Waiting out the winter

Sat. (Jan 25) it was off to the range. My gout is in check and I can move freely again. Man it feels good to hit the balls again. The Internet has provided me with a wealth of information which should help with re-occurrence oft his issue. Also, they have a natural OTC drug down here called Gouch! I think I am going to like it. It is touted to expel excess uric acid.

Oh yea. I now have a Florida doctor. Dr Fulk(nice guy). It cost me $150 to see him at a walk in clinic. Luckily he's just around the corner but I could not refill my Rx without seeing a U.S. physician(even though I had the Rx bottle, with medication in it) with me at the pharmacy.There's another hurdle out of the way.

Well today(Sunday 26 Jan) was a just a do nothing type of day. It was supposed to be sunny and 80 degree. They lied. It was only about 73 and there was no sun all day.
We hung around the condo till about 130 pm and then we went over to Six Mile Cypress Slough(pr. sloo)
just to get some fresh air and exercise.
What a busy place. We saw 12 different licence plates in a parking lot that holds about 50 cars.
It is now the dry season here and there is a totally different feel to the place.We were intrigued by the obvious foraging an routing that was evident everywhere  and the answer was soon presented. Wild pigs.
They are voracious,noisy and troublesome. They try to trap and move the animals but that is a full time job and by the numbers of young we saw in a day, impossible.

We did get to see some new birds. The one here is a Night Heron.

I'm still trying to identify a couple of small ducks.

Tue. was off the the range(gun range that is) with Bob. What a hoot! Bob had a 380 Barretta(nice little gun)
and a sweet little S&W 9mm Shield. I wish I could be as accurate when I golf. All Red!!!
The ammo was on the expensive side( $56.00 for 25- 9mm and 25 - 380's ). Thank goodness Bob had some of his own ammo from prior shoots. Oh yea, you have to pay for targets too. But it was a morning well spent.
If your into guns, Florida is the place to be. You can buy anything. Really.
This is a 50 mm B.R.A. and it can be yours for only $6,100.

This is a wall of assault rifles AK - 47's - Uzi's.

okay time for an afternoon cocktail.

SYS

Slowing down a bit

Well everyone's home safe and sound and enjoying their winter wonderland. LOL
We went to Venice on Tue. 21 Jan and had a great visit with Sid and Gerry at Sharkey's on the pier.
Our timing was perfect. Aprille and  got there about 45 minutes before Sid and Gerry so we had a table already reserved when they arrived.  We were able to take a nice walk on the pier and enjoyed the sunshine(although it was a little nippy). I got to eat some Great Lakes perch. Yummy!!! That's as close to home as I have been for months. Good thing  we all decided to take cars instead of motorcycles as it just poured buckets during our lunch. Good thing we had a covered table on the patio

Well we have come to a decision on our gypsy ways. Considering the winter they have had up in our neck of the woods, we don't want to ever see another snow flake.So!!!! we are looking for a 5-6 month furnished rental down here for next year and we are putting our lake property up for sale(as of this writing, the process has started) and we will be looking for something very comfortable in the southwest Ontario corridor that will suit our nomadic  lifestyle. We were up in Punta Gorda the other day to "explore" the possibilities of living up there and we stopped for a few minutes to do a little deep sea fishing. The bait must have been fresh.

Punta Gorda is very nice. I could see us living there.
Next week we are going up to Gainesville to look at some properties with our friends Bob and Janice. They will likely buy a place there. It is actually unreal what you can get for $200,000.Places in Ontario of comparable styles and location would be $500,000 easily. It's perhaps a little too far north(near Jacksonville) and the Florida north border) and it is cooler that far north,but it's all up for consideration. I don't think it has ever  been 35 below and I don't believe there is any snow removal equipment in their Quonset huts.
Good news on the home front. Ulla and Kevin are coming down next month. Patience pays off. Ulla was able to find a non stop  flight from Windsor to Fort Myers for $372(for both of them). Nice!!!

Jan 2014

Well John and Crystal are home safely, one day earlier than expected.(what was that Tom Hanks movie where he was stuck in the airport forever?)
The boys went to another Florida Everblades hockey game on Fri. 10th. Jan. This time they were playing South Carolina Stingrays. I don't think this team knows how to win. It was just a good night out. They play uninspired hockey. I don't think there are any future NHLers here. But  the Mascot,Sharkie, is entertaining and they do have cheerleaders.

