wake up early

2009-10-14T06:49:00.004-04:00

the clean marina ceremony was "just fine". there were a few things i would have like to have done a little differently but whatever... our new "managers" accepted the award from the dep which was rather amusing since they actually had or have no idea what was involved or what it took to be certified and well.. whatever.
it's over and we have our beautiful flag rightfully flying now. i would post pictures of it but my camera broke again. i sent it back for repair yesterday and probably won't see it again for a while. sigh.
john and i have been working on the new cottage. we have torn out the walls and flooring in the soon to be bedroom. let me tell you that it is quite a job when the heat index is still over 100. it's supposed to cool off this weekend, thank god. something in the 90's would be an improvement.
we found out something very interesting about the wood used in these cottages. it is called dade county pine and according to what i have read it is now considered to be a historic lumber. at one time, dade county pine grew between the everglades and the atlantic in south florida. most of the little cottages in south florida and in the keys were built with it. it dense, strong, and highly resistant to decay and insect damage. the original growth has long been completely harvested and it is no longer available therefore most usable lumber must be obtained through the salvage process.
i can see why it is so resistant to insects. i can't even get a push pin to go into it.
just one more reason why i find these cottages to be so interesting.

2009-10-05T06:02:00.003-04:00

back in june i blogged about attempting to obtain a "clean marina" certification for sunset bay. well...today's the day we finally get our certification and are inducted into the "clean marina" hall of fame by the florida department of environmental protection. by the end of the day we will be proudly flying our official "clean marina" flag.
the ceremony is at 10am and according to the officials in tallahassee it's going to be a big media event due to the fact that we wound up being the 200th marina to receive this award.
we expect around 100 or so to attend and following the ceremony is a catered luncheon on the porch. it was a long couple of months working on this project and a lot for me to plan and organize but honesty it was all worthwhile and i love worthwhile stuff.
tomorrow i will post pictures.

"i like to think of it as promoting a more responsible way of living and encouraging people to seriously think about what they do and how everything they do affects the environment that we all live in."

2009-10-03T05:36:00.014-04:00

finally got my camera back from being repaired so here's some pixs of the restoration project of carol's house which as you can see is directly across the "street" from us.

this is the kitchen nook where maybe 2 people can sit, have coffee and look at the river. it has a very cool old slanted windowed wall with louvered ventilation underneath. i scrubbed every inch of the kitchen, floor to ceiling... lots of cat fur balls and still finding more. then i painted walls in the little nook area. i need a little shelfy thing on one side for more counter space and maybe a small cabinet overhead for dishes. you have to keep in mind that these cottages were built back in 1950 for seasonal tourists and not for year round living so the kitchens were very minimal and not exactly designed for a lot of cooking and such.

the living room is very similar to ours but has more windows which brings in a nice cross breeze. i found the old rattan sofa on craigslist. i'm trying to keep furnishings as "old florida" as possible which is quite easy around here since most of the thrift shops are full of it. unfortunately john found that most of the old original wooden awning windows are quite "rotten" so he's trying to figure out how he can rebuild them without spending too much. they have really cool old mechanisms that i'd hate to have to replace.

the little room next to the kitchen is going to be the dining room. i scrubbed that room on thursday. it was a mess just like the other rooms. actually the floors throughout the house don't look that bad.

i've been shoving all of the junk that carol left behind into this big side room which will eventually become the bedroom. it used to be a carport that they eventually enclosed. it's really a disaster. i want to tear out all the walls and replace them with beadboard. i think the room would make a nice bedroom with the bed on one side and a little corner desk up front by the corner windows. it also has it's own separate door that leads to a little patio outside next to small gravel parking area.

i've also been shoving crap into this back storage room with big screened windows and a concrete floor where the washer and hot water heater is. i think carol used this room for her huge cat menagerie since all the windows have big wooden ledges with little cat rugs on them and in the corner is a big pile of old cat litter boxes. this room will actually be a great room for a workbench/laundry area/storage once i clear it out and clean it up. i think i'll put most of the random cabinets and shelf units out there for storage that carol left behind after i clean them and paint them. it's amazing how a good cleaning and a can of paint makes everything look so much better. it's also very nice to have a husband that can do or fix anything. i have an ongoing list of things that i just can't do myself since i'm definitely not skilled in carpentry work.

last but not least here's my little octopus' garden. i decorate it with fishy what nots that i find. the latest addition is an old crab trap. it's a work in progress as is everything else in my life.

