goosifer

You got it, Biz. You know the boys in WNY will take care of you.

As I may have previously mentioned, my wife and I are at a point in our lives where we are going to knock off some bucket list travel. First trip was the Panama canal, which we did last month. Next trip is six weeks in Italy in September and October, 2019. I'm planning the trip myself, and have made a lot of progress sketching out the itinerary. I have a lot more work to do on the details for accommodations and tours. I figured I would throw this out there for folks to share their favorite things related to Italy, be it cities, activities, food and or memories. FWIW, below is a preliminary list of the cities we intend to visit. We will be traveling by train everywhere--too afraid to drive in Italy! Turin Barolo Alba Rapallo Pisa Florence Siena Montalcino Montepulciano Sorrento Pompeii Sorrento Salerno Amalfi & Ravello Catania Syracuse Taormina or Augusta Palermo Cefalu Rome Venice San Marco Murano Venice Verona Valpolicella Bologna Modena Parma Nice, France

Thanks for the offer, Biz, I'm old and boring; I'd cramp your style. My 30 year old stepson might be able to keep up with you, though (not financially, but in adventurousness).

We are confirmed for Friday at noon. I will post pics.

(last post about the cruise) Day 13 (1/26) and Day 15 (1/28) Sea days. More trivia, eating and drinking. Day 14 (Falmouth, Jamaica) This port stop went pretty much as planned. Got off the ship and shopped at the stores inside the gated port area. I went to each store that sold coffee, skipping all the jewelry stores, and asked for a price for 5# of Jamaican Blue coffee beans, cash. They were quoting the Jablum for like $35 a pound, but had another brand for less. After getting about 10 quotes, I went back to the three that tied at $25 a pound for a best and final. One guy said he'd give me a half pound free if I bought six, effectively $23/pound. The other two would not go lower than $25. So, I got 6.5 pounds of coffee. Not as good a deal as getting Jablum for $20/pound years ago, but what can you do. While there we went to the biggest tourist trap rip off at the port, commonly known as Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. Had a Red Stripe beer and some overpriced, mediocre food. It was a nice day weather-wise, though. Day 16 (1/29) Back to FLL. Took a shuttle bus back to the parking garage at the other dock (We returned to a different one) and drove over to Naples, FL. All alongside the road were big water ditches/canals. At one stretch, we saw 8 alligators sunning themselves or swimming. Next update will be about Naples, FL.

Biz, the thought of all the experiences you've had in your wild and crazy youth bewilders and terrifies me.

Took a ride to Sanibel Island, FL (from Fort Myers hotel), had a nice seafood lunch at the Clam Shack, did some shopping at the Outlet Stores near Sanibel Island (Mrs. Goose took the plunge and upgraded from a large purse to piece of luggage; I warned her she's going to hurt her shoulder with all the crap she carries).

Happy Birthday. Remember, you don't have to shovel snow on your birthday!

Consider it done, Biz. Last time I did seven half-acre plots over a roughly 20 acre area. I think I will do the same, although I've considered making some of the plots bigger.

A John Deere 955. I bought it from an online auction. I actually haven't seen it yet, but from what I'm told, it looks pretty clean. (A friend went and got it for me as I'm out of town.) Relative to the cost of a new one, I'm happy with the deal I got on this one. I did food plots two years ago, couldn't do them last year because life got in the way, and will now be able to do them this year.

You'd be surprised by how much ground I covered walking the property for over two hours. Nah, it's gone, baby.

This question might be more appropriate in a different or new thread, but at what point does the multiple days of below zero temps and wind chills, along with the snow, start to affect the deer population? I guess better now than in March, but still, at some point it would have to start taking a toll. Anyone have any thoughts on this question? From the Buffalo News today: A desperate young deer scavenging for food in the recent snow covering in a yard in Elma nibbles on the branches of a discarded Christmas tree along Girdle Road in Elma on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019. (Robert Kirkham/Buffalo News)

The land sold with the house. I think what the seller did was shady, offering the land for sale while it was also included in the house that was for sale, but not disclosing that. Supposedly the seller got 5 bids for the land only, including mine. I don't know if I was top bidder. Oh well, if it's too good to be true . . . . I'm just mad I lost a good glove while walking the property.

Tell me more about your relationship with Woody.

For our whole house generator, we change the battery every other year. Maybe overkill, maybe not. Something to consider.

The beer I had while in Cartagena, Columbia last week. Light, refreshing lager.

