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The Bezabor Log

"The Bezabor Log" is my online diary since retiring in September 2005. My blogging name,'Bezabor', is an archaic term used mostly by canallers in the 1800's and early 1900's. It refers to a rascally, stubborn old mule. In the Log, I refer to my wife as 'Labashi', a name she made up as a little girl. She had decided if ever she had a puppy, she'd call it 'McCulla' or 'Labashi'. I'm not sure how to spell the former so Labashi it is. Emails welcome at bezabor(at)gmail.com.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Key West, Long Key, Everglades National Park, Breakdown in Miami (posted from the Quality Inn South Kendall, Miami)

(this post covers 21-27 February)

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Tuesday, 27 February-

Last night was quite humid and the low was 74 degrees. We wanted to be away from the cold weather but that’s almost too much. Fortunately, we had a light breeze and that made it okay— but that’s hot enough!
This morning we checked out of the campground and drove to the Christian Point Trail. This one is an hour-each-way walk through different habitats. The first was a very jungly-looking one with lots of overhanging vines and a narrow trail winding through it. The first quarter mile of trail had lots of scurrying little bugs, some type of beetle, I suppose. They were comical—they’d all scurry out of our way and sometimes that was practically a stampede; they were crawling over each other to get away from the giants (us!). You could almost hear their tiny, tinny little voices---“Run away! Run away!!!!”
The trail then opened up to a large open area which looked like African savannah. We wouldn’t have been surprised to see lions and hyenas and zebras (OK, we would have been surprised—but they would have looked like they were at home!). Another section took us across an open area of ‘marl’, a spongy earth deposited there by a hurricane. It supports a few small mangrove plants here and there but otherwise we saw sun-bleached stumps and tree trunks on a dusty plain—with palms in the background. Finally, the trail brought us to Florida Bay. Again we were there when the tide was out so we saw many wading birds on the tidal flats.
After returning to the van we drove back to the Flamingo area visitor’s center parking lot for lunch. The temperature was in the low Eighties and hot in the sun but under the mahogany trees at the visitor’s center we opened the van doors and enjoyed a wonderful cooling breeze while we had lunch.
We then drove north intending to leave the park. But as we passed Paurotis Pond we remembered we had only been there at night and couldn’t see across the pond. Today we could see a nesting site on the far end of the pond and there we saw woods storks and the spectacular roseate spoonbills. The latter looked like flamingoes from a distance. Their color was the exquisite pink of the flamingo but a closer look through the binoculars revealed the white head and spooned bill.
As we exited the park we stopped at the Coe visitor’s center and spoke with the ranger about primitive campsites for the night. Two of them show on the park map and we wanted to know if we’d be able to get to them and camp there in our van. The spots are at the end of the hard road and the beginning of a dirt road and we also wanted to know if that road is open and we’re allowed to cruise that dirt road looking for wildlife. He told us that’s a great place and we’re welcome to go there so that’s the plan.
Before heading that way, however, we wanted to hit a Wal-mart to stock up and then a coffee shop near Kendall which has a free wi-fi hotspot. We’ve not been online for over a week.
As we drove up US 1 we stopped at a drive-thru Starbucks and I noticed the van began missing as I sat in line. The missing became bad enough that I put the van in neutral and sped up the engine to clear it up and that seemed to work. But when I pulled back into traffic the missing started again. Within a few blocks the missing became so bad that I had to drift off into a new car dealer’s lot to get out of traffic. Mocha Joe then refused to start. We talked to the nice folks inside and they told us there’s a Ford dealer just a few blocks back—just beyond the Starbucks. But we couldn’t get the van running so once again it was time to pull out the AAA card and get a tow. While waiting for the tow I called the Ford dealer and explained our problem. They said they’d work on it as soon as we had it towed there.
An hour later Pepe from The Tow Connection showed up with his roll-back. Pepe is a Cuban and had a very strong accent. But Pepe was a great guy. He loaded the van up on the roll-back and entertained us with stories of Havana and his kids while hauling us to the Ford dealer. There Gonzalo set us up right away with a work order and asked the mechanic to work on the van right away. But it was already late—after 1600 by then—and it was not to be. The mechanic worked on the van a bit but the problem had cleared up and he could find nothing wrong—he will have to do more testing in the morning. Gonzalo made arrangements to have us dropped off at the local Quality Inn for the night. Unfortunately, when the Quality Inn’s computer was down and we couldn’t be assigned a room. The three guys behind the desk were very apologetic but could do nothing…. but the tech support guy was on the way and perhaps if we came back later, we could get a room. I explained our situation and one of them said we could store our stuff in a back room and go get some dinner and by then the machine should be back up. We agreed and had a nice dinner at Snapper’s Seafood next door. But when we returned the computer was still down. We said we’d take a walk and the three guys gave us suggestions and directions to an upscale mall some nine blocks away. We walked there and toured the fancy mall called ‘The Falls’. When we came back, they again apologized for the delay and gave us a 10 per cent discount for all the trouble. But that was still $116!
But we do have a wi-fi connection and Labashi enjoyed a nice bath so it’s not so bad to be in a motel for a change. Hopefully we can move on tomorrow.

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Monday, 26 February –

This morning we arose early and prepared for our boat rental. We drove to the marina and loaded our gear onto a Sundance FL17, a nice little fiberglass skiff with a 40-horse Evinrude four-stroke and (thankfully) a nice bimini for shade. It was named ‘Snook’. After our operations and safety briefing we motored up the canal to Whitewater Bay. We turned off the Wilderness Waterway course into the lower reaches of the Joe River. Once out of the no-wake zones of the canal, we zoomed along quite nicely, topping out at 24 mph according to my little Etrex Legend GPS. In fact we zoomed along a little too easily. We were looking for a turnoff to the South Joe River chickee (a chickee is a roofed wooden platform on the water where backcountry canoeists and kayakers stay the night) but we had already passed the turnoff when we started looking. We had the GPS along so we had no concerns about getting lost but we didn’t have the coordinates for the chickee. And we wanted the chickee because it had the only bathroom around. It took us the better part of an hour to find the chickee after we realized we had missed it--- but at least we found it! This chickee consisted of two largish roofed platforms (they looked like wooden docks) on stilts about four feet above the water level and about thirty yards out from the nearest land. The two docks were joined by a walkway and halfway between them was a porta-john. That’s about it. No tables, no lights, no walls. But it would nonetheless be a nice place to spend a night in the backcountry.
After our stop at the chickee we motored back down the Joe River to Tarpon Creek and then on across into the southeast portion of Whitewater Bay. We diddled around out there and then headed back, just making it to the dock on our contracted half-day time. This little adventure cost $100 for the four-hour (half-day) trip but it was well worth it. We were a little disappointed in that we didn’t see much wildlife and didn’t see any manatees in the canal but we nevertheless loved the remote backcountry feel of the far reaches of the Joe River. We saw only two kayakers back in there and recognized them as two guys from Baltimore who had stayed in our campground the day before. They were carrying QCC kayaks (QCC is a brand name) atop their car in the campground and I had stopped to chat with them about their boats.
After returning the skiff we drove back to the campground for the afternoon. We had lunch and listened to several podcasts from ‘This Week in Alberta” and “This American Life”. Labashi then hit the showers and I went for a jog back the Coastal Prairie Trail. This trail was damaged by a hurricane and is closed but you can get back in a mile or so and see some nice country. I met some birders back there who said they had seen three bald eagles there today. I was jogging in 86-degree heat and high humidity that moved in overnight so I only lasted about 50 minutes, then had a beer (one has to balance, you know) before taking my shower.
We spent the evening blogging and reading.

