Do you remember the entry I made a few weeks ago. It was the one that detailed my vacation week in Florida. Part of that trip included a deep sea fishing excursion. If you also went to my webshots photo album you would have seen a picture of one of the fish I caught. I named him Ralph. Remember? That fish (the group's catch) was divided among the fisherwomen, place in zip lock bags, filled with water and then placed in the freezer. That was on Monday. By the time Friday rolled around and it was time to depart, there were several icy fish cubes encased in zip lock bags. Felicia and Kathleen agreed to transport my fish back to Texas. I wondered how frozen the balls of fish would stay during a 10 hour road trip in a cooler. I was assured by both Kathleen and Felicia that upon their arrival in Houston the fish was still encased in their icy cubes. Tim made a journey to the Dallas/Fort Worth area the next week, but "forgot" to bring my share. So, last weekend Felicia, Margaret and Kathleen all traveled from Houston to Austin and Felicia arranged with Margaret to deliver my fish to Jenny's baby shower and hand it off to me. Sure enough, we transferred the icy fish cubes from Margaret's cooler to my cooler, placed it in Elizabeth's TV room and there it stayed until I took it home at 2:30AM and placed it and the freezer pack in Jen's freezer. The next day, Sunday, I packed the car and the last thing to be packed was my ice chest with the fish inside it. After a 3 hour car ride I got home at around 4PM. I had two zip locks of fish and one of them had become partially thawed. So, I filled my ice chest with cold water and defrosted it the rest of the way, baked it, made some rice and had a very tasty meal with a side of apple sauce. I prepared part of it for lunch the next day.
After lunch on Monday, I started feeling yucky...really yucky. I actually began feeling queasy before lunch, but refused to give into it. By the end of the day I was sick. I somehow made the hour trip back to Arlington, exchanged the company truck for my car, and drove home. I washed my face, brushed my teeth and went to bed. My muscles were achy and I was having a difficult time sleeping. I felt hot, so I took my temp and it was 101'. I woke up Tuesday morning and still felt crappy (hint, hint). I made myself get up, take a shower, and get ready for work. My temp was down to 97.3'. So, I went to work. I still was not up to 100%, but by the end of the day I was almost feeling my old self again. All this time, I kept thinking "I hope the fish didn't do this to me". I tried to blame my illness on other things. When I got home, I went straight to bed.
I decided I needed to throw away the rest of the fish. I was bummed.
The next morning, (this morning) I got an early call from Kathleen. I told her that I think the fish made me sick. She said; "you were sick? so was I, we must have caught a bug from Jonathan and Kayleigh." She had the same symptoms as I. Oh joy, joy, joy! I don't have to throw away the fish. And that is how my week has gone so far.
An addendum to the previous story: Last night while I was on the computer, Jerry came in and told me that Nick was there to see me. He came by and again thanked me for returning his folder and brought me a loaf of banana nut bread. He really appreciated my efforts at getting it back to him. He is a very good looking young man and you can tell his momma raised him right. I wish I had a niece I could introduce to him and get him in the family.
Tonight I had to leave the house at around 7 to meet a friend to pick up some Mary Kay nail polish that I had purchased from her. I was talking to Meredith on the cell and as I neared the end of my drive I noticed an opaque plastic folder with a green flap on it. It was sitting partially on the curb and grass near our mailbox. I retrieved it and went on my merry way, all the while never missing a beat in my conversation with Meredith. In fact, almost as soon as the folder hit the floor of my car, it was out of my mind. I chatted with Meredith the 10 minutes it took to get to the meeting place for my friend. I was 15 minutes early, but I figured Meredith could keep me company. HOwever, my friend was 17 minutes early so I said my good-byes to Meredith and my friend and I talked about many things. Mike is also an employee, so we have alot in common. At 8PM we said our goodbyes and I headed home. I called Meredith and she kept me company all the way home and into the house. As an afterthought I grabbed the folder and took it into the house with me. After I said goodbye to Meredith I glanced through the folder. I also showed it to Jerry and told him where I had found it. Looking through the contents of the folder it appeared to be the property of a Martin High School student. His name was Nick K. Jerry looked in the phone book and found the last name of Nick, but after I made a call to his number, we realized it was a different spelling. So I went to Smartpages entered Nick's last name and our zip code and found an address just around the corner that matched. I dialed the number and spoke with Nick's mother. The folder contained homework and assignments from Nick's classes and without it he was going to be lost. He had called all his friends, looked high and low at his house and was on his line lamenting with a classmate his predicament when his mom told him that God must be watching out for him. I told her where we live and agreed to stand outside and wait for them. When she and her son walked up she said she wanted to hug me. NIck is a very good looking young gentleman and he seemed very grateful to have his folder back. We decided that he had left it on top of his car and it fell off at my house. I confessed to them that I had done the same thing with my purse once.
