The Fabulous Flamingo Room Isn't

Damn, I had great expectations & It just didn't happen. I thought the black out drapes would be a plus, but they just don't look right & the artwork is underscaled. The room looks like a cheery cell. I kinda hate it. I'm just not sure where to go from here.

Everytime I think I have talent as an interior designer, I realize that basically, I suck.

Slither is a sound

I was standing in front of the dryer, taking out a load when I heard it. Slither, slither, slither. It was loud enough to make me turn around to see a quite large black snake. Fortunately, it was slithering away from me deeper into the laundry room. I'm a live & let live kind of person and non poisonous snakes are good for keeping down the more repellent critters, but I must admit, on my subsequent trips out there, I kept looking over my shoulder. We left the doors open so hopefully it'll have found a new place to hang out tomorrow.

Funny, I always thought slither was a kind of movement, but it really is a pretty creepy sound.

Hot

Can't function in this heat. Brain & body melting.

Don't Ever Do This

We have four dumpsters along side the office. This Sunday, someone dumped their leftover bait and bait bags. We ask that people do that out back at the fish cleaning station so Dan can dump the bait in the creek. Anyway, Trash was picked up early Monday morning, but the lingering dead, rancid bait odor in the cans was more than I could bear.

In my infinite wisdom, I took some old, original, strong, overwhelmingly odoriferous Lysol & pour some into each can. Don't ever, ever do that. The cans now smell of dead, rancid bait combined with the horrible medicinal smell of Lysol. The whole front of the office is reeking, my eyes water and my stomach heaves every time I walk outside. The whole nasty business is compounded by several straight days of 95 degree heat.

I have a feeling I won't have any walk-in guests for a couple of days. Oh yuck.

Oh Yeah

Oh Yeah. I've been wanting a gas grill outside the trailer door just for me to use. No guests. I had to be very patient because of necessary motel expenses but the patience paid off.

This one with every feature important to me went on sale. Huge bargain. My requirements were: a high heat searing burner, porcelain coated cast iron cooking surface and a built in thermometer.

The real hero of this story is my DH Dan. He offered to pay for it out of his personal fund and he put it together today (47 pieces!) in 95 degree heat. Oh yeah........

A Face Only A Mother Could Love

I was watching the "Real Housewives of New Jersey" the other night and one of the women on the show had an animal I had never seen before and couldn't identify. I didn't even know if it was a dog, cat or rat.

My curiosity was piqued to say the least so I googled "naked cat," because I felt that a cat was my best bet. Sure enough, there's a hairless cat called a Sphynx.

I'm in love. I want one. I need one. I don't have $1000 to spend. I don't care. I want one. I'm going to start saving up today.

From my research, I've found that the Sphynx breed can be from the Canadian line or the Russian line and the two are not related. They are more intelligent than a normal house cat and have been called a cross between a cat, a monkey and a child. They love people & want to be close. The have a strong immune system because their temp runs about 107 degrees, giving them natural protection from disease.

Because they are hairless, they need to be bathed once a week. There's no fur to absorb body oils. Sometimes they like to join their humans in the shower. Their skin feels like chamois and they love to cuddle.

I want my own little Yoda. $1 down & how much a week?

Tootsie's Panama City Beach

Pier Park in Panama City Beach is the newest franchise of Nashville's famous Tootsie's Orchid Lounge where many of country music's superstars got their start.

Here's the Ho's DH Gene pickin' & singin' on the PCB Tootsie's stage. This could be the start of something big.

Pier Park is about an hour's ride from the Dixie Belle, but well worth the trip. The 3 blocks closest to the beach & fishing pier have a charming retro beachy style with lots of interesting shops & boutiques, but the best part is the variety of themed restaurants and bars.

There's Tootsie's of course, Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville, a reggae place, a german beer hall & several other smaller places. The biggies all have live music, indoor-outdoor tables and kitchy decor. Very fun and festive.

#7 New Wall Art

These came today while the Ho & I were having lunch at the Sunset Coastal Grille, which by the way was a special treat for me, since I had to paint & re grout the shower in #11 this morning before I left. & totally needed a girlfriend break. The Ho & I always seem to help each other put things in perspective. Not to mention have more than a few laughs.

