Fishing..Church...and Mustgoes all in Paradise(143)

Wow, my last weekend here in Naples..Next week this time I will be "Freezer Bound"....Probably a lot of sympathy I will not get for most of my readership are already "freezer bound" and we all know misery loves company....

But forget what lies ahead let me tell you of a good week end my last in Naples Florida for this season...Work draws me home, work on my house and work on my farm after that...work that I love and with those that I love...so sympathy I really am not after, I am blessed and know it....But George and Gladys took me again into the back water and we caught fish like crazy..keeping the legals and tossing back the inch or two short of legal but all fun to catch and tonight we enjoyed eating that pile of fish you see in the grass before I cleaned them....Well almost we had some "mustgoes"* that I will eat tomorrow...I fixed the green beans wrapped in bacon along with the fish and we had a good cold slaw and some fruit...we did good, we had fun...that was yesterday and a good day it was...

Today, I attended for the second week in a row the "Celebration Community Beach Church"...A church without a church building, they don't even want a building..they meet in public parks here in Naples..Usually under the big Oak trees in the park in down town Naples but today since it was in other use they met in another county park....Thier thinking is (the Holy Bible be the church) not brick an mortor but The Word of God, be their church...I like the idea and of course here in almost perpetural sunshine and warm during winter how perfect can it be to set in a park and listen to a good preacher deliver a great message from Scripture...He talked about Peter walking on water during the storm.. and asked "What is your boat"?....
He said our fears will tell you "what is your boat"...To be of service we have to get out of our comfort or our boat, maybe telling God "hey I may be small potatoes but this bud is for you"...Ha it was a good message..They send a lot of food to Haitti to feed starving children there, I like that..Why Saturday alone while I fished 500 people of that church worked at a Naples School and packed 52,000 meals for shipment to Haitti..Hope I am spelling that right, no spell check on blogspot...the church has a blog I guess I have not been on it but will, maybe you would be curious... www.celebrationbeachchurch.com

He also noted and a good thought for today's mess and that is "Failure does not shape you", but the way you respond does....tough, but good thoughts for tough times...Well "sweet pea" will join me thursday, yippee and we will be beach bums for a day or two and then head north...We will do our best to bring an early spring back to Indiana with us...if we succeed send checks to my home address please for whatever you feel it is worth...if we don't succeed remember what the preacher said...and I hope I do not get "freezer burn"...

* note...mustgoes is a nice way of saying "left overs"...you know, "everything must go"....

Most of you probably already know (142)

A good teacher about ways of the computer, I am not!
But I did discover something this morning while waiting on my coffee to brew. And always willing to share what little I know here goes...

Well I discovered today how useful the little white search blog box is just above the green area at the top of this blog. Its just a white box that say's "Search Blog"...well that means just this blog so not to be confused with the multi colored seach box higher up that takes you out into the internet.

But anyway this thing is pretty cool and could be very useful in finding something I wrote in the past year in the 140 some articles I have done. I do mention from time to time about a previous topic that I may have wrote about. Maybe for instance when I had Mono real bad last spring. I wrote about it maybe 3 or 4 times. So if you just type in mono and hit the "enter" key it will pull up those articles. Or for instance I am up early today because I am going to the big outdoor church under the trees in down town Naples because the Marine Randy Kington is speaking there today. And I have offered to help his wife Patty sell Randy's book to people after the service. So if you were to wonder what this guy is all about if you were to type Randy Kington in that white box and hit enter then all those articles with his name in them will come up..or what I may have written about my preacher John Walls...Or if your a grand kid of mine and your saying well the heck with Randy Kington and John Walls, has grandpa ever written my name in this blog well you know the drill by now, type your name in that white box kiddo's and see...

So pretty exciting day huh? Jack learned something after a full year on this site and well now you know why I have always considered myself a "slow learner"...

One thing I am slowly beginning to learn is not to be afraid to click on buttons and see what the hell they do...I for one have been timid about those things..afraid I will set off some chain reaction that will wipe out my whatever and loose it all down some imagined whirly gig cyber drain somewhere...you know the kind of stuff night mares are made of...

