March, April and 2/3 OF MAY 2010
March 2010
It has been 2 and one half months since my last Blog entry. I have been admonished by too many people to put it off another day. On Monday March first 2010 Lesley and I had a closing on another condo in the same building that we have spent the last 5 winters in. This is the third and final unit. I am now officially broke (almost) and out of the real estate business. The unit 601 is an end unit and the one that we intend to live in. It looks like little Havana with a spectacular view, a car port and a boat slip. I now have the other two units up for sale. I knew that it was a buyers market, and I bought (too much) now I need to sell both of the other units and will be taking a loss, but will end up living in the place we want to spend our retirement. The next day Tuesday I sponsored my friend Mark into the Elks Club in Fort Pierce Florida. They were trying to raise money to buy a pig from the 4H Club for a benefit pig roast and came up $50 bucks short. I raised my hand gave the Exalted Ruler a fifty, and Bella the pig became a temporary Elk. The first Wednesday of the month is when the Treasure Coast lost cord club meets and I joined them in Stuart. Russ and Wendy Buhl, Charlie Nail and Bud Smith were amongst the attendees. These are the three men that I often speak with in schools. We all have different stories and the classes fly by. The teachers and students remember us year after year in the schools and in the streets. The next several weeks were spent at Lowes, Home Depot, and renovating unit 608 so that it can be sold. On Sunday the 21st we had an open house traveling Cocktail party that went on from 4:00pm until 10:30 pm. We had between 55 and 60 friends and neighbors tour all three units. Each condo had plenty of food and fully stocked bars. It was a wonderful party and the neighbors said that there has never been an event as good as that since the building was built in 1995. Needless to say I still own all three units. The next day Lesley’s Sister Cheryl the maniac came down from Connecticut for a visit. We hit some nice restaurants and gave her a nice tour of the area. She also got to sit, get some sun and relax for a few days. It was a great visit and we got her back to the airport in West Palm on that Friday. The Thursday before she left Les and I attended the Vero Beach LCC, with Jim and Janet Gilbert. Not even 24 hours had passed since Cheryl had left and Jim Lauder stopped by to visit. His daughter and friends had come to Florida to take in a concert and some sun, Jim had traveled with her as a chaperone, to make sure she was safely situated. There were five of us that were supposed to go deep sea fishing on the Last Mango, and Jim came up to join us. At the last minute the Captain called and said it was way too rough off shore and none of the boats were leaving the harbor. We changed plans and went golfing instead, way in the back woods of Florida near Lake Okeechobee. Jim, Lesley and I played a fun round of golf. We were dressed like the pros, Les wore Sandals, I wore sneakers, and Jim had on his famous flip flops. We had some wine and watched the sunset, then he retired to his lap top and I to mine. I guess we both spend way too much of our time on line, but it is unfortunately a necessary evil. Bob April 2010 On April 3 rd the postponed fishing trip was again in play. Jim could not make it back, but there were six of us that did. We caught our limit of Amber Jack from 35 to over 50 pounds each and a pile of King Mackerel. Everyone went home with enough fish filets to feed an army. The neighbors love it when we go fishing; they get to eat a ton of fresh fish. On Monday April 5th Les and I drove to Sebring with 6 other couples for a three day golf outing at the Inn on the Lakes. A pretty lady named Judy and I won sixty bucks somehow, must have been because of our handicaps. We got back Wednesday evening and the next day I drove to West Palm to pick up my mother Marie (Mitzie), my sister Julie and her daughter Marie. They stayed with us for a couple of days in 601. They loved little Havana, got plenty of sun, ate in some nice places and relaxed. Julie made a fantastic Jambalaya. My brother John has a beautiful place on Florida’s west coast in a town called Bonita Springs. Part of the reason for getting my 80 year old mother on a plane was to visit both my brother and I. The five of us headed for Bonita Springs across alligator alley and about four hours