When I got home Friday night I skipped road biking because I wanted to tackle weeding the property.  Because I had plans to help Ali and Shugs do some preliminary moving into their house they just closed on I felt the need to fast forward the normal sequence of events my summer weekends normally contain.  I went into the task in good spirits, I knew it would be more work than normal since I was away for a week but I slapped on my headphones and headed out there.

What I ran into was an oppressive amount of work.  The passing of 11-12 days since the task was last done combined with the extreme heat and precipitation had put weed growth into overdrive.  For maybe the first 60 minutes I was ok as I very slowly made my way weeding some of the biggest headaches like the garden, pond area and the rock garden, which is the absolute worst.

When I first moved into the house I built a lot of landscaped areas but over the years I undid a lot of them for exactly this reason, I knew the labor involved with keeping them looking decent.  I was a much younger man then and I realized this, crawling around on my hands and knees 20 years later with a sweat soaked t-shirt at 7PM in the evening really reminded me of why I made the conscious effort to contract the amount of landscaped beds/areas.  Don’t get me wrong, they look nice when I am not doing upkeep on them, I think they add to the beauty of the property however I have shifted into a mode where I just don’t want to be saddled by this stuff week in and week out during wet season.

When Cindy was living here she did a lot of work outside, converting or adding additional space to the must weed list.  When there were two human beings involved in this upkeep it was bearable.  Now since it is me myself, and I doing the tasks it is much less so, unless I can somehow teach Elsa to pull weeds.  I was out there weeding for every minute of two hours.  I have had a lot of unpleasant weeding sessions in my 21 years here, this was one of the worst.

When I came back in I felt gross.  After showering I sat down and edited the ride footage from Thursday night.  Video editing relaxes me most of the time.

Saturday was a busy, busy day.  I had created a list related to everything I need to get done before the next trip and I was driven to get a good chunk of it crossed off.  After running errands, paying bills and doing a few other things I headed outside to weed whack, despite the skies looking like they were ready to barf more water.  They did exactly that, driving me back inside for a little bit where I  switched gears and got some cleaning done.

The rain stopped and I headed back out there.  I have been having issues with the weed whacker that is only something like two years old, it has been running rough the last couple times I have used it.  It got so annoying that I switched over to the Dewalt electric whacker that is not as powerful or fast as it’s gas powered counterpart.  When I get some more time I will do some basic trouble shooting on the gas whacker.  I’m not doing a carb teardown on the thing.  I am at the point in life where instead of sacrificing an afternoon working on the tool I will just curb it and replace it, not admirable, but truthful.  Time spent on things gains more and more weight with me as the years tick off.

Disclaimer this section talks about bodily functions, tastefully, hopefully. So during the day I had more trips to the bathroom than normal but I didn’t think much of it.  However when this continued into the evening I started thinking about it a lot.  I started running through what I consumed recently to see if anything popped out as a possible culprit.  Nothing did.  So instead of getting better with the passing of time it was getting worse and more frequent.  It was not colonoscopy prep level but was getting damn close. By the time I fell asleep it was close to midnight.  I was really tired and hoped to wake up Sunday morning feeling refreshed with these episodes behind me.  I had another busy day ahead helping Ali and Shugs.  It didn’t happen.

Instead of subsiding the episodes continued, roughly between 1 and 2 hours apart.  Repeatedly it felt like just as I was dozing off the sensation would return.  This continued all night, the last time being about 5AM.  I awoke about 8AM feeling exhausted.  Originally I had talked to Ali about getting up there pretty early, like early enough that I would be on the road already.  I texted her and described my night.  I told her once I felt more “stable” I would head up there.  She said it was not a big deal if I couldn’t come which I appreciated.  However that intrinsic part of my personality, the part that commits hard to promises made, wanted to keep with the plan, just on a slightly delayed manner.

I drug myself out of bed and took care of Kathy.  I was very much in slow motion but I was in motion at least.  I prepped for departure, the biggest part of the prep was getting the 118lb 86″ TV into the back of the Tacoma solo.  It took some careful balancing combined with moderate amounts of brute force but I got it in the bed, albeit with the tailgate down because it is so huge.  I loaded Elsa in the back and took off.  On the way there I stopped at CVS to grab some stuff to help with the symptoms.  I also stopped at DD but traded out the coffee for a bottle of water.  I sure could have used the caffeine jolt but I didn’t want any more bathroom visits in the short term if I could avoid them.

I met Ali and Shugs at their new house.  They had spent most of the morning at their storage unit getting it cleared out.  The plan was to store everything in the garage for now.  After carefully unloading the TV I helped them unload the truck as well.  Ali could tell I didn’t feel great but I assured her I was good enough to continue.  We got the truck unloaded and then headed back to the storage unit to get the remaining items cleaned out.  The majority of their stuff was in that unit, moving out of their one bedroom apartment will likely involve less stuff.

Once the truck was loaded we headed to their apartment.  Ali was giving me back two dressers that she took with her when she moved out 10 years ago.  They are getting new bedroom furniture and asked me if I wanted these.  I have a guestroom with not much else in it besides a bed so I said I would take them.  However there was logistical discussion/decisions to be made.

Although Shugs could help me load the pieces into the truck I would be getting them off myself.  The fact that I was not feeling great combined with the hernia I am sporting made me a bit hesitant.  Ali said there was no rush to get them now but then when I thought about pushing the timeline further my hernia surgery on August 12th was a big red stop sign.  Once that happens I will be severely restricted on exertion for something like three weeks.  The end result was I sad f it, let’s load them up now.

