Skunk Ape is Bigfoot on vacation.

Bigfoot a/k/a Sasquatchis a creature that has been sighted in Northern US (most recently outside Ridgway, Pennsylvania) and Canada.   Sightings are well documented, but often disputed.  You can read more here.  Take a look at a picture of him (or her).

Skunk Ape a/k/a Florida Skunk Ape or Stink Ape or Swamp Monkeyis a creature that has been sighted mostly in South Florida, but also in North Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and all the way out in Simi Valley, California.  Skunk Ape sightings are less documented, but similarly disputed.  You can read more here.  Whenever we go fishing in the everglades or take a nature hike or drive down Tamiami Trail (41) we are on the look out for the elusive creature.  It is reported that he has a distinctive stench.  We have yet to see him or smell him.  When we do, I can only hope we have a camera ready.  Take a look at a picture that someone else took:

There are other theories, such as Bigfoot and Skunk Ape are cousins, but in our house we are convinced that the Skunk Ape is Bigfoot on vacation!

You heard it here first!

There are times I am so glad that I was blessed with boys, like when I read this article.  You do not actually have to read the article.  The picture says it all, but the picture is copyrighted so I can not show it here.  You have to go there.  Go ahead take a look . . . it is not that bad. 

I was a tomboy.  I nevered liked barbies.  I never even played with dolls.  So maybe I just do not get it.  Is there anyone out there who can explain to me why any parent would buy that doll for a young girl?  Is there a market beyond dirty old men that will actually spend hard earned cash for Black Canary Barbie?

How does this affect me, you ask?  Why do I care?  Well, I have a sneaky suspicion that at some point the young girls who play with such Barbies today are the adolescent, hormonal girls who are going to call my house incessantly in the future.  They are the bad girls who I hope my boys do not give the time of day.  I can only hope that they too look at girls in such outfits and think “Good lord, girl, did you look in a mirror before you left the house?”

  in my Dad’s garden and they are as fabulous as ever.  If you have not tasted a pineapple that was allowed to fully ripen on the plant, then you have not really tasted a pineapple!  I wish you all that opportunity some day!

Baseball Boy caught a snook of a lifetime on Sunday.  It was 37 3/8″ long.  He used a spinning reel with 12 pound test line, a 20 pound test leader and a number 8 hook.  He had an itty-bitty live shrimp for bait and was only holding the rod with one hand when the snook took the bait.  In his other hand was a box of Triscuts.   Needless to say, the Triscuts hit the deck and the fight began.  The snook in typical fashion took off into the mangrove roots.  BB stood strong to the challenge and finessed him out of the snarled fish safe haven at which point the fish jumped out of the water in an attempt to throw the hook.  Unsuccessful, the snook swam back and forth pulling drag as he went.  In the end, BB prevailed. 

The funny part about this catch is that we were more or less on a leisurely nature cruise with friends.  It was not a “fishing trip” per se.  We had spent the morning at our favorite secluded beach swimming and shelling.  When we were finished at the beach the skies over land were full of thunderous clouds and monsoon like rains, so we decided to fish for a while before heading back to the fish shack.  BB and Fisherman are in a tournament the end of the month and they were trying out various fishing spots to see where they would get the most bites. 

The particular spot were were fishing is a favorite of mine.  It is the spot where Fisherman and I caught a prize winning redfish in a tournament while we were still dating.   Needless to say, they will be fishing that spot in the next tournament too!

FYI.  Snook in Florida must be within a “slot” to bag (keep) the fish.  The slot for a snook is 28 -32″.  The season is closed from June through August.  BB’s fish was too big to keep any time of year.  I am told that one of the reasons that you can not keep snook larger than 32″ is that when the fish gets that large, regardless of the sex it was assigned at birth, it becomes a female and begins to reproduce.  So, the snook BB caught was most certainly a big mama!

 

When it rains it pours!

• At 3:34 am Mojo came in the room to awake me from a sound sleep saying, “Mom, I threw up in my bed.”  He proceeded to be sick many times throughout the night and morning.  It seems to have stopped now.  I am not counting any chickens just yet.
• Baseball Boy’s best friend is only in town for two days before leaving on another month long vacation.  He returns while we are on our vacation.  When we get back he will be on another vacation.  Today was the only day the two had to see each other before school starts.  When his Mom found out that Mojo was sick, she cancelled the play date for this afternoon.  I understand completely.  Baseball Boy is devastated. 
• Wednesday is cleaning lady day.  We called her to let her know that there was a sick child in the house.  She is going on vacation Friday to see her grandchildren, so she passed.  It will now be two weeks in a row that we will not have her services.
• It actually is pouring rain this afternoon.
• It rains nearly every afternoon where we live.  Consequently, Fisherman is in a foul mood because he has a lot of work to do, most of which is outdoors. Due to the rain his crews are not getting enough done each day and we are behind schedule.
• Did I mention that the house is dirty and it will be two whole weeks before our cleaning lady returns to assist.  Oh how I despise housework.
• I am exhausted from being up so much last night with Mojo and the sheets from my bed are in the wash!  Decent nap potential is slim to none.
• I am too tired to work or read.
• There is not much worth watching on television.  We found a movie on Video On Demand that none of has seen:  The Indian in the Cupboard.  The boys were watching it intently when the cloud cover became too great and we lost the signal.
• We have very little food in the house.  Coming up with a decent dinner will be very difficult, particularly seeing I am culinary challenged.  Pizza anyone?
• I got my hair cut last week and I decided today that I do not love it.  It is flat and lifeless.  (Wait maybe that is just my current state of mind.  Perhaps tomorrow both my hair and I will be voluminous and glowing.)

