She's Back

American Idol

I'm a little late with my recap considering a new American Idol will be on tonight but better late than never is what I say.

First, the Sixty Second Recap by MTV.

MTV Shows

For those who can't remember that far back, one week, last week was disco night. Now I fully expected it to be a train wreck but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't nearly as bad as I had feared it would be. Most were ok and one I really enjoyed. Before I get to the performances I just want to thank Fox for joining the 21st century. They have decided that disabling the videos on you tube is really not in their best interest. Oh, really? How long has it taken them to figure out that having fans posting clips from your show might just be a good thing for your network and more importantly your ratings. They have even gone so far as to provide the videos on their web site. Wow, they have seen the light!

Though this performance didn't do much for me, in the blogosphere it was a big hit. I like Kris and I have to say he seems to be improving week after week but I still can't say I am a fan of his. He and Danny, who I can't stand, may be battling it out for that number two spot in the finale. Here is Kris's performance.

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Here is my number one performance of the night. Adam Lambert singing "If I Can't Have You".

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Tonight's theme is Rat Pack songs. I can hardly wait to hear what Adam is going to do tonight. It is always a surprise.

One Final Glance

And Headed Off To The West Coast

Congratulations, Joni!

She Calls Herself Super Sheller

Yes, my not that much younger sister considers herself a "Super Sheller". Now you would think this is because of the fabulous shells that she finds on the beaches of Florida. No, she considers herself a Super Sheller because she has one of these in her possession.






Do you know what piece of equipment I am referring to? Look closer. Still confused. Believe me anyone would be. The piece of equipment that she considers to be her "go to" tool of the trade is this.






Yes, that would be a carabiner. From morning to night, from breakfast to dinner Katie and I were instructed on the importance of a carabiner in a sheller's arsenal. In fact this photo was from a post lunch lecture on her beloved carabiner. By the end of the week even Katie was coveting a carabiner to call her own. I almost purchased a carabiner engraved with the name "Bob". Don't ask. The insanity, and lure of owning a carabiner of our own, had infected both Katie and I.

The purpose of her carabiner is to hold her essential tools. A net, flashlight and mesh bag.





With the right tools even a maneuver such as this doesn't prevent a Super Sheller from scanning the surf for shells. Of course, a Super Sheller owes it all to her carabiner.





With her carabiner Super Sheller is able to achieve the ultimate status of a sheller on the beach. She must carry her mesh bag and not allow it to hang (from her carabiner) because of its heavy weight due to the shells that have been collected on the beach.





Yes, Katie and I listened to her constantly brag about her carabiner and the status that comes from owning such a piece of equipment. Super Sheller even managed to find one of these on the beach. No, she found TWO of these during our week on Sanibel Island. This is a picture of the smaller of the two shells. We saw them in the store and they were priced between sixty and eighty dollars. Impressive, isn't it?






Yes, Super Sheller may have a carabiner but she doesn't have the shells because she threw them back in the Gulf. Believe me the local who was watching was as surprised as I was. I think her title of Super Sheller was tarnished a bit that evening on the beach. Yes, she may talk all she wants about her beloved carabiner but she doesn't have the shells to back it up. I think the title of "Super Sheller" may be up for grabs the next time we are at the beach. Carabiners optional.

Where Do You Want To Spend Your 25,000 Mornings?

It's Katie's Turn

My not that much younger sister and I were in Florida for shelling. The eating and the pool were secondary. Well, we were a trio on this vacation and the third member, Katie, was ALL about the pool. To accommodate her we went to the pool every day after lunch for two to three hours. Let's face it if she isn't happy then we ultimately weren't going to be happy.

Of course, pool toys are always a hit.









The thing with kids though toys aren't a requirement for fun.













But, really, the best part of being at the pool if one is an eight-year old girl is making a new friend. Especially if her name is Julia. Needless to say her mother and I were always happy to see Julia too.












Ahhhh, life at the pool. It may be worth all of that shelling to spend afternoons floating around in the water.





Just don't forget there is always danger lurking around the corner. Even at the pool.

Watch Your Back, Journey

American Idol

Another week, another Idol. This week's theme was songs from movies. Who would rise to the occasion and who would sink?

Here is Jim Cantiello's 'American Idol' in 60 Seconds.

MTV Shows

Just to echo Jim Cantiello, I hope Danny goes home next week too. He can go along with Lil. Because they saved Matt two must go home next week. Could be interesting.

