h20skibum

It is 34°F this morning with a feels like 29°. We get the grandkids this afternoon, for an overnight stay. It looks like cookies will be made and decorated. We have a hotel room reserved for the night, so they can enjoy some pool and hot tub time. Indoors, of course. We already had a change in plans, because we were both supposed to watch them tomorrow (no school for Columbus Day), while SIL took our daughter to her chemotherapy, but now I will be taking her and Susan will be entertaining the kids on her own. Off to look for some more LIVE threads, since some have been winding down.

At least the weather was a little better for granddaughter’s cheering at the football game. Another win for them, 32-12. Grandson’s team, and the team she cheers for remain undefeated. As for masks, I have a new package of KN95s being delivered tomorrow. I need those for my trips to the hospital with my daughter. At least they are less expensive, and easier to find now.

Adding my birthday wishes to your grandson, Dani. They grow up way too fast.

Your weather looks so much nicer than ours. Just got home from our grandson’s football game. Another win, 22-6, and they remain undefeated. It was a cool 41° with light rain at game time. Now we are ready to leave to watch our granddaughter cheer at her away game. At least the sun is out now.

We had the problem of spreading the wealth around. Carnival, NCL, Princess, Celebrity, and Royal. We are now pretty exclusive to Royal or Celebrity, depending on the deal.

I found your review, and am following along. We last sailed Coral Princess in 2014 to the Panama Canal. I thought I recognized that cabin decor.

I have never been sea sick, but I have been told that green apples help a lot. Princess usually had a good supply of them when we sailed. We sailed Coral eight years ago, on a Panama Canal cruise. Be interesting to hear about your experience with medallion. They were just starting to implement it on our last Princess sailing. Have a great cruise.

Say it ain’t so! It seems like you just set sail. Hope you had a great time on your return to sailing. Hope your ride to the airport is not taxing, and with no errors. 😊. Sorry, couldn’t resist. Dang those autocorrect gremlins.

I’ve got absolutely nothing to say either today. All I have is this! But a picture is worth a thousand words, or Every picture tells a story, don’t it? Or something like that!

Looks like a beautiful day in Maui. When we were there on a Princess ship, we tendered to the dock by the Pioneer Inn and the Banyan Tree. Met some interesting characters under that Banyan Tree. I assume you tender to the same location. FYI, Kimo’s has hula pie if you need a snack. It is not far from the dock. Just go left on Front Street

Daughter picked it out locally. The kids had written personal notes to accompany Lucy on her journey. They were so sweet and heartfelt.

You should be getting calmer seas and nicer weather, the closer you get to Hawaii. At least that was our experience. Couple days of cool weather with rolling seas, then smooth and warm. Enjoy.

Tonight’s supper After all, it did say it was selfie worthy. Reese’s peanut butter cup for me, and strawberry cheesecake for Susan. Yum.

My son takes his family once or twice a year from CA. It is a nice school break trip for them. The last time they went to Honolulu, but their preference is Maui. I have to say that Maui is my preference also.

This afternoon was a difficult one to be with our grandkids. We knew it was only a matter of time before Lucy would pass on. She was so tiny when our daughter got her. And, of course, she had grown by the time our grandkids came along, and she loved those Christmas presents. Always tolerant of getting decorated. Many tears were shed. RIP Lucy.

Have you tried any of the Boston Ice tea?

Possible. They have a white front like that one. This is an osprey I saw at our lake.

No, too dark for a Cooper's hawk. This is a Cooper's that took up residence at our place a few years ago.

The leaves are starting to show more color here. We took our daughter to the lake for a walk. The doctor says she needs to keep up with exercise, even though she may not feel like it. So we do our part to keep it up. It was perfect weather for walking. I spent the last couple days working on my John Deere tractor, and just came in to relax, when Susan said “Mr. K. is mowing. You should go do it for him.” Well, Mr. K. Is 96 and walks with a cane, and his doctor has told him to stay off his tractor. Usually, one of our friends does the mowing for him, and we do leaves and snow removal. But they went to Florida to check on their house, so it hadn’t been done for a week or so. So I went over and mowed for him. It was nice that my wife had a nice filet waiting when I finished. I see a couple drinks, and relaxing in the hot tub in my future tonight.

Try typing it in Notes. When I type café, it brings that up as one of the options. As an alternate, the iPhone lets you load several keyboards. You can always load a French keyboard, and use that one for the words with accents.

Don’t get me started on that subject. I have banged my head against that wall too many times. That government project I talked about last week, giving guidance to the new owners, is a prime example of government waste. The government is more than happy to spend $5M on a project that could have easily been done for $1M. Then they turn around and ask taxpayers for more money. I better stop now, before I start banging my head again!

I saw a news story about that a couple days ago. In 2017, FEMA chartered the 1,500 passenger Grand Celebration, owned by the Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line, at a cost of $25,700,000 for 90 days. (That works out to around $286,000 per day.) In 2005, FEMA chartered three Carnival Cruise Line ships (Ecstasy, Sensation, and Holiday) after Hurricane Katrina for six months at a cost of $192 million, plus an additional $44 million in fuel expenses. I assume they would looking at much higher costs for the ship in the current environment. Even using the 2017 figure, if they housed 1,500, that works out to $190/day per person. That’s like giving them almost $70,000 per person if you consider a year’s cost. That just seems like an excessive amount to me, and surely they can find something for less.

We traveled today to tend to my parent’s graves and to Susan’s parent’s graves. While we were in that area, we did a small hike on the Pittsburgh to Erie Trail. The sky was blue, and the Allegheny River was calm today. We did come across an old furnace that was in pretty good shape, but is getting overgrown with brush. Wasn’t able to find any information about it, and was surprised there were no photos of it on the AllTrails app. So I added it. We walked as far as the old gate, then turned around so I would get home in time to get work done at home. It was a beautiful day for a hike, and it was nice to enjoy the quiet walk.

+2 @dbancroft Dani, those are wonderful pictures of your gathering.

Thanks for your great review, Greg. I really enjoyed it. Twelve pounds doesn’t sound too bad, considering all the food and drink from those packages. Heck, I probably gained at least four, just looking at all the food and drink pictures. 🤣🤣