I am really trying to keep up with this blog, but some days are not so interesting.

Since our last contact, we have had some excellent days for sure.

I have watched more basketball than I care to admit and I mean *really* watched it, my poor Celtics.

A few weeks ago, Cdub and I started to play some tennis. Well, we volley and chase balls a lot;) Cdub had never played or picked up a racket before and in 4 days time we could actually volley for 15 or so strokes. I am super impressed with our progress. I had not picked up a racket in 11 years or so. We bought rackets and 6 cans of balls back in Florida. Kinda nice to get up in the am and play for an hour or so before you die of heat stroke.

There has been some progress on our bedroom wall mural as well. We added more leaves and the buds for the fan like flowers. I have been taking pics, but they are boring to post until its completed.

A week ago, our buddy Jr. called us to come to the point. We crazily assumed he wanted us to come pick up some fish as he had been out fishing for several weeks. Um, No. There was a huge party going on at the fish cleaning station, talking 30+ people in the water, Jr had his boat, with skies & kneeboard. There was loud music being played and food for sale. WTH, you call us at 6pm? Dude!

Cdub races home to get our wakeskate and rope. He is gone for what seems like forever. I am sitting in waters edge holding onto 2 cocktails trying to keep my head above crashing boat waves. In the process I slip on the nasty slime covered rocks and bang up my elbow, note to self you use the elbow in so many ways it will hurt all day long.

Unfortunately, Jr’s boat did not have the horsepower/engine in order to pull Cdub onto water surface. He looked like a kid who’s puppy had just been taken away from him for good. I felt so badly for him, he was so excited to skate and it just didn’t  pan out.

However, ahem, I was able to grab on and pop right out of the water, in front of everyone. I admit I did feel kinda cool! After the first turn is another story. Jr obvis does not pull people all the often behind his boat and about ripped my arm out of socket trying to get me back up. Oh forgot to mention I didn’t have a life jacket on to hold my upper body out of the water. So I was trying to balance my feet on skate, hold my head above water and hold onto moving rope to catch the handle. P.s. this is in fairly shallow waters, but it’s salt and damn does it sting like hell.  

So 2 or 3 tries without jacket, he throws me one of the standard cheapo orange ones that about cuts you in half with the strap. I try once more and have to call it quits. Get back to shore exhilarated and exhausted but giddy. Then the mosquitoes move in and take over. We throw wet towels over ourselves and make a mad dash to the truck. Cdub still looks so disappointed that I suggest lets watch the game at the bar vs the house.

Thankfully the Celtics won the game.

The day after we are to fly to Nassau to start a week long trip/vaca. The trip beyond Nassau was up in the air for several hours. Waiting on emails to determine if we would make the second leg of the trip. Finally around 2pm we get confirmation and actually decide to go. I think this was due to me pouting and then getting pissy, as I really wanted to go to the Abacos.  So we had 2 hours to pack for a week and drop the dog off at Jerry’s. We still got to the airport wayyyyyyy to early and sat for over 2 hours. Made the most of the late day in Nassau which means we ate dinner and went to Indigo for some wine;)

Tues was (to be) the big day. I was getting my braces off! 8 months early.  I wore those damn rubber bands faithfully. We got to dentist/ortho early. There is a musical chairs type of arrangement once you get past the lobby. So after moving from 8 to shotgun I have gotten butterflies. Silly I know but I wanted these damn things off. So I get into my chair, the assistant comes over and starts hemming and hawing around. Not good folks. She keeps asking me to bite down, then as she is pulling out carbon paper for an impression the doc comes over. Whole process starts again. Bite down, bite down again.

I am starting to panic here. I have my ipod on so as not to be able to hear all the other drilling noises. He starts explaining that he does not like the way my front teeth are lining up against the bottom ones. He speaks some doc jargon and then is gone. Wait, wth is going on? It’s now that I realize they are NOT coming off this trip. I turn into a wilted wet flower, I had a cleaning appointment and laser whitening apt upstairs in 1.5 hours……then the tears start to slide out the sides of my eyes as I am practically flat on my back in the chair.

