Category Anything and Everything

Last night there was some strong storms that shook Gladys’s house.  The intensity of the rain was next level however when daybreak hit the rain had stopped.  When I checked my DarkSky app it indicated that the day should be mostly cloudy with no significant precipitation.  This app is incredibly accurate in the US but it seems that accuracy is not as good here because there appears to not be the same level of weather radar coverage as in the US.

During the morning Gladys had a number of work related errands to take care of.  She has to be somewhat of a fireman, handling whatever issues come up with clients and the rentals she manages.  I just rode shotgun and brought along the book I started reading, The Travelers Gift.  It’s a relatively short read with a lot of important simple truths spun in a way that keeps your interest.  I should finish it soon.

After the errands were done we stopped at a place Gladys knows well where we had a very traditional Honduran breakfast which was tasty.  As I mentioned the weather forecast was not very accurate as we were experiencing off and on sessions of rain for most of the day.  During a break in the rain we decided to go to the nearby zip line/ATV/animal park.  Originally we were thinking about doing all three but decided to drop the ATVs because Gladys says you get incredibly dirty on a normal day, doing it after a day of off/on rain would have been a pretty big mess.

I had one other reason I was not thrilled with the idea of driving an ATV, my right wrist.  During the morning I was down in the driveway.  There is a bed filled with agave plants.  Agave plants are very cool but they also have spears on their ends that are incredibly sharp.  As I was near one of them I spun around to look for something.  As I did, I inadvertently stabbed myself, hard on my right wrist joint.

The pain was instant but what I couldn’t believe that in the time I looked at my wrist there was a ton of blood which also rolled into my palm.  I must have really went deep.  Luckily because it was a small puncture it stopped bleeding pretty quickly but the pain was significant.  As the day has advanced there has been swelling in the area that has greatly reduced range of motion in the joint.  A quick web search revealed some scary outcomes for agave stabbings but most of the scenarios talked about seeing how things are in 24 hours before reevaluating the need for more attention.  So anyway by the time we got to the venue, twisting the throttle with my right hand would have been a joke.

So we opted to just do the zip lines and the animal display which includes monkeys, tropical birds, sloths and more.  We got harnessed up as well as having helmets attached to your cranium.  The way they do this normally is with two guides.  One guide goes down the line ahead of you and then operates the brake at the landing zone, the other guide is responsible for making sure each rider is securely latched in.

In total there are 10 zip line segments.  Reaching some of them requires climbing some pretty substantial sets of stairs.  The only zip lining I had done that I could recall was doing it superman style over old Vegas.

There was one other couple that was with us.  The four of us took turns in order.  Gladys and I switched back and forth a lot so we could alternate taking pictures/videos of us coming and going.  Because my legs are so long I tried to pay careful attention to make sure they were pulled as high as possible when coming to a stop, there isn’t a lot of clearance at some spots on the landing deck.

As we did more segments the guide had us be a bit more daring.  First he encouraged us to do running starts where you take a few steps and dive off the platform, which was fun.  He then surprised me by saying on one particular line we could go upside down.  You basically lower yourself totally upside down and let your arms hang.  Three of the four of use decided to give inverted a try.  It was fun and different watching the vista fly by while upside down.  The only real important detail is to make sure you pull yourself back up normal position before hitting the landing deck, obviously.

I found the construction of the park interesting.  I found myself imagining the challenges of building these structures in the middle of a jungle.  There were also some suspension bridges that looked pretty beat but they got the job done. By the time we finished up the last segment I felt like a zip line veteran.

After getting de-geared we headed into the animal section of the park.  The most interactive part of the experience was right up front when we went into an area with two monkeys.  They immediately knew the drill and hopped onto Gladys and my head/back/shoulders.

The guide started giving the monkeys sunflower seeds.  They would make funny noises as they would eat them.  It was very cute.  The guide then started giving Gladys and I seeds.  As soon as you pinched a seed between your fingers the monkey would instantly snatch it away and chow down. It was fun.

The tropical birds were beautiful with several parrot variations and a toucan.  We went into the sloth area which had something like 9 sloths in it.  The guide had to use a long ladder to get one of the sloths down.  I held it briefly but it seemed he wanted to get back in the trees so we quickly returned him to the guide. That pretty much wrapped up the animal section of the venue.

