Saturday - Sunday

 

Toby turns 4 this week. He's really grown up and become his own. He's shy around anyone other than me or John. He will come up to people he trusts, but only on his own terms and very slowly. He is very loyal and protective of us and super affectionate.

He loves riding in his golf cart, especially when it takes him to get doggy ice cream downtown. He is goofy, slightly uncoordinated, loves napping. If he's tired or it's hot, he will plop down in the grass to take a break on a long walk. He's very calm most of the time and easy to love.

He stuck his snout through his collar as if he was trying to put it on.

He can be exuberant, but most of the time, he's pretty chill.

John has been running about 3 miles a day, down to the Pinellas Trail and to Curlew and back to the house. I ride along on the trike to keep him company. My hamstring is still sore or else I'd run with him.  For some reason, all of the sudden I'm allergic to quinoa. We thought it was just a bad batch or a bad brand, but we've gone back to a brand we've always used, and I still have debilitating stomach pain. I was up past midnight. I tried gas pills and carbonated water, but nothing worked. I'm exhausted today and never want to eat again.

Jogging helps to calm John's hyperactive brain. After running, he's calm and relaxed for the rest of the day.

We've enjoyed the scattered showers and break in the heat.

John keeps pulling up these flowers and they keep coming back. I'm not sure why he doesn't like them. I'm happy to leave the yard to him and Mas Fina.

Friday

 

Mas Fina did some pruning today.

I'll work on tidying up this pile this weekend for yard waste pick up on Tuesday.

I made it to the gym for stretching and weights. It sprinkled off and on, very lightly. It felt good. I could see heavy rain north of Weaver Park. John called and said it was pouring at home with ponds in the back yard. The sun was shining 2.5 miles away. 

Speaking of Florida weather extremes, I got a look at a neighbor's power solutions for outages. She bought several solar powered batteries to use when the power fails. She has a gas-powered generator, but doesn't like it because of the noise, carbon monoxide risks, and maintenance requirements. 

These battery backups can be configured to run whatever you need to run. They can also charge via sunlight in a few hours. They can be used indoors, they are fairly quiet, and the only maintenance is to keep them charged. It looked like a good solution. If we weren't about to do a major renovation, I might purchase one. I think we'll take our chances this year. Fingers crossed. 

Wednesday

 

Let the rainy season begin!

On Tuesday, we had a steady, soaking rain that lasted nearly all day.

It cleared out all of our gutters.

And watered our trees.

And grass.

We fixed spiced lentils with carrots for dinner with a side of fresh corn.

Wednesday, the sun came out and we enjoyed a beautiful day.

I made it to the outdoor gym at Weaver Park for stretching and weight lifting.

Monday

This morning, John went jogging. I followed behind him on the trike. I'm taking it easy on a sore hamstring. After lunch, I rode my real bike down to Weaver Park to do some stretching and weight training.

It was hot, about 89 degrees, but with a good breeze coming off the water.

The city put in some irrigation lines at Stirling Park for their new plantings around the ponds. I think they got them installed just in time.

Saturday

 

I have a maintenance spreadsheet to help me keep track of things we need to do each month. I try to complete the monthly maintenance on the first day of the month. I've found that without a checklist, I can drift for a year or more without checking air pressure or AC filters. Now, I stay on top of things. It makes things like bike riding so much easier because the tires are always firm and ready to go. Before, we'd notice halfway on the ride that the tires were low. No fun.

Today, I wanted to get the maintenance done. But John noticed a blown out sprinkler head on our morning walk. I try not to look at them, lest I see something that needs repair.

I dug it up and found the problem. The big mower on Thursday ran over the head and broke where the head joins the line. I tried to salvage the sprinkler head, but it broke where the threads were, making the head unusable as well as the connector. 

At first, I thought I'd dig up the flexible black hose all the way to the plastic PVC line and replace the entire line and add a new head, but after two feet of digging, I changed my mind. Instead, I decided to cut the broken connector from the black hose. It would mean the new head would be a couple of inches away from the curb, but that's probably a good idea anyway.

I attached the new elbow to the existing line and then attached the new head. I propped it up and checked for leaks.

No leaks. I set the right, left, and distance on the new head. That's never easy. The directions are somewhat helpful, but I always end up improvising with some brute force to get it to work like I want.

3 hours later and one trip to Ace Hardware, we were back in business. 

Since I was already wet and dirty, I decided to wash our car. It hasn't been washed since Jeff did it back in February. Perhaps I should add that task to my maintenance spreadsheet?

We're still are under 50,000 miles after 8 years. We prefer taking the bikes or golf cart whenever possible.

After lunch, I washed the golf cart.

Very needed. We spend a good deal of time on the gravel path through the ball fields where it's shaded.

I busted open some of our leftover sandbags from the last hurricane and used the sand to build up the ground for the sprinkler donuts. This is a preventative move to keep the mowers from breaking the sprinklers or the pipes underneath. 

Our stag horn fern loves it on the ground. Hydrangeas are blooming.

Frangi pani in bloom.

The frangi pani creates great shade for the west facing window.

The grass has made a good comeback from our early spring mole cricket invasion.