Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP)

Five years ago a doctor asked if I was sleeping well.  I thought so.  My wife did not think so.

My wrong analysis resulted in Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP).   

I never knew this could be a problem.  I was told diplomatically by my wife, Jean, I snored when I slept.  I never heard it.  I never knew I did it.  But I guess I did.  I always assumed I snored less than my brother-in-law.  My brother-in-law could be heard when we camped with him and his wife a substantial distance from their tent.  I thought the snoring range of my brother-in-law could not be eclipsed by someone like me.  Jean acknowledged a number of times my snoring may not be as loud as my brother-in-law's but it was substantial nonetheless.

I never thought anything about snoring until I had a doctor's visit in spring 2014.  I had some ailment which led me and Jean to our urgent care clinic.  I was examined by a woman doctor who asked an interesting question, "Do you sleep well?"

I responded to her query with, "I think so."  She suggested part of the reason I was in urgent care was due to a problem with my sleeping.  Her initial diagnosis from her was sleep apnea.  She suggested I talk to my primary physician.

Taking her advice, I contacted my primary physician who agreed it was worth determining whether the urgent care doctor's hunch was correct.  I was then referred to University of Wisconsin Sleep Clinic.  Until we heard from the clinic, Jean and I did not know it existed.

The Sleep Clinic started with a preliminary study.  I was hooked up to a monitor for a night at home.  I was to sleep the whole night with the monitor, return the monitor, and await for the results.  Jean hooked me up to sleep monitor.

After I was hooked to the monitor I felt as if I were a trussed turkey waiting for Thanksgiving. I certainly looked like it as shown in the picture above.

I went to bed with this apparatus on and an hour later we had a tornado warning.  I had to unhook much of the apparatus and head down into our basement.  After we had an all clear, I then trudged back to bed and re-attached the monitor and all of its accouterments.  I then had a fitful night of sleep.

Madison had a tornado but not where we live and so the monitor had data when I woke up the next morning.  We took the monitor back to the sleep folks and awaited the results.

The results from the one-night monitor demonstrated I had a sleep problem  The sleep people did not know how bad the problem was until they told me to come back a week later for another sleep study.

This time the sleep study occurred in the basement of the Wisconsin Sleep Center building which is located about two miles from our house.  Me and three other sleep study people were ushered into the building, given a synopsis of what would occur, watched a fifteen minute movie, and then were escorted to a waiting area.

After a 15 minute wait I was summoned by a young, female sleep researcher.  Besides sleep research, she was a waitress at a nearby restaurant.  She told me I would be placed in a room with telemetry, some of it hooked to me, some of it watching me, as I slept.  She and the telemetry would watch me all night.  After the data from the sleep study was analyzed my primary physician would be contacted.  After that contact then something may or may not be done.

 She left and told me to change to pajamas I was told to bring to the sleep study. After I changed, she hooked me up to all of the instruments and then wished me a good night.  She turned off the lights and  told me to get some sleep.  All of this happened around 8 pm and because I do not normally go to bed until 10 pm, I sat in the darkened room staring at the ceiling for a long time.

The next morning my sleep researcher came in and said they had all of the data they needed for the sleep study.  I was told to change, sign some papers, and  then I was released.

My primary physician was contacted at the end of the next week.  As it turned out, I came in second place regarding the overall results of the sleep study.  I had stopped breathing and  then started breathing again, 70 times in an hour.  The 70 times an hour was only good for second place because someone had stopped breathing and resumed breathing 84 times in an hour during a sleep study. Nonetheless, the people at the sleep study were impressed at my 70 times an hour no breathing sequences. I found out I was good at something I should not do, interrupted sleeping.

After these results, I was immediately paired with a CPAP machine.  What does a CPAP machine do?  According to the literature:

 "the soft, steady jet of air from the CPAP machine creates enough pressure to keep the airway open."

I have to admit the CPAP machine is responsible for a better night of sleep.  In fact, I take it with me wherever I go, it helps that much. 