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow . . .

My Mom has a lot of gifts, one of which is not the gift for gossip.  We had this conversation yesterday:

Mom:  “After golf today one of the girls sitting at our table was talking about some man who has three kids at Baseball Boy and Mojo’s private school.  She says that he is getting a divorce and the wife is getting their really big house.”

Me:  “Did she say his name?”

Mom:  “Yes, Marco or Rocco or something like that.”

Me:  “Was that his first or last name?”

Mom:  “I don’t know.”

Me:  “Where is the big house?”

Mom:  “I don’t remember.”

Me:  “Were the kids boys or girls?  What grades are they in at school?”

Mom:  “I don’t think she said.”

Me:  “Well, what did she say?”

Mom:  “He started seeing a therapist and I guess he fell in love with her.”

Me:  “Oh my, that is not good.  She could lose her license for that.”

Mom:  “Yea, he got injured, his back or leg or something, and he went to her for therapy.”

Me:  “Oh, you mean a physical therapy therapist, not a psychologist type therapist?”

Mom:  “Yes.”

Me:  “I guess that is better, but not much.  So let’s see, we know that a man with kid’s at the same school as my boys, who had a bad back or leg and had an affair with his physical therapist, is getting a divorce and his wife is getting the house.  We don’t know his name, what neighborhood the house is in, how old the kids are or whether they are boys or girls . . . did she say anything else?”

Mom:  “Not that I remember.  I told her that my grandchildren went to that school.  First she looked surprised and then she stopped talking about it.”

Me:  (laughing) “Mom, you really stink at this gossip stuff.”

Mom:  (laughing)  “Yes, I do.”

I find it interesting the differences in the way people/couples make big purchase decisions. Some people take the process very seriously. They thoroughly research the item to determine the best value and shop around to make sure they are getting the best deal. Others get an idea and buy the item on the spur of the moment.

Fisherman and I both work full time.  We do not have a lot of spare time for shopping.  Consequently, we are almost always in the latter category.  Here is a typical (yet rare) scenario resulting in a big item purchase (we do not may a lot of big purchases):

FM and I both took the day off to take the boys to a Minnisota Twins Spring Training game. It had been a family outing with the boys. On the way home, we were coming upon FM’s favorite store, Bass Pro Shops, and we decided to take the exit and do some spontaneous browsing. About that time I noted that we needed gas. Just our luck the brand new Costco at the same shopping complex had opened. While getting gas I remembered that I had our Costco rebate check in the car. The conversation then went like this:

Me: “Hey look, I have our Costco rebate check in the car. Would you like to go into the new Costco to look around.”

FM: “Okay.”

As we parked FM said: “The television in our bedroom seems to be going on the fritz. I wouldn’t mind getting a new flat screen HDTV.”

Me: “Sounds good to me.”

We entered the store. The HDTVs were conveniently located near the entrance.

Me: “What size do you think would be best?”

FM: “I think the 37 inch would work.”

Me: “Okay, here they are. They have 4 to choose from.”

FM: “Which one do you like?”

Me: “That one.”

FM: “It is $150 more than the others.”

Me: “We are going to watch that TV every day.”

FM: “True. I like that one best too, but I am not sure it will fit in the car.”

Me: “I think it will. If it doesn’t we’ll just tell them that we’ll pick it up at the store by our house.”

FM: “Okay.”

We shopped some more. Hit the sample buffet. Shopped some more. As usual, while FM checked out, I took the boys to the snack bar to get a Churro and a twist yogurt to share. When finished checking out, FM met us at the snack bar. When the delicious snacks we shared were finished, we went to the car. The HDTV fit, but just barely. As we started to drive off . . .

FM: “Oh, by the way, the guy at the check out suggested that we not use the rebate check. He said that if we put the charge on the credit card and something went wrong, we would only be insured up to the amount of the charge.  I didn’t use the rebate check for the TV.”

Me: “Good decision.”

We love the TV.  It works great in the room.  It has a super picture and we did ultimately use the rebate check.

The boys picked Chicago and Boston as this year’s vacation spot.  Fisherman picked San Francisco.  I don’t care . . . I just want to get out of town.  A little change in latitude (not altitude) will do the trick for me.

We have lots of reward points so I checked for free flights.  San Francisco won!  I got a great deal on award tickets.  So San Francisco, here we come.

My aunt lives near San Jose.  We will stay with her and use her house as a home base most of the trip.  We will hit two major league parks - S.F. Giants and Oakland A’s.  (Bonus - The Tampa Bay Rays will be in Oakland while we are there!)  Fisherman wants to ride the cable car, Mojo wants to see the Golden Gate Bridge, Baseball Boy wants to see the Pacific Ocean and I want to go to Alcatraz (to give my boys a visual to go with my threats to send them to prison). 

To those of you who have been to that part of California . . . what else should we add to our list?

Did I just swear?  Should someone wash my mouth out with soap?  At the dinner table this evening we discussed whether “crap” is a curse word.  The word is taboo at the boys’ school.  It is on “the list” there.  Is it on your list of taboo words?