bobmacliberty

2 hours ago, twangster said:

I can't publish 360° images on CC directly so I post them on an external site.

 

360 from Flam hike with Jewel of the Seas

Love these 360 images!

8 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

 

Not happening. I'm not going to live my life that way. I will take precautious and be careful but I want to live my life.

I agree.  Can't go through life scared.  That said, I wear a hat 95% of the time when I'm outdoors.  Even if I'm just going out to water plants for 5 minutes, I put on a hat.  It has become such a habit that I'll feel like something is missing if I leave the house without a hat.  The good news is that you can buy hats in every cruise port. 😁

3 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

Mushy peas...very popular.  Though you need to develop a taste for them.  😉 

I'm not a fan of peas at all (I avoid them at all costs), but I didn't mind mushy peas. 🤷‍♂️

3 hours ago, Hoopster95 said:

I thought this was super cool…

Norway is building an underground tunnel for ships!!! There video depicts Hrutiguten passenger ships within the tunnel

 

 

 

 

 

 

I saw a video about this tunnel a couple of years ago.  The video might be a little out of date (some numbers in the video are different from those in your pictures) but the project is still incredibly ambitious.  As the video says, Norwegians sure do have a lot of tunneling experience.

5 hours ago, ATG said:

I have a question for our tech gurus or at least those who know what they are doing!

 

 I have an iPhone 13.  I use it here every day, but next month we’re sailing from Southampton.  Flying into Heathrow we booked a car service. They want me to call after we get our luggage.  I’ve never used my phone to call when I am in a different country.  I’ve tried google, but I’m confused.  It seems like I need to dial +44 and their number.  Is that right?  My T Mobile has included international calls.  This will probably be the only actual call I make! The kids and I use texting most of the time with Skype calls.

@brillohead pointed you in the right direction for making local calls while in a foreign country on T Mobile.  You will indeed first need to dial +44 to make the call.  In case it's not clear, you enter the + by pressing and holding the zero for a couple of seconds.  When you first touch the zero, you'll see the zero appear.  Keep pressing the zero (you'll hear the noise continuously) until the zero on the screen changes to a +.

Easy to practice this at home.  Just don't hit the button to actually make the call.  Hit the backspace button instead to clear the screen.

10 hours ago, Momof3gurlz said:

Finally! Tyler Joseph made his appearance at 4:45 pm today weighing in at 8 lbs 2 oz.  Mom and baby are doing great.  Tyler is my SIL’s middle name and Joseph has a long history in both families.  Maybe now I can start trying to keep up with this thread again!

 

Congratulations Deb to you and your family!  

15 hours ago, firefly333 said:

Lol that's pretty much exactly what I did. Well one store, and liked what they have.

 

There is only 1 working elevator. The movers will want a big tip and if I was them I wouldnt be happy but it is what itmis.

 

I think the 12th business day is next Wednesday so they should be there no latter than then.

 

I stopped at a mattress store that sells everything. Beds they can deliver today even but I already paid for 3 nights starting tonight. The refund thing requires 24 hours notice so I just said bring it Friday. I bought  saucepan, there is no built in microwave but a sauce pan can warm up anything for a couple of days. 

 

In fact I bought 2 beds the same mattress. The one for me I got what he says is walnut. My triple dresser is actually mahogany and looks like a close enough match to me. And got a remote for mine that raises the feet and head to watch tv in bed. And bedding and pillows and all that other stuff. Too bad I already paid for 3 more  nights,  I'd been doing 1 or 2 nights, this time I guess I was depressed how long and booked 3 more nights, so il, just stay until friday and the salesman said he will bring up both beds and set them up. The 2nd bed he said he would throw in a wooden bed frame black or white he had there in stock. 

 

I cant wait for my new bed. He has living room furniture but I'm at a loss looking at a bunch of catalogues what to get. Several pieces, how to arrange them, pictures I cant picture what I want, comfortable. I'm excited to have a new bed. I picked nice and soft. I like a soft bed, softer than what rcl has. Idk if I needed the motor or not and the cherry headboard was also extra. 

