12 Oakdale

Our exercising is paying off. After sleeping in the nice, flat bed at the hotel last weekend, I decided I could put up with the sag in our bed no longer. Not only did I roll towards the center, I slept in fear that it would collapse. We’d already tried to reinforce the center support with t-bars on its wooden legs. They just bent the other direction. While watching a video of building a deck on a house in the Canadian woods (as long as I’m riding the stationary bike, I allow myself to watch silly things), I learned about joist supports. Aha, exactly what we need to fix the bed. A trip to Lowes for the hardware and 2x4s, and we were ready to go. Of course, the job didn’t go exactly as I hoped, which it never does, however, we fixed the bed. More importantly, I was able to get down and up from the floor fairly easily. All those sit-ups and leg lifts were worth the whining. The next day, we had a second chance to use our re-found muscles when we wrestled with a quick setup tent/screen roo...

The road sign on the road out of Key West said, “Drive Carefully. So Far, 14 People Have Lost Their Lives in Traffic Accidents”. Since it was only January 14th, we assumed that was left over from last year. I changed my mind the second time I had to slam on my brakes and pull off the road for a jerk passing in the other direction and almost hitting me. Our stay at Bahia Honda confirmed I prefer warmer weather to go to the beach. The water is just too cool for me to enjoy a swim. I’m going to make reservations or go back to Venice Beach in late spring. Because all the days blur together: Thursday: Drove down, lunch at Chicken Chop Chop at Fort Pierce Plaza on the Turnpike; saw invasive African rainbow lizards in the palms there; arrived at Bahia Honda State Park, Cabin 2, handicapped accessible; dinner of barley and mushrooms; exercised. Really windy but clear. Friday: Windy and clear, 70’s. Breakfast in cabin; morning walk along Atlantic-side beach while Grant sat; lunch of leftovers; ...

We’re exhausted after 4 days of birding in South Florida with Orange Audubon Society. Up and out of the hotel by 6:30 for all-day walking and craning our necks up, holding binoculars. I definitely need to add upper body strength training to our fitness routines. Our guides, Mariah and Luis, spotted and heard birds like magicians conjuring doves from their hats and, most importantly, could describe where they were, so the rest of us could find them. Just outside Everglades National Park, we walked the canal, seeing egrets and herons on the water side, warblers and other wintering migrants on the field side. Two white tailed kites flew over to hunt in the park. In the Keys, at Dagney Johnson Biological State Park, I saw warblers (parula, prairie, black and white, pine, palm), oven birds, and catbirds. At Blue Hole on Big Pine Key, not so much, but the alligator hanging out with tarpon was a surprise. Luis spotted 2 black racers on the Golden Orb Trail on Long Key, where I’d risen my bike...

We really thought we’d stay up this year and ring in the new year. On the agenda was the Cotton Bowl at 3:30 PM in which out-of-it’s-league Cincinnati did much better than expected against Alabama. Final score: Cincinnati 6; Bama 27. Could have been much worse. Next up, the Peach Bowl at 7:30. My plan went away when Georgia got a touchdown on its opening possession and never looked back. Final score: Georgia 34; Michigan 11. I’d quite by halftime. Grant had wandered off to play his computer game. We’d eaten my onion tart with a bottle of American sparkling wine during the first game, and Grant’s black eyed pea salad with seltzer during the first quarter of the second. Desert was a shared Kris Kringle cookie (formerly known as Santa’s Winter White) from Gideon’s Bakehouse. Off to our respective corners, me to continue my binge of Episodes , a decade-old sitcom being retired by Netflix on January 4th, and Grant to manage his dragon quest. By 11:00, we were in bed.  The Town of Winder...