EEEEEEKKK

Several days after we returned home from the Hazelwood reunion I was roused out of our computer/laundry room by a loud scream from Carol. She was in the bathroom getting ready to shower when she screamed and I came a running!! She said she saw a large spider and it was behind the commode. I got our wasp spray while she watched for it.

When I sprayed behind the commode the spider came out running and I continued to spray it. The spray did not stop it but only slowed it down. It was the largest spider I have ever seen out side of a zoo!! I continued to herd it around with the spray while I had Carol get my camera and a ruler. No one was going to believe this unless I had a picture that showed the size!!!





After I got several pictures I smacked it with the ruler and we flushed it down the commode.

I then went online to see if it I could identify it because I thought it might have been a Brown Recluse Spider. There is no doubt at all that it was a Brown Recluse. If you Google search and read about them you will find that their bite is very dangerous. Their poison causes your flesh to basically rot away unless immediate and proper medical attention is given flesh.

We set out some glue board traps which were recommended by the article we found on line. So far we have not caught any others, or anything for that matter, in the traps.

We are still a little nervous when going in the bathroom at night!!

Hazelwood Reunion was a success

Last week Carol and I went to Jacksonville for the Hazelwood Reunion that I have been planning for nearly 2 years. I can say without a doubt it was a great success and I am relieved that it was. We brought a number of items of memorbilia to the reunion including the ship model Carol and I have had stored behind our lanai couch in it's case.

Carol had found a supplier to make a lady's shirt with NAVY on the front and DD 531 on the back. A number of the gals ordered them for the reunion and then more gals ordered them at the reunion.

We had 42 shipmates attend and 7 of those had never attended a reunion in the past. Nearly everyone I spoke to at the closing of the reunion said they are planning to come to the next reunion. That reunion will be in the Newport, RI area at the end of April, 2013. Richard Ernst will be the chairman and since he llives in Newport he has excellent knowledge of the area and can do an excellent job on selecting a hotel. I will assist him with the mailings since I have the files on my computer and can do it easily.

The reunion group heartly approved this location since the ship served out of Newport for many years. Tours will probably be planned to Newport itself and to Batttleship Cove in Fall River, MA where several historic WW2 Navy ships are located. We are also going to contact the Battleship Cove museum and see if they might accept the ship model as a donation to the museum. That would solve a lot of transport problems for the model and it would in a place that would give enjoyment to many.

Carol and I are planning our next trip up north in late May to attend our grandaughter's high school graduation. We will stay up north all of June visiting friends, going to NYC, Washington DC and Gettysburg. It should be an interesting month.

Jay Smith Groupies

In previous posts I have mentioned Jay Smith and how we enjoy his music. Last night we went to a neighboring community to attend their Commodores Ball, dine and dance to Jay. Here is Jay playing one of the guitars he makes for himself. Notice that he plays left handed.

And here are three of the groupies, Gus and Marilyn Lopes and of course Carol.

I even got to be in one of the pictures when we found someone to take a picture of our whole group.

 

We will be going to dance to his music later this month at the Englewood Elks. We just don't seem to get tired of his style!!

Sad News

I recently received information that one of my fraternity brothers passed away on March 17. Frank Kelliher and I and went through all four years together as fraternity brothers and as classmates in the Navy ROTC. The last opportunity I had to see him was at our 50th class reunion in 1957. Here is a picture of Frank with some of my other brothers.

 












Carol and I had our motor home at the reunion and parked in the Sage Avenue parking lot (behind the Sage dorms). One afternoon we had our own Phi Kappa reunion at the motor home. It was a good time and we will miss Frank at the future reunions.

Home again... for a while

We came home from our Myrtle Beach etc. trip a few days earlier just so we could go out to the American Legion with Gus and Marilyn. Jay Smith was playing and we do enjoy his dancing music.  As usual the place was jammed and also as usual, it was a great time.

I need to capture some video or pictures of Jay playing to post here so we don't forget how good he is in our old age.

Most of the time since we have been back is just catching up with the mail and doing the normal mundane things that we usually do.

Carol has an appointment with her eye doctor on Friday and her cataract replacement has been doing very well. The corrective lens replacements now mean that she does not have to use any glasses. That alone was well worth the surgery.

More later!!

RVing to Perry GA & Myrtle Beach

We left on March 12 and went to Perry GA for an FMCA rally. There were about 2800 other RV's and we were with the Freightliner Chassis Owners Club. Here is Carol waiting for her pizza at the party put on by the club.

After Perry we went to Myrtle Beach with the Freightliner Club and there were 90 RV's in this group. The weather was windy and quite cool as you can see by Carol and Jim on the beach.

The big party was the luau and we had a lot of fun dancing and even listening to an Elvis impersonator

A weekend RV trip

When we attended the Tampa RV show in January, we got a number of free RV camping deals from campgrounds. One was the Signature RV Resort in Naples. We got 2 free nights from them and used it this past weekend so we could visit Jim and Nancy Stroke. Jim Stroke and I went to college together and he is a fraternity brother of mine.
The RV resort was a class place as you can see by the picture. On Friday evening the four us went to a Luau at the resort and they had a show of various pacific island dances. It was quite good and we enjoyed it.

On Saturday we all drove to Marco Island and lunch on the waterfront at a place called Snooks. Good food and a nice place. Marco Island like Naples is a "high class" area for the most part. Here are pictures of Jim & Nancy and Carol and Jim J at lunch.


On Sunday morning we left Naples with the motor home and drove to LaBelle to visit other friends. The picture below show Carol with Paul and Jenny Frisbee. We have known them for many years from our time in Louisville and the flying club we all belonged to there. We also were able visit with Bill and Erma Arnold and Robert and Ann Nunn. They all were in the same RV camping club in the Louisville area.

It was a good weekend and we really enjoyed seeing old friends.