Losing, diving robot, spreading the pressure around, tire tossing, 62-0, redneck rodeo, skid marks

So on Friday I was walking back out to the van from the grocery store.  I reach in my pocket for my keys and come up empty, feeling only my wallet.  I then dive into the other pocket and only feel the Iphone.  This can’t be the case, especially after losing a $50 bill on Tuesday.  I feel again in my jean pockets, knowing that my huge clump of keys are far too big to miss.  Logic would say they are also too big to not notice the noise they would make if they fell out.

So I start looking through the grocery bags, wondering if placed the keys in a bag and simply forgot? Nope, the bags were keyless.  Now my mind was starting to race, retracing my steps in the grocery store, trying to remember if I pulled them out at anytime.  Then I thought about what a HUGE pain in the ass it was going to be if I did truly lose them.

So the only thing I could think of is I pulled the keys out at the register to get my wallet out.  Surely I just left them there.  I marched back in the store quickly, leaving my cart by the side of the van.  I saw no keys and asked the cashier if she saw them, nope….. SHIT.  I was considering retracing my steps through the grocery store but I knew I had not dug anything out of my pockets while shopping.  I went to the customer service counter, hoping a kind Samaritan found the keys and turned them in, nope.

So I walked backed to the van, dejected, not quite sure what I was going to do.  As I was standing there running through my dwindling options I spot something on the ground about 30 feet away.  It looked like the red swipe card for my gym.  I walked towards it, thinking I couldn’t be so lucky.  I was, there my huge key chain laid.  I was amazed it could hit the parking lot without my noticing.  It had to happen when I was pushing the cart back out, that is the only noise that could have hidden the sound of impact.  I felt very fortunate to be hitting .500 in finding lost items for the week.

Since I got a lot of the chores done while I was sick (still am blowing nose and coughing), I had more free time on Saturday than normal.  Yes I suppose it would have been nice to use that time to allow myself to relax and recover from the annoying cold symptoms.  But that wasn’t happening, instead I decided it was time to get out the pressure washer.

However prior to firing up the washer I constructed a barrier around the pool utilizing chairs, cushions and pool tools.  The purpose of the barrier was to allow me to let the Roombas sweep the pool deck.

Since buying the Neato almost a year ago my Roombas have been collecting dust.  The Neato just does a much better job and requires nearly zero maintenance compared to the Irobot machines which require fastidious cleaning and maintenance to continue running.

I let the Dirt Dog, a robot specifically designed for outdoor/workshop cleaning and a conventional Roomba designed for indoor cleaning loose on the deck.  I wasn’t really concerned about using the indoor Roomba outdoors.  If it breaks, it breaks.

  I was not very happy when I saw I had a small hole in my pool barrier which the Dirt Dog unfortunately sniffed out.  I found it laying dead on the bottom of the pool.  Roombas do have edge detection sensors, designed to keep them from driving over edges.  However the smooth pool deck does not always allow enough stopping power, allowing the wheels to skid to the point where the bot tips over.

I know this because I have had it happen before, three or four times before actually.  That is the reason that I started creating physical barriers instead of relying on electronics to stop the robot.  My prior experience also assured me that just because the robot is underwater, that doesn’t mean it is necessarily dead for good.  Of the other pool mishaps, only once was I unable to get the robot up and running again.  The rehabilitation plan has been simply letting it bake in the sun to totally dry out and manually turn the various motors to get them un-siezed and working.

I set the bot on the table and hoped once again it would survive the drowning.

The main focus of the pressure washing were the storage sheds, both of them were suffering from the algae and black mildew that come with Florida climates, especially the back of the sheds that get no direct sunlight.

Before starting the pressure washing I finally got around to removing the two solar floodlights that were on the large shed for at least 5 or 6 years but only worked for the first year or so.  I’m not sure why I never got around to pulling them down before Saturday.  I did keep their solar panels, hoping for an Uncle Randy type of inspiration to hit me where I could use them to power something else.