We just got another pleasant surprise. Russ and Brenda (Stoney Creek) got tired of winter and they came down (for a lighting  visit ) two days on their way to Lakeland and Busch garders on Wed/Thurs.
The first day(Monday) was a rest day(they drove down) it's far.They arrived around 7:00 pm. Good thing I got the BBQ going and dinner ready before hand.We spent Tuesday at Sannibel and Captiva driving around the islands sightseeing. The got to see the wealth on Captiva . We ejnoyed a great lunch at the Sannibel cafe and then went to see Periwinkle park. It was cold that day. It went down to 39 at night.
That evening we were treated to supper at Pincers on the beach. Now our new favorite. Great view and great food great atmosphere(unique).

Early to bed late to rise.Perfect.! Away they go at 9:00AM.
Our new gym(old gym with a face lift and new owners) is almost back to normal. It's nice.
We are back to a regular workout routine( I still enjoy Yoga. It's good for me) and of course weights. The new year found me only 2 1/2 lbs heavier. That is already gone and already I'm back.
Yesterday was the AFC and NFC championships. The clubhouse was opened for the special event and we spent the first game with friends and neighbours cheering for our respective teams. Both the Patriots and 49ers lost. Oh well.  I was drinking hot chocolate(no really) as my gout is acting up(go figure,what causes this?)
We only stayed for the first game and went back to our place for dinner and the second game.

Merry Christmas and Happy new year

Okay I've been tardy. But it's been very busy here too.
Yes we did have a Christmas tree. Thanks Krista. Yes those are bananas. They grow here on the property. Sweet!

Christmas eve was spent here at our place with our friends Bob and Janice. Lovely.
They stayed until it was 1230 and of course, it's Christmas day so we had to open the stocking stuffers. Frank won the guessing game. Aprille tried to cheat.
It's Christmas day, I went swimming. Just because.The remainder of the day was held at our neighbours Ken and Krtista. What a feast!! All the trimmings and then some with a nice "doggie bag" for lunch and dinner the next day.
We received a nice surprise on Tuesday.  We got a call from John and Crystal. They we're coming down for 8 days and would be here for new years eve. They arrived on the 30th (scheduled for 1100 pm but they were delayed till 1140 due to bumpy air conditions that forced the plane to fly lower and therefore slower.
On Tuesday we had to stock up for new years so we went over to Total Wines(again) and went on a rampage. John and Crystal were very impressed to say the least. I think we spent over $300 between the two couples. Somebody here has a problem. then it was over to Cheeseburger in Paradise for lunch. Nice!!

New years eve was celebrated at our place with Bob, Janice, John and Crystal.  HAPPY 2014.
I think it was 230 am when we went to bed. It's new years day. I went swimming. Just because. Does that qualify for membership to the polar bears club? LOL.
Thursday we went over to Pauline and Jerry's(Crystal's boss and surrogate parents) over at Cypress Lakes.
We visited with them at there home for about an hour and then they treated us o a fabulous lunch at the Cypress Lakes Golf club. What a treat that was.

Thursday night Crystal and Aprille pulled an all nighter. Really!!! Crystal went to bed when the sun came up and Aprille stayed up!!! All day!!
Friday morning John and I went over to Lighthouse beach on Sannibel and had a good,long,very cool walk for an hour. Okay, this is ridiculous. It was only 45 degrees. (39 degrees tonight.)Really!!!
It's off  to the flea Master flea market Friday afternoon. This really is a great place to get lost in your thoughts. We were there for about 3 hours. If you can imagine it it is probably there.
Since we were going to the dog races tat evening we had to eat something before hand. To avoid back tracking we went to Pincers in Bonita Beach. Super food. Good value. We had to sit on the patio(which was covered) (thank God) if we didn't want to wait 45 minutes. We didn't. They actually brought out propane heaters for the patio.
Then it's off to to the dog track. I bet number 6 to win (I bet number every race. Saved a lot a time running back and forth) John bet number 8,Crystal bet number 2 and Aprille bet number 5.
So here are the race results(sounds like a race commentator)
John won 3 aces, Frank won 3 races, Aprille won  2 races and poor Crystal got skunked(very close a few times but no cigar). So the net result was Frank and Apriile netted a $12 profit  and John and Crystal were down a couple of dollars. But here's the nice thing. It was $1 Friday and beer, hot dogs, pop and pop corn was only one dollar!!!!

