A Weekend Away from the Beach

Like the longroof, and the bus, and the horsefarmer, and most likely everyone else, my weekend was spent way too fast.....the kid's little sister plays softball, not leisurely let's go to the park and have a game, softball, but very serious softball....so we traveled down by Mickey's Home and took in some ball games....now when I say serious, I mean serious......I always thought that the kid and I had a pretty good tailgate set-up.....couple of sunshades..... plenty of camp chairs....cooler packed with lots of goodies....toys to take up the slack times......but this weekend we learned how serious softball families tailgate.....

now these people are SERIOUS about their softball.....these guys showed up around 9:30 in the morning to set up camp......around lunch time another three campers arrived and the party began.....they set up a horseshoe camp that would be the envy of any race team.....after visiting with them I learned that they don't go to campgrounds, they don't go to the races, they don't have motor cycles, race cars, and I soon realized, a life.......they live, breathe, and die by their daughters softball games.....way too serious for us.....but then they are last year's state champions and this year' number one ranked team in the state.....VERY SERIOUS about their game......even the Florida State football game was relegated to a small radio set up by the last camper to arrive......so as not to distract them from the live ball games.....the kid figured that if we bought a camper to pull behind our truck, calculating the cost savings of a hotel room, factored with the loss in fuel economy, we could break even in about 8 years......of course air conditioning would be a wonderful thing......

back to our games.....the kid's sister played her heart out.....Saturday's games....three of them starting at 11:00 and ending about 7:00......were a wash.....the kid's sister caught the first game, pitched the second, and caught the third......while we were unable to score a victory, the girls played very well....the first two games were lost by 2 and 3 runs respectively, and the last game against the above mentioned state champs was the best game they had.....what was expected to be a major blow out was finally called on time, not runs....they might have lost by 9 runs, but even the coaches on the other team commented about how good a game we gave them.....seems their average margin of victory is 20 runs......what we couldn't understand was why they even played in this league.....retired to the hotel Saturday night and the kid and I took in the local surroundings while Mom and the kid's sister studied science and history......have never seen so many tourist in my life......with kids too......guess school is not in session in the European Countries at this time......Sunday brought a new game and a new opportunity.....played the 'B' team from the same team we lost to last on Saturday night.....as usual we started out strong and then withered in the later innings.....the kid's sister caught the first three innings and then was called upon to go to the mound and stop the slaughter......she came on with runners on first and second and then struck out the side to get out of the inning.... gotta love the heart in that little kid......

at bat and then scoring a run......

the windup.......

in a sidebar, the longroof's day was spent at a VW convention that included some sweet old rides....on the way down to the ball field on Saturday we saw a bunch of the old rides heading east on I-4 out of Orlando.....at the rest area in Orlando there were about 20 of them taking a road break....all lined up in a row that was a blast to see.....nice cars that have way too much time and money invested in them for a jeep fan.....but sweet none the less.....gotta admire the guy that restores rather than destroys......got another ball game weekend coming up and then it's back to the beach......see ya then.....

Celebrate Life..............

It's Just a Gecko.....

If you live in Florida you learn to life with a different out look on life......
we get about ten months a year of warm sunny weather......
no more storing winter clothes away in a closet......
then the cold weather arrives.....
we don't worry about what the fall fashion will bring......
that is what Levis are for.....
we dig into the back of our chest-of-drawers and pull out what my daughter calls
'the long sleeved pants'......
when you own fifteen tee-shirts there is plenty of room in those drawers.....
of course we are excluding the longroof because he only owns two tee-shirts....
we don't worry about the economy too much....
we have tourist....and of course the annual snow-birds.....
we don't even worry about the weather too much......
it's beautiful, sunny, and warm for a good eight months a year, sometimes ten......
of course we do have that one little thing, they call it hurricane season.......
but then we don't worry too much about it either.....
geez, we get at least five days warning.....
plenty of time to put the shutters up and buy four million dollars worth of gasoline and food....
it's not like we have tornadoes that appear on the horizon with little or no warning......
life is good here.......
or so it would seem........
what we do have here in the Sunshine State are little things......
no worries really......
we have Love Bugs....
a scientific scientific experient gone bad.......
they were designed to eat mosquitoes, but instead they decided it was more fun to
spend their time procreating their species.......
their most desirable location to perform this action is directly in the path of any
moving vehicle.....try removing dried lovebugs from the front of your car.......not gonna happen..
we also have Palmetto Bugs......
most of the people north of us call these cockroaches.....
but not ours.....our cockroaches fly......all three/four inches of them.....seems they love living and breeding in palm trees.........
and that is the state tree of Florida.......
pretty soon you learn to live with these little pest and accept them as a fact of life........
of course Florida is also home to the lovely Key Deer.....these are wild deer on a smaller scale than found in the rest of the upper 47......see Haven Lee Farms miniature horse for scale.....
we also have the Florida Black Bear.......
these are found in our local forest and are often mistaken for large black dogs......
we have the Florida Cougar.....a beautiful creature about the size of a large house cat.....
lots of resources have been dedicated to preserving and increasing the population of this animal..
we, like everyone, have learned to co-exist with all of these wonderful creatures that God has created........
BUT, the one of God's creature that scares the daylights out of every Floridian is the......

