Mood:  lazy

We had a wonderful 8 nights in PCB. We had 80s all week long with no rain. Green flags the first half of the week. I think it was on Wednesday when it was cloudier and windy causing yellow flags the remainder of our stay. I understood the yellow on Wednesday, but the rest of the week seemed more calm. Maybe they need a greenish yellow flag. lol

Went to the beach most afternoons. Played Gold on 2 occassions at the par 3 Holiday Park course. Love it there as you have the place to yourself, so if you are self consious on your play, I recommend this place.

We also try and do some things while we are down there, so we had our blinds repaired, The sofabed sleeper mechanism replaced along with the mattress. Also notice the disposal and one of the kitchen lights out, so had maintenance repair the disposal and had the ballists replaced on the one light fixture.

The new airport is nice, BUT if you fly Delta, be prepared to use the stairs when boarding and departing the plane as their gates are on ground level. Looked to me that Southwest had all the gates with ramps. Another bad thing with Delta gates is that there were hardly any chairs at all. We had to sit at the next gate behind a wall and there was no announcement that they were boarding. Luckily some other people looked and saw that they had started boarding, so we went over there. Another thing is it is more like a 25-30 minute drive while the older airport was only 15. 

We may go back at Thanksgiving if we are not booked, we so enjoyed ourselves.

There are still some dates available before the snowbirds arrive, so get your last fix of PCB in before it is too late for the year.

Take Care,

Linda 

Mood:  lyrical

You may never see Neil Young in such an intimate venue as you will on Monday September 20, 2010, at  8:00 PM.  He’s at our own Marina Civic Center. Neil Young, backed by Tyson Foods, is doing the show to benefit areas affected by April’s oil explosion.  The concert aids the Bay Area Food Bank, serving Central Gulf Coast communities. Also at the show limited – edition Neil Young t-shirts, available only at the concerts, will generate funds for the food bank. Bring a non-perishable food item as well.

Mood:  on fire

From Thursday, August 26 – Saturday, August 28, the REAL.FUN.BEACH. destination has partnered with ISP Sports Network (America’s Home for College Sports) to host the first annual World’s Greatest Pre-Season Tailgate event. Alumni, students, coaches, players, cheerleaders, mascots and sports fans from nine universities among other colleges will convene in Panama City Beach to show their school pride with a series of activities that include a celebrity golf tournament, charter fishing trips, full day of tailgating with BBQ contest, parade, pep rallies and musical performances by country music sensations Sara Evans and John Rich.

See more details at:

http://pcbdaily.com/worlds-greatest-pre-season-tailgate#more-8493

Mood:  happy

They finally have the well capped. That is great news and the reports I keep hearing out of PCB is that the beaches are in beautiful shape.

That is great news, BUT please don't forget the people of the gulf. Especially Louisiana. Some of the marshes are in bad shape and though BP and the government is saying nature is taking it's course, I suspect there is plenty of oil underneath the surface.

Mood:  incredulous

The following was posted on newsherald.com

NEW ORLEANS — BP says oil from its broken well has stopped gushing into the Gulf of Mexico for the first time since April.

The announcement Thursday came after company officials said all valves had been shut on a new cap over the busted well in an experiment to stop the spill.

Kent Wells, a BP PLC vice president, said at a news briefing that oil stopped flowing into the water at 2:25 p.m. CDT.

It was a long-awaited milestone in one of the nation’s worst environmental disasters. While not a permanent solution to plug the busted well, the success in capturing the oil spewing out was welcome news.

The crisis began when BP’s deepwater rig exploded, killing 11 workers.

The cap is not a permanent fix. BP is drilling two relief wells so it can pump mud and cement into the leaking well in hopes of plugging it for good.

Mood:  happy

Bay County beaches remained clear throughout the holiday weekend, Bay County Emergency Services Chief Mark Bowen told the Bay County Board of County Commissioners at their regular meeting Tuesday.

"The NOAA trajectories show the oil well away from Bay County shores," Bowen said. "It's about 125 miles south-southwest of the pass. I anticipate that in the coming days the weather will continue to be favorable for us."

As of Tuesday afternoon, state emergency management officials had received one report of about a dozen small tarballs being collected at Shell Island.

Bowen said BP contractors continue to scour Bay County beaches for signs of oil and worked through the holiday weekend doing so, though no significant amounts of product were recovered. He said some 1,000 contract employees are currently working here, with approximately 750 on duty during daylight hours and another 250 working at night.

Bowen added that crews were working to open Lake Powell so that rainwater collected there may escape -- he said the waterway would be closed again to protect it from oil intrusion after it sufficiently drains.

Bowen also reported to the board that the U.S. Coast Guard and BP officials at the highest levels are currently reviewing the pass project for reimbursement to Bay County. A BP official publicly committed to paying for the approximately $3 million effort at a meeting a couple of weeks ago.

"I don't see any impediment to getting to that public commitment that BP already made," Bowen said. He said that the state and federal permits were received as quickly as they were is promising. "I expect to hear back on that very shortly."

Last week, responders received a rash of reports of oil sheen and mousse off Bay County beaches late Thursday and early Friday morning. None of the reports, however, was determined to have been oil product, but rather was found to be naturally occurring substances such as seagrass and algae. Click here to read a press release about discerning oil from naturally occurring substances.