Monday

Today in dog training, we learned how to get a dog to pose for a picture. This one John took, and I think it wins the prize.

We practiced a stay for a minute and forty five seconds in the front of the store with lots of distractions. We practiced passing other dogs without our dog losing focus. We practiced switching sides back and forth while heeling. We played a game where each person added a command and the next person had to repeat all the previous commands and add a new one. We practiced leaving our dog with a stranger and returning. We practiced letting a stranger pet our dog.

This is my camera command picture.

For the game, we had to surrender our pouches, which made it very difficult. Toby and I did okay, but I forgot to add a command. I was concentrating so hard on remembering what came before me. We’ll continue to practice this one this week.

Toby got a little fussy at times. After successfully doing the dog passing exercise, he lunged after a sweet, big dog and growled. He was playing, but he’s not supposed to do that. The teacher didn’t see, so when she complimented everyone we felt undeserving.

I can’t remember who took this picture, but it’s pretty good, even though he’s not looking at the camera.

John included this picture of the water tower progress.

It was a mostly cloudy day today, with periods of misting. The high temperature when we walked the causeway was 73 degrees.

A cold front moved in as the day progressed and temperature dropped to 70 degrees mid-afternoon as we prepared to take Toby to Petsmart training.

We are thoroughly exhausted. We’re grateful for our dog training progress and trying not to be too hard on ourselves where we fall short. After one particular fail, a nice lady with a really good dog said she admired me for always smiling and having fun even when Toby’s being a bubblehead. It was nice to hear, but she didn’t know that I sometimes smile when I’m embarrassed.

Miles walked: 12.7

Miles biked: 5.93

Sunday

Stop Wars (Star Wars theme)

Our neighborhood artist created this message for passers-by. She lifted everyone's spirit during the pandemic lockdown with her drawings. Our problems are trivial compared to what the people of Ukraine are facing.

We woke up this morning with 7 flies on the ceiling in the kitchen looking down on us. They didn't move. It was creepy. We took the kitchen garbage out that had the remains of a cantelope in it. John and Toby set about killing them as the day wore on. John would swat them and Toby would eat them.

We rode our bikes out to the causeway this morning to walk. A peloton of 20 senior bikers passed through the intersection at Bayshore and Curlew.

The temperature was in the upper 60s at 8:30, so it was a very comfortable walk. The high temperature for the day was 81.

We ran into a neighbor also walking on the causeway. We stopped and talked to catch up with him. We told him about our recent Publix encounter where two people said they saw us walking every day. He said they say the same thing to him. We laughed. As we said our goodbyes, a woman who had just passed us and overheard our conversation said: "I see you guys walking in Fairway Estates every morning. I drive the convertible Mini Cooper.  I always wave." She has a client in our neighborhood that she visits. She and her partner live in the neighborhood behind Walgreens on the water. She's from California via Atlanta. We talked and walked awhile until we needed to make a pit stop at the restrooms.

The lines for Honeymoon Island backed up to the causeway restroom.

We stuck pretty close to home today. We stopped by Publix on the way home from our causeway walk. We picked up some fresh fruit and cereal.

Toby took a nap in my lap this morning before lunch while John played a computer game.

Such a sweet boy.

Toby had a good day. I hope we're ready for training tomorrow. It's so easy to get lazy with training.

Miles walked: 12.1

Miles biked: 5.29

 

Saturday

We headed downtown on our bikes for Mardi Gras after lunch. It's a good thing we rode because cars were parked everywhere.

Events started at 2:00 p.m. We were a bit early but there were already lots of people out and about on this beautiful 83 degree day in February. There were four stages with live music throughout the afternoon and evening. The parade began at 7:00 p.m. 

Each stage had its own line up with a few repeats mixed in.

Dunedin's Parks and Recreation department must be huge to be able to pull off events like this on a regular basis.

They were still doing mic checks at the East stage.

The Pioneer Park stage had a good size audience.

The West stage was playing zydeco music so loud that we couldn't get any closer. We took a detour around the block.

There were lots of food booths.

Broadway stage.

The whole thing reminded me of the state fair or Disney World. There's so much to see, you didn't know what to do.

City trucks blocking access.

We left after a couple of hours and 3 miles of walking. We were exhausted from all the noise and people. I'm sure things will be hopping late into the night tonight.

I made some chicken salad with hummus and yogurt, no mayonnaise for lunch. I used carrot sriracha hummus for my toast and lemon dill hummus for the chicken salad with a fruit bowl with yogurt and cottage cheese on the side. I'll never beat John's 165 cholesterol, but I hope I can improve upon my last year's test.

On the way downtown, we stopped at an Open House on Jefferson. It's one of the short streets off Palm Boulevard after you turn off Bayshore Boulevard. This house was originally a 2 bedroom, 1 bath, single car garage home. It's now a 4 bedroom, 2 bath, no garage home, just a little over 1600 square feet. It's listed at $495,000. We almost passed out. It had been renovated, but still. The main living area was very small.

We saw this mug in the History Museum: "I'm dun searching. I've found my edin.

Spectacular skies today.

That's me walking the Causeway this morning.

Thai Basil Shrimp for our takeout dinner tonight.

Toby’s worn out from his many walks, and we’re settling in to watch the last episode of “Soundtrack” on Netflix.

Today's bike route downtown

Miles walked: 14.1

Miles biked: 7.02    

Friday

 

We dropped Toby off at daycare at 9:00 a.m. after a quick neighborhood walk. Then we came home and got on our bikes to ride downtown and walk and have lunch.

We ended up at Carvor's on Broadway. It was 79 degrees when we had lunch.

We forced ourselves to try something new, so I got the salmon sandwich and John got the tuna fish sandwich. We both got the cucumber and tomato salad. We both enjoyed our meal. Wonderful! The salmon was pan-seared while John's tuna was made into a salad.

We arrived before the kitchen was prepped for cooking, so we sat outside by the fountain and read and talked.

And admired the surroundings.

Before lunch we had parked our bikes at the Pinellas Trail and Main Street and walked south on the trail. We passed Home Plate (above) and turned at the next street and headed to Edgewater and Hubbard Parks along the sound.

The view above is of Clearwater Beach.

Here's a close up.

But our interests were closer at hand.

The water was very clear.

At Edgewater Park, we came upon this sculpture commemorating Florida's Gulf Coast Hope Spot and Dunedin's commitment to sustainability. The sculpture is made out of items pulled out of the sound.

We passed some interesting flora.

We passed by the Dunedin Marina on our way back downtown.

Olde Bay Cafe has really ramped up their space.

Downtown, we passed a wildlife rescue truck belonging to Birds in Helping Hands

These double seated rickshaws passed us. The patrons sit in front while the bicyclist pedals from behind. There is a bicycle for everyone.

After we picked up Toby, I rode my bike to Weaver Park to exercise. Rehabilitation continues on track.

Afterwards, I rode to the edge of downtown Clearwater for some aerobic exercise. I stopped to take a picture of the condominium progress on Edgewater Drive. Some lucky people are going to have a great location with a great view.

Kayak fisherman on Stevenson Creek. We saw millions of tiny minnows on our walk this morning while looking at the water in the Dunedin Marina Harbor. It's good to see that after last year's Red Tide.

Toby had a good time at daycare. He played with his friend Apollo, a young doodle with as much energy as Toby.

We are all tired from a busy day.

Today's routes to downtown and later to Weaver Park and Alt. 19 in Clearwater

Miles walked: 9.7

Miles biked: 17.88