Afterwards we went to a very zen-like coffee shop to grab an afternoon latte.  It was raining hard when we first sat down inside but after the rain stopped we relocated to another seating area at the end of a dock.  While sitting there we started up a conversation with a woman that also was a diver, Roatan is well known for being a great place to dive.  Her and Gladys were talking a lot about their shared love of diving.  The woman lives in Tulsa but had been down diving in Roatan for close to two weeks, doing 2-3 dives per day.  Many of Gladys’s friends down here are active divers so I have gotten a good sense of just how much passion they have for it.

Our Monday evening has been chill which has been fine with me.  I rarely read, except when on vacation, since I am not chained by my never ending to do’s that follow me around in my normal life.  I think I may try to do some more snorkeling tomorrow, I do really enjoy getting a window into everything that is under the surface.  This trip has been eye opening for me, exposing me to sights, sounds and experiences I would have never had an inkling to do without Gladys’s encouragement.  I plan to take some of the lessons I have learned here forward into whatever comes next.

As I am sitting here typing this out on the deck overlooking the water I see a cruise ship coming into port, it’s surreal.

Sunday Gladys wanted to take me all the way to the top of the island which is a pretty lengthy drive, somewhere around an hour one way.  Along the way we made a few stops, including another visit to the hardware store.

There was also an amazing coincidence along the way.  Gladys got a text telling her that some friends of hers were unexpectedly in town and that we would be hanging out with them last night.  She was very surprised and excited by the news.  We stopped for coffee at some surprisingly modern looking “mall”.  As we walk in the door of the coffee shop, her friends are sitting there….. Wow, I could hardly believe the timing.  We sat and talked to them for a bit before we all headed out, knowing we would see them again in a few hours.

The drive was memorable for sure.  The last third of it or so is on a dirt road with many challenges.  One was unexpected, getting stuck in a cattle traffic jam.  Some man was walking at least 25 cattle up this dirt road.  He tried to get them to move out of the way for the car but some of the animals were not very interested in yielding the right of way.

Gladys was trying to get to a lookout area up a steep hill.  The recent rains had created massive gulleys in the road where water had washed out the surface.  She carefully zig zagged back and forth to avoid getting the SUV stuck, it was impressive.

We stopped at two places in the east end.  The first was this ragged looking bar out on a dock.  As soon as I stepped inside I loved it.  The inside bar area was small with a hummingbird feeder on one of the tables.  There were at least a half dozen hummingbirds feeding on and off while we were there.  Sitting there enjoying a beer was one of those moments I will look back fondly on for years to come.

The second stop was in a place called Punta Gorda.  There was a place that served fish that Gladys was very excited for me to try, two dishes in particular.  The first was a fish soup that has a cooked fish in the middle of a creamy broth.  The second was an entire fish that was fried.  Neither of these entrees are anything I would seek out myself but in the spirit of the trip where I have been trying to open myself up to pretty much anything, I dug in.

Gladys and I shared both dishes.  The soup came with some mashed plantain biscuit that is used in conjunction with the soup.  The fried whole fish was best eaten with your hands mostly.  The visual was not great but it tasted good as well.  In addition Gladys ordered a shot of some local liquor that I can’t recall the name of.  It’s contains the root of some tree.  We split that as well.

After the meal we needed to get back to meet up with Gladys’s friends.  On the way out we got stuck in some sort of parade that is part of a night time celebration in Punta Gorda.  It was pretty hilarious.  We had a wall of cars coming at us.  Somehow Gladys managed to get us through it.  The long drive back was pretty hilarious.  Both Gladys and I were being pretty silly, cracking each other up over random things.  I also had my GoPro along so I have some funny footage to throw together at some point.

We got back just in time to clean up and meet up with Glady’s friends as well as Dustin and Kat.  The couple we met earlier were celebrating their one year wedding anniversary.  Kat had kept the top of their wedding cake for them per tradition which I thought was really sweet. We drank champagne and each shared a piece of cake as well.

