Sandy Toes Diary

Dear Friends and Family,
What will people think if I am late getting my diary out? I hope they think I am having such a good time that I can’t sit down in front of my computer. I confess Doug and I have been having some fun. First, check out the new home page on our web site, www.asknice.com, because there is a photo posted that is beyond description. In fact, I would like you all to submit to me what you think would be a good caption for this picture and I will post the winning entry (and all others) next week.
While at the beach I took a bunch of pictures of Molly (see attached) who is just crazy about playing in the waves. We also donned our suits and went in the ocean and boy is it ever warm (86 degrees).
Next, we had such a tremendous response from the Deck Cam that we installed another camera. First, we had it mounted over the water and called it the Turtle Cam, but the turtles were a little camera shy. Then Doug mounted it on the roof near the guest bedroom window and we now update every 10 minutes the new, spectacular, Guest Bedroom View Cam. It really is quite beautiful first thing in the morning and we hope it inspires you to get your airplane tickets to come on down.
Yes, come on down because the guest bedroom is now officially done, ready and tested by me (snoring seal of approval). I installed an “enviroscape” fountain that trickles rain and plays several different nature sounds like loons, tropical rain forest birds, distant thunder, summer crickets, etc., and it is an extremely relaxing room with a gorgeous view. We call it the “Retro Room” because it is done in a retro-modern style, including a Princess phone covered with clouds.
You can visit us now if you really like hot, hot, hot and sunny or wait until after September. Our neighbor says that April and September are the best months here, although September is a hurricane month. The hurricane season is 6 months, from June 1 to the end of November. They (the experts) are predicting a heavy hurricane season this year, so we have readied ourselves by reading all the manuals, practiced putting up our storm shutters, and stocking up on water, batteries and Chef Boyardee. I don’t know what to expect but am putting it all in God’s hands.
Even though it is summer and hot we are loving the perpetual sunshine. Cleveland has only 70 sunny days a year so I never knew what real sunshine was until we moved here. It is sunny just about every day. Even the partly cloudy days seem bright compared to Cleveland. So keep checking out the web for bargain flights. Southwest has been advertising $99.00 fares to San Antonio and maybe it won’t be long before they advertise for Corpus Christi. Southwest also allows you to change the date without penalty. If you fly into Corpus that will be your only expense as we will pick you up and bring you to the best place on the island with the best food, our place!
Also this week we have been looking at many different trucks and trying to decide what to get to replace the Gran Marquis and PT Cruiser that will be good for hauling friends and luggage. Let us know if you have any advise about trucks or vans.
May God bless you and keep you safe. Peace out.
JanisJanis-----
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Dear Friends and Family,
(Drum roll, please.) Last week, from high atop the Little Lake Condominiums we brought you the weather station. This week we present, (cymbal crash) the Deck Cam! Yes, now you too can thrill to the never changing view from our deck. Just go to www.asknice.com and click on Our World. The image is updated every 10 minutes, (sorry, no streaming video yet, if ever), and sometimes it is a little blurry, but hey, its fun. If you think looking at our back deck is boring, then just be glad we didn’t include the Front Door Cam.
This week we drove our scooters to Aransas Pass to get their state inspections. It was fun since I haven’t been on my Malaguti since last summer. Even though the line to get on the Ferry was an hour long, when you have a scooter they let you pass everybody and get right on. And my pink scooter seems to bring a smile to everyone’s face. Then we went to look at kayaks, since they are very popular down here, and now Doug is talking about building a rowboat, (ho boy). For exercise, Doug is riding his bike mornings on a five-mile course up 361 and back. I will try to join him as soon as I can get up at 6:30am. I like taking Molly to the beach for her daily romp in the surf. I have attached a couple of pictures.
I have realized the official uniform of the island is the T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops. Unfortunately I packed everything from our closets without much culling. Coats, jackets, sweaters, scarves, hats, gloves, long pants, dresses, long sleeved shirts, turtlenecks and flannel pajamas: all as useful as an ice scraper and snow shovel down here. Because Doug works at home we had created and abided by one longstanding a rule: out of your pajamas by noon. But what we sleep in and what we work in are now oddly the same. The only difference between our daywear and nightwear is sans underwear. There are no fashion police on the island. People walk barefoot into stores and wear flip-flops to church. My sister, who lives in Florida, says you can wear a T-shirt for about seven years until it gets holes in it, and then you wear it some more. Wow, this is going to save us money on clothing.
We think we found our next church: Padre Island Baptist Church. We both enjoyed the two worship services we have attended. It reminds me very much of our old church, CVCC, just a bit smaller. The sermons have been insightful and thought provoking. God has been very much a part of this move and I am looking forward to finding the church and the path he has planned for us. Hope all is well and may God refresh you and bless you with wonder and astonishment.
Love,
Janis-----
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Dear Friends and Family,
Ah, men and their toys. Doug is never happier than when he has a new gadget to play with and his latest cool gadget is his new weather station, which he installed on our roof yesterday. With an anemometer spinning atop a 10 foot mast, we look like an outpost on the Antarctic now. If you go to our web site www.asknice.com you will be able to check out every aspect of the weather inside and outside of our house. He is still trying to get some of the kinks out though, i.e., we did not have wind gusts of 177 mph today, just a balmy 15 mph average out of the south/southeast.
The weather is on the verge of starting to get hot. When listening to the Texas radio station the DJ gives the weather report like this, “Today, hot. Friday, hot. Saturday hot. Sunday, hot. June, July, August, hot, hot, hot!” But the days have been in the high 80’s and so far it hasn’t felt unbearable. It actually feels very summery, like all those great summer days you remember from your childhood have not disappeared, they just came down here to retire.
The Memorial Day weekend was a big success for the town of Port A. Lots of people came and spent money and had a good time and no incidents. Now the town is just pleasantly bustling with tourists and everyone is looking forward to a good summer.
We went to another new church today in town. The preacher wore sandals and shorts under his robe. We celebrated Pentecost by tossing handfuls of ribbons around the church, symbolic of the passing of the Holy Spirit. Definitely a fun, “feel good” church, but Doug kept getting hit in the head with ribbons and was not getting filled with the joy of the Spirit as intended. He says he would like something with a little more meat on the bone. So we are still looking for a church.
Hope you had a pleasant holiday and all is going well for you. Let me know what your summertime plans are.
Peace be with you,
Janis

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