later reached his home. My mother also has a younger brother Robert, who lives in Naples and has been asking his sister to come visit for years. We all got together including John’s wife Tess, her daughter, my nephew Wally, Les, Julie, Marie and I and met at Robert’s place. It is a beautiful condo over looking jungle and the Gulf of Mexico. We had a great dinner, paid for by John and left all of our visitors the next day for the drive back to the Atlantic side. The trip was 175 miles over and 270 miles back. Les and I took a detour through the everglades, stopping at Big Cypress and Shark Valley national parks. We went off the beaten path onto seldom used, over grown, single lane dirt roads. I can’t tell you how many gators we saw, but many more than hundreds. It was dead quiet except for the birds, peaceful, beautiful, and a place I will return to. Lesley was going to have a birthday in a couple days on April 17th, and was hinting that she wanted a party. I pretty much ignored her hints and kept my head stuck in my laptop mostly doing IAL stuff. About 3 days before her Birthday (THE BIG 60) I sent out about twenty emails and dropped printed invitations under the mats of some of our computer less friends. I ordered a big Tiramisu cake and told the local pizzeria to have two anti pastas and five large Pizzas ready for the 17th. We had at least 30 people up in 601 and we had a great night. On Friday the 23 rd we attended the Relay for Life in Vero. We did the survivors walk, bought a bunch of luminaries and met with the Vero LCC members. Last year there were probably 350 people at the Relay, this year there were well over one thousand. It was wonderful. The little Vero group that raised money for the Relay call themselves Butterfly Wings and raised over $15,000 just by themselves, Les and I helped a little. On Monday April 26th at 6:45 am Russ Buhl and I met in St. Lucie West at Centennial High School for a six class speakathon. I brought my film No ifs ands or Butts and Russ brought smoky Sue and we entertained, scared and made about 150 kids laugh and think. Russ talks about Alcohol as well as smoking, booze got him in trouble years ago and he got esophageal cancer not laryngeal cancer. He and I make a great speaking tandem, one that the kids surely remember. On Tuesday the 27th Lesley and I met with a group at a local restaurant called Harbor town. This group consists of people who are trying to help get the Indian River as clean as possible. Jim Oppenborn, April Price and others have a new project going on that we are involved with called S.H.I.P. Les and I have already contributed to the building of three artificial Reefs in the Atlantic off the coast of Fort Pierce. They are the Bob Herbst Senior, Junior, and the Tug Lesley Lee Reef. This group now has set their sights on sinking a 700 foot long Naval Vessel that has been cleaned, decommissioned and is available for one million dollars. The Navy has no need for the ship, but knows that its scrap value exceeds that price. This ship once sunk would be a great dive destination for the region and more importantly would create a fantastic fish nursery and habitat. It will probably take a couple of years to come up with the million but we have started. April is coming to an end except for one more day of golfing with the geezers, and living at my lap top. Bob May 2010 May First a day of infamy… It is my turn to join the BIG 60 club. Happy birthday Bob, thank you Bob, you are welcome Bob. No party no fanfare, just a great meal with one of our favorite couples, Russ and Wendy Buhl at a nice quiet restaurant Ian’s Tropical Grill in Jensen Beach. On May 5 th it was another good meeting at the monthly LCC in Stuart at the Martin Memorial Hospital. The next Day I spoke in Vero Beach at Oslo Middle school to their SWAT group. SWAT stands for Students Working Against Tobacco. This is the sixth year that Marie Blanchard has asked me to speak to her students. I brought Russ, Wendy, and Les along with me. Les comes with me about half the time and has seen me speak hundreds of times. Wendy had not seen Russ in action and had a 2 hour smile on. When he gets rolling he is terrific. On Saturday May 8 th Les and I manned the SHIP booth at the Fort Pierce Boat show for two hours showing people the 700 foot long ship that Saint Lucie county would love to acquire and sink. We raised a couple hundred and had more than a few interested in the project. Two days later on Monday May 