I only thought one performance was memorable. I don't know what it is about American Idol and YouTube but they are disabling all of the Idol links. I found one that is working. I take that back, I just went to get it and it is gone. American Idol you are trying my patience.

My performance of the week goes to.......





Yes, Adam had the top performance again this week performing "Born to be Wild". If you follow this link you can watch a video of his performance. http://www.rickey.org/?p=14322

Next week is Disco Week. Don't say you haven't been warned.

Shelling on Sanibel

Our main activity on the Island is shelling. We go in the morning, we go in the afternoon (sometimes), we go in the evening. We just like to search for shells. If it weren't for Katie we would probably be out there more than that. We never seem to tire of it. There is always that element of surprise that if we turn and look at just the right time or dig at just the right spot we will find that treasure we are searching for.

Last year our strategy consisted of two ways of searching.

Digging through the piles of shells that are left on the beach









and carefully scanning the beach while we walk.





I have to admit that Katie is the best at both of those methods. It must be her younger eyes that give her an advantage. It figures that the one who is least interested is the best.





But never say you can't teach an old dog new tricks. We learned a couple of new strategies this year that paid off handsomely.

One thing we learned is that storms are good. Of course, we have no control over that but we sure can take advantage of them when they occur. A cold front came through with some strong winds and consequently better shelling. Of course, it meant we had to put on every warm piece of clothing we had brought which wasn't much or enough. Are those your pajama bottoms you're wearing, sister?





We also learned to search and sift through the sand shelfs left behind when the tide is going out.





Call us crazy but two mornings we got up at 5 AM so we could be the first on the beach. That even required a trip to the hardware store so we could buy flashlights. After all it is dark at that time of the morning. One morning we did really well with our finds and one morning we found nothing. So much for the early bird getting the worm. Or should I say the early shellers getting the shells?

We also learned how important the tides are. The best shelling occurs at low tide and if that occurs during a full moon that is even better. Last year we must have been there at a different phase of the moon because this year we had a full moon and the tide was so low that we could go out on the sandbars. We didn't see sandbars last year.





Even though we are all about the shells we do take time to observe the wildlife around us. Well, at least take a glance. When the shark swam by when we were wading through the water my not that much sister took a glance and went back to her shelling. I did stop long enough to watch it swim by me. Very cool. We also saw a dolphin, an octopus, many, many sea urchins and a Portuguese Man o War. They saw it, I stepped on it. Let's just say I will never walk on the beach barefoot again. That was extremely painful.

We also saw starfish. Sister saw this one early morning.





We decided it was alive and threw it back. Sanibel prohibits the taking of live shells and animals. Later research revealed that it was probably dead and could have been brought back home. Oh well. Later that week I pulled a smaller starfish out of the surf. After much examination we decided it was dead and put it in our bag. Later we met up with a local and in talking to her mentioned what we had found and showed it to her. Her response, "It was probably alive when you found it but it is dead now." Sheesh. Live and learn. We still brought it home but with guilt.

When we went down to Florida we had decided to love by this quote by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, "One cannont collect all the beautiful shells on the beach. One can collect only a few, and they are more beautiful if they are a few." We started with good intentions.





But somewhere along the way something went horribly wrong.





What have we done?!





All in all shelling this year was a great success.





To be continued......

Sanibel Island

I have spent the last couple of days sifting through my photos. Every time I go through them I delete some more out so hopefully by the end I have a manageable size to deal with. Here are a few photos showing an overview of our trip to Sanibel this year.

Why does every good trip start with a plane flight?





Have I said how much I love Southwest Airlines? They are know how to move people and planes. Not only that they make it fun while they do it. On my trip down I had two lively crews. On my flight to Orlando the crew declared they were tired during our take-off and then proceeded to roll the snacks down the aisle much to the delight of the passengers. How can you not smile at that?

This year we stayed a little bit further down the beach from where we were last year. It worked out really well I think.





This year we had a view of the Gulf and a bigger pool. Katie really appreciated the pool while her mom and I were more excited about the view from the lanai. In previous years there has been an alligator living in the small pond but we didn't see any evidence of him.





This year we spent our time much the same way we spent it last year.

We spent time shelling,





exploring different lunch options every day at noon,





playing,





swimming (of course),





checking out the wildlife,





discovering shell art on the beach,





and of course taking photos.





We had a great time and hope to go back again someday.





To be continued.....