I am

BRILLIANT! Yes, if you did not already know this, I am telling you right now. It is a fact that I am a brilliant genius. And now it is a proven fact. Check it out.The passenger side rearview mirror on the '95 Ford Ranger I drive had no mirror and so needed to be replaced. Hal was not here to do it, but we had talked about it and taken the driver's side door apart so I thought I'd give it a try.Taking the door apart was quite easy (I have come to realize that taking something apart is always easy, the trick is putting it back together!) and even installing the mirror was easy. In fact I did really well until I was tightening up the bolts that hold the mirror in place.I over-tightened one of the bolts and snapped it off, but the other two are tightened to perfection! And now the door looks really great, and the mirror works and everything!I could get pretty used to the excitement that comes with doing a project like this (however small or easy)!

Happy Birthday Marianna!

Happy 13th Birthday, Marianna!

Just a Quick Update

Just a quick update for you all out there who are wondering what I've been up to lately. Well, besides work on the boat, I've been putting in job applications at various places. So far I've applied to Home Depot-whom I haven't heard back from yet, West Marine-who I also have not heard from yet, and Sears- who has scheduled me for an interview Monday 17, at 10:00 am. Wow! Maybe I'll actually get a job sometime soon! Boy I hope so, cause I'm kind of getting tired of this whole job hunting thing and being picky.

I did check out the USAJobs website, but there is nothing here in Key West that I am qualified for. So the next application to be submitted will be at MWR here on base. Maybe they'll have something eh? Cross your fingers for me!

Birds

I see tons of different kinds of birds down here all the time and so decided to show you some pictures. Besides, basic bird id is about all I'm up to tonite as I think I'm coming down with a cold. So enjoy the pics. :) Anhinga in the Everglades.
Either a lempkin or an immature glossy ibis.
A crow. (Wow!)
A laughing gull and some little blue herons.

Pigeons and a Key West chicken.
Eurasian doves.
Muscovies!
And an unidentified bird. Can anyone id it?

I do have more pictures (and surely some better ones!) but I think I'll leave you with these.

Finnegan's Wake

Known for their great beer and better chicken wings, Finnegan's Wake is one of our favorite places in Key West. They attract quite the sports crowd too, surprising to me (who knows soo much about bars and Irish pubs in particular). We go for the food (Marianna and I) and the beer (Jen and Hal and everyone else I know who is over 21). One of our (Marianna's) favorite things to do here is play chess. I don't particularly care for that game as some of you may know because I always lose horribly, but on this day, I felt that I could handle the ignominy of defeat. Instead I was surprised with a pleasant victory, and it's not because Hal helped me, because he didn't. Or not really. Until the very end anyway! :P

Joe

There has been some curiousity about my friend Joe, so I thought I'd throw up a post and some pictures about him. Now keep in mind that Joe is nothing more than a friend, but as we've been hanging out together and playing a lot of ping pong, I've been talking about him quite a bit (tiresome, I know. Sorry!).

So here is a picture of Joe. Here is a picture of Joe and I.Here is a picture of Joe's dad Joseph, Joe's stepmom Ann, Joe, and me.His parents are very nice.

Joe is a retired (for 1 week) Navy hospital corpsman.This is a picture of Joe in his dress whites marching in the Veteran's Day Parade. Obviously before he was retired. This is a picture of him in his khakis at his retirement ceremony. And so that is my friend Joe.

For Dad

This post is specifically for Dad. Although I suppose that Corey can enjoy it too. And Hal as well, even though he was there with me!

We were out looking at potential boats for me this past weekend and got to go through some pretty sweet, er, interesting neighborhoods. For example, check out this house.

Why, in heaven's name, would you need or want a garage this big? You could keep like four Hummers in there if you wanted to, plus all of the other stuff that inevitably finds it's way into the garage! I mean, it would be very nice to have a garage that size, a veritable luxury, but that is exactly what it is yeah? A luxury. Except for this fact, in which its necessity becomes apparent. And which made me realize that a garage this size would one day be a necessity. Now. Just look at this picture. Look closely.
Now look at this picture.Are you seeing what I am seeing?!!! This is the kind of house I want! A garage for your airplane! Holy Cow! How rich and lucky and blessed must those people be to have that?! Amazing, amazing, amazing! I am jealous!

Hal really liked this airplane. Can you guess why, Dad or Corey?Hint: Look at the engine.

And we were supposed to be looking at a small powerboat! Obviously we have our priorities straight though (note the many powerboat pictures).

The powerboat ended up being too small so we headed on to Marathon to check out a Clipper sailboat. The boat ended up being the right price, but way too much work for me if I want to live on it before I leave. But the guy was rather, shall we say, interesting. Weird to be honest. But he is an airplane fanatic and is actually the lead pilot for a traveling air show/circus thing. A modern day Waldo Pepper. And he offered to take me up in his T-6 before he leaves for the circuit! So I'll have to take him up on that some time. But anyway, check these pictures out.Beautiful, huh?And of course, one of me! Though I must say, I rather look like I belong there. :)[Sigh] Is there anything more beautiful in this world? Or rather, this is one of the more beautiful things out there!

Don't you just love airplanes? Lord knows I do!

MOVIES!!!!

Hooray for movies!! Marianna and I have actually gone to see two movies-in theater no less!-in the space of about a month. Ha! Life is good! :) We really enjoy our girl's nights out and have a great time.

But on to the movies.

