Friday, March 11, 2011

Friday, March 11, 2011:

Up this morning to get ready to look at some property here in on St. Croix with Kim Lucas (www.buyeragentstcroix.com or www.retireinthevi.com).  She is Kirby’s mom.

 We were watching the news of the Japan earthquake. Devastating news to be sure.   We learned that they have earthquakes fairly often here too – the fault line being north of St. Thomas, but they are usually mild ones.

We drove around the island with Kim and looked at 10 homes and condos.  It was interesting to see the different lifestyles. Kim was very helpful with information about the island.  She works with buyers when purchasing a home or land.  The problem is cost, of course. Seems they want a lot of money for a condo or house that needs lots of repairs because it has sat vacant and is rotting where it stands.  I think that is bizarre. Why would you spend so much money on a home and let it go like that...?   Plus, for condos, the monthly maintenance fees are very high – around $1000 for most. A few are a hundred or so lower, but the nicer places are  way higher (like $2,000).  And these places were not gorgeously beautiful or kept up.  No wonder the market is in trouble!    

We got back and met John and Evonne at the pool. Several other condo owners & renters were there too and Gerald found a new friend to pick his guitar with.  He’s a younger man who plays country music, which you know tickles Gerald to play with someone else who plays country music.  They’ve made plans to get together on Wednesday afternoon. 

We decided to hit Smuggler’s Cove one more time for that yummy Perfect Pepperoni Pizza.  The same waitress was there from last week.  Her name is Aloe (like the plant) and she had on a t-shirt from Shorty Pants at Lake of the Ozarks! (what's with us seeing all these people from the Lake?!)  Turns out she lives and works there during the summer!  Small world indeed!  We said we would try to come down and see her this summer.

After dinner we came back to the condo and played poker again.  I wasted no time in losing more money.  In fact, I lost so much, after a while they didn’t even pay attention to me, even when I did have a winning hand! One time I had a straight flush…and Evonne and Gerald were at the other end of the table arguing about whose 3 of a kind beat the other (John had folded)…and I’m sitting here with a straight flush! Just as Evonne was about to scrape the pot off the table…I said; "is anyone interested in what I have!" HA!  Pretty bad when you have to do that!

But at least Gerald didn’t set off the car alarm tonight. He's been doing that lately! Last night he kept setting the car alarm off because the car keys were in his pocket and he would hit the panic button when he reached over the get cards or deal.  Tonight we made him take the keys out of his pocket!  And here I was blaming the other people around here for making noise! 

Evonne and I are so proud of the boys.  They set a goal and accomplished it.  They finished off the 2 rum bottles they bought at the Cruzan Distillery last Monday...plus half of another bottle and a couple of those little shot bottles! Goal met and exceeded!

After all that rum ... better get to bed! Tomorrow is moving day for Evonne & John! =(