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Sunday, 25 February –

Today was a few degrees warmer than yesterday but nice and airy so we didn’t mind at all. We picked up the keys and paddles and PFDs for our rental canoe at 0800 and drove to Nine Mile Lake where the canoes are locked to a rack. We were warned that some people have been feeding the alligators there so be careful if they approach you for a handout. We launched without incident and paddled across the windy lake, passing a wood stork. These large birds have been on the Endangered Species List since 1984 so we felt lucky to see one in the wild. Then we entered a marked path through the mangroves. In places the mangroves were overhanging and the water-trail was only wide enough for the canoe—we even had to pull our paddles in to pass through. We met an oncoming group of three canoes in that area and had to find a pull-off to let them pass. But it wasn’t long until the pathway opened up to a more comfortable twenty feet as it snaked back and forth among the mangroves. By lunch time we needed a rest so we tied to a mangrove and munched our granola bars. After another half-hour we crossed a large open area and that was the toughest part of the trail. It was only about three inches deep and we were barely able to maintain headway by pushing against the spongy bottom. The wind was blowing off the port beam and tended to push the canoe sideways and at times it seemed we were making way to leeward faster than forward. But after twenty minutes of that, the water deepened again and re-entered the mangroves and our only challenge was to find the trail markers. These were numbered poles of white PVC pipe and most were easy to see but a few hid from us. Finally we entered the two ponds marking the end of the trail. There we rested and looked for gators. As we eased along the lee shore, a gator passed under the canoe- I saw his side as he dove for deeper water--- very cool! As we approached our take-out point we saw splashing and soon saw its source- an eight-footer. But he soon moved on and we landed without difficulty. We had no problems stowing the canoe and returning the gear. Cost for our half-day rental was a very reasonable $22.
We spent the late afternoon lounging about and were hoping to see another program but then learned the programs are only done on Friday and Saturday night. So we decided we’d do a little night hike here in the darkest-of-the-dark, fiercest-of-the-fierce Everglades. At dusk we drove north from the campground and soon noticed something new--- a crackling sound on windshield. It was caused by bugs hovering over the roadway. We had been up this same road the night before to look for wildlife and had seen no bugs at all yet a night later we apparently had thousands of them. They were collecting on the underside of the windshield wipers and we could see them in the headlights. But the crackling let up after twenty minutes or so as we continued north past Nine Mile Lake and on another 15 miles to the Pa-hok-ee Observation Tower. There we put on our long pants and long-sleeved shirts and loaded up the pack with Maxi-DEET and extra flashlights. We have mosquito headnets stored away for times like this but we decided if the bugs are bad, we’ll just run back to the van and call it a night. Surprisingly, the bugs weren’t bad. Since we had a half-moon we could see well enough to walk out the Pa-hok-ee boardwalk without turning on our flashlights. Once out to the Observation Tower overlook, we turned on our largest flashlight, a three-cell Maglight, and looked for reflecting eyes. Surprisingly, we saw only two little green reflections nearby, probably a frog. The light seemed to draw mosquitoes so we turned it off and walked the boardwalk listening to the night-sounds. Then we drove south to the Mahogany Hammock trailhead, were we did the same thing—and again no surprises. We drove each of the side roads leading to a hammock or pond and only one gave us a good result. Good ol’ Nine Mile Lake sounded different right away—we could hear a lot of night-noise, from roosting birds off in the distance (they had that dinosaur-sounding croak of great blue herons), to water swishing both to the left and right, and then a very large splash, then we could see the firey-red reflection of alligator eyes. What a great place!
The other thing we had tonight was low-lying fog—lots of it. We first saw a little of it – just a bit of rising mist--- along the road into Pa-hok-ee. But later we had enough fog that we were thankful for the reflectors on the centerline of the road. The fog was patchy and would condense on the windshield—I had the wipers on delay but had to keep them on. As we came back toward the campground, we noticed that the bugs were gone now—no more crackling sound, no more of them in the headlights. We have no idea what they were or why they were there and then gone a couple of hours later. And though it was only nine at night, we were completely alone out there on the park roads. There were no lights anywhere in sight – just us little innocent bugs wandering around in the Everglades in the dark.

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Saturday, 24 February –

Today we awoke to a spectacular Everglades day. The temperature overnight was a very comfortable 59 degrees and today is in the low 80’s and sunny. We rode the bicycles to nearby Eco Pond for a morning bird walk. A ranger-led walk had started there about an hour earlier and we caught up and tagged along for the last part of it. Afterwards we rode another mile to the marina and checked on boat rentals. We couldn’t get a skiff for the weekend but reserved one for Monday. We also found out how the canoe rentals worked and reserved one for tomorrow. We rode our bikes back to the campground and then drove Mocha Joe seven miles or so up the main road to Snake Bight trailhead. The word ‘bight’ here refers to a bay within a bay. Snake Bight is a small bay within the much larger curve of Florida Bay. The Snake Bight Trail follows an old straight-as-an-arrow canal to the small bay where a small boardwalk juts into the bight and gave us a nice view. The tide was out and by standing on the resting bench we could scan the tidal flats with our binoculars. There were hundreds of great blue herons out there, each claiming a territory of several acres. With the binoculars, we could see them lined up for several miles each direction, each slowly walking its territory, just the right distance from his/her neighbors on both sides.
The four-mile walk in the heat on Snake Bight Trail was plenty of exercise for today. We returned to the campground and took our cold showers (there’s no hot water in the campground)—a refreshing experience to say the least!
That evening we rode the bikes to Eco Pond and circled it just before dark but we timed it badly—it was a little too dark to see anything. We then rode on to the visitor’s center where ranger Tim gave an excellent presentation titled “The Most Dangerous Reptile in the Park?” It gave us an intro to the park’s more dangerous reptiles (eastern diamondback rattlers, dusky pygmy rattlers, water moccasins, coral snakes, brackish-water crocodiles, and alligators) but then told us why each is not really a threat. Then he introduced the Burmese python and showed us a chart showing python removal rates. In the late 90’s the numbers were single digits. In 2006, rangers removed 154 pythons from the park. The question of whether or not the python is a dangerous reptile has not been answered. Tim showed us photos of seven encounters between gators and pythons and the score is five wins for the gators and two ties (both gator and python died in those). But Tim points out those were encounters between big gators and pythons. It is likely pythons are eating many of the gator young. I asked Tim about recent sightings and he says there have been two in the last ten days… one near Eco Pond and one on the nearby Buttonwood Canal.
After the presentation we returned to camp for the night and sat out looking at stars. The moon is almost a half-moon now so it’s too bright for good viewing until after midnight.
Labashi has been wanting to see the Southern Cross constellation and we both awoke around 0230 so we hastily dressed and went outside. The moon was down and it was very dark but we believe we could only see a small portion of it right on the southern horizon. We’re a little too far north, I believe.

