So I didn’t receive any word back on the truck from the dealer by 3PM so I gave them a call. They said they identified the cause of the airbag warning light. It has to do with a wiring harness connected to the passenger side curtain airbag. They said they did not have the part in stock nor did they have an eta for how long it will take to get it. The truck was still apart so they said I should just keep the loaner for the night. Today they will get more info on the part availability. If it is going to be a considerable delay they said I can pick the truck back up but I would need to sign a waiver as driving a vehicle with any airbag issue could be a liability.
It certainly isn’t an ideal scenario as it sounds like I will have to take the truck back again once the part becomes available. I’m not really worried about driving with an airbag issue as it first showed itself back around 6000 miles. I recapped the situation on video as anything Tacoma related seems to have a lot of YouTube interest.
This weekend will include Ali’s Run for the Paws 5k, a race I have been involved in since it’s inception 11 years ago. The first 10 years I was involved as an organizer and race timer. This will be the first year I will be a normal everyday participant. Ali is sort of excited to have me there with Sadie. With my bum right leg I don’t plan to run the event but instead walk it with Sadie. I don’t even know if we will do the full 3.12 mile distance which may be too far for Sadie but we will give it a go. Ironically this was the last running club race I was involved with last year and will be the first running club event I have attended since. It will be nice to see some of the familiar faces that I spent so many early morning hours setting up events with over the years.
I am doing some planning and thinking about some additional fencing in the backyard to accommodate the addition of Katie’s dogs to the mix. Tank and Bowser do not yet know the chickens are out of bounds. My thought was to create an additional large dog run area down the one side of the back yard. Cindy came up with the idea of instead creating a fenced in area around the chicken coop to restrict the chickens instead of the dogs.
My knee jerk reaction to Cindy’s plan is yes, it would be nice for me to not have to deal with the chickens ripping up various sections of the property and scattering chicken poop far and wide. However the crazy compassionate animal lover in me hates the idea of taking away the freedom the 10 birds all have come to love. The other problem is the chickens prefer to be more or less hidden during a good portion of the day and they use the underside of the large shed and the bushy areca palms around the pond to accomplish that.
However if I fenced the area around the coop there really is no cover available other than the coop itself. The other problem is the area behind the coop that would likely be fenced is flooded out badly through a good portion of the summer. Of course the cheapest and least labor intensive option is for us to train Tank and Bowser that the chickens are part of the family. Cindy actually has some training collars that she has used a little bit to start that process so we will see how that goes.
I am sure the weekend will include some EUC riding. I have the idea of heading down to the hilly area of Marco Island to ride for something unique.
It is quite the scene coming home from work with three dogs in the house. Let’s say the greeting is very enthusiastic. They were excited that on my pit stop at Sam’s Club I picked up a pack of deer antlers to help alleviate some of the bone contention that was going on. Cindy said the dogs got along well during the day which I was glad to hear.
Katie got home earlier than normal and Cindy suggested we go out and ride while she made dinner. I would have preferred to just ride the wheels over to the school but Cindy didn’t like that idea. Instead Katie and I drove over to the school and launched from there. We had a nice 45 minute ride where we traveled to the high school up the road to explore. The temps were a little on the chilly side. I had a hooded sweatshirt on although I was wearing shorts which was a little uncomfortable. It was fun to ride around with Katie. It’s a good way to keep her from focusing on the negative feelings surrounding her break up with her boyfriend.
The night with the dogs was mostly fine. Bowser has this spontaneous barking thing which we need to address somehow. He will think he hears something outside and will bark like mad, which triggers Tank to bark as well. They run up to the front window and continue barking at nothing. It’s ok while we are out there watching tv, we can call him off. But when I was laying in bed half comatose trying to fall asleep it made it sort of impossible. Today we are picking up Sadie so the dog craze-o-meter should be pegged all the way to the right.
This morning I was up early to drop off my Tacoma at the dealer. It was due for it’s 10,000 mile service and I am also hoping they can fix a random airbag warning light that has been popping up for several months. I was glad they were able to give me a loaner Rav 4 to minimize the impact on my workday.