2009-09-27T05:49:00.006-04:00

finally had a day off to work on carol's house. this day was spent on the kitchen. carol used to be known as the "cat lady". she took in stray cats. i was told that at one point in the past she had over 30 cats living in this house. oddly the house doesn't have any odor of the dreaded cat pee smell, a smell i know well. what it does have though is enough old nasty matted cat fur to make a fur ball the size of a vw bug. the kitchen was no exception. i scrubbed cat fur from the walls, the floors, the ceilings, inside the refrig and out of the overhead exhaust fan. carol loved cats. she had cat books, cat baskets, framed pictures of cats and silly cat knick knacks everywhere. i found old decrepit cat toys stuck under the stove and behind the refrigeration.
as the day went along i continually emptied my cleaning bucket, probably every 15 minutes. i probably emptied that bucket 50 times. after about 6 hours of scrubbing i finally got to the point where i could see just how nice this little kitchen could be.
once everything dried i began to paint two of the walls in the little eating nook. i put 3 coats of paint on and called it a day. by that time my hands had started to cramp up and it was hard for me to hold on to the paint brush.
this is the kind of work that pays off. once you're done you can sit back and smile knowing that you accomplished something... until, of course, the spousal inspector comes to check things out and tells you that you should have done this and you should have done that, you missed something, you did this wrong and so on and so on.
i wish my camera would come back from the repair shop. i need to take before and after pictures so i don't get so discouraged by the negativity.
oh well... if the truth be known it's probably a good thing to have someone to criticize my work. i am not a perfectionist by any stretch of the imagination and for some reason i always seem to see beauty and wonder in the flawed.

2009-09-23T06:01:00.007-04:00

this is the invitation to our ceremony. it is being sent out by the dep in tallahassee. i gave them our invitation list of around 60 people, mostly city and state officials and people in the local marine industry. yesterday i met with the caterer who's going to provide the food for the reception and the tents, chairs & tables with nice green linen table cloths (it's a green thing). i've decided on a light luncheon menu with roasted summer vegetable pasta salad, a caribbean red cabbage cole slaw, tropical fruit kabobs and some little multi-grain finger sandwiches. also, spring water, iced herb tea and coffee. maybe some small pretty cookies too. it's still really hot so i doubt if anyone wants to chow down on anything heavy since we're eating outside under the tents which will be set up along the waterside overlooking the marina.
i talked to the audio guy who is set to provide the staging area, the podium, the sound system along with the background music, i suppose some light jazzy stuff. he's pretty good actually. he has his own band and plays locally around here but has his sound system audio/visual business to pay the bills.
i can only pray that it will please not rain that day, at least until we finish eating.

in the meantime i spent all day monday (i had the day off) literally from 8am til 6pm scrubbing the living room of our newly purchased cottage. you wouldn't think it would take all day just to clean one little room but it did. first i drug all the furniture out of it and put everything in the back room. i swept and vacuumed the floors and walls which were covered with years and years of dirt and cat fur. the walls and ceilings are the original wood planking and the floors are the original linoleum which are sort of off white and still in very good condition. then i scrubbed the ceilings, walls and floors with murphy's oil soap and let it dry. finally i polished the walls and ceilings with guardsman wood cream which gives the wood a nice sheen.
since everything looked so nice and shiny clean i drug out my newly purchased-from the-thrift-store rattan sofa and put it along one wall and a little coffee table that i painted just so the room looks inviting. i turned on the old ceiling fan and opened all the windows, those old 1950 florida jalousie crank out windows which are along the north and the south walls. the cross breeze was delightful. i sat there for a while and i decided it was very very nice. it's amazing how much better an old run down cottage looks when everything is clean and polished.
i intend on attacking one room a day..on the days that i have off from work, saving room though for my "beach day", grocery shopping, laundry and cleaning my own house day.
today my hands are very stiff and achy and my knuckes are sore...thank god the house isn't that big.
i will be posting pictures as soon as i get my camera back from being repaired at pentax. i dropped it at work and thankfully it was still under warranty. they've had it for over 3 weeks now and i miss it terribly. for me it's like not having my cell phone.