Ali and Shugs were very appreciative of my help just as I am appreciative of them being willing to once again dog/chicken/house sit for me.  I had concerns about rain for the long drive home.  They came true as I drove through hard rain for about 5 minutes during the last 10 miles of the return trip.  Since I was moving at 60MPH the dressers didn’t get too drenched.  Getting them off the truck myself again involved some very careful maneuvering but I got the dressers safely into the garage where they will sit for a day or two to air out.

When I got back I was tired from lack of sleep and the labor.  I tried to take a nap but it was more like resting with my eyes closed.  I found my mind continuing to work on things that need to be taken care of before I leave.  Laying there was better than nothing.  When I got up it was after 5:30.  I  decided I wanted to get out on a quick ride to the close DD to at least get one energy burst for the day.  I took the new massive EX20S once again.

I was hoping a ride would help clear some cobwebs and make me feel more “normal”.  The extreme weight of this wheel is something I am still getting used to, I feel like I need to be much more cautious doing things I take for granted on smaller wheels.  The ride did feel good but I still had to deal with some unfun bathroom visits during the day, just less of them.

I wrapped up my Sunday typing this out while continuing to mentally unravel both the tasks that need to be handled in the next three days as well as bigger picture, longer term ideas as well.  I am seriously considering going to LA in mid-October.  If I looked at this past year like it was a book I was writing, I would be wrapping upping the preface.  I am confident that if I wind up in a relationship with a committed partner again, that person will be getting the best overall version of me that has existed.  But, if that partner never materializes I will keep pointing my life towards events, activities, people and destinations that make me happy.

I called the body shop around 4PM yesterday looking for an update on the Tesla repair.  They said they were putting it back together.  It just had to be cleaned up afterwards but it will be done by noon on Friday.  Ok, that’s fine, I came up with a plan where I would ride an EUC to meet Michelle in the morning, hitch a ride with her to work and then get the car during the day.  Unconventional but I can make it work.

A few minutes after I left the office I get a call back from them, telling me, good news, the car is being washed and I could pick it up now if I want, they are open until 5:30.  Wow, ok.  I decided to drive over there, pay for the Tesla and drive it home instead of the truck.  When I pulled up to the body shop some young dude who I assumed washed it, had just parked the car.  He was sitting in it with his phone out, I think he was styling for social media or something, I laughed.  It looks like he did a decent job washing it but didn’t dry the car for some reason.  I did a quick inspection of the new deck lid, bumper skin and lower valence.  Nothing jumped out at me, the repair looked clean.  $3100 later I was back in the seat of my beloved Tesla, heading home.

So as I was driving the gears in my head started to spin.  I was thinking about how it would be cool if I just rode my new massive suspension EUC back to town after getting home and pick up the Tacoma as well.  That would eliminate the need for me to bother Michelle and would be a pretty epic first ride on the new wheel.  The weather looked good during the drive home, until I got about 5 miles from my house.  There was a wall of black clouds off to the east of the house but it was not raining, yet.  I had hopes I could quickly tend to Kathy, feed Elsa, change and then head right back out to beat potential precipitation.

Well that plan got scuttled pretty quickly as it started to rain in earnest as I was finishing up doing Kathy’s water. I was bummed as I watched the torrential rain coming down outside but did not give up all hope.  I looked at the data on the Dark Sky weather app on my phone and it seemed like once this wave of storms passed it SHOULD be ok.  As has been well documented here, I don’t give up easily and once I have an idea in my head I will go pretty far until I throw in the towel.  So around 7 the deluge stopped.  I started thinking seriously if I should go, despite the time.

The other thought was if I go, what wheel should I take.  On one hand I thought it would be cool to take the EX20S on the ride since it’s fast, has long range and suspension.  On the other hand I had NEVER ridden the thing before.  Hopping on a wheel that is nearly 110lbs is going to require an adjustment/acclimation period.  Doing that while riding beside three lanes of traffic, on wet roads, in the dark is not the smartest idea.  I posted this on Facebook before I left. One of the advantages (or disadvantages) of being single is there is no one to talk you out of dumb ideas.  This is very true.  Over my life there have been tons of times when my partner in a relationship would talk me out of ideas that in hindsight were less than brilliant.  I no longer have a governor. So I gathered my camera equipment and geared up for the ride.  I wasn’t exactly sure of the route I would take but I estimated it would be around 25 miles and 90 minutes or so.  I was wrong on both accounts.

My first 10 miles or so on the EX20S were a bit shaky.  The immense weight of the wheel felt weird and I was hesitant to do much more than go straight.  I did not feel confident at speed, not because the wheel didn’t feel good.  I didn’t feel good.  I could feel tension in my lower body which made me uncomfortable at speed.  Even though I set the tire pressure to a pretty low 28PSI before the ride I stopped and let even more air out 5 miles in to try to make me feel a little better.  The top speed I hit during the entire ride was “only” 30mph and that was only for very brief periods.

The intense storms left the roadways very wet so the wheel got a pretty solid water test during the ride.  The suspension performed as I hoped, putting rounded edges on what would normally be sharp spikes of impact from road irregularities.  The lights on this wheel are not good.  In the sections of road where I did not have overhead lighting my visibility was poor with only a small spot of light thrown maybe 15 feet ahead of me, requiring me to slow down for visibility.

As I got closer to town I decided I would get to downtown Naples via the Greenway.  I could use that as a traffic free shortcut.  As I got closer I was required to do more sidewalk riding which is slower and bumpier although it also gave me more opportunity to get more comfortable maneuvering the big wheel.  By the time I got to the Greenway it was close to 9:30.  I literally had the place to myself.  On the entire ride from the Greenway entrance to the exit onto Central Avenue in Naples I did not see another human being, and I liked it.

