Gonna go in a date format as to *try* to cut down on amount of info I will babble.
Here goes.
4/15-18 - work on 4 wheelers at property, prepping for a crew to come in for a few days.
4/19-20 – Fly to Nassau, Cdub dentist 3 cavs, me ortho appt. great news get them off 6 mos early! Have to wear rubber bands for next 8 weeks. Shopping, blah dinners, a few cool bars. Quick trip back to cat by 430 on the 20th.
4/21 – plants from Donna, afternoon replanting and mixing potting soil. Took some pics of neighbor kids
4/22 – Billy came in on Two Cats boat, they brought Jerry his bday present a freakin 55” flat screen. After day at Jerry’s beach and pool, we cruise to Hawk’s Nest to pick up tv and eat dinner at resort.
4/23 – Day on the Cow Hunter, fishing with a couple from CA. caught some wahoo. Then cooked ribs and wings for Two Cats crew for bringing tv in from FL.
4/24 – Library dedication in Benett’s Harbour, rode up with Gili and Donna. Sat in the sun for 3.5 hours and ribbon was *still* not cut, left early and got beers. Sunburned in that short time, with sunscreen!
4/25 – Hawk’s Nest 2x, cleaning boat, start packing for FL trip
4/26 – Day on Cow Hunter with only Billy, Jr, Cdub and I. Crazy great day, got to man the helm a few times, got soaked in the rain and waves. 12 fish. 42 lb. dolphin. Late to Jerry’s actual bday dinner by 2 hours. Power outage for several hours.
4-27 – To H.N. (Hawk’s Nest) to get fish to haul to FL for Billy’s friends. Airport round 2ish. Long day, land in FL at 7pm. An hour in Customs, got to Jupiter round 9pm. Dari met us for dinner before heading to her house. Went by ‘Ralph’s Stand Up Bar’ to drop off some of the fish. Toss bags into the “Love Shack” and set up camp on the couches in main house with late night cocktails.
4/28 – crazy day of shopping involving Costco, shoe/purse stores, Sports Authority (bought us some tennis rackets and a pool cue) hang out on Dari’s awesome back deck. Then load up for Limo pick up at 6pm to hit up SunFest! with Dari’s friends Mike & Sarah. Awesome guacamole at Rocco’s Taco’s. Weezer was opening headliner, actually a great time, we had vip & hospitality tix! All the food and drink ya can imagine!!!
4/29 – More shopping, think I can rush these trips to FL take all the fun out of shopping. Got me some incredible jeans! More shoes, before this trip I only had 4 shoes, 3 flops and 1 work shoe. Walked around the garden mall in West Palm! for 3 hours;) Dinner with Dari at The Reef Grill, excellent dinner and incredible wine selection. Sidenote: the owner and a few friends were flying to Cat in 2 days to fish with Billy, we would see them tues of next week. Cdub and I head back for night 2 for Sunfest for ZZ Top! Another great random show. Went to party on the Capt Morgan barge after the show.
4/30 – pack up, trip to West Palm. Wander the outdoor plaza eat at Brewzzi’s – meh food. Made it to Ft Lauderdale and the hotel. Trip to Target, Sawgrass Mills Mall to play 4 games of pool with new cue, back to hotel area, Duffy’s sport bar was packed, bball games and jagger shots.
5/1 – Eyebrows 10:15, hair cut 10:30, toes 11am, morning of pamper much needed. Cdub to Lowe’s to buy gas grill. Duffy’s for lunch. More shopping! South Beach to get Mom’s day gifts, tequila shots at beach bar, p.s. SB is CRAZY on a weekend it’s like live Mtv. Kiko Japanese for Sushi. As Tall As Lions at the Culture Room round 9ish. Hands down one of best shows I have seen in years!!!!! So awesome, great live performance. Back to Duffy’s late night
5/2 – More damn shopping, there were 3 trips to diff Target’s in 4 days in Ft L. Old Navy, BBB, back up to West Palm, more guac at Rocco’s Taco’s, walk art booths of Sunfest, buy some earrings. Tigercity and Ben Harper perform that night. Back to Duffy’s for late dinner.
5/3 – up early, eye dr appt 9:45. New contacts. More shopping. Costco for dry goods. Publix. A load to G&G shipping, start pallet. So damn hot we are melting and it’s early! Blonde’s Bar in South Beach, meet my girl Lauren O’Keefe for drinks and to catch up since last Sept. move down to Lulu’s for late dinner, more shots of tequila. So exhausted, head to bed without packing promising to get up early to pack.