The CPAP machine is a burden.  It is not light and does add considerable weight to your luggage.  It also likes distilled water which it consumes at an amazing rate each night.

But, I should expect it to be a burden.  What else do you expect when you finish in second place?

             

Lawn Mowing Hazard

I cut the lawn for a woman two houses down from our house. She has a  large lawn.  She has asthma and told me it took her four hours to cut her lawn because she had to rest many times to catch her breath.  I told her I would cut her lawn when I cut my lawn.  I've cut her lawn over 50 times in the last three years.   Her lawn grows as if the grass is on steroids.  In 2019, there were no breaks in cutting the lawn because it never stopped raining, unlike it normally does in July and August and the lack of rain inhibits the growth and gives me a break from cutting the lawn.

The length of the grass and the upcoming two days of heavy rain convinced me her lawn needed cutting the afternoon of Monday, September 30th.  September 30th had temperatures in the 80's with high dew points. It was hot but dry.  I was not looking forward to spending the next 50 minutes cutting her lawn and then 30 minutes cutting our lawn with my 22 inch Toro self-propelled lawnmower but I felt it had to be done even if I was out in the hot sun losing significant amounts of water from my sweating body. I unhooked the drainpipes from the eave troughs of her house and then began the hot lawn cutting session.

The lawn takes time to cut because of the lot.  The house sits east and west.  The east side has about a 10 foot swatch of grass between the garage of the property line of the house next to it.  The west side has a 15 foot swatch of grass between a deck elevated five feet above the lawn and a row of trees planted by the house owner to the west. The west side also has a small front lawn in front of the house.  Below the house is a substantial yard.  The challenge is to cut the east and west side lawns and the west front lawn while at the same time making some headway on the lawn below the house.  Over my many times cutting the lawn, I came up with the most efficient way.  I would start on the east side, swing down the south side, and come up the west side.  I would then reverse and continue this until the lawns on the east and west side and the west side front lawn were cut.  I would then concentrate on the remaining lawn at the south end.  Throughout many times I completed the  lawn mowing process,  the west side deck was never occupied.

I started my assault on the lawn in the afternoon after the lawn had sort of dried out from the rain of the prior day.  I went from east to west and returned.  I did this three times. The lawn cutting was a quarter of the way to completion.  I was on my west return trip when I came up half way to the deck.  I noticed movement in the periphery of my left eye.  All of a sudden an older woman rose from a lounge chair on the deck.  She was wearing a white bikini in which she clutched her bikini top to her breast because the bikini top was not tied in the back.  She motioned to me to turn off the lawn mower.  I was shocked.  Over the many times I had cut the lawn no one ever sat or lounged on that deck.  The only life on the deck over the years were a few house plants.  I also knew it was not the house owner.  I had no idea who this woman was.

She started talking as the lawn mower stopped.  She continued to clutch her untied white bikini top to her breast.  I thought I heard my name but I was not sure.

“....Why does it take you 15 times to cut the lawn along here?”, she called out in an angry voice while clutching her top to her breasts.

I was still in a state of shock and my brain was also not functioning.  My normal smart-alecky response would have been something like “I only went six times but I can redo it if you want.”  That response did not come from my mouth.

“I am sorry. I did not see you. I did not know you were there.”  I whispered.   That was the best my brain and mouth could do. My brain was still frozen from surprise.

Then she got irate. “You certainly did know I was here!”

I was flabbergasted.  Her diatribe implied that I was cutting the lawn simply to watch her sunbathe on the deck in her white bikini.  Until she garnered my attention from the lounge chair, I never knew she was there.

And who was she? I did not know for sure.  She could be the reclusive neighbor  living in the next house to the west of the deck.  Her husband and I knew each other because I blow snow from their driveway in large snowstorms  But I had not seen her close-up for many years.  If she did say my name then I thought that might be the mystery woman. However, I was not sure which added to the confusion my brain was trying to sort out as quickly as possible.

