The New Year Begins

We left St. Petersburg on December 28th to go to Orlando to spend some time with Todd's sister. Cathy was kind enough to give us a ride to Tampa where Jennifer and Mark were returning from a cruise and we rode with them to Orlando.

Since they were gone for Christmas, we celebrated a late Christmas on New Year's Eve with Jennifer and Mark and their children, Shannon and Sara (Jennifer's) and Chris, Rachel and Jessie (Mark's). After everyone opened their presents, we enjoyed a wonderful fondue feast and then went next door for a fireworks extravaganza hosted by Jennifer's neighbor, Michael. We all managed to stay up until midnight to watch the ball drop in Times Square as 2006 ended and 2007 began.

The Captain models his new Crocs and Croc socks. Isn't that a lovely sight!


Left to right: The lovely Rachel and Jessie (Mark's daughters) and Shannon and Sarah (Jennifer's daughters).


Sarah is thrilled with her new industrial-strength wagon!


Jessie and Shannon checking out a few of their gifts.


Shadow giving Rachel kisses!


Fondue anyone? Pictured (left to right) are Jennifer, Mark, Shannon, Jessie, Rachel and Chris.


On New Year's Day, Jennifer and Mark went with us to see Bobbi and Keith in downtown Orlando. We met Bobbi and Keith in June of 2006 at the Yacht Basin in Demopolis, AL where they were living on their houseboat. When we returned to Demopolis this fall, we learned that they had relocated to Orlando so we made plans to get together while we were in the area.

We met at Lee and Rick's Oyster Bar that afternoon and spent a few hours visiting and catching up. Bobbi and Keith plan to return to Demopolis later this year to resume life on the boat so we hope to see them again the next time we are at the Yacht Basin.

That evening Todd started watching the now famous Fiesta Bowl featuring the underdogs from Boise State University against the powerhouse Oklahoma Sooners. It turned out to be a very exciting game and Todd was up into the wee hours of Tuesday morning watching the overtime finale and post game show as Boise State walked away with an amazing 43-42 victory. Many are dubbing it "the best college football game ever" and I think Todd would probably agree with that assessment!

We spent the next few days enjoying the space and conveniences of being on land and made plans to go to the Universal Studios Islands of Adventure theme park on Thursday. We arrived at the park about 10:00 a.m. and spent the day roaming around and riding the rides, primarily the two roller coasters: Duelling Dragons and The Incredible Hulk. Both were pretty intense and even downright scary at first, but it was fun and we rode each of them several times. The park was only open until 7:00 p.m., so we stopped by Margaritaville, just outside the theme park entrance, to grab a quick bite to eat before heading back to Jennifer's.

Islands of Adventure, here we come!


The Captain poses with Betty Boop. Don't they make a handsome couple?

Jennifer and Mark brought us back to St. Petersburg Saturday afternoon and spent the night on the boat before returning to Orlando late Sunday morning. We shared a great meal Saturday evening with Cathy and her visiting niece, Lora, on Cathy's patio. Mark had brought along some killer barbeque ribs he picked up on his way home from work Saturday and then he and Todd went to get some Chinese food after we arrived in St. Petersburg. The food was really good and the company was even better!

A parting shot of the four of us before Mark and Jennifer head back to Orlando.


We got up Sunday morning and took Mark and Jennifer out to breakfast before making a restocking run to Wal-Mart. After helping us get the groceries unloaded, they headed back to Orlando and we settled back into life on the boat.

Buddy was very lethargic all day and by that evening he wasn't even able to stand up. We put him to bed early and woke up with him several times during the night as he seemed to be getting worse. He took his last breath Monday morning shortly after we woke up, so we got the dinghy down, went out into the bay and found a place to bury him among the palm trees. It was hard to see him go and we will miss him terribly, but he lived a good, long life and appeared to really enjoy the time he spent in Orlando roaming around Jennifer's big yard and hanging out on the patio.

A good friend of ours, Everett Hayes, wrote the following about Buddy in a recent e-mail: I can just hear him in dog heaven, some big dog comes up and tells about the high rise where he lived in the city and the big patch of grass in the park where he could lie down, and how he got to take cab rides. “The Bud Man” then ask, have you ever shit on a white sandy beach, pissed on a palm tree, swam in the salt water, swam in a fresh water lake, flown in an airplane, had your own boats,(yes that’s boats, not boat) met dogs from all over the country, looked up at night and it was so dark you could see all the stars and no neon lights. Big dog, I lived, you just existed. Now shut your yap before I hurt you. What a great and fitting tribute to Buddy and his many adventures!

After our traumatic morning, Cathy invited us to have dinner with her Monday evening and we cheered the Florida Gators on as they walked all over the Ohio State Buckeyes during the first half of the College Bowl National Championship game. We didn't stay up for the second half of the game, but the Gators managed to increase their 34-14 half-time lead by 7 while holding the Buckeyes to 14 total points and walk away with the National Championship in a 41-14 victory. An impressive win by the Gators!

Todd spent several hours working in Cathy's yard Tuesday morning while I worked on the blog and then we both worked in the yard some more that afternoon before retiring to a quiet evening on the boat. Wednesday was essentially a quiet day as well and was spent doing a few chores and projects around the boat and a little more yard work for Cathy.

The Captain couldn't resist taking of photo of this White Egret perched on a post just a few feet off our sundeck.


Mike & Mary of "What Daze It?" are due back from Alabama around the middle of next week after having completed a 17-day, 895-mile trip to deliver a 1985 43-foot Hatteras from Key Largo to Pascagoula, MS for a friend of theirs. We may stay in St. Petersburg until then and travel with them to Ft. Myers, but we haven't decided anything for sure. As someone recently told us, "I have no schedule and I'm sticking to it!"