Yep you got it......

the Gecko.......

this small innocent creature that has found fame and fortune in the insurance industry
can cause severe stress when found inside your home.......

Just tonight as I was giving the kid's little sister a kiss goodnight,
a screech comes from the living room.....
you would think after living in Florida for the past 17-18 years one would become adjusted with living with the local wildlife right....????...
raccoons are so cute....oh look a deer.....is that a wild pig....are those wild turkeys...???
well not so much when it comes to geckos......
it seems one of the smallest, and extremely fast, ones had decided that the wall over the television in my bride's living room would be a great place to hang out.......
after spending an enormous amount of time and energy chasing this little critter around the
living room wall, my exclamation that I finally caught it were met by glees of joy by my bride...
didn't know this animal was so dangerous.......
What a wicked little beast it is...........
All two inches of it......

So, just be glad that you don't live in Florida.......

The geckos are wicked......................

Family Day at the Beach

Well....it is Sunday night and our Family Day at the beach was much abbreviated this weekend...the kid's sister is playing fast pitch softball, just like her Mother did, on a competitive team based out of our home town.....the team was formed to develop future players and only plays in tournaments around our area....this weekend we played in a tournament about 75 miles south of us in a little beach side community called Cocoa Beach....first game Saturday at Noon, second game at 3:30 and the third game at 5:00 pm.....didn't do real well on Saturday....the highlight of the day was when Aunt Mary arrived to watch the games with us....."Aunt Mary, you know, the one that has lived on the islands for the last 15 or 20 years", that was the kid's description to his sister when she questioned who was coming.....the kid remembers her well....a few years back we lived south of here a ways and Aunt Mary would visit every three months or so......remember she lived on an island and the biggest store there is smaller than your local 7-11......she and the kid would hit EVERY big box store in Broward County, and as I remember they would buy everything in sight.....of course the kid would always come home with a great story of shopping and a new toy.....of course there was also the time he dumped a chocolate shake all over the rear seat of a brand new Volvo convertible.....Aunt Mary was so cool about that....she just took the car back to the rental agency and said "give me another one".....sure made an impression on the kid...he still remembers and talks about it with fondness......Aunt Mary arrived with Don (ask her) and we had a wonderful time on Saturday with them......they hung out with us under our sunshades in the center field bleachers (we made our own bleachers) and we had a great visit....the kid thinks she is funny as all get out.....he truly enjoyed her company...... but today, our Family Beach Day.....about 10:00 pm Saturday night the phone rings and it is the kid's sister's coach....our first game is at 8:00 am on Sunday.....75 miles away.....after going 0-3 on Saturday I was surprised we were invited back on Sunday.....wasn't sure I wanted to go back but I am not living this life for me right now am I.....so Sunday morning the alarm goes off at 4:30 and the day begins.....75 miles, a sleepy wife and two kids and 2 hours later we arrive at the ball field again.....the kid and I set up camp and begin to move muscles that are still asleep.....just before the game is set to begin the kid's sister runs up and tells us she will be pitching the first game today.....now understand that the kid's sister is a pretty good pitcher, but the FIRST game, with limited warm up.....but two hours later, in a game that is scheduled to be played in an hour and fifteen minutes, we are finally done....the game went extra innings and she pitched a no hitter into the last inning....gave up a couple of hits and then a few errors by her teammates tied the game....in extra innings with two outs and a runner on second she nails a pitch into deep right center......started a rally that gave her a lead.....so proud of that little girl....she took the game into her own hands several times and got her team out of a jam with her pitching and then gets a clutch hit in extra innings to put her team ahead.....thought we had a victory today for sure.....but our defense needs lots of work....went one and out.....but we got to spend some extra time in Cocoa Beach anyway...
visited a world famous beach club in Cocoa Beach and got the longroof and the bus a sticker for their toys.....best yet we got to spend a couple of wonderful hours with Aunt Mary and Don.... cool people in their environment enjoying life as it should be enjoyed.....ate a good meal at Don's club in Port Canaveral and truly enjoyed the interaction between Aunt Mary and the kids.....she spoils the heck out of the kid's sister.....it was a pleasure to watch them together.....reminded me of watching the horsefarmer and the kid together moving tractors, or BBBob and the kid talking racing....but better because it is a relationship the kid's sister has to herself......ok enough now.....back to the abbreviated Family Day at the Beach....after getting home, the kid and I knocked a couple of items off the honey-do list, watched the Dolphins get a win over the Patriots and then we fired up the old jeep and headed east....bEACH bOUND for surf.....stopped at a buddy's to watch the biff win the circle track race.....headed over the big bridge.....got to the beach and high tide prevented a cruise so we decided to check in on Jon-Jon.....had a good visit with Jon-Jon ironing out some details and then caught the westward winds home....
sometimes a Family Day at the Beach has to be a drive by.........

