Dunedin Diary: Saturday

John's new walking shoes came today. We made good use of them. This picture and the ones following are from our after lunch walk before we put Toby in the cart to go downtown.

John says something like: "I never know what to do with my hands." Click.

Lake Saundra butterfly garden

We rode in the golf cart downtown and walked up and down the sidewalks and all around the market set up in Pioneer Park. Toby got loads of experience sitting, switching, being petted, walking on a loose leash, and getting into a down.

We ran into a woman and her tiny dog. She said she sees us walking the causeway and recognized us. Our dogs said hi to each other and moved on.

John asked this guy if he could take a picture of his orange tattoo. The guy was proud to show off his Dunedin orange.

After our downtown trip, we came home and I worked on my application for social security benefits online. John and Toby took a nap. I had gathered all the necessary documents and information, so it didn't take too long. It was pretty straightforward. You can apply up to four months before the benefits begin. I want to get my money before the program disappears.

I hope the Republicans will be unsuccessful in trying to “sunset” Medicare, social security, and Medicaid in five years as a part of their plan to “preserve them.” Once these programs go away, they’ll never be renewed with Republicans in charge.

John's new shoes make him taller!

We rode our bikes out to the causeway this morning to walk. It was 77 degrees with an 8 mph breeze that felt more like 15 mph, since it was coming out of the west (from the gulf). The high temperature today was 84 degrees.

After I successfully applied for SS, we took another ride in the golf cart to Highlander Park. We parked and walked with Toby across the bridge into Hammock Park. This walk was a lot less difficult.

John got this picture from the Fern Trail boardwalk.

Toby practiced "sit" and "wait" while we got this picture of him on the boardwalk.

The fern trail is a favorite of mine. The boardwalk is 1 1/4 miles long.

The main path to the fern trail is much wider than the one we took yesterday.

Cedar Creek runs along the main path and flows out to St. Joseph's Sound. The bridge to Highlander Park (where we parked the golf cart) crosses the creek. John tells me that it rained while I was working on my SS application, so the creek was high and flowing. It also rained last night. There were thunderstorms that woke Toby up with a yelp. We threw the blanket over his head and he went back to sleep, as did we.

Later, after dinner, we went on a sunset golf cart ride with Toby. We went to Highlander Park, by the fire station, and then across Bayshore to an empty lot to see the last glow of the sun for today.