12 Oakdale

Another 5K, another day of rain. It poured all day Saturday, so packet pickup was a drive through at Magnolia Park.  Our morning birding trip to Circle B Bar with Orange Audubon was cancelled, and the Bloom and Grow Garden Society’s Diamond and Denim dinner was hastily moved inside to the Oakland Park Community Center. A miserable, soggy day. Rain all night, and when I got up this morning. This time, though, I was determined to run, even in the rain.  59°: tights, shorts, 2 long sleeved shirts, cap, gloves, and poncho should be fine. By the time the race started, the rain was down to a slight drizzle. I’d overdressed.  The path was pretty muddy, so I was worried about slipping. Especially because the birds were starting wake up. I’ve had bad luck birding while walking. Jogging while birding would be worse.  I forced myself to keep my eyes on the trail, with only a few lapses. I’m pretty sure I saw a blue-gray gnatcatcher fly across and land in a low bush, but I kept ...

I thought about running Saturday, but fortunately it rained. Sunday we were the morning shift of ambassadors at LAWD. I briefly thought about jogging when we got home, but came to my senses. Monday, MLK Day, we decided to actually visit LAWD, so were up and out too early for any jogging. Whew. Early this morning, I heard rain, but by the time it was light, even though the skies were still gray, there was no rain and no reason to avoid my run. I am at the last outing of Week 4 in my second time through the Couch to 5K app. It’s getting tougher and isn’t as novel; I need to be wary of calling it quits. I remind myself I am grateful I can still jog. I’ve also packed on pounds through my thorough enjoyment of Christmas cookies and candies. Time to bite the bullet, not Hersey’s Kisses. It’s 5 weeks until my next 5K. Easy enough to gnaw off 5 pounds with the old eat-less-exercise-more. I’m still convinced that eventually scientists will find that lying on the couch, eating potato chips is th...

That was way more excitement than I needed. Peg, Betsy, and Keith came over Sunday morning, and we piled into our truck for a tour of the Lake Apopka Wildlife Tour. All the usual: alligators, egrets, ospreys, red-winged blackbirds, etc. Afterwards, lunch of barbecued pork, baked beans, and mac ‘n cheese that Peg had rescued from a Future Farmers of America (FFA) her son Robert hosted. Way too much food had been ordered, so she filled freezer bags with leftovers and brought what the attendees didn’t take home. Even with Steph and Kyle joining us, we still have a couple of bags in our freezer.  Monday, Memorial Day, we got up and went to Oakland Nature Preserve, on the south shore of Lake Apopka. This time the alligators were 5 babies, about 18” long. We didn’t see mom, but she would have been around. A swallow tailed kite flew over. After a late lunch at Yellow Dog Eats, we returned home for naps, Keith’s sweeping our roof, and Betsy and my cleaning and moving the birdbath closer to...

We (I) decided we will ride our bikes once a week for the next 3 months. Then we would evaluate our future bike needs. I’m not ready to quit riding, but I am very leery of having a fall. I’m not sure whether Grant feels he can ride an upright bike anymore either. Only one way to find out. So Wednesday is Bike Day. Our first ride was along the West Orange Trail from Chapin Station north 4 miles to Ingram Outpost and back. After dropping Clara off at school, we drove over to our starting point, Grant offloaded the bikes, we went to the bathroom and rode away. At 9:00, there were few people, either bikers or walkers, to impede our unsteady riding. It is still cool enough for me to wear a long-sleeved bike shirt with a t-shirt over it.  By the time we got to our endpoint, it was sunny but still comfortable. We ate our tangerines and headed back. Mission accomplished. We both felt fairly comfortable in the saddle. This week, Grant suggested we start at Magnolia Park and ride along Lake ...

I subscribe to a website that scours state park’s reservations listings and sends me notices about ones I’m interested in. February 1st, I got a notice of a cabin open Presidents’ Day weekend at Blue Spring when Mary would be visiting with her children. I jumped on. Time to show Bella and Remi what manatees look like. They would visit Ryan’s dad and sister in Fort Myers while we birded in Belize. Then they would come to Orlando, Ryan would return to California and work, Mary et al would visit us for 10 days. Perfect. This has been a hard-fought decision with Mary anxious about traveling with children, especially the return by herself. We’d agreed on the basic dates before I’d made a commitment and put down our deposit for Belize. They couldn’t come until Ryan had taken an important test at the beginning of February, then he would have time for leave. All good until mid-January when she suggested she come before Ryan rather than stay after. I was already booked with events I couldn’t ch...

We had a beautiful red sky Friday morning, which indicated the proverbial storm and that sailors should take warning. A minimal yet very wet tropical storm was coming across the Gulf of Mexico towards south Florida. It boded badly for our drive over to Bob’s funeral mass, and even worse the next day for Stephanie’s end of the school year party with 2 (!) inflatable slip and slides that took up her whole back yard. For us, much ado about nothing. It was sprinkling after mass when we walked from the church over to the social hall for the reception. A few paper towels, and we were dried off. Saturday, the sky was dark gray, but barely a drizzle just a couple of times, and no lightening. The party goers enjoyed being completely waterlogged from their water play. My rain gauge showed < 1/16”. I ran the sprinklers. On the other hand, south Florida was flooded. Patten figured he got at least 9”, since he measured 2 1/2” before he emptied his gauge at bedtime. The next morning, the 5” gauge...

A short trip to the west coast which I delayed a day so we could take an “eco-buggy” tour through the Lake Apopka water management area area that we non-water district personnel can only visit by bike or walking, which Grant and I are unlikely to do. This was a thank you from the district and Orange Audubon Society for being ambassadors on the wildlife drive. Five snail kites at one time were topped by a female vermillion flycatcher who kindly posed for all the pictures the photographers could want. Eagles, young and old, flew around. The day was wet and cold, but our tram kept us warm and dry. For once the airport was fairly empty so we flew through TSA. I thought about lying when the agent asked if we were both over 75, but I’d worn my sandals so I might as well take off my shoes.  Grant had made tuna fish sandwiches for our dinner since there isn’t any food service unless one flies first class. I certainly have become a cranky old fart, reminiscing about the good old days of fly...