Winter Wanderings 2012 - Day #12 - 2/7

 This was our day to take the Eco-Cruise to see wildlife out in Tampa Bay.  The day was overcast and had intermittent local showers, none of which affected us in any way.

We took the morning gently, although I did take down the old metal blinds in "my" bedroom.  Then we headed into Tampa to the Aquarium and the cruise boat.  Our choice of day was inspired as the dullness and cool helped keep the number of passengers way down, making it easy to see from by any railing we chose plus giving lots of opportunity to ask questions of either our guide/narrator or of the

several volunteers & aquarium staff who came along with us.  We were however very glad to have taken light wind cheaters as the breeze & the boat movement made it seem cool.  Our narrator was excellent and gave us a wealth of information both about the port as we headed out and the wildlife, primarily waterbirds, and the natural and man-made geographic features.  Many years of dredgeing have created some significantly large islands which, having no predators are popular nesting sites/bird sanctuaries.

Just about the time we feared we were going to be one of the 5% of cruises that do not see dolphins in their natural habitat we ran into a good size gathering of largely females and juveniles and were allowed a good while to look.  However, trying to photograph them is all a matter of luck as they surface only briefly and reaction time and digital camera shutter speed usually result in empty pictures of water!

Additional pictures of our cruise may be seen here.

Heading home we stopped at a Sherwin Williams store for Jean & Peter to see and discuss the plain, background-hiding, paintable wallpaper that I had recommended to them as I have used it successfully to cover the paneling in my family room and also the rough walls in my bathroom.  I think they will go that way in their about-to-be remodeled study room.

Back home we started installing the new blinds, but will have to demount them again as we suspect the control cords are tangled inside the header.  It was a very good day and we all enjoyed it.

Winter Wanderings 2012 - Day #11 - 2/6

This pleasantly warm day we designated as a day to "do stuff".  We demounted P&J's bedroom door, lightly planed where it was sticking & put it back.  We removed a conventional deadbolt and jointly climbed up the learning curve of installing one with a keylock on both sides (better for doors with breakable glass windows in reach of the locks).  While Pete started painting the two door edges we had planed I replaced another 2-lock deadbolt and also replaced an old regular lockset with a new one that matched.  By the end of the day the door edges had three coats and both locksets (removed to make the painting easier) had been replaced.

Jean & I went shopping, to Lowes for a floodlight replacement & two planters so that we can split and re-pot an old, rootbound spider plant that had been her grandmother's.  Since the standard size holder of the mini-chip in my camera was coming apart and giving me lots of troubles I bought a new conventional chip.  One more stop and we returned.  We replaced several floodlights and with me as ladder-man and they sitting in strategic places to see me adjust and set the holders to the right height and angle.

I managed to download all the pictures from my suspect chip and reload then on the new one so my camera is again good to go and all my trip pictures for temporary back-up.  It was a good, satisfying, and productive day and we are whittling down Jean's collection of "to do" post-it notes!

Winter Wanderings 2012 - Day #10 - 2/5

This was another less hot day, but still very pleasant.  At the house we did little of note, but we left in the early afternoon and headed to Tampa, with a stop at a Lowes to get some already-purchased blinds cut to length.  Then it was on to the Straz Center for the Performing Arts, a multi-theater complex beside the river.  The surroundings were beautifully landscaped and being a little early we had time to enjoy them.

Our theater was surprisingly small, and coming from the sunshine into the very dark interior was hard on the eyes.  Unfortunately Peter failed to see two lighting boxes foolishly located while people were moving about and took a tumble, skinning both of his shins almost as soon as we entered.  The play was --- interesting.  We knew it was to be a parody/farce and at times it was amusing & the stage management was clever.  Four actors, three male and one female played multiple parts very cleverly, but afterwards we all agreed that our enjoyment would have been much greater if the actors had not raced at warp speed through their lines.

Heading home we debated evening food and at my suggestion went for soup and sandwiches at Panera bread which was delicious and quite adequate.  Once home the evening was quiet as might be expected.

Winter Wanderings 2012 - Day #9 - 2/4

This day was somewhat warmer and sunnier than the one before.  Since we were going into the city the next day to see a stage play it was decided this would be a stay-at-home day in which we could get a few things done.  In the morning, before it got too warm Jean & I again went for our nice long walk, talking all the way.  (Between their healthy eating style and getting in a bit of exercise my "numbers" have been pretty good down here).

A highly used but overtight door had been bothering them for some time so between Pete and I we took it down, removed the lockset, took it into the workshop, marked it carefully and then planed it using Pete's very nice hand-held power planer.  Once restored to its proper place the door fits perfectly, to Jean's delight.

Having overheard some comments I unilaterally elected to take on their carport gutter which over the years had converted itself to a flower bed, or rather a weed-bed.  Although a bit mucky it was not difficult and was completed sooner than I expected.  Some clean-up followed and subsequently I started on the project of blowing dead leaves and thousands of small acorns away from the house.  It was a good active day and my efforts, as well as suggestions were much appreciated.  We are trying to get Pete to realize that ideas and schemes suitable for a 30-year old can not all be achieved by even a reasonably healthy 80-year old and some must either be abandoned or sub-contracted out despite having the knowledge of how to do them.