My brain stayed deficient.  It had not recovered from the first crack about the 15 times of cutting around the deck.  It was even of less use now.  My mouth also failed.  The best I could do was utter a weak, "Sorry."

I started up the lawnmower and went back to the back lawn.  I mowed a strip and stopped.  My brain was coming back. It was unfrozen.  My mouth reacted with relief.

The first cogent thought from part of the brain was, "What just happened?"

The other part of the brain answered, "Hell if I know!"

The first part of the brain reasoned, "The lawnmower makes noise.  We don't know how far the sphere of influence exists before she is not bothered by the noise.  What the heck are we doing here?"

The other part of the brain agreed, "Let's get the hell out of dodge before we are accused of something else!"

Both parts of the brain cooperated and told my body to push the lawnmower, not look back at the deck, and go home and cut our lawn.

After I cut our lawn, I headed inside. I told Jean about my experience with the sunbather.  She thought it was a great story.

 The sun stayed out on that last day of September 2019 until 6 p.m. and so I avoided the neighbor's lawn because I did not want to again experience the wrath of the nearly topless sunbather.

I went back to the neighbor's lawn the next day when it was starting to rain.  I saw half of the lawn was still not cut.   I re-hooked  the drainpipes to the eaves troughs.  I looked and there was no sunbather in a white bikini.  My brain, both sides, kicked in with many retorts to the situation as it presented itself yesterday.  "I am cutting the lawn and not wasting my time looking at you."; "What the hell are you doing on her deck!'";"You don't have anything to protect with that bikini top!"

Another part of the brain told the retorts from yesterday's brain parts that failed, "It is a little late for that fellows."

I returned three days later to finish the lawn mowing.  The day was cool and windy.  Every time the lawnmower and I were in sight of the deck, I made sure there was no one sitting in the lounge chair.  I breathed a sigh of relief each time I confirmed there was no action on the deck.

From now on when the sun shines and I have to cut the neighbor's lawn, I will look to see if there is a sunbather on the deck.  If there is, I will walk the lawnmower to the deck  and offer the sunbather the opportunity cut the lawn once she has completed sunbathing.  I will even show her how to start the lawnmower.  After that me and my brain, all parts of the brain, will sit down and have a beer.

The Arborist

We are blessed or cursed with six trees on our Madison property.  The City of Madison is responsible for one maple next to the curb. We are responsible the other  five trees, two in the front, two on the west side, and one in the back.  Our front trees are ash trees.  The west side trees are an ash and a silver maple.  The back tree is a silver maple.  All six trees, including the city maple,  are tall and mature.

The ash trees were here when we bought the house in 1986 and the silver maples were planted shortly after we took possession of the house at the urging of the local utility, Madison Gas and Electric (MG&E). MG&E told us the silver maples were fine trees because they grew fast and offered shade.  They would decrease our energy costs significantly according to MG&E. What MG&E did not mention is the silver maple likes to generate buds in the spring, seeds in the summer, and leaves in the fall.  It is not a tree which ensures your gutters are free of debris despite the salesmen on TV telling you their gutters always remain clear of any type of obstruction.  Their gutters would clog with a silver maple.  When our leaf-free gutters were installed in 2014 we soon found out the clog free gutters were no match for the silver maples.  So the MG&E tree adviser in 1986, in my opinion, had no experience with trees and should not have been advising us to plant silver maples.

On August 15th I was cutting the neighbor’s lawn.  I was nearing the end of my lawn mowing when a guy appeared in the next door neighbor’s yard looking at the trees and bushes.  He wore an MG&E vest and held a laptop computer.  MG&E left us a notice on our front door notifying us they intended on trimming some of the trees on our property because they had grown over some of their power lines.  I wondered if this guy was the author of that hand written notification.  I made one more swing around the lawn and stopped the lawnmower.

“Are you the guy who left something on our front door?”, I asked.

He replied, “Yes, it was me.  Are you the owner of this property?”

“No, that would be Gael.”  Gael has asthma and so the large lawn would take her four hours to cut.  I told her I would do it for her.  It takes me 45 minutes.