Sat it rained pretty much the whole day. So, we went shopping at the Tanger outlet mall. I think we went into every store. It was a planned even so the rain really didn't matter anyway.
Sunday we went to Sannibel and Captiva. We even found a parking spot at Turner beach( really that is amazing) and we spent a few hours sunning a shelling. How about this floating BBQ and ice cream vendor? What a great idea.

Sunday night we had a great/noisy(but fun) dinner experience at the Parrot Key. We were supposed to hear Gatlin that evening but the Packers were playing and that restaurant is Lambeau Field South. It as packed as th patrons/fans saw their beloved Packers lose to San Fran. Gatlin was pre-empted.

After dinner we went on the pirate cruise which was a one hour fun cruise into San Carlos bay with entertainment and a local history lesson supplied by the scurvy crew.

Monday we went back to Captiva to the Jungle Land art gallery(it was closed on Sunday ad it as a place that John really anted to visit as there was a personal connection with John's "Parrot Head" memorabilia and the owner of the gallery. Here had designed ( 20 years ago) the T shirt that John was wearing.
What a neat place. John bought two more magnificent T shirts and Aprille and I came away with a one of a kind work of art too.

On the way home we stopped for a great lunch at the Sannibel cafe. This was followed by a trip to Periwinkle Park to see the parrots. After we got home we took a trip with Bob and Janice ( it was time to clip their parrots toe nails,and, knowing that John and Crystal are animal lovers they asked us along)to the greatest pet store you'll ever see. It was almost like going to a mini zoo.
The rest of the time we spent by the pool  swimming,sunning and/or playing Cornhole (I'm not making this up, that's what they call it) or bean bag toss,or as John prefers, holey board, because he just couldn't bring himself to say cornhole. We had a few challenge matches and we held up well considering we are amateurs at the game. Aprille needs to practice throwing the entire(and straight) 27 feet. can you say keep it on land?
Tuesday was travel day for John and Crystal. There was an incredible winter storm that engulfed Ontario too and John and Crystal were stuck at JFK in New York till Wed night(they got lucky, if you can call it that after 2 days at an airport) they were scheduled to be there till Thurs!!

Dec. 20 th. Golf this morning, hockey tonight.

Tuesday night was "a big Mexican dinner"(that's a song title from the Kentucky Headunters). We went to Bob and Janice's. I spent part of the morning researching Margaritas. That was our contribution.
So....with all the pertinent info in hand, we went to the Total wine store( you should see this place, there's not a beer  or wine or spirit left unmentioned. It's a Costco for booze), and bought all the pertinent ingredients.
Good tequila( we settled on El Padrino, on the recommendation of Suzie,one of the employees). Terrific choice, it received a 95 rating set by some international qualifications. Forget the Jose Cuervo!!!.
Of course you have to have Cointreau. Not!!! The secret, is a brandy based orange liqueur and the suggestion on the "web"was Gran Gala. Less than half the price(you do pay for the name) and it's base is V.S.O.P.  brandy.
Fabulous. Of course while we were there, we had to have  Scotch ( and again on the suggestion of Suzie who advised it was a very good scotch, better than my usual Glenfiddich), I bought a 12 year old, single malt "Speyside" I have yet to try it but I'm sure it'll be wonderful.
Okay back to the Margarita. Let's finish it off with 6, fresh squeezed Persian limes.
Here's the one we liked the best(we tried three different recipes). The 2-2-1 mixture was voted best in show.
2 oz tequila, 2 oz Gran Gala and 1 oz lime juice. We like ours on the rocks and shaken(not stirred)
We did buy the pre -squeezed Real lemon and Real Lime but we never got to try them. Why bother?
And...we got to eat a delicious dinner, prepared by Janice of Chile Relleno and re-fried beans. Fantastic.

