Gone Fishin'

This past Saturday was beautiful in South Georgia/North Florida so a good time to good fishin'! My good buddy Ben, his son Harrison, and a friend of Ben's, Larry and I headed to Steinhatchee, Florida to go fishing.
Ben has a friend with a wonderful boat, the "Paux Pas" and makes it available during the "light" fishing season. 26 feet in length with twin 150 hp motors. Great boat for the Gulf for fishing.

The boats has all of the latest navigational equipment and depth finders. Really a great boat!We headed out into the open Gulf at about 7:30 Satyurday morning for a day of fishing.
Of course I was well equiped with the great rod, reel and tackle box that I had received for Christmas a couple of years ago, and it was the perfect setup for the fishing that we were going to do. I felt like a pro.
While I landed the first catch of the day (black bass about 12 inches long), I was followed closely by Ben with a more significant catch.

For a good part of the fish that we hooked, the bait was almost as big as the fish. It was still fun bringing them in and then letting them go again.

If it was really about catching fish to eat, I would just go to the grocery store. It certainly would be a lot cheaper. It was a great day on the water with good friends. What more could you ask for? Oh yeah, a few more fish would have been nice.

Seven Things

7 THINGS I PLAN TO DO BEFORE I DIE
1. Publish a book about my life events
2. Serve a fulltime mission overseas
3. Learn to speak Spanish
4. Visit Egypt (and other places)
5. Celebrate my 100th birthday
6. Retire as CEO
7. Celebrate our 75th aniversary
7 THINGS I CANNOT DO
1. Play the piano
2. Enjoy eating okra (I have traied many times)
3. Be height/weight proportional (175 pounds... no way)
4. Be sad for extended periods of time (life is too short)
5. Travel into space
6. Play any music by ear
7. Run a marathon (why would I ever want to do that?!)
7 THINGS THAT ATTRACT ME TO THE OPPOSITE SEX
1. Smiles and laughter
2. Surprises
3. Special meals or foods that I really enjoy.
4. Sharing travel adventures with someone who will go anywhere I drag her around the world.
5. Taking care of me when I am sick or hurt.
6. Hearing my old tired stories and laughing at them like they are brand new.
7. Going to see scary movies with me.
7 THINGS I SAY MOST OFTEN
1. I hear that!
2. You've got to be kidding me?
3. No I am not lost!
4. So what do YOU want for dinner?
5. It costs how much!!??
6. What do the kids want now?
7. What about that makes you think I would think that is a good idea? (said mostly to myself)
7 CELEBRITY ADMIRATION'S .. the ones I like to LOOK at!!!
1. Babs - Barbra Steisand
2. Meryl Strepp
3. Angelena Jolene
4. Charleze Therin (sp??)
5. Billy Bob Thorton
6. Bridgette Bardo (my first cinema love)
7. Tom Selleck
7 FAVORITE FOODS How do you choose just seven...
1. Milk Chocolate
2. Sushi
3. BBQ beef ribs
4. Green chili
5. Ribeye steak (medium rare)
6. German chocolate cake
7. Smoked oyster/onion/cheese sandwich

Labor Day in Charleston

This past weekend (Labor Day) found us on our way to Newberry, SC where VSU faced Newberry College in football. It was hot (96 with 90% humidity), but the victory made it worth the trip. Newberry was ranked 20th in the nation and of course we were last year's NCAA Champs. Since we were in the area we thought this would be a good opportunity to visit Charleston, SC. What a great city that is. So much history and really cool buildings.
This is the famous pineapple fountain in Old Charleston. The pineapple is an international symbol of hospitality, and it sure was true in Charleston.
Very interesting little alleyway that lead to several homes and a nice short cut.
We actually did some cultural things like visit an art museum. I was impressed by this sculpture. I had heard that the true test of a sculpturer was their ability to portray a woman behind a veil. This was a great example.

This is the entrance to the Charleston Slave Market. It was called this because it was where slaves sold goods that they had produced. Despite the name, the selling of slaves was prohibited in this market, despite the fact that Charleston was the major port for bringing in slaves from Africa.

