My, how they've grown! #2doods

Just a little reminder for us and our readers of how much these pups have grown. Cooper will be a year old next month and Murphy in July. I had fun looking back....not as many photos of Murphy when he was younger, most were of the two of them and either playing (blurred) or sleeping. LOL!

Cooper

Murphy

Front Door Views

They still have very different personalities. Cooper is hyperactive, sometimes obsessive and a tad more on the jealous side (although they both have that tendency - pet one, better pet both!). Murphy will play just a hard but doesn't seem to need it as much as Cooper. I don't think Cooper will ever get fat.

Biggest challenge with them both is walking on the leash - trying to get them both used to the Gentle Leader and get them to behave around other dogs. Yes, a definite challenge but we love them both.

Ciao for now!

Cruise ship held up by drunken pirates!

Sorry for the late post...here is a quick wrap-up!

We've been off cruising...we did two weeks on the same ship with the same itinerary in late January, early February. Western Caribbean, our favorite due to the amount of scuba diving available for Stu. Normally all four ports have diving: Grand Cayman, Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel. This time around, there was no diving offered in Cozumel but after three days in a row of underwater fun, that was okay with him.

I do want to share this photo of the ladies room in one of the truck stops on our way south (we drove). Not your typical one at all!

Oh, wait, you don't understand the blog title? Let's go back to day one - embarkation day. We had driven to Tampa and spent the night in Wesley Chapel, giving us a short drive to the port. What we hadn't realized was it was also day for the Gasparilla Pirate Fest. We worried about road closures driving to the port but were met with none. Light traffic, actually.

We were scheduled to leave at 4pm but they were still loading luggage and provisions. So we missed our window. Due to the number of boats on the water due to the celebration, our next window was 6pm. Oops, we missed that one, too. We finally left at 10:15pm. It didn't really matter to us, we enjoyed seeing the port lit up at night. But it did matter to the Captain - he had to make adjustments to the amount of time in our first port of Cozumel. So, we were held up by drunken pirates!

  

We tried to get a photo of the Sunshine Bridge when we went under around midnight but just not enough light.

The rest of the cruise was pretty much the same as previous cruises - Stu dove almost every port and I wrote/edited to meet my publication deadline for Paradise Drift. I did leave my comfort zone, I promised myself I would try some new foods and I did. Stu was impressed {snicker}. I had fun using my new insulated tumbler, too!

We did have fun with another band new to us, ALTERR. What a wonderful group of guys, all from the Philippines. The group has been through several iterations before sticking with the current core group consisting of Sonny (lead guitar), Mario (drums), Geraldo (bass guitar), and Lito (keyboard). They all shared vocal duties and they did quite well with a wide variety of tunes ranging from oldies, to 70's-80's, pop, hard rock, country and more!

You can see all their photos and videos in our SmugMug Album.

We saw them almost every performance and on the second week of our cruise, we got to meet the folks behind ALTERR. Alva & Terry - the sweetest couple, we fell in love with them. Here are a few shots of them.

A few photos from formal night - now that is a shrimp cocktail!

Caught a nice sunset from our balcony....

We had a couple new towel animals - a whale, a bat, and Stu just had to decorate the frog!

We had the best wait team in the dining room...

...and the best room steward. She reminded us both of our sweet friend Angelita in Ecuador!

Oh, and when we were in port between the cruises - our balcony faced the valet parking and we spotted our car. We're the little black Jeep in the back row. LOL!

The last night at sea, the captain came on the intercom and announced that heavy fog was in the forecast for Tampa in the morning. In order to hopefully avoid a stalled arrival, he was going to push to arrive very early (by 4am) in order to beat it. And he did! Wow...

Here are some select shots taken during the cruise - all the photos and videos are HERE. As always, click any photo for a larger view.

And wonder of all wonders...who would ever have believed it. A husband wife duo who were entertainers - were in Cuenca, Ecuador when we lived there. The Musical Nomads! Small world for sure...

(I hope you are enjoying my Simplicity posts. I love seeing them every month on the 13th.)

Ciao for now!

Phew! A few notes for now...

No, you didn't miss our cruise blog. I've been swamped with my latest book release and some other things, so hopefully, maybe, possibly, this weekend?

Here's a synopsis of what's been up with us since we got back on Feb 12th (ten days - where did it go?):

• Uneventful drive back from Tampa other than a windshield chip
• Insurance covers windshields at 100%, got the chip repaired (yay!)
• Rain, then more rain
• Stu had a dentist appointment, one wisdom tooth extraction, two crowns
• Still raining
• I had a mammogram and was offered the new 3D mammography (Medicare pays for it)
• We both had doctor appointments. All is well with us both!
• A break in the rain, had two sunny, beautiful spring-like days!
• We closed on the sale of our property in Jamestown. Sold to RVing friends who plan to build a cabin for non-winter residency. In fact, their plans pretty much echo our original plans!
• Did all the usual daily stuff - shopping, laundry
• Watched the Olympics!
• We started a lo carb diet (lazy keto) on the 13th. We are both down six pounds!
• Raining again!

Speaking of rain - this is before it got really bad!

Stu initially thought he had either a cold or sinus issues (we've both had the allergies nail us since returning home). A week later and he's currently getting a root canal for an abscess beside the extraction. Hoping he will get to feeling better.

On the down side, our son-in-law had to have surgery to remove a brain tumor that was found when he suddenly suffered a seizure. It came back cancer but they feel they have it all removed. He is now undergoing treatment to be sure. Also, my old neighbor from back before I went full-timing let me know her husband was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer, spread to the lymphs and liver. He is way too young. Another very good friend was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer that has spread into the shoulder area and is currently in rehab with a fractured collar bone and two more in the hip. Lastly, a friend from Florida passed a day after entering hospice, he had a head/neck cancer and had been fighting his battle for a while. Sigh...cancer SUCKS!

The 2doods? They're doing fine...as always. Cooper lost a little weight and Murphy gained too much weight while at doggy camp. We suspect Murphy was eating some of Cooper's food. Ten days of normal eating and Cooper is back up and Murphy is slowly decreasing. LOL! I know everyone is missing their dose of the Doods, so here is a little compilation video of their indoor play this morning.

Funny story from yesterday as we headed to drop the pups at doggy daycare off before going to the closing on the property. It was early and I hadn't had breakfast so I went through the McD's drive-thru to get a cup of coffee. This was a first for the pups.

~ They didn't like the voice in a box. They barked. 
~ They didn't like the lady taking my money. They barked. 
~ And they were still barking when the coffee lady spoke to me. 

LOL! Guess we need to get out more...

I snapped a couple of photos in the doctors office. I fell in love with this hedgehog in my examining room. I want one!

And had to save this one from the waiting room.

Ciao for now!