The celebration was not over, we headed over to one of the main hang outs of the group called Popa Bones.  Along the way we picked up another friend of Gladys named Maxine.  I was already mildly drunk from the few beers during the day followed by the champagne.  I chased it with another three beers there.  I didn’t really need/want any food.  The alcohol helped me flow from conversation to conversation with a ton of other friends of Gladys that were hanging there as well.

At one point the skies opened up, dumping buckets of rain onto the partially open seating area.  Being drunk I stayed out in the rain a bit and walked through a temporary waterfall of rain pouring down off the roof.  They had live music there as well.  I had met one of the guys playing the day before.  He played a mean harmonica as well as sung a bit.  The lead guitarist however was amazing, his riffs were so clean.  It was a real pleasure to see him play.  We stayed there till damn close to closing.

I woke up today feeling less than fantastic which isn’t surprising based on the amount and diversity of alcohol I consumed.  That doesn’t take away from yesterday being great.  I really appreciated Gladys going out of her way to show me things that I would never see/do otherwise in my normal existence.  I’ll always be grateful for that.

Last night Gladys and I hung with her neighbors Kat and Dustin.  We ran out to get a few pizzas and then enjoyed them at their house.  Their house is pretty amazing and only getting more so since they are in the middle of adding a pool and addition to the waterfront property.  We opted to eat the pizza on a small little lookout on the very top of the structure.  To access this spot you have to ascend a spiral staircase and then do a short vertical climb on a ladder-like feature.

The view up top is pretty amazing.  With the height comes more wind, keeping the humid air from being more impactful.  The height also  gives you perspective of everything around you.  The stars are much more visible down here due to a lack of light pollution in more populated areas.  The first night I could actually see the faint outline of the Milky Way, something I have never been able to do in Florida.  In addition to the pizza wine was consumed which cranked up the silliness of the interaction.  At one point there was a near non-stop string of uncontrollable laughter going on.  It was really fun.

Afterwards Gladys wanted to go down to the dock and look for her octopus.  She does this quite often, shining a light into the water looking for one of them.  They are pretty easy to spot due to their normal vibrant bluish color.  One of them was around and it followed the light, evidently they find it interesting.  Gladys has had a number of experiences where the octopus would come up and touch her briefly however this interaction was different.

Gladys was standing on a stone with her feet only covered by an inch or so of water.  The octopus came all the way up to her and went over her entire hand and foot for an extended period of time.  The interaction was cool for me to watch.  Gladys was really touched by what happened as well.

Saturday started slower than Friday but we still went out and did snorkel run.  It was shorter and in less deep water than the day before but still fun.  In a way it was better because you are closer to everything.  We had a particularly interesting interaction with two squid that stayed in front of us for a very long time, just observing us as we did them.

In the middle of the day we once again headed out to get a few things done related to Gladys’s work.  When we got back we were invited to go out on one of Todd and Kat’s boats to travel down to an area called West Bay, one of the more resort/tourist parts of the island.  I had not been on a boat in many, many years.  We sat in the back and got splashed repeatedly from a combo of the boat’s speed and choppy water.

When we arrived at the beach Dustin docked right along the beach edge which was convenient.  We all had lunch at a popular spot.  While we were there two more friends of everyone showed up.  After finishing our meal we headed into the water to float and drink some of the extra alcohol Dustin had packed.  It was very chill.

The ride back to the property was pretty nuts.  A storm was approaching, the resulting wind had really whipped up the water.  Gladys and I got sprayed non-stop, we both looked like we stepped out of the shower by the time we got back, it was funny.  I was actually cold, the warm shower felt good afterwards.

Tonight we are again hanging with Dustin and Kat which I expect to be another entertaining evening.

I was very glad that I took Wednesday off as it made prepping for the trip to Roatan much more doable.  As I was looking for something else I came across the folder that contains all of the information pertaining to my hernia surgery on August 12th.  When I opened the folder I saw the lab order for blood work that needed to be done before the procedure.  When I realized that by the time I returned I would only have a week to go before the surgery I suddenly realized I needed to try to get the blood work done TODAY.