Wow I’m really glad I didn’t do an impulse buy on the GoPro Karma drone when it came out. I just found out that shortly after it’s launch they were all recalled due to dangerous random shut off issue. The drone could simply fall out of the sky without warning. Since the recall it appears that GoPro has scrapped the Karma altogether. They offered full refunds to any customers and I think they gave then a free GoPro camera as further reparations. GoPro stockholders can’t be happy.
So after work last night we met Katie at her ex-boyfriend’s dad’s house to do a final sweep to clean out her stuff. I was under the impression there wasn’t much left but somehow we wound up filling up both Katie’s truck and mine substantially. It was sad for Katie since she likes Daniel’s family and they feel the same about her. Extended families are usually an unfortunate casualty when relationships end.
So as we were getting towards the end of the loading process I noticed the door on Katie’s Dodge was wide open. Not wanting mosquitoes or other undesirables to get into the cab, I closed the door for her. As we were ready to leave I heard Katie say her keys were locked in the truck. WTF? So she asked who closed the door, I told her I did. Well evidently Katie left her keys in the truck which would be fine except evidently Daniel’s step mom for some odd reason had hit the door lock button while the door was left open. Of course I didn’t check the lock status before I pushed the door closed.
I was frustrated at the situation. Daniel had another set of keys but was not home. Cindy got on the phone with USAA to get someone out to unlock the car. My frustration demanded I do something to try to rectify the problem. I did a quick internet search on technique to pop the lock. After finding a wire hangar I bent a crude hook into one end and made my first attempt at being a car thief.
I spent a good 20 minutes futzing around, trying to blindly snag the door lock mechanism between the window and weatherstripping. By the time the lock guy showed up I was still in there digging around. I don’t give up easily. The professional used a technique I saw before online. He used a plastic wedge to make a little space on the top of the door, enough to squeeze a thin rubber bladder in between the door and the frame. He then pumped the bladder with a handheld inflator, similar to a blood pressure cuff rig. This created just enough of a gap that he could insert a long fiberglass pole inside that he used to activate the door lock button. I told him I wanted to get a set of those tools for an emergency. He said they restrict who they will sell them to for obvious reasons.
So finally we were on the road headed home. When we got there I lugged the large items to the small shed while the boxes and smaller items got piled in the garage to be sorted and put away. Katie is hoping to have a garage sale soon to get rid of the stuff that was hers but she no longer really needs. I was happy to have her stuff totally under one roof so Katie can now work on getting some stability to plan whatever her next step will be.
I don’t harbor any ill will towards Daniel either. He is a young kid just trying to find his way. When I was 20 I had no idea what the hell I really wanted and had even less idea about how to be successful in relationships. I am hoping having Katie in our household will allow some of the stability and calm to help her refocus and move forward.
Last night Elsa had an unexpected bathroom incident where she squatted right in front of the couch where Cindy and Katie were sitting and peed. Cindy instantly yelled at her and Elsa reacted by jumping on top of me as I was laying on the other sofa. I am not sure if this was her reaction to having two other dogs thrust into her living space but it is a behavior we need to correct immediately. Elsa is a very sweet, cute, and loving dog. Unfortunately she is also very neurotic at times which is going to require a lot of long term patience.
So last night Katie arrived at the house with her two dogs in tow. (more on that later) As I went out to the driveway to see what she needed help with I saw the two recycling bins and one large trash can laying across the driveway with their contents scattered everywhere. Katie said she heard someone hit them just after she pulled in.
So I went down to clean up the mess and it was a disaster. I swore repeatedly as I was cleaning up the trash and broken glass that was scattered all over the entrance to the driveway. I just was enraged some asshole would be careless enough to hit our cans, although it has happened many times before.
I reviewed the footage from the DVR camera that is shooting out the driveway. At almost exactly 6:40 PM I see the idiot hit the cans not with his truck but with the trailer he was towing behind his truck. Of course he didn’t slow down for a second after the impact. I can only hope that if karma does exist, it smacks this jack ass hard.
So like I mentioned, Katie brought her two dogs with her last night, the first time they both have been at the house. We are still in the process of trying to figure out just how these living arrangements will all work out but part of it will be Tank and Bowser being at the house at least part of the time. I felt badly for Elsa when these two high energy dogs came charging in the house, she looked desperately for somewhere to hide. Eventually she settled down a little bit.
