Making a Mark

Home Sweet Home

My new house is really coming together.  As most of you know, decorating and home design have never held very high priorities in my life.  I was either too poor to play, or too busy to care.

For probably the first time in my life, I am feeling some sort of weird nesting thing going on, and it's really quite a pleasant experience.  Thanks to careful reading of the many beach newspapers (an inheritance from my mom no doubt), I've lucked up on some great finds for the new crib.

I saw an ad for a writing desk, and since I write regularly, decided to call and inquire.  It sounded well worth the trip to go and see, and that is an understatement!  Turns out the fellow selling the pieces had been stationed in England back in the early 70's while a Major in the USAF.

He commissioned a master carpenter to build a whole series of furniture pieces for his house, and these were what he was selling. 

There were two writing desks, a dining table with 8 chairs, and a corner unit that holds a television, or whatever else you want to put in a corner of a room.

Despite being several times the cost of the salvation army stuff I'd looked at, I had a strong attraction to these pieces.  They are hand carved, 30 year old English Oak, and are really just beautiful. 

You can look at some more pictures , and believe me, no one is more surprised than am I...life is weird isn't it?

Closing the book on the ship wreck

Once our initial misunderstanding had been cleared up...Vicki was very friendly, and assured me that the boat would be fine tied at her dock, and just have someone come and get it when I was ready.

The next morning, I called three different boat mechanics, but they were all out mechanicing and didn't call me right back.  At 11:51am, I got a call from the St Petersburg police.

They pleaded with me to do something about my boat, as a 'crazy woman' had been calling them every hour since 6:30 am...and they didn't want to hear her "screeching voice" again if they could help it.

I have an unusual knack for picking women, even when I'm just drifting at sea, I can spot and lock on to a psycho from a mile away.  In desperation, I called a boat towing company, and it cost me $300.00 to get my little boat towed a total of 2.5 miles.

It is finally back at the marina, and thanks to a splendid mechanic, it is running like the wind now.  Yesterday (Sunday) I took it all the way out to the big water...the gulf.  More fun than all of the carnival rides I've ever been on,

Ship Wrecked...Ginger, Mary Ann, Mr Howell??

I got in from my errands about 5:00pm, although it's been a bit breezy, it was sunny and cool, so I decided to get a little bit of 'seat time' in the boat.  I was a little bit concerned about the wind, but figured that if I stayed relatively close, and in the protection of the Inner Costal...I'd be ok.

Things went fairly well, and I learned to pay close attention to the depth finder after having a little bit of a tustle with a shallow bottom...no harm no foul.  I got back into the deep channel, and opened up the throttle a bit.

The nose of the boat rose out of the water like a prize race horse chomping at the bit, the salt spray was in my face...then my race horse had a sudden and massive heart attack.  The motor just simply quit?  It did not cough or sputter, just died...immediate, total, you're not going any further died.

Well, I figured something had gotten in the fuel line, and wasn't particularly worried.  I let it 'set' for a spell, then cranked the engine...nothing, so I let it set again.  I repeated this several times, and noticed that with each iteration, I was drifting closer and closer to what had been the 'distant shore'.

As fate would have it, I "drifted" into an upscale neighborhood where each house had it's own private dock.  When I nudged the dock, I immediately got out my rope, and tied the best double shoelace knot I knew.  I got up on the dock, and looked straight into a woman's face behind a glass door...clearly she was not expecting me, or anyone.

Her eyes were saucer like, and I could tell she didn't envision me as her long lost prince charming...to the contrary I'm sure her thoughts were more of the Charles Manson variety.  I could not get her to open the glass, so I was confined to sign language.

I pointed at my boat, then the only 'charades' move I could think of to convey 'broken' was to make a slitting motion around my neck area.  As it turns out, that is not a universal sign, and is open to interpretation beyond what I had intended...on reflection she probably understood it as hey lady, I came in the back way so no one would see me, and I'm here to slit your throat...oh my.

After dropping to my knee in my very best Al Jolson imitation, she finally cracked open the door enough for me to use the advantage of language.  Things warmed up ever so slightly, and I was able to find out where in the world I was, and call a cab to take me home.

My life is nothing if not exciting...stay tuned for details about the boat.  I remain undeterred.

Finally...I got it in the water!

After almost two weeks of agony, I finally got my boat in the water on Saturday.  I had promised myself that I wouldn't take it out until I'd had a 'supervised' trip with an experienced boat person.

Well, the first guy just flaked out all together, the second guy could only do it on days when I couldn't...and f i n a l l y ...the guy who sold me the boat hooked up with me on Saturday, and off we went.

WOW...it was a BLAST!  Of course my Irish complexion moaned from over exposure to the sun (especially the following morning)...but it was worth every moment of it. 

Now I don't know that I've ever been in a boat like this, much less owned one...but hey, life is short right?