“Oh, I know Gael.  In fact I am familiar with one her friends.  So where do you live?”

“Two houses east.”

He looked at his laptop, typed something, and looked up.  “Are you Ralph? “

“Yes.”

“You and Jean, your wife,  live there.  You have ash trees and maples.”

“Yes, that is right.”

“Let me finish here and I will come over and we can talk about your trees.”

I finished Gael’s lawn and he finished talking to the people next door at about the same time.  I, the lawn mower, and the MG&E guy then walked to our house.  As we walked the short distance to the house he started the conversation.

“I’m John.  I am a certified arborist.  I got my degree from UW-Stevens Point.  I am going through the neighborhood determining if anything needs to be done to trees to protect our power lines. “

John seemed friendly enough.  I responded. “I did not know MG&E had arborists.  I guess I am a little biased against MG&E and trees.  MG&E told us to plant silver maples to cut down on energy usage.  We found out they are a very dirty tree.”

“I would have never told you to plant a silver maple.  Do you know about the emerald ash borer?”

If you live in Madison, or even Wisconsin, you know about the emerald ash borer.  It even has its own acronym (EAB). The EAB parents lay eggs on the tree and then the larvae burrow in the tree and within a few years the tree is dead.

John's mood turned from pleasant to dismayed.  "The house next to you [to the west] has a large ash tree in the back.  I called the owner.  When, not if, the EAB gets to that tree they will do nothing about it."

I was impressed.  The house next to us is owned by a holding company located in California.  We have no idea who to call in California if there is a problem with the house or t he residents of the house.  John called and talked directly to the landlord.  Although he did not get a response he hoped for, he still made contact with the owner.

I then talked about and hoped for regarding EAB and our ash trees.  I found out I was wrong, really wrong. "Yes, I know about EAB.  I think we are ok.  There are not a lot of ash trees in our neighborhood and I was told when we bought the house the ash trees are mountain ashes.  I hope they are immune from EAB."

We walked to the house and I invited John to come in.  Jean was sitting in a chair.in our carpeted living room.  I sat down in a chair next to her. John asked to stand in the vinyl floored entryway because he had been walking around the neighborhood all morning and was not sure what he stepped in. He did not want to  get anything objectionable on our carpet.

John said in a friendly way trying to avoid the shock value.  "The ash trees you have here are not mountain ash.  They are green ash.  If you truly had mountain ash, then,yes, they may be immune.  But you don't.  I told you I have been around your neighborhood looking at ash trees and EAB is less than a mile away.  In fact two streets down there is a lady with a ash tree in the back yard and it has EAB."

John let the significance of what he said sink in a little and continued.  "I think you have at the most two to three years before these three  trees are dead unless you treat them.  Were you planning on treating them?"

I tried to respond but the thoughts I had were not about the trees.  I thought here is another guy from MG&E giving us tree advice.  I was not happy with the advice we received about the silver maples 33 years ago.  However, John had been honest about everything we talked about thus far and I decided it was not necessary to doubt what he was saying.  He was trying to be prepare us for our upcoming tree disaster.

"To be perfectly honest we hadn't thought about that.  We think treatment might be expensive."

"The cost of treatment is based on the circumference of the tree.  For the ones in the front yard I estimate it might be $600 per tree.  The treatment lasts two years and then has to be redone.  The treatment isn't foolproof and may not work.  You may decide the treatment is not worth the money and cut down the trees.  Or you may want to cut two of them down and keep the one in the center of the yard.  In any event, you will lose trees.  It just a matter of how many."

"I guess we will need to get an estimate and see what it will cost.  Cutting down the trees is not going to be cheap."

"I agree it will not be cheap but it will be a one time cost.  Treating the trees would be a continuing cost. There are a lot of good tree guys in Madison.  They are all very busy this time of year.  You have some time to determine what to do with the trees.  I would suggest you call them in the winter, their off-season.  You can probably get a better idea as to what it will cost.  I would think taking the ashes in the front would not be too bad cost wise but getting the ash in the back may be a little costlier because it is close to the house and you need special equipment to get back there and take it down."