Now if you know me, you know I like calm, controlled, clean environments. Having three dogs in one house is a recipe for the exact opposite. I of course have a lot of concerns about the dogs destroying things as well as the associated mess. We have the house pretty much closed off so except for Katie’s bedroom, the dogs are kept on the hard flooring surfaces. We have covers on the sofa’s but I worry it won’t be sufficient. Bowser is a huge dog, probably 80-90 pounds so his destructive potential is quite high. We had Tank in the house before. He is a french bulldog so size-wise he isn’t bad but he is a drool/snot machine which has it’s own challenges.
Cindy has assured me she would be doing what is needed to keep the house reasonably clean and organized which is an effort hopefully Katie will assist in. I am sure Cindy could sense my anxiety as Katie’s dogs ran around the living space like maniacs. I found myself thinking about how I was accustomed to living for a long time without any animals short of Tuki in the house peppered by Sadie visits. I reminded myself that this is only day one and things should settle down over time. I also focused on the big picture that this is the way we could finally facilitate getting Katie out of a situation that had nothing but dead ends at every turn.
I have been in one of those periods of time where I feel like there are so many little things that need to be taken care of and I don’t feel like I am getting anywhere. It’s not a feeling I enjoy. The funny thing is feeling that way despite getting a decent amount of things done over the weekend.
It started out early Saturday with me getting outside to work on weeding a little after 7:30. That rolled almost immediately into doing the oil and filter change that was due on the Prius. Cindy and I headed out to do a Rural King run, something I hadn’t done in a couple weeks, a long time for me. We brought Elsa along for the ride and she once again oscillated between being ok one moment and terrified the next.
We stopped at Home Depot on the way home. We picked up some more vegetables for the garden including tomatoes, something we historically have a horrible time getting anywhere with. If first you don’t succeed, try, try again. I also picked up a new LED floodlight for the other side of the house, similar to the awesome stadium style bright unit I installed on the other side a couple months ago.
When we got home we made plans to go with Katie to go look at rvs/trailers/park homes. She is looking to move ahead with having a place to call her own and wanted to get a first hand look at some options. The first place we went surprised the hell out of me, they sold Airstreams. For some reason I had it in my head that Airstream was no longer in business. I am not sure where that notion came from.
Not only did they not go out of business, they make some of the highest quality trailers on the market we came to discover. Katie loved the stainless steel shells that wrapped around highly functional living spaces. We looked at models that ranged from 16 feet to 30. Regardless of the size, every single model we checked out was really, really nice. Of course top of the line comes with a price tag, they are far from cheap.
I talked a bit with the sales manager at the location. He used to work at the Airstream factory store in Ohio for a long time. He really stressed how well made they were and how they steered clear of shitty Chinese components as much as possible. He also told me that depending on the price of he unit, they can be financed for as long as 20 years, making one affordable even for someone just getting started like Katie. The last interesting fact was they are just over 8 feet wide, meaning in theory one could be driven into our wide open backyard through the 10 foot gate with little fuss.
In addition to the Airstreams we looked at more traditional trailers as well as “park homes”, another thing I wasn’t aware of. These were apartment/condo sized homes on wheels. When you were inside it looked like conventional construction. When you were outside you saw the big trailer it was built on and would be a permanent part of it’s structure. I guess the name comes from the idea that typically you park these once and leave them there, unlike an Airstream-like trailer which could be relocated pretty easily.
Out of everything we saw Katie definitely liked the Airstream option the best. The ability to pick up and move while having all the basic necessities to live day to day was very appealing to her. The design of them was really interesting to Katie and she spent a good portion of the drive home researching the hell out of them on her phone.
When we got back we didn’t waste much time before we headed over to the school to ride our wheels. I also brought my Mavic with as I wanted to see how it did tracking Katie and I as we rode around. Well the drone did pretty damn well. Even with sunset approaching rapidly the Mavic did a good job of following us around autonomously , keeping us in it’s field of view.