2009-09-19T05:56:00.002-04:00

this past month has been a busy one.

for the labor day weekend i organized a marina party and was amazed at how many people showed up, probably around 75 or so.

i made name tags for everyone so they could get to know each other a little better. it worked out very well.

then i decided we should have a booth at the first annual stuart nautical flea market and seafood festival.

well, as it always is, i seem to get these "bright" ideas and then i forget how much work it involves. heh.

anyway we have a booth at the flea market festival this weekend. actually the booth set up could have been a bit more attractive but... hey it's my first time doing this.

at the last minute i decided to steal some curtains to put around the tables. next year i'll be more prepared.

yesterday john buddied with me all day and today i'm recruiting kim, the ship's store manager to take his place. i have a bunch of freebies, key floats, recycle/tote bags and such. of course the bags are a big hit and towards the end of the day just about everyone walking around the fairgrounds was carrying one of our marina logo tote bags. i'd say that's pretty good advertising.

in 3 weeks we're having our state ceremony to be inducted into the "clean marina" program and will be officially the 200th clean marina in florida. i'm organizing that... tents, tables, folding chairs, sound system, music, catered luncheon, invitation list.... i had to get a special events permit from the city last week. i think i'm going to need a vacation pretty soon.

on top of all that we just had settlement last week on "carol's house" across the street. everything went smoothly and quickly. now... if i can just find the time to start fixing it up.. maybe i'll have time next week. i'm dying to get in there with a bucket and a scrub brush. i have a vision in my mind of how darling it's going to look once it's all clean and spruced up. hopefully i'll have it all done by the time josh and laura come down for thanksgiving.

2009-08-17T06:27:00.002-04:00

well the little house next to us is soon to be ours. it will be forever and lovingly known as "carol's house". just a few weeks ago carol had to move in with her son in gainesville. she was becoming too dangerously forgetful and her illnesses were causing a rapid decline in her health. her son, thomas, an old hippy from way back..and actually a past resident of the "farm" in tennessee, gladly took her home with him and his family and put her up in a rather nice little rv right on his property. she seems happy there along with her beloved cats and i know they will take good care of her.
right before they left i sort of begged them to let me buy carol's house and just this week we finally came to an agreement. $50,000..as is. i'm very glad to be the new owner of "carol's house". sadly though her little 700 sq.ft. cottage is in some serious disrepair due to a simple lack of maintenance on her part for quite some time..several decades as it seems. it is actually rather sad to think that she was living in such squalor.
we'll probably take ownership in the next couple of weeks and then the work begins...cleaning and scrubbing, painting, repairing and who knows what else. it will be quite an undertaking to get this cottage back to it's pretty little self.
we haven't really decided exactly what we're going to do with it, maybe rent it (to friends only) or maybe just hold on to it for a while and keep it as a guest house. either way it's quite a little gem and will once again give me an excuse to go junk shopping for what bits and pieces of furnishings it might need. oddly carol left in a bit of a hurry leaving quite a bit of her "things" behind. it's all very interesting to go through and there is no doubt some treasures there that she forgot. i will save them just in case she remembers. as for the decor, i came up with sort of an idea...a cottage of history and framed memorabilia of the banyan terrace cottages, jensen beach and such... which will make good use of what i have collected so far and give me a place to display the things i collect along the way.
and in keeping with the preservation i will do my best to take pride in the restoration of banyan terrace cottage #2.
one of the neighbors casually mentioned that carol's house was just a "tear down". can you imagine that?
i don't think so.