Jean and I looked at each other and shrugged.  There was nothing more to question or say.  John, the MG&E arborist, gave the three trees the death sentence.  We now had to decide when to determine their fate.

John added.  "There have been studies done on EAB.  You can determine when the trees have EAB pretty easily because woodpeckers will show up searching for the larvae.  A study was done on EAB trees and once the larvae start eating the branches of the tree retain a tenth of their strength.  Soon a gust of wind or a bird landing on a branch will break the branch.  The tree becomes hazardous if left alone for a period of years after the onset of EAB. So once they have EAB you cannot let the trees stand very long.  They will become hazardous quickly with falling branches.  Your neighbor will discover that over a period of years even though he says he will do nothing with his ash tree."

I thought the ash trees were history.  As longs as he was here what did he recommend for a replacement tree.  "If we want to replace any of the trees what would recommend?"

"Most of the trees in Madison have different potential problems.  The only tree without any problem is the male ginkgo tree.  The female versions are very dirty.  I think most of the nurseries in Madison only stock male ginkgoes."

One genus of trees did not seem to be a lot.  If we replaced the ashes we could plant another tree with potential future problems.

"I will  tell our guys to trim the two ashes in front for you to protect the electric lines.  They should be here sometime in the next two weeks. I will make a note that you are trying to determine whether to cut down or treat the three ash trees."

He made the notation even though he knew the three ash  trees would not be treated and would come down in the future.  He apparently accomplished everything he wanted to talk to us about: EAB, EAB treatment, tree removal, and tree trimming. John said his farewell.  He told us if we had any questions to let him know. He also said we could call him when we decided on the company to dispose of the ash trees.

We need to decide when to schedule the death sentence for the ash trees.  We will wait until this winter and talk to a tree company.  Perhaps we can also trim back the silver maples while disposing of the ash trees.  At this point, I think a replacement tree is not a good option.  Grass does not grow very high and has never clogged our gutters.  Grass should probably be our best ash tree replacement option.

New Grill

We purchased a $99 gas grill from Home Depot 10 years ago.  The grill resided in the garage for those 10 years and was used to regularly to cook hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, brats, and other delicacies.  It was beginning to show its age and so my wife, Jean, decided the grill would be replaced as a birthday gift for me by May 7th, my birthday.

The grill was to me like an old friend.  It had its quirks but it always worked.  The grill had two plastic pieces fitted into legs in the front of the grill and two wheels connected by an axel in the back.  One of the plastic pieces broke and would always fall off while moving the grill. Consequently the plastic pieces always had a free ride in the grill unto I pulled it to its next working location.  The grill would also collect massive amounts of grease.  After the grease collected to a certain amount, the grill would then stage a notable grease fire.  The grease fire could only be extinguished with large amounts of water.  In order to avoid the grease conflagration, I would scrape the grease from the grill after every other use.  Despite the grease clean-up, the grill would find new grease deposits and flare up between uses.  We also washed the grill after every use to keep the grease down and make sure tastes from prior meals did not interfere with the taste of the current meal.

I protested the current grill was good enough and keep going another ten years but to no avail.  I was getting a new grill.

I was able to stem the tide on a new grill for two months.  We first checked Menards and then Home Depot and visited them each a second time.  The new grills were either too large or too expensive. Finally we found a Char-Broil grill which was small and was about the right price at Menards.

The Char-Broil grill came from the Menard’s storage location in one huge box. The box said it was made in China.  The packing material was larger than the grill.  After forcing the new grill’s pieces from the box, we constructed it.  I should say Jean constructed it.  Jean reads the instruction sent with the product.  Me, I more or less free lance and most of the time I put a part in a wrong place which requires the people constructing the product to start over.  Jean follows the included instruction by the book and does not allow any divergence from the printed instructions.  She took the rein for the new grill while carefully following the instructions and did not allow me to deviate.  We put the grill together in 1.5 hours.  If I would have been in charge, it would have taken three hours at a minimum. Her way is much more efficient than mine but my way allows for a lot more provocative words.