Wednesday, Aprille went to a knitting group n the morning and we were going to have guests for dinner,but, Dave was recovering from a colonoscopy and John was on his way to Alaska(for 2 yrs) for a new job.
So... Aprille and I got to enjoy a wonderful Chicken Marsala dinner followed by a Pistachio frozen yogurt.
Oh dare I mention the wine?

Thursday Aprillle went for her 6 week cut, colour and whatever else, and sold another piece of jewelry. A necklace she was wearing inspired her hairdresser to commission one for her too.

Friday was golf at Shell Point. I got to try out my new GPS toy. It worked super. I was 4 swings away from an 84-85. I shot a 90. Not bad, but I'm determined o be a mid 0's golfer(on a regular basis)

Friday night we went to the Germain Centre, down in Estero, to watch the Florida Everblades play. I haven't seen a hockey game since we came down here.We went as a group, 5 of us, the girls bowed out. There was Maurice, Maurice Jr., John, Dane(another neighbour and myself . Too bad he home team lost. They didn't even show up. The final score was 4-1 for the North Carolina Road Warriors.  The shots on goal favoured the Road warriors at 37 - 31 but most of the  awarded SOG to the Everblades were sympathy shots I'm sure. But on a cool side...have you ever seen two Zambonies clean the ice?
$15.00 got us really good seats. There's actually not a BAD seat in the house. The arena holds around 7,000 people and I guess there were 2,000  in attendance.Oh ya. 2 beers( they were Labatts Blue) $17 dollars. Wow!!! I can buy 18 Heineken for that.
And guess who I saw at the arena? Lori Mornahan, from Cayuga. Really. What are the chances.? She's down with her husband for two weeks of vacation and hopefully we will get together for a beverage or two.

Tonight is carol singing and ugly Christmas sweater night at the office but we will pass. Aprille is not feeling the greatest. We were going to g to the beach at Cape Coral for a wine and cheese picnic, but that too will wait.
We did get a Christmas tree, Aprille bought a Christmas snow globe(with a windup player) that plays Santa Clause is coming to town.
He better put wheels on his sleigh. There's no snow here. LOL.
We have received a few cards and there are two stockings to be filled. So we are keeping some of the traditions. Go figure... we have our own bananas

On a follow up to the Speyside scotch.... it's good.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!!!
SYS

Movie night and senior rates

Well, we finally got a senior's discount.
We went to the show on Monday(9th) Dec. to see "Out of the Furnace" (a good movie by the way)
We got to ask for a senior's ticket and it was only $8. Super. The theatre complex is in the Bell Tower shopping mall and houses 20 cinaplex theatres.
The theatre was well designed with seats designed so that King Kong could sit in front of you and you could still see. The sound was just perfectly regulated and the AC was very comfortable.
And then there's pop corn, coffee and pop. So much for the seniors savings.

We went to the parrot sanctuary on Sannibel Island with Bob and Janice yesterday, and it was well worth the wait. Then another super lunch at The Grill.

Spanish lessons are now over till the 14th of Jan. We have actually learned a lot in the first 16 weeks. We'll have to be diligent during the following month off. You know what they say. "Use it or lose it"
No hay problema.

Wed. there was a pool game that lasted all afternoon. At night the girls had craft night here

Thur. Aprille and Sandra attended a "dress for success" seminar( a hands on event to launch small business ventures) Aprille has sold two pieces of jewelry now and we have set up a web site for her and she now has her own business cards. So check it out at applesjewels.com.

My airport shuttle job has gone for a dump. The insurance issues are impossible to overcome.
Okay bring on another windmill.

Friday morning we went to the Fort Myers flea market. Now that's huge. You could easily spend all day browsing. We were good. We only bought two things(that we needed) Aprille found a vendor that sold bras(nice!! one's I might add.). 6 for $12. Really. And a new micro fibre mop to replace the piece of sh.....! we currently had.At 6 pm we went over to my golfing buddy, Dave, for dinner.Great job. A delicious feed of smoked salmon and spinach dip for appetizers and a huge feed of angel hair pasta with a delicious cream sauce and craw daddies. Dessert too. Tiramisu and chocolate cookies.