2009-08-03T04:49:00.004-04:00

the construction of the restaurant next to our marina is 3 weeks ahead of schedule. they put the roof on last week and paved some of the parking areas. there is going to be an outdoor bar with a waterwall of some sort, i guess to perhaps mask the muffled sound of the cars going over the high rise bridge.

as i mentioned the marina is basically full now except for a dozen or so empty slips that have been reserved for people who are coming in the next month or two.

it's all very beautiful actually. sometimes i just stand up on the second floor balcony and stare.

this is andrew. he is here for the summer but will be leaving to go back to college in jacksonville in a few weeks. we love andrew. he is chock full of enthusiasm and personality. he grew up around boats and boating and fishing and he fits right in like he was just meant to be here. he said he really wants to come back during his winter break. we also hired another college student and also 2 year round guys who is in their early thirties. one guy is way too serious like he's afraid to or maybe doesn't know how to laugh. i haven't figured him out yet.

in the ship's store we've hired a manager, who is actually my friend kim, and several part time cashiers to help her out. the store is still not fully stocked and they still haven't gotten their beer/wine license yet. it's coming along though.

everything will be ready for the fall explosion of boaters in october coming back for the season.
basically we went from a staff of 3 to a staff of 10 and i'm still trying to grasp the concept of assigning duties instead of just doing them myself.

sometimes i think about taking a vacation but then i think "well, i live in vacationland, i can go to the beach whenever i want, i work on the water, i watch the dolphins and manatees swimming around, i go barefoot most of the time, i wear shorts and sandals to work and why would i want to go somewhere else??" actually i think i would like to go to costa rica someday or maybe alaska.

my new card. nice.

2009-08-02T05:42:00.006-04:00

i really love seaweed.

most people i've seen refuse to go in the water when it's full of "seaweed" for some reason but i love it. it just facinates me. it's very tasty too.

it also makes a nice rasta wig.

i haven't written anything in the blog in quite a while. i think it was because i was "stressed" out about getting things together at work and all that stuff. "stressed out" for me is when i just have too many things on my mind. i sometimes think i don't really have to try so hard but then again when you want to put your best effort into a project you do have to try extra hard to do a good job.

the rewards are starting to pay off though. the marina is full now and the people out there in the marina seem very happy. we've hired several new people, mostly young guys to run around and do whatever i want them too...heh heh. it's actually kind of cool.

there are always other things going on that i seem to get myself involved in. last week i was the team leader for another waterway cleanup. i enlisted the help of some of the people at the marina. that was a local one. the international cleanup is in sept. i have to sign up for that one this week. also, after working for several months of trying to meet all the criteria, we have finally been approved to be a "clean marina" by the dep. the grand ceremony will be in oct. and we will be named the 200th clean marina in florida. that's is actually quite an honor and they say that the governor will be attending. lord.

on the homefront, the little sweet lady who lived across the street had to finally move out and in with her son in gainesville. she was starting to lose her memory and her health is not so good. this happened last week. i told the son that i would like to buy her little house if the price is right. it's really tiny, a bit dingy, needs some sprucing up and a bit time cleaning but nothing really major. he said they will be taking offers. i made him an offer and now i just have to wait and see. i'm hoping that no one else is going to make an offer. a couple of the neighbors said it might just need to be torn down....but i seriously disagree. it needs to be restored and that's what i want to do. we'll see. if things go right i might just turn it into my guest cottage for whoever wants to come and visit me and also maybe rent it out during tourist season for a couple of weeks here and there.

well it's sunday morning and time to get to work.

