Pensacola Naval Air Museum

Larry and I went to the Pensacola Naval Air Museum today. It was a full day. See below...

Propeller of an Aircraft Carrier - Solid brass, 13 feet tall, 60,000 lbs

Blue Angels

Larry looking for Commie Migs

Larry in the pilot position

I'm in the co-pilot seat

Bob Hope - Larry saw him live when he was in Nam.

Fort built in 1789 by the Spanish, The U.S. Army took it over. The Confederates lost control of it to the Union. The cannon is looking over Pcola Bay, ready to take out Cubans.

Larry losing his balance.

Death from above

We went to Hurlburt Air Force base today. This was the base that Sgt. Larry Schmidt was stationed in 1968-1969 before shipping off to the conflict in Viet Nam. They let us in the base as visitors and we were able to walk around some of the planes that Larry worked on back in the day. We saw C-123, OV-10, A-1E, C-47, C-130, A-37, all which Sgt. Schmidt worked on! I called Pops to tell him we saw a C-130. Pops was a prop man in Thailand during Nam.

Larry standing near an A1-E


Larry v.s. Charlie

C-130. Dad E. worked the propellers.

It was nice out today. 65 and sunny. I swam in the ocean, but was the only one. It was very cold water.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ROXANNE!

Larry arrives....

Who Schmidt in the hot tub?

??

Breakfast with the Bird

After many confirmed sightings of the 1976 Rookie of the Year over the past couple of weeks, I finally was able to confirm it for myself this morning. The Bird (aka Mark Fidrych) made me a delicious breakfast sandwich and a side of potatoes this morning. We chatted about a trip to Michigan he will be taking next week to visit friends in the northern lower, including Bay City and Gaylord. I wanted to bring up Zumaya and the many comparisons to his career, but thought better as it may still be painful after all of these years. The potatoes were good. Per my request, he signed my receipt. The bean counters in NY will be getting a photocopy only with my expense report.

Put a bid on a house...

We placed a bid on a house down here yesterday. It is a nice house which is new construction. It is the model home for the sub, so it has some nice upgrades, including the window treatments, stainless kitchen appliances, security system, etc.

We are trying to get them to come down a few $K and install a fence in the back yard. We will hear on Tuesday if they accept our bid. Once that happens and we own the place, I am calling the pool company to put an in-ground in the back yard. Yessssirrrrr. Here are some photos of the joint.

It's colder than a witch's teet down here today, 32 degrees on the beach. We went looking for shells because no one in their right mind would walk the sands when it is this cold. We were almost right. We had our pick of shells that washed up the night before, but there were a couple of other saps out there as well. We found some starfish and some cool jellyfish. Ras brought back some shells for the kids.


Giants 17, Packers 14
Pats 42, SD 10

Pcola is fun.

Went out the last two nights with friends. The Lancasters came out last night and we went to Peg Leg Pete's. Here we are in front of Peg Leg himself...


Tonight we hooked up with Rob and Barb, and Bill and Sheri. We started at their place (they are also staying at Portofino) and went to the Sandshaker. We all had one of the famous Bushwacker drinks (including Dad S.) From there we went to Crabs for diner. Ras, Rob, Bill, and Sheri started with oyster shooters, which is a raw oyster in a vodka shot with horseradish and tabasco. Barb's face says it all. Sheri had quite the reaction after shooting hers.


Ras, Rob, and bar enjoyed a three-way as they feasted on the Steamer platter.


Then Rob played the claw game in which you had the chance to snag a lobster for dinner. Why he did it after we had dinner is beyond me. It did not matter anyway as the lobster escaped Rob's grasp halfway out of the water.


We celebrated tonight the fact that we are officially homeless, meaning that my company has purchased our Michigan house after the buyers signed a contract. What this means is we are out. Even if the buyers back out and don't show up for the closing, we don't own the house anymore, my company does. We also found a house down here and will be making an offer on it tomorrow.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Junk and stuff

I put a couple of bird feeders outside my office window to stare at when I am supposed to be working.
And here is a random video of Larry.

