Flick

We have had two, count 'em, two whole days without rain....will wonders never cease? I'm cooking out for thirty people tomorrow at the Lodge and hopeing and prayin' it doesn't rain on MY parade!

Well the work has started to replace the vapor barrier and insulation under the house. We also discovered a major leak under the double sink in my bathroom that went downward so we were unaware of it but the joists are sopping wet. All told this will cost about $4200.00 but at least the floors don't have to be replaced! Now you know why I had to cancel the cruise......Or should I say, the cruise paid for this work!

Happy Birthday Heidi!

Dave, I DO NOT want to hear we are going to have a wetter winter!!! I cannot believe for 1 minute that there is any water left in the atmosphere after this summer........

Heidi, after I retired the first time I worked 5 years as a travel agent down here. For our travel agency giving away a free cruise is no big deal because you can drive to the ports but up there do you have to include air fare or is the winner on "his own" to get to the ship?

Oh, hello cupids!!

I have been diabetic for over two decades and have also done a LOT of cruises. Watch out for sugar-free desserts!!!! They usually use fruit instead of sugar and you get a lot of sugar from the fruit. I have found the regular desserts to be ok and if I have doubts I just don't eat all of it. I am insulin dependant and never have any issues. I use a scale of 1 unit per 10 carbs and I can tell you pizza is 70 carbs for 4 slices (medium size). My benchmark is 10 units and unfortunately that is the figure at McDonalds for a quarter pounder, fries and diet coke. Almost EVERYTHING ELSE is less than 10 units!!!!

Heidi thanx for the shout out....I'll be lurking and probably even occasionally posting on the thread.

Sue, sorry bout the doe...I can't imagine hunters not knowing private land vs. public land!

Well, life can certainly be interestin' at times! Just yesterday morning I was announcing our choices for shore excursions. and this morning I have to say we are not going on this cruise. As you know we have had TOO MUCH rain and we were told yesterday that the moisture barrier under our house has absorbed all the liquid it can and that it is "leaking into the house thus weakening the floors. Indeed we have to immediately replace the floors in our two bathrooms. There is only "X" amount of money available and this is not covered by insurance so guess who gets to pay out the thousands of dollars this will potentially cost. I'm sorry to have to do this as I would have loved to meet y'all but an 8 day cruise is second to a roof (and floor) over and under me......Y'all have fun, ya heah!

Well we have made our final choices on shore excursions. Grand Turk we won't do anything except go to the beach right next to the ship. LaRomana is definitely Altos De Chavon & River Cruise. Curacao is going to be an independent sunset cruise thru Klein and Aruba is going to be Best of Aruba bus tour. Here's the joke, the bus tour booked independently is 39.99 but if you are on a ship you must book thru the ship @$49.99! The Klein sunset cruise is only refundable if the ship is late or doesn't come. We'll take that chance at that time of the year.

OMG it's clouding up again. Storms are predicted for everyday this week! This is tiresome although the good news is I get to try out my new snorkle gear.....in the back yard!

Heidi, I feel for you......this past May I had people come out to clean our duct work. It was so bad they had to replace all of it to the tune of $4200.00!! Don'tchajusthate those bad estimates???

Guess what it is doing boys and girls....that's right, it's raining, it's pouring, the old man can't snore for the racket this storm is kickin' up. Dave when you see a white house with orange shutters float by be sure to wave...it's me all the way from Floriduh! We use to take the dog for walks now it's dog paddling.

I regret to announce that my BIL and SIL, Jann and Ken, will not be going on this cruise. They really wanted something closer to their actual 25th. anniversary which is in July plus the high airline tickets from California just was more than they wanted to spend on airfare.I'm soooo glad we have done 2 Alaska cruises and 1 Mexican Riviera cruise so I don't have to concern myself with airfare from Florida to go cruising. Yep, for me it's just mosey down the road a piece and board the ship........

Small world time...I have been corresponding on these Boards with a lady from Tenn. for at least 10 years. Just found out she is going on the same cruise as we are in November so we will finally meet face to face. She is travelling with a group of 50 plus and we are travelling with a group of 88 BUT we will meet!!! Already exchanged cabin numbers so we can make contact.

Forgot to add my new Passport came yesterday which is approximately 4 weeks after I applied thru the mail.