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Friday, 23 February – (written at Flamingo Campground, Everglades National Park)

Last night at Wal-mart was pretty noisy but we didn’t mind… we both slept very well. This morning we picked up a few necessities (like ice) at Wal-mart then headed for Everglades National Park by 0900 and were at the welcoming visitor’s center by 0945. We took our time there and then had an early lunch in Mocha Joe in the parking lot. It was one of those perfect Florida winter days—mid-Seventies, cloudless sky, light breeze—and we were enjoying it to the max.
After passing through the park entrance gates, we drove to the Royal Palm Visitor’s Center. There we walked the Gumbo Limbo Trail and the Anhinga Trail. The former is a pleasant half-mile walk through forest canopy (formed by gumbo-limbo trees) and the latter is a three-quarter-mile boardwalk overlooking a lake and several smaller ponds, all with many tilapia fish, anhingas, white ibises, green-backed herons, great blue herons, white herons, a few pelicans, turtles, and dozens of alligators.
Then we drove to the nearby Pinelands Trail and walked it, another half-miler. This one took us among tall pines separated by beautifully waving palms and yuccas. Along the way we saw a half-dozen tree snails and, of all things, robins and cardinals.
We drove on to the Pa-hay-okee Observation tower and walked to the tower for its view across the open ‘river of grass’. Then we walked the Mahogany Hammock trail, winding among old-growth mahogany trees which escaped the cutter’s blades by being located so remotely.
By 1700 we were pretty well exhausted as we checked in to our campground at Flamingo. This one is very interesting in that it looks like open savannah if you look inland and yet it has expansive views of Florida Bay the other direction. It has a very open feel and we have a spot off to ourselves in the very back of the campground.
After supper we took a walk through the campground on this balmy, balmy night. We have a few no-see-ums around but we’ve only seen two mosquitoes all evening as we sat outside watching the sun set and the stars come out.

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Thursday, 22 February – (written in the Wal-mart parking lot, Florida City)

We had a blissfully-peaceful night at Long Key State Park. I heard the van doors opening in the very early morning and it was Labashi trying to quietly exit to check on the Southern Cross at 0330. She later said she thinks she could see part of it but we’ll have to wait until we get to a good book store to check. We have a planisphere with us but it’s designed for latitude 40 and we’re around latitude 25.
After breakfast we checked with the park office about staying another night but everything’s booked up and cancellations seem unlikely. We rented a two-person kayak, a Perception ocean model. I’ve been wanting to try one of those anyway so today’s the day! It certainly rented cheaply enough (compared to other rental prices in the Keys) -- $20 for two hours. We paddled along the mangrove swamp lining the Atlantic, ducking in here and there to look for birds. We saw a few herons and ibises here and there before finding a small brown pelican colony to sit and watch. We also saw several kingfishers and two ospreys along the way. We followed the shoreline to a remote beach and took a stretch-break and had a snack there before paddling back to our departure beach. The day was absolutely perfect— clear-sky-sunny and seventy-five degrees with a light breeze coming from the side each way.
After returning our kayak paddles and PFDs we had lunch at the picnic grounds, then returned to the campground for showers. We checked at the office right after the 1300 checkout deadline but still no luck there so we moved on.
We drove up US1 to Islamorada and checked out the Bass Pro shop where they had the sister boat to Hemingway’s fishing boat, ‘Pilar’ in the middle of the floor. We went aboard and enjoyed the 30’s-vintage wooden fishing vessel. We then visited the Wild Bird Center. This is a rehab facility which has a thirty-or-so birds which had been injured too badly to return to the wild. There were falcons, hawks, owls, and nearly any type of sea bird you can think of. The brown pelicans were gathering for their 1530 feeding but we decided to move on before that—it looked like a big fight was about to break out.
We drove on north through Key Largo and on to Florida City for the turn to Everglades National Park. We thought we’d better stock up before driving into the park so Labashi looked up the nearest Wal-mart and it was only a few blocks from the turnoff. When we pulled in the lot we saw the traditional no-overnight-camping-per-city-ordinance sign but we could also see there were already a dozen or so RVs in the far end of the lot. We checked with Customer Service and we were indeed welcome to stay. Good! We need some freebie nights to balance that $60 night in Key West and the two $30 nights in the Keys state parks.
After shopping and supper we spent the evening blogging and reading. Labashi is reading about the Everglades and I’m reading memoirs about Piper Cubs, Aeroncas, Taylorcrafts, Cessna 120’s and other wood-wire-and-cloth airplanes at a small grass strip in Minnesota. My book is one of a grocery-bag-full of small-plane books my brother Orat brought me on his latest visit.