 

Just driving by and saw the sign and pulled in and really liked their beds. Wish I'd thought of it sooner, but sometimes things happen when they should. All my kitchen stuff is on the  moving truck, so I bought a sauce pan. I got chicken tenders at publix thenother day, gives me something  to warm them up in on the stove and get by a few days if the truck is still delayed. Yipee. I cant wait for new beds. I left a phone message for ray, the guy I'm supposed to tell to pad the elevator. Just my bad luck they started to take apart the elevators just last Wednesday.  I just checked back in here same hotel, 3rd check. 2 days, 2 days, now 3 days until friday. I still wouldnt have furniture except the beach chair in the picture above.

 

Bob's bed he wrote about sounded perfect. So I got the whole works. I dont know if i really want a remote controlled bed, but why not. Saw what i liked and said YES. 

 

Tbh I'll probably toss out my sofa and chair they moved. I want something that looks classier. That was supposed to be temporary while i was there taking care of my parents, not meant forever. I want this place to look classier. The cherry looks dark to me, very close to the color of my triple dresser. I really think it's too late to get a hotel refund, so I just said being it friday and I'll, leave the hotel that  morning.. he said probably between noon and 2 pm. I can eat out a lot too, I wouldnt starve if my kitchen stuff takes a few extra days but by my count by next week Wednesday that's 12 business days. Finally something really good happened. My realtor and Bob above were smart to plan a bed ahead of time. But i wouldn't have known to call a certain person 24 hours ahead to pad the elevator. I cant say I shopped around, just liked what I saw. Finally something really good. 

Glad to hear that you got new beds!  It's exciting to start to furnish the new place.  Don't be in too much of a rush to furnish your condo.  Give yourself a chance to live in it and get a feel for what you might want, even if it means living with old or temporary stuff for a while.  It took Micheline 2 years to decide what she wanted for a coffee table in our great room.  She was originally thinking a round table with a driftwood base and a glass top.  She then switched to thinking something off white but didn't want something too "beachy".  She finally ended up with a rectangular dark wood table with an intricate pattern and some caning.  She just kept casually looking until she found the perfect fit.    

2 hours ago, twangster said:

Except the cormorants ignore the eagles and the eagles ignore the cormorants.

The birds must have been fascinating to watch.  Any idea why the cormorants and eagles leave each other alone?

19 minutes ago, Hoopster95 said:

p.s. I can’t find An emojie for an “innie”😆

5 hours ago, firefly333 said:

I'm a worrier perhaps?  Like a lot of these mattress places are online. If they delivered it downstairs idk I could get a full mattress up 8 floors to my place. I keep thinking thru this move I wish right now I was married and have a 2nd set of hands. And then add in the guy who has to pad the one working elevator. What bad luck the day I arrived 1 of the 2 elevators was removed to just a hole in the ground. Wait until the movers find out a large 8 story high rise only has one slow working elevator. No guesses when it will be replaced, but when its replaced, then the one woeking elevator will be replaced so this will go on for a while. 

 

I need to find a place that delivers all the way to my bedroom! I sure was stupid and or naive when planning this move. My house sale is currently set for by ju e 15.. my buyer called sunday to tell me the next door neighbors tree fell and smashed the fence between us. I said the contract clearly says AS IS. Your problem, go talk to the next door neighbor yoursel. It's his tree. My broker in dallas just emailed and said the weather is still bad and another storm, which isnt helping get my stuff transferred to a bigger truck and on it's way.