Cindy was doing more of her fence EUC training and did well again. I think all she needs to do is get more frequent training sessions under her belt so she can keep building where she left off instead of having to refamiliarize herself when 10 or 14 days have passed.
Saturday night Cindy called in a food order that I picked up. We had a Netflix rental in an envelope, a movie called Memento that Cindy picked out, some murder mystery flick. Well we gave it a solid 15-20 minutes to spark our interest before all three of us gave it the gong. I pulled out the dvd and instead rented Deepwater Horizon on X1. The movie reenforced why fossil fuels and the companies that provide them need to be put out to pasture. The recreation of the disaster on film was incredibly realistic and impressive. I’d give it a B+.
I felt guilty when I didn’t start my Sunday morning off with a run. The reality is my knee/hip/IT band on my right side is still messed up and running would just amplify it. That didn’t make me feel any less guilty however. I did however get busy once again outside, tending to the chickens, planting the vegetables I bought Saturday and starting the work to replace the floodlight.
Installing that floodlight was one of the very early home projects I took on after we built the place in 2001. As I ripped down the old beat up light I realized that back then I did some pretty shoddy work. I had the old light sloppily and loosely attached to the aluminum flashing, it wasn’t very solid at all. I got the old light ripped out but realized if I wanted to install the new one correctly I was going to need a proper electrical fixture mounting box, which I didn’t have.
The three of us went to Dunkin Donuts and followed up with another ride into the Esplanade development. It was SUPER windy during the ride. At times if the wind hit us dead on it felt like it almost brought us to a standstill. It was nuts.
After the ride we made a couple stops, including the hardware store so I could get the mounting box I needed. When I got home I got to work. Instead of mounting the light to the aluminum I attached the box to the concrete wall with tapcons, a much sturdier solution. Once that was in place the rest of the light install went pretty easily. It looks a lot better and lights up that area of the yard in a much more efficient manner.
I had a few other projects/chores keeping me busy during the afternoon. Late in the day Cindy mentioned that Katie was interested in going over to the nearby Bird Rookery Swamp to walk with Elsa. We came up with a plan where I would leave ahead of them on my Msuper and they would drive there with Elsa in the Prius. With the ability to cruise comfortably at 18-20 mph, I got there pretty fast, fast enough that I had time to ride the length of the boardwalk and back before they got there.
Katie had never been to the swamp so it was cool for her to see. We ran into a decent sized gator shortly after getting onto the grass path. Cindy was scared, Katie was concerned, I just sort of shrugged. I have seen so many gators at this location it just doesn’t affect me much. Elsa seemed to like the hike as well although she got scared by random people along the way. We stayed later than I ever had before, getting back to the parking lot a few minutes after the sun had set.
I told Cindy I wanted to ride the wheel back to the house as well instead of hitching a ride with her. She was not thrilled with the idea but knew I was going to do it regardless. The ride back was fine, possibly even faster than the ride there. The headlight on the Msuper was definitely necessary as it was almost pitch black by the time I pulled back into the driveway.
I have a work week that is going to be very meeting heavy so don’t be surprised by short and sweet entries as standard practice.
Last night after work I got the Mavic back up in the air. We had another beautiful sunset going on and I wanted to see how it would look via altitude from the lens of the Mavic’s 4K camera. I used tripod mode which slows down the movement of the drone to do a couple slow pans of the horizon. It is simply amazing just how stable the footage is. It literally looked like I had the camera on a tripod on a platform a 100 feet in the sky. The music I paired the footage to seemed really appropriate and peaceful. I like the end result. I took off the clear dome cover from the camera which is the way it is designed to be flown.
So today is the big day, a historic day, the day Donald Trump, the least qualified person ever to win the presidency of the United States, takes office. The day will be memorable in many ways for sure, including the massive organized protests both today and over the weekend, something that has never welcomed an incoming president in my lifetime. Donald, through his cabinet appointments and actions in the couple months leading up to the inauguration has given the world a good sour taste of what could be on tap for the next four years.
