Royal Caribbean Cruisers -- How Are Things Where You Are? (was "Routine" ​ 😁 ​day in lockdown... how was yours?)

[Ocean Boy]

1 hour ago, Tree_skier said:

 

 

 

Cousin Vinnie and Andrew were right. So the final story is there is nothing wrong with the truck.  The shop said there was so much mud caked underneath that it unbalanced the steer tires.  This isn't just regular mud.  It is almost clay like.  Hence why driving didn't just cause it to fall off.  It was practically hardened like ceramic on the inside of the wheels.  I left the shop and went strait to a do it yourself carwash and started hosing out the inside of the wheels.  It took 20 minutes of pressure washing the inside of the wheels before that brown clay stopped running out of them and the water ran clear.  Lesson learned.

 

OMG, now I have so much respect for the movie. 🙂 I had no idea I actually learned something from it! 

[ReneeFLL]

10 hours ago, h20skibum said:

I noticed this when I was walking back from our mailbox yesterday.  I know it has been a little warmer than usual, but didn’t think it was this warm. 

 

Flower bulbs or garlic? I’m guessing garlic. 🤷🏼‍♀️

 

6 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I can't do a dry January as I have to be in shape for my upcoming cruise but I have been known to go dry for Lent. 

What’s Dry January? Never heard of it. 🤣  I’m having a Scorpion tonight so I’ll be in shape for my cruise. Well, at least drinking shape. 🍹 🍹🍹 🍹🍹 

[Jimbo]

1 hour ago, ReneeFLL said:

 

 

Is South Beach the one they have blocked off so others can’t go in there? I thought I read that on here somewhere.

 

 

From what I read South Beach used to be a Crew Only location on Coco Cay...........they have since opened up South Beach to regular passengers and now the Crew has a location further down the beach from South Beach that the crew uses solely. 

[Coralc]

54 minutes ago, ReneeFLL said:

Flower bulbs or garlic? I’m guessing garlic. 🤷🏼‍♀️

 

What’s Dry January? Never heard of it. 🤣  I’m having a Scorpion tonight so I’ll be in shape for my cruise. Well, at least drinking shape. 🍹 🍹🍹 🍹🍹 

My daffodils are up already and look like that. ☺️

[Jimbo]

Back Splash....got all the tiles installed but no grout yet. That will done tomorrow when they install hardware on cabinets and install about 10 dimmer switches on various lights around the room.

 

Called tonight for all the inspections to be done before installing appliances.

 

We did have a a leak in the gas lines they we couldn't find until today that held up the inspections.

 

Previous owner had 2 gas fireplaces that we couldn't check when we bought the house because they took away the propane tank.We found the leak today on the downstairs fireplace is.The leak was on a fitting above where the key was to turn gas on and off for that fireplace..Had to cut an 8 inch hole in the wall to tighten fitting. All appears good now. We tied the new gas range into that same line, if we couldn't find the leak that would have meant having to run a seperate new gas line from the the gas range to the back of the house to the tank. That would have been a lot of extra money to do that, so we were trying to stay away from doing that. That would have been the last resort option. Now my Wife and I can both sleep good tonight 🙂

 

Just ordered 2 warm white lights to replace the lights under the range hood  exhaust fan. Those lights do not match the under lighting under the cabinets. After changing them out it should look much better. Looks a little weird now.

 

Rest of the lighting in the room is warm white, don't like the bright white color.😎

 

 

Edited January 11, 2023 by Jimbo

[Coralc]

2 hours ago, Tree_skier said:

 

 

 

Cousin Vinnie and Andrew were right. So the final story is there is nothing wrong with the truck.  The shop said there was so much mud caked underneath that it unbalanced the steer tires.  This isn't just regular mud.  It is almost clay like.  Hence why driving didn't just cause it to fall off.  It was practically hardened like ceramic on the inside of the wheels.  I left the shop and went strait to a do it yourself carwash and started hosing out the inside of the wheels.  It took 20 minutes of pressure washing the inside of the wheels before that brown clay stopped running out of them and the water ran clear.  Lesson learned.

 

 

We have clay soil everywhere here, I think. It is how they made the Adobe BRICKS for the early buildings. It is slippery and very heavy. You can almost make clay pots out of it. ☺️

[h20skibum]

2 hours ago, Tree_skier said:

Cousin Vinnie and Andrew were right. So the final story is there is nothing wrong with the truck.  The shop said there was so much mud caked underneath that it unbalanced the steer tires.  This isn't just regular mud.  It is almost clay like.  Hence why driving didn't just cause it to fall off.  It was practically hardened like ceramic on the inside of the wheels.  I left the shop and went strait to a do it yourself carwash and started hosing out the inside of the wheels.  It took 20 minutes of pressure washing the inside of the wheels before that brown clay stopped running out of them and the water ran clear.  Lesson learned.