 

I guess I'm naive but truly I am surprised that a moving coordinator cant tell me where the truck with my stuff is. This 24 to 48 hours notice is baloney to me. I've moved across town but never had movers move me across the country. Too late to do it differently. Clearly I'm not smart how I did this move. Should have thrown out a lot of stuff,not paid whatever the price is. When he was figuring the extra cost he kept quoting me things like 60 cents a cubic foot. Not dollars. I kept saying so how much is that extra in dollars... over $1500??!! Omg. He kept wanting to tell me cubic feet and I wanted dollars. Well nothing else I can do except shop lol. Spectrum done, so now I'm free until the truck comes. 

 

Shower and then ill google furniture stores. 

 

I saw above a suggestion for measuring room sizes. To me they all look huge. I brought a flashlight but not my measuring thing... and I have several.,movers have all that. Cheap to buy another I know.  I've seen both a lowes and a home depot between me and publix. I've had huge old historic houses, but these 2 are my first condos. And much newer and huge closets.. im so loving these big closets and so many. 

 

Shopping isnt the worst thing to have left to do. Didnt occur to me to pack more clothes. All is good here.

I wouldn't worry about the movers, although @reallyitsmema makes an excellent point about checking your condo requirements for movers.  Movers often have difficult situations to deal with and I'm sure elevators are a part of what they do.  We live on a long street with many overhanging branches from Live Oak trees.  We're all the way at the end on a cul de sac with an island in the middle.  We didn't think that a large 18 wheeler could make it to our house and there was no way it would be able to turn around if it did.  I said as much to the moving company and they said, "no problem.  We'll get the big truck as close to your house as possible and if necessary, use a small truck to shuttle stuff between the big truck and your house".  That seemed like a lot of extra work but is par for the course for them.  They didn't actually have to do that for us because they could back the big 18 wheeler all the way down the street, without damaging any trees, and unload from right in front of our house.  In any case, I'd be ready with maybe $20 per person to tip the movers.

I also completely agree with measuring your rooms.  When our house was empty, I drew a rough floor plan of every room.  I noted dimensions for all walls, doors, windows, outlets, light switches, etc.  They were all in a notebook that my wife kept with a lot of decorating ideas, paint swatches, etc.  Many times, we used the dimensions from the floor plan to check if a piece of furniture would fit before buying it from the store.  

12 hours ago, firefly333 said:

I talked to my realtor today whom imo is top notch or I woukdnt have trusted him to help me buy a sight u seen condo. He had a good suggestion, though maybe kinda late to do much good.

 

When we first priced out the move a dedicated truck was $1500 extra. Of course optimistic me assumed the truck would be soon behind me, I didnt know a tornado coming and they couldnt transfer my stuff to a shared truck. And somehow I didnt hear the up to 12 BUSINESS days it might take. You all know what hotels on friday and saturday night cost near cocoa beach.

 

He said I should look around for a bed at least, if not a whole bedroom set. I planned to actually buy 2 more bedroom sets. I see all these commercials for purple and other mattresses. The day I was leaving my bil offered his purple mattress to me free, just as I was leaving. Lol of course. 

 

But for up to 3 weeks in a hotel it could have gone a long way toward buying a bedroom set, though I'm still not even sure what kind of mattress I might want. This one is orgwnic or that one etc. I just had no idea I'd still be in a hotel maybe even next week. I could sleep there if I had a bed. I got a quilt and 2 pillows with me in the car I brought. Plus a few throws. Maybe a nice bedroom set $1500 isn't a drop in the bucket. I see commercials in Dallas all the time for Nebraska something or other, dont see any furniture sales on tv here so far.

 

I called slecturm and said ok I'll pay for you to install. That poor guy today spent a hour. He looked in every closet and place he could tho I of  o wires. The  ain bedroom tv connection is dead. He finally hooked it up wifi. Got my newish samsung in the living room and for unknown reasons put the router in the corner of the 3rd bedroom to have something to connect to that was live.

 

I hadnt planned on looking for new furniture this soon but that money could go a ways I assume toward a new mattress. Maybe beds cost a lot more than I know. Lol seems like everything costs a lot more than I expect. I dont even know what stores, google seems like a good place to start tomorrow and at least look and get a idea.

