Lucas Update.....(136)

LUCAS UPDATE...Put him on the plane this afternoon and then went shopping...Just talked to him at 5.30 and he was home just turning into his addition...he is ready to man the snow shovel and clean the snow out of his driveway....He's back in the freezer.....But let me tell you he left his mark here in Southwest Florida..Several people came by to wish him well today..Also he is a computer wizard..why even the margins of green on this blog are thinner than they used to be because Lucas changed the HTML or whatever it is called..he figured it out, and we now have more area for print, and less margins...He hooked up a new wireless system for my neighbor to the north and hooked up a TV system for my neighbor to the south...He is generous with his time and enjoys helping others who appreciate it greatly..he noticed the comradreship of this park and our website that keeps everyone informed...he went to work and has designed one similar for his addition now where he lives....he will go far let me tell you....

Story 135..A day at Ft. Myers and Mustering out Lucas

Grandson Lucas and I enjoyed lunching with about 65 marines wednesday noon and then running up I 75 to Ft. Myers to take in the Henry Ford and Thomas Edison Summer Homes and Museums....See the slide show on the right side marked 135 also..click on the pictures and you can view them larger and slower with tags explaining what your looking at...That Mr. Edison sure had a nice 14 acres of trees and beach front property..He was a brillian man and help pattens on 1093 different things...He was also very wealthy and dabbled in about everything he invented...Henry Ford liked hanging out with Edison so he purchased the land next to him and built a home almost as nice as Edisons....Great place to spend an afternoon, especially for a soldier just home from Irag as the museum lets them in free and all those in their family gets in for half price....So quite a deal and yet another reason to go there just because they are patriotic.....

Well Lucas heads back to the freezer tomorrow afternoon..he will be scooping snow by dark I would imagine as he is going home to about 10 inches of that wonderment...
We have had a good two weeks, played several games of golf, enough to loose most of the balls in both bags into the ponds of Silver Lakes..But Lucas purchased some "second chance" balls at Wal Mart so I am good to go on that. We fished a couple days but caught zippo the second day but had a tremendous day with the Thompsons the day before...We tanned at the Marco Island beaches and picked up sand dollars one afternoon out on Tigertail beach. We cooked a lot and dined out a lot also..Of course don't forget our daring ride threw Shark Valley with the likes of our friend Ernie Maier....Today Lucas shot a 45 and I a 46 on our little golf course here at Silver Lakes.....All in all it was a good visit...So tomorrow evening I will be alone for a few days preparing for my next guest coming in a week....sweet pea...
Well turn to now and clean the coach inside and out even try to throw a little wax on the outside...That is no easy task when the job is do-it-yourself...Usually taking about 3 days to achieve the like new look again like the day when it was..

(134) Today on Marco Island

Well as you can see by the picture on the right today was oldies day on Marco Beach..Lucas and I ran into these three gals who looked like they stepped out of the 30's maybe or the 40's....Yes they did, we tried to choose the best looking suit but just could not decide...Who would you pick?....

Next question?...the two homes for sale on the water...which one should I make an offer on...Both say make us and offer so I may...If they take it I hope to be able to at least make the down payment and then wait for the governemnt to write down my mortgage to where I will be able to stay in my new home and pay the insurance and taxes...I like the plans talked about on the view and by Ophra about helping out people who just happened to purchase way more home than they can afford...I gotta get in on this deal....So help me choose which house and which beauty queen?????
This stimulus package is going to be pretty much something for everyone and we gotta be ready...

Folks in Indiana tell me kids are home from school today, too much snow on the ground. They say I gotta be missing all of that by being down here in 80 degree temps...Well there wrong, truthfully I like looking out the windown at a big snow fall but only one time..the second time I look out the window and if it's still there then I am ready for it to be gone. Well take care if your up there negotiating the snow...Use those four wheel drives...OK do this, make a nice snow ball and put it in my freezer..I will try and enjoy it when I get home...

