Gavin Swims

I used to hike a bootpack up to the top of Glory Bowl on a daily basis. I would get all of my gear together and hitchhike up to the top of the pass. I would usually meet others up there as I hiked but some days I was the only person there. It didn't matter. I was there for myself. I would use good judgement and avoid avalanche conditions but if it was just blowing snow or poor visibility I would still persist. Sometimes I was the first person and I would need to make the bootpack. I had gone so many times it was second nature. I knew where I wanted to end up. It wasn't just about going down for me. It was the challenge of earning the descent. I would rest in the snowcave, drink some water, eat a snack and then make my way back out and clip into my snowboard bindings. I loved the comfort that I had come to associate with what others might consider just exhilaration, which I also felt, exhilaration and comfort. That was worthwhile and valuable and I miss it very much.

What it looks like inside a Rustic loaf. No knead.

Hey Karen, here are some pics of the changes in the gardens around the house. The first picture is of a Cycad called a Coontie. I rescued some plants from development sites where the plants were going to be destroyed to make way for new homes. They have had pretty good success with reestablishment. It is not an easy plant to transplant. It has a very long tuber with little roots growing off of it. It is easy to sever the tuber when you are digging the plant up to transplant it.

The orange inflorescences are the blooms from the bromeliads around the tree and in the front garden. As you can see I am a little behind on my weeding after being away for a little while.

Here are the pics of my Rustic bread. No kneading required.

Rustic Bread

I am trying my hand at making Rustic bread (no knead) www.aresrocket.com/bread/
again. I think I will bake it in the romertopf. It is overcast outside but not raining. Yeah, the house is heating up with the hot oven. Better cooked in the winter than the summer. An outdoor oven would be good too. I am also making some French Onion Soup to go with it. It isn't great to be without a job but I am making the best of it. Pictures to follow.

When you visit Fort Desoto Park be sure to take advantage of the child care facilities so you and your honey can get a little "alone time". The old bomb shelters are out of the sun so forget about the sunsceen.

Cornballs?

Someone with a sense of humor took household construction waste and turned it into yard art when they included a container of cornballs, a popular office snack here at the county, with their toilet.

Freedom worth dieing for?

Does this type of advertising really deserve first amendment protection? With the internet available now would anyone really miss these if they were to disappear. At the government building we have always had a blue letterbox provided by the Post Office. They decided to remove it a couple of weeks ago. I wish someone would come and take these away instead. If there was anything that qualified as visual pollution this would be it.

How is this for an arrival sequence? The fence behind the dumpster's protects the Brazillian Pepper from being offended by the impact of this visual assualt. This is the first thing returning tourist's from Boca Grande see when they come back to mainland Charlotte County by auto.

Does it get any better than this? I love the unrestrained joy that kids are able to feel. When I try to smile for a picture it usually feels so forced and contrived. I have lost what my son doesn't even know he has.

Yes that does appear to be Barbie with MaryJane. This was part of a barbie collection from the sixties. Tyler and I visited the Museum of Art and Science in Daytona. It had some really interesting exhibits. Tyler and Gavin really liked the childrens museum and the full size sleeper cars that were on display outside.

Don't be as concerned when you discover that your wife is taking money out of your wallet as you should be when you find that she is putting money in it. It might mean that she is trying to keep you from going to the bank and discovering you have a very *&%^#* up account and she doesn't want you to find out.

Sounds

Sounds I like:
rain falling on a tin roof
canyon wren on a desert morning
peepers
frogs after the rain
loons on a lake
the muffled silence after a heavy snow
children's uninhibited laughter
cicadas sometimes
infrequent low flying jet
old phone ringer
Colorado river rushing by all night
lap of ocean waves in the dark
car starting on a cold morning
little feet of my son and daughter on the floor
Cheryl sleeping without snoring
white noise of an air conditioner in a hotel room
curved billed thrasher
passing of a railroad train
heels on a hard floor


Sounds I can't bear...
my dog chewing and licking himself without restraint
people talking with their mouths full
smacking
slurping
repetitive banging
fireworks days after the fourth of July and New Years.
cars flying down my street
click of my key but no starter on a cold morning
crying baby on a plane or bus
dog crunching on bone
fingernails on chalkboard
microwave beeping over and over
Gavin repeating himself
Tyler whining
Cheryl snoring
people sucking up their snots
someone who can't seem to clear their throat
nasal voices
noisy refrigerators
loud computer fans
out of balance ceiling fan
too many planes
tires on asphalt after a rain

Humility and Losing with Grace

Okay, Patrick you beat me today, but next time I'm bringing my "A" game. What a fun time that was this morning. I didn't even mind getting up at 4:30 to do it. It feels good to go to work and already be active. I look forward to getting more games in after you move. Maybe we can even play some tennis in the fall. You cleaned my clock today but thats o.k. I will have to practice before we play again. I don't like to lose but I won't let it get the way of having a good time.

