Shark teeth

Dear Friends and Family,

Monday comes faster and faster and I really don't feel I have much to report. The week was somewhat uneventful. I spent last Monday and Tuesday in absolute misery from the no-seeums, also known as sand fleas or sand flies. By the weekend most of the spots had disappeared. Now I'm a little leary of being on the beach after dark. I purchased some skin so soft, as that is suppose the help. However, will I ever get the nerve to test it? Not sure.

Early last week, the lake was at the minimum recommended depth we need to move the boat. We had planned on leaving Sunday for our trip; however, decided it would be too risky . If the water is rough, swells could cause us to hit the bottom and that's something we don't want to risk. We have decided to plan our trip beginning on September 8th.

Jimi began setting up his HAM radio operation and he hand made steps for our mast. He'll attach them to the mast about every 18 inches, so we can climb to the top to see afar and do any necessary repairs. He temporarily attached them to a 4x4 timber and tied it to a tree for testing purposes and I have to say they are pretty ingenious.

We went to the beach on Sunday for a couple of hours. The water was rougher than we've ever seen it. Apparently the dry weather from Irene is causing a suction effect and creating 3+ foot waves. We played in the water for a while and as long as we got out past the break we were fine. I practically had no control in the breaking area; lost my top once and nearly the bottoms a few times. Jimi did some body surfing and caught some pretty good waves. It was exhausting, but a lot of fun. We also walked down the way and collected a couple dozen shark teeth washed up on shore. There must have been a dozen people collecting them also and some with sandwich bags full.

I have finished Jennifer and Tim's wedding album and uploaded it to our blog. As always, the pictures do not do the pages justice. It is so much better in person. Enjoy!! Jimi took all but the reception pictures and did a spectacular job.I hope we can get pictures that nice for our wedding. http://dogbonegraphics.com/blog/?page_id=1966

Jennifer and Tim moved in with some family friends for a short time. This will give them a chance to get on their feet. Please continue to keep them in your thoughts.

Well, I can't think of anything else right now. Hope all is well with you.

Love everybody,

Lorie & Jimi

Just a little more water please.........

Dear Friends & Family,

A little shorter this week.

We stayed in on Saturday and Sunday; however, headed out to the beaches Saturday and Sunday evenings to watch the sunsets. The water was surprisingly clear under the moonlight. Jimi took a quick moonlight dip in the ocean, forgetting his swim trunks, he had to skinny dip; two moons were out that night. Hahaha..... Sunday night, while I collected shells, he got creative with his camera. However, we didn't stay out long, as the no-seeums were really bad. Jimi counted over 100 bites on my legs, ankles, and feet. They must only come out at night, because we haven't experienced them on any of our daytime trips. Jimi also had a countless number of bites, but he hasn't been as whiny about them as I have been. Lol

 

I worked diligently all week on Jennifer's wedding album. When I get it finished, I'll post it on our blogs website. Jennifer and Tim are doing well. They both finally got full time jobs, which they both started today. They have acquired one bicycle from my girlfriend for transportation and are awaiting another. They will be moving into less expensive housing, as soon as they are able to find something.

 

Daniel is also doing well in Alaska. The landscaping job he had during the summer is winding down and his hours are lesser and lesser each week. He is in search of something else now.

 

The water in Lake Okeechobee rose nearly two inches this past week.YAY! We need just under an inch to meet the recommended minimum depth. Please continue to keep your eyes, toes, ears, arms, legs, nostrils, and fingers crossed. We could be making our voyage soon and when we do, think of the movie African Queen when you think of our adventure.

 

That's all for now. It great to get your feedback; we love hearing from you.

 

Love everybody,

Lorie & Jimi

Beach Days

Dear friends and family,

I realize I just wrote a few days ago, but didn't want to wait so long and decided to get back on schedule with the Monday update.