What amazes me even more is when you do these searches and these stories come up that the google ads at the top of the page change instantly to correspond with the subject matter of that article...the wonders of the internet are endless...

So my fellow Americans, "yes we can", we can do this stuff one small step for man and one more stumble for mankind...

Marine Corps League and Peon Powder (141)

Each week I am honored to take a load of Marines from my RV park to a nice downtown Naples Florida Restaurant for the weekly luncheon of the E.T. Brisson Detachment 063 Marine Corps League..It is a good bunch of guys and one gal that assembles for a great lunch and a short meeting about what is going on and the efforts of this active group I have joined. Last week we may have set a record with 79 members I believe showing up...Usually around 60 to 70 make the show each week...It is fun to rub elbows with these remnants of men who served the nation during world war two in the Pacific Island battles..And the Korean conflict like the Chosin Resevoir campaigne...Then on to a large group who served in Nam and now and then one straggles in from more recent service such as Irag or Afganistan theaters....some into the 90's in age but still enjoying gathering each week to keep the Semper Fi spirit alive and well in this land....

Which brings me to Peon Power that shined up today the Alcoa wheels on my motor home.
As you can see yours truly the "the peon" who was the powder or the power to make them shine. I never will forget one NCO in the Marines who during thursday evening field days always referred to we workers as "peon powder". So if you look closely at those wheels you will see the peon powder reflecting back at you with camera in hand....A lot of effort or elbow grease but gratifying when it is done and one can so well see the guy who did it smiling back.....

Waxing a Coach and Promoting Marines (140)

Well I feel some better, today is a warm day in Naples in the 80's and a great day to add some wax to the motor home. I washed it a week ago in preperation here of this annual event when it gets its yearly protection..may take two days but it will get done before I go home to Indiana which is not too far off in my plans. Sweet Pea had a good visit as you can see in the slide show to the right here. Back in the freezer and her power is out because of 60 MPH winds in Indiana last night...Sure lots of "noise" in the news these days, congress, and wall street scrambling to cover up decades of abuse...Maybe we all need to forget looking for help, shut off the news, Trust the Lord, work hard, watch out for family and forget the handouts.
We are all in it together and together we will get through it...

Got to tell you about two opportunities today. We have all read the emails about reactions from people on airplanes as our hero's killed in action were being escorted home by members of the military and the rituals they follow. All have been touched by them or at least should have been. If you have HBO or know some one who does, or can talk someone you know, into getting it by Feb. 21 you should watch this show coming out. It is titled "Taking Chance". It is a true story about a Marine named Chance Phelps, who is killed in Iraq and about the Marines who "take him home" to be buried...No doubt one that will touch us where it leaks....keep the klenex handy.
It airs at 8 PM eastern time...find someone who has HBO and talk them into watching and inviting you over....

Last one, I have promoted before, but yesterday at the Marine Corps League luncheon my friend Randy Kington told me that the Cambier Open Air Church in down town Naples have asked him to speak at their service this Sunday at 9.30...I wrote a story on here last year in February about this same event. It was the first time I had been to that church and Randy spoke that day also..when he was done 1100 people were on their feet applauding what he had said, and the way he said it...I will be there again this Sunday, as most of this crowd will be knew. It is just a large open air stage with folding chairs all around and people on vacation come their to worship service from the nearby hotels...I like watching the effect he has on them and on me.... Have a great day the sunshine is calling...

Kidney Stones, Colds and Hurricanes (139)

Well I am just finishing up one heck of a cold down here in Florida. So bad that I decided to name it Alvin in keeping with the National Hurricane Reporting where they start with the A's each year and name them something.

Yes Alvin has been with me now for about a week. I have never seen so much "stuff" come from such a normally happy nose..yes that Alvin has been a hurricane in my head, even sending me to bed last night with a headache. Actually I think this may have been my first one in maybe a couple of seasons..Had my flu shot and my pneumonia shot and before I left home even a "shingles" shot, so I should have been good to go but I guess I got a little careless maybe on washing the hands and picked up a cold bug somewhere. I think it is in the last phase I hope at least..I think they say a cold is 3 days coming, 3 days staying and then 3 days going...so hope mine is "going".