I could rant and rave about how ridiculous it is that somehow this has come to be. Personally I am past the point of being outraged. The ink is now dry, the damage has been done, and the country now just has to grit it’s teeth and deal with the lunacy that is sure to come. I will say that I feel the odds of him making it through the full four years as commander and chief are the poorest of any incoming president and that may just be the master plan.
As I have said multiple times, I think Trump is going to be an unmitigated disaster as president. However unlike so many of my fellow Americans, I am not afraid to reevaluate that position based on new information or circumstances. If the country somehow prospers under his leadership I will be happy to give credit where credit is due.
Yesterday was an odd one at work, I made an emergency trip to Best Buy to buy a computer for the office. Normally we have a procurement process to get new pc’s that can take a few days to a couple weeks. However when the bosses computer dies the protocol changes. We had him back up and running in a few hours.
My new bigger pedals for the Gotway MCM4 arrived yesterday. I got them from the same guy in the UK that I bought my Msuper from. Despite his company being an ocean away I got the pedals in a few days which is cool. Since I already did a test swap last week, replacing the pedals didn’t take very long at all. After finishing up I took it out for a quick test ride as the sun was setting to test out the feel of the pedals. Just like last week the bigger pedals felt much better on my feet.
My cold is still raging, only loosely controlled by Nyquil and Dayquil. Last night I was drowning in snot, it sucks. I have my gym clothes with today. I hope to get to the gym although I have a feeling my energy level and strength will be so underwhelming that it will just piss me off.
My sick day yesterday as well as Monday had a ton of WoW as part of it. I bet I played more in the last two days than I have in years. It was a fun distraction to the cold I have been dealing with since Saturday. I spent most of that time relearning how to play my priest.
I also got an unexpected surprise when my DJI Mavic Pro showed up at my door. I knew it was en route but I did not expect it until maybe next week as the tracking I looked at from Fed Ex Tuesday night showed it had just left Hong Kong. Well for some reason my box got super express service. It arrived in Memphis at 3AM and was immediately flown to Fort Myers where it was put on a truck for delivery, crazy.
Even though I knew just how compact the Mavic was from videos and pictures, it wasn’t until I held it in my hand that I truly appreciated it. Despite it’s diminutive size it packs big time tech and features. It has full obstacle avoidance cameras and sensors and uses the same incredible app the Phantom does.
The way your smart phone integrates with the controller is very slick. Your phone becomes your first person view window along with a TON of additional options. The controller itself almost reminds me of a video game controller and is very comfortable to hold and use.
I was able to get the Mavic into the air very easily but I still felt like a complete novice, even though I have had a drone for several years. The technology has advanced a ton since the Phantom 2. There are so many features, simple flying just scratches the surface of what this thing can do. The video the 4K camera captures is crisp and clean. Being able to fly via FPV is a new experience for me and I can see why it is so popular.
I briefly tested one of the many flying modes, Auto Track. You basically identify something you want the drone to keep in frame by drawing a box around it. It can be a person, a vehicle, or pretty much anything else as long as it has half decent size. Once this is enabled the drone will automatically move and adjust the camera angle to keep that object in it’s field of view. It’s pretty amazing. I ran around the backyard a little and it stayed locked on me easily. Of course I have various ideas of how to incorporate this with EUC rides as well.
I need to do a lot of reading and viewing of tutorials to get familiar with all the drone can do. I am looking forward to the challenge and avoiding fines from the national park service along the way.
I made a very large omission while recanting the wedding reception over the weekend. Cindy’s brother asked her if she could do the toast. Cindy was extremely nervous about it and spent a lot of time coming up with something heartfelt yet funny at the same time. Like the other formalities, the toast came very early, catching her off guard somewhat.
Her honest nervousness when she grabbed the mic was apparent but she soon had the entire reception laughing and later crying right along with her. After she finished her brother ran up to Cindy and gave her a huge hug as tears streamed down his face. When she got back to our table I hugged her as I wiped my tears from my face as well. Mine were tears of pride because she did so well despite being so scared of the scenario. Through out the night various guests told her how great her speech was which made Cindy feel very happy. It may have been the best toast I ever heard at a wedding I have attended.
I spent all day yesterday feeling miserable and sick. The feeling has continued into today so I am burning a sick day in the hopes of both feeling better as well as not spreading the illness around our office.