 

Idk if there is such a thing as tok many ceiling fans, but I'm pretty sure this is a record. Every room has the, 2 on the balcony. My master closet and master both have ceiling fans and right behind the master walk in closet there is like a 10 ft long linen closet and tub and separate show, small area, that even has a ceiling fan. I havent counted them but this seems a lot. Closets and bathrooms idk have separate ceiling fans. But I extended my hotel stay until friday. Just doing a few days at a time.  Says refundable but then says I have to cancel by midnight 24 hours in advance. Anyway the spectrummguy said no way this wifi and tv could have been self install if you arent technical so it's good I scheduled someone to come and install. 

 

My one little sling chair I bought yesterday, and water looks blue today. Yes this ceiling fan is in a closet with 5 feet behind where the toilet is another tiny ceiling fan. Seems unusual to me but what do I know.. to borrow I guess I'll goggle for stores that sell bedroom for future. I actually also want new larger living room furniture. Time to enjoy more. Just finding a starting pt and find how stuff gets delivered. Someone at the condo wants 24 hr notice to pad the elevator. Dont want to get him mad. Bad start. All my new neighbor's I've really liked so far. I think it's a great choice so far. 2nd picture is ceiling fan in my closet, also my bedroom and right behind the closet a tiny ceiling fan by the toilet area. ..of course the closet is now painted agreeable grey lol.

 

 

 

We weren't sure when our truck would arrive when we moved so we used your strategy of buying a new bed.  We thought about it in advance, picked out the bed in Cincinnati, and had it delivered the day after we arrived in Florida.  We therefore only had one night in a hotel.  We also had a TV delivered that day and bought 2 foldable beach chairs that we put in our great room.  We lived that way for about a week before the truck arrived.  This worked well for us because we were already in the market for a new bed and TV.  We put our bed from Cincy in one of the guest rooms.

If you do plan to buy a bed, be prepared for sticker shock.  Because you spend so much time in bed, we spent a little more to ensure that we sleep well.  Our Sleep Number bed cost about $10K.  You don't need to spend that much, but you'll probably want to spend at least $2-3K on a good mattress.

And I hear you on ceiling fans.  We have one in every bedroom, one in our great room, one in our office, and 3 on our lanai.  We don't have any in a closet though. 🤣

Wow...just wow. Spectacular.

15 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

Hmmmm, after looking at their avitar, I am leery of responding.   
 

 

Although I have been known to play well with others.   Just not the pineapple way. 😂

What did you say that caused them to want to chat? 🤣🤣

12 hours ago, SteelCityCruiser10 said:

Sounds like I am going to be bar hopping.   Sounds like a place I’d like to visit.

It wouldn't be much of a guess to say that bar hopping is Nashville's number one attraction.  Places like Jason Aldean's and Kid Rock's have multiple floors with different types of bands on each floor and nice rooftop bar areas.  Lots of fun.  

If you're there on a weekend, you can expect to see busload after busload of bachelorette parties.  Lots of open top buses that will drive you around and are filled with drunk girls.  Nashville (at least in 2019) was one of the top bachelorette party destinations.

One last thing that might be useful.  There's a grocery store on Church St. between 4th and 5th.  We'd stop there on the way back to our hotel to pick up water, snacks, etc.

16 minutes ago, mo&fran said:

The whole state of Florida is west of Pittsburgh.  The longitude of where I live is about 80 Degrees west, as is Pittsburgh. If you travel due south from western Pa, you will be more than a 100 miles off shore in the Atlantic.

It's a good bar trivia question.  We live just about on the western most point on the east coast.  At about 81.45 degrees west longitude, we're almost as far west as Akron, OH...70 miles west of Pittsburgh and almost 400 miles west of NYC.  You can probably win several drinks from people who would never believe that.  

