Wednesday In Gulfport Mississippi thru Sunday 9-21

Today is Wednesday, Sept 17.  I am alone on the front porch.  It is just me and the solitude of water dripping from the trees above.  We had a gentle rain last evening, and the heat of the day has yet to arrive to dry up any remaining water on their boughs.  I am sitting on the porch of “the Ryan House”, 1511 19^th street, Gulfport, MS.  It is a beautiful house, one block away from the beach.  There is nothing but trees and a few passing cars to block my view of the gulf.   One of the most pristine beaches I’ve ever seen.  The silence is peaceful.... just a faint snore wafting from the house, and I cannot tell if it is from Joyce or Sheila.  

I first awoke this morning at 4:24 am to the sound of a distant train.  It started out a faint howl of loneliness, growing louder and louder as it came closer and closer.  Then finally, it was a loud SCREAM of “&$%*#@” agony.  Not on the train horns, part, but on MY part.  The friggin trains come thru here non-stop.  They blow their horn from several miles away, until they pass this spot and travel on for another several miles.  I liken the horn incident to the slaves getting even with “the white man” for all their years of slavery.  Just as my blood pressure was returning to normal, at 4:35, another one starts up.  OK, no more sleeping for Connie.

I stayed in bed, a million things running thru my my…. Why so many trains?  Why here?  Why now?  Why do people live here?  Why is Joyce asleep still?  Why is Sheila asleep?  Well, DUH…. Sheila takes her hearing aids out at night.  I toss and turn, praying to get back to sleep, when I give up at about 6:30 and head to the kitchen and start the coffee.  It is so quiet and serene in between trains, I head with coffee and PC to the front porch.  I will blog!

I get the first paragraph written, and the VOILA!  The construction workers arrive to work on the house across the street.  It is either a rebuild of a house destroyed in Katrina, or a new one on the lot of a house Katrina ruined.    The people of Gulfport people must have a motto…. Rebuild fancy and big, or sell to someone who will.  Driving the beach front road is beautiful.  Anyway, they bricked the fireplace the last two days, finishing last night.  I thought I’d be safe from that noise, but it appears they will brick the steps up to and including the front porch.  UGH!  The howl of the brick cutting machine is worse than the train horn, because it is accompanied with clouds of rest dust. It does make the concrete mixer seem quiet as well.

ENOUGH ABOUT THAT.   Back to where I left off and how I got here.

I think my last blog included the fact that the contractors were supposed to arrive on Wednesday to tear out the master bath shower.  They arrived.  It went really smooth, except they discovered some pipes sitting 3 inches inside the shower wall, where the old bench used to be.  Working with the people who made the shower walls we were putting in, we agreed to put a corner bench in.  They only had to repour the shower pan.  I was good to go.

Thursday, the devil arrived.  I mean, the plumber.  He was there to reposition the shower head and handles, and rework the drain.  He went about his business.  Gary and I had purchased new Delta and Phiftzer (not sure of that spelling) faucets for the sinks, tub and shower.  He was charging us $600 to do the shower.  We didn’t think that was bad since he’d be there all day.  He came and got me and said he was finished…. It was a whole shopping 5 hours after he’d arrived with a helper in tow.  

When I saw that the copper was replaced with blue plastic tubes, I almost died.  I questions him like there was no tomorrow, then went and got Gary, who took me into another room and blew a gasket.  He plumber assured me it was what was done now a days, as copper was too expensive, and the new plastic pipes would be better.  There was nothing I could do.  I did call Janice, and she assured me that when their house was redone, they used the same thing and Mike (he’s an Aggie and we all know how they are) researched it and found it was the new thing to replace copper with.  OK… moving on.

Gary was so upset, he refused to install the other faucets, and told me if I wanted it done, to have the plumber do them.  I asked the cost, $200 per faucet.  I told Gary and he said fine.  Well, after two more hours, he comes and gets me and shows me the finished job.  WTF?  Look at these pictures I’ve taken AFTER I had him take them apart again. 

The stains are around the handles and are visible for ¼ inch all the way around.  What to do? I tell the plumber I’ll work on the stains, and he says they’ve tried every chemical in my bathroom…. Bleach, lime remover, fingernail polish remover…. Even a Magic Eraser.  Nothing touched them.  I grab some sandpaper, and get nothing except finish off one of the faucets.  I give up.  I tell the plumber to leave it as is and I’ll have him come back and finish up after they install the shower walls.  Why didn’t he tell me before he installed them about the stains?  I mean, how stupid is he?  Wait, I paid him $600 for 3 faucets.... how stupid am I?