The tech then proceeds to tell me, “You will feel some pressure.” WHAT???? She then pops off one of my front top brackets.  Then the drilling off of glue begins. I have tears and now glue and teeth residue blasting me in the face. Perfect that there is also a huge rainstorm going on. So I get a new freakishly dark new bracket and 2 new wires AND!!!! I have to continue to wear the effen rubber bands, after 8 weeks of duty.  

We then begin the procedure of scheduling my *next* appointment for removal. Um, yeah, more hidden tears as my schedule and his do not coincide the whole month of Aug. and he is on vaca 2 diff times. So my date was pushed back 3.5 weeks. NOT FAIR!!! She didn’t want to schedule removal with out him in the office due to his *concern* this time. Ok, so now my front left tooth is lower than the right wth is that about, I have no idea. But my whole left front side bite is off and everything hurts, feels like my teeth are gonna fall out. Creepy huh?

We managed to find a pretty decent wine lounge on Bay Street, nice atmosphere, decent selection but strange food pairings. Found some vino we liked and bought a few bottles to take to Abaco.

After Nassau we boarded another plane to Great Abaco Island, northeast of Nassau 30 mins by air. Abaco landscape is so different from Cat, the trees especially. The island ‘feels’ like an island, not some half populated sparse rock. It reminded me of the n.e. coastal towns, that I have actually only seen pics of but ya get the idea. Bright colored buildings, tons of palms and flowers. Real Businesses….2! hardware stores, several grocery  stores with tons to select from, more art galleries than I could count, drs. Offices, and a traffic light!

Billy and Dari met us at the resort and we unloaded so we could make our way out for the day. Checked out our rental boat for the next 2 days and set off for Man-O-War Cay (key). This is a small little island/cay that is pretty much all related to one another. They make the most fabulous bags out of sail material. It’s a heavy canvas that they stitch into all sorts of bags, makeup bags, small backpacks. I wish I had taken a pic of the 6 ladies sewing on these ancient old metal (?) machines. From there we loaded back into our boat and head to Scotland Cay to meet up with some of their friends, who have a beautiful home and navigate over to Great Guana Cay to Baker’s Bay Resort and Golf Club.

 Get up to the tiki bar to order drinks and I hear someone calling my name, ??? who knows me here? It was Joe one of the captains that had been at Hawk’s Nest for several months running fishing charters. The guys take off to tour the yet-to-be-opened golf course so us girls hang with Joe and his girlfriend. We did get to walk-thru one of the new townhomes that is part of the development.

Once back at our resort we met up with some more of their friends who were on a boat named the “Big Easy”. Great guys and a gorgeous boat. We all had dinner together and the power went out I believe 3 times during the meal.

Next day was more busy. Billy and Chris had to build the smoker. I have posted pics already, but this thing was ingenious. Built of concrete block and pavers. It was kinda like tetris.  Watching them build it take it down and start over. They finished right before noon and started the fire to cure it. Round this time a 2^nd crew of ours made it in from West Palm by boat. They brought all the meat for the party on Sat.  Cdub had to go out with Frank to find a bunch of firewood. The resort failed to gather any even tho they had been asked to do so weeks ago.

That Friday we make the trek to Lil’ Harbour, where Bahama Pete has his place. It’s part art gallery/foundry/bar. Nice little quite spot, but oh my lord was it hot! And I mean sweltering hot, there was no breeze to speak of and the sand was even hot, something I have not encountered yet. We had a great lunch and got to hear some stories from 20 years ago during all the wild days.

Sat was cooking day. Got an early start and the meat went on round 930am. The guys cooked all day long, pulled the meat off around 7ish. It was hot and smokey. Dari and I were able to do some shopping in the morning, real clothing boutiques that had cute stuff. Disclaimer: there are a TON of people who live in Marsh Harbour that are from West Palm and Florida area, so lots of state folks.