Sorry if I have left anyone hanging. The mower is fixed. Nothing a little new gas and some carb cleaner couldn't fix. Now my attention will turn to trying to lend a sense of organization to my landscape. Everything is now the same height and nothing stands out or looks like it has been composed. I told a friend I think it is starting to look like god sneezed seeds and from there my garden sprouted. I will probably start on that this weekend.

Tyler will be in a commericial this weekend. The county is doing something to publicize their comprehensive plan and they are using the children to schill it. Tyler is very excited.

Matthew came to visit and together we figured out why the ice maker would no longer dispense ice out of the door of the fridge. It took awhile but we did fix it. It had a small plastic part that has not been working for awhile. Now that we fixed it, it works better than before it broke.

Last weekend was a beach day on Sunday. I found a handful of complete sand dollars while snorkelling off of the homeowner's assoc. beach. The air was breezy but hot. It was like being in a hairdryer. Tyler ended up staying with Leslie after we left to bring Gavin home for a nap. When I went to pick her up she was still swimming (in Leslie's pool), three hours later. She looked exhausted. Gavin got a good nap.

My evenings regularly consist of a visit to the YMCA to workout for 60 to 90 minutes. I am able to be home by 7:30 or earlier, usually. Last night I did strength training. I feel like I am improving and I can see more definition but my measurements are actually getting smaller. I may not be eating or sleeping enough. The night before I returned to spinning class for some cardio work. I have not been there, except Saturdays, for a couple of months now. It feels good to be getting back into it. I may look into getting a road bike to start riding outside with a group.

The people that the county contracts to maintain the landscape pruned the palms here yesterday. Not hardly a brown frond on the palms. Most of the palms would have been fine another year. Instead the green fronds, which are responsible for photosynthesis, were removed and the trees exposed to potential damage from what appears to me to be overpruning. The photos is what the palms looked like after being pruned.

rude awakening

I was asleep until I was awakened at 5:00 a.m. by Gavin screaming, in my bed right next to me. He must have snuck in sometime in the night, between Cheryl and I. Cheryl nor I even knew he was there. I don't know why he screamed but that was the end of his sleeping in our bed. Cheryl brought him back to sleep in Tyler's bed where he has been sleeping for about 4 months. They have bunks but they prefer to share Tyler's top bunk. The other night he woke me because he was hanging from the top bunk by one leg, trapped between the railing and the bed, and two arms. He went right back to sleep as soon as I moved him back onto his bed.

Mower Distress

I don't have much more than a postage stamp lawn but with all the rain we have been getting I still need to mow it. Too bad my mower won't start. New plug, new air filter. Gas gets in when primed and the mower starts briefly and then dies. I may try to clean the carburetor this weekend. I may try to borrow the neighbors mower in the meantime. I would buy one of those people powered rotary mowers but they don't work well on St. Augustine Grass that has a lot of thatch. I have never had my lawn thatched so I don't believe it would be a good choice. I spent 20.oo just to fill my gas can for the mower the other day. A people powered mower would pay for itself and I would burn a bunch of calories every time I used it.

If all else fails I will buy a new carberator and install it or just buy a new mower. If I didn't have the lawn out front I don't know what I would have there instead.

I found out today that one of my co-workers is pregnant with her second child. I am happy for her but I am not happy that I will have to fill in for her when she goes on leave. When she goes out in the field now she asks me to accompany her because her assistant left for a job in Hawaii about 5 months ago. She goes to some pretty remote places in the county and it is safer if she has someone to go with her. Work has been slowing down as it is summer and then there is the economy. I still have some landscape reviews to do but I can find time to go with her now. I don't know what it will be like in 9 months.

goofn off

Not even 6:30 and the rugrats are well into their day. Unbelievably awake for so early. Tyler must have recovered with the night's sleep. She is feeling well. I cannot eat Chinese and not get the most unpleasant indigestion. Sleep was broken and I cannot wake up as easily as the kids, even after walking Jake. It was a nice walk with a slow drizzle of rain falling. Not enough for an umbrella.