I arrived at the body shop about 9:45 PM meaning the journey was closer to two hours instead of 90 minutes.  It was also longer than planned, clocking in right around 30 miles.  The range this wheel potentially has is amazing.  After 30 miles I still had 72% battery remaining.  I could probably go 70 miles+ on this wheel at a decent speed without issue.  As I approached the driver side of the Tacoma I had to side step what looked like a big pile of throw up on the ground.  Although it was disgusting, I was glad they at least had their head pointed down when the deed was done instead of onto the door of the Taco. I texted Michelle and let her know she was in the clear for Friday.  It felt good to have executed my plan, no matter how ill advised it may be in the eyes of more cautious individuals.

My weekend is going to be PACKED.  I have to get my ducks lined up once again for the second time in less than two weeks for my next trip.  In addition I am helping out Ali and Shugs on Sunday move some stuff.  They are closing on their new house today and want to move stuff that has been living in their rented storage unit for a year plus into their garage.  I also have their 86 inch TV in my garage that I will be taking up there.  Depending on how things go I may help them hang it on the wall as well Sunday, we will see.  These last few months have had so many things incorporated into them it’s a bit nuts.  On top of it all I am still considering going to LA in mid-October for a huge EUC event.  I can’t take my money with me so I may as well use it on what makes me happy, without impacting responsible retirement savings of course.  🙂

I just saw that one year ago today was when I had Cupcake put down at the vet.  Man, what an awful, emotional day that was for me.

With the latest miscommunication between myself and the body shop I had to make new plans on the fly after I was told that instead of being done in a day on the phone, 2-3 days was actually the accurate timeline.  Michelle, my first hire in our department, was able to drop me off after work.  She lives on Immokalee Road, albeit 13-14 miles away on Immokalee Road.  It was very appreciated.

When I called the body shop late yesterday afternoon they said there is a possibility it could be done this afternoon, if not then Friday.  There are two ways the pick up could go.  I could either ride one of my EUCs to work or maybe to Michelle’s place Friday morning and then just throw it in the back of the Tesla to get home or just be a real pain in the ass and ask someone to drive to my house to take me to work Friday morning.  I really do not like asking people for favors so if the weather forecast for the morning does not look wet I may just commute on one wheel.

Speaking of one wheel, last night I did a live stream where I unboxed my new Begode EX20S EUC, the heaviest wheel I have ever owned by far.  I brought the box in on furniture sliders and struggled to get it on the table for the stream.  The stream was fun, going for close to 3 hours.  I now have the wheel fully charged, air in the suspension and tire at my normal PSI.  All that remains is to ride it, which I am very much looking forward to.  I just need to sandwich in some time which is in short supply right now.

I have been home this morning waiting for the county inspector to check the windows.  Afterward it’s back to the office for hopefully business as usual.

I had already decided during the day that if it was not raining when I got home I was going to mow.  11-12 days without mowing during wet season is a sure recipe for jungle-like grass.  The grass was high and dense enough to clog the chute a lot, enough that in some spots I just reached down and grabbed the chute guard to hold it up and out of the way, spraying grass clippings out shotgun style.  High grass also equals slow mowing.  I was out there until after 8:30.

Before I started the window installers were back.  I have the county inspectors coming tomorrow to check the windows.  To do this they have to verify the proper amount of fasteners are installed in each frame.  Well for some reason for most of the windows the installers put the finishing caps on the screw holes which they shouldn’t have done.  The screws have to be visible for inspection.  Originally I was going to just do it myself but then I reconsidered.  There are a LOT of screws and I paid a lot of money to get the windows replaced, I requested they do it.

As I ate dinner at my desk afterwards I also worked on compiling the video I took during our trip.  There was a LOT of editing done since the footage the girls shot was sort of nuts and all over the place.  I thought it did a good job capturing the diversity, beauty and fun of the trip.

So yesterday the new wheel I ordered from a dealer in the UK was scheduled to arrive.  Supposedly it did not require a signature but I was nervous they would still want one.  I had forgotten to put the sign on the door stating a signature could be obtained at the neighbors house next door.  When I saw the Ring notification of driveway movement during the afternoon I saw it was the FedEx truck.  I quickly jumped into the app I use to control the smart garage door and popped it open.  The guy neatly wheeled the box into the garage and left it there.  I do enjoy technology.

So I have NEVER received a new electric unicycle and not opened it immediately.  Last night that streak ended.  Between mowing the grass, wanting to get that video edited and a desire to open the wheel on a live stream if possible, it just wasn’t going to happen.  It’s not a big deal but it is a new deal.  This new wheel has the range and speed of my fastest/longest wheel, the Veteran Sherman.  What it has that the Sherman does not is a suspension system which is a huge benefit for me.  I will likely be selling my Sherman shortly as a result.

Yesterday I was thinking to myself that I had not heard an update from the body shop that is doing the repair on my Tesla in a while.  Last thing I heard was they were waiting for the trunk lid to arrive and that they would call me when it did.  So I called and ask for an update.  They tell me the part is already there, it sounded like it had been for a little while.  I asked why nobody called to tell me this and didn’t get much more than a “whoops”.  Now this was the same woman that was involved in the two Duffey dilemma where she relied on last names only during my calls to her which resulted in my original appointment never being processed at all.

So I asked her when we could schedule to get the car in.  She says “tomorrow”.  Huh? I said.  Evidently they have a light schedule.  Ok so I asked how long will the repair take so I could determine my logistic plan.  She said probably only day, that is was only supposed to take 7 hours.  Wow, no kidding, great!  I told her I would drop it off first thing Wednesday morning.  Finally, some good news on the car.

