Well, here we sit ...

[Thumper]

Lynn and I got up this morning, loaded the car and headed to the beach for the weekend. It rained so hard on the trip over we were running 45 mph on the interstate. While we were checking in, we were told there was a water spout spotted just north of us and we're now under a tornado watch. Ok, we're settled into our nice ocean view room now ... but it's really hard to see much it's raining so hard. We're leaving here Sunday afternoon ... according to the weather report, this mess is supposed to clear up ... you guessed it ... Sunday afternoon! Oh well, the whole point was to just get out and away from the house for a few days. I guess we've accomplished that so far.

A couple pics from our balcony ...

2972 2973

[FooBang]

I miss St. Pete. Getting to work was a matter of riding my bicycle around the bay for 15 minutes. Fishing everyday from my front yard.. <sigh>

[Thumper]

Yeppers Foo, you had a nice place there. We're a bit south of there today ... in Sarasota. Maybe we'll check out the Ringling Bros. museum ... not sure we'll get in a lot of beach time. :(

BTW ... we're at the Hyatt and they offer the guests free fishing gear, free kayaks, etc etc etc. Not sure we'll be taking them up on the freebies this weekend though. No prob. ... we're away from the routine and will have no problem finding a way to stay busy.

[BarryBobPosthole]

The good thing about Sarasota, Thumper is most the folks there are your age.

BKB

[Thumper]

The good thing about Sarasota, Thumper is most the folks there are your age.

Bite Me! (but you're right) :(

[Thumper]

I'm sittin' here lookin' out over the ocean with an ice cold beer (Beer Lao) by my side and workin' on a big ol' batch of peanuts Lynn "bowled" up last night. Man-o-man, she made some good'uns!

2974

[BarryBobPosthole]

That's tough duty. You need to shuffle on down to the shuffle board court to check out the ladies.

BKB

[Chicken Dinner]

I love me some Beer Lao.

[FooBang]

I spent 4 years in FL and never saw that beer..

[LJ3]

Are they still hotties if you can make out the adult diaper panty line?

[Thumper]

You're a sick puppy Lenster! ;)

Foo, you have to really search for the Beer Lao. Lynn found 'em someplace (I don't know where) and bought me a case for my birthday. That was in January and I've been nursing them.

These are my personal favorites. One Thai, one Singaporean and one Lao:

http://stressedrach.co.uk/wp-content/gallery/june2012reviews/6a4afa9c59ff9cc1dc134bc919826f4fb95d6029_m.jpghttp ://www.designwala.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1.jpghttp://stawskiusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/BeerLao_Lager.jpg

[Thumper]

Well, we woke up to the same crappy weather this morning, so I did a quick i-net search and came up with three estate sales within 5 miles of the hotel, so we headed out. Cool beans man ... we practically filled the trunk and spent maybe $30 total. Now what are the odds of this happening? Lynn found a pair of Sketchers tennis shoes, her size, brand new and still in the box on a bedroom closet shelf. The odd part? It's the exact shoe she's been looking at and wouldn't pull the trigger to buy ... they run $60. Got 'em for $2.00 .. so they basically paid for all our purchases with change left over.

I found a ton of stuff, but the coolest is an old art deco clock from the 1930's. It's an old GE Telechron and was hanging on the wall in the kitchen and running quietly with the correct time. I've noticed that people at these sales seldom look UP ... they're always looking down at stuff. I pulled it off the wall and asked, "How much?" The dude said $5.00, so I snagged it. They'll bring an easy $60 on eBay all day long. Okay, that's $7 paid for $120 of stuff so far and we have a whole trunk load! A profitable day. Here's my "new" clock!

2976

[BarryBobPosthole]

I love analog clocks like that. If it were up to me, I'd outlaw digital clocks. The world would be calmer.
BKB

[LJ3]

I'd snap that clock up too. Be cool in the bedroom. Is it the kind with that cheesy Orange backlight? I had one of those for 25 years

[Thumper]

I remember those Lenster. No backlight on this one, just the little red dot at top center that shows white for am and red for pm. What I think is cool, this thing has been running QUIETLY for almost 80 years! (I think it was made in the mid-30's) One'a those "they don't make 'em like they used to" sorta things.

[Thumper]

Good ol' Murphy's Law. We've planned this little weekend get-a-way for the past couple months. Arrived at the beach after driving through the worst weather of the year. The pics above is what this place has looked like since the time we arrived ... UNTIL this morning. BEAUTIFUL day ... cool ocean breeze, no clouds and clear blue skies. (of course we'll be checking out and headed home in a few hours.) :(

2977 2978

[BarryBobPosthole]

We worked our butt off yesterday cleaning out and re-mulching gardens and started the day off right with a trip to the dump to haul off yet another pile of crap. How it accumulates, I have no idea. Topped it off with a 16 oz ribeye and a couple of 20 oz Boulevards at a local eatery. we were gonna go fishing today but we decided to just have a lazy day around here today. Sounded pretty good considering how sore I was from yesterday!

BKB

[Thumper]

Sucks getting old, doesn't it? We were out hitting estate sales yesterday and drove by a Thai restaurant called Isan Thai. I hollered at Lynn to pull a u-turn and head back. The word Isan (actually, it's usually spelled Isaan) refers to the Northeastern area of Thailand where I spent most of my time. It's a different style of food (a lot of Lao influence) and is a bit different than "Southern Thai" (Bangkok). I prefer a lot of Isaan style over southern Thai, so I HAD to have lunch there. Man-o-man, it was good stuff and half the staff hung out at our table as it isn't very often they can speak Thai with the customers in Sarasota! It was a good time with some good food.

For dinner last night, we went to an Amish Restaurant that has quite the good reputation in town ... especially for their (pressure cooked) fried chicken and their homemade pies (everything is homemade actually). We totally pigged out and we were so full, we practically had to crawl back to the hotel.

No beach time this weekend, but we winged it and still had a good time. S'posed to hit New Orleans next month and hook up with my sis and bro-in-law.

[Bwana]

Sounds like you made the most of it and came out just fine. Goes to show a what a positive attitude will get you. Glad it worked out so well.