Winter Wanderings 2012 - Day #8 - 2/3

This day was slightly cooler and less sunny than the day before but we still decided to go out "for the day".  With typical Emery efficiency we managed to be pulling out of their driveway by 12:02 PM and headed towards Tampa.  We stopped at a AAA office to get discounted tickets for a future "dolphin cruise" and then headed on to Lettuce Lake Park beside the very sluggish Hillsborough River.

We parked near an empty shelterhouse and had a late picnic lunch, after which we spent a lot of time on the boardwalks through the cypress swamps at the edge of the river.  We only saw one alligator, a small young one sunning itself on a big log, but we saw far more big wading birds than we had last year.  We saw several sizes and shapes of herons, several wood storks (the nearer bird in the picture), several ibis and a whole lot of egrets (such as the rear bird in the picture).  At one point we (or something else) disturbed the nearby egrets, although the storks were unfazed, and it was as though a snow squall passed overhead - very impressive.

Eventually we moved away from the river to a more open area, set up our lawn chairs and all sat and read newspapers, Kindle etc, which was all very relaxing.  Towards the late afternoon we actually began to feel cool since we were all in single light tops so we packed up & headed home, but first we made a stop at Costco - my first experience of a Costco (which I found astonishingly similar to a Sam's Club) - and looked around an J&P bought some supplies, mostly fresh foods.  Once nearly home Jean also popped in to a regular food store for some things in smaller quantities.  Once home we quickly prepared and ate late dinner & then sat and relaxed.

Winter Wanderings 2012 - Day #7 - 2/2

In the middle of the morning Jean & I went for a nice long and fairly brisk walk, a good portion of which was around a nearby artificial lake.  While there were assorted large birds all around, at the point above we could see an alligator (just beyond the lillies at the extreme right end of the little island) and a pair of anhigas (the male with its wings spread and the female up in the little dead tree) egrets across the lake, and not visible in the picture above some ibis and varietal ducks.

By the time we returned Peter was dealing with a very helpful cable/phone guy who fixed the problems Pete had unearthed during his recent remodeling.  The rest of the day was largely social, but at one point during a teasing exchange I was informed that that I do not count as a "guest" but instead count as "family", which I thought was very nice.  We ate, we chatted, we pottered about and looked at a few more pictures and generally all took it easy - which suited all of us.

Winter Wanderings 2012 - Day #6 - 2/1

This warm and largely sunny day (with a high of 80 degrees) was also a lot of driving, 393 miles to be exact so the odometer reads 1254 miles since leaving my driveway.  Everything went smoothly and speedily but not dramatically so, largely excellent but not Interstate roads initially and then Interstate all the way in.  Dothan to Valrico was achieved with just a single stop, an iced coffee and a large sandwich at a MacDonalds where I deliberately took in my Kindle and enjoyed a change of position for a while.

The law enforcement efforts in Florida have clearly brought back speed discipline.  Three lane Interstates have a 75.00 mph lane, a 74.95 mph and a 74.90 mph one, and on 2-lane roads just the upper two with just a few idiots not holding the pace and the occasional fool bucking for, and getting, a ticket!  When less than 20 minutes out (according to Portia's forecast) we suddenly went from 75 to zero, the car in front of me even swerving on to the safety lane to avoid rear-ending the one in front of it.  I don't think I needed the extra margin but was glad to have it!  The next 20 minutes we crawled at 2 mph.  Although massive construction might be called the root cause the actual problem was two idiots more interested in looking at the work than at the road & having a spectacular wreck, and of course once an Interstate has a bottleneck it takes forever to clear even if both lanes are free and clear.

Once on city streets I stopped to fill an almost-empty gas tank & empty an almost full bladder and then was pleased that I remembered the location of a big supermarket close to journey's end and so was able to get a nice big bunch of flowers for Jean, who seemed very surprised to get them!  Like last year the house is still a work in progress in places but all the essentials are fine.  However, for reasons none of us understand, after working fine at Marissa's and again in the hotel my laptop will not connect to their router via Wi-Fi, and the error message & self-diagnostics are little help, but would infer that it is "my" problem although I find it hard to imagine the card going bad between one shutdown and the next start up.  Luckily I always carry a hard wire & when plugged in I am fully connected to the net, but it limits me to only using the laptop in the "under renovation" room in which they have their router.

Socially, thirty seconds after greetings and hugs all around Peter started talking and was still hard at it as Jean quite literally dragged him off to bed!  To be fair Jean & I did do our own small share as well, but beyond that the two items of note were a delicious dinner that Jean prepared and a start through my 2011 Flickr pictures.  Their new large screen TV is basically a computer by itself so we were able to access Flickr and look at pictures, especially the ones from my visit last year in giant size, before calling it a night.