Day 11 (1/24) Panama Canal So the ship goes through the first three locks on the Caribbean side, tenders people that are doing on shore excursions, and then goes back out the locks and docks at Colon. The Panama canal is an amazing engineering achievement, especially when you consider the tools they had to work with when they first made the canal. The problem is, it is hard to grasp the scale of the canal as its just a single ship in the canal. It's not until you realize all the boxes are cargo containers that you being to realize the scale. Over the new canal, Panama is building a new bridge. It's almost done. Looks impressive. We Did the Panama Train dome car tour which kind of runs parallel to the canal. Prior to getting on the train, we stopped at a building that was a tourist stop for the canal. That was where I was able to take a picture of our ship, as it was traveling back through the locks. Afterwards, we were bussed to the train and climbed aboard. A tour guide gives some of the history, and they give you a snack and coffee. A very modest operation. It ends near the Pacific-side set of locks, but you don't really get a good look at them. We were then bussed back to the ship docked in Colon. Seeing the Panama canal, and doing the train ride, was the whole reason we did this cruise. It was a bucket list item for my wife. It was a bit underwhelming, but still glad we did it. Day 12 (1/25) Limon, Costa Rica This was the port stop I was most looking forward to. We were doing a long 6 hour excursion where we toured a village in the countryside and saw how they lived and grew food, et al. When we got to our minibus on the dock, we were told the tour was cancelled due to a bee swarm. We could have gone on a different tour, like visiting the sloths, but decided not to. Instead, we hit the tiny little flea market-like tourist stalls that were inside the gate on the dock. The people were very friendly and had lots of stuff that was hand-made in Costa Rica, like wooden cutting boards and coffee. Mrs. Goose and I had a fine time. Afterward, I went by myself outside the gate to visit the town. It was not what I expected. You walk one block away, and it is the bustling downtown of a small central american town. It was not at all touristy. In fact, I doubt most people even knew that a cruise ship was docked a block away. All prices were in local currency, but they would take and exchange dollars for you. I visited a grocery store and bought a tall can of beer and an ice cream bar for $3.50 USD. Two things I noticed: not a lot of chocolate bars for sale, and no diet soda. Weird. For me, walking around town was the highlight of the trip. Sorry, no pics. I wanted to blend in with the locals . . . .

only if you're coming on the trip, too.

For Australia and New Zealand next year, we have a Concierge class cabin at the back end of the boat on the Solstice. The sky suite is on the back corner with the balcony along the diagonal/at an angle. Very nice.

they call it a mini-suite. worth it for the extra room, especially on a 10 day cruise.

OK, so our cruise was pretty lame overall. But for the record, I will lay out what little we did and post some pics. Day 6 (1/19) Left FLL. Posted some pics of the boat and the shore by the port. (See previous post above.) Day 7 (1/20) Sea day. Our routine was eat, drink coffee, play trivia for the most part Day 8 (1/21) Was supposed to be stop in Cayman Island, but the waters were too rough to tender ashore. So we just kept going Day 9 (1/22) Sea day. Formal night. After packing dress clothes, Mrs. Goose decided she didn't want to bother dressing up. Not that I'm complaining. So we bailed on the dining room and just ate in the cafeteria. In fact, we ate most of our meals in the cafeteria. We didn't get an assigned seating time for dinner, so we had to do "Anytime Dining", where you basically wait for a spot at the next available table with different people each time. Day 10 Cartegena, Columbia We did an excursion that was labelled a food tour, but turned out different and better in some ways. First part was on a small tour boat cruising the coastline of the city. Think mini-Miami. Next part was a lame, too short tour of the old part of Categena. Kind of like Puerto Rico or even St. Augustine, if you've ever been to those places. The area was clean with lots of shops and restaurants. Even the street vendors needed to have a license to sell their items. Unfortunately, on our 35 minutes of free time to wander, I got us lost. Still managed to buy some coffee and overpriced, hopefully not fake Cuban cigars (for my BIL) (continued next post)

SAHN, when do you/did you leave NY? Hope you don't get caught in the latest storm. When we drive down, we go East into Delaware and Virginia to avoid the hills of West Virginia. We then go though High Point, NC to avoid getting on the 95 as much as we can. We don't get on 95 until Florence, SC. Safe travels. See you on the 8th. Give me a time for us to meet at the restaurant.

(cruise is over. drove from FLL to Naples, FL) Had lunch today at Captain & Krewe Seafood market and raw bar in downtown Naples, FL. I had a Ceasar salad and crab, artichoke & spinach dip. Wife had the lobster roll, which she raved about.

OK. I just can't believe that someone would let their dog roam at night like that with coyotes around. I have a pic where the coyote was sniffing the spot where the dog was (peed?) an hour later. Thanks.

Second time in about a week I've caught this on camera. The coyote(s) in the area are all light beige colored. This looks like a dog to me. Given the time of day I've got it on camera, I think its feral. With the cold spell coming this week, it will be a rough one for it.