Before I get started I neglected to mention that when I got back from my PA trip Cindy had a very big present waiting for me, she repainted the master bathroom a very peaceful gray color. We had talked about repainting the bathroom for awhile. I thought it was very nice of her to take the initiative to take it on while I was in PA. It really looks good.
Ok so on Friday I had a heavy EUC day. In the morning I took the wheel to North Collier Regional Park. While I was in PA I had the idea pop in my head that I wanted to make an EUC tips video where I put a number of tips that helped me during my learning process in one video. I thought it really turned out well and so far others seem to agree.
I also did an EUC experiment I had been curious about, a pedal swap between my Msuper and MCM4. One of the primary things I like about my Msuper and dislike about the MCM4 are the foot pedals. The MCM4 pedals are too small and cause me a lot of foot pain while the MSuper has some of the biggest pedals around and feel much better. The mounting brackets for the pedals on both wheels looked identical so I was curious if the pedals themselves were swappable. Well I was happy to find out the answer was YES. The big pedals do fit on the MCM4 so I ordered an extra set from the same guy in the UK I got my Msuper from. In addition I did a pedal calibration on the MCM4 which seemed to help the overall riding characteristics of the wheel.
On Friday I also got around to finally installing a replacement security camera out in the coop so we now have a full set of 8 cameras once again monitoring the chicken stomping grounds. I should sleep better at night now.
We were leaving for Miami in the early afternoon to attend Cindy’s brother’s wedding. Ali and her boyfriend were nice enough to agree to watch Elsa for the night. We figured having Sadie there would help ease whatever nervousness Elsa would have from being away from us. We spent the morning getting everything ready for our brief getaway.
When we dropped Elsa off at Ali’s it was funny. You could tell she was excited and scared at the same time. We brought her crate along so she would have a safe haven to retreat to if necessary. Cindy of course was nervous about being away from Elsa for the first night ever but Ali assured her they would take good care of Elsa which I had no doubt about.
Katie was hitching a ride with us to Miami. When we got back from dropping off Elsa we did a quick car load and were pretty much ready to roll. The trunk of the car also had two electric unicycles in it and one Minipro. We hoped to get out to ride on Sunday morning somewhere.
During the roughly two hour drive to the hotel I noticed I wasn’t feeling quite right. I had some weird soreness in my throat setting in and I just felt off. I hoped it was just me feeling the effect of drinking two large coffees in the span of three hours. Unfortunately the feeling kept ramping up throughout the day.
Cindy reserved a room at the Aloft in Dadeland, the same chain we stayed at for the Tampa Comic Con so I already knew to expect a hipster experience. Katie was staying in the room with us. I was not excited when I found out the two beds were doubles instead of queen size. Over the years I have had some very bad sleeping experiences trying to fit my dimensions in a double with another person. Other than that the room was very nice.
All three of us did our prep for the wedding which was around 5PM. We arrived at the church with about 15 minutes to spare, saying hi to the familiar faces of Cindy’s family and friends. We got premium family seating the the third row for the ceremony. The “I do’s” probably took maybe 20-25 minutes to complete. There was a cute and touching part where Cindy’s brothers two kids read a passage. Owen, the little shy boy was especially cute as he read his verse out of sight behind the lectern.
This church was a one stop shop which was very cool. After the ceremony they had drinks and snacks out on a patio and then at the other end of the complex was a large hall that was being used for the reception. Cindy and I were summoned to be in the official wedding photos of family that were taken in a scenic area outside.
The reception hall was very nicely decorated. Each table had a beautiful floral centerpiece. I had started a pretty steady stream of beer during the cocktail hour and continued it into the reception. I somehow hoped the alcohol would make the incoming illness feel less shitty. Instead I just sort of felt shitty and drunk.
JP and Amber front loaded the reception with all the formalities to get them out of the way. In the first 20 minutes the garter was removed, the bouquet was tossed and the cake was cut. This was the first time I ever saw it done this way but I understood the logic. They wanted to make the reception just about everyone having a good time. I would say they were successful in that goal.