So I meet my co-worker there this morning to drop it off.  I am dealing with the other woman that works the counter that helped me fix the other woman’s screw up last time.  I verify with her the repair should only take a day.  She looks at the paperwork and then a look of confusion comes over her face.  No, she said, the repair is allocated for 23 hours of time.  I told her what I was told by her co-worker.  She didn’t know what to tell me.  She said it realistically could be done in 2-3 days, throwing my preliminary logistical plan out the window.   I expressed my frustration with the continued lack of attention to detail this other employee has exhibited.  Her body language made me think this was not the first time she has heard such complaints.  Well the bright side is the car should finally be fixed, I will keep my focus there.

I have definitely been noticing a change in Kathy the chicken since Fiona died, leaving her as the lone survivor of a flock that numbered as high as 13 at one point.  She seems sort of depressed, compared to how she used to be.  She is much less eager for food since there is no competition for it, she sits around a lot instead of moving around the yard, and she is also much less vocal.  Her cute chicken chatter was normally a near constant when I was around.  I guess I should not be surprised.  In general most barnyard animals are communal in nature, they don’t like being alone.  I feel badly about it of course but adopting her new friends is not a possibility anymore.

As the afternoon drug on yesterday my roughly four hours of sleep the night before was really catching up to me.  When I left the office I went immediately to the DD across the street instead of my normal stop which is about 10 miles away.  I needed coffee and I needed it quickly.  I threw together a haphazard grocery list and stopped on the way home, grabbing whatever essentials I needed to get me to my normal shopping trip on Saturday.

Once I got home it felt like I was on a constant treadmill of tasks.  I did several loads of laundry, cleaned some things up, went through mail/packages, went through an arduous bill pay/credit card reconciliation process and a number of other small things that kept me on the go until close to 10PM.  Sleep was welcomed last night, I am going to try to get more of it going forward.

Despite all the things I knocked out I still have a lot more knocking to do.  I am hoping we can avoid a deluge today to allow me to get out on the tractor to cut the grass which has grown tremendously in the 10-11 days since it was last tended to.  I also have some videos I would like to work on at some point this week.  To top it off a new monster EUC is supposedly getting delivered today to my place.  I am in one of those time periods where it feels like I am trying to jam a square peg into a round hole, if you know what I mean.  I always feel best when things feel balanced.

So I totally forgot to include two amazing/funny stories from the last two days of my travels.  So on Friday after Paul, Meg and I got back from canoeing they had the idea to put on life vests and just float in the lake.  Paul strapped on his vest and did a power cannonball into the water.  There was one problem, he forgot he had his expensive Revo sunglasses on his neck, just held there by tension from the arms of the glasses.  Of course the glasses came off.  Paul was pretty bummed out when he realized this and chalked them up as being lost forever.

The morning of our departure all of us were out sitting on the dock.  The past couple days while we were down there we saw/talked to an older couple that started each day with a swim from the beach to the dock and back.  When they reached the dock we were talking to them a bit.  Paul mentioned his sunglasses loss story, saying how he had jumped in right around where they were.  Less than 30 seconds later the man, who had went below water emerged with Paul’s sunglasses in his hand and said “are these the glasses”?  We were all dumbfounded at the series of events and their timing.

The good luck involved was incredible.  The man had goggles on so he could see well underwater.  He said the depth there was only 8-9 feet, so it wasn’t hard to find them.  We all assumed that it was deeper and that the glasses would have been pushed further away.  We thanked the man repeatedly for his act of kindness.  Several times before we all pulled out for home we talked about the crazy recovery of the glasses that we all assumed were long, long gone.

The second story was from Sunday.  When I went to the ticket counter at the Allentown airport I plopped my big checked bag on the scale.  As I did the woman behind the desk asked me the standard questions, making sure I had no batteries, computers or other electronic devices in the bag.  I said no of course.  So as she is about to attach the luggage tag she feels the bag, pauses, and then says to me “Sir, your luggage is vibrating….”  She asked me what I had in there that would vibrate.  Of course this could lead to funny assumptions about vibrating objects.  I touched the bag, confused, it was clearly vibrating.  I pulled the bag off the scale and opened it on the spot, in front of a line of waiting customers who surely appreciated the delay.  Once opened I felt both sides to find the source, once I did I pulled back the zipper and saw my electric shaver humming away.  I love this shaver except for one thing, it has a stupidly sensitive on/off button.  Evidently it got bumped enough to turn the damn thing on.

I showed the clerk the culprit.  I asked if I could just put the shaver in my carry on.  She called down to the TSA desk and verified that I could do so.  Even after carefully placing it in my laptop bag in a manner I thought would protect it from accidental button pressing I again heard it buzzing at the Philly airport while I was eating dinner.  If I travel with that shaver again I will need to come up with some packing solution to avoid unwanted vibration.

I have talked in the past about the adopted office cat that hangs out in the AC yard outside my office window.  I take out fresh food and water to it daily and have done so for a long time.  I even bought the cat an outdoor pet bed so it would have somewhere more comfortable to sleep during the day than a pile of leaves.  Over time as I have fed it, the cat has gotten less afraid of me.  At first it used to stay 20 feet away while I did everything, then it was 10 feet and now it has gone to 10 inches.  It will be right there, waiting for me to put down breakfast.

I welcomed this progress and it felt good to be winning the animal’s trust.   Then a couple weeks ago I was doing the feeding as I normally do, putting down some soft treats, and then the two bowls of normal cat food.  As I placed the one bowl down the cat suddenly hissed and swiped at me which was very unexpected.  I finished up with the food and left the area with a revised interpretation of that relationship.  Having the cat act aggressively towards the being that is trying to help them survive made me a bit sad and affected the way I felt about the animal.  Of course I will continue to take care of the cat but it is with a different understanding and less enjoyment.  It is a real life example of biting the hand that feeds you, a feeling that I am familiar with which is never good.