2009-07-10T06:48:00.010-04:00

here is what i think about myself:
i have come to the conclusion that i let people get on my nerves far too much and that i should be more open to the differences in the way people think and behave. i meet very few people that i truely admire or want to be good friends with. in fact i don't really know of anyone who i really enjoy being around long enough to pursue a normal friendship with. most of the time i feel like i'm on a different plane where conversations go nowhere, conversations(people) turn stupid and idiotic and i just want to go home. i also realize that i'm often too outspoken and opinionated and am often too quick to judge others and find fault with what they do or say. sometimes i think that there is something seriously wrong with me but according to the online psycho babble of personality quizzes i am an just an introvert with a personality disorder.
introverts find people tiring even though they normally have excellent social skills and can charm the pants off of total strangers if they want or need to. introverts do not like small talk or meaningless words but instead love anything that involves deep conversation. they get energized by discussing subjects that are important to them and they love see what and how other people think, to connect the dots, to dig deep, to find root causes, to use logical thinking via debate in conversation, etc. they'd rather have meaningful conversations about the depths of human souls and minds, but find few opportunities since those aren't your usual conversations in the average group of people.
in a world where talk is cheap and time is money, life for an introvert can often become disorienting, frustrating and exhausting. introverts are typically less materialistic than extroverts, are not impressed by the wealth's of others and often prefer to live a less materialistic simple life. introverts need a purpose in life and are often involved in community service but only on the sidelines, never in the spotlight. after a day filled with people or activities, introverts tend to feel exhausted and empty. to recharge their batteries introverts need to be alone reading, daydreaming, painting, or gardening – any solo activity fills them up again. according to most psychological surveys about 25 percent of the population are introverts. they are a minority in the regular population but a majority in the gifted population.

introverts have more brain activity in their frontal lobes and when these areas are activated through solitary activity, introverts become energized through processes such as problem solving, introspection, artistic and creative endeavors and complex thinking. introverts can be difficult to get along with especially in a close relationship since they become easily frustrated with a mate or friend who doesn't listen or care to engage in meaningful conversation. relationships with an introvert can only flourish if they feel deeply connected to their partner and with ones who treat them with sincerity, thoughtfulness and kindness.

i think i need to go for a walk.

2009-07-06T07:26:00.003-04:00

i have been reading my blog. it's almost 4 years old now. some of it i don't remember writing and some of it is just absurd. i realized, after reading it, that i have spent a lot of time doing life's things by myself so... having a blog is a good way to remember what i did because when you're by yourself there is no one else to recall what you did.
i also figured out that i have spent the last 3 of my birthday's by myself.
i talk to myself a lot.

2009-07-04T16:31:00.010-04:00

july 4th, 2009

1. snorkled in crystal clear ocean surrounded by lots of fishies and something with a shark like fin that made me have to get out of the water.

2. saw the neighbor with the huge piles of coconuts in his yard standing around outside near his clothes line butt ass naked.

3.made two mango pies.

4. spending the evening comforting poor toby from the evil annoying fireworks and eating mango pie.

2009-06-28T05:56:00.004-04:00

http://www.thestationagent.com/story.html
moral to story: sometimes isolation is best shared.
if you can find someone to share your thoughts with and someone who wants to actually listen, not pretend to listen but really listen.. someone who wants to take the time to be a good friend, someone who knows how to be thoughtful and caring and likes interesting conversations... i guess you've probably died and gone to heaven.

2009-06-21T05:16:00.002-04:00

it's going to be really really hot today. heat index..110.
i'm bringing my blender to work this morning along with some frozen mangoes, bananas and strawberries so i can make some frosty smoothies for my sweaty boys, andrew and thomas. yes i have boys now. during the week i also have a girl named amanda. they all do whatever i want them to do. sometimes they do so much for me that i don't really have to do anything but tell them what to do. that's funny.
for the past week i've been the only person here in charge of the marina since buzz has been deathly sick with some sort of ugly upper respiratory thing and sam had some kind of invasive nerve operation on his arm so he is out of commission for a while. if i got sick i guess we'd have to close down so i'm making sure i drink lots of water and eat well. yesterday i was out on the docks helping the boys with our daily chores. we were all sweating like pigs and i seriously felt like just jumping off the dock. i think it was about 96 degrees. it's supposed to be even hotter today.
so i think it would be a good idea if we just try to stay inside today as much as we can after we get our marina chores done. andrew said he going to bring in a deck of cards and teach me some card games. that ought to be interesting. i have absolutly no attention span for card playing.
it's 6:30am and i'm off to work. can't find my camera.