I’ve had a hectic day, but Thursday night Sheila, Joyce and I go to Apollonia’s Kitchen for some really, REALLY good Italian food.  After that, we went to see Menopause, The Musical.  It was really good.  I also saw an ex-telco man I knew, Bob Sims.  He actually sat one row behind me.  Chatted with him briefly after the performance.  Sheila and I had seen it years earlier, but this was Joyce’s first time.  We all enjoyed it.  I had forgotten all the songs they sang, but was highly entertained by the performance. 

The next day arrives, they start installing the shower walls, but the installers never show up to do the kitchen.  Around noon I call and am informed that “I” was the one that canceled the install.  Of course, I have not done that.  Long story short, they say they also no longer have the granite I selected.  Well crap.  I select one over the phone, based on pictures she sent me.  This should be quite a joke.  I was just too busy to drive the hour to the factory to select one that will work.   I spent the rest of the day on the phone with Delta trying to get escutcheons that will cover the previous stain.  About 3 hours later, they agree to make me some, but will not guarantee the color will work.  If it doesn’t, I’ll have to pay for return shipping, but they will refund 100% of my money.  They also pay to ship them to me.  I get a 50% discount to boot.  What a deal.  They actually have to have them custom made.  Well, whatever. 

The installers do a fantastic job on the shower.  Gary, of course, it pissed still.  I think it’s great.  I call the plumber and tell him his next date to work is the 23^rd.  I “think” that will be after I receive the new escutcheons from Delta.  He’s good with that. 

Sunday, bright and early, Sheila and Joyce pick me up and we head for Gulfport, MS.  Sheila ended up driving all day. 

Then there is always a selfie, which MUST includ arms.....

Desparate for things to photograph, Joyce finds a triple chip in the bags.  Everyone knows that the chips that are folded over are always the best in the bag.  I sometimes, though rarely, find a two layer chip.  But NEVER before seen a triple chip.  Joyce of course gives it to Sheila, Mom's favorite, and Sheila flaunts the chip.  Says it is the best chip she's ever eaten, smack her lips, and sighs and moans and groans.  I seriously thought about slappying her up side the head and stealing it, but didn't because I was afraid she'd try and get it back and have a wreck.  It was so unfair!

Anyway, all in one piece, we arrive at the house in Gulfport.  We are in one of the cutest rentals I’ve ever stayed in.  It just has a “look”.  The furniture doesn’t match, but it is still stylish in an eclectic way.  Also, the beds are comfy.  We went to the grocery store and stocked up on wine, beer, and breakfast foods.  We are ready!

 We didn't want to go out and eat, we decided to just have apps on the front porch.

We spent Monday recuperating.  That included going to the beach, and doing a drive around town.  The beach is immaculate.  No washed up seaweed or jelly fish (that’s mentioned for all you folks that have been to Galveston).  This really is an ideal little place, except for the damned trains.  We did find it a bit of a pain that the restrooms are about 1 mile apart.  If you don’t park next to one, then you have to take a real hike or pee in the ocean.  We opted to park near one.  The water has been calm every day that we’ve been here, no waves, which is really weird. 

 For dinner, we ate at Salute Italian Seafood restaurant.  The food was very, VERY good.  Sheila had the best shrimp something with spicy fra diavolo sauce on angel hair pasta.  She said it was the best she’d ever had.  It was spicy hot, but instead of just being hot, it had a fantastic taste.  It was Stanilaus Valarosa tomatoes with sautéed garlic & onions, garden fresh basil slow cooked daily.  Joyce had shrimp crawfish cakes & shrimp skewer.  The crawfish was blended with garlic celery, bell pepper, onion and Italian breadcrumbs served over mixed seasonal greens with fresh tomato aioli.  She also loved hers.  Me?  Just the basic “I want to try everything” dish.  I had the Tour of Salute Plate.  It was Florence style lasagna, chicken parmesan, and seafood ravioli.  I also added a salad with bleu cheese.  Needless to say, we all took about half of our food home.

Sorry about this pix, but it's from my iphone....

Yesterday (Tuesday) we went bright and early to New Orleans.  Our first stop was the tour company.  We did the Hop on Hop off tour.  Then, we walked ½ mile or so to Café Du Monde for beignets and chickory coffee.  It was great, and just what we expected.  Then we walked to a bus stop to catch our Hop on Hop off tour.  The tour lasted about 1 ½ hours, and was very informative, if you like history.  Our tour guide, Howie was really good at his job.  After seeing all of Gulfport, we hiked to Pat Obrien’s for lunch.  We had hurricanes (Joyce opted for a Bloody Mary, which was very spicey with a green bean, green olives, a slice of lemon and lime).  We also opted to purchase our glasses.  Our food was very good.  Here are some New Orleans pictures in no particular order.