Dari and I got to hang by the pool once we had prepared all the quail, my arch nemeses. Nasty lil suckers. I will spare you all the details but all I can say is I am SURE housekeeping was glad to see us leave. Our room was prep as it was ground level.

The party was supposed to be the cook out for the last night of the Penny Turtle Bill Fish Tournament. The tourney got cancelled due to lack of participation, however there was just too many tournaments going on within a weeks span. So we just had a party with about 50 people. Smoked a lot of ribs and some pork while the resort covered the side dishes.

I have to say I think we were all delirious by nightfall. 2 plus full days in the sun and the smoke with drinks will do anyone in. Sunday am Cdub and I took off early to one of the food stores to get cold items. I had been to the store 3 times before already so I knew exactly what we needed and where it was. We were in, out and packed into coolers in 20 mins! Headed to the airport, which is a crazy mess like here on Cat. Checked in and headed to the bar. Bloodies were ordered and we all sat around chating till our planes came in. Billy, Dari and Frank back to Ft Lauderdale and Cdub and I the long way back through Nassau.

We had enough time in Nassau to leave the airport to get lunch, forgetting that it was Sunday and Father’s Day we got dropped off at a shopping center that was closed. All except for the Chinese restaurant of course;0 So we had a decent Chinese meal, which I pretty love always.

We had a longer flight than usual as we went to San Salvador 1^st then onto Cat. We were so tired we contemplated leaving one truck at the airport, safer than driving while falling asleep. But once we landed we got a second wind and saw familiar faces and woke up a bit.

A trip to pick up the rat took longer than it should as the guys had to watch the last few laps of some race. We finally get back home and start to unpack. Here is where the fun really begins. So Zoe is really interested in the closet, I mean will not come out. I am calling her and she is looking at me like, No you come here. So I do.

Holy hell, I look at the ground and there is a piece of dog food, huh? Then I really look and there is mouse/RAT poop everywhere!!! Like there was an army of them in the house while we were gone. So I start to clean up the closet floor, then notice behind the bed (it was pulled away from wall cause we were painting) I cannot tell you how much there was, all under the bed, the nightstands. So Gross!

We sit down to watch a movie. New Moon, not that great but I am a closet Twilight fan and Cdub gets a real thrill teasing me about it. Movie kinda sucks but I LOVE the books. So anyblab, we are watching the movie when the largest fury creature ever darts from office to our bedroom! I can’t speak and am trying to simultaneously pause the movie and turn on the lights.

Cdub is confused and I yell “huge mouse”! He is so calm is drives me nuts. So he shuts us in the bedroom and I am grabbing for my rainboots, yes folks my wellies/swampers as the last thing I want is this thing running across my feet. Oh we only have a plunger as a weapon/catching devise. So begins the hunt. We only have the bed, 2 dressers and 2 nightstands, not many places to hide.  

We flush him out and sweet jesus this is the biggest RAT I have seen since living in a converted barn in Northern California. The effen thing starts to climb up!!! A board we have with Joan’s artwork, it climbs walls!?!?!?! Then it takes a flying!!?@#$?@ leap into the air and does a back flip, we would have the RAT on steroids in our bedroom. This thing has been living the phat high life on dog food that was under the bed for a week solid and leaving the evidence everywhere.

Sidenote, when we walked in from airport I am standing in the kitchen confused as there are empty water bottles that were on the counter now on the floor, notes next to the phone on the floor and one of Cdubs shirts that was laid out on washer now wadded up on the floor. I did not figure this out till Monday am while laying in bed. I thought someone had been in the house, well turns out yeah, a huge RAT had been gallivanting all over the house.  All I can think of is the rats in Ratatouille throwing a party in our house.

