Category Archives: Life

Cruise 2026: Lessons Learned

Kenn and I looked at our cruise as an experiment of sorts. Is this something we would like to do again? Why or why not? Periodically throughout our trip Kenn would ask, “So, what have we learned today?”

The most important lessons we learned are:

  • We need a room with a view. Neither of us would do well with an interior room.
  • Paying for the package that includes all tips is a must.
  • The “unlimited beverage” package would be better if it included water. Instead, we took advantage of the “special” offered the first full day aboard and purchased 12 bottles of water for the low, low price of only $20.🙄 Neither of us are big drinkers but we did make some use of our unlimited beverage plan. We spent a couple of hours every evening on deck twelve near the outdoor bar where there was plenty of seating and windows overlooking the ocean. Kenn’s favorite drink of the trip was a Mudslide, which was basically an alcoholic dessert.😂 I had never had prosecco, so I tried a peach bellini; it turns out, I am not a fan. I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise since I’m not a fan of wine in general. I tend to prefer a drink with rum or tequila. (The rum based Bahama Mama was my favorite.)
  • There were several complimentary restaurants onboard, but the others required additional money. Our cruise package included a credit toward one of the non-complimentary restaurants which we put toward a meal at the Italian restaurant, La Cucina. The food was good but nothing to write home about. I did get to try panna cotta for the first time and it was delicious. (I can’t believe I didn’t take a picture of it.) It might be nice to try a cruise line where all of the restaurants are complimentary. (Such cruise lines do exist.)
  • The biggest, and most important, lesson we learned is that we will never be avid cruisers. No, it wasn’t bad, but for us, the destination is the most important part of the trip. Our road trips take longer, but give us longer at our chosen destinations and we can make side trips on the fly. This is not to say that we will never take another cruise, just that cruises will always be the exception, not the rule.

With the last point in mind, a cruise to Alaska is still very much on our bucket list; we think a cruise will give us the best opportunity to see the most scenery. We’ll probably take a one-way cruise from Seattle so we can disembark and spend a few days visiting friends who moved to Alaska. Of course this means that we’ll have to fly back to Seattle – and neither of us enjoy flying – but, you do what you gotta do.

Later this year we’re planning to take a train trip to see how we like traveling by rail. Have you traveled by train?

Cruise 2026: Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas

The second (and last) stop on our cruise was Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas. Great Stirrup Cay is a private island owned by Norwegian Cruise Lines. Normally, this sort of “destination” island wouldn’t appeal to me; my fair-skinned self isn’t made for basking in the sun or floating in the lagoon, even with sunscreen. However, there was one activity on the island that we couldn’t pass up. Well, that I couldn’t pass up: Stingray City & Swimming Pigs on Treasure Island. I was sold on this cruise as soon as I learned about the pigs. Kenn, being the sweetie that he is, agreed. Norwegian only offers this specific cruise twice a year; we were on the last one for the year.

The pier at Great Stirrup Cay is only large enough for one ship, so the Star dropped anchor away from the island and passengers were “tendered” to the island on smaller boats. Specific instructions were provided for how and when to arrive for tendering. As per normal, the actual process was… disorganized. Our excursion to Treasure Island was scheduled for 11am, and since we were supposed to allow thirty minutes for tendering, it was important for us to be among the first to tender. (There really needs to be a better term, LOL.) In spite of the confusion, we made it onto the first boat so we were in the queue for our excursion in plenty of time. Whew!

Our group had a bit of a hike to the dock where we took even smaller boats to Treasure Island. Once on the island, we were given the instructions for how to behave around the animals before being allowed to proceed to the interaction areas. Staff was on hand to work with everyone individually to limit any issues. Of course, we had to sign waivers; where animals are involved, accidents can happen. Example: I got stepped on by an adult pig. No harm was intended, the pig simply wanted some apple. Did it hurt? Yep. Swim shoes don’t provide much protection from pig hooves. But, I was fine; not even a bruise. We were not allowed to take phones into the animal areas so there were plenty of staff with cameras recording everything. Yes, that meant we had to pay extra for photos, but I was fine with that. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, braces yourselves. Photo dump incoming!

Posing with Gigi
Baby pig snuggles
Feeding the pigs

Which would you prefer: swimming with the pigs or interacting with the stingrays?

Cruise 2026: Key West

I guess everyone chooses a cruise because of the destinations, but our reasons for choosing these destinations were very specific.

