Saturday

 

We left home at 7:30 this morning, after walking Toby, headed for Clearwater Beach.

It was a great morning for biking and walking: mostly cloudy with temperatures in the upper 70s.

We walked north of the pier, about a mile. You can barely see the pier in the picture above.

And back to Pier 60

The bridge to Sand Key as seen from the corkscrew of the causeway bridge on the mainland.

John dropped me off at Weaver Park so I could do stretching and strength training. Today was a makeup day for missing Wednesday. The clouds had dispersed. 

Our new AT&T wireless Internet router arrived. It was "plug and play" simple as we were told. My phone is now connected to it, and I plan to connect the desktop tonight. Then, if that goes well, we'll connect the TV and game console. We're skeptical that a wireless router can handle all that at the same time, but we're open to trying. If it can, then we can say goodbye to Spectrum and save money. Otherwise, it will be good to have an Internet back-up, and we'll still be saving money with our new data plan for seniors.

The AT&T wireless router is rather large. I put it on the top shelf for the best signal. I'm going to have to work on disguising it better once we see what it can do.

Friday

 

I rode my bike out to the causeway this morning to walk.

Beautiful morning, 79 degrees, mostly sunny.

We went shopping at Trader Joe's before lunch.

Thursday

 

A sunny morning at Pier 60 in Clearwater. I left the house at 7:30 when it was 75 degrees.

I enjoyed a 30-minute walk on the beach from 8:30-9:00.

Back to Coachman Park on the mainland for stretching beside the harbor under the shade of the causeway bridge.

Then strength training at Weaver Park in Dunedin.

After lunch, we took Toby for a walk at the shaded community center.

Tuesday

 

We've had so much rain the last three days that the fields in Stirling Park are turning into ponds.

The Ducks are swimming in the temporary, shallow puddles.

So much rain. We've bypassed the lawn sprinklers for the week.

Cloudy, rainy, cool (for us). We've been kept inside except for brief walks with Toby in between showers.

We made a trip to the Apple Store in Tampa. Above, we're crossing Tampa Bay. It's hard to tell where the water meets the sky. A few days ago,  I cracked another screen riding in the golf cart. Fortunately, it's covered under Apple Care for a nominal fee. This time, I got a whole new phone because the housing got damaged, too.

Leaving Clearwater, heading to Tampa this morning. We spent the day getting the phone replaced. We had to go to AT&T to get an eSIM card after lunch to finish setting it up. Thank goodness for 25-year olds who understand how things work and to solve the inevitable glitches.  We came away with a senior discount, $20 less than our previous plan. Unlimited minutes, plus a free plug-in modem for Internet, no cable connection required. We'll see how it works before we let Spectrum go.

Friday

 

Rain was predicted for 9:45, so I left the house at 7:30 to exercise at nearby Weaver Park. I got a picture of a dragonfly in the tree above my head as I did stretching exercises.

I kept checking the radar. The storm was moving in fast so I had to cut my exercise short and hurry home. I made it with 5 minutes to spare.  It wasn't even 9:00 yet. 

Thursday (Gladys E. Douglas Preserve)

 

We toured the Douglas Preserve this morning.

The preserve was one of the last remaining large tracts of undeveloped land in Pinellas County. The city acquired the land in 2021 through county and state grants, plus county and city funds, and individual donations. It was up for development when the city intervened and outbid the developers.

We walked the trails that were open and look forward to returning when the trails are completed. It's located in southeast Dunedin in an area that we don't typically frequent. 

Reindeer moss

Rosemary bush

It was a nice little trail.

Afterwards, we still had time to drive over to the marina and walk Edgewater Park.

Beautiful clouds

We walked to where Stevenson Creek empties into the sound, in Clearwater.

Wednesday

 

Twilight

Pictures from the last several days.

Morning neighborhood walk

Causeway walk

Kayakers were out.

Bird on a rock. This stretch of the causeway has been closed to cars since the hurricane. It’s made the walk a bit more tranquil.

Coachman Park

Pier 60 at Clearwater Beach

View south from the pier

View north from the pier

Beach north of the pier

Weaver Park strength training 

Shaded stretching at Clearwater Harbor under the causeway bridge

A stroll in knee-deep water on Clearwater Beach at 8:30 a.m.

Pier 60 is undergoing renovations past the building on the left.

Clear water

A shot from the inlet back to Pier 60. It's a 15-minute walk each way.

Inlet between Clearwater Beach and Sand Key to the south

Pier 60

Manicured beach

Sunset hodgepodge of color