MORE PROJECTS AND BASEBALL

Gordon has been keeping doing “his” projects…he put in a bathroom cabinet where Hunter must have thought one wasn’t necessary. It will hold all his shaving stuff and we should have a clear counter. It seems to take forever to get something done and the salon of the boat is covered in sawdust and tools. He doesn’t want to put tools away just to get them out again!! We have ridden our bikes to the marine surplus store sooo many times now even the bike knows the way. It has saved us on the teak trim though.


We took Sunday night off and walked to the ballpark to watch a game. The Daytona Cubs are a high-A pro team (mostly 18-22 year olds) who play in the Florida State League. Daytona Cubs are affiliated with the Chicago Cubs
and they played the Lakeland Flying Tigers of the Detroit Tiger Club. Daytona won 5 to 3. The game was fun to watch and we were able to sit about 20 yards off the middle of the first base line at eye level. There is another game on Tuesday at 10:30am for all the local schools, that one might be crowded, but we will attend some more games while here!!

Speaking of riding bikes, we have been riding them a lot! Even Schooner has been going with us…running what tail she has off!! The last couple days we have taken her over to the park and she runs the bike path between Gordon’s and my bike. So far no accidents but I see one coming!! (lLol)

And while I’m still laughing…remember the coffee maker that broke?? We called Sears for the complete coffee maker part on Friday and they sent us a glass carafe today!! Gordon called them back, only to find out that you can only get what we need in parts all 15 of them and Gordon will have to put it all together…We can buy a whole new microwave/coffee maker (with warranty) for $50 more than the parts costs…duh!! Now we have both coming and we’ll see which works out best…what the hell!!

Just a Typical Day

I had a mid-day flight today. And said my goodbyes with tears, of course!! It was quite windy and we arrived in Atlanta 25 minutes early if you can believe that!! That would have been great if I had gotten to see the kids again, but I was able to leave concourse D and walk (NO tram) to concourse A. I wish I could say the rest of the trip went as well. We didn’t get away from the gate on time so we were 45 minutes late getting into Orlando. Gordon and Schooner were there to meet me and it’s hard to say which missed me more! If you haven’t ever been to the Orlando airport, hope that one day you will. It is really nicely laid out and set up for today’s traveler and the TSA! Also, I think Disney had something to do with the planning in order to move so many people, what a difference from Atlanta!! It was a short drive back to Daytona and my bed that I was looking forward too!! Not that sleeping at Sonia’s was bad…just that there is nothing like your own bed!

I could have slept all day but we had a car for another day and that means there are errands to run and groceries to buy. Gordon did let me sleep in some and then took me to lunch at Hounddogs for hotdogs before we set out shopping.

We had all of our errands taken care of so we drove up to Ormand Beach to see the largest Harley Davidson Dealership in this here USA. The guy who built it also has the dealership here in Daytona but after a falling out with the city council he built in Ormand Beach and has pretty much moved the Bike Week up there. We had heard about how fantastic it all was during Bike Week and it was all true! There is a campground, motel,
Pig Stand BBQ, moto cross track. a Buell, Triumph, & Ducati dealership along with the Harleys, numerous bars, pubs, saloons and other related shopping . And don’t forget a Tattoo Parlor!! I don’t know how many acres but plenty of them and room to expand. It’s its own little city there at I-95 and 1. As another side trip, we visited the labs of Hawaiian Tropic, my favorite suntan lotions and now have many free samples for our guests. Who would have thought this place wasn't in Hawaii???

It was a good day all around.


As Gordon traveled north, he found that our drop in cooler wasn’t cooling…blown condenser and the coffee maker was leaking really bad! A call to a refrigeration company solved the cooler problem, it is covered by warranty and a call to Sears for a new coffee maker should solve that problem. Only time will tell…nothing could be this simple…were dealing with a boat!!!

