Sunday, February 18, 2007

Chickens are all over the place in Key West. This one was in Ricky's Blue Heaven Cafe in Key West Old Town where we like to go for breakfast. We've found them as far north as Big Pine Key. The roosters are quite beautiful, with iridescent feathers and big, plumy tails. The little chicks run around all over also. And they all survive quite well, what with the traffic and all. They are protected now. Guess they were first brought over from Cuba. I know they used to have cock fights many years ago. Now they just roam around. Cats roam around also. They kind of co-exist.

We didn't do too much today. It's really cool and very windy. We finally had to remove all the stuff hanging off our awning because they kept blowing off. After the rain stopped Mike took care of emptying our tanks and a couple of other outside chores. Later Mike watched the Daytona 500 and I read my latest book. Had left-overs for dinner and watched Desperate Housewives on TV.

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Cool but sunny this morning. We drove to Key West and toured this ship—the USS Mohawk. It was originally a Coast Guard ice cutter and then served in WWII as a troop escort. A very small ship to be out on the open seas. Stopped by the Eco Center for a little bit. There is a huge EPA research ship docked there. Must be an interesting place to work. On the way home we stopped at Borders so Mike could pick up a book he ordered. Neither one of us feels great today. Back to Lazy Lakes and Mike watched his race and I played spades and read. Mike grilled chicken for dinner. We watched Cast Away.

Friday, February 16, 2007

This morning it is chilly in paradise. We stayed in all day—reading, playing spades, watching TV. The shrimp boil last night was fun. We took a bottle of champagne and some orange juice and made mimosas. There were about 11 people there. Any excuse for a party around here. The couple that sprang for the shrimp are in their 80s I believe...and they've been everywhere. He's a veteran of WWII. Interesting people to talk to. They're buying the shrimp for Tuesday's dinner also.

My new Spanish course finally showed up but I couldn’t load the main program. I don’t know if the CD is screwed up or what. There’s about 7 disks. The others work ok. I cannot get the main program disk to do anything. It doesn’t seem to have anything on it. So, I’ll have to call them. I’ve been waiting for this for a week now…and wouldn’t you know it won’t work. Mike grilled burgers for dinner. Watched Apollo 13.

Thursday, February 15

This morning started out cloudy, then cleared off, then clouded up again. At first I had on shorts and a tee shirt, then my sweats, then my bathing suit. I was outside reading and Deb and Craig in the motor home across from us came home. He wiped out on his motor cycle last night on the way home from work. He was so lucky he didn’t get hurt really bad. He was taken to the hospital and was checked out ok…like I said, he’s lucky. While I was over there talking with them, the marine jogged by with his pack and combat boots and two layers of spandex. He jogged by several times. Walked over to see if we had any mail. I’m waiting for my new Spanish course to be delivered. Still not here. We went over to Pizza Works for lunch and then Mike picked up a few things at the grocery store. One of the guys in the campground sprung for a bunch of shrimp. We’ve been invited over to join. Should be good.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Happy Valentines Day! Went over to the pool at about 10:30 again to practice with snorkels and masks. I had the pool all to myself. Swam several times around the pool, then got out and read for a while. After Mike got there I went back in. Tried a couple of surface dives to see how the snorkel works when water gets in there. The purge feature works really well—on both the snorkels and masks. Swam around some more and did some more dives, then got out to dry out and read in the sun. Went back and washed out my suit and a few other things and hung out to dry. Took a shower and washed my hair. Sat outside to read for a while. We have reservations at the Hideaway Café in this cute, retro motel on Marathon. Had reservations on the “porch” overlooking the beach so we could smoke, but were told no smoking. Didn’t want to put Mike through that so we left and had dinner at the Island Fish Co. which is all outside seating on the Gulf side. Had a great dinner. Talked about taking the sea plane out to the Dry Tortugas. Sounded like a good idea with two drinks in me. We’ll see.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Another rainy, grey morning. I showered, dressed, and got on the computer to take care of some things. Played some spades. By 10:00 the sky cleared and the sun was shining. So, changed into our swim suits, grabbed our snorkel gear and headed to the pool. Swam around a little with our snorkels and masks. My mask gets a little water in the nose area (gee what a surprise) but the purge thing works really well. The pool is one thing—82 degrees at least and no waves, compared to the water around the keys—low 70s and choppy at times, with critters in there. We’ll get wet suits.

The marine was at the pool—or I should say ex-marine—with his main squeeze. He came in after we did. He has a motor home and pulls a bright yellow hummer. He had someone paint the Iwo Jima flag raising picture on the back of his motor home with the words “simper fi” above it. Just him and his German shepherd. He was the talk of the campground because he would do one-arm push-ups, walk/jog around our 6-acre lake with a pack and combat boots 12 times or so (people lost count), do push-ups with his feet on the picnic table bench, etc. etc. Anyway, recently he put a personal ad in the Key West paper looking for a traveling companion. It went something like “… must be in excellent shape, like to travel, nothing but the finest resorts, all expenses paid, be able to drive a Hummer, no quitters and no cry babies…” Anyway, he’s been “interviewing” candidates the past week. He had one of them at the pool with him. She’s really cute, fake boobs, quite a bit younger than him (they say he’s 59). Can’t wait to see who gets the “job”. A little bit of excitement around Lazy Lakes this year.

We went to the club house for the spaghetti dinner tonight. They did such a nice job. Each table had fresh flowers, we were served by the office staff, and after they had the “horse races” at Lazy Lakes Downs. They asked Tini, Deb and me to be the “jockeys”. The job entailed just moving the horses along. We had a blast. Of course, I drank about a half bottle of wine. After the “races” we sat around and talked with Tini, Robin, Deb, and Craig. Had a lot of laughs. Home and lots of Excedrin to ward off a hangover.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Rained most of the night. Still raining this morning. I did my weights outside and sat out there and read for a while, but it started raining too hard and I came back in. Mike got on the computer and played spades. I read by book. Mike figured there’d be no shoes today, since at 1:00 it was pouring. But at about 2:00 Dale rode over on his bike wanting to know where Mike was—and they needed another person, so I ended up going too. Took a couple of towels with us to wipe the mud off our hands. Nothing like mud shoes. Won one, lost one. Back home and left-over brisket for dinner. On the news they said the middle Keys received something like 11 inches of rain. Wow! Last year in February we had the best weather. This year it’s another story.