You did good, if you got it all washed out.   
 

Several years ago, when my kids were young, we were making one of our annual driving trips to Florida for the holidays.  I was driving an old Crown Victoria at the time.  While passing a semi truck in Georgia, he started to pull into my lane.  As I swerved left, that fine, red, Georgia clay started to suck my car down the median.  So in fine, National Lampoon Vacation mode, I thought if I got enough speed up, I could make it to the bottom and back up the other side.

 

As I looked in my mirrors, red clay was flying everywhere.  Long story short, the wheel wells, undercarriage, even the engine compartment had that clay in it.  Even after a thorough cleaning, I would still see some red, for quite some time when I washed that car.

 

Just one of life’s little adventures. 

[aussielozzie18]

It’s warm here but the skies look threatening so put my umbrella on the passenger seat.  Driving along (thankfully in local streets, so slow) and I have my window right  down.  Look over at the drivers side mirror and a huntsman spider climbs out of the gap and onto the middle of the mirror. Eeek!   Thank goodness I was driving slow and able to pay pull over and even more thankful I had that umbrella to flick it off…then I  had to get out and check it was gone and not hanging on my door…. That’ll be my only spider/car encounter for 2023 I hope!

[h20skibum]

1 hour ago, ReneeFLL said:

Flower bulbs or garlic? I’m guessing garlic. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Daffodils.  Just out a little too soon for PA. 

[Coralc]

10 minutes ago, aussielozzie18 said:

It’s warm here but the skies look threatening so put my umbrella on the passenger seat.  Driving along (thankfully in local streets, so slow) and I have my window right  down.  Look over at the drivers side mirror and a huntsman spider climbs out of the gap and onto the middle of the mirror. Eeek!   Thank goodness I was driving slow and able to pay pull over and even more thankful I had that umbrella to flick it off…then I  had to get out and check it was gone and not hanging on my door…. That’ll be my only spider/car encounter for 2023 I hope!

That would freak anyone out! They are huge spiders, and you wouldn't want him in the car. I don't really mind spiders and used to keep pet tarantulas, but I really wouldn't like being surprised by one of those. ☺️

Edited January 11, 2023 by Coralc

[Ocean Boy]

1 hour ago, ReneeFLL said:

Flower bulbs or garlic? I’m guessing garlic. 🤷🏼‍♀️

 

What’s Dry January? Never heard of it. 🤣  I’m having a Scorpion tonight so I’ll be in shape for my cruise. Well, at least drinking shape. 🍹 🍹🍹 🍹🍹 

No alcohol. What is in a Scorpion? It sounds lethal! 

[Sunshine3601]

1 hour ago, Jimbo said:

From what I read South Beach used to be a Crew Only location on Coco Cay...........they have since opened up South Beach to regular passengers and now the Crew has a location further down the beach from South Beach that the crew uses solely. 

Yup, the crew housing and other facilities has really grown in the last couple of years.

You get a great view of their area if you go to the tallest water slide or the balloon ride.

I'm excited to see what the new adult only area they have under construction will be like and whether there will be a charge.   Scheduled to be done by end of 2023.

[StanleyandGus]

48 minutes ago, aussielozzie18 said:

and a huntsman spider climbs out of the gap and onto the middle of the mirror

Every time I think Australia sounds wonderful, you say something like that! 

[aussielozzie18]

42 minutes ago, Coralc said:

That would freak anyone out! They are huge spiders, and you wouldn't want him in the car. I don't really mind spiders and used to keep pet tarantulas, but I really wouldn't like being surprised by one of those. ☺️

Such a striking looking pet you had.  I can admire spiders from a distance or behind glass but even still I doubt I could keep one as a pet.

[A&L_Ont]

3 hours ago, Tree_skier said:

While we were doing our hillbilly best to get the truck out SIL said "we need to buy a kinetic rope". I'd never heard of it before.  

Yankum is one of the well known manufacturers with sponsoring Welker Farms, Heavy D, Larson Farms and they also make Matt’s Recover Rope from Matt’s Off Road. Matt’s and Larsons have discount code on their YouTube channels as well. 
 

Soft shackles seems to be a must as well. 
 

 

[BonTexasNY]

4 hours ago, HBE4 said:

 

Oh Yeah, you blend.