I leave you with one of the countless special moments of the trip.  As we started walking towards the dining hall Kennedy came up to me and held up her hand.  It was incredibly sweet and touching.  We walked and talked holding hands the rest of the way.

On Saturday morning we met up for one last meal at the Waldheim dining room.  We said our goodbyes to our server, Caroline who was fantastic.  She was so sweet with Cadence and Kennedy and just did an overall great job.  We had already packed up the car so we also said goodbye to Paul, Meg and the kids.  I got power hugs from both Cadence and Kennedy and felt twinges of sadness as we went our different ways.  I certainly hope it is not another two years before I see them again.  It’s weird how after only a week the lake had acquired a sense of familiarity with me.  Although I was eager to get back home I also felt some melancholy upon leaving.

Dad started out doing the driving, staying behind the wheel until we crossed the NY/PA border.  He had country music on the radio because nothing else came in most of the time.  Neither Teresa or myself are fans of the genre and ironically neither is Dad.  To make things less pleasant the station(s) were fading in and out all the time, it was somewhat akin to chinese water torture.  Once I had solid cellular service I had enough and played music on my phone via my Sirius account.  It was definitely a change for the better.

It was another long day of driving, adding up to close to 7 hours with the stops.  I was very glad to pull back in the driveway of their house.  As we got closer to their place my brother Todd called and asked if we wanted to go to dinner.  We agreed and the place chosen was called Snuzzies.  We all unloaded our gear and the laundry marathon started for my Dad and Teresa.  I just continued to work out of my suitcase, I had a trash bag for dirty clothes which I had to pull from due to a shortage of some clean items.  I didn’t expect to be wearing shorts quite as much as I wound up doing while up there.

The dinner at Snuzzies was interesting.  This place is right in the middle of a rural residential area and looks like it has been around for quite awhile based on the looks of it.  It has old 70’s style wood dominating both the exterior and interior. They only take cash, and serve bar food.  In total we had something like 8 people so we wound up splitting it across two tables.  My table was myself, Todd, Mindy, and my niece Caroline who took a break from her work shift to attend which was nice.  The portions were huge, I wound up eating my tuna sandwich with a fork and just left the bread out of it.  They also got a pizza which I had a couple of slices of, it was quite good.

I got to catch up on the latest and greatest in Todd and Mindy’s world.  There were things that happened like Todd buying a boat last year and a Mercedes convertible that I had no idea about until recently.  Their lives seem very hectic and busy but that is something I think I have said after every catch up session I have with them.  Mindy’s mom’s friend at the other table was super talkative, we had to eventually leave a strong hint that we were ready to head out.  It was good seeing everyone.  Like Meg’s family, it had been a couple years since I saw Todd in person, at his 50th birthday party.

I didn’t sleep all that well Sunday night which wasn’t the best scenario when faced with another long day of travel.  I didn’t have to be at the airport until around 2PM so that gave me some time at my dad and stepmom’s place.  I did some work on dad’s Mac computer.  He had some malware a few months ago and I wanted to make sure things were properly cleaned up.  I used a utility I found online to assist in the process.  I updated, deleted, and optimized whatever I could.  It took a couple hours to complete but his system checked out clean afterward and ran at least marginally faster than it was before.

Dad also asked if I could help him look at his zero turn mower.  The one side of the mower deck was hanging down low and obviously something was broken.  I found a small plastic bracket had snapped.  I used dad’s tools to remove it and within a couple minutes on the phone I had identified the part name and number.  Instead of ordering on the internet like I would do  Dad instead wanted to take the information to a local mower repair guy he has used to get the part.  For some reason he thought the guy might be at his shop on a Sunday morning so we took a drive over there.

Not surprisingly, to me at least, the shop was closed so dad had to resign to driving back there during the week to try again.  On the way back to the house we wound up taking a narrated tour of the greater Lenhartsville area.  Dad was turning onto random roads and giving commentary on various things/places we saw.  He does have an impressive amount of knowledge about the place but by the time the tour was over I was ok with it.

So dad had one more tractor related task he asked for help with.  He need to get the bush hog mounted to his big tractor.  A bush hog is a big mower that runs off the tractor PTO drive.  Getting it aligned/hooked up yourself is a major pain in the ass so I was happy to help.  Dad said he had not used the bush hog in at least couple years so he wanted to make sure it still worked.  He did a couple loops around the lower pasture, knocking down the high grass/weeds effectively.

So while I was eating breakfast I was reviewing my electronic boarding passes for the flight.  I already was a bit mad at myself for not taking more notice/consideration of the arrival time back in Fort Myers when I booked this, around 10PM since I was working Monday.  When I reviewed the first boarding pass for the trip back it was for the flight from Allentown to Philadelphia.  I noticed the duration of the flight, seemed strangely long for such a short distance, an hour and a half.

As I looked again I saw the gate it was departing from, it said, CURB.  My initial thought was this meant we were taking one of those real small planes that boards right from the runway.   As I continued examining down further it identified the aircraft type as BUS.  Oh fck.  I was frustrated at my failure to flag this during the booking process.  I totally had to be asleep at the wheel to not take note of the late arrival and ground transport to Philly.  I mentioned this to Ali and she posted an earlier direct flight from Allegiant I could take but I did not see it until too late, not that I would have wanted to spend an extra $300 plus to correct my mistake.  A bus it will be then.

Dad drove me to the airport, running his tank down to the low fuel warning.  He seems to like seeing how low he can go sometimes.  I hugged and thanked him for the experience.  It had been something like a quarter century since my last trip there.  I definitely had a greater appreciation of the experience this time around.

The bus was big and modern, offering comfort surpassing a typical plane seat.  It also got to Philadelphia around 20 minutes ahead of time.  I read a good portion of the way.  Ironically the bus segment of the trip was the one that exceeded expectations.