The first movie we saw was Bee Movie, a movie about, can you guess?? Bees! The animation in this movie was great. I have never seen such cute talking bees before. Marianna and I both really enjoyed the show until the bees decided to sue humanity for stealing their honey. Then it was just like Happy Feet, though not quite as much of it or laid on as heavy. When I say just like Happy Feet, I mean they point out global warming and pollution and blame us (the movie goers) for everything. And I really get annoyed with the fact that they are doing this in kids movies. It's like Orwell's 1984 or something and I don't like it. And what happened to good old animated movies like Beauty and the Beast or the Lion King, eh? Ok, ok, no more rant! I really did enjoy the movie, Renee Zellweger played a very good florist who was named Vanessa (this is why she was so good) and the main bee was quite good. I don't recommend paying full price to see this movie, but matinee, ok.

Next movie.

Marianna and I just went to see another movie this past Thursday. We liked this movie much more and I would even pay matinee to go see it again. Does anybody want to guess which one we went to see? Well, you may never guess, so I'll just be kind and tell you. :) Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium was truly wonderful. Even you, Dad, should see this movie. Of all the movies I have seen Dustin Hoffman in (which is like, three) this is my favorite! It is kind of along the lines of Finding Neverland, but not quite so sad. Mr. Magorium (Dustin Hoffman) is the 243-year old owner of a magical toy store. He is getting ready to leave and to give the shop to his manager, Molly Mahoney (Natalie Portman) and in the process of leaving he teaches Mahoney the magic of his store. It is a very good movie (one of those that you leave the theater with a fuzzy warm feeling in your heart, and no, it's not called a mild case of heartburn) and I highly recommend it, as does Marianna. So somebody needs to go see it!

Hooray for the movies!

Fall in Key West

Even down here we are getting a bit of fall! And I am loving it!

A little bit of yellow in the mangroves

and pines

and little bit of red in the sea grapes,

crown of thorns,

and these pretty berries.

And just to keep us happy, these beautiful little flowers!

I'm not sure what they're called, but I know Jen could tell me. Is it spindlethrift or something like that? Anyway, pretty!So I guess we do have seasons here in the tropics. It's just a little bit warmer here and always green, that's all. :)

Thanksgiving Dinner - My Favorite Meal of the Year

What a great day! Good food, good people, good times! The entire day of slaving (well, of Jen slaving) away in the kitchen was all worthwhile when it came time to eat. She had set out a lovely selection of appetizers about noon to keep hungry people out of the kitchen.

There were veggies, chips and spinach dip, cranberry muffins, crackers and cheeses, and these lovely sugar, peanut butter, acorn cookies!

I felt like I should take a couple and hide them around the house for later. :)
Marianna did a superb job helping me set the table.

Her napkin folding skills are truly amazing!
I thought this candle was pretty cool so included it. Maybe not very Thanksgivingish, but pretty. The rim is really cool.

And the table was groaning under all the food!

Marianna and I were busy taking pictures of it all. What a feast though, huh?!

Uh oh. Do you see what I see in that picture? Somebody was sneaking food!

Hal did a really excellent job carving the delicious turkey (You taught Jen well, Mom, she really outdid herself on this meal!)

Marianna was ready for it too, boy! She had purposely eaten very little of the appetizers and was starving. She really enjoyed the meal! Ah! Here comes food! Time to put the camera away!

Ok, ok! One last picture for you all! Doesn't this look great?!I love Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

To all my family and friends, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope your day is full of great fun, good food and many things to be thankful for. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful day!

Pumpkins, Brownies, Princesses and Ping Pong=

Halloween! But not in that order! Yes, I am finally going to post about our wonderful Key West Halloween and how much fun we had.

Lets start with costumes. Marianna and I had great, wonderful, superb costumes, and were the only ones in the entire marina who even dressed up. What is wrong with all those retired military folk eh? Anyway, Marianna and I looked beautiful and had a lot of fun in our costumes. She was a princess, or Queen Anne (?) of Hungary, who became a saint.

Isn't she gorgeous?! She got the dress from K-Mart and then beautified it with ribbon. I thought she looked very authentic, especially with the make-up job by yours truly!

I was, of course, knockout, drop dead, jaw dropping gorgeous as a '30's movie star, or flapper, depending on who you asked!

Don't I look lovely in green?

As you can see and possibly guess, we went up to the Chief's Club to celebrate. Marianna wanted to make brownies and did an excellent job as they were delicious!

We invited our friend and neighbor, Joe, to go with us and had a really great time playing him at shuffleboard and ping pong. I don't think I won at shuffleboard, but I kicked his tail at ping pong! I still grin about it! I haven't asked him if I can post a picture of him yet though, so won't this post. Maybe later, after I ask his permission.

So our costumes were great and we had a ton of fun. But what about the pumpkins you ask? They kicked tail! Vanessa thinks her's was awesome?! No way! Not compared to ours. Thats not bragging either, that's fact! Check them out:Mine. Note the originality and I must tell you that it was all from my brain and hand carved with no pattern or anything. Unlike some.Marianna's. Note the incredible detail on the teeth. Yes, that pumpkin does indeed have braces! Great job kiddo!

And, as we were having a competition with him, Joe's. I like the glasses, makes it look so goofy! Although the stitches in the cheek do add some Halloween spirit.

And finally, check out who we saw in town on Halloween!

Were he and Mrs. Claus there checking to see who is being naughty and nice or were they just enjoying some of the beautiful weather down here? :)