Thursday

 

We drove the golf cart down to Stirling park to get out of the neighborhood this morning. John went jogging on the Pinellas Trail while I walked. He jogged all the way home while I kept walking to Hammock park. Above is the tidal pond that the city dug in an effort to reduce city streets from flooding at this low point near Cedar Creek, which flows out of Hammock park. It works for high tides, but it was unable to hold the storm surge from Helene, which flooded the houses along the street leading to Hammock park. These houses were on the east side of Bayshore Boulevard. The houses on the west side flooded as well, but they were closer to the sound.

A view from the other end of the tidal pond. The Pinellas Trail is on the right, on the other side of the trees.

I noticed this high water mark from Hurricane Helene on the boardwalk railing. The houses near the park were all flooded. The owners are still renovating and restoring those houses. Some of them are on the market. They look normal on the outside, but the listing photos show no drywall, cabinets, or bathrooms.

I made my way along the boardwalk to the observation deck.

I sat on a bench and watched the people and dogs come and go.

I was surprised at how busy the trail was. Dozens of people passed by, without much of a break in traffic. Quite a contrast in the activity at Coachman park in Clearwater. I told John that you would think Coachman park would be crowded with all of those high-rise condominiums surrounding it and the old Clearwater neighborhood within walking distance. 

I walked in the upper portion of the park.

I discovered a kayak launching dock in the dog park/disc golf area. Dogs are allowed off leash for two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening. It's a protected little nook in the bend of the creek as it flows to the sound.

I spent the afternoon sitting in this chair, going through one of our filing cabinets and shredding and throwing away paper. I shredded eight years of tax returns. Thank goodness, ours are now 100% electronic, including the supporting documentation. I emptied our health folder, Toby's folder, our insurance folder, house folder, and the "I don't know what to do with this" folder. Everything is now online. We may keep one cabinet for a nightstand, but I'm hoping we can get rid of at least one of them. I'll tackle clearing out the other one another day. The work was surprisingly exhausting as I had to look at each sheet of paper for account numbers and social security numbers.

We made up for it with a robust meal: mahi mahi patties, roasted cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, squash, zucchini, sweet potato and golden potato fries, and a bowl of tomatoes in balsamic vinaigrette.