Thursday

 

I began my day in the attic. I crawled up there to tape up a couple of tears in the insulation around a duct. I had never gone any further than the A/C unit at the top of the attic stairs before today. Because of our cathedral ceilings, there's a permanent ladder to get up over that part of the ceiling. It was interesting. Had I seen a rodent, it might have been a deadly experience, but, fortunately, the only living things I saw were some wasps--a problem to be sure, but one for another day.

Late this afternoon, our insurance broker sent a draft to look over of our new insurance policy with Citizens, the state sponsored insurance company of last resort. Our agent has his insurance with them, so it must be okay. It's considerably less than the other companies. I think the goal is for Citizens to unload you onto another company at renewal, if not before, but the other company has to match their rate. The other catch is Citizens can add a surcharge if there is a hurricane that leads to lots of claims, beyond its capacity to pay, but even with the surcharge, the premium would be less than a fully private company. Anyway, there aren't any other companies that want us, so we don't have much choice. Our broker used to represent 12 companies; now he has 5. John heard from a friend in the insurance business that another large company will soon be pulling out of the state and cancelling coverage with existing customers. It seems the recent legislative action was inadequate. In addition, roofing companies are suing over the new laws, feeling they have been unfairly targeted. Anyway, we should have coverage that begins at the end of the month. We'll know tomorrow.

Today, we got a break in the weather. It was 81 degrees on our causeway walk, but more importantly, the wind was blowing at 10 mph. We can stand the heat much better if there is a breeze.

And there was significant cloud cover. It felt like a morning in April almost.

The shot above shows workers repairing the Dunedin Causeway sign at the intersection of the causeway and Bayshore Boulevard. A car accident several months ago leveled the previous brick sign, about 5 feet tall and 8 feet wide. It's a very busy and dangerous intersection. Today, while waiting to cross from our Publix stop, there was some sort of incident in the Causeway Plaza. Several rescue vehicles and fire trucks responded. They must have messed up the light cycle because we waited for about 10 minutes to cross. Finally, all the bikes and pedestrians rebelled and crossed in mass on the red signal while the traffic was stopped. 

After lunch, we let Toby roam the house and rode our bikes downtown. When we turned around at the gazebo, there were three Watrous neighbors sitting there. On the way home, I stopped to exercise at the outdoor gym at Weaver Park, while John rode home to tend to Toby. 

It looked and felt like it might rain. The temperature dropped to 83 degrees and the wind picked up. It made for great exercise conditions. The rain clouds kept moving east and the rain never came.

We watched the last episode of season 4 of "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel." The fifth and final season is being filmed. Toby kept us company. I began the process of making an appointment at Dogtopia for him. I think he really misses his friends and playtime. He loves us, I know. But he really comes alive when he's with his own kind. The new company does everything online, so I contacted them and hope to hear back from them soon so we can make an appointment.

We had leftover spaghetti for dinner.

Last walk of the day

Today's bike routes to the causeway drawbridge, downtown Dunedin, and Weaver Park

Miles walked: 11.3

Miles biked: 12.52