Wednesday

Toby hamming it up for the camera

(Toby closes his eyes when he kisses!)

Say, "Ice cream!"

No ice cream. Pooh!

But we did enjoy a nice walk at Highlander Park mid afternoon.

Toby has had three good days in a row now. The bumps are still visible, but not so obvious. The red patches are healing, too. John gave him a regular shower tonight to rinse off any allergens. These daily showers, medicine, and vacuuming have us on our toes! I hope he continues to improve.

For lunch, we took Toby in the go cart to Bambino's. I rode in the back with the witch and the pizza. Toby rode beside John in the front.

Pesto, artichoke, garlic, salami, and tomatoes on a thin crust, the specialty pizza for the day. I wouldn't chose salami, but it was pretty good. It was sliced super thin. It's not as greasy as pepperoni. The two of us ate the whole pizza!

After lunch, I rode to Clearwater, stopping at Stevenson Creek for these pictures. No manatees today.

John stayed home and took a nap with Toby.

 

On the way home, I stopped at Weaver Park to exercise at the outdoor gym.

This morning, we rode our bikes out to Honeymoon Island and renewed our annual State Park pass. 

John got this shot of the Nature Center where we got the pass.

The views from the center looking out on the sound are lovely. 

After we got our pass, we rode on to Bath House #1 and walked to the end of dog beach.

The skies were somewhat overcast, but it made for a nice morning on the beach. I like this shot of the clouds, sky, water, and sea weed. Nice color contrasts.

The temperatures spanned from 72-82 again today.

This is a view of the tidal bridge from the end of dog beach.

The causeway as seen from dog beach.

There has been a lot of erosion on the beach, along with major shifts of the island, at the end anyway.

There was lots of seaweed, presumably from the storm that passed through. Or it could just be seaweed season. There were only about five people out when we walked. It was nice having the beach almost to ourselves.

The was some Halloween display on the causeway as we drove by.

First walk of the day.

Last walk of the day. The skeletons are playing golf today.

A man stopped us on our last walk to tell us about a book he had read. (He stops and chats whenever he sees us.) It's called Choke. He told us one story from the book about a psychology experiment from a university. College coeds were told that women score poorly on an advanced math test as compared to men, reinforcing a common stereotype. The students were then given a math test which showed the men far out performing the women on the test. Another group of coeds were told that men and women score the same on an advanced math test, contradicting a common gender stereotype. Then the students took the test. Surprise: the men and women scored the same.

The point of the book is that society sends messages (such as about gender, race, sexual orientation) that become entrenched not only in society at large, but even in the individuals who are on the receiving end of these messages. 

Today’s bike routes to Honeymoon Island, Clearwater, and Weaver Park 

Miles walked: 7.6

Miles biked: 22.25