More Pond Visitors

Snowy Egret at upper pond


Red Racer at lower pond

Get Out There!!

Royal Caribbean's Monarch of the Seas was the site of a great girlfriend getaway this weekend! I charged up my Mavica and left my disks at home (yep, on the top of the dresser--right where I found them when I got back home today), so you'll just have to look at the ship compliments of the pictures I scanned here.

We had such a great time! Penny made a DVD of the old company Christmas party shows we put on years ago and we all laughed and talked about the 'old days' in our stateroom. There were six of us: Annie, Donna, Lynn, Nancy, PJ (Penny) and me. I lost my voice pretty much by the first night, but that didn't stop me from talking.

Saturday was our sea day, Sunday was Ensenada and we shopped and had a great lunch, margueritas and guacamole and chips. Saturday, a man in his 70's won the men's bellyflop competition (in a shirt and slacks no less). The two top decks were cheering him on: Arnold! Arnold! Arnold! as he was awarded the gold medal over his soaking clothes and USC cap.

Last night, we shared a last drink at the beautiful Viking Crown Lounge (far end of the ship, bottom picture) that holds a 360 degree view of the ship and the ocean. We watched the Yankee-Angels playoff game after PJ reprogrammed the tv up there (no remote control) to get the game on for us! Yay, PJ! Sorry, Angels. Good luck tonight, ok?

Lynn and PJ were the cruise directors--keeping us updated on all the various activities, too numerous to attend--although I think Lynn gave it her best shot. Annie even hit a 900 quarter jackpot last night on the slot machine in the casino as she was waiting for me to grab some last minute gifts.

To all who couldn't make it, you missed a great time. See you 'out there' next year!

Serenity in Hooterville

Right: Lower pond & island


Below: Upper pond and waterfall


My private oasis in the desert.

Chukker, California Quail, and an abundance of birds and critters love my ponds.

BBQ-ing in Baghdad

Sunday, October 2nd 2005:

Hey again,

Last night's BBQ was eventful. First of all, we had a power problem and the wet trailer (trailer with water and plumbing) kept tripping the circuit breaker and eventually took out the external lights in the quad (the area where the sleeping quarters are for my office mates).

3 Haji's finally showed up to fix the electrical but they were in the parking lot because none of them brought a flashlight. I had to excort them with my fixed flashlight to the breaker box and they disconnected some wires then left. This didn't help us out with lighting.

The BBQ was going but you couldn't see anything without a flashlight so a fire was required. All we could find to burn were pallets and diesel so we had a bon fire thanks to who ever owned the pallets down the road (see attached photo).

The brisket was great and so was the BBQ sauce Ricky Bob cooked for 2 days in the coffee maker.

See you soon, Love Ya,
Chuck