December 2012

Paulette's flat.  Warm - mid 70's - then chillier then downright cold by the end of the month.

Lots of walking at beach and park, which was flooded sometimes.

Went to see Life of Pi.

Panama City Christmas Parade.

New tenants at The Trail, but we told them no to having a horse.

Tried local Weight Watchers - truly awful, franchise, didn't really know anything & didn't have much product.  Very disappointed.  I know the best leaders, and they're not here!

Star has been getting varnished.  Also some engine work.  Started on decks.

Is 3d printing an opportunity?

Finished quite a few FT crossword puzzles -Cinephile, Falcon, Cincinnus, Dante.

Moved Star to Watson Bayou.  Met Otis, our new neighbor.  Got Gulf Power to connect us.

Started knitting squares for afghan.

Epic fail on refinancing.  No news on Tea House, but the bank had an appraisal done.

November 2012

Panama City, Fl.  Paulette's flat.  Some warm, some chilly days.

F1 ABU DHABI
Kimi, Alonso, Vettel
great race!

F1 AUSTIN
Underpant, Vettel, Alonso
lots of people there - grandstands full
wanna go!

FI BRAZIL
Button, Alonso, Massa
last one on Speed
Vettel world champ 3 years in a row

J started 3D printing research.

Looking for another marina.  City marina does not allow working on boats.  Decided on Watson Bayou - very nice people & good location.  Not sure it's a hurricane hole, but hopefully we won't have to deal with that.

Had Thanksgiving dinner at TGIF - had planned to do Golden Corral but it was bulging with a long line.  We miss Cracker Barrel!  Our closest one is in Destin, about 50 miles away.

Still looking for property.  Poston Road, Lynn Haven, West Bay, Edmonds Bayou, The Cove area, St Andrews.  Stumbled across house on 10th street that is very cute & we love it.  But, it's a short sale.  Definitely an affordable proposition.  Nice area called Lake Caroline.  Handed it over to Mary Blackburn to get an offer in.  The owners accepted it, now it's over to the bank.  A long, long waiting game - 90 days?

Paulette took off for California for the winter.  Mary & Alan are going to India for their big trip.

Finally, presidential election is over.

Went to see Skyfall at movies - brilliant!

Watson Bayou Marina

Watson Bayou Marina
 

TGIF Panama City

Our fave.....Cracker Barrel
 

Sebastian Vetel - 3 times world champion

October 2012

Doing this as an online journal for us.  Pat Bumfuzzle says he thinks blogging a normal life is deadly dull  We'll see about that.

Still at Paulette's flat.  Weather this month started out hot & steamy, then cooler with a few downright cold days towards the end.  Overall weather lovely. Hurricane Sandy hit the northeast at the end of the month.  Got our heater out on the 29th.  It was downright cold by then. 

The 28th was my 16 year anniversary of having a bionic heart valve.

All month, J was battling ear & throat problems.  Not fair.

Still collecting DOL.  It finished on the 23rd, when I started gainful employment.

The Trail tenants handed in notice & are leaving November 1st.  Another water leak at The Trail.

Terry at The Farm paid, so we emailed Roger re roof leaks - start trying to find someone to get them sorted. 

Applying online for jobs. 
Sears, Kohls, Walmart, Home Depot, Penneys, Winn Dixie, Publix.

Offered a job at Sam's Club - YAY!  I'm actually employable.  Who would've thunk it.  Started on the 17th, which was dad's birthday.

J had applied for a job with the government, of all people, at the Tyndall AF base marina - & they called him for an interview.  He went, but they really wanted someone with military experience, not to mention he's a damn forrner!

Discovered the Garden Club walking trails - very lovely.  A 1-mile paved trail meanders through the piney things.  A colony of cats live there with loads of people feeding them.  Found a house on 7th street that looked interesting. 

Started applying online for refinancing of The Trail.  No one likes to lend on rental properties, which The Trail is now.  Not our home any longer.

Took a drive north to find a state park near Marianna, which we never did find.  Ended up having supper at Ruby Tuesdays on I10.  Nice drive in the country, though.  Away from the coast, this part of Florida hardly looks like Florida.

Mary Blackburn working with us on the Poston Road property, with the bank rejecting our offer.  Looking for houses everywhere all month. 

ExFactory had a buyer for the drill machine, but we couldn't ship it, so no deal.

John has been working on Star's continuing steering leakage.  We need a welder, which was found.

Vlad had a major service.

W knitting jumpers.

Baseball playoffs going on - Braves have a 1 game playoff which they lose on a meltdown by Andrelton Singleton, the player we saw in Pensacola.  Orioles lost.  Nationals lost.  Detroit & St Louis win.  World Series starts.

Midnight alarm for Japanese F1 qualifying.  1am for the race; results Vetter, Masa, Kobayashi.
Midnight alarm for Korean F1 qualifying.  1am for the race; results Vetter, Webber, Alonso.
3.30 a.m. alarm for India F1 qualifying.  Results Vettel, Alonso, Webber

Terrible news that Speed has lost the broadcast rights & NBC Sports will be doing them.  Truly awful news!