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Yesterday evening, we played hand and foot on the porch and ate left overs.  Joyce ate some of my chicken parmesan, and I ate the seafood pasta I got at Pat Obrien’s.  Sheila also ate her leftovers.  We retired fairly early…. Didn’t want to miss the train horns as the morning approached.  Thank goodness I don’t hear the ones before 4:30am.  Joyce was awakened by one at 2am.  Thank god for small miracles for me.

We’ve now had breakfast on the patio at the rear of the house.  It is just too noisy at the front of the house.  We make plans for our last day in Gulfport.  We are going to the beach.  Now, that being said, I am fast forwarding.  It is now Sunday, and we've had all types of things to do.  I am going to only hit the highlights on pixtures and things we did, so that I can immediately get caught up.

Wed in Gulfport.... first the beach, then a car trip to Biloxi, to see the town.  Biloxi is one HUGE gambling mecca.  If you want to gamble and not go to Vegas, then Biloxi is the next best thing I've seen in a long time.  There are some really REALLY big casino's there.  We got back that night, and decided we'd just as soon eat at Salute again since it was so close.  Again, the food was great.

We got home in just the right amount of time... I managed not to miss Morgan's 12th birthday party.  We went to eat at Shogun, then came back to my house and the gang played nurf bullet battle.  They had a ball.  Morgan got two new bats that are rather expensive from her Mom and Dad, Melissa got her something, bur I forgot what, and we got her a new mountain bike.  A really nice one that should last her a lifetime, and she can actually grow in to it.  She loves it.

Yesterday, the gang had a Mussel Cook Off at Sheila's.  We started out with drinks.... Margie and Ralph, Carlos and Sue, Sheila, Mark and Joyce, and of course Gary and me.  The way it was supposed to work, each person brought their recipe for mussels and a drink that went with it. Joyce and I were the only ones that didn't participate in the mussel cooking contest. I provided bread, salad, dessert, and was in charge of the voting and the winner prize.  Margie and Ralph had to leave, but Margie brought her batch of mussels.  We started the tasting without them.  I served a Cesaer salad, then we started by serving Carlos' Mexican batch first.  He ended up making up his own take of one he found on the internet, and pairing it with a special Mexican beer that is brewed in Monterrey, Mexico.  The dish was really good, and the beer pairing worked perfectly because of the spicy sauce.  

Next up, Sheila served her Curry Mussel recipe, and paired it with a Reisling wine.  The mussels were yummy.  The wine was what was recommended by the LCBO guide (a Canadian thingy).

We then served Margie's dish.... a Cajun inspired sauce.  We didn't have a selection from Margie, so we (everyone except the Storeys) decided it should be served with a chardonnay.  Now, I do not understand why, but I have no picture of Margie's dish.  It was a reddish sauce, with bits of Rosemary, and other spices in it.  It was also a very good dish.  I apologize to all involved because I don't have a picture of it.  It was a beautiful presentation also.  I guess I was too busy eating it.

Margie and Ralph arrived a few minutes after we'd eaten, and we gave them tastes of the other dishes.  Part of the voting contest was the taste of the dish and then the pairing of the drink.  You rated each one on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the lowest score, and 5 being the highest.  I had the rating sheet set up so that a couple voted separately from each other, but their ballot did not permit them to vote on their spouses dish.  In the end, Carlos won the contest.  All of the dishes were great, but where Carlos came out ahead was in the drink pairing.  That also hurt Margie and Sheila in the points department.  That was the real tie breaker.  I presented them with the big prize,  a cheese grater that I want one of.  I never buy something for someone else that I don't want for myself.

Here is basically the winning dish...

Here are some random pictures.

It was a great night spent with great friends.  Again, I apologize for not getting a picture of Margie's dish.  I really don't understand it.  

We also had Texas Sheetcake for dessert, along with some Pinon Wood Coffee, that I ordered off of Amazon.  Ralph informed me that I can buy it at Trader Joe's.  Who knew?  Well, that is about it for now.  I wanted to get caught up.  Today, we're off to the Great Food Truck Rally with Joyce and the Coles.  That should be fun.  Hopefully, I'll get caught that blogged about in a decent time frame.  Needless, no grammar or spell checking, I am just too busy.