One Fine Coach Story 133

Another Big day in Paradise...Started out slow with we attending the 9 am service on Marco at the Methodist Church...Randy gave a good message but the church was only maybe 30% full...But Randy did good as good Randy always does....But I left my Bible in the pew...So after we breakfast at Porky's we went back thinking the 10.30 would be over...It had just ended and the full to capacity crowd were on their feet giving Randy a standing ovation...So while waiting for the crowd to leave I asked Randy's wife Patty if she needed help selling Randy's Book he wrote, "What a Life"...She said yes so I did that for a few minutes maybe peddling at least 20 some books on my own or more...About that time someone yelled out is Jack Lahrman here?...I said yes and my Bible was then delivered to me...did not even have to look for it...you see know one steals a Bible...never

First off we visited the Million Dollar Motor Home show at Pelican Lake RV park next door..Heard there was some over 2 million dollar coaches there so just had to see..They are nice no doubt about it but golly, when its all said and done Marble scuptured counter tops and a testosterone shower just maybe are not worth an extra 1.7 million or so...even adding in a for real home refrigerator and stack washer and dryer, the desire for me is just not even close...Don't have anywhere near that kind of money but even if I had I would have to put it to other uses better than "fluff and foo foo's".....exit Pelican Lake and move on....

After that took Lucas to the Mullet Festival at the south end of Marco Island...A crazy place called "Stans" where each Sunday people dance and drink and set in the sun and watch crazy's do crazy things....This was no exception..check out Lucas's blog for a picture of him with one of those crazy women dressed like a Buzzard...click here for Luke's fine blog

You see at the annual mullet festival at Crazy Stan's outdoor bar crazy women dress as buzzards and do a dance called the "buzzard lope"...That is supposed to be an immitation of the dance a buzzard does around a freshly found road kill before he eats it....I know it sounds pretty crazy but it all seems to make sense at Stan's place....

Well anyway Lucas was not impressed at all with all that drunking goings on so we left and headed to our last destination for the day...The famed "Tiger Tail Beach"...where you can almost walk your butt off just getting to the end of the tail out there in the ocean...We finally made it and turned around and headed back..My knee was starting to talk to me a just a bit, but I made it back...And just as we got back to the area to leave the beach the big red ball in the sky came to rest right on the edge of the far western sky...It was fabulous maybe Luke will post that also, but it was a beautiful sunset and end to another great day in Paradise...

A steak, baked sweet tater and corn on the cob set us up for doing our double barreled blogs for the day...enjoy....

Today in Paradise (132)

Every time the Thompson's take me fishing (George and Gladis), I can not help but fall in love all over again with the back waters south of Marco Island...Its know as the 10,000 islands. Doubt anyone ever counted all of them but its probably a good guess. These islands are small for the most part usually under one acre and consist of a pile of sea shells with mangrove trees growing on them...Mangrove trees are known as "island builders", as these mangrove can attach them selves to the bottom sand and hang on until a storm brings in lots of shells..they catch the shells and they pile up under the trees and an island starts and continues to grow.

I love these back waters the air is always so clean and crisp, the water is always pure and clear, and the fish are very healthy and so darn much fun to catch. And then maybe if one is lucky like we were today you have a nice fish fry just as the beautiful sun is setting in the west..I think it would be really hard to have a "bad day" of fishing these waters...

Well today the Thompson's graciously took me and grandson Lucas out there to enjoy all of the above...As per usual Glady kicked our butts...I tell you that woman is a true "Pescadora" (fisher woman)....We had five keeper fish and she caught three of them and the largest. Pic at right shows her with a nice Sheephead she caught. Below that is Happy Hoosier with a beautiful "Snook" fish that just did not meet the between 22 and 36 inches so I had to release him...But he was a nice fish and cleared the water a couple times after I hooked him..Lucas Cole my grandson did bring in a nice sheephead keeper...but my camera broke down and now I must turn to my big camera for the rest of my time here...it don't fit in my pocket so my pics will need to be planned and not alway have it with me...Actually the shutter sticks shut and will not open, maybe it can be repaired, I hope so...

Well we must be off to bed soon, tomorrow we are looking forward to attending the Marco Methodist Church and listening to a Marine's Marine tell his story one more time...His name is Randy Kington...It will be good to hear him again and glad my grandson is on board for this one....

