Sunset on 11/27
Thanksgiving Day at the beach
Netting mullet from right on the beach
Paul, in "his" chair

It has been a quiet week. We haven't been doing much but I am usually pooped at the end of the day.

Went to the usual Sunday football at the Calypso, Luis met us there and Darleen came along too. The Vikings won and Darleen and I decided to walk home. It is about 2/3 of a mile, just a nice walk. Tom Lange called, while we were walking, he was giving an update on some of the people in our workout class at the Y.

I have been working out at the exercise room next door. Our land lord has a unit in that condo and she said I could use the facilities there. It is good for me, but I sure can feel the fact that I have been NOT working out :-)

We have been taking part in some of the activities that this resort offers, sports trivia, bingo, light aerobics and beach walks. They are not real challenging, but they are fun and you get to meet some folks that are staying here too.

One day we wandered Pier Park Shopping Area. We ate at the Haufbrau, GOOD food. I found a new pair of Nikes at the factory store. Will have to go get another pair before we head home.

We are both looking forward to our friends arriving. The Youngs should be here next week and the Werners and Griesbachs will be here after Christmas.

For 2 days I have been on a cleaning spree. While these places are clean, they are NOT my kind of clean, so in true Joan fashion, I have been tearing apart and REALLY cleaning! Feels good :-)

Scott G. put us onto a new video chat site, it is really good and on Thanksgiving morning we "chatted" for quite some time and we could watch Ann decorating their main Christmas tree.

The kids come into the picture and visit and then are off to play, it is almost like being there.

We are very lucky to have our resident "geek" to hook us all up.

A couple of days ago we could see this fishing boat going up and down the beach, a few hundred yards out, they were casting nets. In the evening (late afternoon) I saw them right down on the beach with the nets strung along the beach. Curious person that I am, I went down to see what they were catching. It seems they were netting mullet. I guess that is the only way to catch them. It was quite interesting. They had around 60-80 fish each in these wood boxes that they float and then hand net the fish into. Weirdest fishing I ever saw.

I want to go over to Panama City on Sat., I need some ink for the printer and I only go to Best Buy for it.

The month of November is almost gone, it has been a beautiful month and I am glad we came early. We have experienced some things that we would not see in Dec., Jan and Feb. number one being the sting rays!

See you all in future posts

Dolphins out front

Another beautiful sunset

Guess Who?

The rays that are out front every day!

This is the end of week 3, the time just flies. As you can see by the photos, the sting rays have been congregating on sand bars right in front of our condo, and a few hundred feet in either direction, up and down the beach. The weird thing is, you can see them plain as day from our deck, but when you get down on the beach, you don't see them until they are right at your feet! It makes for a few surprises.

I have been doing water aerobics, regular aerobics and morning beach walks with the "activities director", Desiree. She is a bubbly young lady and is lots of fun. Paul has been playing sports trivia and we both have been playing bingo, of all things!

They showed the movie "UP" the other night, new friend Darleen and I went, Paul wasn't interested. Kind of fun.

I found out that because our land lady owns units in the place next door, we can use the workout facilities there. Thy have a beautiful gym so starting on Monday I will go there and do the workout program my trainer gave me. Sweet!

Have NOT been sitting in the sun as much as usual, if I get a lot of sun it is from the walks on the beach!

Today is Ann's Birthday so want to call her and then talk to the rest of the family!

We have been enjoying the "video" chats with The Gergen clan. It is a neat thing to be able to see them when we chat! What a cool invention!

I look forward to Week 4

The mystery animal

Paul and the setting sun :-)

Cotton Bale

Mural on the side of the masonic Lodge in Jay, FL

This about says it all for storm warnings

Margaritaville from the middle of the city pier

Another week under our belts. Time flies when you are enjoying yourself.

I took off Friday morning last week and walked to the City Pier at Pier Park. Nice walk and beautiful views from the pier. No body was catching anything. One fellow pulled in a small Octopus, which inked all over everything, can't say I blame it!

On Saturday was the Florida Iron man Competition, several people were a bit sick from the chop during the swim part and one guy got hit by a car in the bike part. The newspaper here never did tell us who won the thing. Also on Saturday morning we spotted what looked like a seal/sea lion swimming by. Took a picture and took the picture to the director of Gulf World, a aquarium here in PCB, he thinks it is a seal, but it is so unusual to see that here, he is sending my photo to The National Wildlife and Fisheries people to try and determine what it is.

On Sunday the National Weather Service posted a Hurricane watch. It turned out to be much ado about nothing, the storm lost it's punch and ended up as a tropical depression, We did have very high tides and waves and the beach people moved everything off the beach, smart move because the sea came so far up the beach it would have taken a lot of the stuff out to sea with it.

We went to see the movie Men Who Stare At Goats, very funny and very good in a wacky sense of humor way.

The 11th was son Bob's 50th Birthday, called him and then went to Atmore, AL to a casino for the day. It was rainy etc and we couldn't go out and play so we went on a field trip.

Went shopping on Thursday, needed a few things, and then hit the sun deck with my book. Life is good!

We have been video chatting with Ann in Washington, DC and Scott and the kids in MN. This is such a great thing. I love being able to SEE them!

Today, I think we are going to a "Cruise-In", There are Thousands of collector cars in town. According to a guy Paul talked to, it will take hours to see them all. Then there is a Holiday Fair going on this weekend also, our friend Lori has her jewellery and lotions in it, so we will go check it out.

Sunday will be the Vikings Game at the local pub :-)

Sunset-Nov 4, 2009

A lone fisherman on a disappearing sand bar
A cotton field in AL
flooded fields (and yard) in central IL
A beautiful rest stop on the way down

We left for Florida early this year :-) October 30th to be exact. The drive down was uneventful, Thank God, some rain in IL, but NO traffic to speak of. We breezed through all the major towns, Nashville, Birmingham and Montgomery, in record time. The roads were good and from the amount of construction signs, about to get better.

Paul was in his glory, he LOVES to drive, and I enjoyed the scenery. The colors were beautiful, the rivers were running high with all the rain, and as I said, the traffic was light.

We got here on Sunday, the 1st of Nov., and after getting the maintenance guy to let us into the condo, we settled in. We ran out for some basic food and got that taken care of. Friends, Jeff and Lori invited us for dinner and that meant I did not have to think about cooking. We went to their house, watched a GREAT football game, Green Bay vs Vikings and I thought Paul would bust something he was so excited. Was very pleased that Mr Farve and the Vikings pulled it off :-)

We have been doing pretty much nothing for almost a week and I think I need a good long walk. My hip does not like it when I just sit!

The Florida Iron man Triathlon is this week end, so I will HAVE to walk, the streets etc will be pretty much impassable on Sat. 2400 participants, swimming, running and biking, in and around Panama City Beach, all day!

I will try to post once a week while we are here. We'll see how well I do on that. It is hard to find a time to do this without interruption.