Celebrate Life......

details to follow.......thanks Tom

road trips from hell...or just from Arkansas

....just finished reading the longroof's blog about the road trip from Ark to Spfld Mo in the snow.....it is funny how each participant of an adventure will have distinct memories of the same trip without ever crossing the same path....I refer to this trip as adventure because both the longroof and I survived the trip....if it were a vacation or a road trip, there would be lots of reference to parties and wild women.....neither one of which were present during this event.....as mentioned in the lr's blog we started north on US hwy 71 out of Ark on a clear afternoon.....yes, there was a forecast for snow, but before departing we did as any traveler would, we called home to Mom and asked her what the weather forecast for the overnight time frame included.....I guess we had spent too much time away from home because Mother assured us that the forecast was for just cold weather with a small possiblity of snow.....so as any young man would/should do, we proceeded to load up the old beetle and hit the highway.....we should make it just fine...we have plenty of cash....warm weather gear ( down jackets, sleeping bags, long underwear, multiple pair of Levis) and we are on our way HOME.....the drive north out of Ark was an uneventful trip....lots of beautiful views from the mountain top road, but nothing that would excite a young man in his prime......of course that was until the snow began to fall south of Joplin Mo. ..... you know those signs they put up in the middle of the highway telling you that the single lane is becoming dual lane..???....it is very easy to hit one of those when you can't see them.....oh yea, the wind that comes though a fist sized hole in the windshield because your hand slipped off the steering wheel and hit the windshield on impact with the sign......at 30mph in sub-zero weather is very cold....cold enough for you to swear off breathing...or at least tell everybody to stop talking because they are exhausting the warm air supply......oh and the guys that came to our rescue with a couple of gallons of fuel....they were out there because they were poaching deer .....and what we traded for the fuel is still not legal in the lower 48 states.....but it got us gasoline and that's what counted that night....and again, because we were young (and foolish) before the snow plow caught up to us, we had driven off the road following an 18 wheeler.....stuck, we walked up to the cab of this truck and asked if he could help us......guess he was smoking the same as us because he got out of his warm truck and stood in waist deep snow pushing that old bug......the longroof forgot to mention that this should have been a Minnow trip and by dawn the next morning we were still 30 miles west of good old Spfld Mo......the television helicopter hovering overhead should have been a sign (this was WAY before Bill Engvold) that we weren't quite right.....don't ever wave at a television news helicopter.....you will make the morning newscast...... finally arrived in Spfld Mo to no fan fair, bugles, parades, dancing bears.....just a very cold snowbound town.....couldn't make it north on Jefferson Ave off Glenstone because the snow pile at Jefferson was over four feet high......tried to breach that pile and finally gave up......drove across town to Oak Grove and after several attempts broke through the snow piled up and made it to Linden Ave......left the car 5 houses from our sister's home because we finally got tired of backing up and running forward then backing up and running forward......we had done that for the past 8 hours......two steps forward.....one step backward....and hiked to her front door.....frozen Levis up to our knees and all....never saw a prettier site....never experienced a better feeling than when that front door opened and we were greeted by a blast of hot air......good old Danny went down and towed the old bug to their house with his big Ford 4x4.....I remember sleeping the day away and finally getting to Mom and Dad's house the next evening.....I do remember getting teased because we didn't know about flipping the heater vent from summer to winter incoming air.....and for wont of a better knot, the ship was lost......

