Labour Day already?

Well we did go to the Redneck Games. We are now officially rednecks and we can prove it.
We had a blast. We were lucky. The early rain here in Fort Myers didn't really really effect North Fort Myers as badly. The squalls down here can be(and were), severe but they are very confined to specific areas it seems.
We did get to see a local country singer, Brandy( think) Hauh who was entertaining and we saw the Calendar Girls who are a travelling troupe who volunteer their time to raise money for guide dogs for veterans.  Each dog costs $60,000(really) to buy (as a pup) and to fully train before being given to a Vet . They have sponsored 11 dogs. It was really amateurish but entertaining to watch.Their heart and efforts were in the right place.
We did partake in the toilet seat toss, the bean bag throw and the mattress toss. We felt right at home.
Unfortunately (maybe) we missed the  "bobbing" for frozen pigs feet and the watermelon roll, the peanut spitting contests and the back yard bowling. We didn't get there till around noon.
We did enjoy a delicious smoked, pulled pork on a bun. There was of course, the ubiquitous vendors on hand to sell everything from tupperware to old useless tools of every description. We also made it into the local paper.

We unfortunately missed the doggie church on Sunday. Maybe next week.

We went to Eden Winery on Sunday over in Alva. Holy!!!! It started to downpour(I mean downpour) at about 10 minutes to 4:00 pm and it didn't let up for 45 minutes(I don't know if it's still raining over there, we drove out of it. we had stopped for about 10 minutes ( at River Hall golf course) to see if it would let up but it was raining just as hard at 4:45 pm as it was at 3:50 pm.
The sampling had officially stopped at 3:30( which we knew) but Lloyd waved us in anyway(because his dog is terrified of thunder and lightning) and refuses to go outside. LOL. So we had a small very private session and "chewed the fat" for a  least 1/2 an hour.
We did buy a bottle of Eden white(it's called Emerald) which is very reminiscent of Pinot Grigio.

The photo above was a quick shot through a 1/2 open window as we left the property.

I saw my first alligator here on Tue. It was at Shell Pointe golf course on the 18th hole and he was in the water, in a swamp, just adjacent to the tee box. There were a lot of big fish around but he was uninterested so he must not have been hungry.

Tuesday afternoon Aprille went for a nice relaxing and beautiful, manicure with her girlfriend Sandra. She got what's called a "shellacking", get it???

Wed morning we went to a nature preserve over on Six Mile Cypress and spent almost two hours with a volunteer guide who introduced us to some local flora and fauna. A good way to spend a Wed morning getting sunshine,exercise and knowledge.

We got to share some of our camping experiences with the gathered assembly (as far as living off the land). My bird watching is coming along nicely and I was able to share(and ask) some relevant questions.
The grass hopper shown here was as big as my thumb. Apparently the are not aggressive. Whew!!!!

Here's couple of gorgeous swamp apples. Till we meet again(sung to a popular theme song)

Still exploring

Well we're still exploring near and afar.
I went golfing at Copperhead Monday morning.Nice. Apparently it was a "cow pasture" last year but they have new owners.Kentucky tobacco money. It's was interesting and fun.
I had heard about the "upgrades" from some locals I had met at Eagle Ridge while we were riding out a torrential rain storm last Sat.. They also told me about a small executive course, "Cross Creek" right across HWY 41. It is a very picturesque golf community. Aprille and I  went there to look around(after my initial "recog"on Saturday)  and it is just beautiful. Pictures to follow.  I will be golfing there.
We went into the club house to have a coffee,but they were in the  middle of renovations.What is it about Mondays with us?

We have solved the fishing licence problem too. Just forget the local status and buy a non residents licence for $43.00. It's good for a year. Apparently to qualify for  resident status you have to be here for 6 months and then they want a Florida drivers licence. Proof of insurance and Florida plates on your car. Only $500 you say. Really?????
On Sunday we went to Marco Island. Now that's money!!!It was beautiful and there is actually access to the beach. Plenty of public parking. It was a very pleasant 45 min drive.

We stopped at Naples on the way home to have a look around. Very nice!! Lots of walk around shopping and dining in h old historic section. There too, it seemed there was a good deal of public parking for beach access. We are only 30 minutes away. We'll be back.

On the way home from Naples we saw a sign for a dog track at Imalokee. We'll have to check that our for sure.
Spanish lessons are a"hoot". Things are progressing nicely as we watch Dora the Explorer en espanol. We have taken out DVDs and easy readers from the library to augment our studies.
This Monday(26th) we decided to take a day off from the gym and just "veg". In the afternoon, we went to the library and on the way there we checked out a local cafe called "Biscotti". Great espresso and cappuccino, oh, and a nice apple and cinnamon coffee cake(we shared). We talked to the owner Gitamo"Tom" and had a great conversation about espresso beans and the old days. Remember working for $1.75 an hour??