I now own a V300 Sonocaddie GPS. A real time GPS tool that follows you in "real time" on the golf course and feeds you all pertinent info(that should help you,theoretically, to manage the course better) I first saw the device in action last week when I golfed with Barb. She had one. It is  a must have.She bought hers on line for $60 last year. I went home and immediately went  on line. They retail for $399. No way Jose!!! There as only one used one(advertized as "in excellent condition") at all the sale sights. It was up for bidding at $70.99. There was 2 hrs left in the auction. What luck!!!I won. It arrived 4 days later and as advertized it was in excellent condition.I'm chomping at the bit to try it for real.

Sat. I met the riders(and some of their wives) of the Lost Riders motor cycle club. I met the president at spanish class and he invited me to join them for a  ride for toys. It is an annual event hosted by the L.A.M.A.
Latin American Motrcycle Assoc. to give toys to poor families in Immokalee.
A great event and a great bunch of guys and gals. There was enough toys to fill the back of the dually pick up and the U Haul trailer, plus what people brought on the back of their bikes.

Sat night we went to the dog races,also in Immokalee, and we won enough to pay for the "refreshments". don't blink. Each race  lasts around 30 seconds. A good night out. Cheap and fun and you get to wager.

Happy birthday Annette!!!!

Yikes it went down to 47 degrees on the 27th Nov.

But all is good. It went up to 80 this afternoon.

Happy Thanksgiving and a special mention to our son who thought about his grandfather(farfar) on Remembrance Day "Cherishing the ones who paved the way to live our lives. Especially my farfar. Rest in peace. Thanks Adam.

We had a great get together here at Baybreeze on the 23rd. It was an opportunity to mix and mingle with the complex providing turkey and all the trimmings. Lovely. There was karaoke too that night. What a blast. We got to meet some new friends and neighbours.

Well that was quite a treat (Thanksgiving Day) The day started at John and Sandra's at 2 pm. There was enough food for 20 very hungry people and there were 10 of us. I lost all the pics by accidentally formatting the camera. Oppps!!!

We went to Periwinkle Park (on Sannibel Island) on Wed the 4th of Dec.with our new friends Bob and Janice (they are bird lovers and in particular, parrots) to see Libby and Dave Baird(who used to teach at MM Robinson high school in Burlington and actually taught Aprille before they retired) who run the parrot sanctuary there and put on  a free demonstration at 10 am. So guess what?????
There is no show on Wednesdays. So, we spent a great deal of the morning walking the beach at Lighthouse beach(our particular favorite). Then a great lunch and Tom Dick and Harry's.

Sunday, the 7th. I went up to Tampa (150 miles door to door) with my buddy John, to see the Bills and Bucs at Raymond James stadium. Awesome place. 65,000 capacity with armrests on every seat. People actually sat down to watch the game instead of standing and blocking our view ie. Ralph Wilson stadium in Buffalo. We had great seats(thanks John, with shade by 230 pm) on the goal line 7 rows from the field. Nice.
We arrived around 1020 am(we left Fort Myers at 8 am ) and spent the morning and part f the afternoon tailgating. What a blast. We met some great people and played "corn hole" with our immediate neighbours. I have a set of toss bags(all official weight and size of course) being delivered this week. We have the boards here at pool side but no bags(kids!!!!) So we will have yet another excuse to drink beer. LOL.
We tried to get an invite for burgs or sausages at the tailgate grounds,but alas, it was not to be.
We had to eat at the stadium. Don't ask.
We pre-drank at the parking lot.
Anyway, we were a part of Bucs history. We  were there when they scored a touch down from the  line of scrimmage( an 82 yd running play) which was the lost in team history and it was scored in the first 18 seconds of regulation which was the fastest TD ever scored.

It's now Dec 11th and it's hard to wrap our head around the fact that it's almost Christmas and we are basking in mid 80's during the day and mid 60's at night.

I just went on line to book tickets for the Florida Everblades hockey team for the 20th. I have not seen a single hockey game since the start of the season.

We  have new neighbours now, Ian and Ashley, a very nice young couple. Aprille baked some treats and they reciprocated with local Star fruit and bananas from his moms garden on Cape Coral. They were "the bomb"