New place of employment



Blue Jay - seen on walks



Turtle - seen on walks



Squirrel - seen on walks



Gorgeous St Andrews St Park



Manta Rays



Sun & shadows



Froggie



Gator Lake



Wildflowers

The fabulous Mary Blackburn - real estate agent extraordinaire!

September 2012, Panama City, Florida

Hurricane Isaac threatened the northern Gulf Cost, at one stage they predicted landfall on us.  So, taking precautions, we took all the canvas off Star.  Unfortunate for New Orleans, but fortunate for us, they got hit & we only got rain & wind for a couple of days. Got all the canvas back up over several days - Mr Man still under par, & this turned into quite the arduous task. However, job done.

J continues to work on Star.  W continues to apply for jobs online & research Belize. Would we like living there?  Renting there?  Buying there?  Should we move onto Star for the winter?

Drove to Niceville to buy our new wheels - Vlad the Volvo.

J found a property with deep water on Poston road, so we're off on the property lark again.  While this is a beautiful property, it was owned by the bank.  Mary Blackburn is trying to get an acceptable proposal together.  It needs loads doing, especially a new roof & new septic - all very expensive.

Drive to Apalachicola for an afternoon, had lunch at Up The Creek, went to the maritime museum.

Lots of walking.  Watched the dolphins at the end of the fishing pier waiting for whatever would come their way.  Opportunists!

J dealing with sore throat & ears on & off all month.  Even some night sweats.

Had to swap out computer at Best Buys - the new one just crapped out, so we got yet another new one.

BELGIUM F1
Button, Vettel, Kimi
massive out on turn 1

MONZA F1
Underpant, Perez, Alonso

SINGAPORE F1
Vettel, Button, Alonso

F1 news:  Underpant is going to Mercedes, Perez is going to McLaren.

Mr Man & Vlad

Poston Road front view

Poston Road dock - needs work!

Poston Road - view from back deck

Vlad the Volvo

Maritime museum

Maritime museum

Maritime museum

Maritime museum

Maritime museum

Maritime museum

view from dining deck, Up The Creek

Boat from Good Hope, GA - about 10 miles from Rutledge

St Andrews fishing pier

 

Dolphins waiting for fish

And some photos of Belize -

 





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August 14 - August 31, 2012 Panama City, Florida

A nasty bug called pneumonia struck Mr Skipper Man 2 days after arriving at Panama City marina.  Strange town, no car, don't know anybody, sick human - not good circumstances.  The crew at the marina were super friendly & super helpful & super concerned - they helped me round up a minicab to get us to the walk-in clinic they told us about.

The doctors there were great - & but it took 3 visits, 2 butt jabs, 3 antibiotics & 1 lot of steroids to finally get him 100% well.  Oh yes, & about 7 weeks. 

We were in need of some serious recovery.  We talked about how good a comfy bed, proper shower, ac & tv would all aid this, so we picked this hotel.  The staff were great.  In fact, every single person we met in Panama City was friendly & helpful & concerned. 

Our home away from the boat for a week.  It proved a good decision, especially when the insomnia set in.  Hard to sleep with pneumonia - you lay down, you start coughing.  You start coughing, you can't start.  Or sleep.  So the tv was a good companion, especially with the London Olymics in full swing.  Mr Skipper Man was one sick guy.



~~~~~~~~~~

Before leaving the boat, coffee got spilt on the laptop - of course, it didn't appreciate this & promptly died.  We tried drying out the keyboard, but it was a goner.

So it was off the Best Buy, just across the street from the hotel, for a new computer. An added complication & unexpected expense.










~~~~~~~~~~

We talked about renting a flat for a few weeks until we were fully recovered.  Serendipity stepped in because the first search on Craigslist brought up Paulette's flat in her house on Oak Road, with all utilities included with tv & wifi.  Bless her, what a lifesaver!  Met her, saw the flat, decided it would be perfect, so we moved in on August 14th.

839 Oak Ave, Panama City, Florida


 

http://www.mermaidsdontcook.com/


The flat is down the side at the back.  Paulette is fab & her flat was just perfect & just what we wanted & needed.










~~~~~~~~~~

Decided we need some wheels for the time being, until we decide what we're going to do long-term.  After a week in a rented car, tracked down a good one on Craigslist - here is "Vlad" the Volvo.

The first car-style vehicle we've had.  It's low-down!  Very comfy & now that we know it, we can find it in parking lots.





~~~~~~~~~~

Spent quite a few days in Mexico Beach, about 20 miles east down the coast.  It's a gorgeous beach town, so we started thinking about maybe buying rental properties.  We met the fabulous Mary at Sundance Realty.

http://www.maryblackburn.com/about.html












Not 100% convinced this is a business we want to get into, but it's fun looking & doing all the calculations.  There's a huge rental market there, especially from Tyndall base. 

Had lunch here, right on the beach.  Food was good, staff not so much.  Odd, it's not as if they were very busy.  Still, we had fun & enjoyed the view of beautiful Mexico Beach.

~~~~~~~~~~

Exploring the north Florida gulf coast has been fun. 

From Mexico Beach......







Cape San Blas....

Port St Joe...



Apalachicola....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carrabelle....

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's been a blast exploring these places.  Apalachicola has a relatively large European population,

judging from the accents we heard.  At the cafe, 3 out of 4 people inside were from the UK!