The Char-Broil grill is something called an infrared grill.  It is supposed to be more heat efficient than my old grill.  After two meals, it does not appear to generate as much fire from grease as my old grill.  The new grill also cooks faster but requires one to clean the grill by setting it to the highest level for 15 minutes so it can vaporize the residual fat and grease.  It does not appear to be as susceptible to grease fires as the old grill.

Because the Char-Boil replaced my old grill, the old grill had to go.  I was going to reluctantly set it on the curb for the Madison collection crew.  My next door neighbor’s wife said her husband might be interested in assuming ownership.  I waited for two days and there appeared to be no interest from next door.  The next day was trash day and I went to put our trash cans and the old grill out to the curb.  To my surprise, the old grill was no longer there but I could see it on the neighbor’s porch.  My neighbor’s husband came over, grabbed the grill, fixed the plastic part, and purchased a new LP gas cylinder with LP gas.  He said it worked perfectly and could not understand why we would part with such a good grill.

I shook my head and responded, “It was my birthday present!”

He said he now understood.

I can now take some solace in I can now watch the neighbor use my old grill while I try to figure out how to use the new grill.

Bahama Cruise 2019

As you get older you realize your memory is not as good as it once was and so you need to make adjustments.  Right now I can remember some occasions in the long past and what was done a few days ago.  But events held months ago appear to be erased from my memory.  It is very embarrassing when someone comes up to you as says, "Do you remember when we did _____________" (fill in the blank)  and you have no idea what they are talking about.  You realize you were probably there but have no memory of that occurrence or even being at the event.  So that is why, dear Reader, I am writing this story of my remembrance of a cruise my family and extended family members took on the Carnival Liberty ship from March 24 - March 28, 2019 to the Bahamas.  During the four day cruise, we were at sea for two days and The Liberty docked at Nassau on the 26th and Freeport on the 27th. It is not so much for you as it is for me.

My mother and father raised five kids, four boys and a girl.  My middle brother Steve suggested a few years ago that the entire extended family go on a cruise.  He is a farmer and milks cows at 4 am and 4 pm.  He was never on a cruise and thought the idea of eating all day and sleeping without worrying about milking cows sounded like a great time.  So my sister, Diane (DeDe as she likes to be called) and her husband, Dale, pursued the idea of this cruise which came to fruition at the end of March.  The people participating in the cruise were my:

• 88 year old mother, Caroline,
• brother David and his wife, Kathleen,
• brother Steve and his wife, Sharon,
• sister Diane (DeDe) and her husband, Dale,
• sister Diane (DeDe) and husband Dale's oldest son Eric and his wife Lindsay,
• my wife, Jean, and me.

All of these people can be seen in the picture below:

first row: Lindsay, Caroline, Diane, Kathleen

middle: Eric, Jean, Sharon

back: Ralph, Dale, Dave, Steve

We all bought tickets from a guy, Cyrus Washington, working for Carnival months before the cruise. The Carnival Liberty waited for us at Port Canaveral located on the Atlantic Coast side of Florida.  Diane, Dale, and my mother, resided in the Florida.  It was up to the rest of us to fly to the Orlando airport, be picked up by Dale on the 23rd, and then be taken to the ship on the 24th.

Most of us were cruise newbies.  Grandma (Caroline) sailed on the most cruises and was the most experienced.  The embarkation process for  the Liberty was relatively painless.  We showed a crew member our passport, they checked us against a list they had on a laptop computer, someone else took a picture which was loaded into the ship's database, we were given a room card with our name, and then we were told how to find our stateroom.  Our luggage would meet up with us by 6 p.m. that night delivered by a Liberty crew member outside our room.  