10 th it was time for us to start heading north back to Connecticut. I have been working non stop with others on trying to make Louisville as good a convention as possible for months now. When I originally went to Louisville with Susan Reeves, Jeff Searl and Terrie Hall, we had a different Sales manager, and catering person. I wanted to meet our new Sales Manager, Becky Fulkerson and her in House Catering manager Heather Akers and take another look at the meeting rooms. I decided not to drive the 1350 miles straight up Rte 95 but to head due north. We left southern Florida and drove to Macon Georgia, then on to Nashville. Nashville was still cleaning up from the terrible floods two weeks ago when the Cumberland River over flowed its banks by more than eleven feet. The Grand Ole Opry, the Opry Hotel and Music Row suffered tremendous damage. There was mud in the streets and all over town, but businesses were opening slowly one at a time. We had dinner at a place called the Spaghetti and Steak, because I like both and it was on higher ground. The next day we left for Louisville and made only one stop, that being the George A. Dickle distillery. Dickle touts itself as being the “best sippin whiskey in Tennessee”. I tend to agree so I bought two bottles and a couple of shot glasses, and gave one of them to Richard Crum when I got to Louisville. You might see the bottle at the convention on the auxiliary table, if Richard hasn’t gotten to it first. As soon as I got to the Hotel, I called Richard and he picked me up and we had a meeting at The Sunnyside of Louisville Chamber of Commerce with Jim Keith, who has been very helpful with many of our AMVI logistical details and support. That night Richard took us out to dinner Lesley and Jan in tow and we went to a great little Italian restaurant called Come Back Inn, and had a quick tour of the area. It is beautiful. Bright and early the next morning, Jim Keith, Lesley and I met with five staff members from the Hotel and resolved all most all of my questions and concerns. We left for Silver Springs Maryland. On Friday May 14 we pulled into Silver Springs and landed at the home of Herb and Sally Simon. Whether we are driving north or south we always try to spend a night or two with Herb and Sally. Herb is a night owl like me and we spend hours answering emails and chit chatting while the girls sleep. We left the D.C. area and drove straight to New Haven Ct. we had driven 2020 miles and accomplished a lot. My dreaded lap top was always within arms reach. We are settling in, cleaning, unpacking and refueling the house with food for the next 5 months. We made it to the May New Haven Lost Cord Club meeting at Southern Ct State University on Wednesday. It was great to see Frank, Larry, Sal, Noah, Paul and some new members and their wives. On Thursday, I got an email from Jim Lauder that a new lary was in my area and wanted a visit. Lesley called his home, talked to a neighbor and arranged a visit that day. When we got to his home he was not able to speak at all clearly with his EL. He can not eat as he has a fistula and will have surgery in two weeks to try and fix that. All he wants is a hot dog and a Budweiser. He has lost 40 pounds, any way his inability to speak is mostly due to the swelling in his neck from the surgery and radiation. I pulled out an oral adapter and a soft tube and started talking with it. He had not seen that used before. I put my oral adapter on his EL, stuck in a new soft tube and handed it to him. He talked for the next 15 minutes non stop and clearly. I left him with info on the IAL, WW, and our local lost cord club (unfortunately he has no computer). That afternoon we stopped by our longest known and favorite neighbors Ellie and Claire. Claire is one of the many people who have yelled at me for not updating this Blog. So here I sit typing away with two fingers, because the Red Sox fans two doors up reminded me to get my butt in gear. Last night Lesley and I drove 36 miles to see the Leclair family. Ron Leclair is the IAL Webmaster. I was lucky to get to see him as he has been traveling all over the world doing startups of huge computer controlled rolling mills. He just returned from two startups one in South Korea and another in Brazil. He is scheduled to be in Turkey during our June AMVI. If he can get free for a couple of days in June I will have him fly into Louisville, but I don’t want to get my hopes up. To be continued……………..May is not over. Bob