By the way my grandson started a blog yesterday and today he has done his second post to his new blog...tape on it and take a look....we set here now each night as he said on our laptops doing a "double barreled" blog....

click here to see his blog





Semper Fi,

Shark Valley (131)

The Everglades National Park also know as "Shark Valley" located about 70 miles down US 41 south east of Naples Florida...We went there yesterday, Lucas and I and we took our bikes and rode the 15 miles with friend Ernie Maier...It was fun it took us just over 2 hours to make the circut...Gosh we seen at least 100 aligators I would guess...ranging from 5 to 12 feet long I would guess...some with thier tail lying out on the black top trail and we would ride out bikes past them within a couple feet of them...at first it seemed risky but after a while we got used to it..Literature states that only one person has ever been attacked by a gator and that was when a small boy fell off his bike onto a gator...I think they have too many gator along the trail, I would clean about half of them out of there and into the frying pan if I were manageing the park....but lucky for the Al E. Gators I am not...

Lots of pretty bird life there also it is a camera buffs paradise for sure...When sweet pea arrives here we will do this little ride again...she will like it, I am sure...Ernie Maier said it was the most fun he has had this year here in Paradise...It is a great place to spend a few hours..and across the street from the entrance is a restaurant run by the local Indians in these parts...Real Indians too not the imported variety...the kind that chased Custer you know....Also they have a pretty good looking airboat operation there...I want to try that out soon its 10 bucks per person and I think it is a more authentic everglade swamp than the airboat rides that are closer to Naples...after seeing the territory the Indians take you too I think it is well worth the extra drive a little further down 41....

OK I am getting sleepy and fussy so am signing off....

Two of my Favorite things in Naples....130

Hoosier Farmers in Florida don't take a lot of entertainment...there just so dam happy to be here that everything here seems pretty darn nice...Today though I took Grandson Luke to my favorite barber shop up on the trail...Haircuts By Joe Cool....

I got my usual excellent 5 to 6 minutes in Jake's chair...but always perfect, the guy is a wizard of a barber...but Lucas did not fair quite as well...we walked in and someone told us that Frank the new guy was pretty darn good...give him a try they said and Lucas said, "Ok I will"....Well Frank somehow did not pick up on just what Luke wanted...and he pretty much gave Lucas another boot camp haircut...Lucas ended up getting his hair cut "no charge" so what the heck, he surely got his money's worth and will be another extra week before he need's another...

After that I took Lucas to Homer Hectors' Military Museum located on Shirley Street off Pine Ridge here in Naples...I love going there as it is kind of a hang out for Marines of all ages, but mostly old timers....And Homer has about one of every thing in his antique and military store...He allowed us to "play" with the old BMW World War two motor cycle...Hitlers Army had many of these wild machines...A cool bike with side car and a 30 calibur machine gun to mow down anything in your way...Luke enjoyed setting on it as you see on the right side here...

I knew a German who lived here in Silver Lakes a few years back...Paul Siebert was his name...He rode one of these while he was a member of Rommels little Army in North Africa...The Brits finally shot his third tank up and captured him, much to his benefit as he was sent to a war camp in Canada and then turned loose after the war to become a very successful Chicken Farmer in Canada...I liked Paul and his wife Hilda...Paul reminded me so much of Lawrence Welk and actually could dance about as well also....

But the best story I have about him is taking my visiting brother who was a mortor Platoon Leader under General Patton's 3rd Army over and introducing him to Paul one fine day...I did not tell Brother Bob anything about him only that I wanted him to meet him...It was not love at first sight...Quite the contrary, as the accent just did not play well with my bro...I finally confessed that I had set this up just for my own entertainment and every thing calmed down...I just wanted to introduce a General Patton Warrior and a General Rommel(the desert fox), Warrior and see what would happen....Nothing happened but there were no hugs, maybe a decent handshake and a nice to meet you, that was all....

Tomorrow we will watch the swearing in of the 44th President...

Take care, God Bless America

Me and Luke and the Admiral (129)

Yesterday Lucas and I were busy. We played 9 holes of golf here at Silver Lakes RV and Golf Resort....We both did pretty lousy...Luke hit a house and got the owner next door riled up..he told us to "club down"...after asking what club we used..But over all we did OK and had fun..I lost my sand wedge on hole 5 and never found it..Hope someone turned it in need to go check tomorrow for sure...then after that we headed for the Marco Island beaches...We took this picture of a sea gull that I called the "admiral"....He was a confident proud guy...liked having his picture taken but I think he was expecting a hand out as he then raised his head and let go with a few noisy calls or screams like maybe hey where the hell is my treats guy...

