Tuesday

The day started out in the 40s, but by afternoon the temperature was in the lower 70s. Therefore, we took walks in the neighborhood and read until it warmed up enough to head to the causeway mid afternoon for a long walk.

The skies were beautiful, although the 7 mph breeze made it cool. Definitely long sleeve weather.

Lots of variety in the clouds today.

We noticed that the sewer pump alarm was going off at the causeway restroom, so John called the emergency number on the alarm box. He was surprised that he got a human on the second ring. They said they’d send someone out to check on it.

About 20 minutes later on our walk back to the mainland, there were two Dunedin trucks and several workers working on the sewage pump at the restrooms. Even though Pinellas County (St. Petersburg, Clearwater) has almost a million people and Hillsborough County (Tampa) has almost one and a half million people, we live in a small town (Dunedin) of 37,000 people. 

The weekend maintenance worker on the causeway is a retired neighbor who walks his dog on the same schedule as ours. The weekend bridge tender was a fellow causeway walker who happened to see a “help wanted” sign in the window. Now he rides his bike to work. The maintenance worker at the Holiday Inn across the Pinellas Trail from Kafe Racer is a retired neighbor, and his wife, also retired from her career, is a cashier at our Publix. The gate keeper at Honeymoon Island blew by us in a golf cart recently on our street and shouted, “I know you!” Small town life.

On the other hand, I told John it was like walking on someone else’s causeway this afternoon because we didn’t recognize any of the walkers. I wonder if the morning regulars missed us this morning or did they stay in too?

We took our last walk with Toby around Lake Saundra before getting takeout at Juan’s Mexican Grill for dinner. We are so happy that the sun is now setting later and later. We enjoy those 9:00 sunsets in summer.

I spotted this white ibis perched in the tree at Lake Saundra. He has the sinking sun spot lighting his white coat.

Toby has been remarkably calm today despite our rearranged routine. I think he may still be tired from daycare yesterday. 

We took him to the Dunedin Pet Store after lunch and loaded up with food, treats, and a toy. We found that we needed more powerful treats than kibble in order to navigate past some barking dogs.

John called the Pinellas County Animal Control to let them know that Dee Dee had died. They sent us a notice that her rabies shot was past due. I think the vet was supposed to notify them, but she died during COVID and nothing was normal in the summer of 2020.

Miles walked: 10.2

Miles biked: 0