28 minutes ago, SteelCityCruiser10 said:

Does anyone have any recommendations for Nashville?  We will be there 1 evening  on our way to FL.  Starting to look for a hotel and a place to eat/drink.  We probably won’t arrive until 4-5 Pm and will need to be back on the road early in the morning.  What would you do with 1 night in Nashville?

We spent a long weekend there a few years ago.  We stayed at the Homewood Suites on Church and 7th.  Decent hotel within a few blocks walking distance from the action on Broadway.  We went to many of the Broadway bars and probably enjoyed Dierks Bentley's the best, but that will vary greatly depending on your preferred style of music.  We did 3 things during the day that we enjoyed, but you probably won't have enough time for any of them.  We visited Andrew Jackson's Hermitage, and the Belle Meade Plantation.  I don't know if either is open in the evening.  We also took a backstage tour through the Ryman Auditorium which I'd recommend, even if you're not a big country music fan.  Lots of history there.  But I don't think that the Ryman is open in the evening either.  Your best bet is to check out several of the Broadway bars for live music.

There used to be a bunch of restaurants, many touristy, on second street but Google Maps shows many of them being closed.  Not sure why.  I don't really remember where we ate so the restaurants must not have been great.  I do remember eating at the Wild Horse Saloon which had some interesting line dancing to watch while eating.  I'm not sure that place is still open.  

1 hour ago, Sea Dog said:

 

Sorry I'm late reading this I would go for the ultimate Mai tai if you don't mind buying a few bottles of Rum. Here is the recipe from Kevin Crossman and his website "in search of the ultimate Mai Tai."

Ultimate Mai Tai Recipe
½ oz Appleton Estate Rare Casks Aged 12 Years
½ oz Smith & Cross Traditional Jamaica Rum
½ oz Plantation OFTD
½ oz Plantation Xaymaca
1 oz Lime Juice
½ oz Orgeat (Latitude 29)
½ oz Orange Curacao (Ferrand Dry Curacao)
¼ oz Demerara Syrup (BG Reynolds)
Garnish with mint sprig and spent lime shell

 

Or my newest creation, "Sea Dog's Rum Punch."

1oz Plantation Dark Rum

1oz Plantation 3 Star Rum

1oz Plantation OFTD

1oz Giffard Abricot De Roussillion 

1/4oz St. Elizabeth All Spice Dram

1oz Orange Juice 

1oz Pineapple Juice 

1oz Coconut Water 

1/2oz Lime Juice 

1/2oz Orgeat

Combine all ingredients in shaker with ice and shake until well chilled.pour over crushed ice

garnish with cherry and pineapple spear

Thanks Greg.  I'm definitely writing these down.  If they're half as good as your special old fashioned, they'll be great.  Unfortunately, I'd already made a Mai Tai by the time I read this.  Same recipe but with a different rum blend and homemade demerara syrup.  I used an ounce of Appleton Estate 12 year and an ounce of El Dorado Demerara 12 year.  Very tasty.  

Unfortunately, I can't get Plantation OFTD anywhere around here.  I may need to order it on Curiada.  Just about every tiki recipe seems to call for it.  That and Falernum, which I also can't find locally.

2 hours ago, HBE4 said:

*HBE4's scale of success:

 

Making the Playoffs = A Good Year but expected

Winning Round 1 = Pretty Good Year

Winning Round 2 = Very Good Year

Winning Round 3 - Excellent Year

Winning Final Round  (Stanley Cup) = Over the moon, Fantastic Best Ever Year.

That's about the way that I feel about the Buffalo Bills.  But I've never had an over the moon, fantastic best ever year.  I saw this jersey the other day.  Still hurts.

Today feels like a Tiki drink by the pool day.  Not sure what to make though.  A Mai Tai is always a great idea.  Maybe a Rum Runner, or a Rongo Rongo.  Hmmm.  What do you suggest @Sea Dog Greg?  In any case, time for a liquor store run.  I'll need to go a little further away than my local store since the rum selection there isn't great.  

