Bored Outta My Gourd

Sparky has been staying home and resting, napping, spending lots of time on the couch. She's waiting to hear some more results from tests...still feeling poorly, running a fever almost every day off and on, but getting stronger and gaining appetite, so that's a good thing...

We decided to go check out the 28th Annual Suncoast Super Boat Grand Prix Festival downtown Sarasota. Unfortunately, not all the boats/people/vendors were there due to the threat of rain showers and a storm which came shortly after we arrived, forcing us to seek shelter for about 15 minutes while we waited out the rains....

We did see some cool boats, though.
The graphics on the boats are cool!

Miss Geico has won a LOT of championships!

Eldy's favorite was the Tilted Kilt boat...Gee, I wonder why?

The Stihl boat was getting new decals and boy, did they have the whole enchilada as far as trailer towing, support staff and classy quarters!

This little gal was gladly posing for anybody besides her mom who wanted to take pictures...

This is quite the festival! There was a parade of boats welcoming home Nik Wallenda, Grand Canyon wire walker, that happened last night. Then a downtown block party, and for the next two days you can view the boats, and then the actual race happens Sunday, with two heats off Lido Beach at 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM and lots more events. We'll probably go check the races out Sunday. Eldo missed the bikini contest yesterday. (Oh, darn! says a disappointed E.) And the Grand Prix Festival wouldn't be the same festival without a wild guy or two...One of the racers, but not participating this year, is "Diamond" Dave. He is associated with Love Muscle Racing. His boat is graphically painted with a tongue on it and is called the Love Muscle. And that's all Sparky is going to say about THAT! There's quite the story behind this guy and the wild parties he's been throwing since 1995. However, his boat wasn't down at the waterfront yesterday when we were there.....

Other than that....things are SLO-O-O-W here in Bradenton....Sunny in the morning, but by mid afternoon, raining hard every day....Our house is on the golf course, and sirens have been going off every day to warn golfers to get off the course because of storms in the area. We've never seen that done before, but with lightning strikes occurring as often as they do in this area, we're glad there's a warning system in place for the players. It's amazing how fast the skies go from blue to black in a matter of minutes. We've noticed most people carry umbrellas when they are going places. We're going to have to invest in one. Sparky hasn't owned an umbrella in YEARS!

Next year, Sparky is going to think about the annual Peace River Freedom Swim. The swim is a "HAPPENING", not a race. A couple hundred people swim from Port Charlotte to Punta Gorda just for the heck of it every year on the fourth. You just show up at the U.S. 41 bridge and swim, float, or paddle your way 1.5 miles from start to finish. People wear costumes or not...there's a tradition of some people swimming part of the way without a swimsuit...People decorate their float vehicles of choice--tubes, noodles, paddleboards, rowboats and kayaks, grab their friends for float/swim support, and have a great ole time. Sounds like fun! The water conditions are kind of unpredictable each year. This year they had a cautionary "high levels of bacteria" from the heavy rainstorm overflows, but that didn't stop the diehards from still making the swim. Some of the people had a very cavalier attitude--they just weren't planning to drink the water! YUCK!

See you later.......