The new pressure washer is really nice, the extra 600 to 800 PSI (3000 psi washer) really helps blast off crud.  I even took the extra step of climbing up on the roof of the big shed and blasting it as well, something that hasn’t been done in over a year.  The before and after shots show the dramatic difference some water pressure can make.

So once I was done with the small shed I still had gas in the tank.  As is often the case, pressure washing breeds more pressure washing.  After all I figure if I have it dragged out and hooked up I might as well pressure wash other stuff too.

I wound up blasting the patio stones in front of the water equipment, a few of the fence posts, the castle wall around Nicki’s palm trees and the dog deck.  In total I was probably out there for at least 3 hours.  I should have worn sunblock, I got a little fried in the face.

Saturday night I went to a monster truck show a mile away at the county fairgrounds.   I was quite surprised just how full it was, all 7 or 8 grandstands were stuffed with people.  The show was entertaining.  In addition to the monster trucks and their ear bleeding, car smashing fun, I got to see see impressive motocross stunts and quad runner racing.

I thought it was quite funny that end of the first quad race there was a fake, wrestling style on mic interview where the winner of the heat called out another racer he referred to as “fat boy”.  He challenged the guy to a solo race.  As expected, “fat boy” squeaked out a win in the last turn.

Over the weekend I noticed a distinct set of tires tracks that swerved off the road, across the driveway and back.   This more than likely drunk moron was at least 40 feet into my yard.  He only missed the parked vehicles by less than 10 feet.  I guess the good news is he didn’t smack the mailbox at least.  Although if he did, he would have had two very large rocks waiting to destroy his suspension. There a bunch of idiots that live in my area unfortunately.

During the day Sunday I got around to playing with my huge and heavy tires.  There are many ways they can be utilized in work outs.  My big challenge yesterday was flipping it about 125 feet out and back.  Flipping the 300 pound tire got tough very quickly.  My eventual goal is to be able to flip it to the fence line and back.  After that the goal is to do it again, faster.

On Sunday night I attended another Tarpons game.  Once again the game was woefully attended and had a woefully lopsided outcome.  The Tarpons won 62-0.  The game did include probably one of the most exciting plays I have seen in indoor football.

The Sarasota Thunder were close to actually scoring, on something like 5 yard line.  One of their players fumbled the ball which bounced into a Tarpon players arms in the end zone.  For a second you could tell the player was thinking about just kneeling down.  Instead he changes his mind and starts weaving his way through the crowd of bodies.  He used some dazzling moves and a well timed lateral to another player to return the ball all the way back for another Tarpons touchdown.  It was something to see.

There are a lot of very out of shape players in arena football.  However the Thunder had one that had the deadly combo of being  very short yet very fat.  I mean the kid couldn’t have been over 5’6″ but he had to be pushing 300 pounds.  He only lasted half the game, in the second half a slightly taller, slightly less heavy guy was wearing the same jersey.

The game got so bad that the Tarpons did an impromptu Harlem Shake routine in the middle of the game, drawing a 10 yard delay of game penalty.

If I had any doubt about the long term viability of the team, it was answered last night.  I am sure the Tarpons are done after this year.  The owner, whom I talked to on the phone and via email before, was in front of us talking to some other fans.  I asked him how his wireless internet company we talked about was doing.  He told me it was dead, he had to bail on it because he was putting any money he had into keeping the Tarpons afloat.  He told me how he has sold a bunch of stuff, including his Hummer in order to pump money into the team.  I kind of felt bad for him as I looked around at the seats that were 85% empty.

Hell I’ll be surprised if the team/league doesn’t fold before the year is over.  You can’t get away from the feeling that everything is being held together with shoestring and bubblegum.  Part of the problem is the dartboard schedule that has been changed a half dozen times since the 2013 line up was announced.  Part of it is the lack of quality games.  Ridiculous blow outs like this game just aren’t fun to watch, even if you are on the winning side of things.  There might be one or two teams outside the Tarpons that don’t totally suck.

It’s a shame, arena football can be a lot of fun and for the money is a good entertainment value.  It’s too bad that it just can’t seem to grab substantial fan base in my area.