Well we did the dirty deed to signing up with Comcast Internet; not a preferred company of ours, but it was a necessary evil. Since we will be stable for a while, we decided it would be more beneficial to me and my work and us on a personal level to have a solid unlimited service. It was a good move, as we can see a change in our service already and also when we plugged our new digital TV into the cable outlet, we got more than 200 channels. We're told that the newer TVs will use the Comcast service as an antenna. Many of the channels are duplicated, so we don't really get 200, but still it's nice. Jimi says "the good news is we have The Discovery channel now. The bad news is we have The Discovery channel now." Lol

We had another real treat when we learned that my nephew, Jason, his wife, Angie, and their daughter, Amaya, were in the area. They are a tag team over the road truck drivers. The dropped a load early Friday morning in Lakeland, Florida, then picked up a load Friday afternoon in Bradenton, Florida. They were out of driving hours and had to sit until 11pm. Bradenton is about an hour North of us, so with out hesitation, we met them and had a really nice seafood dinner. It was quite the treat for them too, because they normally can't leave their truck to eat at nice places. They usually eat truck stop food and fast food. Anyhow, we were so happy to see them and hope they get more loads this way.

The weekend was really nice. We were very concerned about how to get rid of the unrepairable dingy sitting in our back yard. We first set it in our front yard with a large 'FREE' sign on it. Several people stopped to look it over, but no one left with it. When we got home that evening Jimi posted it on Craigslist and a few hours later someone showed up to take it. Such a relief.

We spent both Saturday and Sunday at the beaches. Saturday we went to Boca Grande, also very close to our house. Jimi read that there is a reef about 100 yards straight out from the old light house often explored by snorkelers and divers. I stayed on shore to read, while he made an attempt to do some exploring. But the speed and fishing boats kept coming through his path. It was a little worry some for both of us. He did some diving anyhow, but then came back in. We spent the next few hours searching for shells on the bottom of the ocean. We found some good ones, which we kept and a lot of live ones, which we left. Jimi found an underwater field of live sand dollars, but we never found any dead ones. We befriended a young kid probably 10 years old or so; well, he actually befriended us. His family is here on vacation from Texas and we really enjoyed the company, as we all three dove underwater with our snorkel goggles on. We had fun. The water wasn't real clear due to a storm that had come through the night before. It stirred things up and left little to no visibility. By the end of the day, I was wiped.

Sunday we went to the Venice Beach to check our another spot known for snorkeling and finding sharks teeth among the reef. We both swam and swam about 200 yards out, but just could not find the reef. So we reverted to diving in 5 to 6 foot waters looking for shells. We found an array of beautifully intact, yet vacant, conch shells (smaller ones). Of course there was no shortage of live shells either, so disappointing to have to throw them back. Again, Jimi spotted massive fields of live sand dollars. It freaked me out when he came up with a large crab - the body alone must have been six or seven inches in diameter. He finally convinced me to come look it at, it was fully intact, but dead. All I kept thinking was if I had stepped on that underwater, I would have flipped out. I'm already leery of walking on the sea floor when I can't see the bottom. So, even if I can touch, I usually swim. Stepping on a crab would not have been good. Anyhow, we had two great days at the beach and in the sun.

It looks like at a minimum we need about three inches of water in lake Okeechobee. Jimi checks the stats everyday.

That's all the news as I have it. We had requests to add two more people to the email lists - it's really growing. Hope everyone out there is doing well.

Love Everybody,

Lorie & Jimi

Settled

Dear Friends and Family,

Jimi and I are settled in our new place and really couldn't be happier with our find. This house is more than we ever expected or had planned on. We thought we would be renting a one room place with practically no living space, but instead we are living lavishly.

I'll try to give you some description. The living room isn't real big, but it's perfect for our two couches, coffee table and TV; very homey inviting and comfortable. The master bedroom is large and came with a king size bed, a dresser, which we share, two night stands and two lamps. We have a master bathroom and a large walk in closet, which is offering a lot of storage for our extras. Jimi set up his desk in the second bedroom along with all the things we hauled off the boat - aka - boat stuff. This bedroom also has a bathroom attached to it. There's a small eating area between the living room and sliding door to the back yard and next to the eating area is the kitchen, It's a walk through rectangle shape, but quite spacious.