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Wednesday, 21 February- (written at Long Key State Park)

We awoke early today but nevertheless didn’t get underway until almost 0900. We drove from Boyd’s into Key West via A1A, circling the city to the east. The roadway is under construction on that side of the city and we expected slow going. Everyone else must have avoided this construction area, though, for we had it almost to ourselves and the view beyond the construction was quite striking. Once the construction’s done the drive along the beaches will be spectacular.
We parked in a large open-field lot near the USS Mohawk and pulled out the folding bicycles for the day’s adventures. We rode down Whitehead Street and soon came to the Audubon House. We spent a pleasant half-hour in the Audubon House museum shop chatting with a very knowledgeable young lady about roseate spoonbills. Before long we were comparing notes on trips we’ve each taken in the US (she’s originally from Chicago and even knows about “Uff Da”). She highly recommends Door County, Wisconsin, one of the areas we’ve been saving for another trip. We had been through the Wisconsin Dells a few years ago and considered going into Door County but we were pressed for time on that trip. We have a family reunion coming up next summer in Michigan. Perhaps we can extend that to finally get to Door County.
After our Audubon House visit, we rode the bikes to Galleon Square and locked them to a bike stand. We were hungry and thought we’d find something close by but it took us a few blocks to find a coffee shop with sandwiches. The coffee shop was called ‘Bad Ass Coffee’, the name referring (this is a bit of a stretch) to donkeys used to carry the Kona coffee beans down the hills from their fields in Hawaii. In any case, the shop made a good, fresh Cuban sandwich for us.
We decided to leave the bikes and just walk through the area. We spent the next several hours walking along the docks and then most of the length of Duval Street and back Whitebread Street to our bikes. We pedaled back to Mocha Joe via the Harry Truman ‘Little White House’ before heading out of town by about 1500.
We continued north to Long Key State Park, arriving by 1730. The day had turned absolutely beautiful with pink skies and light winds. Our campsite is right on the Atlantic and the colors of the water and skies were incredible.
After supper we sat around in our shorts and sandals watching the sky fade as the sun set and watching the stars slowly come up. We spent the next several hours sky-watching and saw three shooting stars and four satellites even though we had a ‘smiley’ of a bright moon sliver throwing quite a lot of light. Labashi was convinced we should be able to find the Southern Cross but we couldn’t. The Big Dipper is very low in the sky—only the ‘dipper’ shows and of course it continues to point to the North Star to orient us. Orion is un-naturally high in the sky and we’re wondering if perhaps the Southern Cross is below the horizon at this time of the evening. Labashi will check later on!

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Stuck in the Driveway, Off to Florida Again, Wormsloe, Pennekamp, NAS-KW problem, Key West Day One (posted from Boyd’s Campground, Key West)

(this post covers 13-20 February)

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Tuesday, 20 February-

After breakfast we decided we had better make tracks for Key West so we can check in early at the Naval Air Station. I first needed to get to a wi-fi connection to activate Labashi’s new Tracfone and add minutes to it. I had seen an ad for the Key Largo Coffee Shop said they have wi-fi so we stopped there for a coffee and did the phone activation and picked up our email. We then turned south for Key West and arrived at the Naval Air Station around 1400. And that’s when we ran into trouble. It seems the RV park people have been telling DoD civilian retirees they can stay there and have been making reservations for them but when you attempt to get a visitor’s pass from the pass office, they won’t let you on base. The supervisor of the pass office explained that the policy is that only DoD civilian retirees who worked at that base could use the facility and apparently the RV park folks have been ignoring the rule. That left us with a problem. We started calling state park facilities and then commercial campgrounds and they were booked up. We finally found one which would take us--- but it was 23 miles from Key West and the site would cost us $93 for the night. We had tried Boyd’s in Key West and there had been no answer but we were close by so just drove to it. There we found a bargain— $60 a night for a tent site. We took it and can only argue that given the free nights at Wal-Marts and the Corps of Engineers site will still keep us under our target average of $20 per night.
Well, that changed the whole idea. We had been planning to stay at the NAS park for $7 a night and here we are having to spend $60 for one night. We had hoped to spend a leisurely few days in Key West and leave only when we had seen everything and were tired of it but now that has changed.
We were bummed by the bad news but decided to make the best of it. We drove into Key West and parked in the northen end of the city near a city park. We unloaded the bikes and rode into town via the back streets, a very pleasant little jaunt. We soon found the Hemingway House and took a nice tour there. We had been here many years ago only to find it closed for some maintenance operation so it was nice to finally see it.
Afterwards we rode the bikes in to Mallory Square and walked around that area for a bit before finding a very nice Cuban restaurant with outdoor tables just off the Square. We had a wonderful dinner of Cuban specialties plus a half-carafe of sangria and then I had a caipirinha (a Brazilian favorite) and Labashi had a mojito. We cycled back to Mocha Joe through the dark side streets of the west side and only got lost once.

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Monday, 19 February-

Last night was a cold one—27 degrees. We awoke to a heavy coating of frost yet the fishermen came out anyway. I heard the first around 0600 and by the time we left at 0730 there were at least a dozen trucks and boat trailers parked near us. As we drove out we saw one boat in the water surrounded by rising mists—and it was no more than 30 degrees then. I’m impressed!
We headed south on route 78 for an hour or so until we came to the Seminole Indian Reservation. Labashi had just finished saying she’d like to stop at a museum or cultural center if there was one in the area when we came upon one. We checked the hours of operation and it was due to open in a half-hour. We parked in the museum lot and had breakfast while we waited.
This turned out to be a very good one. We first saw a six-screen orientation film which discussed the history of the Creeks and Seminoles and the Seminole Wars, then moved on to the Seminole community today. It consists of some 3000 people now and is self-sufficient after becoming the first Indian tribe to host gaming starting in the 70’s. After the film we learned about the traditional Seminole way of life via a series of very detailed and very lifelike dioramas with life-size manikins. We’ve never seen such realistic ones. You could see the individual muscles and veins and every hair was an individual hair, not a representation. Afterwards we walked the mile-and-a-half boardwalk into the cypress swamp. When we arrived, the morning was cold and windy but by the time we started the boardwalk trail, it was in the high Sixties and sunny. We nevertheless decided not to take either the airboat ride or swamp buggy; we’d save that for a later time when the wildlife would be out and about.
We continued south through Homestead (and there saw a “DQ Grill and Chill” sign) and finally hit Key Largo by mid-afternoon. We had been planning to drive all the way to Key West and stay at the Naval Air Station’s RV park but couldn’t raise anyone on the phone there. Since we were just them coming up on John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, we decided to drop in there and see what they could tell us about camping in the state parks—just in case we couldn’t confirm that we’d be able to get in at NAS Key West on late arrival. I had checked the state park reservation web site weeks ago and had seen the state park campsites had all been booked solid through February and March but many state parks hold back some sites for walk-ins. As we approached the gate, we saw a sign warning us that the campground was full but we’ve learned to ask anyway. And we got lucky—a site had just opened up a half-hour ago. Cost with tax was $32.49.
We had stayed at Pennekamp back in the early Eighties when we were there for scuba trips so it was nice to see the park again. The park is pretty much the same but the campground now has nicer facilities. We took showers and then went for a leisurely walk to check out the salt-water aquarium, the canoe and kayak rental facilities, the dive shop, the beaches, and the nature trail. After supper I became antsy and took a little walk in the nice sixty-degree night and when I returned to the van I talked Labashi into going out once again, this time to look for the Southern Cross. It turned out to be too cloudy in the South to see the Southern Cross but we had a pleasant night-time stroll.
Since we had a site with RV hookups I decided to plug in our extension cable and found their distribution box is wired incorrectly. I was able to use an adapter to plug into a higher-amperage plug normally used by the big RVs though.
We read until 2200 and then fell asleep to the pleasant sound of tree-frogs chirping away.