Panoramic photo of Key West from our stateroom.

Key West has long been on our list of places to visit. Kenn also decided that if he truly hated being onboard the ship, we could disembark in Key West and rent a car to drive back to Tampa to pick up our car.

Since we only had five-ish hours in Key West, we booked a tour on the Old Town Trolley. The tour would allow us to hit the highlights of the town and hop on and off as we wanted.

Our Old Town Trolley tour guide.

The tour would have been more informative if we could have heard the tour guide over the lady behind us; she talked incessantly. At one of the stops the tour guide started his informative spiel and the lady behind us piped up, “He sure talks a lot.” You think? It was almost like talking was his job!🤦‍♀️

We got off the trolley at the famous buoy marking the southernmost point in the continental US. Usually, taking a selfie somewhere like this is an absolute free-for-all; this was incredibly organized. Everyone was in an orderly line and the people at the front of the line gave their phone to the people behind them, who took the photos, gave the phone back and then repeated the process for their own photos. I was impressed!

We walked from the buoy back to where we boarded the trolley locating the Zero mile marker along the way. Oh, and I got to see the feral chickens of Key West, so I am a happy woman!

The Zero mile marker and the beginning of Hwy One.
Handsome guy at a gas station.
Mom and baby.
Another mom and baby.

Have you been to Key West? If so, did you cruise, fly, or drive?

Cruisin’ Together

Kenn and I have long had a cruise to Alaska on our bucket list. Cruise-savvy friends pointed out that, if we haven’t been on a cruise before, we’d probably want to start with something shorter to make sure we actually enjoy cruising before signing up for something lasting seven to ten days. Good point! Kenn has never been on a cruise and I’ve only been on one – when I was twelve. We looked into cruises and discussed several options. At Christmas, we pulled the trigger and booked a four day cruise. We departed Tampa, Florida onboard the Norwegian Star on March 12th and made stops in Key West and Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas before returning to Tampa on March 16th. I’ll write separate posts for our shore excursions.

We learned a few things along the way:

While neither of us had problems with seasickness, I was prepared with Dramamine, acupressure wrist bands, and inhalers just in case. (My daughter-in-law and a couple of the grandkids suffer from carsickness, so I have passed everything on to them.) However, I have now been warned that the Pacific tends to be rougher than the Atlantic, so we shouldn’t skimp on preparations whenever we go to Alaska.😬 Long-lasting patches have been recommended so I’ll add them to our anti-seasickness kit next time around.

We have also agreed that paying for a stateroom with a balcony was worth the extra cost. I don’t think either one of us would have done well without having a view.

Paying for valet parking at Port Tampa Bay was the way to go. We dropped off our car and the parking crew handled getting our luggage to the ship. When we returned, our car was brought to us. Easy-peasy.

“Checking” our luggage the last night of the cruise worked like a charm. It allowed us to disembark without wrestling our luggage through all of the various checkpoints. Our luggage was waiting for us in the baggage claim area, which was the next to the last stop. Also, Kenn’s bright orange suitcase and my bright blue one were easy to find amongst the sea of black and maroon luggage.

While we had no major problems with Norwegian Cruise Lines, our next cruise will probably be on a different line so we can see how things vary.

Have you been on a cruise (or cruises)? What cruise line did you use? Would you recommend it? Why or why not?

Do you smell something?

We’ve all heard the old adage that opposites attract. Kenn and I are just beginning to realize just how opposite we are in one area. What area is that? My sense of smell leaves a lot to be desired while Kenn’s is excellent. This disparity leads to a lot of “Do you smell something?” conversations that leave me feeling like I’m being forced to take a pop quiz that I know I’m going to fail.

A few months ago, I walked into the kitchen to be greeted with the dreaded question. “Do you smell something?” In response, my brain went into overdrive: Obviously there’s something I’m supposed to smell, but I don’t, so I’m going to fail the quiz. Ugh. Why do we have to do this? Hedging my bets I replied, “Maybe? But not really. Give me a hint. What am I supposed to be smelling?” “Oh, one of the eyes on the stove was on and it melted the plastic container that was on the stove top.” 🙄 Okay then. This incident lead to several responses: 1) Removing the melted plastic, which was a whole process on its own. 2) I ordered these stove knob locks so that we don’t have any more instances of eyes getting turned on accidentally, and 3) We had a discussion about if Kenn can please just tell me what an issue is without first quizzing me on my sense of smell.

