I know, it has been months...

I got a call from my friend Ed today.  I was busy feeding the fish in my pond and watching the turtle eat the food.  He's about 8 inches across the shell and maybe a foot long; the turtle, not Ed.  Anyway, he (Ed; not the turtle) pointed out that I have not updated this blog in months.  So, let me bring you up to date.

We moved to Bokeelia Florida in November.  Signed papers on our house the day we got here and moved in that afternoon.  The month that followed was consumed with outfitting the house with furniture, pictures, nick naks and such.  We brought no furniture with us, so we shopped it all thru Craigslist.  We had our back yard cleared of all the invasive species of trees now we are in the process of reforesting with fruit trees.  The clearing job took them about a week to finish.

Here you can see that there were many trees and they hid the neighbor's property from view and gave us lots of privacy, but prevented us from planting the fruit trees that Anh wanted.  

FYI, if you want to see any of these pictures enlarged all you have to do is click on them.

Before we began, you couldn't see the building or the airstream trailer on the neighbor's property.

We have not been sitting idle, although there are times I'd like to.  We bought some bikes and started riding them each morning.  In the process we met a lot of people and have made some good friends.  Miss 'Never met a stranger' has been meeting and networking with the asian community.  Our friends Mike and Susan have been kind enough to include us in a host of activities.  

Our neighbors across the street invited us to their church the second week we were here and we have been going there ever since.  I think it's the friendliest church I've ever been in.  

Here are a few pictures I snapped today around the place.  This is the boat we bought about a month ago.  It's just right for the inter coastal waters.   As it turns out, my neighbor Joey is also an experienced boat mechanic and has taken me under his wing.

You can see that all but a few trees are gone.  In the foreground are the banana trees I have planted.  All the trees we removed were chipped up and piled for mulch in the back corner of the property.  None of these buildings were visible when we started.

This view of the house from the West end of the property shows a Jack fruit tree in the foreground.   If you look close, you can see one of our ducks in the pond.

The pond was made before the house was built.  All the material that was removed to make the pond was piled up to build the house on.

This picture was taken from the South West corner and shows the fruit tree I just planted today and the palm tree that was saved during the clearing.

 This is a collection of herbs that Anh is growing.   There are a few tomato plants that surrond the pool.  You can also see a persimmon tree to the left.

If you look closely,  you can see that these two containers are full of fish parts and salt.  Anh is making fish sauce.  It is sitting on the deck of my boat so as to keep it in the sun and out of reach from critters.

We went on a three day cruise last Friday with Norwegian.  It stopped in two places; Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas and Nassau.  Anymore I'd just as soon stay onboard all the time, but went ashore to be a 'team player'

This is a shot of my first visitor from the old country.  Taken in January... :D










Here are a few odd ball shots from a visit to the Fort Myers Beach.

So forgive me friends if I have been remis in keeping you up to date.  Until next time.