Bo  Smith's Blog History

September 8th-October 10th, 2010

 
Jacksonville, Florida

This is our small house in Jacksonville. It meets our needs pefectly. It is located on the eastside near the beach. We have a nice stone patio for reading and a jacuzzi for easing the pain of our old tired muscles.

One of my favorite things to do in Jacksonville is surf fishing; especially in the spring when the water is warming up in late April and early May.
October 11th (Monday)
Diana, Heather, the doggies and I drove up to the cabin.
October 10th (Sunday)
 Diana and I went to her cancer group, "Friends" reception on Sunday
October 9th (Saturday)
Heather and I went to the Florida/LSU game.

Heather and I tailgated with Alex, Alice, and Levi

The Gators didn't play well on offense but we had a great time in the swamp anyway!
October 8th (Friday)
Heather flew in to Jacksonville on Thursday. We had a chance to spend some time together on Friday

The beach at Mayport
The entrance to Ft. Caroline
October 5th (Tuesday)
The weather, surf, anf fishing were great at Mayport today. I fished the rising tide from 4:00 to 6:30. The fish were hiting the shrimp (both hooks) as soon as I got my line out for the first hour or so. I never had a chance to get a second rod going. I kept one blue fish (13") and returned 10+ small silver whiting, one very nice a spotted sea trout (about one " under the 15" minimum), one medium catfish, and a small hammerhead (about 2 months old). The tide was unusually high so I had to quit in order to be able to use the crossover. Diana came with Tut and Panda for the last hour or so. The doggies enjoyed the beach. Panda wanted to chase the birds. I'm going back tomorrow to get a second fish for Thursday night's dinner with Heather.

Very convenient parking to the crossover

Beatiful weather and surf conditions today

Bo with nice blue fish
October 4th (Monday)
Well, Saturday was a disaster; the Gators losing to Alabama 31-6. The defense gave up too much early and then played pretty well. I have noticed in 2 games though the the Defensive Ends, particularly Duke Lemmon (sp?) commit too early toward the middle on run plays and then get sealed off opening up the corner. Alabama's running back, Richardson, exploited this weakness often. The "D" did a good job limiting Ingram. The back four played a good game except on a couple of plays where the corner let the receiver get behind him and the safety didn't get over in time to cover resulting in big plays in critical 3rd down situations. The offense was awful. I think Jonathan Brantley can play better and Tre Burton has the potential to be a super second weapon from the "Wildcat". But, neither one will be successful unless the offensive line plays better. Enough on that!
The Jaguars made up for the Gator fiasco by playing a terrific game on Sunday beating the Colts 31-28 in the final minute with Scobee's 59 yard field goal. It has been the other way around in past games with the Colts/ Peyton Manning winning close games with drives at the end of the 4th Quarter.  The Jags have shown that they can beat anybody with wins against good teams like Denver and the Colts and loose to anybody with bad losses to San Diego and the Eagles. If the good JAGS show up every game, I think they can be a playoff team!
Go JAGS
Diana and I are looking forward to a busy week in prepartation for returning to the cabin next Monday. My oldest daughter, Heather, is flying in from San Luis Obisbo today. She will be spending time with her mother at the beginning of the week and joining us on Thursday.  She will be going to the cabin with us next week.  Heather and I will be going to the LSU game Saturday night (7:30 pm).  I also am going to try to go surf fishing tomorrow afternoon (Diana and/or Heather may try to join me).  Big Reds (Red Drum) are being caught around the mouth of the St. Johns. I plan to fish the middle of the rising tide in the late afternoon to near senset. My goal: catch one Red (the limit) of about 24 inches (the size restrictions are >17" but <27"). If a Bull Whiting or Saetrout shows up, so much the better. Then, Diana and Heather can enjoy a fresh fish dinner on Thursday night.
October 2nd, 2010 (Saturday morning)
It has been a busy week running errands, going to meetings, and garage cleaning. I'm attaching another great picture of Diana and the "doggies". This one: "Afternoon nap"

left to right: Panda, Tut (foreground), Bella, Little Bear
 Notice that Panzy is nowhere to be seen; she stays clear of this crowd. Notice also the cell phone is being clutched in the right hand. I suspect that the remote is in the left hidden behind Bella. :-)
It's a very cool and dry morning and I'm getting my computer work done along with breakfast. I will be watching football this afternoon and evening and taking care of the "doggies" while Diana is shopping and visiting. Diana will be back before the big game tonight; Florida/Alabama in prime time. I expect Florida to come with lots of variations on offense and a stout defence. If they can slow down Ingram in the run game and execute their offence without too many mistakes, they can win.
 Go Gators!
September 29th (Wednesday)
I was working on adding some pictures of minerals to my Bo's Minerals for Sale website and I had to add this picture to the blog. .