As the night went on the sillyness amplified. I eventually had enough alcohol that I made a brief appearance on the dance floor. Towards the end of the party things got really silly when we decided we would go get out the wheels that were stored in the trunk and ride them around in our formal wear. It looked pretty damn silly I am sure but we had a lot of fun doing it. I totally forget about feeling shitty during those few minutes.
So the reception ended around 10. Cindy drove us back to the hotel. I took another shower hoping it would somehow wash the illness from me. At that point I had soreness and blockage in my right sinus that did not want to clear even with high effort nose blowing. After cleaning up I crawled into bed hoping for at least a half decent nights sleep. Instead I had one of my most indecent nights of sleep ever.
I honestly think I did not actually fall asleep at all the entire night, instead laying there with my eyes closed. There was a combination of factors contributing to my insomnia. The clogged nostril and restricted breathing was the first sleep obstacle. I got up to blow my nose a couple times and it didn’t help at all. The double bed with two people made it just impossible for me to find a position of long term comfort. I was constantly adjusting myself while trying to not impose on Cindy so she could at least sleep. Finally there was a lack of consistent white noise which is something I normally require to sleep. Total silence strangely is an awful sleeping condition for me. The AC was cycling on and off creating temporary white noise. I normally set it to keep the fan on but forgot to do so before going to bed this time. At one point I even briefly tried to sleep in a chair in the room, I was that desperate.
So anyway as you can imagine, I awoke feeling absolutely terrible. The lack of sleep, illness, and slight hangover left me feeling like a pile of dirt. We packed up the room and checked out. Right across the street was a place called Don Pan, a cuban bakery/breakfast place that Cindy loved from her days of living in Miami. My “cuban breakfast” was good even though I had very minimal appetite at that point.
Even though I felt terrible I wanted to still get our ride in. We drove back near the area the church was located as it seemed scenic and a good place for one wheeling. We had a nice maybe hour long ride taking in scenery we normally don’t get the opportunity to see. Katie was scanning values of the houses as we rode by them. They were very, very expensive. Katie also showed off some her new wheel riding skills. She can now ride one legged quite well, at one point holding the position for a good 30 seconds. She is officially better than me now. That didn’t take long.
After the ride we headed to Amber’s house. We were picking up Cindy’s niece to give her a ride back to Naples. They were also having a day after wedding party at the house. Since we had the chickens to care for and Elsa to pick up we only stayed for a short period of time before heading out. I was not feeling up to eating or drinking at that point. I spent most of the time helping Cindy’s nephew work on his activity book that had stuff like word searches, connect the dots and other fun kid stuff in it.
Cindy drove home, not wanting a sleep deprived person behind the wheel. Taylor and Katie were in the back seat acting silly most of the drive home making me smile and laugh a few times despite feeling progressively worse. When we got home we unloaded the car and I stayed there while Cindy took Taylor home and picked up Elsa. While she was gone I went out and cleaned the coop. It is always more labor intensive cleaning the coop later in the day as the piles of excrement has had more time to harden and dry, requiring more scrubbing instead of just being able to hose it off, fun times.
Outside of the coop cleaning and unpacking luggage I went into vegetable mode mostly for the rest of the day. I spent nearly three hours watching Batman vs Superman for a second time. No it didn’t get any better the second time around but it didn’t get any worse either. I still love that Batman does Crossfit to toughen up to fight Superman.
I caught the end of the Cowboys/Packers game and was very happy with the outcome. Must suck to lose as the number one seed in your first playoff game. Poor, poor Cowboys….
I took Nyquil to knock myself out last night and am happy to say it worked. I still feel lousy today but at least I got some sleep to help balance things out. Today is my last day off officially although if I still am in the meaty part of this illness tomorrow I don’t have any pressing things I have to rush back to work for. It certainly has been a full twelve days of vacation. I wouldn’t mind another twelve.
I am doing some planning and thinking about some additional fencing in the backyard to accommodate the addition of Katie’s dogs to the mix. Tank and Bowser do not yet know the chickens are out of bounds. My thought was to create an additional large dog run area down the one side of the back yard. Cindy came up with the idea of instead creating a fenced in area around the chicken coop to restrict the chickens instead of the dogs.