We entered the ship from the front (fore) and our staterooms were located in the back (aft).  We took an elevator to the eighth floor and walked across the ship to our rooms.  After checking into the room, we were told we could walk up to the 9th floor and begin our eating experience.  We walked up to the ninth floor and were amazed at the amount of food available in three or four areas.  American, Chinese, Italian, and other ethnic foods were available in banquet lines.  The drinks were limited to water, ice tea, or lemonade. Alcoholic and more exotic drinks were available at bars located at the fore and aft sections for a price.   Every eating area had a dining room.  Besides dining rooms tables were available near the bars both fore and aft.  We congregated in an area in the aft part of the ship called the Lido Deck.

The price for alcoholic drinks started at $8 and went up from there.  If you wanted an alcoholic drink you presented your ship card to the bartender.  They would then swipe it in their computer and the price of the drink was added to your bill at checkout.  If you wanted to avoid a charge for each drink then you could pay for an drink pass which cost $56 per person per day.  With that pass you could order up to 15 drinks.  If you had the drink pass the cost of the 16th drink was then added to your bill at the time of checkout.

After eating we were notified all personnel, staff and tourists, must attend a mandatory muster drill at 6 pm.  People bunking in odd numbered staterooms needed to meet on the right side of the boat on the first floor near the lifeboats.  People bunking in even numbered staterooms met on the left side of the boat on t he first floor near the left side lifeboats.  Liberty staff took attendance and everyone needed to be there before the muster could take place.  The Liberty held 2,200 tourists and 1,100 staff.  The time required to get everyone in place on both sides of the boat was 20 minutes.  After standing for 30 minutes, the cruise director, Paully, read off instructions on how to correctly put on a life vest.  This exercise lasted less than 5 minutes and then we were all dismissed.  The grumbling from the people standing in place on deck for 30 minutes for no apparent reason drowned out Paully's dismissal announcement.

Our luggage arrived as promised before 6 pm.  We unpacked the luggage and explored the ship. The Liberty had a casino, two large dining rooms called Silver and Gold, two swimming pools, a number of hot tubs, a water slide, a theater, a large outdoor screen, small rooms for smaller events, and a central area where events such as trivia, violin ensembles, and bingo were held.

The staterooms were small.  They had a bed, a toilet, a shower, and some storage space.  The rooms had but one electric socket.  The one electric outlet encouraged use of multiple extension cords.  The toilet sucked the waste away so you avoided sitting on the toilet when you pushed the handle or you might have some part of your body suctioned away with the waste.

The first day and a half of the cruise was totally on the ship.  We departed Port Canaveral at 6 pm on Sunday, March 24th and sailed to Nassau, Bahamas.  The ship had cameras showing the progress at the front of the ship.  The ship had monitors placed in different locations showing the progress of the ship as it sailed to the Bahamas.  

We spent the first day and a half  sleeping, eating, and exploring. The ninth floor Lido Deck was a nice place to congregate.  It sufficient chairs and tables for groups of people to sit and relax. Soft serve ice cream and yogurt were always available on the Lido deck.  Because the weather was nice and the ice cream and yogurt cold, most people spent time resting on the  the Lido deck.  

Paully would inform people through the ship's intercom of upcoming events.  Most of the noisy events such as a DJ playing music was completed in the front of the ship.  The front of the ship also had a large screen where recent movies were shown.  We sat on deck on Monday night and watched Bohemian Rhapsody.  Bohemian Rhapsody was a rather sad tale about the head of  the rock group Queen, Freddie Mercury.

We did not attend all of the events.  We chose to participate in some games, listen to a three woman violin concert which happened each night, sat in a piano bar, watched a production called Flick and a 70s song presentation in there large concert hall.  The concert hall would have been huge on land but was even more impressive on a ship.