As we approached the Philly airport I got my first notice of a delay, pushing, the departure time back from 6:55 to 7:40, unwelcome news.  My first concern was the plan I had hashed out with Ali to meet me at the airport with the Tesla.  With the delay my arrival was getting stupid late, as she had to work Monday as well.  We agreed instead that they could just drop off my car at the airport parking lot, lock it, and then I can use my phone to unlock the car like I normally do.  It was good thing we came up with this contingency plan because there were more delays to come.

While I was waiting I got food using a self service system I had never seen before.   Almost ALL of the food vendors are utilizing it.  You punch your order into and Ipad looking device and then they bring it right to you.  It’s convenient and an interesting use of tech.

So after eating I was just sitting around people watching.  I was right by the AA customer service desk so I got to hear a lot of unhappy customers complaining about various things.  My flight got bumped back another 20 minutes, setting the departure to 8PM.  After we finally boarded there was one final delay of roughly a half hour on the runway waiting for our turn in line.  Repeatedly I wished I would have made different choices with these flight arrangements but I had no one to blame but myself.

Once we got in the air I almost immediately closed my eyes.  I couldn’t flat out fall asleep but I was really tired from the bad sleep and travel the day before.  I utilized various positions during my rest.  The one time I did doze off briefly and caught myself as my head slipped off my hand which instinctively made me jerk my other hand into the air.  I am sure it looked funny.  Finally our flight touched down about 11:15.  Our luggage was slightly delayed as well for good measure.  It felt good to get back in the Tesla and drive back home.  I did not walk in the door until something like 12:30 AM.  Elsa was very happy to see me and would not leave my side the rest of the night.

So despite the very late arrival I felt I needed to do a couple things before going to sleep.  I threw all of my clothing from the trip into the wash and started it.  While it was running I processed the five orders that came in for the 3D store while I was gone.  To some it may seem moronic to do this at 1:30 in the morning but it is a testament to how my mind works. I have strong sense of responsibility I carry for most things I agree to take on.  If I put off processing the orders until tonight that would mean another day of waiting for these people who had already been waiting.  I wanted to stay awake until the quick wash cycle on the clothes finished so I could at least throw them in the dryer before going to bed so it worked out ok. Thankfully Ali already washed my bedding and ran the dishwasher.

I set my alarm an hour later than normal and let my department know I would be a little late.  I closed my eyes a little after 2AM, what a day.  I woke up this morning absent of the burning sensation in my right lower back that I had every morning at the Waldheim which I assume was from the bed.  Of course I could have used more sleep but it was a good start.  I have a long, long list of things to do over the next few days at home but I will knock it all out in short order because that’s what I do.  Shugs and Ali did a good job of keeping the house in order while I was gone so that helps a lot.

Today was our last full day at the Waldheim so we wanted to make sure we did something significant.  We decided to go hike to a fire tower that is the end of a roughly 1 mile hike.  My dad and step mom did this hike four years ago during their last visit.  To get to the trail entrance required driving on a dirt/stone road for quite a while.  We also were a little unsure of the exact location of the entrance but eventually came up on it.

The seven of us began the hike knowing dad was going to have to take a slow and steady approach.  Just before we started I decided to use the outhouse that was at the entrance.  Even using exclusively mouth breathing it was rough.  It felt like the stench was so bad it was melting my skin.

This hike was easily the most challenging we had done the entire trip.  It was steep, significantly steep at spots.  The good thing was 90% of the hike was in the shade.  For most of the ascent I was up front with Cadence who wanted to just go, go, go.  She has so much energy, she constantly wanted to jump off and over logs and rocks.  I had to do my best to make sure she didn’t get hurt in the process.

After somewhere close to an hour we arrived at the tower which is over 100 years old.  Sure the original one was built of logs, later replaced the metal version standing today, but it was still cool.  All of us climbed the tower, opening the windows at the top to take in the beautiful scenic views.

Paul is not a fan of heights to begin with.  He also had to scale the trail and the tower with Kennedy on his back which made things more challenging.  He was a trooper and even ascended a second time while Teresa watched Kennedy on the ground.

There was a rock formation behind the tower that Cadence and I checked out.  She wanted me to climb the tall face of it which was a challenge for me that I felt I had to take.  A couple brush burns on my knees later, I was successful.

The hike down hammered the front of my legs, by the time we returned to the parking area my body was pretty beat up.  My dad showed up maybe 10-15 minutes later and got engaged with a conversation with a “Summit Steward” that new everything about the tower and the trail.   I hoped the drive back on the dirt road would feel shorter but it drug on for a looong time, once again.

When we got back Meg, Paul, and I decided to go out on a canoe, all three of us on one vessel.  Paul was at the front and the primary locomotion for the canoe while I was the rudder man at the back that also paddles as needed.  Initially I had no clue how to properly rudder the ship but eventually I figured it out.  We paddled over to a cove area and just floated around drinking alcoholic beverages and shooting the shit.  I made no sun precautions which was dumb, but I still had a good time.

When we got back we came up with a funny idea where Paul and Meg would strap in life vests and then float down to the beach area, allowing mostly the current and wind to carry them.  Paul also had another beer in his Yeti holder for the journey.  He wasn’t thrilled when Meg started actually swimming towards the beach instead of just floating.  The girls showed up to watch and it turned out to be a pretty comedic experience. Paul’s only regret was he didn’t discover the joys of floating in a lake with a life vest sooner.

We had our last dinner of the trip.  Everyone “dressed up” which for me meant just not wearing a t-shirt.  It was a good meal to wrap up the week.  Tomorrow we have one more breakfast here before we shove off for a 6-7 hour drive back to PA.  It’s been a great trip filled with unique memories I will carry for a lifetime.  I am also still looking forward to getting back to SWFL to see Elsa, Kathy and all that is part of my core existence. It’s been fun….

