Wednesday

We got a good shot of the gator this afternoon at Lake Saundra. He’s about three feet long.

He swims up to the bank if people are around, which is not a good thing. It’s likely that he does that because people are feeding him.

They say to assume that every body of water in Florida has a gator in it.

On our morning walk, Toby spotted these two friends. Laya is the greyhound. Everyone did their greeting and happily moved on. It’s so nice to be able to do this.

There were lots of kayakers and paddle boarders out in the sound today. I got this picture from the drawbridge.

There was no evidence of Red Tide today.

We did some more house chores and maintenance. Toby got a bath. My hands and wrists were sore from yesterday’s house washing, so John did the heavy lifting. (I thought I took it easy yesterday, but apparently I was a bit too ambitious.)

The high was 88. It started off with some sun, but it got increasingly cloudy today. Then it rained for a couple of hours in the late afternoon, typical summer weather.

Today’s bike route to the causeway.

Miles walked: 9.6

Miles biked: 5.74

Tuesday

We had a huge thunderstorm to move through this afternoon around 4:00. John was with a friend on the causeway and got these pictures.

I took this thunder storm picture from the front door.

The rest of the day was normal weather: 90 degrees with a light wind. John took a friend to the doctor this morning, so we missed our Toby walk and causeway walk. I tried to take Toby for a walk by myself twice, but he refused to walk past the property line. He did pee pee, but he had to wait until after lunch to poop. He likes to go out walking with his pack. John says Toby does the same thing with him when he’s by himself.

I spent the day cleaning up the entryway (dead bugs spider webs and grass), garage door, and windows. I kept myself in the shade by doing the front side in the morning and the back side after lunch. I took my time and moved carefully to avoid injury. And I took breaks to tend to Toby and to have lunch. Old folks have to work smarter.

 

Miles walked: 6

Miles biked: 0

Monday

 

Lake Saundra on an after lunch Toby walk

We rode our bikes to the causeway and walked. The Red Tide seems to be almost completely gone. We didn’t see any dead fish. There were a couple of stinky places but not horrible. The bridge attendant raised the bridge this morning to do some maintenance. We spent the time talking with some of the regulars we walk with.

It was a beautiful day. It got up to 90 degrees, but the humidity was only 49%, so it was comfortable, especially on a bike. The wind was light (6 mph).

I caught this sailboat looking beautiful (with someone else doing all the work to keep it going).

Pretty flowers from our walk in the neighborhood.

I think we had theses in North Carolina, but I’m not sure if they survived the winter.

I spent about an hour at the outdoor gym.

The skies here are spectacular.

Weaver Park pier 

Today’s bike routes to the causeway, Publix, Weaver Park and downtown.

Miles walked: 10.5

Miles biked: 18.14

Sunday

We went to our second inside get-together last night at a nearby neighbors’ house. It was nice to get out, see someone’s house, and meet new people.

As we walked home, the sun was setting.

It was a beautiful walk home.

Today, we rode downtown, parked our bikes, and walked south, almost to Stevenson Creek.

There was an arts and crafts festival at Main Street, Dunedin.

The booths stretched from Alt-19 to Pioneer Park.

Lots of people.

Our last walk of the day for the three of us. We stopped by the pond to see the gator. We got a weather alert that rain was coming.

We found him!

We came home to a rainbow 🌈 over our house.

We also found this flag and note at our front door. Apparently, everyone in Fairway Estates got one.

Today’s bike route to downtown 

Miles walked: 10.1

Miles biked: 6.62

Saturday

 

Busy day!

Miles walked: 6.5

Miles biked: 1:05

Friday

There’s our little alligator in Lake Saundra. He’s about 3 feet long and growing. He must be awfully lonely waiting for a mate to come along. Since he (or she) is the first alligator in the lake in 17 years, there may be a long wait ahead for a mate.

Toby and I watched John get a picture of the gator. The gator was clearly intrigued by John, as he stopped swimming and stared. As soon as John walked away, the gator started swimming again.

John also got a picture of this bird.

I went to the outdoor gym after lunch. It was 90 degrees today with an 8 mph breeze. Nice and sunny most of the day. Thunderstorms moved in around 6 pm to cool things off. The rain allows me to cancel the sprinklers for tomorrow.

Then I rode my bike to the edge of Clearwater on the Pinellas Trail.

We rode our bikes out to Honeymoon Island this morning and walked on the beach. The Red Tide was still lingering and there were dead fish here and there. The smell was tolerable, not pleasant, not horrible. 

The news reported tonight that the Pinellas beaches were hardly affected now, very low measurements of the bacteria. However, the east coast of Honeymoon Island remains high as well as all of Tampa Bay. The fertilizer plant retention pond break is looking more and more the cause, according to the news, especially for the Tampa Bay outbreak.

Dog Beach, looking south

The dredgers were back at work restoring the north beach. The pipes for conveying the sand stretched all the way back to the southern tip of the island.

One problem with the project is that the beach is now higher than the parking lot, as you can see in the picture above. Three rows were under water like this as a result of last night’s heavy rainfall. A group of workers were assembled (pictured above) to figure out how to alleviate the problem. Before the restoration, the rain water run off left this corner of the parking lot and carved a river through the sand, taking it with the runoff out to sea.

This is the newly reconfigured Dog Beach at the southern tip (looking north). Here, they have removed sand, at least at the tip.

This is the strange new tip of southern Honeymoon Island, looking north. The sound is on the right; the gulf is on the left. The island (picture 6 in today’s blog) is to my back in the picture above.

Toby is by my side as I write this tonight, getting a head start on his sleep for the night. Thankfully, he doesn’t freak out over thunderstorms like Dexter and Dee Dee used to.

I also have to report that he now regularly sleeps through the night. We are all getting better sleep.

I read in the news tonight that AVA (the automated people mover) hit a 79 year old woman on Broadway Avenue today. She was taken to the hospital with a minor injury. The article said that AVA was in manual mode when the accident happened, meaning the onboard driver was at the controls. I hope he doesn’t get in trouble. He seemed very responsible and knowledgeable when we took our tour yesterday.

Today’s bike routes to Honeymoon Island, Weaver Park, and the edge of Clearwater.

Miles walked: 7

Miles biked: 24.62