All of the events were fun except for the piano bar.  The piano bar opened at 8 pm, ship time.  We were there a little before 8:00 and the doors were open.  We found a place to sit and waited for the piano player.  At 8:10 a guy made his way to the piano and started playing.  His name tag said Craig.  He never introduced himself.  He played one song.  He alluded to a play list supplied to each table and said he would play any song on the play list and requested people  fill out a piece of paper with their song request. He then played another song and he attempted to accompany the song with his off-key voice.  He then started the first requested song, "Sweet Caroline", and played it very badly while singing it worse.  Craig stated he did his best work when the tip jar had considerable money placed in it.  Craig then chugged a drink and began another song.  His performance of the next song was even worse than "Sweet Caroline".   As Craig massacred the next song our whole contingent of 11 people walked out leaving Craig, his piano, his drinks, and his empty tip jar.

Paully held dance lessons during the day for different participation dances.  Paully would crank up his computer, play a song, and then ask people to come up to the stage so he could teach them dance steps applicable to the song.  Thriller by Michael Jackson was one of his teaching moments.

Paully taught a sequence of Thriller dance steps based on the count of 8.  A specific sequence of dance steps started with the first 8.  The next sequence of different dance steps started with the second 8.  In total Paully taught five sequences of dance steps for Thriller.  One of the more interesting sequences was called Zombie.  For Zombie, the dancer held their hands up in a frightening pose, stomped right, circled, stomped left, and circled.

My mother, Sharon, and DeDe all participated in the Thriller dance class.  It was entertaining watching my 88 year old mother trying to master the sequence of dance steps.  She dropped out of the class after the fourth sequence because she could not remember what to do in the first sequence.  Sharon and DeDe participated in the entire class and danced the entire Thriller song.  Sharon had problems with the instructions because she would turn left when she was supposed to turn right and vice versa.  She was the most unique of the dancers.

Jean, I, and my mother participated in the Nassau port of call but not in Freeport.  We walked through a throng of sellers in Nassau as we walked off the Liberty.  Nassau was extremely hot. We decided the heat and the hawkers were too much and we went back to the Liberty after a short walk down Nassau's main street.  The other group members visited all of Nassau and walked to a beach. After our Nassau experience, we decided not to participate in visiting Freeport the next day.  The group minus my mother, Jean, and me,  told us Freeport was much more enjoyable than Nassau because the hawking was non-existent and the weather cooler. So I guess we should have stayed on the Liberty in Nassau and visited shops in Freeport.

We had nightly meals  and one breakfast in the Gold dining room.  Dress was informal except for Tuesday night when the guys were to wear a suit coat and the women clothes other than blue jeans. Each table had an assigned waiter.  The waiter presented a menu showing three choices for appetizer, entree, and dessert.  You could then pick which of the three or some of the three.  There was no limit. The food was high quality restaurant fare.  We had mahi mahi, beef, baked Alaska, tiramisu and many other high quality foods.  In addition to the food, the waiters staged shows on Sunday and Wednesday after they served the food.  The dancing and singing after the meal were surprises.

After the Liberty visited Freeport,  it was time for the ship to turn around and return to Port Canaveral.  The captain came on the speaker and said the seas would be between 10 and 15 feet on our way back and to expect the ship to bounce.  The Liberty did bounce among the waves that night and the following morning.  We took various medicines to ward off possible seasickness.

The Liberty arrived in port on March 28th.  We had until 9 am to leave our rooms because the ship was to set out for the sea with a new bunch of passengers four hours later.  The cleaning staff had a short time frame to clean the rooms and get them ready.

Paully thanked everyone and said this was the first cruise he directed.  We all had a good time.  My brother Steve was able to eat constantly, enjoy ice cream, and sleep at will.  He had a wonderful time and did not want to leave the Liberty.

After the cruise we were sent a survey via Email.  We were asked to rate the cruise in a number of areas and supply comments on how to make the cruise better in the future.  My comments for improvement were limited to Craig.  I told them we did not think a cruise ship required a piano bar and suggested using the space for something else.  Perhaps Craig could be designated as a demonstration for evacuating the boat during the mustering demonstration.

I did take photos and short videos on the cruise using a new camera I received for Christmas.  I then compiled a video.  You can view it on Youtube (my first Youtube video) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA4QzyMdg-E