Not Another Day on the Beach

Today was supposed to be our family day on the beach....didn't happen....got a call to do a little side work....I started a small remodel company a couple years ago and despite my best efforts I have been unable to shut down it's operation....while it does generate a small profit it is time consuming and takes a lot away from the family so I try to limit the amount of jobs I take.....of course now that I have another trust worthy individual living in this area I have started to accept more jobs....so this weekend I took another job that I thought would consume my Saturday afternoon......called the olerag top to see if he was up to assisting and he agreed.... too easily.....of course as soon as he got on the job sight he told me that my plans were not going to work.....what I thought was going to be an easy floor float of about 2 inches turned into a complete refloor float 4 inches thick.....guess I should have rethought/rebid this job.....as with most jobs where I include the old construction worker, I have underbid the job....gotta remember that I have a crew now and need to bid up to cover cost.....I guess the old construction worker is not up to the task the day after.....worked the old man like a dog on Saturday afternoon and then called him Sunday night to tell him the kid and I were going fishing.....he was laid up with a bad back.....anyway, back to the reason for not making the beach today.....after floating only about 20% of the floor on Saturday I had to go back on Sunday and finish the job.....took the obligatory trip to my local Lowes store(good luck today Jimmie in the race)to secure another 18 bags of concrete to complete today's job....yep, 18 bags of hand mixed concrete.....of course when the kid heard what I had planned for the day he talked his Mother into taking him to the beach....his sister didn't want to go to the beach so after much discussion it was agreed that she would stay home and help me.....after a couple of hours working with me Taylor somehow talked her softball coach into holding an impromptu practice and she disappeared......can't blame her a bit.....I got her to help for a couple of hours and that is about the limit one should expect from an eleven year old......well after she split it was amazing how fast the project went.....finished it up and as yet still don't feel much pain....ask me in the morning.....but back to the beach.....the kid and his Mother had a blast at the beach today....the kid finally got to use his new surfboard and from what I was told it was a great surf day......of course it helps that Mom got to relax and soak up some sun too.....funny thing was that when they got ready to head to the beach the kid asked if it was ok that he take the Jeep......I laughed alittle bit at that....had to ask him if he was serious or just trying to make me laugh....we don't have another vehicle in our fleet more designed for the beach.....checked to make sure he knew how to put it in four wheel drive and gave him the go ahead.....that was all he needed for a fun filled day....hope the oleragtop gets to feeling better soon......got another job lined up.......

Cars, Jeeps. Bikes, Buses, Longroofs, Tractors

I know this is going to be the start of a couple of blogs by the bus and the longroof....but I have been thinking of how I came to be known lately as the jeep junkie....didn't start out that way....guess I have always had a desire to own a topless vehicle that would go anywhere and look good getting there....I recently saw one of my first vehicles here in town and that made begin to count...now I know that the bus and the longroof have me beat by a longshot but I thought I would take a trip down my transportation memory lane......as close as I can I have listed the methods of transportation I have used since the first...

my first mode of transportation.....the third one back in the pack.....

the first motorized vehicle that I lusted for.....the aforementioned late model M38 Jeep....go anywhere, anytime.....belonged to Bob..

Tom and Bob and I snapped the front drive shaft towbarring it to Panama City Beach FLA in the early 70's...great trip until I fell out of the VW bus.....cost Tom a future girlfriend....or saved him from one

My first sorely owned vehicle...road it for three years until I crashed looking over my shoulder checking out some babes on the sidewalk....that hurt as I totaled the bike and wrecked my shoulder.......gotta date out of it so it worked out in the long run.....

then came the late 60's model Chevrolet...got this car from Granny after Man passed away....it was really John's car, but we shared

responsibility

....damn near killed John and I on the drive back from St. Louis passing a big rig.....steering was power assist and new to me....

I think we shouldn't have stopped at 6 Flags and road the skyway so many times.......

then the infamous Puegot 504...this vehicle made the rounds of Lee kids.....John and I drove the

diesel hall of shamer for a couple of years....

couldn't kill the damn thing......

and then the beetles...got my first one for $50.....

ran like a 50 dollar beetle but got me

through a couple of winters.....

great story about driving up from Ark in the

dead of winter during snow storm in this car.....

it is better told by John so ask him....

needed a reliable car with a long history of

accomplishment....ran like a sports car.....

looked like a box on wheels....

killed it in a west Texas winter snow storm.....

then came the car I miss the most.....

a girlfriend pulled out in front of

Patty Borneman's daughter and I ended

up buying both cars......

lost the girlfriend and the Manta......

still miss the car......

then came the long line of Volvos.....got the first one from a friend of John for $50 and a small bag....no title....ran the hell out of it then cut the roof off and that is another story......had 5 of these cars over the course of the years....GREAT cars that wouldn't die.....bought and sold them for way too little money but always got enough to start the next car......could convert to right hand drive in a short afternoon......always wanted the 145 wagon but could never find one that was affordable at the time......