So we catch this thing with the plunger and I leave Cdub to do the dirty work as I reprimand Zoe for being a lazy dog. The damn thing was in her room waiting us out while watching the movie.  A wash of relief comes as the RAT is thrown out back. All is well and I can get back to ogling vampires and werewolves;)

Imagine my disgust and major freak out at 8am the next morning when I am sliding around in bed to a cold spot in the sheets and my hand runs across something hard. At first I was thinking oh, gross it’s one of Cdub toenails, (love ya babe) but oh HELLS NO…….you guessed it freakin’ RAT poop!!!! WTFF!?!?!? What creature does this? He crawled between the sheets, fully underneath the top cover and blanket to be exactly between the sheets. Major disgusting freak out. Did it also run across my pillow, I’m damn sure it did!

Altho I am happy to report I was not sleeping on it like Cdub was-GROSS! He had no clue as he was the walking dead when he fell into bed and slept like a rock. I am putting clothes away and move a hanger and low and behold RAT poop on my hanging clothes. It scales walls and can walk across hangers. I now have to go through every single item in the closet. Apparently RAT only liked my side of the closet. I bet I took out 15 pieces of clothing to wash. I am not talking a piece here and there but multiple. He was feasting for days!!! 

Later in the day I am putting clothes away in the office. I open the drawer with all my swim gear, effen RAT poop! Omfg…..seriously. my stuff must smell good. Out of 6 drawers he was in 3, one Cdub which had all this extra sets of clothing that had never been worn and 2 of my drawers. I am sooooo pissed at this now dead RAT. We go out and buy the sticky traps and set them with, what else, dog food.

I of course have to test the stickiness. Yeah, it’s damn sticky all right. So we put one trap each under night stand and large dresser. A RAT squealing for dear life is not what I want to wake up to in the middle of the night.

We were cooking dinner for Jerry this night and went over early to walk his beach and swim in the pool, which is now down to a cooling 85 degrees. P.S. I forgot to mention that Cdub has taken a strong interest in Tennis, this could have to do with us playing a few times now, but on this day he was watching a marathon match that had been going on for 9.5 hours. I gave up and went to Jerry’s by myself.  

We had 2 trucks and I made it home first. I lug in both bags and Zoe on a leash, who takes off the second we walk in the door. I take off after her and catch her in the hall. That’s when I see it!

My bedside rug has been flipped over in hlf and the sticky trap is overturned on top of it! GREAT! Bring on RAT #2!!!! Little bastards. So I keep Z on the leash and walk around the house checking for more evidence. Cdub makes it in and I proceed to freak out that there is now RAT hair all in my rug, very gross. There were remnants of hair all in said sticky trap that apparently is not strong enough for the steroid RATS we have on Cat.  

I got little sleep last night as I was lying awake waiting to hear the scurry of a large RAT. Thankfully it did not happen. So today after playing another decent round of tennis we bought the real deal traps.

I know this is exactly what all you wanted to read about, right? I mean what else can I tell you about, the fact that we had to go out and check a subs work on getting some land level for a fuel tank site, yeah boring! This was much more entertaining to read, I know you can all imagine me jumping around and sqeeking in a high voice to “catch the damn thing” and “EWWWW my clothes really” and the best “ you have GOT to be kidding” in regards to the bed matter.

I have been writing this blog with headphones on as Cdub has been watching the  draft for 3 hours, my music was Fort Knox Five. A DJ mash up mix that is awesome, altho he tells me I look like Grover bouncing around in my bar stool.  I am just a source of amusement for him all the time.

This was only 13 days worth of excitement here on Cat Island. We have Billy and Dari coming back on the 1^st! Get to do some fishing and in general run like mad. Donna is back on Sat with her Grandkids  Zoe (8) and Scout (6). Yes it gets confusing when calling for the dog. The girls always come for a month during the summer and last year was so much fun, although Z was a puppy that the girls could pick up and carry around.

So many more funny and crazy stories to come, although it may take me a while to catch up once everyone gets back to Cat. Then things pick up and get busy again.

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 20^th.

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.