Things need to be said about John Linger. We all know how well he cares for our sister, Kathleen and our neice and nephew, Courtney and Matthew. While Kathleen was vacationing in Florida with us, John was at home tending to household duties. Kathleen told me that it was John who suggested that the use of the beachhouse be for a ladies trip, instead of a trip that would have included him. We had a lot of fun at John's insistance.
Tonight I got a call from John and Kathleen, but mostly John. John wanted to wager a bet on the upcoming Texan/Cowboys pre-season football game. However, Kathleen informed me that this was not the real reason for the call. John was miffed over the knighting of his brother-in-law, Vaughn, in Leah's latest blog entry. I believe there is some sibling rivalry going on there. John should realize that we all think very highly of him. He is a very sweet man who has made our sister a very happy woman and no knighting or lack thereof could or would ever change that. What I really think is funny is that he enlists the assistance of his bleeding heart liberal sister-in-law to come to the rescue.
In an unrelated matter. I had a very interesting day on Thursday. I went to work early to allow time for a dental appointment I had to keep in the afternoon. Our group went out to lunch to celebrate two co-worker's anniversaries. We had a lovely time at Saltgrass Restaurant in Mesquite. After work, the crew was going to go to On The Border to bid farewell to another co-worker who had taken a job in a central office. It was thought by all that I would go to my dental appointment and high tail it back to Mesquite for the partying and drinking. After the extraction, the only place I wanted to be was home. I had to change bloody gauzes several times during the evening and spent most of the evening with an ice pack on my cheek. Also, I began taking pain killers as soon as the novocain had worn off. I am sure I will hear all about the evening when I return to work on Monday.
The Puff chair I bought in Florida arrived today. It is as nice as I remembered it.
Some of the more poetically talented members of our family should write an ode to John Linger.
After a very long day at airports, I arrived in Pensacola to a very welcoming sight. My old friend Bettye and Cynthia. Recently, I contacted Bettye and told her I was going to be in her neck of the woods. She graciously agreed to transport me and anyone else needing transport to the beachhouse on Sunday. I had not seen her in about 20 years, but I recognized her easily. Actually, she and Cynthia found each other and were standing together when I exited the secure area of the airport. Bettye drove us the 50 miles to the beachhouse and stayed til about 3am, when she decided it was in her best interest to go home. It didn't seem that we were ever going to retire for the evening and she had an early morning appointment with her builder.
I have posted a new album, go to it by clicking here. If a picture paints a thousand words, this is a good way for you to see how much fun we had in Destin.
The beach house was beautiful. There was a like house for sale across the street from us. Kathleen obtained a copy of the information sheet for the house and it was being offered for $1,250,000. Location played a very big part in the asking price, but the house was very beautiful and spacious.
We went deep sea fishing on the first day. Our trip began at 2:30pm and lasted 5hours. The big fish in the laundry basket was one that I caught. I named him Ralph. The smaller one in the basket was caught by Margaret. Kathleen took the prize for largest fish. She caught a grouper that was slightly bigger than the amacore jacks that the rest of us were catching. When we returned to land, they filleted our catch and bagged them for us. We took part of the catch to a restaurant. There the cook prepared our fish and provided the rest of the meal for a very reasonable fee. There was live entertainment and we enjoyed the evening immensely.
The next day we went shopping. I believe the place was called Seaside. It is a beautiful area and had alot of unique shops.
We also spent alot of time on the upper balcony of the beachhouse. We shared alot of secrets and stories. Our pact for the week: What happens in Destin, stays in Destin !