Image from depositphotos.com

Another incident (example?) occurred last month on our drive to South Carolina. We were cruising down a back road when Kenn wrinkled his nose and made a noise. Of course I asked what that was all about. Kenn looked at me and said, “Skunk. Don’t you smell it?” My response is apparently going down in family history. I said, “What do you think? Do I ever smell whatever it is you’re asking me if I smell? No. So, no. I don’t smell the skunk.” Kenn laughed so hard and for so long, I thought he was going to have to pull over; the man had tears running down his face. Every time he would get himself under control, he’d mutter “What do you think?” and go back off into gales of laughter. He finally managed to gasp, “There was just so much contempt in that one phrase.” Even now, a month later, Kenn still laughs about it. And, any time the topic of a scent/smell comes up, I now have a standard answer: “What do you think?”

In what ways are you and your partner opposites?

Well, that was unexpected.

We have had a mild winter – even for the south. Yes, we’ve had some cool/cold days, but we’ve also had many days in the seventies. Any chance of snow this year seemed like a pipe dream. I was wrong.

We went to South Carolina last weekend; our kids found a house they were interested in and wanted our opinion on it. We visited the house on Saturday, then spent time visiting with the kids and discussing options. (Note: my definition of the word “kids” includes the two I birthed, their significant others, the grandchildren, and a few others I didn’t birth, mostly my boy’s friends from their school days.) While we were talking, we received a notice from the National Weather Service that our area of the state was expecting snow on Sunday. Say what? After a brief discussion, Kenn and I decided to head home Saturday afternoon instead of Sunday as planned. While the predicted snow might not materialize, we weren’t sure what the roads would be like between South Carolina and home.

As you can see from the following photos, we got snow! We only got about an inch and it was gone by 12:30pm, but it was pretty while it lasted.

The new Ice Age

I thought the unexpected snow was a one and done. I was wrong again. Since Tuesday of this week, state meteorologists have been in “this is not a drill” mode. It looks like there is a good chance that we will have an ice storm this weekend – and not just any ice storm, possibly one of historical proportions. The last forecast I saw predicted over an inch of ice for this area. We live just far enough south that we usually miss out on snow and ice events, even when the towns fifteen to twenty miles north of us are impacted. It has been several years since our last ice storm. Ice storms are never good and it doesn’t help that the pine trees endemic in the south are exceptionally bad with ice. Pines have shallow root systems and since they are evergreens, they quickly get weighted down, give up the ghost, and fall.

We have done all we can to prepare. We’ve laid in a supply of groceries. We have underground utilities, which means we won’t lose power as quickly as some areas, but it it still a possibility. We have propane and can use the stove in the camper to cook if necessary. We also have a wood-burning stove and enough wood for a couple of years (no, I’m not kidding) so, we should be warm.

Kenn says I am no longer allowed to tell people that we’ve had a mild winter, LOL. How is the weather were you are?

Out with the old, in with the flu

I tease Kenn about how he seems to like to get his medical insurance deductible out of the way as soon as possible each new year. He gets an injection in his back once or twice every year and he should get one this month, so I figured that would be where most, if not all, of his deductible went. I was wrong. He woke up with a cough on New Year’s Eve. I asked if he needed to go to an urgent care center since odds were our doctor’s office wasn’t open. He assured me it was just sinus drainage and he’d be fine. He was not. His cough did not improve and he finally went to an urgent care center around 7:30pm. He tested negative for flu, strep, and COVID. However, the nurse practitioner (Holly) told him that since his symptoms had just started, it might be too early for anything to show up on the tests. She did prescribe a cough syrup for him since our over-the-counter stuff was having no effect.

Our oldest grandson was staying with us for a few days but I made arrangements to take him to his other grandparents early New Year’s Day in an effort to reduce any exposure he might have – just in case. Kenn did nothing but get worse during the day and when his fever got over 101 degrees, I took him back to the urgent care center. This time he tested positive for flu and strep. The flu didn’t really surprise me; the strep did. Holly told Kenn that the next few days were going to suck and that this season’s flu tends to hang around for two to three weeks. She also told him to be thankful that he had gotten his flu shot; he would be way worse without it. She said that she wasn’t even going to worry about treating the flu; it was the strep that needed treatment fast. We left with a prescription for an antibiotic and hunkered down for the long haul.

