1 Mar, Thurs

Thurs, 1 Mar .... WoW .... it's March already ? ....must be Spring in Kzoo, huh? ... but i guess you guys really didn't have much of a winter this year... let's hope it's summer weather by the time i get back in April :) ... i'd like that! today i walked to the bank before i went to work and ran into Ronnie. he offered to pick me up this afternoon and go snorkeling again. i went to the office and worked on more documents. i have been having difficulty with this old Word program that came with this PC ....... not to mention i'm working on a PC again and not a Mac! .... i keep saving documents and then not being able to find them! John stopped by and i snagged him to help me try to find them. ...he is 'backing out' of this work, since he has some other projects to finish up before he leaves next week... he is really intelligent, an Engineer, and good with computers .. i'm learning a lot from him. i thougtht i had a meeting at 10am with the Manager; but at 12:00 Ronnie stopped in and i still hadn't seen her. he said he would pick me up at 1pm. i found the Manager eating lunch, she apologized and we rescheduled. Ronnie picked me up at 1pm and we walked down to The Driftwood to get something to eat. Bruce, the owner was there, of course, and so was Jungle Jim, two of my favorite people!. .... i introduced the guys and we got some lunch. i'd been wanting Nachos and Ronnie had a shrimp salad ... he's obviously a healthier eater than i am ! before we left, one of the guys from The Barefoot Band walked in. Ronnie started talking with him because he also plays the guitar. the Band is going to play at CoCo's Bar, and he invited Ronnie to sit in with them. i'll be sure to be there! we walked back to my place and got on his motorcycle ... again ... this is getting to be a habit with me :( ..... and we headed back to the East side of the island to snorkel. we started to walk out a ways into the reef when i decided it was too rough and too many waves breaking over the reef to attempt snorkeling there today. the problem is getting into the water, over the reef, and getting your fins on, without getting bashed around by the breaking waves and getting cut on the coral. ....coral cuts do not heal quickly! ...and lately, i've been hearing people say that it isn't even healthy to go in some of the waters around here because of the sewage that goes in there ... and that if you have a cut, it could get infected .... really? ....now they tell me ... that is sad and alarming to hear !!!!!! i hear that the island that i took the boat out to the other day, .... is one of the worst places to snorkel because they have NO sewer system out there at all :( .....and i spent all day in the shallow waters right up on the shore .... :( anyway... enough of those depressing thoughts! .... we ended up walking down the beach a way to where the waves weren't so strong. there is a house there that has built a lot of canals for the sea water to come in and go out again ... with little bridges, and cabanas ... it's a wonderful spot. Ronnie knows the people, so we were able to walk around there and i snorkeled in front of their place, which was a little more protected .. but still plenty of waves. again, i didn't spend much time out there since he was waiting for me on shore, and the visibility was pretty poor with all the sand being picked up by the waves. i'd really like to return there some day when it's not so rough.... here are a few photos the 'jury is still out' on what kind of fish this is .... it has such pretty markings on it's face .... but it looks like several in the book and i think this is a Tobacco Fish .. but the other day i saw something in the book that looked like it as well ... so ... ? he brought me back home ... on the bike ... :) ..after cleaning up, i went back to work to see if maybe John was there .. he was not. so i came home and eventually walked down the street looking for some place to eat. ....it seems my biggest decision each day is where to eat dinner ;0 ...i picked a place that i've pass all the time and there are always a lot of people there. ...i know why .. good food, and cheap; ... shrimp pasta with cream sauce for under $5 .... i brought my own rum in my coke bottle, so it was a cheap dinner. came back home, sat outside in the walkway coz the internet service is stronger out here and there is a nice breeze blowing through it. soon i heard the familiar ring from Skype ... i had a video call from Jolene and Lonnie and ... Kathy and Mitzi were there with them .... i got to see all of them ... that was so wonderful ... it made my day !! thank you guys! :)