5/4 – up early, another load to G&G. I should mention here that the hotel thought we were moving in for good. We took SO many loads up to our room that we could hardly move around. Back to pack up hotel room. Trip 3! To Costco for cold goods. Airport 11:30. A fiasco that is too damn ridiculous to repeat at the Continental counter that has resulted in me swearing them off for all my days on Cat Island. We finally make it through security 1 hour later and there was NO ONE in line before us. Anyblab got my refund of $1000 tyvm. Make it back to Cat round 430 pickup Miss Z and head to H.N. for drinks, then to Cat house for a late! dinner with crew from The Reef Grill. Finally home round midnight
5/5 – try to sleep in after a week of madness and low and behold the power goes off at 9am! Spend the day at home, wash the smelly dog, work on the wall mural in bedroom, catch up on email and laundry.
5/6 – scout a site on property for wind turbine location. New auto tags for the King Ranch, new tire for KR. Cdub convinced me to go shoot some hoops at the school, was not all that bad.
5/7 – Billy had a new crew of visitors come in and they fished with Cdub all day. I did some long lost yoga, unpacked and organized all our purchases that we packed with us. They caught the limit of 18 fish, went to dock round 5ish. Guys went swimming, drinks at HN, dinner at Cat house, then late night trip to Devil’s Point to Hester’s bar. Late night with Two Cats Too Capt. who was leaving in 2 days.
5/8 – up early, Day on Cow Hunter. Caught limit again! Lots of dolphin, tons of pics. Drinks at HN. Homemade lasagna. Cdub asleep on way home
5/9 – wake up early to AC unit frozen over!!! Cdub out early to fish with Inlet crew. Dari pick me up at house round 2ish. Go pick up Miss Z at Jerry’s then to Cat house. Walk beach with Z! guys in late. Apps and drinks at HN. Home late again.
5/10 – Dari fly back to FL. Cdub missed the boat. They were at fuel dock when we pulled into lot. Back home, hang emails, Cdub on tractor at property for a bit. Back to Cat House at 2:30, hang at pool, guys back in at 5. 15 dolphin, 2 wahoo. Apps pool time, HN for drinks and dolphin fingers. Guys had a great time
5/11 – sleep in! Inlet guys leaving, show them round property. Lunch at Bluebird. Dari back from FL. Went to Jerry’s to hang, dinner of Sloppy Joe’s. more bball, upload some pics.
5/12 – sleep in!!!! boat 11am to clean b/f tournament. This is a heavy duty clean, like the one we do b/f they leave for 2 weeks. Help Dari round the house, at Cat house/dock all day long. Cdub pick up Z from Jerry’s. HN at 7 for drinks, Billy went to bed b/f dinner, so Cdub, Dari and I ate at coffee table, long drive home!
5/13 – sleep in, pallet *Finally* being released with all the stuff we shipped from FL 8 days ago! Lunch at HN, pick up our goodies and alcohol. Deliver stuff to Jerry. Shoot some ball, play some pool, watched Where the Wild Things Are, kinda disappointed
5/14 – regular day, some phone calls, emails. Then beach walk with Donna and all dogs. Dinner at Jerry and Donna’s with Sky and Lloyd, great spaghetti. Devils’ Point once again, start working on app for Dari’s party the next day. Slice finger with cheese grater. Note to self don’t grate late at night
5/15 – up early, roll sausage balls for 3.5 hours, got an arm cramp! Cat House 3:30, run around like crazy, I was ‘party planner’ for Dari’s “surprise bday party” she knew about it all along. Lots of people, tons of food. Susie, Billy’s daughter got in late, plane was delayed 2 hours. Great party.
5/16 – Captain’s Meeting for Bill Fish Blast Tournament -sleep in! Cat House 11am hang, clean, beers, lots of laughs with Kenny, Denis, Joe and Susie. Cdub in at 230. Dari and I work in resort kitchen for Capts dinner. Huge crowd at Sharkey’s, tons of ribs served, lots of locals at marina. Served the food line, always a crazy thing to do. Up till 12 laughing. P.s. Cdub and I moved into Cat House for week of tourny, ended up being there for 6 nights. Thank god as the drive back and forth would have killed us.
5/17 – Day 1 of Billfish Tourny. Up at 6am! Fix breakfast and lunch for 9 people! Cow Hunter fished this day. Dari and I in resort kitchen off and on all day to prep next day food. Italian dinner served this night. To Martha’s house for margaritas, missed guys coming to dock. A 62 lb dolphin was caught this day. Crazy night.
5/18 – Day 2 of BFB. Cow Hunter lay day. Out on Cat Tales with Billy and Susie for bimini start of day 2 for pics. So cool to be out there with all the sport boats, they all line up and take off at 7:30, we picked up and ran with them for 30 mins or so. Cook all day. Turkey day! So dirty, net and brine 11 turkeys too early in the morning. Serve food again.