Which the naming process I have to tell you my kidney stone story of a few years back. Yes, my wife and I had just paid the price to get into a movie and had just settled down in our seats taking a bite of popcorn, which generates a "second mortgage" as you know...But all of a sudden it was like someone kidney punched me, I told her you know my back hurts so bad I think I will go stand in the back of the theater, you stay here and watch the movie. Well soon I was lying on the floor in the back of the theater but to make a long story short the movie finally ended and she came back and discovered that although I was in emmence pain I was not about to leave that theater without our getting our moneys worth..We started for home but I said lets just go to the hospital instead..thought I would die while the check in processing was needing to be done but finally I was exrayed and they said yes you have a dandy in there and soon he will come out we hope...go home, take meds drink water and pea in this strainer so you will know...Well a couple days later my first born "Albert" did make his presence known with a loud "clunk" into my strainer...there he was, my son, Albert....He is still in a little jar, not real jagged or anything but a nice size grey rock....my boy Albert...

So soon it will begin again Hurricane season and they will start with an A....so if its Alvin it could be wet or if it Albert well it could be little rocky...I am being responsible however and trying to limit my "family" size by taking a daily pink pill called Allopurinal....Hopefully Albert will be my "only one"....

I'll do better tomorrow we all have an off day now and then....

Backwater Fishing and Marco Island Sunsets 138

Sunsets on Marco Island or anywhere along the gulf coast are spectacular..they are just magnificent, the very best when the huge red ball hits the water it don't get any better...and 3 minutes and maybe 15 seconds later it is gone completely even the last sliver...Well the sunsets are nice and I love them but even more I love being out on the water backwater fishing around the 10,000 islands that start at Marco and run all the way down along the lower Florida coast to the Florida Keys. Gosh the water is just to clean and refreshing. The air smells perfect and the sound of the water moving with the tides in and out around the islands is just wonderful. Now if you catch fish on top of all of this, well its a bonus but not an absolute necessity for sure. And then to end the day with a nice meal consuming a couple bottle of Brown County Wine makes it perfect..Make that Brown County Old Barrel Port and well were talkin a perfect day..It was good. Tomorrow we are set for a ride through Shark Valley National Park again where we will "dance with the gators"....

The Tree and Me and the Fishing Pier (137)

First up let us visit a great fishing pier that just "ain't"...It ain't because the powers to be on marco island don't want it to be...I loved fishing off this pier the last few years. It is or was a great "equalizer" in that those of us without boat, could get out into the channel and fish maybe not as good as those with boats but close. But the hurricane a couple years back lifted one of the sections off the pilings on the Marco Island end of the bridge. It did not damage the pier on the east side of the bridge but they came in and lifted the section allowing access off the pilings thus closing it down for now...even the Marco end there was no reason to close it they could have just as easy baracaded the end where the section was missing and most of the pier could have been used....It is big money talking as far as I can see, the residents of Marco Island do not use it and thus it don't get fixed. But this Collier County has money for everything desired and this project should be fixed and reopened..I took my grandson Lucas there to fish last week and was deeply disappointed that this pier was not accessable any longer... .This writer has taken up the cause with a letter to the editor...the paper asked for pictures that I provided..Hopefully they will take up the cause.

The Tree and Me picture to the right. Well about 1993 or 94 my wife Linda and I owned that lot and planted that tree. We found a nice looking coconut under a tall coconut tree next to the hardware store on the Tamiami trail (US 41). We placed it beside the big rock on our lot half way in the sand and half way out lying on its side if I remember right..the next year we were excited with a 18 inch shoot shot up out of the coconut and each year tremendous growth was noted...Now it stands as maybe the healthiest coconut tree in Silver Lakes RV Park. It is tall and loaded with coconuts as you may see..has a great shape as you would want a coconut tree to have...Only thing is parking under it can be dangerous on windy days...those nuts are heavy...I should have planted it in the back of the lot hanging out over the water...Could of, should of, and would of, like selling stocks a couple years ago...

NOTE: Been at this gig for a year now, it all started last year on Feb. 2nd...