I hopped online to the Quest website.  I originally thought I could just walk in on a Wednesday but I decided to make an appointment, just to be safe.  That was a good move.   There were only two time slots left at the closest facility which I couldn’t believe, I booked for 1PM.  After doing a half assed mowing of the property, limited by the standing water in certain areas, I headed out for the test.

When I walked in the office I could hardly believe it, the waiting room was PACKED, standing room only.  I guess I was naive thinking that blood testing would not be in high demand on a Wedneday.  I wound up getting in about 10 minutes after my time slot which wasn’t bad considering how many people were there.  I started feeling the sweats and clamminess coming on before I even entered the blood draw room.  My entire life I have had a physical reaction to having blood drawn and this was no different.  I just looked elsewhere and kept focusing on other things.  Luckily there were only a couple vials needed and my veins are pretty pronounced, so it didn’t take long.

Wednesday night I gassed up the Tacoma, finished packing and tried to get to bed early.  Gladys told me multiple times that flying out of the Miami airport was sort of insane.  I had never flown from there before but I felt confident it couldn’t be significantly worse than other big city airports I have utilized. That confidence was misplaced.

The flight was scheduled to leave shortly after noon.  My goal was to leave the house around 7AM, which is my normal departure for work anyway.  I hit that timeframe although I did do a slight detour to grab coffee.  Even so, originally the GPS predicted a little more than two hour trip which would leave me a nice chunk of time to spare to deal with any other issues that came up.  I’m very fortunate I had that time as I used up almost the entire excess.

The vast majority of the drive was fine, the Tacoma was comfortable and the miles were dropping off quickly.  However with less than 20 miles to go the GPS estimate all of a sudden exploded, saying it was going to take more than 50 minutes to complete the journey, shit.  I took the GPS system’s suggestion to bypass the jam.  It lead me to another jam which was annoying but took me into the airport from a direction I was unfamiliar with.  Most of my cushion time was gone but all I had to do was park in the massive parking garage, right?

This garage uses the same high tech parking system I have seen at the parking garages for Disney and the cruise lines.  There is basically an LED indicator/sensor for EVERY parking space in there.  If a car is in a space the LED is red, if it’s empty you get a green.  This system tracks usage in different areas of the garage to let you know proactively if an area is full as well as directional arrows to where space is open.

Well supposedly there was 300 spaces available somewhere but I sure as hell didn’t see them.  When I saw multiple vehicles parked illegally up on sidewalks or islands I knew this was going to be a shit show.  I circled and circled, getting more frustrated with each passing minute, knowing that time was now officially tight.  FINALLY I found a spot in the far corner of the roof of the garage and I felt fortunate to manage that.  I unloaded the truck quickly, feeling very glad I decided to take it instead of the Tesla in that moment.  I started quick stepping my way into the terminal. Then it happened.

I stepped into the main terminal and into a literal river of unbelievable humanity flowing in all directions.  As soon as I stepped inside I slapped on my mask, despite 90% of the other people in there choosing to let their germs be free.  Covid is all over Florida and I wanted to do at least something to try to avoid it as it would really ruin my trip.

So I got directed to the American Airlines area for international flights.  I woud up being asked for my Covid vaccination card and passport a bunch of times.  The line to check in was very, very long but they had something like 15 counters open to keep the flow moving.  I kept checking the time periodically, which was tight but doable.  I had one more big hurdle to clear, the TSA screening.

The woman that checked my bags was nice enough to give me a solid tip.  She said I should walk past the nearest security checkpoint, number 3, and instead continue to the smaller but much less busy security checkpoint 4.  I appreciated the tip as when I walked past number three it looked like an absolute shit show.

Even with less people, I still spent around a half hour till I cleared the screening.  My gate was a considerable distance away so I started walking at a brisk pace.  When I saw the time I figured I did not have time for a traditional lunch so instead I grabbed a protein drink and bag of nuts, good enough.  I wound up arriving at the gate somewhere around 15 minutes before they started boarding, I gave myself a small mental pat on the back for surfing the insanity to it’s destination.

The flight to Roatan was great.  The plane was maybe half full and I paid to upgrade myself to the exit row to avoid leg room drama.  I read a book and closed my eyes for a bit, again while wearing the mask.  It felt a bit weird donning a mask again after so long but it was a very minor inconvenience so I didn’t mind.