5/19 – Day 3 of BFB. Cow Hunter fished. Up at 6am, breakfast and lunch for 9 again! Susie out with Two Cats to take pics all day. Dari and I work at house all day. Martha’s again for a late lunch. Huge storm blows in round 11am. Ended up raining all day from 11am – 11pm. 4” of rain! Apps to boat, guys soaked, hang in car and at Sharkey’s . Vac pack tons of fish, back to Sharkey’s for to-go plates. Another long day
5/20 – Day 4 of BFB. Cow Hunter fish last day. Up at 6am! Work with Dari again all day. Martha’s beach for pics. Apps to boat. Guys caught wahoo they wrapped in a towel! To keep in blood loss and prevent fin scratching. Won Wahoo Calcutta by 1 ounce! Our winning fish was 16.9 lbs, won $16K!!! great night for crew, served food again with Dari. Whole party sang happy bday to Cdub! All excited and party went late.
5/21 – got to sleep in till 8am! Start breakfast, guys to boat, 2.5 hours later they are not back, take bfast to boat, Billy, Cdub, Denis and Kenny have killed half a case of beer by 10am. Moved on to hot beers with ice n a glass in honor of Cdub bday. These guys were having a ball, laughing so hard they were crying! Needless to say boat did not get cleaned today. Lunch then guys took naps. Hang, clean up house. Billy, Dari and Susie had dinner on Fish n Fool. We took app to HN, drinks, late dinner with guys. BD&S came back to HN for late drinks, all were in high spirits. I decided to move our party to the runway, where the guys had a small apt during the tournament. Shut down runway bar round 1am
5/22 – sleep in till 8am! Clean up Cat house, Billy, Dari and Susie leaving today. Cdub has a head cold, clean the boat, close up Cat House. Bluebird with BD&S. airport, pick up Zoe from Donna. Donna stop by for visit. Decide to not stop moving all day, so we wash both small trucks. Give Cdub his bday gifts, yes mom I have still not taken pics, soon I promise. Pick up Cedell play some pool at ‘sportsbar’ to shacks for some farkle and beers. Home 10:30 and fall into bed dirty without showers.
5/23 – awake early after a whole week of 6am mornings. Clean up, unpack all bags, work on 4 wheelers, vac trucks, small trucks to airport. Hang on couch, both so exhausted, computer has been packed up for over a week, no energy to take on that task.
5/24 – sleep in till 9! Work on 4 wheelers again. Cdub on tractor for a few hours till oil filter blew up. 8x laundry after fish week. Bahamian holiday Whit Monday, to shacks round 430, all of them wasted. Bacardi shots for all, played some pool. Home and bed early
5/25 – Cdub up early meet Jr for work on Prop. Me sleep till 9ish,wake up with sore throat. On phone with air and hotel for Nassau/Marsh Harbour trip for 2+ hours. Drive up to BEC to pay Dari’s elec bill and they are closed, this is a 30 min drive up island. Told she will be back in 20, Cdub decides we should drive rest of way to Orange Creek to Food store, um, that is not 20 mins away, more like 45….and it was AND the damn store was closed till 5:30 for some unknown reason. Total waste of day. Did stop for food on way back down at regular places, got tix at airport – that took 30+ mins and Cdub fell asleep in truck. Nothing is a normal pace on this island. Play 9 games of pool, throat feeling worse and now have barky cough, great! Cough all night long, stuffy, dose myself with Nyquil
5/26 – cough all morning, sleep till 10ish, decide to go to clinic. Totally joke and waste of time and money. They made me wear a sars mask! There was only 1 other person there besides 3 staff people. I used to be exposed to much worse on a walk downtown SF. or in a grocery store. Told to take Nyquil, when I knew I was developing first stage of bronchitis, hello, I used to get this 2x a year I know what it feels like. Anyway, took a nap from 4-6, still felt awful watched movie, Fantastic Mr Fox. Old school stop motion flick, great music. Continue to dose myself with Nyquil, have to say, I slept without moving or coughing, it’s great.
5/27 – sleep in feel like crap. Business partner stop by to give us some shirts to hand out. Went to HN for lunch to pay bill for tourny. Cough starting to break up already, could be from all the heat and humidity that has set in for summer.
5/28 – Cdub to prop early, I had the pleasure of pouring gas onto ant pile first thing this am. Then load up my poor dog and take her on a 3 hour car journey to BTC to pay Dari phone bill, then airport to buy more tix, then up north to see a traveling Vet! Yay I learned how to expectorate her glands! Grossest thing on the planet ever! At least we got out of their early as we had first appt. To Jerry’s pool hang with JR till 6. Cdub came over and we ate Jerry’s solar chicken dinner that he cooked all day on his, well solar cooker. Actually very good. Home to watch more bball finals.
5/29 – airport to get one of small trucks, wire the house for the surround sound speaker Jerry gave us a month ago, poor Cdub had to crawl around in the insanely hot attic to do the job. To Jerry’s pool, have ya figured out its super hot here already. Watched Dr Parnassus Imaginarium, great movie, with the new sound!
