Home again

We are back home after spending a week, really 6 days, on our cruise.  We departed from Miami January 23 in the afternoon and arrived back in Miami at 6:00 AM on Saturday the 30th.  We made stops in San Juan, Puerto Rico--Philipsburg, St. Maarten and Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas.  From St. Thomas we took a ferry to St. Johns to visit the national park.  It was a fun trip and my first ever cruise.  Would I like to make a habit of going on cruises, not really but this one was fun.  The food was good, not great, visiting different places was fun and just the whole experience of a cruise was very interesting.  We had a stateroom which was very nice.  We could open the sliding doors to the outside and sit on our own private deck.  I did spend much time on the deck reading and just enjoying the peace and quiet of the ocean.
I did have a bit of a setback as my back and right leg starting acting up the day before we departed.  It was difficult to walk much so that limited what we did.  I bought a cane on the ship and that helped a bit but it was not an answer to the pain in my leg.  Our stateroom was about 200 feet from the elevator so what ever we did it meant that I had to walk a ways.  I will have to do something with that darn lower back issue but as of now I do not know what.
It was really fun to get to the Virgin Island National Park.  Our ferry docked a very short distance from the visitor center so that was good.  After we had spent some time at the visitor center we decided to catch a taxi to Trunk Bay which was a short distance away.  Almost as we stepped out of the visitor center a taxi stopped and said they were on their way to Truck Bay.  It was about a 10 minute ride.  The bay was beautiful with fine fine sand and a long beach.  We had brought our snorkel gear with so we quickly got into the water.  Well the bay was not the ideal place to snorkel.  About 10 feet from shore the waves would break and if you were standing in the wrong spot you would be washed up to shore and then as the water receded you would be washed back out!!!  Needless to say we did not snorkel very long but we did it!  After about an hour at Trunk Bay we caught a taxi back to our ferry.
Some interesting things for me was to learn a little bit about the ship we were on.  Terry and I went to a program about the ship.  It was pretty amazing.

• the ship is 1047 feet long (3+ football fields)  and when loaded weighs 175,000 tons.  Even with that size it can stop in less than 4 minutes.
• it travels about 21 mph and EACH MILE it uses 2220 gallons of fuel.  It has a fuel tank of 1.1 million gallons.  The fuel is used to propel the ship, make electricity for all the lights etc, take in ocean water and purify it for use on the ship.  The propellers are run by electricity made on the ship and they rotate 360 degrees.
• it can accommodate 3027 guests and for that they need 1500 employees
• most of the employees work 7 days a week for 7 months
• I did not count them but I am guessing that there were a dozen + places to eat/drink.  You could eat at a restaurant where it was a sit down meal or you could eat where there were perhaps 10+ stations of different kinds of food.

One of the things that was interesting was ALL the shopping at ports and on the ship.  Of course everything was the "best deal ever"
So, I have experienced a cruise, we took in our 55th national park and now we are set to settle in for the rest of the winter at home in Naples.  I have scratched tennis until I get this back/leg thing settled.  I will contact a dr tomorrow and see a PT on Tuesday.  I do want to continue playing tennis but a cane and a tennis racket just do not work together very well!  We will see what happens.
Enough for now, my FP was gone a long time ago.  

NEW

New windows in the sunroom on Niles ave, St. Paul

I am excited.  Joe Hagen completed our new window project yesterday.  Of course I will  not see them in person until we get back in May.  We have now put in 16 new windows in the last several years.  That means there are really only 4 kitchen windows left that have wood storms and screens.  Yes, there are other windows that are not replaced but they are not the kind that you change the storm and screen each season.  There are two bathroom windows, 6 piano windows and two tiny windows in the sun room.  There are a total of 32 windows at 2094 Niles, a number that has given me much pleasure over the years and has also added MUCH work over the years.  I guess when a person has a garage with 12 windows you should expect a house with a lot of windows too.  I am not posting the inside look as I did not want Joe to do any finishing on the interior.  I will do that but in the pictures he sent--there will be a bit of work to do!!!  All the new windows are double pane and to wash them you just pull a tab and fold in the window---quit a change from climbing up and down the ladder with window cleaner, then climbing up with a storm in hand and then climbing down again.  I guess it may be a "concession to maturity" when a person decides that climbing up a 20 foot ladder with storm in hand is just not necessary any more!  I have to admit that I feel I could have and should have done the work myself but again it may be a concession to the aging process which one can not change.
We are now about 48 hours from embarking on our cruise.  I have to admit, I am excited.
I took my tennis racket in today and asked the lady, tongue in cheek, if it needed to be restrung!  She looked at it, smiled and said, "It looks like it is about to break."  I said then it must be necessary to restring it, right?  As I left I glanced around the store at new rackets.  It is always fun to look.  They had a new kind of racket which is strung very differently.  It is supposed to give you more bang for your buck.  I asked the price and she said $300.  Well I should say it is more bang for your buck!!!  Of course, I walked out empty handed.
It is past FP time so it is time to close.