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Sunday, 18 February-

It rained hard for an hour or so last night but the overnight temperature was much better--- 43 degrees—and by 0800 was up to 50. We shopped for a few necessities at Wal-mart and then headed south on US19. We wanted to once again go into the Ocala National Forest and were very happy to once again cruise it’s sandy forest roads. We had stopped at the Salt Springs visitor center and asked about dispersed camping sites. They are reported to all be open but when we asked where the Rainbow People are this year, our older ranger-lady told us (in disgusted tones) that they’re at Farles Prairie (our favorite campsite last winter) and we shouldn’t go there--- we’re much too clean for that group. Well, of course that meant we had to go see the Rainbows. If you read about our trip last year you may remember we first learned of the fearsome Rainbows and their gypsy ways. We later learned the official Rainbow Gathering happens the week and weekends around Valentines Day but many people attending the Gathering are there as much as a month before and are still in the area a month after the Gathering—and those are the folks to watch out for.
As we turned off the main road onto the four-mile sand road back to Farle’s Prarie a young woman was just pulling up to the stop sign. She was driving a pickup loaded with full bags of trash. As we caught each other’s eye, she flashed the peace-sign and Labashi had the presence of mind to flash back a peace sign (I just waved). AHA—we now have the Rainbow pass-symbol!
We soon started seeing vehicles on this sand road—more than we’ve seen before back here—and then we saw cars parked along the road at least a half-mile before the campground. The Rainbows! As we passed people walking our way, each would flash us the peace sign and we’d dutifully respond. When we finally reached the campground, it was jammed with people—mostly twenty-somethings but a few older long-bearded hippies too. It was around noon and they just looked like a bunch of kids who had had a rough night and had just gotten up. They were a little out of place back there in the boonies and were definitely trying to figure out how to warm up—many only wore tee shirts or long-sleeved shirts and today’s temperature stayed in the Fifties and it was quite windy.
We decided not to press our luck by stopping and only turned around in the parking lot and left--- but now we’ve seen them. And somehow lived to tell the tale.
We continued down US19 through Eustis and then plotted a course for the Keys. It’s still too cold and windy to stay here! In fact it was nicer on our walk in Savannah yesterday.
We continued down through Lake Wales and worked our way over to Lake Okeechobee. We followed the west shore road to what was supposed to be a free Army Corps of Engineers campground along the Indian Prairie Canal. We parked there beside several other camper vehicles in what just looked like a parking lot for the boat ramp. But we’ve seen other Corps of Engineers campsites which are just that so we thought nothing of it. While eating supper I was looking at the other campers and realized one looks familiar. It’s a fifth-wheel camper towing a larger utility trailer. Is that Tie-Dye’s rig? We met Tie-Dye last year at Farle’s Prairie. He’s the guy who has a stock of ladies’ white shifts in his utility trailer and he makes his living by tie-dying them and selling them at folk festivals and music festivals. A bit later I saw him walking so we walked over and said hello. He told us he’s preparing to move out because the campground has been closed and we all have to vacate the boat launch parking area by tomorrow. That’s when I noticed a roadway leading back along the canal. It’s gated now but that’s where the campground was. We walked back to the old campground and saw that the new owners of this area, the South Florida Water Conservation District, has posted No Camping signs and has girdled all the trees. Tie-Dye says they are due to come in tomorrow and clear the trees.
Tie-Dye says he’s not sure where he’ll go. Perhaps to a canal (C65) near Cornwall where you can stay for up to seven days at $5 per night or perhaps to Okalusky (sp?) Slough, a state forest area with similar camping possibilities.
After supper we walked back through the campground and then spent the evening blogging, reading, and listening to a CBC podcast.


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Saturday, 17 February –

This morning we awoke to with a temperature of 27-degrees--- not exactly the balmy South we were hoping for. We had a decent night in the Wal-mart parking lot though it was a bit noisy. The cold temps put a bit of a damper on the noise, though. Even if we’d get some thump-a-dump rice rocket nearby it would only stay for ten or fifteen minutes and then move on. This particular lot had a sign prohibiting trucks and overnight parking but we checked with the customer service desk and they told us it’s ok—the ban is not enforced.
We headed south on I-95 and were soon through South Carolina. We listened to more “This Week in the North” episodes to pass the time, including a fascinating one about a man who last week became the first Canadian to reach Antarctica’s ‘Point of Inaccessibility’ (I didn’t even know that existed, did you?). We also saw a new instant-classic in roadside signs along the way. Five miles north of the South Carolina-Georgia border is a billboard advertising the “Squat-and-Gobble II”, a local convenience store. The billboard shows a cartoon of a woman entering a rest-room door on the left side and a rack of chips and other snacks on the right side to make sure you get the point. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.
It was about the time we hit the Georgia border that Labashi decided she wanted to drop into Savannah and see an historic site called ‘Wormsloe’. This plantation was settled by a young man named Noble Jones of London. He was among the first settlers in this area in the mid-1730’s and was a jack-of-all-trades. His home was one of a series of fortified homes built to guard against invasion by the Spanish, who were attempting to limit English claims in the New World. The Jones home was built of tabby, a mix of oyster shell, lime, sand, and water. We learned there are no naturally-occuring lime rocks in the area so lime is made by heating oyster shells. Oyster shells also serve as a filler in this poor-man’s concrete. Most of the Jones home is long gone but the tabby walls of the home and the surrounding fortifications still stand today.
We also walked the nature trail and came upon a re-enactor in a small clearing. He taught us about his home built of wattle-and-daub, his garden, his tools, and his smoothbore flintlock gun.
We ran into heavy traffic trying to get back to I-95 but that only took about a half-hour to get through. We set our sights on Palatka, FL because we know there’s a Wal-mart there with a Chili’s restaurant in the parking lot and Labashi wanted some fajitas tonight. Our walk in Savannah delayed us a bit but also relaxed us so we didn’t mind driving on through until 2000 in order to make it to Palatka. After dinner and a glass or three of box wine (the new Franzia ‘Old World Classics Rhine’ wine is wonderful!), we turned in for the night and read.

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Friday, 16 February – We’re (finally) OFF!

