Tuesday

 

We crossed under the tidal bridge this morning on our causeway walk because of the bridge construction. We walked back towards the mainland on the northern side of the causeway for a change.

Tidal bridge underbelly 

It was a beautiful 71 degrees.

John took this picture of the water and rocks alongside the causeway.

Today’s wildlife encounter

The high temperature today was 80 degrees with a good breeze to keep it from being hot.

Historical reenactment folks

Late afternoon walk at Stirling Park via our golf cart

My back gets better each day. I can put on my socks and shoes without much struggle. However, I did so many back and leg exercises yesterday that my thighs were burning every time I had to bend down. But that's just soreness, not an injury. I'm looking forward to strengthening my core on my new yoga mat. It arrives tomorrow. Getting old requires a full-on effort to stay nimble. Good thing I'm retired.

We’ve bought a couple of single serving salads this week. We know they’ve relatively expensive compared to making our own, but it’s so nice to have a different fresh salad just for two without having a lot of waste or having to have salads every night. Tonight’s salad had strawberries and blueberries. The other day, our salad had walnuts, golden raisins, dates, and apple slices. We added purple onion and an avocado to both. We thought we'd give this strategy a try when Publix put their prepared salads on sale for $4.25. That's a bargain once we split it. We had John's spaghetti to go with it.

Last night’s sunset

Miles walked: 9

Monday

We saw a dolphin on our morning causeway walk.

It was jumping completely out of the water, like at Sea World.

Splash!

It was very close.

The weather was great, about 71 degrees and mostly sunny.

This picture is John’s interpretation of the scene in the previous picture.

I caught the kayak and the Caladesi ferry in the same frame, going in opposite directions.

The lady on the bike above stopped us on our walk. She was practically stuttering she was so overcome by the beauty of what she was experiencing. She described an osprey flying a few feet above her while she rode her bike. It had a fish in its mouth as she pointed to the nest. “Can you believe this?” she muttered. “Look, all around us. It’s just gorgeous.” We shared our dolphin experience from moments before, fully in sync with her mood. She said she was from St. Petersburg and drove her car to Clearwater and parked to ride her bike here to the causeway and Honeymoon Island. We all agreed we were very lucky. She said if it were an amusement park, people would pay a lot of money to be able to enjoy the causeway. We agreed again.

The Pinellas County workers are still working on the bridge. They are having to cut away concrete and pour new concrete around the exposed rebar so that they can reattach the railing. There were about 4-5 sections that fell off. Bids are in the process of going out for both bridges to be replaced, but there is currently no funding for them.

My back is almost normal today, normal enough that walking is not a problem. I really missed the last three days being outside.

Lovely clouds

John set up our second smart plug so that now we can ask Alexa to turn on the lights in the morning in the living room and sunroom and off again. It beats walking around trying to find the switches.

After lunch, I drove to the outdoor gym at Weaver Park to gently exercise. John refused to allow me to ride my bike, thinking my spine was still too fragile. Actually, the bike is more comfortable than the car seat, but there was no persuading him. I did observe that none of my gym exercises impacted my back, which was good for now, but I need to do exercises that strengthen my core. Most of those core exercises I do at home in the morning, but I need to do more of them. So I ordered a yoga mat from Amazon so that I can do some of those exercises at the gym, too. The mat comes with carrying straps that I can use to tote it on my bike. I found an orange one at a special price.

Toby’s doing his own stretching exercises. The high temperature today was 78 degrees.

Our neighbor called to offer us carrot cake and pasta made with spinach, basil, and thyme.

Miles walked: 10.3

Miles biked: 0

Sunday

 

Amazon brought us some new glasses this afternoon. They are nice and heavy. They are hand made, so each one is slightly different.

We also got another smart plug so that we can tell Alexa to turn on (and off) the lamp in the living room and sunroom.

We took several walks around the neighborhood and Stirling Park. It was 75 degrees today, just about perfect.

John got this shopping cart in the parking lot and told me to take it into the store and use it as a walker when we went grocery shopping this morning.

😂

Miles walked: 5.5

Saturday

Still recuperating from my back seizure, so we kept a low profile today. I’m much better but still moving carefully.

We had a good walk around Stirling Park.

After dropping Toby off, we headed to St. Andrews condominiums for an open house.

Yesterday when we were walking Toby in our neighborhood, a man and woman saw us and came out to talk with us. They raved about how beautiful Toby was and how much they admired us for rescuing him and taking such good care of him. They see us go by their house often. In fact, they named Toby “Zippy.” They will say: “There goes Zippy.” It was an unusual encounter. Their praise was effusive. She even remembered Dee Dee and wondered what happened to her. Just goes to show that people are always looking out their windows when you pass by.

The Gladys Douglas Preserve was opened in Dunedin today. There’s a good article about it in The Tampa Bay Times. Instead of homes, condos, and development, the land will remain wild, one of the largest such tracts of land in this densely developed peninsula.

We walked Toby in Highlander Park before dinner. John practiced some automatic sits with Toby, as you can see above. Plus, he did it while a barking dog was playing with a loose ball nearby. That’s when all that training comes in handy.

Miles walked: 3.5

 

Friday

 

After our morning Toby walk, I raked leaves. I wanted to do that before Mas Fina came. Then I wanted to fertilize the fruit trees and bushes. I made a wrong move and my back started to seize up. John threatened to throw the rake away. I think my raking days are over. That’s twice I’ve aggravated my back raking. It’s the twisting movement that does it, and the repetition.

Anyway, I spent the day walking around inside because that’s the only comfortable position. I have a package of steroids from my doctor, but I’m saving it for when I can’t move at all. I did some stretching and took some ibuprofen. That got me through the day. Since all I could do was walk, I vacuumed and mopped the house. Crazy, I know, but it didn’t hurt.

Karen called and I got to catch up with her, so I made good use of my time.

John has picked up the slack, and I’m learning how to put my shoes and socks on without bending over, not an easy thing to do.

I missed going to the gym and enjoying the beautiful 82 degree day the way I normally do.

Miles walked: 7

Thursday

 

We rode our bikes to the causeway to walk this morning. It was warm with a 14 mph breeze. The Pinellas County engineers were working on repairing the fallen bridge railings on the tidal bridge. We had to cross the road to get to the Honeymoon Island entrance.

The week is looking good.

We’ve got our tickets for Noel Coward’s Private Lives at the Frances Wilson Playhouse on April 9th.

We’ve signed up for the Tricks class at Petsmart, beginning next Thursday.

We took a golf cart ride to Bambino’s for dinner.

We took it easy this afternoon.

Miles walked: 10

Miles biked: 4.9

Wednesday

The day started early with an airport run to Tampa and ended with a birthday party at a friend’s house. There were 40 people there! I’m glad we went, but I prefer smaller groups. It was good to learn more about the people we know. The host was a former event planner, so it was pretty spectacular. Her house was beautiful.

I rode to Weaver Park after lunch to exercise. The outdoor gym was crowded in the 82 degree sunshine.

The Pinellas Trail was busy.

We rode our bikes this morning to the causeway to walk. It was in the 70s.

We watched an episode of Toon on Netflix before turning in for the night. John said our house feels so empty. Miss everyone. Hope you all sleep well. That was a big day for you all.

Miles walked: 11.3

Miles biked: 10.62