2009-06-15T05:28:00.004-04:00

speaking of mangooooos. i now have so many mangos that i think i'm going mango crazy. i find at least a dozen on the ground everytime i go out in the front yard which is several times a day. i have to grab them up before the squirrels eat them all. i do leave some for the squirrels though. i take them to work, i freeze them, i eat them and i make mango bread with them. i never thought i'd say that i might be glad when mango season is over.

yesterday was a rather long and sort of quiet day at work. andrew works with me on sunday. he is a 22 yr old college student and our summer part timer who is just a sweet heart. we all love andrew. he's smart, works well with people and gets along with everyone. plus..he's just cute and has a great sense of humor. i will hate to see him leave in august to go back to school.

i have been put in charge of obtaining the official "clean marina" designation from the florida dept of environmental protection. http://www.dep.state.fl.us/cleanmarina/marina/default.htm
i have been given the workbooks and manuals to study which include a lengthy checklist of all the things that we must comply with in order to qualify. yesterday i had time to study and restudy the manuals and workbooks and made my final list of things i have to get done around the marina before i call the local rep from the dep to come for their inspection.
i guess it's really not as difficult as i first thought it would be. it's basically all about having good management practices and promoting responsible boating habits.

there's waste management and recycling.. i've got that all under control. we even have recycling bins with bright green recycle labels on them all along the docks now. that's a first in any marina i've ever seen. everyone knows i'm the recycle nazi at the marina...but seriously 90% of what we mindlessly toss out is very recyclable.
we are now using non toxic biodegradable and petrochemical free cleaning products and we will sell and promote them to the boaters once the ship's store is open.
we utilize a solar hot water system for our laundry and shower facilities to offset our energy usage.
we have to post a sign stating our environmental policies in a highly visable place. i have to have that made.
we have to have emergency plans for all sorts of marina related issues such as fires, fuel spills, accidents, approaching hurricane and so on. all staff has to be aware of what to do in case of these. i have handbooks for the staff and we will have a staff meeting soon to go over it.
there's alot of other stuff, alot to do with safety and hazardous wastes but mostly to do with public awareness and the importance of environmental stewardship.

i like to think of it as promoting a more responsible way of living and encouraging people to seriously think about what they do and how everything they do affects the environment that we all live in. every little bit of effort helps and whatever our guests might learn or be exposed to at the marina is something that they might take home with them and hopefully pass on to others.
i hope to have everything done in the next month or so. once we pass the inspection we can fly a giant green "clean marina" flag, courtesy of the fl. dep, out on our flag pole.

that's all for this morning's yak. time to get ready for work.

2009-06-14T05:57:00.003-04:00

it's been a while since i've had any interest in this blog.
may and june have been a blur of work and trying to get the marina open. i've been working 50-60 hours a week and although i finally got a nice raise to compensate me all i've really done is go to work, obsess about everything that needs to be done, come home, eat and flop out on the sofa, falling asleep exhausted by 8:30 or 9. this is a really big challenge for me. at one point 2 weeks ago i almost had a meltdown and had thoughts of quitting. that lasted 2 days. i had worked 6 days in a row, 10 hours a day... coming home to someone who wants to know what's for dinner, forgetting to buy groceries and wondering when i'll have time to do some laundry.
i thought i had to fix everything and make everything right. i got over it though after a couple of days off and some beach mediation.... floating and starring at the clouds. i can't fix everything and if i'm too tired then we'll just have to eat triscuits and peanut butter and wear dirty clothes.

to top it off i forgot my sister's 70th birthday which really disturbs me. you shouldn't spend so much time worrying about everything and everybody else and forget your own family.

things are getting better now. they hired a couple of young guys to help out.. sort of like dock assistants but also to help me out. it's weird having assistants. i'm used to doing things myself.

well i'm off to work this sunday morning. i'm going to try to do better with my obssesions and get back to smiling and being my old silly self.