(written in the Wal-Mart parking lot at Lumberton, NC, (I-95 NC Exit 22)

I awoke early and started checking traffic reports and news reports right away. The I-78 closure made national news last night and I-81 is still closed from I-78 to the New York border but things appear much quieter south of us. We decided to give it a go and were in Mocha Joe and ready to roll by 0900. But we couldn’t budge—we were stuck on the ice in our own driveway! Fortunately some judicious rocking of the van worked and we were on our way. I just love the feeling when we depart on a trip—the world seems full of promise.
Looking back on today’s run, things went very well, particularly in light of our fears of ice and traffic jams. There was very little ice—only a bit in some shady spots under bridges-- and we only hit five or six slowdowns, mostly on I-95 south of DC. Traffic was heavy but moving well except for the five-to-ten-minute slowdowns. They all appeared to have been caused by fender-bender accidents or a major traffic merge. We had snow until just above Richmond and air temps are abnormally cold—only in the low 30’s.
We did 475 miles today and that’s plenty. During the last two hours of the trip we listened to two episodes of the CBC “This Week in the North” podcast about goings-on in Nunavut and the Yukon. We stopped at 1800 and had supper at a Smithfield BBQ and Chicken franchise where I had that some excellent North-Carolina-style bar-be-que (the vinegary kind with cole slaw on top). Then we did our final supplies stock-up at Wal-mart and spent the latter part of the evening blogging and reading.


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Thursday, 15 February -

We had hoped to leave today but a look at a traffic incidents map showed it’s very ugly out there. I-81 is closed north of Harrisburg from its intersection with I-78 to the New York border. I-78 is closed for 60-plus miles and hundreds of truckers and motorists have been stuck there for 24 hours. The National Guard was called out to distribute meals, blankets, and gas. I don’t know if we’ll be able to get out tomorrow though I-83 did open up. In the evening I spent an hour or so checking out traffic cams and traffic incident reports for the Baltimore and Washington areas and it looks like things are moving but with some congestion here and there and an occasional road closure due to ice.

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Wednesday, 14 February –

We’re snowed in today—or more accurately, we’re iced in. Schools and businesses are closed and I-83 northbound is closed below York. Rain started late in the day yesterday and continued for several hours as temps dropped before turning to wind-blown ice pellets for much of last night. We spent several hours digging out the driveway this afternoon and it was tough going. The top layer of snow is iced over and the crust has to be broken up to get through and then against the ground is a thick layer of very heavy slush. The going is so laborious I only cleared about a 30-foot-long, 8-foot-wide path in front of outward-facing Mocha Joe. Once it clears we’ll head out, hopefully tomorrow. Back inside I printed off geocaches in the Everglades City area and maps of several South-Florida conservation areas. This is gonna be fun!

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Tuesday, 13 February –

We spent the day continuing with preparations for our Everglades trip. By mid-day it was snowing lightly and windy. Tonight the snow is supposed to turn to rain, then to ice pellets and back to snow. If we hadn’t had to stay for our tax-prep appointment I’d have wanted to get out of Dodge—but then again we might have just ended up stranded somewhere down I-95. Besides—we’re not really ready yet. In the evening I ventured out in Cherry Larry to pick up a Valentine’s Day present for Labashi. It wasn’t bad going but things will get interesting if it ices up as predicted.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Stupid Human Tricks While Boating, Florida trip prep, “Nip/Tuck” Two (posted from home)

(this post covers 3-12 February)

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Monday, 12 February –

Things seem to be coming together for our trip. Labashi’s camera came in the mail after its long journey from the repair shop in Colorado. The tech did an excellent job of repairing the broken back-cover latch. Labashi’s new Tracfone arrived via FedEx and a parts order came in today via UPS. We’re a regular transportation hub around here today.
Today was much warmer (44-degrees) so I took advantage of the nice day and washed Labashi’s car, stowed gear in Mocha Joe for our upcoming trip, started securing the house and vehicles for our departure and prepared a checklist of last minute items so we don’t miss them. Late in the day we drove over to the tax-prep office to file our taxes and that went fine too.
That evening we had a few more last-minute financial things to take care of to have everything as settled as we can before the trip.

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Sunday, 11 February –

This morning we woke up in Mocha Joe in its parking spot in my brother’s driveway. Maypo always invites us to sleep in their spare room in the house but we’re so nice and comfy in the familiar surroundings of Mocha Joe that we prefer to sleep there and give them a break from their social-host duties. Overnight I had seen the outside temp drop to 7.4 degrees but thanks to the electric heater the temp in Mocha Joe never dropped below 43. That’s good sleeping weather and warm enough in the morning for us to dress comfortably without firing up the propane heater. We spent the day chatting again and visited Mom at the assisted-living facility. That evening we had a very nice family meal before Labashi and I broke free around 2000 for our hour-plus drive home.
That evening we watched two more ‘Nip / Tuck’ Season Two episodes. What was Julia thinking in telling Christian about Matt?

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Saturday, 10 February-

Today we drove Mocha Joe to my brother Maypo’s home. My other brother, Orat, and his wife drove down from the Rochester, NY area for the weekend. We spent the afternoon chatting away and catching up then went out to dinner at a local restaurant and dessert back at the house.

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Friday, 9 February -

I spent most of today blogging , searching the web, and preparing for our upcoming trip. Each time a trip approaches we have a flurry of updates to do, from updating maps, tourguides, and campground directories to getting new lists of wi-fi freespots, geocaches, launch ramps, state and national forests, and water-protection and wildlife conservation areas. That evening we watched three more Nip/Tuck episodes.

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Thursday, 8 February –

Today I spent much of the day researching gun laws of the various states we’ll be in during our upcoming trip. I want to take my .22 target rifle and pistols along and don’t want to chance violating any state or federal (or local!) laws. I have a book (“Traveler’s Guide to Gun Laws of the Fifty States”) and I’ve spent a lot of time on Packing.org’s state-laws section to get up to speed. I’m planning to stay on a military base for a few days of the trip so I made arrangements with a local gunsmith while in that area. What have I missed?
That afternoon I fired up the Concours in the 24-degree temperature (a heat-wave according to temps earlier this week) and rode in to Wal-Mart. I finally found the ‘right’ protector for Labashi’s nano—one that protects not only the case but also the screen and click-wheel. For some reason the people at Wal-mart thought it odd to see someone in motorcycle gear. But I also know I’m not the only crazy person out today. I saw a Ural side-car bike ahead of me but I got caught at the light and didn’t see him again. I wonder if it was one of the two-wheel-drive models?