Aprille's shoulder is healing(finally) and this morning she says it's 90%. We're going golfing at Shell Pointe.
Hello!!! there are only temporary greens I know but....PAR for Frank!!!

Aprille was looking for things to do this weekend(Labour Day) and this is what we found.

Hilarious. We're  going.... Redneck games??? To view in a larger format click on the picture and go to x large.

The Doggie church(pooch payers )is just too much. WTF is a non denominational dog anyway?????

Do they have more than one Doggie diety?? and on on on I could go. Only in the U.S. of A.
A full report and pictures to follow on the Redneck Games

Just a month away from vacation(really?)

So,if you have been following the blog, here's the answer to the trivia question.The ice cream was $3.28 and the wine was $2.99(both were very good by the way)

I was out golfing on Sat. at Eagle Ridge($23.95 with a cart). I've never seen so much OB and water come into play. Eagle Ridge is built around a golf community and there is virtually OB and/or water on every hole. Not a place for the faint of heart. I lost two balls on the first two holes and then settled down. Very nasty weather hit when I was on hole 3( I started on the back nine) so I never did finish but I got a rain check for another 18. Nice. I met three very nice fellows waiting for the down pour to subside and I got to share a few stories and got some local golf course insight from them. 4 More courses to try out.

I'm just waiting for the coffee to brew so I thought I'd throw an anecdote out there.
Aprillle and I were at the villa gym a few days ago, and met a nice young couple from unit 101. Nate and Angela.
Both are college graduates and moved down here from Wisconsin, I believe. Nate is a nurse now working as a bartender(hoping for tips). Angela was a social worker, now a Blackjack dealer working for 3 dollars an hour( and hoping for tips). A sign of the times. On good days(the dealers all split tips) she'll make 200-300 dollars a shift. On very good days she'll clear much more. One day a very lucky player won $103,000 and tipped the house $35,000(WOW!). That day she made $80.00/hr. She loves dealing and she thinks she will make it her career. She works at Imalokee Seminole casino about 30 minutes from here.
She says they have automatic shufflers $10.00 minimums and no Craps tables so it is very unlikely I'll play there.
Tue. 20th was our first night of Spanish at Cypress Lake HS. This is going to be fun. The teach Rafeal Gomez (go figure) is a very dynamic and interesting man. We went over all the words that are similar to English and it is really amazing how many words you already know. We hit on the highlights of masculine and feminine and of course word and vowel sounds. Anyway I don't want to bore you. So......

Wednesday we went exploring on Pine Island. The ride there through Cape Coral Brought back a lot of memories from  our trip here in  2011. Matlache is a very small quaint and eclectic community that bears further scrutiny on another day.
Pine Island itself is a varied community ranging from the good to the bad to the ugly. From million dollar homes to trailer park trash. It's a good place to visit.
The good was definitely the Ragged Ass Saloon in St. James City. We just picked it on a whim. It is right on the water way,it is old, small,very clean and definitely holds a lot of stories. The food was fantastic, and as usual, we should have split the turkey club. We asked for two glasses of ice tea and we got a full pitcher.We'll be back. Many times I'm sure.

Settling in nicely

Well it's been 21/2 months now and we are finally finished buying something new just about every day.....Whoppeeeee!!!!!!! We even have an umbrella stand now(you'll get this if you have been following along..See blog for the week Liz was here)
We are now pretty well settled in. It's amazing what you can come up with in terms of "creature comforts".
We are at the gym for about 8 hrs a week. I hour of Yoga followed by(or preceded by) 1 hr of weights.
Tough sledding eh??LOL I'm down to a "fit as a fiddle" 197 lbs. And more flexible thanks to Yoga.
Aprille is down to 147 and taking a rest from shoulder and back work due to a recent muscle tear in the rhomboid. She is keeping up with her cardio and swimming.
I have put in a reverse osmosis unit (RO)so we don't have to buy water any more. We're not used to the chlorine in the water and although water is cheaper(65-89 cents a gallon) the buy back on the RO will be quick(not to mention all the recyclable jugs). We were advised by our property manager(who was a microbiology major in university) to buy bottled water.

I'm just waiting for Aprille to get ready so we can go to the pool. Today(Wed), is an off day from the gym.
We start Spanish lessons next week(for 15 weeks) at a local high school.
Aprille has found some new friends(Sandra and Krista) to do her crafts with and I have spent the past few weeks studying Blackjack and Craps. Below you'll find a sample of her handy work.

Friday night is usually date night and last night we went down to Bonita Springs and had dinner at "Flippers" at Lovers Key resort.
We'll be back. Great food and great atmosphere.We saw a whale breaching during dinner ( a Bottle or Pilot by the fluke size).