 

One of my all time favorites movies.

Mine too! 

 

What's a grit?

[Bailey & Sophie]

16 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

 Maybe analogous to booking a cruise on a billion dollar cruise ship and then sharing food with flies at Labadee. 

 

Well, there is that. I don't leave $20,000 tips tho.

[harryfat1]

4 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

To all our "Californians" under the weather -- 

 

@Coralc, Patti

 

@NHProud, Judy

 

@Tree_skier, Dave

 

@FromSea2ShiningSea, Helen

 

@harryfat1, Harry

 

Hopefully, you'll safely "weather" the weather 🌧️

 

 

Hi Dani,

 

Thanks for the concern. 

 

Yeah, various parts of California has been battered by one storm after another the past couple of weeks.

 

We lost power to our house this morning.  You don't realize how much you rely on electricity until you don't have it.  Can't even make a regular cup of coffee without electricity.  Part of our garage got flooded but not nearly as bad as some as seen on TV.

 

This picture was taken by someone at work last week from the work parking lot after a storm blew through the night before. We had the option to work from home during the storm so I wasn't at the office that day.  Wouldn't be much fun if this tree landed on people/cars during normal business hours.

 

 

The big name damage is from the Capitola wharf broken in half:

 

 

Various damages from the wind knocking down trees:

 

 

[taznremmy]

1 hour ago, Coralc said:

That would freak anyone out! They are huge spiders, and you wouldn't want him in the car. I don't really mind spiders and used to keep pet tarantulas, but I really wouldn't like being surprised by one of those. ☺️

No Thanks!!! 😱

[HBE4]

3 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

Marisa Tomei graduated the same HS as my daughters and was the keynote speaker at one of the graduations.Afterward she mingled with the parents and family members.I had the opportunity to converse with her.

I also knew her father as we had the same Accountant.

 

Ahhh, Marisa Tomei 💘💖💕

[HBE4]

56 minutes ago, BonTexasNY said:

Mine too! 

 

What's a grit?

 

What is a Yute?

[FromSea2ShiningSea]

5 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

To all our "Californians" under the weather -- 

 

@Coralc, Patti

 

@NHProud, Judy

 

@Tree_skier, Dave

 

@FromSea2ShiningSea, Helen

 

@harryfat1, Harry

 

Hopefully, you'll safely "weather" the weather 🌧️

 

 

 

Thank you, Dani, for your concern and thinking of us at this time.  We are weathering the weather pretty well here considering the devastation that you see on the news.  DH found puddles of water under the house.  Hopefully, it will dry out when it stops raining.  Last couple days,  the wind and rain comes in the middle of the night and rain into the day.  It gives us a break on and off during the day.  Clears in the afternoon and evening  Then it’s rinse and repeat.  

 

You’ve probably seen pictures of the storm surge that caused major flood damage to Capitola, a quaint, little costal town in Santa Cruz County.  It destroyed the wharf, businesses and homes like hit by a tsunami.  This is what it looked like when we were there in 2021.  

 

There’s the pier that had a restaurant, a tackle shop and people fishing.  

 

Restaurants and vacation rentals 

 

 

[ReneeFLL]

4 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

No alcohol. What is in a Scorpion? It sounds lethal! 

I’ll have to ask Mike what his recipe is, but I think it’s this one. There are some recipes out there that use pineapple juice, but that’s not how it was originally made.

Scorpion

1.5 oz lemon juice

2 oz orange juice

1/2 oz orgeat 

1 oz brandy

2 oz white rum

cup of ice 

Combine all ingredients in a blender with ice cubes. Blend until slushy.

Some info on it.

https://vintageamericancocktails.com/scorpion-cocktail/

 

3 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Such a striking looking pet you had.  I can admire spiders from a distance or behind glass but even still I doubt I could keep one as a pet.

I agree. What if it got lose at night and crawled on your face at night? I would totally freak out. 🤣 🫣 😱

Edited January 11, 2023 by ReneeFLL

[Coralc]

43 minutes ago, ReneeFLL said:

I agree. What if it got lose at night and crawled on your face at night? I would totally freak out. 🤣 🫣 😱

 

She never did that.  😀They don't have very sticky pads and there was a lid on her tank. She was pretty calm. I would buy her a dozen crickets every 2 weeks, and they would be chirping madly...and then it would get quieter and quieter, until it was time to re-stock. 

[ollienbertsmum]

16 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Unless we are on a cruise or out for a meal I never drink.

Graham.

 

That is a good way to take care of your body.  Might try and do the same once January is over.