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Wednesday, 7 February –

This morning I bought a Tracfone for Labashi to replace her Simple Freedom phone. Hers had escalated in price to $15 a month. The Tracfone deal will give her a new phone and lock in a rate of $6.93 a month for the next 15 months with enough minutes to last the entire time if she continues to use so few minutes per month. This morning I also cleared the driveway of snow for the first time this season. We only had an inch and I easily swept it away with a shop broom.
Later that day I completed the podcast setup for our trip. I’ve downloaded 383 podcasts and all our purchased music onto the Nano in a little over half of the 8 gigs available. I’m now subscribing to 29 podcasts, 15 of them various Canadian Broadcasting Company podcasts and the rest various National Public Radio, Minnesota Public Radio, Old Time Radio, Popular Science, International Spy Museum, and Wildebeat podcasts. I also worked with the Shuttle to download some of the podcasts and our music so we can separately listen if we like. The little Shuttle is turning out to be a pleasant surprise. It’s simple, easy to use and the battery lasts for days and days.

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Tuesday, 6 February-

Today I spent most of the day on the web. While traveling we’ve had difficulty finding butane cartridges for our little stove and several times had to pay exhorbitant prices (over $6.50 a cart) for them. I found some $3 ones on the web but the silly vendor wouldn’t provide a shipping price until after I’d fill out a form with all my identifying info. Thanks but no thanks, Mr. Vendor. I’m not about to provide my info to you to sell to someone else only to find out you have a crazy shipping and handling price. Labashi had bought some at a local restaurant supply several years ago so I checked there and then drove over and picked up six of them for $2.16 each.
On the way home I stopped in at the local police station to alert them we’d be going away soon. They’re good about including us as a ‘vacation check’ location on their patrols. I also checked whether there are any trends in crime in the area and picked up some tips there. We also reviewed my security prep, motion-detectors, security alarm and electricity-monitoring setups.

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Monday, 5 February –

Today I met my brother Maypo in Hanover to finalize the purchase of our new jon boat at Moto-Sports. The transfer went smoothly for the most part but we had to drive to a local used-car dealer to transfer the boat-trailer title and there we met Carol, the most customer-service-challenged person either one of us has met in a long time. She was a trip—very abrupt and argumentative for no apparent reason. We got through the paperwork and then drove up to Bass Pro in Harrisburg to start outfitting the boat. There we bought a lock and cover for the outboard, fishing seats, a marine fire extinguisher, canister-style boat-horn, cleats and lines and other sundries. I added an anchor I had found while scuba diving in John Pennekamp State Park in the Florida Keys years ago. Maypo was trailing the boat and says he can hardly tell it’s back there. I’m sure Spring will seem particularly slow in coming this year. I had thought about taking the boat along on our upcoming trip to Florida but that’s probably not a good idea—at least not this year. I would want to have worked out how to secure the boat and gear and would want a good cover before parking somewhere in a Wal-mart and have the locals cruising by looking for an opportunity.
When I arrived home I started filing my copy of the paperwork and noticed our good buddy Carol had registered the trailer incorrectly—she had used part of my address but had used Hanover as the city. I immediately called to try to stop the transaction from being sent in that way but Carol was being Carol and told me that’s how I had told her we wanted it done and I’d have to talk to Mary when she came in Wednesday about the address change transaction I was now requesting. She would not admit she had registered the trailer incorrectly and was again very abrupt. Frustrated, I called the dealer and explained the treatment we were getting from her sub-contractor and she said she’d get it squared away.


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Sunday, 4 February-

Today we started preparing Mocha Joe for our next trip. The temperature was only in the teens and windy so I first ran a heavy-duty extension cord to the van and connected up the baseboard electric heater to the outlets in Mocha Joe--- and it didn’t work! I retrieved the little electrical tester plug I have to test campground electric supplies (which I’ve heard are notorious for being wired incorrectly) and it indicated a reversed hot wire. “Must be the new electric outlet I’m plugged into at the house. How could the electrician have gotten that wrong?”, I thought. But a test there showed OK. “Hmmm. Must be the extension cord”, I thought (as unlikely as that seemed). No, that’s OK too. I was sure the outlets in Mocha Joe weren’t the problem since I’ve used them a dozen times or more since the installation. But there it was—the top receptacle on the first outlet (the one I normally use) was good but the other three receptacles were wrong. That means I had switched the wires when extending wiring from the first outlet to the second. That was indeed the case and only took a few minutes to fix. But I’m still mystified how my laptop worked fine on those back outlets.
Labashi vacuumed out the van and we have the storage containers in the mud room to check through, clean and re-stow.
I spent the latter part of the day researching covers for the new boat and some Florida destinations for the next trip.

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Saturday, 3 February –

Today I spent much of the morning blogging and the afternoon on iboats.com. I found this site while looking for boating forums which seem to be more into the smaller outboard boats like ours. I had posted a message or two there and today saw a section called “Stupid Human Tricks While Boating or Fishing”. After enjoying the posts there, I thought I’d post my own “stupid human tricks while boating”. I first posted one I called “NEEDED AN EXTRA- LONG GAS LINE”: A few years ago I anchored my little sailboat in the crowded Baltimore harbor (near the National Aquarium) for the night. I was low on gas so I unhooked the tank and put it in the dink, thinking I'd row over to the marina for gas later on. A few hours later the anchorage was filling fast and a large sailboat anchored too close to us. When it became apparent the dancing winds would swing him into us sooner or later, I decided to move. I started up the outboard while wifey went forward. I powered the anchor loose, paused while she pulled it up, and then eased forward through the densely-packed boats to circle around to my new spot. That's when the engine died. I still remember my astonishment as I looked down to check the tank and realized where it was. I quickly pulled in the trailing dink, grabbed the tank, and hooked up and all came out well. But I imagine it was fun for all those folks watching me sheepishly retrieve my gas tank as I drifted among the other boats.

Then I posted another, this one called “WHERE NOT TO HOOK YOUR TRAILER’S SAFETY CHAINS”: Years ago I volunteered to teach sailing to Girl Scouts at a lake near the Girl Scout camp. I needed to tow a trailer loaded with six Sunfish from the camp to the lake and back. At the time the only hitch I had was a little clamp-on unit I had clamped to my van's bumper. But I had nowhere to hang the safety chains. I put the trailer hitch on the ball and tried mightily to dislodge it and when I couldn't I decided I'd just hang the chains from the attachment straps for the van's gas tank-- just this once. I towed the trailer to the lake with no problems. We unhooked it and wheeled it close to the water for easy unloading/loading. But late in the day I was struck with a blinding headache and had to lie down for a bit so I had one of my adult assistants go get the trailer. Unfortunately, she had done some towing but was unfamiliar with hitches and failed to open the ball-hitch-- she just sat the closed hitch atop the ball and hung the safety chains on the gas tank straps (as I had told her). A short time later another of the assistants came rushing up to me and said I had to come quick. As we approached the scene I knew exactly what had happened. There sat my van in the middle of the main road with this big metal box (my van's gas tank) lying behind it. The fully-loaded sailboat trailer sat off the road with its tongue jammed into an earthen embankment. The state park ranger and township police were there by that time and asked what happened. For some reason they accepted my flimsy excuse that my assistant was unfamilar with hitches and had not opened it to put it down over the ball. They never asked about the safety chains or why my gas tank was lying in the middle of the road. But I have no doubt they knew the answer.