5/30 – catch up with parental via phone, cook lunch for Jerry for watching Zoe all last week, pool beach, still congested, cut Cdub hair, caht Katy, Trav and Dad in Del Rio. SVU marathon on USA!
5/31 – overcast all day, rain late pm. Business partner and his wife to apt for drinks b/f we head to HN for dinner. Had a good time, food was terrible, no surprise. Drank a great bottle of wine.
6/1 – pool at Jerry’s;) Billy and Dari back, they were only gone 9! days vs the 2 weeks. Had drinks at Jerry’s. Home to hang with Cdub.
6/2 – To Cat house to help Dari rearrange furniture and artwork. Billy wanted to fish, no one to play with. Cdub to HN late, drinks at resort, late dinner at cat house, home late again.
6/3 – Cdub fished with Bahamas National Trust guys in from Nassau, meet Dari round 10, plane of friends, Jeff & Theresa, Pat & Sue, in at HN at 11:30. Unload insane amount of food, swear that Publix was dropped off in kitchen, so much produce and alcohol! Beach and pool, perfect day, they fell in love with Zoe. Cow Hunter in late, lots of tuna. Drinks at resort, late dinner at Cat house.
6/4 – Up early, day on Cow Hunter, late start round 10am, fish till 4:00. Caught nothing all day! In 5 years Billy been skunked 3x now, 2x in last 4 mos. Beach/pool drinks. Cdub and I to Jerry’s for dinner with Roy & Lucille and CA Mike and Kristi. Great food, general tao’s chicken with fried rice and sake!
6/5 – horrible night of sleep, forgot to mention that Cdub has started to snore!!! Full time since tourny. I thought at first it was exhaustion from crazy week, but here we are 2 weeks later and still going strong at night, I have to pull his hands off his chest to wake him up to roll over. Dari crew show up at 2:30, Billy had a fire in engine room of Cow Hunter so fishing is out for Sunday. We load up to hit up property beach aka Sea Glass Beach. So damn hot and buggy. You were being attacked by mosquitoes while walking in the water. Lots of sea glass though. Traveled to Jerry’s to jump in pool to cool off, Rum Punch was served and a few got rum punched, so their trip up north for Rake N Scrape Festival was out. Cdub and I cleaned up and made drive up in 50 mins. Fest was ok. Lots more people than last year, lots of food, no crafts to speak off. 2 booths maybe. Hung around for 2.5 hours or so, talked to a lot of folks. Music was pretty good, Cdub wanted to go for several days, I didn’t. He convinced me then wanted to back out of it….go figure. Still too long a drive and not all that great a time, but ya gotta make an appearance;)
6/6 – Boat 10am for cleaning! Long day, slow start, lunch at resort, rain a bit, back to finish up transom wash. Crew to visit friend Andrew for a few hours. Cdub and I hang in pool at Cat House after cleaning boat. Start dinner for small party at 6:30. Cuban theme, great pork and black beans with yellow rice. Good crowd, not too many people. Guys watched races, then hockey. Planet Venus was so bright it left a light path on the water like a full moon usually does.
6/7 – sleep in till 11am! Pick up Zoe from Jerry’s . catch up on net stuff all day, read some of my books, order more on amazon, start flight research for aug trip off cat. More difficult than it seems, so hard to get out of here.
6/8 – finally catches us up today/tonight/next am when this is posted. Tried to sleep in after a night of Cdub snoring, as I am fully asleep, bam-o effen power goes out, house immediately begins to heat up. Power is out from 9-1:30 freakin pm…..not acceptable. And no idea what the hold up/issue was…it was ridiculous. You can’t do anything, not even boil water cause for some reason our landlord decided to put in elec stove. Anyblab I was pissy all day cause I could not cool off at all, oh and PS we can’t use any water when power is out cause the pump is elec also…..when pump runs dry that’s it, not able to brush teeth, flush toilet, take a shower. It’s great I tell ya. I did read 2.5 books today, nothing of great reading material to report on however, short fluff to keep me from utter boredom while melting in my house. Cdub worked on comp stuff all pm, we had a late dinner, then he watched bball game while I typed up this overworded crazy blog update for 3 hours.
I don’t think *I* even want to re-read this for spell check, making sense effort. My brain is mush and you can start to see why I have not posted a blog in 1.5 months as we have barely been home let alone on the computer in forever it seems.
Forgot to mention that June 15, I get my braces off!!! The next day we fly to Marsh Harbor Abaco to help Billy and Dari cook for a Bill Fish Tournament the days of 16-20. Kinda excited to visit another island that has a larger population and real grocery stores, bars, and such. There are lots of out island near Marsh and we can hit several in a day, I know we will have a great time with them.
Will start to keep up with this more regularly soon, I promise.