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.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

A grey, rainy morning. I got up early and worked on my Spanish for an hour or so. Found a better Spanish language learning package on the Mexico camping web site and ordered it. Should be here next week. It should be much better. Mike went up to the store and bought a watermelon for us to take to the dinner tonight. I cut it up into chunks and around 4:30 we headed over to the club house. Talked with Dale and Carolyn while they were cooking the ribs. Had a great dinner. There are some great people in this place. We didn’t stay around for the ice cream. Ate too much. Back home. Supposed to be rainy tomorrow too (sigh).

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Went to Captain Crossbones for breakfast this morning. Then went to the Looe Key Dive Shop and bought some really good snorkels and masks. Will practice in the pool for a while and then probably go out to Looe Key reef and do some snorkeling. Will rent wet suits at first but then buy a couple. We’ll see if I like it. The reef is five miles out and looks beautiful. Clouded up this afternoon and chilled down. Sat outside and read for a while. A couple stopped by and invited us over to the club house for ribs tomorrow night. Looking forward to that. Mike is watching the Daytona race. I’m working on the computer.

Friday, February 9, 2007

Started out cloudy this morning but started clearing off. Went to Key West and had lunch at the Roof Top Café across from Mallory Square. After lunch we walked over to the marina by the Hilton and watched the cruise ship leave and checked out some of the yachts moored there. One of the guys in the park told Mike the shipwreck museum was pretty interesting so we went through it. In the 1800s Key West became a very prosperous city because of all the ship wrecks in the area. They’d recover the cargo and then sell it. Tift was one of these who became very wealthy and built the home that Hemmingway eventually bought. Then walked around and had a drink at one of the outdoor cafes. Back home and did the laundry.