Ras is coming down this week end because I think I found a house down here.

Just Put Me on the Hog.

I went to the gun range today with a buddy from the plant to sight in the rifle for the highly anticipated hog camp. This is very different from the hog camp at Larry's cabin where we would go to the Hale Tavern and find 250 pounders.

Florida Wild Hog


Hale Tavern version

The range went well. I was pretty good at 50 yards, but completely sucked at 100 yards. I am going to have to go back before I head out in the Florida swamp. Rob did good. He shot a new gun. I shot the .30-06. If that hog steps out with in 50 yards I will be in the bacon. Here is a video of Rob at the range.

It was very nice out today, high 60's and sunny. It took a long walk from the condo to the National Park. There is a nice path along the beach. It is exactly 5.5 miles to the park and back. There was a guy stuck in the sand cause he tried to pull a u-turn. It was a Chevy.


There were some guys surf fishing. It looked pretty relaxing as all I saw them do was sit on their cooler drinking beer.

I took pictures of the sunrise and sunset from my balcony today.

Sunrise

Sunset

There is a lot to do out here, but it still gets boring. It is still like I am staying in a hotel. I am looking forward to Larry, Dad S., Erps, coming down to visit in the next couple of weeks.

Sammie's Poem

Sammie (this is how she likes it spelled now - not Sammy) wrote a poem about the beach she wanted me to publish. Here it is.....

Oceans

The most peaceful place on earth is an ocean. While I walk on the bank I could feel the sand oozing through my toes with each step. When I dunk my foot in the cool, refreshing water I could just make out the cool itty bitty fish. While I swim I could taste the salt water in my mouth...and boy does it taste bad!!!!!!! When I am done swimming I climb onto the sand beach, then I lie onto my back and listen to the gentle waves crash onto the rough sandy beach. When it's time to go home, the scent of palm trees and coconuts slowly fade away.

Here is a photo of the author

I miss my kids and my babies mama.

Per your request...

Here is some more on Larry and LaCoe:


Larry belongs to some "Huge Tree Society" of Michigan. If he finds a huge tree, he is supposed to measure it and send in the coordinates. In the above photo, Larry proudly stands next to a Basswood tree near the AuSable river. If it is indeed the biggest Basswood, Larry is gonna carve his name in the trunk.


Above is another photo from the Jack Daniels tour. That is Lacoe and Daniels. Here are some facts about Jack Daniels:

• He was only 5'4" tall

• He died from a foot injury after kicking his safe. His foot injury caused his foot to become infected. It was amputated first above the foot, then above the knee, then finally at the thigh. He died a couple of years later from gangreen.

• His distillery is in a dry county which sucks. They did sell a commemorative bottle which I bought.

Facts about Scott Lacoe:

• He likes Jack Daniels

I took some more photos of my place. I want to gets some shots of the view, but it is dark when I go to work and dark when I get home. I will take some this weekend. I did see a dolphin jumping out of the water when I was crossing a bridge yesterday.


I signed the contract today to approve the sale of the Michigan house. Looking forward to the closing. The Everett clan will be in Pcola by Feb 20.

Drive Down

First try at this. Drove down last week with Duke LaCroix (LaCoe). Stayed in Nashville and then made a tour stop at the Jack Daniels Distillery in Lynchburg, TN. It added about four hours to the trip, but was well worth it.

Duke with the Chevy Jack Daniels Nascar

Here are some shots of my place down here. I will post more later.

We partied with work folks on Friday. Scottie and I got pretty trashed, but we had a designated driver. We went golfing the next day, but I bowed out after nine after my hangover and the fact that I suck at golf forced me out. Duke had to continue on with the back nine with Mendoza and the Director of Manufacturing. I watched Michigan get beat by Purdue in b-ball.

Went out to the fishing pier down the beach from where I live.


Have some friends and family coming down to see me in the next couple of weeks. Erps comes next weekend, as well as father-in-law. Larry heads down the following week.


We got word today that someone made an offer on our Michigan house, closing in mid-February. Ras and the kids will be heading down soon.

See you all later, knuckleheads.