Sue...good luck with listing the ranch.Just a tip for those of you that want to do a road trip. When you go out West the views are so outstanding and breathtaking that you might want to consider a tour and let someone else do the driving otherwise the driver has to really concentrate on the curvy and mountainous roads. We did a tour of the National Parks out West and I was soooooo very glad someone else was driving. I would have hated to miss the scenery!

Well we were successful in raising just over $4,000.00 yesterday in 4 hours for the dogs. I'll consider that a day well-spent!

Well today is the day for our annual summer-time fundraiser for companion dogs. These are dogs trained to detect invisible disabilities such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, heart conditions,diabetes, high blood pressure etc. They accomplish this by detecting adrenelin being produced by the body during a crisis. Quite often the dog is aware of trouble before it's master.At any rate we have this fundraiser for them (there are 12 dogs in the kennel and all of them are rescue dogs!)and hope to raise between 3-4,000.00 for them.

Michelle you hear a lot of horror stories about back surgery and I happen to believe many of them are "old wives tales" told by those who don't have back problems. When I retired 17 years ago Kay was in a wheel chair so we moved to a warmer climate. She had already had 2 back surgeries and Mayo Clinic in Minnasota told her there was nothing they could do for her. Well, we came here, found a doctor who discovered that the bottom vertabrea had seperated from the rest of her spine, operated and fused that section and 5 days later she went shopping on St. Armands Circle sans wheel chair!!!! She loves to dance which is something I'm doing less and less of because of MY back and is just fine.Back surgery should not be such a scary thing.......

Dave and Heidi y'all should come down here and go to my physical therapist. I haven't worn my back brace in three weeks! I swear this guy must walk on water.....He actually has a doctorate in PT and really knows what he is doing; although there is one exercize he has me trying to do that I just can't get...I call it the pat your head, rub your stomach, and chew gum all at the same time exercize...actually I have to flatten my back, raise my butt off the table, and pick up each of my legs one at a time. The other day he cracked me up when he said " I'm really amazed at how strong you are getting so that you can do that exercize wrong".

Sue, thanx for the info on Curacoa. Always good to know.

Heidi; With the kids back home and 4 days off you need to book a 3-4 day cruise to nowhere! LOL

I have read somewhere lately that Williamsted is not a town you want to be in after dark. How true that is...I don't know, but I was surprised to see it considering the Breeze is there until 11:00pm. (On the other hand, the next stop is Aruba and unless they want to go via Jamaica they can't leave too early or they'll be there in time for dinner.)

Thanx Dave but I found exactly what I was looking for: All-inclusive cruise (drinks and food included) plus pick-up at the ship for $54.00per person. The "sunset" cruise in Feb. starts at 4:30 and ends at 6:30 so even if you don't eat on-board you can come back and have dinner on the ship if you have anytime dining which suits us just fine. It is Klein cruises onboard the Jonalise. Just google Curacao ssunset cruises. Incidentally the open bar includes wine and mixed drinks also.

Dave I don't think that is the same one that I saw earlier. I don't recall the beach part and the boat was a catamaran. This doesn't mention the type of boat and says the sunset may be viewed from the beach.

What happened to the sunset cruise in Curacoa? I went to the Carnival site and it is no longer listed as being available for our cruise.

The excursion Altos De Chavoa & River Cruise looks like a winner for us at LaRomana.

Well it is official....we received 25.7 inches of rain in June and July and the aquifers are now full so all watering restrictions we have been following since last year have been lifted!

Well you'll probably NEVER guess what it is doing right now. I mean who would even think there was any rain left in the atmosphere after all the rain we have been deluged with this month! Of course this being the beach, the sun is brightly shining......Have to take our dog, Spencer, to get his shots later this afternoon. Right now he is laying in the wing chair and giving me his "shih tzu happens" look. And I even shared a little of my Vienna sausage with him although he would tell the animal rights people I was starving him..........

I saw the strangest thing at the wine store this morning. There was a vehicle there with a green license plate with gold lettering that said "Go Ducks". Has anyone here seen such a plate and what in the world are they talking about? I mean "Ducks" in Florida?? LOL The plate was on a white SUV. You didn't really come this early for the cruise, did you Sue?