fat smell that is so delightful. Bacon Bacon Bacon. I bought the bacon mainly so I would have bacon fat to make dog biscuits. Yes, I am Betty Crocker or Martha Stewart without the jail sentence. Cleo makes them and gives them to our dogs, it makes me look bad. I had to gain the respect of the dogs back, so bake I did. This is the recipe I used: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Bacon-Flavored-Dog-Biscuits/Detail.aspx?prop24=etaf. I decided to add some chopped apple to half of them, we’ll see how that turns out. I am not cool like Cleo though, she has a cutter the shape of a dog bone. She is an over achiever. I made mine to look like meatballs, hopefully they will flatten like cookies..First batch out, not flattened so I flattened them and did the second tray before it went in the oven. The biscuits were a licking gobbling success. The dogs loved them!

 

Bill managed to carry the sideboard almost all the way onto the deck alone so I helped and we got it inside with ease. I planned to put my pendulum on it. We bought the pendelum in Lahaina, Maui and had it shipped home. When we got it we noticed it was made in North Carolina. Funny. Something happened to the sand/glass that the pendulum moves in. It’s W E T. I now have it sitting in the sun hoping the moisture will go away. Damn Caribbean air.

 

I recently read the book Roatan Odyssey, written by Anne Jennings Brown. It is supposed to be a “true” story that takes place on Roatan from 1966-1976. I found it quite an enjoyable read. If Anne really did many of the things she says she did, she was a very strong woman. My problem with her story is that she left her young boys in a boarding school in England while she traipsed across the world and settled on Roatan. How do you do that? How do you leave your young children? I never could, never ever..

 

It must be baby lizard season because I have seen and rescued several tiny ones. There was one in the house last night that I think was a baby iguana because it had a black and white tail. We saw another larger green iguana in the tree yesterday when we were leaving. Iguanas and Anole lizards are OK, I just don’t like geckos. I don’t like their color, or lack of color, they are too close to flesh/skin color for my liking and I find them ugly as hell and want them to go away. Have I mentioned I’m a little obsessive?

AND, my favorite new band, Walk off the Earth. I seriously love these guys (and girl.) Check them out here and here.

Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

 

08/10/2014   Happy Birthday Sharon Prouty-Hall, we’ll see you soon, I can’t wait!!

Not a lot happening this past week. It’s been scorchingly hot, holy hell. I had a headache for two days, one day I laid in bed all day with the fan on, didn’t feel like doing much else. Bill has been working non stop on finishing stuff around here. Only 3 more drawer fronts to put on and then we’ll seal the wood. He has more to do on the island also, but not much. I still have not thought about tile for the back of the counters, I’m in no hurry, when I see something I like, I’ll buy it.

Famous last words. IT’S GETTING THERE.

On Monday I was meeting Janice at the Police station in Oak Ridge to get the beds made and the kitchen set up. It was a scorcher of a day, OMG! On top of the heat the power was out and the fans hadn’t even been installed. I don’t think I’ve ever sweat so much.

We worked for a few hours on Monday, sweat was pouring off of me and dripping on the floor, so gross. Around 2 we were done, well, as done as we could be with what was there. Junior was putting up the fans, the one guy was doing the emblems on either side of the door, others were trying to figure out what to do since the shower opening was much bigger than any shower curtain rods. Lots of little things yet to do for the dedication ceremony on Wednesday at 10. The crews had worked through the night putting down many yards of gravel, unloading chairs, cleaning up the garbage from left over boxes, putting away tools, it was a community effort for sure. Bill and I got there a little before 10 on Wed., it was another scorcher of a day. A definite sweat producer. They were just starting to set up the big tent.

We were introduced to the man who has the infamous honor of being the head of all of the police in Honduras. My thoughts were, he seemed like such a nice man, I expected him to be a bad ass. He must be in some respect to get to where he is.  There was a panel of important people and they each spoke, some in Spanish so we only got bits and pieces of that conversation. Then Mayor Dilbert got up to speak. He started talking about the people who had made this possible, like Janice and Don. He called them both up front along with a guy from Rotary. Janice gets things done, she knows who to turn to, where to go, she and Don are fantastic advocates for the community. I feel grateful I was asked to help. Well, didn’t the Mayor call me up to the front, Bill too. He really shouldn’t have because I did so little compared to the others. I felt we were up there under false pretenses but, what do you say? “NO, that’s OK, I didn’t do that much!” Bill offered to make clothes pegs for the bathroom so they had somewhere to hang their clothes and towels. He has some of them done, needs to make a few more.