As we came into the island I got some amazing views out the side of the plane.  The blue/green water looked beautiful even from altitude.  When the plane landed I saw them rolling up the portable staircase to deplane, something I had only experienced a time or two before.  The airport itself was small, very small.  I had one more hurdle to clear, immigration paperwork.  Another long line was experienced.  Once I got to a desk I was greeted by some guy that was amazingly apathetic.  He mumbled instructions to me as he checked social media on his phone.  I got finger printed, my picture taken, passport stamped as well as handing in a questionnaire that ensured I wasn’t a criminal or a smuggler of some type.  There are no luggage carousels, all of the bags were in a roped off area with guards.  They double check you are taking only your bag by matching it to your boarding pass.

My bag went through an EXIT security scan as well, another first.  I grabbed it and turned the corner where I saw Gladys waiting with a cute sign for me.  After a quick bathroom break  we were out of there.  Gladys gave me a little mini-tour on the way back.  I was amazed at what I saw as I had never really experienced some of the 3rd world elements that are here.  In many areas the streets are narrow, very narrow.  Motorcycles and scooters are widely utilized to both save on gas and have a lot of maneuverability to get around.  There are constant obstacles on the roads like massive potholes, stopped vehicles, pedestrians (sidewalks aren’t a thing here), and sadly dogs, lots of stray dogs.

I was also amazed when I looked up and saw some of the presumably DIY wires on many poles.  There were dozens of wires just connected in a haphazard manner.  As the tour continued there was a lot of diversity from beautiful hilly vistas to high end luxury living with everything in between.  I was just taking it all in, still a little in disbelief I was even here.  If you told me at the beginning of the year I would be in upstate NY and Roatan in the span of less than two weeks I would have laughed out loud, yet here I am.

We eventually turned onto the dirt road where Gladys lives.  It is twisty, narrow, with a lot of bumps and gulleys.  At the very end of the road there is a large gate that contains two properties, I was here.  I almost immediately got to meet Dustin who is married to Kat, the next door neighbors.  Gladys and they are really close friends so I was anxious to meet them as well as their adorable little dog Cocoa.

Gladys then gave me the quick tour of the guest house she lives in.  It’s very cute.  The location and view is amazing.  I got unpacked and got to meet Kat and Cocoa as well, she seemed very nice and Cocoa took to me pretty quickly.

Once I got unpacked we just spent some time chilling, both of us repeatedly saying how crazy it was that I was there.  I tried to focus more on just enjoying the moments.  Gladys and I got to watch the sunset together which was a great instant memory.  We made arrangements to go out to dinner with Dustin and Kat. (and Cocoa)  Dustin drove his Fourrunner.  It was another example of how different driving in Honduras is with constant avoidance maneuvers being a key skill in driving effectively down here.

We had dinner at a place called Gingers.  I had a couple beers and some fish tacos which were good.  We were there a little before 7:30, we didn’t realize they take last call around then.  Gladys had a tooth issue fixed earlier in the day so eating was not exactly fun for her.  She took most of her meal to go.  It was a nice dinner with Kat and Dustin, I look forward to hanging out with them more as the week progresses.

Gladys usually doesn’t utilize the AC down here because the electricity costs are so high, a little more than quadruple the top rate I pay in Florida.  However she was nice enough to set up a small portable AC unit she bought a little while ago in the room.  It pulled the humidity out of the space and brought the temperature down roughly 10 degrees.  I was very grateful  she did this as I would have had a very difficult time sleeping otherwise.

The sun down here is intense, very intense as Roatan is closer to the equator than Naples.  I could feel the difference.  Hondura also doesn’t observe daylight savings time.  The end result is the sun goes down early but also rises very early.  By 5:30 AM it’s relatively bright already.  This morning was a cool mix.  I did some stretching and calisthenics while Gladys did her routine.  She then suggested we go snorkling in the bay, an activity I bet I have not done for around 25 years.