well I'm back to fill in where I left off...seems the longroof reads this and informed me that I didn't mention the original cj........ so here comes the balance......after the Volvo that my wife wouldn't be caught riding in with me came the original 1979 Jeep CJ-5......my second most favorite vehicle......

then a Camaro came into the garage and hung around for a couple of years........

it stayed in the garage for a trey of years and then morphed into a Honda Accord......still own this vehicle as it just won't die......besides it will become the kid's date car soon....

the Jeep turned into a S-10 Blazer one winter after I got tired of no top and wished for a solid roof......

both the Blazer and the Honda moved us to the sunshine state and then the Blazer transformed into what was one of my favorite alltimers.....

a 86 Range Rover Classic......great truck that finally died on the alligator alley returning from a fun time in Tampa....took 2 years before my bride liked it and then the next 2 years to get her out of it.....thank goodness for the Ford dealer in Ft Lauderdale and his inability to see through metal....an Explorer owner we became......

never had a bit of a problem with that Explorer.....ran like a top for over 100k miles.....never rolled over either.......of course like most Fords it grew up into the next level.....Expedition that is parked right behind me here in the garage.....great truck that has carried us on many trips to the homeland and back.....fuel economy sucks, but then I didn't buy it for gas mileage.....I bought it to be secure when roadtripping......comfortable too.......

during the mean time several other 4 wheelers came and went....not one of which was intended for a primary driver....usually just some sort of 4x4 with a very short live span.....but the ultimate goal allways to be another Jeep.......all the horsetrading finally paid off with the kid's CJ..

a Ford Bronco II, mentioned above...really nice truck when new.....neat little 4x4 that the barngoddess would love...small and easy to manuver and powerfull enough to haul a trailer...4 wheel drive to boot.....

then came another S-10 Blazer to use as a beach buggy...something to haul the Hobie Cat to the beach with.....oh yea....had a couple of Hobie Cats.....I know they are not mechanically powered....but got them cheapcheapcheap......the Blazer was known as gumby to the locals.....

ultimately the final tally includes the best to date.......the kid's cj-5

of course this is still hanging around for another

project to be named later........

Another Great Day at the Beach (with photos this time)

Wow, another great day at the beach....

"Epic" waves....


the picture needs a close look but on the right side you can see the wave forming....
Not confused....decided last night that we would sleep in late today because the weather gods said it would be a rough day on the beach today....damn, I need to get a job as a weather forcaster....you are either right or wrong....and you still get paid....best job short of politics with a 50% failure rate and still keep your job.....
woke up this morning to the forcast of a"Epic" waves.....can't lay around in bed no matter who is next to you with that information.....

those who were present will remember the 'bus' back in the early 70's coming in to dinner one night at the farm to inform everyone that the back field was on fire.....his actual quote involved a few four letter words followed by FIRE....as those of us around the table began to jump up and run for shovels and rakes and blankets, Dad stands up and says that dinner is NOT dismissed until grace is said.....everyone sit down until grace is said.....that was the quickest grace my Dad ever said followed by directions to us for what to grab....ok enough sidebar and back to the beach....we quickly loaded up and headed to the beach... after a quick pack job we all jumped into the Jeep and headed over the big bridge....short of the bridge about a half a mile the surf boards strapped to the top of the jeep begin to waver.....way too quickly the new board that the kid just bought takes sail up and over the jeep......it took every bit of strengh and a hyper-extended thumb to prevent the new board from hitting the pavement....after a brief pitstop to resecure the boards to the jeep and to hear how poor of a job the kid and I did strapping everything in place we resumed our trip eastward....got to the beach.....set up camp and began to enjoy another family day in the sunshine state......







and it was as advertised.....what a day....just 7 short days, and one hurrricane, away from a confused surf with a major rip current we found ourselves with 7 to 8 foot breakers and rollers than ran to the beach....perfect weather for surfing and body boarding.....loaded a couple of pictures of the kids in the surf....hard to catch a surfer with a domestic digital camara...seem to get a lot of photos of the breakers or the wipe out......anyway the tide came in about 1:30 and we soon found ourselves with the only vehicle on the beach.....why was it that the Beach Patrol told everyone they had to park off beach....I think they like the old jeep as they all stop to visit when they do their drive bys.....either that or they like the girl sunbathing....but the best thing about today was the time spent with the kids.....the kid's sister upset because she couldn't use the kid's new surfboard....the kid riding 50 to 75 meter waves....the kid's sister building a sand castle complete with mote.....the waves washing over the sand castle......the concern over wether the jeep would carry it's self out of the hole the waves caused as the tide came in and washed out the rear tires....all and all a wonderful day on the "World's Most Famous Beach"