All Things EARTH... part 2

Dexter is a really good boy, Herman is still figuring everything out

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With the heat we have had, that haircut probably feels really good to Herman! But I think he looks really cute either way.

Anita, one of my goals is to get over and read your review this weekend. I've only had a chance to look at bits and pieces so far.

We had a local baseball game we went to yesterday with fireworks after that we went too last night. During the day, the humidity dried up and it was such a pleasant evening! It was my daughter's boyfriend's birthday, and that is what he wanted to do. He was really happy that we wanted to go with them to help him celebrate.

Today, we have errands and what not to do, then laundry and so forth. Next weekend, my daughter wants us to paint her room. I told her that her goal for this weekend and during the week was to give it a really good clean up, because we have to move small stuff out of the room to wherever we can fit it, and leave the big stuff in. We have no extra bedroom. If all goes well, we will start early Saturday with the ceiling, then move on to the walls. We hope to do the trim the same day as well. I am thinking she will have to sleep on the couch or in her sister's room that night, and then we can put everything back together on Sunday. We have a cookout to go to that Sunday as well.

Busy!

Once again, I am on a hunt for dress pants for work. I didn't have very good luck last time, and I have found that the only non earth color I can make work (a little) with my wardrobe is navy, as long as it isn't a dark navy. I have decided that if I find what I am looking for, it might make sense to buy more than one pair. Pants are pretty basic, you know?

One of our stops today is the mall, but I'm not sure if I will have enough time to look as well as I would like.

Les & I went to the club & sat by the pool today. We were trying to remember how many times we’d done it this summer, this was only the second time all summer! Wow! Felt great just to sit, read & have a Caribbean Mule. We’ve had a crazy busy summer & are looking forward to our reunion vacation. Melody

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This summer is just flying by .Of course our summer goes forever or a least until December . We are having roof and fascia repair done plus our elevator needs a new valve .Every year it is something .A month and a half until our return to Cuba .I am amazed at all Anita was able to transport to Alaska .I would have loved that adventure 30 years ago but now I like comfort.

Sally, I’ve been thinking the same thing. Les asked if we should take our inflatable paddle board with us to Maine. I voted it down quickly, that water is way too cold! Also I don’t want to carry the extra bag. I too like comfort

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Melody, my sympathies to Les and his family. What a sad year for him. I am glad for both of you that you have such a loving family to comfort you.

We had terrible travel days to Michigan and back, with rain delays on both ends causing lots of airport time. By the end of the week I had a wicked cold, so I've been alternately sleeping or zombie Margaret for days now. I think I'm turning the corner but I can't exert myself without coughing. It's been raining hard for almost a week now (again) so I'm not missing much. I'm binge watching the Father Brown Mysteries between naps.

Sally, you must have loved Cuba to be going back so soon. What are your excursion plans for the next one?

I have been enjoying Anita's trip report too. I am so happy for them that their fishing day turned out so well. Their cabin was so cute!

We are still in adventure mode but I do have to be realistic about our joint issues, and DH is much more picky about our accommodations than he used to be. I have gotten better about building downtime and flex time into our itineraries. Our travel will probably change a bit when we retire and can take longer cruises. DH is actually interested in a TA if it has some interesting ports before and after all the sea days. It will be nice to just take off if we want to and not be tied to the school calendar. I was eyeing a repo cruise from NJ to San Juan, last minute fare $449pp for a balcony cabin. For us the airfare would only be about $200pp. At that price I would be happy to experiment with different cruise lines and room categories (except insides, don't think I could handle that).

Ya'll are so funny! DH and I figure that we need to do this while we still can. In some ways...I think it would have been more comfortable to sleep outside. The ground looked soft with a carpet of vegetation and whatnot that looked like it could be really comfortable. Our driver Scott had talked about that actually...I think some ground places would have been way more comfortable than those bunk beds!

But the cabin was the thing...having a good shelter for inclement weather and still getting our camping experience that we wanted.

It was totally cute Margaret. I can't believe I didn't take any indoor shots. Oh well. There was a wood burning stove for heat. They talk about how Engineer Lake ices over in the winter and it is popular for ice fishing. You can snow mobile on the lake.

That would be fun. Taking a snow mobile over to the cabin. Not being beholden to just what you can carry but being able to bring something that might add a bit more comfort to the cabin beds. I would totally go back and do that.

Sorry your travel was so rotten Margaret and that you got sick on top of it all. Totally sucks.

I was eyeing a repo cruise from NJ to SJ too! It was the odd ball inexpensive cruise on the horizon. 3 Sea days followed by St Thomas, St Maartin, and then SJ. Trying to remember if it was Celebrity or Royal. Were you looking outside Princess? I wonder if it was the same cruise...

Yes, Sally...what are your Cuba plans this time?

School began today. I'm sad. I can't believe DS is a senior. I'm not that old...LOL.

That NJ to SJ repo sounds like something we would really enjoy too :D

Anita, I agree that it's hard to believe our "babies" are seniors. K got her wisdom teeth out this morning and I realized if the appt. hadn't been moved up she would have been an adult and I wouldn't be giving my consent any more. She came through it like a trooper and is resting now. I actually think her surgery was harder for me than when I had my own 20 years ago ;)

C is back from Guatemala and had a great week. The team was able to distribute food packages to over 80 families, and each food pack should provide 6 months of food. They also had lots of fun with the kids at the sports clinics. (Plus he grew another 2-3 inches we think :).)