The puppies have decided that it is time for them to join Panda, Bella, and Panzy as official "doggies" with bed privileges!
September 27th (Monday)
I picked up Laura and Eliza at the airport on Thursday at about 6:00 pm.  We enjoyed a great "Chicken Austin"  dinner with Diana and Lindsay and then I took them to Mary's townhouse. Mary, Laura, and Eliza spent the weekend at Goldhead State Park with the Terrells. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture at the dinner!  :-(
 The Jacksonville Gem and Mineral Society had its annual gem and mineral show this past weekend. I attended for awhile each day,  Friday through Sunday. I met several club members and will be more active this year marketing my minerals and possibly assisting in a club collecting trip to Spruce Pine Pegmatite  mine sites.
I picked up Laura at Goldhead at 4:00 pm on Saturday afternoon at Goldhead and we went to Gainesville for the Gator/Kentucky game at 7:00. The Gators finally played like a top 10 team winning 48-14. Andre Debose and Will Hill played well and Tre Burton made his debut as a super star scoring 6 touchdowns, a Gator single game record. Alabama has a lot to plan for to defend the more wide open offense. 
I spent the night at Goldhead and spent some time with Laura, Eliza, and the Terrells at breakfast Sunday morning.

Grandpa Bo and Eliza on Goldhead cabib porch

Eliza telling Grandpa Bo about her dream.

(left to right), 
Terry, Sarah, Eliza, Laura, and Possum
The Jaguars had a miserable performance against the Philadelphia Eagles at home on Sunday. Michael Vick played well for the Eagles. The Jags' defensive line played OK but the rest of the team was awful :-(

September 20th (Monday)
Hooray, the Gators won and looked a little better. But, Tennessee is not a strong team this year and the Gators will have to continue to improve to beat Kentucky next week. My daughter Laura is coming to town next week and we will be going to the game together. The Jaguars were disappointing against San Diego away. They just don't play well on the west coast!
September 17th (Friday)
Its been a good week. Diana attended her church group meetings and I had a RETCAPS (Retired Captains) lunch. We both had numerous medical appointments and tests; all of which were fine. We try to get all these medical things taken care of so that they do not negatively affect our cabin schedule. I finished the W.E.B. Griffin historical fiction book, "The Lieutenants" (mostly based on World War 2) and and the "Captains" (mostly based on Korea) and have begun "The Majors" which begins with a visit to the French in Hanoi in 1954 and the development of Army Aviation..
September 13th (Monday)
It was a hot one in Gainesville on Saturday.  The Gators were not on fire in the first half but finally began to look pretty good in the second half defeating the "Bulls" of USF 38-14.  I needed every drop of water I could get to survive it but had a good time anyway with my good friend Joe Conlon. After the game, we met Diana at the Conlon house in Flemming Island for chopped salad and Diane's fantastic Naples style pizza.

Joe with "The Swamp" in the background

Diane on the left with her sister Sharon and Diana
It was a late get up on Sunday.  I just barely finished reading the paper when it was time to watch the Jaguars play Denver at 1:00 pm. Tim Tebow got in for a couple of plays which did not affect the game. It was a good contest and the Jags finally didn't give it away in the 4th quarter and won 24-17. The US Open was rained out. Diana and I watched a Masterpiece Theater and then got to bed reasonably early. We spent Monday doing errands and staying indoors avoiding the 90+ temperatures.
September 10th (Friday)
Diana and I have been busy the last couple of days with medical appointments, meetings, and email. Diana attended lunches the last two days in connection with "The Global Day of Prayer" which will be held in Jacksonville on Saturday night, June 10th, at the Veterans Memorial Arena.  Many of Diana's church friends are involved in the planning for this big event and Diana may play a role too.  She is very excited about it!  We had several medical appointments to prepare for our appointments with Dr. Ruple Galani next Thursday. We now both have the same cardiologist! Very convenient! I have also put together a website for Lud Leiner's Rock Mine Tours. I will be able to transfer a lot of this website to my Bo's Mine Tours website if that becomes a reality. I have been enjoying watching the tennis in the US Upen and college football this week. I am looking forward to seeing the Gators play USF tomorrow and then meeting Diana at the Conlons after the game for some of Diane's fabulous Neopolitan pizza.
 Go Gators!
September 8th (Wednesday)
Diana and I had an excellent drive from the cabin back to our home in Jacksonville with the five "doggies" on Saturday, September 4th. Diana renewed her friendships at her church on Sunday while I organized my papers and tried to get my desktop computer to work. There is some sort of hardware problem (hopefully minor) that I will get around to eventually. In the meantime, I'll be doing my email and blogging on my laptop. I have established history pages for the summer period at the cabin. As you can see, if you check them out, I am having problems getting the pictures to work. There is probably some sort of archetecture problem that I will have to solve. I will be keeping the front page shorter in the future so that the download time isn't as long as it has been in the August period. I continued my unpacking and organizing on Labor Day while Diana was working in a booth at her Friends Cancer Group's Labor Day picnic and 5K run. We received a "care package" from Diana's first cousin, Anita Dais on Tuesday. Included in the package was a novel for me by W.E.B. Griffin, "The Lieutenants- Brotherhood of War". I read the book in two days (finished it at 3:00 am last night) and ordered some more ("The Captains", "The Majors" etc) from Amazon.com this morning. It is military historic fiction which reminds me a little of Herman Wouk's "Winds of War". Diana met with her church ladies this morning for coffee and fellowship while I supervised the blow out of the drain line and cleaning of the cooliing coils of our air conditioning system. We had a water leak due to the clogged drain line which had to be fixed to get going on our main "project" for the month- clean the garage and make the "mineral room" satisfactory as a guest room. Diana wants me to add that she already has done a lot of work in the garage while I was reading my new book!