The"Bucket" you see here is 32 oz with 4 oz of different rums and fresh fruit juices. $15 dollars.Yummy!!! A treat for two. However, Pincers Bar on Macgregor, which we discovered last Friday, is even better. Same size and there's 6 oz of different rums or vodka made to your specs. That's a chemistry class I think I can excel at!!!! HaHaHa. The food at Pincers was incredible. I had the crab cocktail and Aprille had  the smoked salon.
Anyway I digress. On the way back home,we stopped at CVS to buy some wine and on the way out I had a craving for ice cream. I went back and bought a Drumstick. Let's play The Price Is Right and see if you can guess the cost of each. I'll have the answer in the next installment of the blog.

Before going home we stopped at the Parrot Key to listen to "Tattoo" a musical tribute 2 piece(guitar and bass) who are auditioning for the next season of "The Voice". We had listened to them during supper two weeks ago and we wanted a closer experience.Great nostalgia. They played "So Happy Together for us. They did a great job.Thank you and good luck to them next year.

Summer time and the feeilng is groovy

Well Liz has gone home now. Flights in and out went without a hitch.We had a wonderful time with her.
On my birthday Liz treated us to a wonderful dinner at Junkanoos on Fort Myers Beach.
We had dinner inside(they said there were mosquitoes out on the patio) and we had a great table by the window.
After dinner we went for a nice walk on the beach. This was Liz'z first time at Fort Myers so we had to go to the beach.
Not a bad picture considering I used a $1 tripod from the dollar store.

Liz had a great idea Thurs afternoon. Get a door handle for the outside of the lanai door. So we now have handle inside and out.
Thurs. was "National Girl Friends Day" Who the hell thought that up? a Hallmark whiz or a restaurant entrepreneur? Any way, I digress. Liz Aprille Sandra and Krista went to the Stillwater Grill and sampled a few cocktails. They had a super time together.
Friday afternoon, we went to the beach again. It was a beautiful day(as were all the days last week come to think of it). I had gone to the hardware store to return a drill bit( I bought it just in case) and I thought it would be a good idea to have a big umbrella this afternoon. The patio style(6 ft across) was 60 dollars at Aces Hardware. So... I thought let's check out "Big Lots"...same umbrella... 30 dollars... Yea!!!!!
So we got to go camping in he afternoon. It worked..after a few attempts. Then..  after we got the umbrella to stand up, a stupid lady walking a Pit Bull  let her dog run into the guide lines and ..well, guess what?
LOL.

On Fri. evening, we had planned to go on the Big M Casino boat to celebrate(my belated retirement). We got all dressed up for a night. We arrived at the dock at 615 pm(30 min. before sailing time..according to the web site information. The ship had sailed!!! Well we were confused both Aprille and I saw the sailing time as 645 pm - 1145. Oh well. Now what All dressed up and nowhere to go.
So inspiration time. Aprille and I had been to a fabulous little restaurant on the water just minutes away called Parrot Key Grill. So that's where we went. Good call!!!

So I wrote an email to Big M asking what happened to sailing times on Friday night?
Well... on the website, there are two sailings. One for Fort Myers and one for South Carolina. Guess what?
Yep.... S.C. sails at 645 m and Fort Myers is 600 pm. So look at the bright side. I probably saved some cash and we got  to get home before midnight and we enjoyed another fantastic dining experience.
Well that's it for me> I'll update when I get more pics from Liz.

It'll be two months on Thurs

Where did that two months go?
We are nicely settled in now with new friends,new adventures and new experiences.
Liz is down for the week and we are so glad to see her.She is the first visitor from Canada.

Last Wed(the 24th) was our 42nd anniversary and we celebrated by sailing out of San Carlos Bay to the Gulf of Mexico on the Big M Casino boat. It was a 6 hr trip and a perfect sailing day. Flat seas and sunny skies.
I played Craps and Roulette and Aprille played the slots. I lost $90 and Aprille was up $30 so it was a net loss of $60. What a deal too.We had a coupon for free sail and all you can eat buffet (which was excellent). All we had to pay for were port taxes of $5 each. So all in all it was a $70 day.

Our server,Angelisa,(a Jennifier Garner look alike) was celebrating her 24th birthday on the 24th which was our anniv. date for our 42nd( just an anecdote that was coincidental and I found amusing and interesting because neither event can occur again)

I got to go golfing at Shell Point last Fri. What a deal( even though there were temporary greens and no par threes). I paid $10 and that included a cart. A beautiful track. I can hardly wait till Oct. when it will be fully open for play. It is not a typical resort course. Bring lots of balls. It's beautiful and tough. Here are just two of the holes. It was hard to pick out which was the best.

We had John and Sandra,their son Anthony and our neighbour Christa over on Fri. night for and impromptu Chicken Parm. dinner. We had arranged to meet at the pool at 2:30 in the afternoon and it just went on from there(till 200 am)!!