We walked at least two miles in the sand looking for valuable shells or sets out of large diamond rings...found neither but still got good sunshine and good exercise...Then today we went to the church of what's happening now on the Isle of Capri...Then we rode our bike's like the wind for a half hour and then went and worked out in the weight room for a bit before a swim in the pool....after that a relaxing rest on the lounge chairs soaking up the warm sun...unreal how warm it is just 1100 mile south of the freezer that we call Indiana....

Ran into lots of old friends around the park and other spots around Marco and Naples...One was Joe Chard the owner of Exit Realty...He said hey Jack I sure like your beard...I looked up and Joe had my beard exactly...but he claimed to my grandson that I had his beard and was "copying him again".....Another was Doc Jack and his lovely wife Mary, they are wonderful folk for sure, even being from the east coast...I told my grandson that I probably have almost as many good friends here in Florida as I do in Indiana...Only here three months and Indiana for nine but down here it is just different...Up there everyone is working and busy as hell...Down here we are on vacation and reaching out to others for friendship I think...so I think the short time here is friendship weighted and the net result is that I probably do have more great freinds here than at home....maybe not, maybe I am just so dam glad to be out of the freezer that it just seems that way...Anyway freinds are great people to know and either place a huge asset to ones life....howdy to all my good friends and family here and the freezer....semper fi.....

Me and Luke in Paradise 128

Timing is important, the longer I live the more I realize that. It's below zero in Indiana and I ain't there...Grandson Lucas and I flew the coop three days ago and headed south, just ahead of the oncoming cold front. It's coming all the way to Florida though as I hear that Tallahasee will be about 17 tonight...But we are not there either we are in Naples, and currently its about 60 but would not surprise me if we don't dip into the low 40's by morning...But the good thing is in a day or two we will bounce back into the 70's and that will be good..Lucas and I spent the day shopping for batteries for the motor home..I noticed the last couple days before departure a strong gassy smell coming from the batteries as it sat in the pole barn.

I told Lucas about it coming down and he said "Grandpa that is not good". And I told him they were also beginning to buldge out on the sides and he said "that ain't goood either Grandpa, my guess is you need new battiers"....he was right and today after much internet searches and store shopping we found the best buy in town at Sam's club...By dark thirty tonight we had them changed out, or I should say Lucas did...He said that he does that kind of stuff all the time on Army tanks and such, and it all went well like he said it would....

Well its getting late, my mechanic is already snoring and grandpa is struggling for much more to say so maybe the best thing is nothing at all....Tomorrow Golf and Camera Club, maybe both maybe one or the other....Life in Southwest Florida is just kidda like that, way more things to do than time to do it...Later....

Happy New Year So Far (127)

Honky Tonkin in Nashville Tenn was fun at New Years and I imagine about any night of the week there is equally exciting. That was our New Years destination and it did not disapoint us. If you like country music and plenty of it, it is to be had there in downtown Nashville. Don't remember the street we were on but it was lined on both sides with clubs that all had country bands playing all those country favorites.

It is a fun scene for sure if you have never done it, do it sometime. I imagine its where a lot of singers get their start, playing these clubs for "tips" only and hoping to get discovered somehow before they starve to death...It was a fun night spent with Mark and Terry as we soaked up an evening full of country music....

Our host Jessica seen in the pic's should probably be proclaimed Nashville's "Rachel Ray", as she threw open her house and refrigerator and food pantry to the likes of all of us...sweet pea's brother Mark with help from the Dixie Chics brought forth a New Years Day dinner that would bring even downtrodden stock holders of the 2008 crash lots of Good Luck for 2009....I sure hope it works, as we ate all that stuff, corn beef and cabbage, blackeyed peas, cornbread, some kind of herring fish that was "yuck" and not sure what all...But we ate it anyway and we toasted the new year with Brown County and other wines...All went down good and stayed down...Lets hope it all works..actually "family" is always the best part.....HAPPY NEW YEARS TO "Y'ALL".....