I've set up my office and scrap booking area on the other side of the kitchen in the breakfast nook area, which has large windows overlooking the back yard oasis. Beyond, is the laundry room and then a door leading to the garage. Outside the sliding doors is a large lanai, but the backyard - oh my - the back yard is amazing. It is huge, filled with beautiful tropical plants. a clump of palm trees, at least two different species of pine trees, several shade trees, a small field of aloe vera plants, big and beautiful cactus plants (one being

taller than the house), blooming bushes, an enormous bricked patio area, vines growing across the lines, Spanish moss hanging from the trees, and so so much more.

There's even a fire pit. Jimi and I wasted no time working in the back yard doing little things here and there. We absolutely love it and kind of feel guilty for living so well. However, the price is barely more than we were paying in Cape Coral and the lawn service is included in the rental price, which means we don't have to buy a lawn mower and Jimi doesn't have to worry about mowing, ever. We also have a washer and dryer, which means we don't have to spend $12 every week at the laundry mat. Ya - we got a pretty good deal here. Between the house in Cape Coral and this one, we have spent less than $50 to furnish the entire house.

I've come accustomed to sitting at my desk watching the wildlife in our back yard. We see a beautiful cardinal come by with his mate quite often. They explore the yard looking for goodies. The squirrels run and play across the high wires, through the trees, and around the yard. They are small here, unlike the ones back in Colorado. Of course we have lots of geckos running around. We love to watch those guys.One morning Jimi was at the grill when I noticed a bunny rabbit hopping through the yard. I quietly went outside to tell Jimi hoping not to scare it away. It saw us, but didn't really seem to mind. It stayed for a bit and then slowly went about it's business. We also have two or three more species of birds in our backyard paradise. We had a stick bug for several days. I wanted to keep it as a pet, but Jimi moved it. It came back for a short visit, but then left again. And we have a family of wolf spiders living in the ceiling of our lanai. They are harmless and typically only come out at night. We like them because they eat the bugs we do not like.

Jimi says I'll never get any work done with my office where it is. I'd like to set up a bird bath outside my window.

The second day in our new house the refrigerator went out, but the property management company sent someone over asap to fix it; however, it was beyond fixing and we got a new refurbished one.

We spent one evening driving up Manasota Key checking out a couple of beaches there. The Gulf of Mexico is so beautiful. We absolutely love it. We spent a few hours at the beach on Saturday.That evening we checked out a little place by our house to play pool. We played five games and then returned home.

We had planned to go snorkeling on Sunday, but I felt as though I was getting a head cold, so we stayed home.I felt a bit of pressure in my head for a few days, but I'm back to normal now.

Jimi went to visit the Sanibel (our sail boat) on Friday. He took some items we will need for our river trip and brought the dinghy back to work on. I've included a picture of our dinghy. This will be our mode of transportation to land when we are anchored off shore.

The Okeechobee Lake is slowly going up. But still we just wait and find things to keep us busy.

That's all for now.

Love Everybody,

Lorie & Jimi

BTW - We have realized that the dingy is beyond repair. It will not be our mode of transportation or save any lives and we will have to purchase a new one. Lol - had you worried for a minute there, didn't I? We will also be purchasing a dedicated life raft.

Still not enough water

Dear Friends and Family,

We signed the lease on our new house this past week and we will begin moving this morning. We stayed home over the weekend to pack and kind of get things somewhat ready to go.

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I covered my little wooden jewelry box in sea shells collected from Sanibel Island. There may be room for improvement, but I an super happy with the outcome considering my amateur status on the subject. I've attached a picture for you.

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The water in the Okeechobee lake is not rising very quickly at all. In fact, the last few days it has gone down, and we need nearly a foot to make it through safely. We are really hoping for a tropical depression, so we can move the boat by the end of August. Keep your fingers and toes crossed.

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We are super excited about friends and family making plans to come out in November. Thanks to all - it really means a lot!

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That will do it for this week. There wasn't much going on.

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Love Everybody,

Lorie & Jimi