First off, let me just start with:  REGARDLESS OF YOUR CHOICE OF CANDIDATE, I HOPE YOU VOTED TODAY (or earlier!)!!!  One of the very best things about this great country of ours is the fact that we GET to vote without recriminations, for the candidate of our choice (sorta) and we aren't hassled, intimidated or just plain shot!!  We GET to vote, pure & simple.  Now, is that great, or what!  Thanks for letting me get that off my chest!

So, Jose has finally gotten around to getting registered with a VA clinic, after being on the road now, for about a year & a half.  I guess he's almost out of meds & they probably won't refill the script without being seen.  Good.  He needs his eyes, blood & skin all checked out.  Goodness knows, I can't haul this monster trailer around by myself, so I gotta keep him in good running condition, to take me where the sun shines.  Besides, he *does* make a mighty fine hubby!!  And *is* the hubby of choice!!  So, point of story, we took off yesterday, headed for the larger town of Port Charlotte, about 25 miles south of Venice.  Of course, with Sunny's pee-problem, we packed her right up and took her with us, not knowing how long we were gonna be.  Cool thing — right next door to the VA Clinic is a (surprise!!) JoAnn Fabrics, a pet store, and a Publix.  My version of shopping Heaven!!  We got there right about 8:15 am, in plenty of time for the appt, but a little ahead of the stores.  Wisely (if I do say so myself), I had also packed my computer, handheld GPS & the GPS chip for the map program loaded on the 'puter, AND the aircard!  HA!  I was all set!!  For about 45 minutes, I checked out geocaching.com & cleaned up email.  The first cache I saw appeared to be only 350 feet from the VA Clinic and had a title of "Denied Access," and a clue of "magnetic."  Heck, what could be EASIER!?  There was a "do not enter" sign about 50 feet from where the truck was parked, so, off I go!  Didn't even bother firing up the GPS, I knew where it was.  Sure 'nuff, stuck my hand up the sign pole, and there it was!!

Next cache was a half mile away, so I just wrote coords and moved on.  To the stores!!  Sunny had a great time in the pet store, sniffing all the food she's not allowed to eat and even showed some interest in the cats, bunnies & birds for adoption.  But, the tail wagged the most in the treats aisle.  We spent some time wandering around, got her poopy bags & pill pockets (thanks for putting us on to them, Auntie Di!!) then moved on to JoAnn's.  Luckily, she fits (barely, but does) in their buggies, and she had no problem wheeling all around the store.  Turned lots of heads (she does that a lot these days, as we take her most everywhere), and eventually, she got bored and laid down as we rolled around.  Fingered lots of soft, plush fabric, ogled over pretty, already-quilted fabric ($18.99 a YARD, and NO, I did NOT buy any!!), and finally settled on a new project for Tabatha.  Yeah, I know, what about all the OTHERS?  Well, we bought an outside storage box to hold them.  At least the stack of boxes has been moved outside.  Oh, and look - there's the bottom of my closet.  I wondered if it was still there, under all the fabric I've been storing!! 

Finally, Dick called to let me know he was thru, and see where I was.  Didn't take him long to figure it out, heehee.  He collected Sunny & me and off we went!  He decided since we were down that way, we could go on to Pine Island and see what's there.  It's the island next to Sanibel, which is just north of Captiva.  Both have what's been rumored to be the best beaches in our country, so it just figured that Pine Island would be nice, too.  And you know how he is about the beach....Sunday, Venice held an art-in-the-park-type festival, so we went to that for a couple of hours, and since we were right there, hit that beach, too.  However, with the wind being what it was, and Sunny being so tired from the Art Fest, we didn't really walk on the beach, but point is, we went to it.    So, there we were, tooling around Pine Island, and about all we can find is one Post Office after another...we found a gift shop, and I was hoping to get a few post cards to send out, but, daggum, the one gift shop was in a museum that wanted $7 a pop to get in!!!  You know, I could easily spend 10 times that at JoAnn's, but I balk at paying that much for the opportunity to purchase 50 cents worth of paper!!  So, sorry ladies (and you know who you are), but no postie-cards from Pine Island.   

Anyway, before we left the parking lot, Sunny took me over to the grassy spot, 'cuz it was time, go figure.  I looked up & there was the prettiest post-card-picture coconut palm, just waving in the wind.  And it was LOADED!!  When we got back to the truck, I pointed it out to Dick, and he asked me if I'd checked the ground around it for dropped coconuts.  DUH.  No.  Why didn't I think of that??  So, off we went, back over there....well, there weren't any right around THAT palm, but, up near the road, was a blown-over palm, so I went thru the muddy ditch (yep, good shoes and all — I did NOT know it was muddy — ALL the dirt here is black!!) to the trunk & root "ball."  It was so cool - there were lots of shells embedded in the root ball, and daggum, there was a coconut on the ground!!!  Went to reach for it, and surPRISE!!  That stick MOVED!!  You're right - nope, not a stick!  Ubiquitous black rat snake.  Florida mascot, next to the mosquito.  Once he moved up into the tree, I was able to snatch up the coconut, but we've yet to figure out how we're gonna crack it open & get the milk.  Hence, the title....what *does* fresh coconut milk taste like?  We've both tasted it before, but about all we remember is that it's not all that good.  I'm thinking we'll eventually get it out & put it in our of our smoothies, with some Capt. Morgan & frozen yogurt, to sweeten it up. 

We wandered around the island a bit more, then started back for home.  Along the way, we looked for several caches along the edge of Charlotte Harbor.  It really was pretty, as they've taken several acres & turned them into a long, narrow city park of sorts.  It had several boardwalk-type piers, and each one seemed to have its own cache.  Of course, we never found one that was actually placed on any of the piers, but we did find some that were in signs or stuck to metal fences.  It was neat being able to log the finds (or no finds) straight into the website.  We had kept the computer turned on, with the air card activated.  Oh, the wonders of modern technology. 

Ahh....but even technology cannot stop Father Time...and I'm afraid that the day is catching up to me.  I'm sure it's time to tune in to a TV channel that is broadcasting election results and take a peek.  Oh, before I go, let me tell you about a guest we had at Twin Oaks...  I received an email reservation request and fulfilled it, way back in May.  In Sept, just before we left, I got another one from the guest, reminding me of his reservation for Nov. 3 & 4, and asking if we had cable TV, as it was absolutely critical that he watched the election.  It was all I could do to keep a straight face as I replied, "Well, no, sorry, no cable TV at Twin Oaks, but we did have a satellite-enabled wide-screen, as well as whatever we could pick up on our antennas, and I was confident that EVERY channel would be carrying the election."  As if his watching would make a difference!!!  Remember, I'm the one that started this missive off with an exclamation of pride in our country's political opportunity, but 'cmon....get real, buddy.  Watching it is *NOT* gonna change the outcome!!!  (Sorry, Tim, no offense meant, I know you are also watching it, with bated breath no less!!)  Back to subject....it's BEDTIME!!

Goodnight all, and thankfully, I get to say, God Bless!!!