Today was a pretty chill day compared to the physical exertion of yesterday.  I woke up a little earlier than I had been and wound up walking to up to Paul and Megan’s cabin to surprise the girls.  Cadence gave me a full speed hug, running into me while wrapping her arms around me. It’s funny but high impact.

After breakfast we got in our vehicles and headed to Inlet a small nearby town.  It is a tourist trap like Old Forge but on a smaller scale.  They had some unique shops and I grabbed a few souvenirs.  We also stopped at a coffee shop where I got a maple/vanilla latte which was outstanding.  The town also had a cool little park which the girls loved since it had a playground.

I also saw four women playing pickleball.  It was cool seeing the sport has made it all the way to upstate NY.  We putzed around the town for a couple hours in total.  I think we all enjoyed it although my dad surely was not a fan of souvenir shopping.  Luckily most stores had comfortable seating outside he could utilize.

By the time we got back it was almost lunch time so we headed down there almost immediately.  It is funny how you get accustomed to the feeding cycles here.  I almost feel like cattle.  The meal of course was good.

During the afternoon it was sort of a free for all where everyone did their own thing.  I spent some time down on the beach reading.  It was cool when I went down there but once the sun came out I was baking.  I wound up pulling off my sweatshirt and draping it over my head for makeshift sun protection.

When I walked back up to the cabin I did a makeshift Century workout on the front porch.  The roof railing makes for a passable pull up bar although the edge of the square beam digs into the hands quite a bit.  I had no suitable spot to do conventional dips so diamond push ups had to do.  It felt good to get some reps in.  I followed up with the stretching routine I normally do BEFORE my workout back home.

I started drinking for no real reason.  Before I knew it I had consumed four lagers before dinner and a Corona Light during dinner that Paul provided.   As you would expect I felt a bit affected from the alcohol consumption.  After dinner we headed up to Paul and Meg’s cabin to hang with them and the girls for a bit.  As is normally the case lots of silliness was involved.

I really enjoy Paul and Meg’s company and of course Cadence and Kennedy are incredibly cute and fun.  I am sure if I still lived in PA I would try to be a more regular part of their lives.  Spending time with them makes me realize some of the sacrifices I have made living 1200 miles south.

Tomorrow is my last full day in upstate NY.  I think we will be pushing for one more hike during the day.  It has been a memorable week thus far and have made some memories I will carry with me for a lifetime.

Today was the most active day I have had since arriving at the Waldheim.  I have come to enjoy the early morning wake up calls from the girls, I look forward to them.  They just make me smile and laugh whenever I am around them.  We had another good breakfast.  I have already locked in on my standard Waldheim breakfast order, OJ, oatmeal, scrambled eggs, toast, and coffee of course.  Breakfast is the one meal where the same choices are offered every day. Lunch and dinner I get to widen my food horizon.

We signed up to go on the boat/hike/lunch tour thing today.  A bunch of groups met on the dock at 11 to get on the big pontoon boat.  We then had a leisurely ride to the opposite end of the lake where we got off to start hiking.  Cadence and my dad were at the head of the pack, leading the way for a while which was surprising.  The  trail was steep at parts, mud filled at parts, with a lot of sections that required careful attention.  Dad was moving much faster than I had seen him the entire trip.  It almost seemed like having the large group of people somehow motivated him to keep moving, despite some of the mobility challenges he has.

Supposedly the hike was only 3/4 of a mile but it sure felt longer than that.  We arrived at the destination, another lake where they had a small shelter and clearing.  They hiked in with a number of these oversized baskets that staff carried on their backs.  In those baskets were food items and items needed to prepare them.

It was a pretty fascinating process watching the food being prepared, well at least at first.  It later became just flat out lengthy.  Over a campfire a huge cast iron pan was placed.  In that pan they first cooked about 5 pounds of bacon.  Then they made homemade hash browns with potatoes and onions that were cut on site. Next up they pulled the pan and cooked pieces of steak on the grill.  The last thing they made were pancakes on a skillet.

Because of my diet choices my main meal was just a big plate of the hash browns which was fine for me.  They were using water filtered from the lake to make lemonade and regular drinking water which made my eyebrows raise a little bit.  They also walked around with a few tins of cookies, I helped myself to two.  I mostly enjoyed my time in the clearing but it did take longer than I anticipated.  I had to retreat to some shade after feeling like I was baking in the sun.

As things were wrapping up I suggested to my dad that we head out a bit ahead of the rest of the group, anticipating his pace going back would be slower.  Myself, Teresa and him started hiking maybe 10 minutes before everyone else.  It worked out well as by the time we got back to the boat launch some of the group had caught up to us.  I was happy to see the boat driver ramped up the speed for the return trip.  We didn’t get back until something like 3:30.  We were all sort of tired.

Earlier Meg and Paul had mentioned they were going to rent kayaks, I told them I would go with them. They were going to postpone those plans because of the longer than expected adventure but they then decided to still do it.  I told them I was still down to go.

Paul and I got the kayaks in the water and we shoved off.  I have to be honest, I felt unstable for a little while as it had been a decade or two since I was last in a kayak.  However the longer I paddled the more comfortable I felt, except for being physically uncomfortable.  The position my long legs had to be in combined with the angle of the seat made it feel like I needed to be doing one long ab crunch to be in proper paddling position.

I was not the most consistent paddler either, many times I had to do multiple strokes to one side to course correct.  If a GPS was on me you would have seen a very zig zag style course.  Paul had brought some beers out which he shared.  We were out there over an hour and a half and covered a lot of distance.  My favorite part was when we stopped in the cove where this picture was taken and just relaxed, talked and drank for a few minutes.  I am positive my upper back, shoulders and arms are going to be quite sore tomorrow, it was a substantial workout.

