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Summer is Here

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I was a zone leader again this year for Spring Fever, Bloom and Grow Garden Society’s huge fund raiser. My cohorts and I arrive at 5:45 AM, so vendors can begin offloading and setting up from 6:00-7:00. Last year, we were freezing. This year it was 76° to start and got hotter. My SF t-shirt and high-viz vest were more than enough. Technically opening at 9:00, by 8:00 a lot of the vendors were ready to sell, and customers were there to buy. I cruised all the booths along Plant Street, talking to the several native plant sellers, a vendor with carnivorous plants, and the artist from whom I’d bought a piece last year. I liked the ceramic orchid pots at one booth. Nothing for me today, although the $85 cat sculpture did call to me. Perhaps I’ll grab something when I come back Sunday when I oversee my zone’s closing. Other people were filling their carts, wagons, and pet strollers with plants, mostly the pretty flowering ones. The last 17 days, since Grant’s fall, have stressed me...
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Week 2: New Safety Hardware

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Ryann and Patten came up Saturday installed the grab rails in our shower and next to the toilets. He had ordered them using my Amazon account, then switched out the screws for marine grade. I had used my measuring app to send pictures (yes, I’m proud I could do that.) I was nervous about their drilling in our glass shows tiles, but that was the easy part. Of course there weren’t studs where we needed them. Patten drilled a series of small holes from the bedroom side until he found one useable stud. Then he cut holes in the drywall so he could insert 2x4s where he needed to attach the grab bar. Always something. Patten also ordered a shower mat that I returned. Too big and heavy for us. I’ll get a smaller one this week. Lastly, he bought nonslip matting for under what he calls the murder rug, my Persian that I found at Naples beach after Hurricane Donna in 1960. It probably is why Grant fell since it was really slippery. I moved it to the guest bedroom. Closing the barn door after the h...
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Out, In, Near Misses, Ties III

 Welcome, 2025 Another year to pare down our belongings, either by not buying something or by moving things along. In another post, I’ll list our 1/week cleaning of drawers, shelves, or box. In: 01/03: 2 copper mule mugs. (Also 1 mini vase & 2 tea candle holders used as vases for hospice flowers, a Windermere Garden Club project.) All from Central Hope Thrift Shop. $6.66  01/06: Watercolor brush: #2 round, kolinsky sable, from Amazon. $29.82 01/07: SD card reader for trail camera, from Amazon. $10.64 01/08: Watercolor brushes: flat, mop, rigger, & filbert, from Amazon. $46.51 02/23: 3 shelves to display my paintings, from Wayfair. $44.72 03/25: 2 tshirts for HGB from RSMAS grad student sale. $42.80 + $14.88 UPS shipping 03/29: Grab bars for the shower and next to toilets, anti-slip mat for rug, plus shower mat returned, from Amazon and installed by Patten and Ryan. $99.88 Out: 01/10: Handkerchiefs and socks 03/25: 2 dozen plastic eggs, all in my stash, to neighbor Vane...
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March Madness

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I am fairly worn, and it’s only been 3 days of minion duty. In addition to my usual household duties, I’ve cooked, loaded and offloaded dishwasher, changed the sheets, done the laundry, cleaned the kitty litter, and put the garbage out. First time in years. I’ve also helped Grant with compression socks (my sitting on floor to do so), changed his clothes, climbed over the couch to set up heating pad, etc. No complaints, glad to be able to do all this. Just more than I’m used to. He can hobble with the walker from bedroom to living room to office. Fortunately, March Madness has started, with UF ranked #1. Much, much basketball to keep him occupied. On the upside, since I’m not going anywhere, I have worked hard in the yard. I moved the 2 small pines,  perhaps long leaf ( Pinus palustris ?), that volunteered to grow exactly under the power lines in our central front bed. After reading about how to dig them up and hoping they hadn’t developed a long taproot, I dug around their trunks a...
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Man Down

My second day of not getting up until after 7:30 in the morning. Gracie does not approve, and lets me know by touching her wet nose to mine.  Thursday afternoon, Grant fell in the office. He had been playing his “stupid computer game”, and his butt went to sleep. Sitting there too long, much? Evidently, when he stood up, his right leg was okay, his left leg gave out, and down he went. Hard fall. I heard the commotion, ran in and found him lying on the floor in agony. At first, we thought the pain was from his hitting the wooden trunk we use as a coffee table, but since there’s no bruise, we’ve ruled that out.  After lying there for 15 minutes or so, with Gracie weaving over and around his body (Sizing him up to eat? Cats are so food forward.), Grant was able to pull himself up, using my old walker for support. Thank goodness Denny has been making him do counter push-always to keep his upper body strong. Perhaps my procrastination also gets a plug, since earlier in the week I’d...
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Costa Rico, Part 2

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Thursday, March 6:  Another boat ride on the Rio Frio, this time heading upstream. We left before breakfast was served, only coffee ready, so they bagged up bananas and ham sandwiches made with really good bread. Even more caimen this morning including a couple of dead bodies which Jorge said were probably killed in fighting for territory. This trip we saw egrets, several green ibis, (which I’d never heard of), black-necked stilts, whistling ducks, and kingfishers (Amazon, American Pigmy, Green, Ringed, and Green-and-rufous). A black-collared hawk flew over. The goal was sungrebes. We found a female and a male carrying a baby. I didn’t even notice the caiman on shore as I watched the little sungrebe swim against the swift river current. Heading back back to the dock, one more female sungrebe. A bumpy ride back out to the highway, looking for jabiru with no luck. Eventually, we reached the better paved road, and began wending our way out. Lunch, casado,...
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Costa Rica, Part 1

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Our flight from Orlando on Saturday, March 1 , was delayed over an hour, 10 minutes at a time. I was crossing my fingers that there any FAA employees left after the DoGE bros continue in their misguided run through the federal government. Perhaps the airlines laid off too many pilots. TSA was easy-ish because a nice young woman took us around to the front of the line, we assume because we looked/are old. Then we tried to follow the instructions of a masked agent who continued to speak very quietly, even after I twice said we were hard of hearing. I guess better than the ones that bark orders. On the bright side, we had plenty of time to enjoy lunch at the Sunshine Dinner in Terminal C. Easy flight, and when we got to immigration in San Jose, another nice young lady took us to another head-of-the-line. We must be looking pretty bad. Met up with Kathy and Lee, and after a slow drive to the city, delayed by accidents and a stop at a Fresh Market for tourist-level spending on beer and mixe...
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