It's 21 ft long, and has a small V6 engine that just purred like a kitten the whole way. It's a four stroke engine, so is relatively quiet (which I really like), and has more than enough power to get me in deep trouble...just the way I like it :>))

There are all sorts of porpoises, and birds that follow the boats.  This guy was one cheeky pelican.  While the owner of this boat got out to fuel up, Mr Fatback pelican jumped right up and helped himself to the guy's catch...boy was he mad when he got back to the boat.

I can tell already that I'm going to take to this boating stuff, but will have to see if they make like a 600 strength sun block.

Got to love those fortune cookies

There is an extraordinarily above average chinese restaurant very near my house.  It is in a nondescript strip mall, and completely unprepossessing from the outside.  The food however, is amazing.  I will have to exercise caution to not blow up like a bad baloon.

 

The other day, I was having a plate of ginger squid, and reading one of the local beach papers.  At the end of the meal, they brought the traditional fortune cookie, and it was just one of those right message right time moments.

Don't spend your time stringing and tuning your instrument. Start making music now

I broke open the cookie, prepared to find the typical corny message...

OK...so I'm bad...again

Well, another week has passed since I've written, but bear with me and I think you'll understand that I've been a bit busy. To my family, I apologize for not telling your first, but I have to sort of gather my thoughts.

The business climate here is pocked with opportunity, and I'm actively working on a couple of very interesting projects.  In order to do this, I've decided to take up residence here on a more permanent basis.

Toward that end, I bought myself a 'modular home' (don't say trailer y'all) here at the Harbor Lights park, and will be moving in very shortly.  I also bought a BOAT...a 20' Day Cruiser.  There is a marina here at the park, and I have it down at the dock now getting it shipshape.

I'm going to include some links to a couple of the things I'm working on...but be warned, they are in the very early development stages...so don't be surprised if you get some random errors...but don't worry, you won't break anything.

SnowbirdsWeb

Snowbirds Realty

Create In Tampa

 

Technorati tags: st petersburg, tampa, gulf beaches, florida

Something about the beach

Last night, I played at a place called Swigwams.  For those of you familiar with the area, it is the tiki bar behind the Shell's seafood restaurant on St Pete's beach. 

Thank goodness for me, they start early (7pm), and if I'm lucky enough to get an early slot, I can be home by 9:30...it's hell getting old.

 

 

Someone who doesn't have that worry is the little guy that I played a bit of soccer with on the beach as I was waiting for my 'slot' to play. 

He was about as cute as he could be...and very serious about the game of soccer.  I got reprimanded quite smartly when I did something that was not according to Hoyle.

 

I couldn't resist incurring his ire, and after the requisite number of 'fouls' had been comitted, he simply decided that he'd take his ball and go somewhere that people understood the fine points of the game...look out Pele

A LONG dry spell here on the blog

Well, I am back.  Some of you know that I've been puny for a while now.   The MRSA infection came back in spades, and I've been distracted for a while.  The good news is that I am well on my way to full recovery, and will be back with bells.

During this relapse, I also had to find new quarters, and move.  I was very lucky there, and found a wonderful spot in the Harbor Lights mobile home park. 

It has a full clubhouse with pool, library, and more...and the neighbors are my kind of people. Unlike the condo commandos, they've all been very welcoming and friendly.

 

 

My kitchen is very cheerful, almost too cheerful until I've had a couple cups of coffee...lol.  The owner of this trailer is an older guy who is meticulous.

I'm sorry that I've been so sporadic here lately, but as I said, I'm well on my way to recovery, and just ask anyone who knows me well...I'm hell when I'm well...lol

Just when I thought it was safe to go back into the water...

It is with more disappointment than saddness that I have to report that the bitch is back.  I started feeling very mild symptoms Tuesday or Wednesday, but hoped that it would 'heal itself'.

On Saturday morning, I woke up wracked with fever, and a splitting pain in the left side of my head and face...alas I had to go to the VA hospital for treatment.  Luckily for me the hospital is right across the street from me, and I'll have to say that the level of care was excellent.

I'm back on still another round of antibiotics, and am feeling substantially better today.  Meanwhile, the condo commandos served me an eviction notice, it arrived as I was coming back from the emergency room.

I'm not going to debate the legality of it all, I don't want to be here any more than they want me here under oppresive circumstances.  Luckily it is a 'renter's market', and I'm quite sure that I'll find adequate housing quickly.

The timing could of course have been better, but sometimes life is just like that.  Here is a picture from the Madeira Beach American Legion deck, where I eat on a semi regular basis.  I owe my dad for suggesting it to me...reasonable food, good prices, AND you can smoke inside.

Gluttons for punishment?

If you really have a sadistic sense about you, I'm going to upload another audio recording of a 'live jam' night.  I've been having a ball playing here, and it is sort of the luck of the draw as far as the players that you get to play with.

Play steppingout.mp3