We had planned to go to Sneaky Pete's on Bonita Beach on Thurs evening to see" Rockinhorse "play again and that got diverted to Fri night which was subjected to change when the dinner party erupted. Oh well
maybe this week.

We plan to go sailing on the Big M on Fri with Liz(weather permitting) so that leaves Thurs evening open for Bonita Beach. We'll play it by ear.

I'm getting out on the motor cycle now on a more regular basis as a matter of fact I'm riding over to the gym this morning. Aprille and Liz are going shopping(go figure). Thurs is national girlfriends day(who made that up?) so Sandra Christa,Aprille and Liz are going out for lunch. So it's billiards day for Frank and John.
They have an interesting twist on the game we play. All shots have to be banked in!!! Fun wow.It adds a new element for sure and you get to know your  angles.

I was over at the range yesterday and I believe there is hope of a really fine game in the near future. Finally!!
It seems to be all coming together.

We found(actually very early on our visit here) a local fruit and veggie vendor just around the corner. We go here almost every day. It is run by two brothers Eddie and Roberto. Always good and they're a pleasure to deal with. It's fun trading stories. Why doesn't he have a passport????? We found this out after telling him wonderful things abut Canada and suggesting he should visit sometime( during the summer months).

Today (July 30)Liz and we, drove to Captiva Island and had a great picnic lunch on the dock at one of the local restaurants. Because...that was the only parking spot to be had on the island. Forget about beach parking. There were three areas that I saw to park a car and neither lot had more than 25 spots. This is likely my last trip there. It took about 30 minutes to get off Sanibel. We won't go north again. We had much better success in and out of Sannibel from the west side.
We missed a horrific rain storm here in FortMyers. Here are two different driveways at Plantation estates, just around the corner from us. We are high and dry.

Happy anniversary Adam and Annette

Well it's been a while since my last blog. So we'll catch up.
Last weekend we went to the Miami area (Sunny Isle Beach actually) and met Adam and Annette who were vacationing for a few weeks.They we're staying at the Newport Beachside Resort and we booked the Monaco Travel Lodge just down the street( we booked the Travel Lodge only because the first place we called wanted $289 a night plus taxes and parking. Really!!!) so.... we opted out for the Travel Lodge at $144.00 a night (including all taxes and $11.00 parking.. can you imagine paying separately for parking?)
Well that should have been my first clue. It looked alright from the outside.
We asked for a second floor room, non smoking with a pool view.
When we arrived we were given a first floor room. We exchanged that for a 2nd floor room..okay so far. Well what about the non smoking room. Not.
So down I go to Walgreen's to get Fabreeze and air freshener(and wine).
Back I come with all items in tow and all on sale. Nice.
Aprille is waiting on the porch. Old smoke air is too much to to handle. We're on the move again.
There's only 3 non smoking rooms left. All on the first floor.  2 don't have working A/C and the one we stayed in was just barely functional. As it turned out it was just fine.
I'm sure I saw the ghosts of Frank Sinatra,Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. in the room. Really. That's how old it was. This reminds me of my truck driving days.

We met Adam and Annette later, had a few beers and went for dinner at the Il Milano. What an incredible experience that was. First class all the way complete with waiters in tuxedos. The antipasto,Parmesan cheese ball, bruschetta ,garlic bread,fried zucchini was just a tease for a wonderful filet mignon. Just super!!!
A wonderful way to spend a 10th anniversary celebration

After dinner Adam and Annette went home and Aprille and I spent the next few hours on the beach and pool side.
Saturday we're of to the famous South Beach. Lots of money there!! Maseratis,Ferraris,Rolls Royce but no parking. We drove around for a long time and we could not..could not find a parking spot. Oh yes ..there was valet parking for $20. To see the beach for 40 minutes?(Adam and Annette had a time share meeting at 4pm)
After there time share Adam and Annette treated us to dinner at the 305 restaurant. thank you. That too was outstanding. Surf and turf for $35(special of the day)  for Annette.I just needed a burger, so..... how about Kobe beef burger? Aprille had a Portabello burger and Adam had chicken and broccoli Alfredo and.. truly excellent fries. A great weekend. Annette was off to the spa for a treatment and we headed back home.
Thankfully it rained only the first half hour or so and we took interstate 75 all the way home because 41 on the way down was brutal!! Stop lights every 1/2 mile!!! But we did get to see Bonita Springs and Naples.
Adam and Annette were of to Bahamas on Sunday. The hurricane warning was lifted early in the week and they should have excellent weather.
We had our first company Sandra and John,on Wed(17th) for dinner. Unbelievably they were the people that lived in this apt before us. It was like we are kindred spirits. We had virtually all interests and hobbies in common and Sandra makes her own jewellery too. What are the chances.
We're off to the beach this afternoon. It should be a great week end.