I'm happy, really I am, yes I am I know I am

My goal for my tennis team is to be above 500 for the season.  Today we won 2 of the 3 matches which means we are now 500 after two contests.  So, I am happy, really BUT the match that we lost today was mine!!!!!!!!  Still, I think I am happy.  Really, the guys were very positive today and they had a good time.  The match that lasted the longest was on court 3 and I think they laughed as much as they played but for sure they won and had a grand time.  We did play a 4th court which did not count.  We lost that match and I am not sure how.  Del, one of the players, said they played against a guy who must have been 80, he could not see or hear but he could put the ball anyplace he wanted when he could reach it! 
We are experiencing  COOL weather here.  It should be 54 when we hit the ball at 7:30 in the morning.  Today it was mostly cloudy and in the low 60's so not bad for tennis but not so good for the people who sat and watched.
I had to take a nap when we got home from tennis so now am I tired, no.  Still it is after 11:00 and I usually wake up by 5:30 so I think it is time to try, for a second time, to sleep.  Maybe I will dream about my FP in the AM.

The calm after the storm

Not all that dangerous but we did have a storm last night.  I biked over to the tennis courts this morning and there are tree branches in the parking lot, several of the wind curtains are torn, some tables and chairs were blown on the court and the cover for the ball machine was off with balls scattered on the court.  Terry and I are scheduled to play tennis at 10:30 this morning, don't know if that will happen.  At 7:30 the courts had a lot of water on them BUT they drain quickly so we will see.
We are starting to put things aside for our cruise.  We will drive to Miami  Saturday AM and board the ship early afternoon.  Am I excited for my first cruise?  I don't know if excited is the right word but it will really be fun to experience a cruise.  It will also be fun to take in the Virgin Island National Park. 
Enough for now and I still have half a pot of FP left!

Mid January

Here we are, almost half way to February!  Wow, how time flies.  Funny, fifty years ago the days in December seemed to drag but today there is NO days that drag.
We are having some cool weather in Naples.  As I sit and type at 10:00 AM the temp is 57 with a high of 67 in the forecast.  It also seems as if this afternoon and tomorrow we will see rain. 
We had our first team tennis match of the winter last Monday.  We took 1 of 3 matches.  Me, on court 1, we lost a match tie breaker.  Disappointing but it was fun. 
Last evening Terry and I organized our third villia party of the season.  We usually have 25-30 but yesterday 41 people showed up.  We grilled burgers, brats and people brought the rest.  It was a smashing success.  People just like to get together once in a while.  We wheeled our grill over to the pool, it is about 200 yards and that was the extent of the work.  If anyone is looking for a delicious, easy burger go to Costco and purchase their Angus 1/3 patties in a box of 12.  They are precooked so all you have to do is grill them a bit.  We had many compliments on them.  The is the only party where we will grill so in February there will be a bit less work.
We are starting to plan for our cruise in late January.  We will be gone from Saturday the 23rd to Saturday the 30th.  We will be able to take in our 55th national park and that will leave us 4 to go.  I do wish we could spend some time at the Virgin Island NP but perhaps another time. 
It is mid morning so no FP to sip on for the last words.

How about that!