I have been passively looking for bar stools. I bought 2 that I love from John and Lin when they left the island. I need 6 total, 4 up, 2 down. Since we aren’t using the downstairs we brought the 2 stools up. THEN, the other day I was at Umbul Umbul and realized they had stools to match, but they were very expensive despite the fact they had been there a long time. I thought and thought about these stools, the $$ for 2 of them was enough money to buy 2 stools and 2 end tables with money to spare. Decisions. I called the store and found out they were 20% off, that was all the news I needed. I drove down there the other day all set to buy them, but when I got there, ONLY ONE MATCHED, the other had a solid back instead of the woven. Now some people could stand that, 3 with a woven, one solid but I couldn’t. 3/1 with something like that is not a good thing for my OCD brain. I was bummed but thought, I’m buying two stools today and being done with it. They had only 2 others stools that had 2 available. I chose fold up stools and got some cushions that are a woven rattan color, they look fine. I now have 2 woven and 2 with cushions and you know what? I’m fine with it. Which is not normal for me. In my other life I would have put the 2 super nice stools downstairs and bought 4 of the same for upstairs. This is the new me..able to live on the edge.

I stopped at a wood shop on my way home and talked to Antonio. Bill and I had stopped there last week and Bill noticed they had 2 Shop Fox machines and I noticed a Grizzly tool in the back. Bill told Antonio about his previous life as a Grizzly drone and then he noticed another really old Grizzly tool. Small world, so naturally we have to deal with Antonio. He was supposed to call me with prices for 2 night stands and 2 stools. Of course, he never called so we’ll go there again on Monday.

While sitting on the porch yesterday I saw big areas of Sargassum weed floating by. They are having a problem with it in Flowers Bay, in fact the Muni is cleaning it out and hauling it away. I have read different articles, some say it should be left alone and in the water, other stories say to take it out. Whatever they do I’m sure I won’t be swimming in it. Luckily it is mainly on the south shores so it’s not circling the whole island. It is a vital habitat for sea life though, mixed emotions on this one.

Have I mentioned how much I love having my washer and dryer in the closet? I LOVE IT! Sure, it makes the closet smaller but it’s so easy. I take the clothes out of the dryer, throw them on the bed, fold them and turn around back into the closet and put them away. So stinking convenient! I remember when we lived in Cogan Station in a 3 story house and I had 2 dirty boys. I had to carry the laundry up and down those stairs, that was hateful!! It just makes so much sense! Little things.

After stopping at Antonio’s wood shop I headed to Eldon’s to get some lettuce. Walking across the parking lot I saw a truck with several cops in the back. The cop driving recognized me and motioned me over. I see him all the time on the road at road blocks, he kissed my hand once. I’m super nice to them and they are nice to me. I chatted with him for a minute and then did my shopping. On the way out of the store I heard someone call my name. It was our friend Liz. She dropped a vehicle belonging to one of the rentals she manages off for repair and needed a ride back down island to get her Jeep. I brought her to our house and then Bill took her home because my car won’t go down the Milton Bight road very easily, sits too low. Just as Bill was leaving to take Liz home Cleo and Craig came to drop some stuff off at John’s. They left yesterday to go back to the states for FIVE WEEKS. I’m jonesing already, we will miss them being on island, they are super fun to hang out with, always ready for an adventure.  At least when they return they will be living next door to us which will be great! They were going to Cal’s for dinner and since we haven’t been out to dinner for a few months we said we would join them. We took our neighbor John with us. I hadn’t had anything to drink all week because I was headachey so I grabbed a glass of wine to go for the minute ride to Cal’s. We had a fantastic dinner as always but the place was dead. Not normal for a Friday night at all. We had two bottles of wine between 3, maybe 4 of us and by the time the meal was over, we were dancing! Yes, Cleo, myself, Tami and Marian all danced. Carl was all smiles and didn’t seem to care one way or the other. It was a great evening!! We miss you already Cleo and Craig!

 

It’s 1 PM and we haven’t done squat today, we need to get moving. I’ll leave you with this photo of the airport on Roatan. If you are lucky enough to have a window seat, you’ll get a great view!!

 

And while you’re at it, Just dance.

 

 

 

Whew. It’s been busy these last few days. On Wednesday I met my friend Janice at the Oak Ridge Police station to see how it was coming, Mayor Dilbert was there as well.

They built a separate building for the kitchen. It’s really nice, with screened in walls and a cooking area in the back. After looking the kitchen over we went to the Muni and met with the head of the municipal police about a town celebration on Sunday. They are having pinatas and games with prizes for the kids. I bought a lot of candy to help fill the pinatas. After the meeting we went to BJ’s Backyard and had a drink down on the waterfront. While at BJ’s we met my friend Yanni’s dad. Always some one you know there.

The celebration is in Punta Gorda, which is further east a few miles. We’re going to try to swing by and see what’s going on. This is why we decided not to head to West Bay on Sunday, we needed to stay closer to home and try to make it to Punta Gorda.