My efforts to keep our grandson from getting sick were in vain; by Friday, he had a headache, fever, and lethargy. Sigh. At least his other grandparents didn’t get sick. Poor Kenn was miserable. He had no energy and a horrible cough that kept him up most nights. I settled into my role as nurse, cook, and chauffeur. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do to make things better. Kenn had a follow-up appointment with Holly this week and I took him in a day early since his cough was just not getting any better. Holly prescribed a different cough medication and an inhaler. She also backed me up when I said I thought he needed to reschedule several appointments he had this week. (Thanks, Holly!) On the plus side, his strep was gone!

The new cough syrup, Ninjacof, seemed to do the trick. Kenn finally got a couple of good nights sleep. As of this writing (Friday, January 9th) he seems to have turned the corner. He hasn’t run a fever for several days and while he is still coughing, it’s nothing like it was before. Kenn is usually very active; he’s always outside doing yardwork, etc. Not having the energy to do anything but sit around has been killing him. I knew for sure that he was better when I needed to run an errand this morning. Not only did he want to go with me, he asked if he could drive! Unless he takes a turn for the worse, he’s planning to go back to work next week, but only work half days until he gets his stamina back.

As for me, I’ve been fine. (Thank you, Jesus!) A friend also contacted me and let me know that she had some Tamiflu she had gotten as a preventative measure and had only taken a couple; she offered me the rest. I took her up on that offer and have had it on standby in case I started getting sick. If I haven’t gotten it by this point, I think I’ll be okay.

The only thing missing from the picture above is the Icy Hot. Poor Kenn coughed so much and so hard, his back muscles were spasming. Occasional massages and Icy Hot were added to the rest of the medication regime.

I hope your new year is getting off to a better start than ours and that you and your family are flu free!

Another Farewell

We almost made it through the whole year without losing a cat. Alas, it was not to be. We inherited Bob and Tippy when my daddy died in 2016. They have been my gaming buddies for several years; I play video games while they lay on my chest.

In mid-November I realized that Tippy’s left eye wasn’t opening fully. I then realized that she had a small bulge in her forehead over that eye. I took her to the vet where x-rays revealed bone cancer. The vet wanted to see her in a month so we scheduled a follow-up on December 26th.

Tippy, just after I discovered the bulge over her left eye.

I spent that month loving on Tippy extra hard while the cancer progressed rapidly. By the time we returned to the vet, the bulge had grown to the point where her left eye was a mere slit and it showed no signs of stopping. I made the decision to let her go.

So, as I always do, I held my girl while the vet administered the euthanasia meds. I made sure that the last things she felt were my hands petting her and the last thing she heard was my voice telling her how much I loved her and how much I will miss her.

Farewell, Tippy. Bob and I miss you.

Stick ’em UP

I didn’t mean to take a mini break from the blogging world. But a sinus infection, the antibiotic for the sinus infection, and a cold took the wind out of my sails for a couple of weeks. Just for funsies, my birthday and Thanksgiving were during that two week period. I think I need a do-over on my birthday celebration. Oh, well. On to the post!

We were unaware of Roxie’s kleptomaniac tendencies until we returned from our 2023 road trip only to discover most of my refrigerator magnets missing. At the time of our trip, Roxie was somewhere between six and seven months old. I still don’t know how a kitten was able to remove so many magnets; I’m guessing sheer determination played a large role. Most of my magnets are souvenirs from our travels, so I didn’t want to just not get any more, but a different solution for protecting them was needed. Fortunately, an idea presented itself.

Our kitchen cabinets have that “wasted space” between the top of the cabinet doors and the ceiling. I asked Kenn to “age” some galvanized metal like he has done for some of his other projects and fit a piece above the smallest cabinet. He did and it works perfectly! However, by the time I added this years magnets, that area was mostly full.

The wasted space.

We both like the looks of the metal so Kenn decided to continue it across the remaining cabinets. We joked that we need to put up a sign saying “Nyx’s Kitchen” since the kitchen is very much Nyx’s (our black cat) “territory.” I found some rustic-style letter magnets and voila!

It turns out, Kenn is not a fan of these magnets.🤦‍♀️
The Roxie-free magnet zone.

Now I feel like the cabinet doors need… something. I just need to figure out what. Whatever it is can wait until after the holidays!