We both love quiche, but turned down the special today because it was made with cheddar & we both prefer swiss. So she opted for a pastrami panini & I went with the blue cheese bacon burger. Both decadent and delicious.

I have always liked the 3 dimensional metal wall art, but it's usually way pricey. I ordered these from a company that imports decor from poor exploited artisans in Haiti, hand painted & made from old steel drums. I figure the artists got practically nothing, the middleman a bit more and the retailer the bulk of the profit. For me, the price was right.

I'm absolutely thrilled with these caribbean cottages. Beautifully done and perfect for our new "Fabulous Flamingo" room. Maybe the Haitian artist made enough to buy a chicken for the stew pot.

Magazine Mystery

Okay, this is too weird. Last month I got a copy of Architectural Digest addressed to me by name. I thought is was some kind of fluke until I got another one today. I have never paid for a subscription & who In the freakin' world would send Architectural Digest to a woman who lives in a trailer!!!

Here I sit, leafing through a magazine advertising $2,300 coffee tables and featuring the auction of the estate of Yves Saint Laurent.

Of course, as I'm looking through what sold for what, I'm telling myself, "That's not worth $155,984 and "I wouldn't have that if they gave it to me," and "a picture of a headless body for $14,233,226? I don't think so." Even trailer trash has taste.

Finally a decent sunset

It's been overcast and raining for over 2 weeks and the sun finally broke through yesterday afternoon. When I saw the sunset, I had to take a few pics. I can't figure out how to reposition these photos, so #2 is the earliest out back overlooking the creek which was bright orange through the leaves. #3, a tad later and #1 from the street looking back at the motel just before dark.I'll admit that the panhandle sunsets are terrific.....but, yes I have a but, upstate New York and the sunsets over Lake Oneida were far superior and lasted much longer.

The Best Odor Eliminator

Quite by accident, Karen & I discovered an odor eliminator that works better than anything I've tried in 8 years.

I've had a couple of workers in non-smoking room #7 for the last couple of months. When they checked out a few days ago they left behind a can of Zep Smoke Odor Eliminator. For a long time, I had suspected that they were smoking pot and either buying or selling it as well. One guy was Mexican & the other Haitian. Hello....the Haitian probably had a direct line to the ganja fields. The room however never, ever had the telltale odor. Now I know why. They've been using this Zep stuff.

We used the can they left behind in our smoking rooms and couldn't believe the results. We regularly use Febreeze on the fabrics, Odo Ban on the carpets and a citrus odor eliminator in the air, but there's always residual smoke odor. It's gone. Our bunk room is usually occupied by workers or fishermen & to me, with my sensitive smeller, it always had that eau de male sweat scent. This stuff freshened it right up for the first time. We haven't tried it on cooking odors yet, but I'm optimistic.

So much so, that I found an outlet on line & ordered 1/2 dozen cans. Just needed to share this find with anyone else who faces challenging air quality issues. Hmmm, how about pets? And pot smokers need to jump on this one.

Redoing #7

I went to Panama City today on a mission. I needed wall art to go with the new bedding in the soon to be "Fabulous Flamingo" room. It was previously my jungle room, but for 4 months I've had 2 workers in there & I just want a whole new look and feel when they check out later this week.

I'll recycle the jungle bedding into a smoking room. Probably #1. It needs a facelift anyway.

Karen & I can't wait to get into those worker occupied rooms and clean them top to bottom. #11 needs the bathroom scraped & painted and the bedding replaced. When the workers moved in, I took off the pretty lighthouse bedding & replaced it with the oldest bedspreads I had. When they leave, those bedspreads will be donated to the Humane Society for the puppies to sleep on.

No luck with the wall art & PC was mobbed. Jeez, I couldn't stand it. Coming through Mexico Beach on the way home I noticed how busy the beaches were for a weekday. School's out in FL & maybe GA too, so I guess it's the start of family vacation time. We're already completely booked for the weekend and as a matter of fact, only have 2 rooms left for tonight. Knocking wood.