Oklahoma

It never occurred to me that it could be cold in Oklahoma in April, but it was today. I am pretty used to the wind blowing, but boy oh boy does it ever blow here, only dust not water. I sure don’t remember it being like that when I lived here…other than the tornado warnings!! In one day, it was a cold 45º when we got up, 76º while watching another soccer game at 3:00pm with winds at 25mph, then by 7:00pm, dark clouds and rain like buckets and back in the 50’s! God loves Oklahoma, cause I sure couldn’t live like that daily…just gives me an even 75º and I’ll be happy!!!

While in Norman, Sonia and I spent some time sorting through belongings of our parents. Mother has been gone for 10 years and Dad now 5 years…it was time!! I can’t believe how bad cigarette smoke can permeate everything and still smell so bad after 5 years. It was like the day we packed it up. Funny thing is, most of the things we each took from their home is in storage, Sonia’s in Norman and mine in Mobile! But we were able to sort Dad’s elephants and Mother’s jewelry, send Patrick the Guy Buffet pictures, and work on doing something with the doll collection since none of our children want them. All in all we did accomplished a lot but Sonia still has the job of sorting pictures…some of people we don’t even know!!! Do your children a favor and write on the backs of pictures; who it is and approximate date, you never know when you won’t be there to tell someone!!!

Sonia and Zoey introduced me tonight to Wii, I am trying to figure out how I could use one on this boat…what fun. I will pay for this tomorrow when my arm hurts from bowling and baseball!! Bring on the Biofreeze!

In the mean time, while I have been in Oklahoma, Gordon and Schooner moved the boat from Ft Pierce to Daytona Beach. He had a quiet sail up the ICW making stops in Melbourne and Titusville. Schooner is glad to be stable again after the chilly ride north. I am sorry to say goodbye to Rose and Tom, as it was a most enjoyable month there. I look forward to meeting up with you again …in Baltimore this summer!!

One more soccer game tomorrow and then I will be heading back to Florida!

Traveling to OKC

So, I was up at 3:30am to catch my ride from Rose who was taking me to Orlando to catch my flight to Oklahoma City. Way too early to complain and we made it to the airport without any problems and time to spare although there is nothing open at 6:30am to look at or enjoy at the airport!!
I had a great flight to Atlanta where I met up with Andie, Havyn and Emeryn for about an hour. Poor Havyn is in the middle of potty training and refuses to use public restrooms, especially the auto flush style one that if you move in the least it flushes and sprays your backside with it. She proceeded to do her “teetee dance” and beg to go home so she could potty for 45 straight minutes! I enjoyed the little time I had holding Emeryn, she has grown so much since I last saw her. Andie looked good, and I felt bad that she had driven so far for suck a short visit. Traffic in Atlanta on the 15th was horrendous due to the “TEA PARTY” and all those Republican terrorists who gathered there!!

From Atlanta to OKC was uneventful and we arrived just a bit late. I met up with my sister Sonia to start a 5-day visit. Our first stop was at a place called “Johnny’s”. This restaurant is talked about on a favorite TV show of Gordon’s and mine on TNT called Saving Grace. The show takes place in OKC, so it was fun to stop at a place I’ve heard about but never been. OKC has grown and changed so much as has Moore and Norman, they just all run together and you don’t know when one starts and the other ends. We arrived in Norman in time to head off to the soccer field to see my grandniece, Zoey play. It was fun to watch soccer although it is hard to get used to 9-10 year olds playing on a small field and short sided (8v8). Also, funny to hear parents complain about the young referee. (Who I thought did an outstanding job...hate to remember what was said about me at times!!) I was exhausted, but stayed up late just talking; it had been over a year since I had seen Sonia even though we talk on the phone about once a week!

Happy Easter!!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter and has eaten all the bunny ears one can handle! We spent the afternoon with friends and their family. Rose and Tom prepared a delicious dinner of filet,ham,escalloped gratin potatoes, green beans, spinach salad, broccoli salad and dessert was hummingbird cake. Gordon helped hide eggs for the hunt and Schooner was encouraged to catch,stalk, and kill her first lizzard (yuk) by Tom who praised and encouraged her catch.