We are going back to Cuba so soon because we got an awesome deal .It was $333 a person for a 5 day cruise leaving from Tampa .We are going to take another private tour and stop at the revolution museum .We also want to tour parts of Old Havana . Cuba is interesting especially the cars. It is frozen in time from the late 50's.I am looking at a TA for next year .I just have not pulled the trigger yet . Margaret ,you will love a TA as long as they have a few great ports and an interesting end point so you can land tour for a few days .Sorry you are sick and hope you get well soon.

Here's DH, DS and I in front of Bear Glacier:

Such a great experience.

Wonderful pictures

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Great photo and even greater memories !

Thank you Melody and Sally! It took a long time to go through all my kayaking day photos! I took SO MANY. I love digital cameras for that reason...so fun to take all those photos because you never know which ones are going to come out...but then it is actually a bit of work to go through them all. And so hard to cull the herd, so to speak.

I was eyeing a repo cruise from NJ to SJ too! It was the odd ball inexpensive cruise on the horizon. 3 Sea days followed by St Thomas, St Maartin, and then SJ. Trying to remember if it was Celebrity or Royal. Were you looking outside Princess? I wonder if it was the same cruise...

Celebrity Summit on Oct 21? Such a good deal, and an easy itinerary to manage last-minute. It's not possible for us, being right in the middle of the semester, but I look forward to the time when we can jump on a deal like that. Recently DH had considered throwing his hat in for a new job that would have been a major opportunity, a perfect fit for his experience. It is telling that he decided not to. He likes the flexibility he currently has enough to forgo the status he would have had. I think we're both in a different place career-wise, a more winding down mode rather than our former high-achiever yuppie mindset. With my mom gone we have time to think about our priorities and talk about our future for the first time.

I'm still considering the Zumba cruise next March, but perhaps it would be more sensible for us to take a trip in September, since our next big adventure might not be until December 2020. It would be nice to have two vacations per year instead of just one going forward.

Four months and change until Africa! Once school starts I don't have much shopping time, so I'll pick up whatever odds and ends we need after Thanksgiving. That is also when we'll get the prescriptions we need so they'll be fresh. I'm still on the hunt for a medium tone EARTH color fleece. I'll do a practice pack in early December for weight, and then we have the marathon of Christmas travel and NYE with friends before we leave on the 1st of January. As Kim mentioned on the FIRE thread, it's the gear that accounts for much of the weight and is hard to pare down, not the clothes. Even though we have the Delta weight allowance for the long flights, it's the commuter flight from Nairobi to Arusha that will determine how much we can carry.

Anita, the photos of your kayak trip are amazing.

MJC - you mentioned Africa in about 4 months. We, too, are going there then and will be going to Arusha as well.

What tour company are you using?

We used African Portfolio, based in Connecticut.

OK - we are going near the same time. We are taking our family on a Tauck Bridges tour (it’s our 50th anniversary). Am getting excited about this!

Congratulations on your 50th! What a great way to celebrate. I am excited, too. We have wanted to go for years now but family issues have prevented us from traveling so far away until now.

That NJ to SJ repo sounds like something we would really enjoy too :D

 

Anita, I agree that it's hard to believe our "babies" are seniors. :).)

It is hard to believe that I am a card carrying (Medicare ) senior and my children are in their 40's . Time flies so if there is an adventure you want to do .Do it now ! White water rafting is so much more fun in your 40's .

It is hard to believe that I am a card carrying (Medicare ) senior and my children are in their 40's . Time flies so if there is an adventure you want to do .Do it now ! White water rafting is so much more fun in your 40's .

I agree, Sally. My parents thought they would travel once my sister and I were grown, but my mom had MS and developed a lot of complications. She was only 55 when she passed<|3

We never know what life will bring, so we try to be healthy and prepare for the future but also live in the present.

We started white water rafting in our 40s, Les stopped smoking & started marathon running in his 40s, we started snorkeling in our 50s & we started paddle boarding in our 60s. I’m a cancer survivor of 38 years now, every day is a blessing.

FYI, our oldest grandson just started his senior year of college, wow! Melody

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Anita in a helicopter :D

Melody, you give me hope that I can get my act together.

Margaret, just have to do it. I’m not planning on sitting on the couch (although that’s exactly what I’m doing right now [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]) the rest of my life

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. I am loving Anita's adventure .They packed a lot into that trip . They would probably love the Alaska ferry system.

It's so much fun to hear about all of us making plans, living out our dreams, isn't it? I agree that you live once, and you don't know if you'll live to 50, 60 70 or beyond. At the same time, I know I have to plan for my future so I try hard to balance things out.

Like usual, I've been really busy at work. We are getting estimates on some different things. It's really weird, but we got an estimate for one of those wall central air units and it will cover the entire downstairs, and it was cheaper than I expected. Upstairs, it makes sense to use window units, we decided.

The reason it's weird is that we got a quote for a basic, 20 x 20 platform deck. Honestly, I knew composite would cost more, but it is way more than what I was expecting! We've wanted outdoor space for so long too.

Right now, we are going to get another estimate, because it is good to compare. I agree with the saying you get what you pay for, but just because someone charges a lot doesn't mean that you can't get a good job done for less.

Such is life though!