2009-05-25T05:57:00.008-04:00

opening day for the marina was last thursday. it's very weird to see boats out there on the new docks. it's even weirder to walk the docks and see boats tied up in their slips. next weekend most of our reservations are coming in, probably around 50 or more who have been waiting for us to open.

today we're having our first annual memorial day party. this time it was much easier. all i have to do now is call the restaurant supply people, order what i want and they deliver it to the marina. such is life when you have a nice fat expense account. oh and i got a $2 an hour raise. that's nice too.

the owner's ordered us a big ass barbeque for our parties. it even has a built in fridge.
so far everything is sort of working out ok. i've just about mastered the reservations program but there's much more to learn about the new marina systems.
another party is scheduled for our official grand opening party on june 5.
i imagine there will be fireworks... no doubt.
heh heh.

2009-05-07T04:34:00.003-04:00

several days ago i decided that i am having a mid-life crisis..although i don't think it is really a crisis, more of a turning point. as you can see i repainted the front porch again, this time it is fuschia and lime green. i have issues with myself, many inner dialogs with myself but paint is simple and easy to change when the mood strikes. the man at the paint store said he knew of a house in town, up on skyline drive, that had 26 colors painted on it. every shutter is a different color. he smiled and said i should go look at it. when i find that house i'll take a picture of it. for some reason i started wondering how i could go on living if i suddenly became blind.
a thousand things go through my head when i paint. for me it's not just simply a hobby of brushing on random colors. it's therapy.. and if there were anyone nearby they would no doubt hear me talking and chuckling to myself...trying to figure "things" out. i doubt if i'll ever figure things out though. in the meantime i'll just keep painting.
the reason i think i'm having a mid-life crisis is because you would think by now someone my age would have it all figured out and be somewhat defined as to who they have turned out to be. instead, i feel as if i'm still wandering down the road with no one to guide me but myself.. still looking for something/someone to connect to, and oddly still trying to imagine what they'll say about me at my funeral.
you should never wait
for someone else to fill your plate.
or blame anyone but yourself
when you're plate isn't full enough.

that's what i tell myself.

2009-05-03T04:13:00.003-04:00

ok, it is may now. i realized that i don't write in the blog much anymore. i have so many other things to think about and sometimes it just gets tiring to write about yourself. when that happens it's best to just take a break.
my little house is still quite a haven. it has a definite personality now although i'm still playing around with different paint colors for the personality of the front porch. it is wonderfully simple and peaceful here and almost effortless to maintain this house. last month my electric bill was a whopping $29. i made an nice caribbean style awning out of outdoor canvas for the window in the sunroom to keep out the hot afternoon western sun. it actually looks rather store bought. my garden has produced way too many tomatoes although the other veggies are now starting to wilt under the oncoming heat of the summer. the mangoes and the lemons love the heat and are still getting bigger and bigger by the day.
the boat has become quite a problem lately. the company that insured it went out of business and in order to get insured with a new underwriter we have to have a new out-of-water survey/inspection. that entails motoring the boat to a boatyard and paying to have it hauled out of the water on a giant boat lift so we can pay a surveyor to inspect it. it's a very big expense. no one likes to have surveys. they always find things wrong that, of course, have to be fixed. even with the survey completed and the new insurance in force there are still many problems with it, some of them due to the lightening strike last july and various other major issues that are, of course, forever time consuming and expensive.
the new marina is now in it's last days of completion. the scheduled grand opening is memorial day weekend and we are now taking reservation in spite of the fact that we still haven't received our software reservation program. hopefully we'll get it before everything gets out of hand since we are now having a serious onslaught of people who want a slip. i quickly discovered that these people who want reservations can be quite needy and picky but i'm trying to keep a sense of humor about it. it's going to be a pain for a while but once we get everyone all nestled in things will calm down.
i'm still finding so many nice people at work. sometimes they just amaze me with their kindness and thoughtfulness. just this morning the fellow across the street stopped by on his sunday morning walk to the green market and asked if he could pick anything up for me. i said i didn't need anything. he said that he'll just surprise me. that's the kind of man that that makes a woman smile.
thankfully josh is coming for a visit next week. it will be a joy to have him here and a joy to have someone to hang out with who is full of exciting ideas and interesting thoughts.

