Deluge, Odds and Ends, All over, Range in the rain
I mentioned how I could possibly be getting a headboard for the guest room. I did indeed make arrangements to go pick it up from a seller on FB marketplace. I didn’t leave the house until after 7:30 Friday night. I brought Elsa with, figuring she would rather be with me in the truck than home alone. The drive was about 45 minutes, 30 of it were just fine. The last 15 was a mess. I drove into an intense thunderstorm that terrified Elsa and made driving treacherous.
When I arrived at the address I bit the bullet and dashed out into the deluge, getting soaked in a matter of seconds. The young woman directed me to their garage that I had backed my truck up to. I gave her the money, grabbed the queen size headboard and jammed it into the back of the Tacoma which thankfully has a bed cover. Even with only a few seconds of exposure the headboard was very wet. The drive back was a mess until we cleared the storm. Poor Elsa was so scared, I felt badly about subjecting her to the trauma. When I got home I dried off the headboard and slid it into place. It made the bed seem more finished and will keep guests heads off the drywall.
I did something abnormal for me on Saturday, I set a 7AM alarm. I never do this nowadays since I subject myself to a 5:30AM alarm during the week. However I had this idea. The idea was if I got up early, did the chicken chores and then immediately did the weeding I could escape the brunt of the miserable heat and humidity. The idea was ill conceived. As soon as the sun cleared the horizon it felt like a broiler was turned on. Despite the early start I still wound up with a sweat soaked t-shirt. I just need to do this during the evening whenever possible.
On Saturday I mentally committed myself to knocking out a number of smaller tasks that I have been putting off for various reasons. Some of these have hung out there for a few months. None of them took more than 30 minutes to complete and it felt good mentally to clear them out.
Later Saturday afternoon I made arrangements to meet up with Monique. We wound up having a pretty diverse night. The weather out by the house had pockets of rain but we wanted to get some walking in. I first took her to the new park by me which I had talked about a number of times. We walked the perimeter, she thought the new facility was really pretty and impressive. We then talked about going to walk the swamp. I had picked her up in the Tesla but I did not want to drive the car on the limestone road that leads to the trail entrance so we stopped back at the house. Elsa at first gave Monique the customary growl but soon remembered that she was “safe” and relaxed. I changed into my boots and we jumped in the Tacoma.
I was quite glad we changed vehicles as the rain had created all of these dirty puddles and gulleys that covered the truck in dirt as we approached. When we got out at the swamp Monique was immediately impressed by the natural beauty that surrounded us. There was only one other car in the parking lot as it was later in the day and wet. We stopped and briefly talked to the owners of the car whom we saw on the boardwalk. They had spotted a small gator floating in the water, still as a statue. As we were talking the guy asked if Monique was my daughter which instantaneously made me feel old and Monique feel young. She does not look her age but still, damn….
The walk was good although somewhat muddy in spots. We only went maybe a mile and a half in because of the time of day. On the way out I heard a hissing noise that I was not expecting. I looked down and a couple feet from us was a baby gator. I have seen tons of older gators up on the path but never one this small. I took a picture of it but neither of us wanted to interact with it long because of the possibility of an angry/protective mother gator being nearby. Monique really liked the swamp, it was her first time there. She said she would like to come back and go further some time in the future.
Afterward we headed back to the house. I did something very rare, prepared a psuedo-formal dinner. I mean all it involved was baking preseasoned mahi in the oven and microwaving some lentils I recently bought from Costco. Even so, Monique appreciated the effort. We watched the movie Dog while we ate. It was a cute movie. As is almost always the case with any movie involving animals, there were portions that touched me. By the time the movie was done it was close to 10:30. Elsa came with us in the back of the Tesla to take Monique home, it was a fun night.
On Sunday I wanted to do a range test on my other new wheel, the KingSong S22. I looked at the weather forecast and it inidcated rain may start around three so I wanted to get back by then. I failed. The ride out to Ave Maria went fine but on the return trip I went through walls of rain. I stopped at the park hoping to be able to ride it out but it was pointless. This was a widespread and long lasting rain event. I decided to just ride home, getting completely soaked in the process. I originally hoped to be able to go back out in a couple hours but the rain never stopped, forcing me to have to complete the range test another day. The bad weather didn’t stop me from making two videos.
The editing took me late into the night. This morning I again woke up with intense pain in the lower right quadrant of my back, a near daily occurrence right now. Thankfully by mid-morning it normally subsides but man, waking up hurting every day is a habit I would like to break asap.