Today it is a huge flea market (if you are interested in large fleas). Charleston had many, many very cool homes. They have restrictions now that no structure over 75 years old may be torn down, if it is possible to renovate.
The photo below brings up the old sailing question (for those who don't sail), "Can two sailboats sail in the opposite direction in the same wind?" I believe this photo clearly answers this question.

Here is the old versus the new. The question is, which one is old and which one is new? The carrier is the USS Yorktown a WWII era carrier on display in Charleston Harbor.

Charleston is know as the "Holy City" due to the number of churches. The one below is the First Espicople Church, which includes in its membership two signers of the Declaration of Independence.
The beaches were nice but the surf a little rough due to TS Hanna and very deep water.Our last day included a stop at Fort Sumter, the site of the first shots fired in the Civil War (Great War of Northern Agression). It was garrisoned by Union soldiers and was fired upon for 36 hours before they finally surrendered. South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union. Charleston Harbor at the start of the Civil War would have more than 100 sailing ships in port at any given time. Today it is the 4th busiest port in the US.



A good time was had by all. Great sea food!!

So, Do You Want to Live Forever?!

Gas for trip to Florida and back -- $55.00

DeLand Skydiving Adventure -- $170.00

Look on my face as I jump out of the airplane at 11,500 feet -- PRICELESS!!






What else can I say, I checked this off of my "Bucket List"!
It was totally awesome to say the least.
We jumped out in tandom at 11,500 feet and then freefell to 5,000 feet, and glided in from there.
The instructor actually let me steer the parachute and the landing was amazingly gentle, just slidding in on pea-gravel.

The 4th At Daytona

The 4th of July found us headed back to Daytona Beach for the Brumos Porsche 250 at Daytona. One of the advantages of being a Porsche owner is tickets each year to this road race with the GT Class and Daytona Prototype racecars. Racetime found us sitting right behind the Pit Box for the 58 and 59 cars, the Brumos Porsche racing team.
Mom met a new friend at the races. Everyone tells me that I should be worried. Whats Dr. McDreamy got that I don't besides, youth, money and a race car. He actually drives for the Mazda GT racing team.
I guess we all have our fantasy dreams at Daytona.

I would have thought that an hour before the race they would be finished making adjustments to the race car.

It is really hard to beat the 4th of July at the beach. 92 degree air and 72 degree water! Wonderful!!
No trip to Daytona is complete without a trip to the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse (170 feet to the light = 17 stories tall).
Here looking up at you!
Here's looking down. Did I mention that it was 170 feet to the top. That's something just under a mile I believe.
Night time on the beach, waiting for the fireworks to start.
HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!
No trip to the ocean is complete without a fishing trip, even if you don't catch any fish.

The Eyes of Texas

This past June was a very special month with a great chance to go to Texas and see the whole brood called the Struempler Family. This all began in 2000 when all three of our children decided to have baby girls born within 5 weeks of each other. Three little angels. In the natural progression of things they all three reached that age of accountability this year and made the decision to be baptiszed. It was long ago decided that we would get together for this occassion and has families moved from location to location, we settle on Plano, Texas for the gathering.My daughter Rebecca prepared for each of the girls a special towel to use to dry off with after the baptism (theoretically), which had their name and birthday on it and a special note. A very sweet rememberance of this very special day.Here are the girls getting ready to enter the font with their fathers. Audrey also had a cousin that was eight and she joined us for this special day.Proud fathers, and proud grandparents.

The proud parents

Samantha Timothy

Addison Dover

Audrey Struempler The Original Struemplers

After the baptisms it was a week of fun activities enjoying each other.

Monday was a trip to the American Girl Doll store for the girls and to the Fun Zone for the guys. (Big thanks to Clay for the passes)
Reagan ready to go.

Matching PJs were the rage! Girls and Dolls.

Drag racing kings.

Broderick looking like the big winner at the games.

Then it was off to the beach (Lake Lewisville) for boating and jet skiing and just good fun. Beach bums!

Getting a little too much sun?

A special thanks to Rebecca and Clay for hosting everyone for this very special ocassion, despite the turmoil in there own house. The good news is, with all the people staying at her house we couldn't tear it up anymore than it already way. Big thanks for all you did and everything everyone else did to make this a very special trip for all involved.