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Later in the day I ran over to the post office to drop off our passport renewals. On the way home I picked up Season Five of ‘The Sopranos’ and we watched the first two episodes that evening. It has been so long since we’ve watched ‘The Sopranos’ that it took us a little while to realize we had already seen Season Five. I guess this qualifies as another Stupid Human Trick but in my own defense I had asked at the video store how far back they keep rental records on the computer and it’s only the last 24 rentals. I had checked the DVD cover for plot info but starting with Season Five they dropped the episode-by-episode descriptions and only had titles. We were surprised how little of the plot we remembered as the two episodes unfolded but nevertheless we decided to abandon ship on Season Five.

Friday, February 02, 2007

“Nip / Tuck”, “Sherrybaby”, “Emmanuel’s Gift”…. (posted from home)
(this post covers 28 January to 2 February)

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Friday, 2 February -

Happy Groundhog Day! Today is also my Dad’s birthday. He died a few years ago at the age of 75 after a long and heart-breaking decline in health. I think of him often and wish we had done more together while he was still healthy. God bless you, Dad!
Today we did some financial planning and set up an appointment to have our taxes done. We had a few frustrating experiences in having our taxes done professionally last year but once we worked through those problems we had a net savings and decided it was very worthwhile. In the afternoon we drove into the AAA office in York to have our photos taken and pick up the forms necessary to renew our passports. Cost of the photos was $15 and we’ll have to send in $134 in processing fees for the two renewals. But the good news is the passports will be valid for ten years.
Afterwards we stopped by Lowe’s so Labashi could look for some recessed ceiling lights for her project and I looked for raw materials to make guide-on’s for the new boat trailer.
That evening we watched “Emmanuel’s Gift”, a somewhat-flawed documentary about a one-legged young man who rode his bicycle across his homeland of Ghana. RottenTomatoes gives it an 80% on the Tomatometer.

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Thursday, 1 February –

This morning I awoke with a bit of a cold or flu and thought I was in for it; maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to let myself get chilled by riding the motorcycle for a couple of hours in 20-degree weather yesterday. I spent the day taking it easy (mostly researching boat stuff on the web) and was surprised to find myself feeling back to normal by day’s end.
That evening we watched the final episode of season one of ‘Nip / Tuck’ and the DVD’s extra features. Since we watched the entire 5-disc season on one $5 rental, it was certainly cheap enough. We find it interesting to watch the episodes and discuss how well they were done and how they compare to techniques we’ve seen in “Alias”, “Lost”, “24”, and “Grey’s Anatomy”. Yes, the plots are often outrageous and the sex and gory surgery scenes seem gratuitous (and in the extras a real plastic surgeon says what we suspect: real surgery isn’t that bloody but ‘they have to do it for drama’). But, hey, this isn’t art, this is television.

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Wednesday, 31 January -

This morning I went to my periodontist to check on progress of my new dental bone graft and to give him the referral for the crown extension I now need. It looks like that will be another $700 plus at least that much again for the crown--- (yikes!!!!).
Back home I sent off Labashi’s camera for repair. It’s an older Nikon entry-level camera which isn’t worth much more than the cost of repair but she loves the camera and doesn’t want the hassle of switching to digital. She has taken some remarkable pictures with it and its only problem is a broken door latch so a repair makes sense.
That afternoon I rode the Concours over to Hanover to check on progress on our boat. The trailer came in yesterday and the tech has completed setup, rigging and installation of the motor and remote controls. It’s ready to go and only awaits our signing the paperwork when my brother can make it—maybe this weekend if weather isn’t too bad.
That evening we watched another ‘Nip / Tuck’ episode. The gore and sex scenes still seem designed only to titillate (as opposed to being integral to the story) but the writers are keeping us interested with some interesting twists.

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Tuesday, 30 January -

Today I had a dental appointment to repair a filling and a broken tooth. The latter turns out to be bad news--- the problem extends below the gum line and will require a periodontal procedure called a ‘crown extension’ and then a crown. Back home I installed a hardened door-chain and ran additional 3-inch screws into the upper door hinge. This latter was done to pull the door back into place; it had been rubbing the frame on the far side and causing the door to stick. I also took a few minutes to install my new 3-9 x 32 scope on the .22 rifle.
That evening we watched two more episodes of ‘Nip / Tuck’, season one.

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Monday, 29 January –

Today Labashi and I drove into town to look for a replacement bow window (part of her long-term living/dining room re-hab) and a solution for alerting our neighbors if our house loses its electrical feed (while we’re away). We considered several solutions which turn on an alert if power fails but those all depend on batteries to sustain the alert and all suffer the same problem--- the batteries only last a few hours. Our solution instead provides a ‘green’ or ‘I’m-OK’ signal and our neighbors know to contact us if it’s not there. This is in addition to the security alarm—just in case the new power-loss function doesn’t work for some reason.
I also spent an hour or so replacing the stock screws on the door-strikers and selected door-hinge screws with 3” galvanized deck screws so they are strongly anchored not only to the door frame but also to the studding.
That evening we watched “Sherrybaby” with Maggie Gyllenhaal. RottenTomatoes gives it a 69% on the Tomatometer and that seems about right. As does the comment “Gyllenhaal is riveting in a depressing and not entirely believable movie”. Maggie plays a former convict and drug-addict mother who tries to establish a relationship with her young daughter.

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Sunday, 28 January-

Today I spent most of the day taking it easy after the blood donation yesterday. I blogged for a few hours in the afternoon and did a few little chores like adjusting the sensitivity of the motion detector (again) on our pole light and repairing a sticky dead-bolt on our front door lock. I then picked up a few movies at the video store for this week. That evening we started ‘Nip / Tuck, Season One’. We watched the pilot and four other episodes this evening. The story is based in Miami and follows two plastic surgeons and their families and assorted girlfriends/boyfriends and patients. It’s provocative in its liberal use of bloody surgery scenes and sex scenes and it will be interesting to see how the writers keep from becoming repetitive.