It's official.  We're going back to Mackinaw City for the 2015 boating season.  The cash and contract were sent this week.  We were offered a slip at St. Ignace, but decided Mackinaw City was a better fit for us.  We did enjoy it there last season.

Now for current events.

We cruised last week on Royal Caribbean's "Vision of the Seas" .

It was the usual family cast of characters.

We traveled to Roatan, Honduras; Belize City, Belize; Costa Maya, Mexico, and Cozumel, Mexico.

Arriving at Roatan, we found that it isn't always sunny in the Caribbean.

As a matter of fact, it poured rain all day long so our island experience was more or less limited to this.

Our excursion to the beach and snorkeling was cancelled.  We did stroll through the market at the pier later in the afternoon but spent that day enjoying activities on the ship.

The clouds parted the following day in Belize for a fantastic snorkeling adventure on the barrier reef and beach stop at Starfish Island.

The reef was awesome.

Son Brian is getting real comfortable with his snorkeling.  Here he is diving down to the reef.

There was lots of life to view.  The guide even caught a lobster.

The guide even caught a lobster.

After the snorkel, the best part of the excursion, rum punch...or I should say, UNLIMITED rum punch.  The boat somehow seemed just a bit more unstable after a few glasses of the punch.

Then it was onto Starfish Island for some swimming and sun.

That was one of the best excursions we've ever taken.

The next day was on to Costa Maya where we discovered a decent snorkel opportunity right at the head of the pier.

We toured the local markets at the pier and did the same at Cozumel, opting to forego any activities there.

So ended a great week in the Caribbean.

Meanwhile back at the ranch...

Construction.

We found a little water damage to the sub floor in one area and repaired that.

While I have the mess made, I'll re-panel the area, remove the old and worn curtains, install blinds and carpet and update the electrical.

Beats the crap out of shoveling snow.

Our northern neighbor sent us a few shots of the northern abode this week.

Happy to be here, to say the least!

It's the end of week two from what has become "Work Island".  It doesn't look like there's going to be a lot of time to get bored with the retirement life,  There's plenty of little projects to keep me busy here for a while.  Seems the southern estate needs a little rehab here and there,

After a couple years of non-use for the most part, the growth was beginning to show on the trailer so I had a couple guys here clean the place off.

They wash with a detergent solution and treat the growth with chlorine and when they're done,  Everything is clean and white again.

The middle of the week included a man hunt in the neighborhood complete with helicopters hovering all night and into the day.

A few of Haines City's finest citizens found it necessary to murder a couple ladies a mile or so away in order to hide in their house and steal the car.  After an overnight search, those guys are now in captivity.

The best part of being here is that nearly every morning I look out the front window and see the sun.

There's not a lot of sun in the winter in Michgan so this is a treat...and so is the 76° temperature.

Like I said this has become a sort of work island.  Both Kathy and I have spent most of the time we've been here cleaning and fixing stuff.  Kathy cleans, I fix what she discovers is broken.  We got a new TV mounted in the kitchen/dining/living room.

and blinds on the doors that replaced some well used roll up shades.

Today was market day again so we drove down and picked up fresh strawberries to have when our guests arrive later this week.

Finally, in keeping with the nautical theme of this blog, there was a nice 29' Ranger Tug trawler docked just three "slips" from us this afternoon.

This couple is from Texas and headed to the Keys for a few weeks.  I chatted with them and they mentioned they had been in Lake Huron and the North Channel last year.  Obviously, they get around.  It's an interesting way to see the country "by boat".

2015…finally!

That last year at the office was a bit of a challenge but I stuck it out to the bitter end.  That was then…

…this is now: 

We crossed the Mason Dixon line last Wednesday and cruised into the Sunshine State Friday morning.  No ice shanties down here.  The boating season in just getting into full swing.

As we pulled into the park, the temperature hit the magic 70° mark. 

At this point, that is a pleasant memory.  80° has been the norm for the past few days.  It’s near record heat for this time of year but the promise is for normal 70’s ...or a bit cooler next week. 

Anyway, we found our southern nest in good shape…

and proceeded to tackle the job of unloading.

I brought a suitcase…you know who brought most of the rest of the house.

So here are the high points of what we call CP1 (there’s a newer Central Park down the street…CP2).

The pool. 

The recreation hall where bingo, dances, concerts, dinners and many park activities occur.  

On the other end of the hall is a full kitchen and a couple pool tables. 

Outside the hall is shuffleboard… 

and horseshoes. 

There are also two full bath facilities and two laundry rooms.  Everything here is kept in spotless condition.  The residents are a mix of people from Canada, New York, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Wisconsin for the most part.  My current neighbor is a “transient” from Calgary, Alberta just passing through the area.

So there you have it…going to spend a little time here and tend my palm tree.

Merry Christmas!

Turn out the lights, the party's over!

On August 13th 1984, I began work at American Motors Corp. in Detroit.  I was hired as a layout design drafter.  Back then all the designs were on some kind of paper or mylar media where we drew on the media.  This is the Pink Pearl eraser I started with that day.

After four company mergers and countless layoffs that I somehow dodged, I retired after 30 years 128 days.  There isn't much need for an eraser today so it became more of an office toy over the years.  The depression on the middle of the eraser (there is one on the opposite side too) was from spinning the eraser between my thumb and finger over the years.

The last thing I did as a Chrysler employee was toss the eraser in the trash as I walked out the door.

And so it goes.

Happy Holidays!

As I post this, the countdown to retirement stands at 2 days.  Today was my exit interview with the HR group and a luncheon with my work group which was real nice.  Looking forward to turning the page to a new chapter after 30 years with Chrysler (AMC, Chrysler, Daimler Chrysler, Cerberus, Fiat Chrysler).  The name of the company as of today is officially FCA US LLC.  The name "Chrysler" is just a brand now within the company.

Yup, time to go.

But the big event of the day was receipt of my new minivan!

This is the Dodge Grand Caravan R/T.  Within the company, we call it the "man van" because it's an attempt to make a minivan "sporty" and that's a tall order on a minivan.  It has blacked out wheels, smoked headlamp lenses, black trim features, and an all black leather interior with red accent stitching.

It was questionable that I would get this before I left but with the help of a few people at work pulling the right strings, I got it.  Problem was that it was damaged in transit (just my luck) and had to visit a body shop before I could take it.  It was built about the 1st of October so this all took a LONG time.

We'll be a bit more active in the coming months so I'll be updating the blog as the "excitement" plays out.

Well, there's nothing like a couple weeks of leaf collection to make you long for those days of summer.  It's November.  Leaves are falling, the sky is gray, and it's spitting snow.

Yuk!

BUT...I did finally finish the dresser project that was started about a year ago.  The construction was completed just as the boating season began, so final finishing had to wait for this fall.

Here is the result.

The finished product turned out decent.

Boating season 2015 is a mere 25 weeks away.  Tick-tock.