12 Oakdale

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...

With the help of Gracie, I painted two walls in the living room (Sherman Williams Soft Green). Two coats on one wall Wednesday; 2 coats on the second wall Thursday. She inspected the paint, thought about climbing the step-stool with me, and attacked my brush when I was cutting in the baseboard. She was uninvited after that. Only one small painted paw print to wipe up, but I could imagine disaster. Still such a curious kitty. After I’d offloaded the bookcase, we scooted it out of the way to the hall, then shoved the rest of the furniture to the west end of the living room. Today it all gets put back without my culling any of the stuff I longer need or want. I don’t have the time right now. I’m in a frenzy to get the house and yard in as much order as possible before our Rocky Mountaineer trip in June. Two days after we get home, we host Grant’s 80th birthday party. Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize. When our new living room furniture arrives, the living room is ready. Yesterday, Grant ...

At Bahia Honda, Cabin 5, sitting by myself on the balcony, sun just peaking over the tree line. Such luxury. Time to ruminate. What will this fourth year living at our little house in Central Florida bring? I’m sure I’ve rambled before about the vagueness of my life now. So many possibilities, so many others no longer available. Old friends missing, either through death or distance. New friends somewhere on the horizon, but I’m not sure I have the energy to draw them close.  But here I am. Soon the coffee will be ready. Then I’ll go over to the bayside beach for a snorkel before the crowds appear and stir up the bottom silt. After that, yet to be determined. Back in Windermere, Tony and Tyler are rebuilding our dock and adding some seawall along its south side  to keep the yard from washing away. Or, at the price of a world cruise, we are hoping that will stop the erosion. Our contractor Peter from Q-ICE Builders seems confident, with the caveat that we can always extend the s...

Our third year anniversary at our little house in Windermere. Not as far along as I’d hoped in my quest for no grass, but progress, progress. The vegetable beds are in good order, with my summer veggies all in and coconut coir mulch on top. I have ordered new living room furniture and 4 dining chairs, from Ethan Alan at an exorbitant price, so that part is done. Replacing the decking for the boat house had begun, with all the old wood taken off. The contractor claims this is a small job for him, so I’m going to squeeze him to finish in early June. I’m almost ready to paint in the living room and guest bathroom. I’ve kept up with my resolution to get caught up with my magazines by reading an article or two every morning. Currently, I have only the latest National Geographic and a 2022 Summer Audubon in my stack. A pat on my back for sure. I am considering substituting doing a lesson from one of the Cornell Bird Lab courses I’ve bought, when I don’t have any magazines to read,  It wo...

Ten days visiting Mary. Lovely weather, a little cool, with one day of what the weather app called drizzle: I felt 3 small drops. With all the rain here a month ago, the wild flowers are beautiful. Yellow asters-like flowers, invasive ice plant and mustard, nasturtiums cover the roadside. We dug Bahia grass out around the plants on the front  corner, making the bed twice as big. Crazy hard work. Then we planted some purple-ish plant, name unknown, and the mountain mahogany they got for free at the Water Conservation Park. Mary had rescued a lantana from a previous planting, which turned out to be two plants, so we separated them and added them to the plot. I collected up all the succulents waiting a home, and we planted them on the street side. With coconut coir mulch and some bark chips, we deemed the area done. Except for the rest of the Bahia grass between the original 2 plants. Mary sprayed weed killer on it, and I covered it with cardboard held down with bags of mulch. With an...

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 ...

We are in Gainesville for Barton and Jen’s wedding. Spaulding and Molly flew in Thursday and rode up with us. Dinner at Satchell’s Pizza, then a visit to the UF bat houses for the bats’ nightly exodus. Right on time, with a beautiful sunset and no mosquitoes. I guess the latter due to the thousands of bats, duh. This morning, Molly is doing a 15+ mile run on the Hawthorn Trail; Spaulding is running for about an hour from the house. Grant and I are lazing and drinking coffee, before our Zoom covenant meeting. The luxury of being old. Although we are continuing the fight against aging. We’ve committed to a bike ride every Wednesday, I’ve graduated to 3# weights for my shoulder exercises, and Tuesdays, Denny comes and pushes us to more core strength. I’ve been really good about doing those exercises at least 2 other times a week. I’m starting to notice the difference that makes. I’m also gardening 2-3 hours every morning, weeding the front beds for an hour, then working on our vegetable p...