2009-04-22T07:03:00.004-04:00

the picket fence is almost finished. john did a nice job. now toby can have a buddy if i can ever find one for her. i'm still looking via the boston rescues and the humane society.
we had the dead stuff cut out of our palm trees by some local guy who was doing the neighbor's trees. it's just something you have to do before hurricane season to cut down on the crap that flies around in 100 mph winds. luckily it only has to be done every 2 years or so. the county trash truck will come this morning to pick it up. they chip it up and make it into mulch that is free to the public.

2009-04-19T04:49:00.010-04:00

john and i took our buddy, bill, to see the nina & pinta on saturday that had stopped for a couple of days at a local marina (not mine). they're basically exact replicas of the originals and they're actually pretty cool. the volunteer crew are all young 20 something kids who have signed on with the columbus foundation to sail these floating museums along with the captain from port to port, educating the public. while aboard they are actually learning to sail and also reliving a bit of history.
bill comes down every year on his boat from delaware to stay in my marina for the winter. he's a good ol fella and has taken quite a liking to john. they have a lot of the same boat/car interests, work on projects together and we have him over to the house for dinner quite frequently since he really loves home cooking. while he was here this season we talked him into buying a little laptop and john taught him how to use it and all about the wonderful world of the internet. bill is getting ready to leave this week to sail back up north for the summer. we sort of wish he would just stay down here permanently and we could adopt him.
today he's coming over to help john finish up the cute picket fence that he's putting in around my little front yard area. i wanted a quaint little fence for toby and for whatever future little toby-buddy i hope to find in the near future.. another boston would be nice.

2009-04-13T06:17:00.016-04:00

here's some new pixs.
my desk area is all custom made with granite and corian..nice, huh. i give oranges out to everyone who comes in. they like that.

this is buzz's desk. you can't see the other side..it's a mess of papers all piled up. he doesn't file anything away and he won't let me touch it...so i don't...except when he's not looking. heh.

we have new super duper patio furniture. they're bringing a custom bbq and some picnic type tables soon. the upstairs boater's lounge is quite lovely except for the fact that i doubt if it will be easy to keep clean with all our messy guests.

2009-04-04T05:56:00.002-04:00

mojo

2009-03-31T08:46:00.003-04:00

sunday we had a visitor. he just didn't want to leave for some reason. i named him "little buddy" although he's not that little. he's a great egret.
well, my laptop is now fixed. i installed the new hard drive i bought online. it was quite a difficult procedure for me with my limited knowledge of such things. the install kept freezing halfway through so i took it to work to look up install freezing issues on the internet at my computer at work. i finally tried some of the techie advice such was disabling some of the bios stuff and whatever it is they said that i didn't really understand but i finally got it going. hurray for me. i was clapping and patting myself on the back since no one else was here.
it's sort of nice to have a new clean computer system although.....i lost all my thousands of pictures which are still hiding somewhere in my old broken hard drive. it's still in the freezer. maybe we can figure out how to get them out. for now i'm just glad to have my old gateway working again and it's very fast for a change.

2009-03-29T05:16:00.003-04:00

went to the annual garden show yesterday with my friend, kim. it was held at the county fairgrounds and sponsored by the county extension service. there were lots and lots of local growers/gardeners... you know, people who grow stuff and actually know what they're doing. they talk about their plants as if they were part of their family. i find them facinating.

i can't think of any other hobby/livelihood as down to earth as growing and taking care of plants. as life goes, it's really all about the plants. we take them for granted way too much.

there was an amazing variety of ornamental plants, local and exotic, and plenty of the edibles. i managed to squeeze out enough money to buy myself a freakish looking carnivorous pitcher plant, an orchid and my favorite.. a florida blueberry. the blueberry is full of little green berries. they should be ripe in a week or so. the jamacian lady told me how to care for it and her husband gave me a hug for some reason. they grow all kinds of fruit bearing plants on their farm.

these shows always make me feel like i might explode from sensory overload. it's just too much beauty all at one time.

my laptop is still fried. it appears to be the hard drive. we took it out and tried to wake it up from it's stupor. i dropped it, kicked it and put it in the freezer for a while. it almost woke up for a bit but then died again so i finally ordered a new hard drive online. that should solve the problem. i guess these things just get worn out after a while.