1 hour ago, firefly333 said:

There is a rooms to go across the parking lot that has a patio section I thought I would walk kver just to try and get some ideas of what things people are buying these days. I started over there last night and walked thru the Audi parking lot between me and the store to look at the hours on the door and all the sudden blasting out of speakers was you are intruding on private property. We have you on camera. Please contact with your number ... and they then blasted the same message about 6 times when I turned to walk back to the hotel. People said oh it's not you they just blast that message all the time. Sure got my attention. I wouldnt buy from them I'm sure, never heard anything good, but its sunday and I was just killing time today and saw them with a store out on the main street. A fold up chair or anything I can get in my car to sit on would sure be a help. Standing around and no place to sit down gets old fast. Only so much walking around the condo I can take until I just leave. 

I suggest buying a beach chair or 2.  You can use them as temp chairs until the moving truck arrives, and then have them available for you or guests who want to go to the beach.  Most beach chairs sit pretty low and can be hard to get out of.  You can find portable beach chairs that sit higher though.  We have a couple Tommy Bahama beach chairs that we like a lot.  The TB brand makes what they call a "highboy" which sits at a more normal height.  You should be able to find beach chairs in just about any store near the beach.

13 hours ago, twangster said:

The Twizy was an amazing experience and we were very fortunate the weather cleared up as much as it did.  This was booked directly with a local tour company.

 

Here is some video from my 360 camera of the Twizy tour and subsequent walk along the river.

 

Geiranger is beautiful with a lot to do and see.

 

 

 

Love this video!  Those things look like fun to drive.  How fast can they go?  And I'd need a very long pole to get some of those over-the-cliff-edge shots.  You won't get me standing near those insubstantial looking fences. 😵‍💫

@firefly333 - There are probably a couple of reasons that it's taking your moving truck so long to arrive.  As @c-leg5 said, you probably only filled part of the truck with your stuff.  They will find someone else moving from near Dallas to your same general area and put their stuff on the truck with yours.  That way, they're moving the most weight in a single trip.  Saves them money.  If the new house for the other people is on the way to your place, they'll stop there and unload first.  Also, drivers are limited in how long they can drive in one day.  They could use multiple drivers so that one is driving while one is resting but then you're paying for 2 drivers.  They likely will only use one driver and pick up some extra local "muscle" to help with the unloading at your house.

None of that gets your truck there any faster but knowing why it's taking so long might help with your impatience (with which I am completely familiar 😁).  Before you know it, all your stuff will be in your condo, all of the one-time annoyances involved with moving will be done, and you'll be loving your new place.  Don't forget to set up your homestead exemption.  It can save you a lot on future property taxes!

1 hour ago, Hoopster95 said:

Standing right now as I’m posting this.. totally awesome. Now the trek down!!😳

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_3469.mov

Spectacular!  And an impressive climb to get there.  I'm thinking I'd need to be more than a little athletic.

20 hours ago, CSHS1979 said:

Strap given to new brides 😉

I have questions...😁😬

57 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

Well, my verdict is in on the new Baldacci novel, Calamity of Souls.  Just finished it this morning, and I thought it was a good read.   In fact, I think he could bring back the characters in a series of books, if he was inclined to write more from that period.

Thanks.  I'll need to check it out.  I love his Camel Club, Will Robie, and Amos Decker (Memory Man) books.  The King and Maxwell, and Atlee Pine books were also good but maybe a step below the others.  While I enjoyed the John Puller series, it seemed too much like a Jack Reacher rip-off.

Baldacci has a house next to the 9th green of our golf course, but I've never seen anyone there other than landscapers.  I'm hoping to run into him some day.  We have an annual book festival that usually includes both Baldacci and Grisham because of their ties to the island.  I don't recognize any of the other author names from this year's main event:

Annual Gala | Amelia Island Book Festival | Florida