Cats, Dogs and Other Wildlife

It was a beautiful day for yard sales. Only about 6 people participated in this impromptu sale, but there is a large one in February when the snowbirds have finally arrived. As I said yesterday, I was looking for a large fan for the patio. Well, we met our friends at one house with a large fan in the back of their golf cart. He had just bought it from the house we were headed to next. He needed it for his workshop but mentioned that there might have been another one. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, it had been sold, too. Oh, well. Wasn’t meant to be. We did have fun meeting some new neighbors and we did pick up a couple CDs. The rest of the day Gary puttered while I worked on some red bean soup. But Mary and Bob came over with some extra halibut fish he had cooked for us. Yummy! Tasha was curious about Princess, Bob and Mary’s mini schnauzer. She didn’t run away and hiss, but got this close before turning up her nose and walking away. Remember: cats rule, dogs drool.

Sunday we skipped the pancake breakfast for Gary’s much-needed bagel at Panera. There is actually a Bruegger’s Bagel store here but it’s north of Orlando. So we spent an hour enjoying the sunshine and cool breeze while munching on a bagel. The love bugs are still hanging around messing up the Jeep on a daily basis. Thank goodness we are not driving the coach around. If you don’t know what a love bug is, they are actually small black flies with red thoraxes. Males are 1/4 inch, and females are 1/3 inch in length. They connect their ‘back ends’ and fly around like that until the female lays 350 eggs and dies. They have very few natural predators except vehicles. They stink when they’re wet and will take the paint off your car if you don’t wash them off immediately. Needless to say, most vehicles are very clean during love-bug season. We’re all hoping they go away like – yesterday.

Gary needs a short-sleeved shirt for his interview, but Marshall’s, Target, Belk’s and TJ’s didn’t have one. Our last effort was Penney’s where we were met by a young man who handed us a scratch-off card for up to 30% off our entire purchase until 1:30. Well, immediately, Gary found a shirt, and since we both needed new sneakers, we each found a pair of Nikes for 34 bucks. When we scratched off our card, we had 30% off, so we ended up saving $56! Gary’s keeping his in the box until he finds out [if he gets the job] what color shoes he needs to go with his uniform.

Later Gary thought the fish might be biting, and threw his line out a few times, but all we saw was a green heron. They are pretty birds and love to eat dragonflies as well as fish. We watched this one catch fly after fly by leaning and almost falling off his branch as they flew near him.

Early this morning the phone rang at 5:30. I got up to answer it because it rang twice, so I knew it must have been important. I called Tristan back to see what was wrong. He wanted my advice as to what to do about the 11 x 4 foot piece of ceiling that fell in his bedroom – fortunately not on him. He called his landlord who sent her son over to clean it up. I suggested that he not sleep in that room until he finds out what the examiner says made it fall. I don't like phone calls in the middle of the dark. It usually means trouble. Am I right?

Since we were up extra early today, we wanted to see where we could go boating. I found Lake Kissimmee State Park that we drove down to check out. It was about 35 miles away and the drive was on the Scenic Highway which consisted of grove after grove of orange trees. The park looks great for trails, RVs and boating. As we entered the drive, two little bob-whites crossed the road in front of us. Checking out the RV sites, we saw a couple of deer feeding and reaching the boat launch, we looked down as a baby alligator scrambled into the water. The cicadas must have totaled in the hundreds as their song was deafening during their crescendo. On the way out of the park, a tortoise hurried away from my camera, but I got him just as he ducked into the underbrush.

We are going to St. Pete tomorrow to celebrate Tristan’s 24th birthday (the 8th) and Graham’s 4th birthday (the 9th), so I’ll be back on Thursday with some good news, I hope! Wish us luck!