We had dinner a little later than normal so they could clean up.  When I got in the dining room I saw something I had not seen up until this point, Cadence looking tired and low energy.  Evidently they slept once we got back from the hike and had to be awakened for dinner.  I guess they were still half asleep.  As the meal went on Cadence perked up a bit which was good to see.  They were too tired however to come visit after dinner so we split up for the night which brings me here, back in the library, by myself, punching this out.

The trip is now officially heading down the homestretch.  It has been enjoyable on many levels and reinforces why it’s important to extend your barriers, welcome new things/experiences into your life and most importantly make conscious efforts to be happy.  Your mind is the superhero or villain of your story.  Being content with unhappiness is a choice that is written with a pencil, not permanent marker.  You can choose to erase what is not working for you and move in different directions.  I plan to keep doing that exactly.  I appreciate the solitude this place has offered to bring more clarity for me as to what really matters.

Last night I was at the library on the later side, working on the blog and talking to Gladys from the only bastion of internet connectivity, the library.  As I was walking back to the cabin I looked at the full moon reflecting off the lake and thought I would try to capture it.  Wow, I was blown away by the quality of the picture my Iphone 11 spit out.  It may be one of the best pictures I ever took in my life.

Last night was the first night I did not sleep well and it may be because it was the first significant drinking I have done on the trip.  I had three glasses of wine at dinner followed up with a couple more beers back at the cabin.  I was also awakened by hard rain hitting the metal roof, it was really loud at times.

After breakfast my dad and I went to Paul and Meg’s cabin where we got asked to play Fish.  This was kids style of fish with less cards which resulted in much quicker games.  I had a couple rounds where out of my 7 cards I had three matching pairs and I won on the first round.  It was still fun as the girls were acting silly as they always do.  During the game Kennedy asked if she could have my remaining Bar-barians bracelet since I gave the other one to Cadence the day before.  I told her she could have it, leaving my wrist bare however I have several dozen more at home I can replace these with.

We knew the forecast for today was mostly rain so we talked ahead of time about going to a movie theater in a nearby town called Old Forge, a definite tourist trap sort of place.  We thought it would be fun to take the girls to see the new Minions movie.  We got there around a half hour early and it was a good thing. The place was packed.

This theater was very old, a real throwback to how theaters were back in the 70’s.  There were chotchkee’s placed everywhere which was sort of visual overload.  They were so old fashioned that they didn’t take credit cards, cash only.  So you stood in line to buy the tickets, which were reasonably priced by today’s standards and then you went back outside to get in the second line that was for the concession stand.  We wound up consuming almost that entire 30 minutes until we got to our seats.

Paul had gone in ahead of us while we got the snacks to reserve a row.  It was a good thing he did because by the time the movie started the place was basically filled.  The seats were old like everything else.  They also lacked the pitch that modern theaters have meaning if someone was taller in front of you it may be difficult to see.

I have seen a number of Minions movies, they always make me laugh and this one was no exception.  Kennedy and Cadence seemed to really like the movie which was most important of all,  This was the first time three year old Kennedy had ever been to a movie theater.

Afterwards, we decided to walk up the main street of Old Forge.  We wound up in the outside seating area of some bar. We grabbed a beer and just relaxed for a bit.  As we sat there Teresa noticed a deer about 50 yards away that was just hanging out in some yard.  It seemed really calm so she went up to get a closer look and the beautiful animal stayed put.  I later took my own turn, getting the picture you see here.

So we walked back to my dad’s car to leave.  I start reaching in one of the pocket’s of my cargo shorts to grab the key.  I grabbed air.  Hmm okay I must have stuck it into another pocket?  All I came up with was some trash, my phone, and wallet.  I must just have missed it right?  I now start patting down my shorts, hoping to heel some object roughly the size of a key fob, nothing….  You have got to be kidding.

I told my dad I can’t find the keys.  He said he had second set he keeps in the car, a terrible security practice but in this instance a life saver.  I figured they could only have been in the movie theater or the outdoor seating at the bar.  I ran over to the theater and asked if anyone turned in a set of keys, they did not.  He said I was welcome to search the theater when the next movie let out in 90 minutes.  Instead I gave him my cell phone number and asked him to call if they turn up.  The check of bar area turned up nothing as well.  I was pissed at myself.  I should have made sure they were secured better.  We headed back thanks to keys number two.

So as we are 3/4 of the way back Teresa spots something on the floor behind the drivers seat, the keys!  Evidently they came out sometime while I was driving.  I felt extremely relieved to have found them, I’ll be sure to be securing keys better moving forward as the reality I was feeling when I thought I lost them was not something I enjoy.  I take responsibility seriously.

Tonight after dinner the girls came to our cabin to make some S’mores, something they have been wanting to do since we arrived.  They enjoyed the process of making them and enjoyed eating them even more.  I had one as well, probably the first S’more I have eaten in 30 years, maybe more. It was good of course.

I once again am punching this out in the library, a routine I am enjoying as it allows me to be here later at night when most people have cleared out.  I have always liked the solitude night can offer.  Tomorrow we are doing some deal where you take a boat to an island, do a short hike and then the staff cooks some food in a big pan.  Dad and Teresa say it’s fun.  This entire trip I have tried to make a conscious effort to not say no to suggestions.  If I haven’t tried it, I am open to it.  Once I do then I would feel more qualified to make that call.  Tomorrow we will pass the halfway part of the trip.  It’s been fun as I hoped, maybe a little more than I expected because of just how much energy the girls have injected to the experience.