Snorkling exposed me to some beautiful underwater landscapes where we passed over coral beds teaming with fish I normally would only see in an aquarium.  The use of fins was a struggle for me, my ankles were not used to that sort of angles/usage.  Early on I found myself feeling like my fins were always on the surface of the water, making them a little useless.  As I watched Gladys move in the water I adjusted and got slightly better, I still found myself using my arms in a breast stroke stroke often.

I also have not done any swimming in 5 years I bet so it was a good workout for me.  I also found breathing through the snorkel not a natural thing but it got better as well.  We saw amazing fish, an eel, lobster and much more.  I have always had an aversion to going into the ocean as an adult because of how easily I develop ear infections.  I brought a set of ear plugs that seemed to do a good job of keeping the water out of ear canals.  What I didn’t expect is how my nose would wind up being surrounded by water for most of the time.  When I pulled the mask off it felt like I just snorted salt water.  It’s probably a good thing overall but again takes some getting used to.  After coming back in I felt pretty tired, swimming always does that to me.

Because of the crazy early sunrise we did all of this before 8AM which felt sort of nuts.  After showering off the salt water we headed out to first grab some breakfast.  Gladys told me about the incredible cinnamon rolls they serve, she was right.  It was pretty amazing and went well with my coffee.  I paid with cash which has been the go to payment method so far.  It appears conventional credit cards are not accepted at a number of places but instead they take cash or payment via apps like Zelle, Venmo or Paypal.  I already have Paypal and I just signed up with Venmo, just in case.

After breakfast Gladys had a bunch of stops to make so I was happy to tag along.  There are endless things to keep you visually stimulated as a passenger down here.  We went to three different hardware stores, I was looking for some fittings to tweak the shower head I installed for Gladys.  I also got my first lemperia bills, the offical Honduran currency although they accept the US dollars everywhere too.  One dollar currently equals roughly 24 lemperia.  I paid for something with a 20 dollar bill and got a fat wad of lemperia back, although I know in reality it wasn’t much money, it felt substantial, like I somehow came out ahead.

We came back to the house to both do our own version of computer work, me working on this blog and Gladys doing stuff required for her job down here.  It’s been a great opening 24 hours and I look for more fun to come in short order.

Yesterday Ali sent me a recall notice for Jif peanut butter, since she knew I had some in the house.  I bought a two pack of these a month or two ago at Costco or Sams and am on the second jar.  The recall was because of potential salmonella contamination.  In the notice there is a lot number range affected.  When I got home I checked the code on this jar and was inside the range.

Now of course this does not mean I definitely have a contaminated jar however I did just come off one of the more unpleasant GI experiences of my life.  When I analyzed my food intake prior to that it was normal, including the peanut butter I have with breakfast on my toast.  So was I affected by salmonella?  I don’t know.  What I do know is I threw out the nearly full jar and went to Publix last night to get a replacement, hopefully a salmonella-free brand.

Yesterday I worked on my first new 3D design in a long time, a protective “helmet” for the headlight assembly on my new wheel.  I had already designed and have been selling something similar for my Veteran Sherman for quite awhile.  I took measurements of the headlight on the new wheel and was sort of surprised that my first test print fit like a glove.  Normally I have to tweak several iterations before it’s good.

I will probably initially only make it available on my 3D store but I can imagine myself eventually releasing it on the public domain as well so others can print it themselves if they want to.  I always get a kick out of seeing my designs pop up on wheels from around the world.

A long time ago Facebook must have figured out that I have been in a time in my life where inspirational, motivational, or deep memes get my attention.  All you have to do is click LIKE on one or two of them and the floodgates are open.

Although I have clicked like on a few I very rarely will do a knee jerk share to my feed.  For some weird reason it almost feels like cheating/lazy in my mind to repost something like that, as if it was a thought that originated with you. So once in awhile I will make my own motivational postcard and share it, for no particular reason.  Last night was one of those nights.

I forgot I took tomorrow off which in retrospect is a great thing. It makes prepping for my trip to visit Gladys a much less compressed time line.  Packing for a Caribbean island is far different than packing for a lake in upstate New York for sure. I am looking forward to a week filled with tropical beauty, new experiences, and lasting memories.  I feel fortunate.

I will try to do remote blogging once again in a similar manner as I did in NY.  It is the only way to keep things manageable.

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.