My much older brother, of a year and half, planned on joining us in November to help us move the boat from Chattanooga to Columbus, MS, where we were going to leave it for November and December.  Then, whoops, we bought the condo. So we figured, well, he is still flying into Chattanooga, we could take the boat trip up the upper Tennessee river a little later than we planned and take my brother with us.  That would make up for not driving the boat to Columbus right?  So his trip woudn’t be for nothing and he’d still get a boat ride.  Well best laid plans……so after the boat sold so quickly he had to switch his plane ticket to Fort Myers.  Where there is no boat and a condo that needs some work.  Oh well, at least the weather will be nice and he’ll be able to see a lot of this

Pretty trees

and none of that 

We figured he wouldn’t mind the extra money it cost him to switch his air fare ;).

But the first thing we did was put him to work :).  We

Installed a new threshold

got new door knobs

and installed them

installed a new garbage disposal

a new hall light

new smoke detector

yup, no furnace in this place, don’t need the carbon monoxide detector :), and yes, the detector detects all kinds of smoke Mr. Peterson.

toilet guts

They even fixed the high squealing toilet that apparently only I could hear :), plus they tore down the nasty cupboards that were in the outside laundry room that were 38 years old and looked every bit of those years.  They were very busy boys so I decided to give them a break and take them out to breakfast one morning.  We went to the Tiki Bar at the Boathouse.  It was right on the ICW (Inter Coastal Waterway) so we could watch the boats go by 

Ok, so this one was anchored, but beggars can’t be choosers :).  It’s a boat isn’t it?

Another day we went to the Ford and Edison Winter Estates.  It was a pretty cool place.

Pool

Look at the diving boards, two of them.  I hate to say it but it didn’t look deep enough for one of them let alone two.  Maybe that is how they got rid of their unwanted guests.  Told them to take a little dip in the pool, then threw their dead bodies off the pier

Their own private pier

You can’t tell now but it was a 1500 foot pier! You could tie 30 Navigators up to this dock.

They also had some really cool trees here

Kapok Tree

They also had some

Banyan Tree

The older Banyan tree have “prop”roots that drop from the branches and grow into thick trucks.  You can hardly tell which truck is the original one.  The estate had a lot of these types of trees on it.  The were also growing orchids

Growing Orchid

which they apparently start by attaching them to some sort of tree.  The place had a huge grounds and there were quite a few people there tending to the trees, the grass and the plants.  They even have their own green house.

The property also had a home for each of the Ford and Edison families.  Here are some pictures inside one of them

Set up for Christmas

Maids room, pretty nice

Secretary’s room

Guest room, I’ll take it 🙂

They had nice walk around porches on both houses

And Ford/Edison invented other things besides

Flathead V-8 1937

Ford car

He invented things like

A waffle iron

A Phonograph

With cool speakers!

And look at this Jute Box

I wish we had a little more time to spend there.

To make up for the short day at the Ford/Edison Estates we took my brother to Fort Myers beach

Fort Myers Beach

Sun bathers

See all the pretty sun bathers?  Notice they are all old people?  The youngins don’t show up till Spring Break.  Nothing to see here people, move on ;).

While we were there we ran into a couple of Pirates.

Ouuuh, that is one sexy pirate

And this must be her handsome and sexy 1st Mate

Another day we drove, yes by car not by boat, down to Naples.  We went to a place called Tin City.

Cute Croc and couple of land lubbers

Kind of southern version of downtown Stillwater, so we felt right at home.  Lots of shops to spend your money at.

Than a friend was nice enough to invite us out on their boat

Waiting for the boat ride

The weather and company were perfect!

But we eventually had to make our trek up north to celebrate our Grandson’s 2nd Birthday.  Wow!  It is hard to believe he is 2 already, time flies, doesn’t it?

Well, we leave you with that final note.  We land lubbers from the Touch of Class wish you all a Merry Christmas and a safe and healthy 2016.

Stay tuned as we start our search for the new boat!