Thursday we did some stuff around here, ran some errands and spent the afternoon in John’s pool. When we got down there we were talking to John and I realized that I had black stuff all over my hands. Not a clue what it was so I blamed it on Bill’s truck. John got me a paper towel and I wiped it off as best I could. I noticed I had it on my phone case too. Later when I got out of the pool we noticed my shoulders had black on them, the one worse than the other. WTH?? I figured out it was my swimsuit straps. I had them down when we got to the pool, put them up before I went in. Then noticed the black on my hands.

Yesterday we went on an adventure with our friends to a property called the Ridge Ranch.

Oh my, what a slice of paradise right there. Ridge Ranch is aptly named. This huge 2 part home sits on a ridge running right down to the sea. It’s on Calabash Bight. Stunning. Oh the things you could do with a property like that!! Anyhow, we kind of looked around at it, checked out some of the nooks and crannies. It’s got some quirky stuff inside! The view is spectacular. You can walk right down the path to the dock, jump in your boat, zip through the channel and go to Oak Ridge. Too cool. There was a sweet little puppy there too. Bonus!

We explored a little more and then went back to Oak Ridge to BJ’s Backyard. We saw some people we knew, ran into Marcia and Dennis, who I always enjoy talking to and saw Mitch, the computer guy. We listened to the band for awhile, finished our drinks and headed back here.

On Saturday we had to run to Carniagro (like Agway and Cenex, but not really, well, maybe Roatan style) and then to the grocery store. It was another crazy hot day. The weather said it was 88 but that it felt like 99. So humid. Like my friend Liz said, “A stand still and melt kind of day.” I have been feeling sorry for the dogs, I think they’re bored and that makes me sad. I wanted to take them swimming but didn’t know where to go w/out people because Highway is an idiot. We thought we would try Parrot Tree. It’s close and there is a beach with no people. We got all 3 dogs in the backseat of the truck. That was fun. Dooce and Luck jumped right in, Highway, we have to lift up his back end.

 

We brought the dogs home, hosed them off, put on suits and went back down to the pool at John’s. I floated for quite awhile, it felt so good. It has been weirdly still. Down at the pool it was utter silence. No birds, no chickens, no dogs barking. Maybe it’s the heat and humidity but whatever it was the silence was awesome.

We have more guests arriving in March. My friends Cicily and Cheryl, from Williamsport are coming to visit. Cicily and I used to work together and hang out together a long time ago. I’m really looking forward to their visit, haven’t seen either of them since the 1990’s! Cheryl has a killer voice, I would love to take her to Karaoke or BJ’s and let her belt out some tunes!!

I also finally talked to my high school friend Richard. We were chatting on a regular basis but then he sold his house before the new one he is building was done so he has been hard to get in touch with. He’s planning to come down over the winter as it’s a less busy time and easier for him to travel. Winter here is not really “winter” just a slight bit cooler and wetter.

This morning, before 6:30 AfreakingM, a truck pulled in our driveway, right under the bedroom window. I WAS SLEEPING. HELLO??? The dogs were barking their heads off, Bill was outside talking to the men. It was loud, way too loud for the time of day that it was. I was pissed. To top it off, right before the truck came Emmy jumped from the bed onto my back. It was like, “OOPS, could you get up and feed me?” I shoved her away and rolled over and then the noise happened. It was some guys related to some other guy who owns some land somewhere and they were supposed to spray the weeds by the power lines. And they had a dog with them. Cue Highway and Lucky. Dooce doesn’t care. She has Minions to do her work. I was up. and grouchy.

Because there were guys here working w/ a dog Bill went with me for the morning walk with the dogs. It was over an hour later than I usually go and it was morbidly hot. WHY AM I NOT sweating off the inches? It’s not fair. I’m going to start to wear saran wrap dresses under my clothes so I get skinny.

Our friends Mr. A and Ms. B came over around 11 today and we were off to Havana Beach Club, AKA Palm Beach. It’s less than 10 minutes away. It’s a nice, wide, pretty beach but it’s not my favorite. There is a lot of grass in the water, I prefer a sandy bottom and the bugs there are ghastly! When I got out of the water I sprayed myself good because I was getting bitten while floating. It seemed like the insect repellent was an attractant, not a repellent. It wasn’t fun being lunch for kazillions of no-see-ums! They swarmed our heads while we were eating.

 

Tonight I was supposed to go to a big celebration in Punta Gorda but I had to take 2 Benadryl when I got home I was itching so badly. Now all I want to do is lay down and go to sleep.

Up and at ’em tomorrow morning. I have to meet a friend at Ace when they open because the bezel fell off of my watch in their pool and they are bringing it to me before they head back to Toronto; then I have to be at the Police Station @ noon to help get it set up before the head of Police and the General come to see it.