We all had a wonderful day and hope y'all did too.

Happy Birthday

Happy 30th birthday to my eldest daughter Andrea Nichole Jump Quint. It has been a grand 30 years with you and I hope to have 30 more!!

Busy Weekend

Sorry, I haven’t kept up on my blogging as well as I should but it is more difficult to write things when you are in one place more than a few days. I will try to do better!

We rented a car this weekend and took advantage to do some sight seeing. It was noon on Saturday before we actually got the car and after doing the regular stops i.e. Sam’s, Wal-Mart and West Marine we drove down south on Route 1 to Jupiter Inlet and Lighthouse. It was late and very windy so we elected not to climb up and just continued on a food quest! Gordon was hankering for some junk food, so we headed all the way to Ft Lauderdale and Skyline Chili. Only you from Ohio can appreciate the fine dining experience of skyliners ( chili-cheese coneys) and 5-ways (Spaghetti with chili, beans, onions, cheese)!! After stuffing ourselves sufficiently and getting our hometown fix, we decided to head back driving up A1A. A1a is a state route that runs the closes to the beach possible from the Keys to Fernandina Beach. We have been on all parts of this route, which at one time was the only way north and south in Florida. It is rather sad that we have allowed commercial and condo builders the rights to build on our beaches! Much of the drive we couldn’t even see the beach for the buildings, but it was fun nonetheless. We got back to the boat way after dark and with full bellies!

Sunday morning we started out on a penny hunt! Most of you know I am a pressed penny collector and try to collect as many as I can from the area we are visiting. We took I95 north towards Titusville to the American Police Hall of Fame. The American Police Hall of Fame and Museum was founded in 1960. It is the nation's first national police museum and memorial dedicated to law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty currently exceeding more than 8000 honorees. There is also one of the largest indoor shooting ranges I have ever seen. It is open to any US citizen able to pass a background check! Here I was able to collect 2 pennies and 2 pressed quarters to add to my growing collection.

We then walked across the street to the Astronauts Hall of Fame. It is part of the Kennedy Space Center Complex and is dedicated to our nation's astronauts, including the world's largest collection of personal memorabilia and realistic astronaut training simulators. This is a really cool place to bring kids because of the hands on stuff. Here, I got 3 more pennies!! We continued our ride south to Canaveral and Cocoa Beach. Like many of the cities we have visited, we have seen decorated mermaids, turtles, and cats, Canaveral and Cocoa display shuttle statues.
You would have to spend more time than we had to find them all, but it is a nice addition to a community (hey Troy, you could do strawberries) While in Cocoa Beach, we stopped in at Ron Juan’s Surf Shop. This is where East coast surfing started and the store, although not original, is now 2 stories and 52,000 square feet of surfing paraphernalia. I scored an unexpected penny here, too!

Back on A1A, we continued south through many small communities. This part of the Florida shoreline, you can see both the ICW and Atlantic so there are few condos blocking your view until you hit Vero Beach, home of mega homes many that were for sale! Here we stopped by the Disney Beach Resort and got 2 more pennies and a quarter which the proceeds go to turtle research. We didn’t get to see any turtles although this is an area where many come to nest from November- March.

We arrived back in Ft Pierce in time to meet up with former Ohioans, Craig and Susanne for dinner. Thanks you guys, we had a great time and hope you made it back to Lakeland just fine.

So, one more day with a car and it was off to West Palm Beach! We had made plans to pick up Damian Symonette, a Palm Beach University student for a night away from institution food. We took him to Carrabba’s Italian Grill and had a great dinner and conversation. Gordon was able to talk him into eating calamari (squid) and I’m not sure he liked it but at least he tried it!!! He did fill up on spaghetti and refused dessert before we took him back to his dorm. He is here from the Bahamas working on a degree in film production.

So that was our weekend…pretty full and exciting for us. Now back to working on the boat in the cool weather Florida is experiencing. Feel sorry for us it was only 52º here this morning….crazzzzzy April weather!!!