You should have seen it, this hawk rode all around the parking lot and then turned his transportation over to the owner again!!!  Well I may be overstating it a bit but it was fun seeing the hawk sitting there.  We had to stop our tennis match so I could take the picture with my phone.  We see this hawk everyday swooping over the tennis courts with material in its mouth for a nest I would guess.
We have finally seen some normal temps here in Naples.  I think it did not get into the 80s yesterday and that is the first time in weeks.  As I bike to the tennis courts this morning at 7:00 the temp will be about 50, cool for here.
The new year has gotten off to a slow start, not much new.  I am looking forward to our first tennis league match next Monday.  One of my best players will not be here but we will give it our best shot and try to come away with some points.  I continue to play tennis 5 or 6 times a week.  It seems that finally, after about 8 weeks, my game is back to being okay.  Now, if I lose those extra 10 pounds that I have put on I may be able to move too!
Terry's daughter Kim is arriving Thursday with some friends.  There is a race on the weekend.  Some of them will compete and I think all of them will work one of the races which gives them a reduced entry fee.  Granddaughter Tori may come on Friday.
On Sunday the tennis team will come over for about an hour and then at 4:00 we will attend a benefit concert.  A group of people here has started a scholarship fund for family of workers here at the club.  The benefit concert will be by one of the tennis guys here and another person.  I am not sure if he would be considered a professional singer but he sings with the Phil group here and they perform about 60 times during the winter season.  In my book that would make him a professional but in his pre-retirement days he was in finance.
I received a very nice surprise in the mail yesterday.  Judy Silseth (Lee) sent a picture.  Way back in 4th or 5th grade Dave and I took boxing lessons.  Judy's husband, Curt, was also there and in the picture.  Judy also wrote a VERY nice note saying how much she enjoyed my book.  It is fun to get those kind of notes where people say how much they liked the book.  A friend here in Naples almost does a daily comment on the book as he reads a chapter or so a day it seems.  The on going joke of his is if I would have included some steamy stories he would like the movie rights!  I don't know how he can say that when the title of the book includes "innocent"!!!  He calls the book the male version of "Little House on the Prairie".
I don't know if it is the new year or what but I have had many days of thinking about friends who have died in the last few months.  It just is so hard when you talk to a person who seems to be in good health and is not old (in this day) and then days later you hear that he died.  It may be that my birthday is coming up and 69 looks awful close to 70.  It hit home in December twice when I played tennis with a guy and then he died a couple of weeks later and then a note came from a HS classmate where someone who graduated with us died suddenly from a heart attack.  Lord, thank you for each day.
No it is tennis time as I have been going a bit early and warming up in the exercise room before I take these sore muscles onto the courts.  Not sure there are muscles any more but I like the word.
One last FP sip before I sign off.

2016---it is here, all 366 days of it

Terry and I enjoyed a quiet New Years Eve.  Terry made her wonderful meatballs for dinner and we stayed home.  Actually she read in bed until the new year came in but I could not make it that long!
I have several goals for the new year but I think I will share them as time goes on and I can write about success! 
Looking back on 2015. it was a different year for us.  One of the things I do is fill the car with gas (Dad would say put gas on the car) the last day of the year and then see how far we traveled for the entire year. As Terry wrote it in our gas book she looked back and figured out that we had driven under 15,000 miles.  That is less then our Alaska trip which we did in less than 3 months in 2014.  I guess with age one may slow a bit.
For 2015 we were able to get some home projects finished and some more started so that was good.  I think we will see more in 2016.
I upped my tennis game a bit last year.  For that I am thankful as it makes matches more fun.
I did enjoy much time in my wood shop.  Making bookcases and rubber band guns was a lot of fun. It also was great to get a couple of tables made and two covers for radiators in the house.  There does need to be more.
I failed at some too.  I did not make progress on the guitar but there is still hope.
The bike, well it did not get much of a workout but I did ride some and that is good.
One of the highlights for Terry was to see her grandson, Zach, graduate from Georgia Tech.  I seems like he is on the fast track to success which is wonderful.
The Lee Reunion in the Black Hills was a lot of fun.  We do not get to see family enough so it was special.  I also took in the Saunders Reunion in Cayuga.  The two were so different.  In Cayuga there were little kids ALL OVER the place and in the Black Hills there were more mature people sitting and talking!   Both were fun.
There were dark times in 2015 too.  A friend, who was on my tennis team, died in June.  He was 71 and it was not expected.  Just a week ago another acquaintance, who I had played tennis with in December, died suddenly.  I think he was 71 or 72.  Those times are emotional and sobering for me.
Of course there are always things in life that are difficult, some more than others.  2015 saw some of those.  I could list some of them but they are not uplifting and for sure not inspiring. I expect more of them in 2016 and I ask for God's grace to endure and move on.  Difficulties can be anything from personal failure to family and friends.  Yesterday Terry and I had lunch with some friends from Michigan.  They were telling of all the things that went wrong last year.  Things like AC going out, microwave failing, things in their Michigan home breaking and then they shared about a son who is living with half of one lung.  When the sharing came to a close we looked at each other, mentioned family or friends who are no longer with us and decided we are very blessed.
What will 2016 bring?  We do not know for sure.  In Terry and my plans there are more home projects and a bit more travel.  I will experience my first cruise as we take in the Virgin Island National Park in the last part of January.  There will be a grand daughter HS graduation in May and we are hoping to take in Arcadia NP in Maine on the way to St. Paul.  So we have some plans but how they play out will be interesting to see.  We hope and pray for good health.
I actually wrote before my FP so that is next.  I got to start out the year on a good foot.