Brrrr

All the way up to the mid-20s today after some epic cold.  We returned from Flor-Ida on the 11th to be greeted by a warning from TCWUTH that it was cold and getting colder.  She was correct.  Finally today we have a break in the epic chill with high temperatures in the range of only about 6 degrees below average for the date.

Here's something I found recently.

Front row, left to right:  Pete sometimes known as Orlando Pete, Blind Bert, F-Wonder.
Back row: Brian sometimes known as Giant for Hire, Mungeater only very occasionally known as Cecil, Robshaw, and the Operator.

So for that member of my family who has never seen me without a moustache, there's what I looked like with a beard.

Photo taken at Langford Park, we used to meet there every Sunday morning when there was ice for some shinny.  I am going to guess 1980, possibly a year earlier or two or three years later, but right around 1980.  I am positive that it was after I got married but before Wireless was born.  Both the big kid and I are wearing Minnesota Fighting Saints souvenir jerseys.  I have the original blue and gold.  The team (and most of the rest of the league it played in) went through some financial difficulties, folded, and then reemerged.  The new Fighting Saints had the same fighting saint logo on the front of the jersey but after the bankruptcy the logo and the jersey were red and gold.

The image data identifies these as having been taken in 2007

Back home I have access to my entire photo library.  I opened up my Florida file to see what I could see.  What I could see were familiar backgrounds but already eight years ago.

This is before the hurricane I think so the porch might be slightly different with the hydrotherapy facility under wraps but this is without a doubt a good memory.

 Here's one looking out the side window.

The Smiths in the front yard.  I cannot help but notice that I had that same cap with me this year.  I wonder which other articles of clothing I might also have had which are at least eight years old.

I can hear Farrell asking, "Don't you ever shop?"

I also still have those sunglasses, of course.  This photo is in front of a banyan tree, I think it is the one in Boca Grande.

I think that because I remember it was cold the day when we went to Boca Grande that year.

I am not sure if we said it in 2007 but I am sure it would have applied and if we didn't we would like to at this point add for 2007 thanks for all the fish.

Ready or not

Here we come.

Cleaning up some odds and ends before reconsignment to Delta.

No one should come to Florida without seeing one of these:

I don't mean the pond (Ollie's btw).  I mean the alligator warning sign.

Here's a sunny morning look at the water in back of the house:

Lots of exotic birds out there this year but a shortage of the jumping fish that were so very entertaining the last time I was here.

We had a final bicycle ride this afternoon and I got a photo of what a vacant lot looks like in this part of Florida.

Those two jungles are not park or natural area, they are what happens when a vacant lot escapes regular mowing for a few years.

FT on her way back from her walk to the city beach with return via Sunrise Park.

In something of an upset she did NOT butt call anyone today.  That has been  a problem on  her other walks.

Our last Florida sunset for a while:

And a couple of minutes later:

The predicted weather for here is a serious cold snap, possibly even descending overnight into the 30s.

I don't suppose there is even the slightest chance that tomorrow's high at home will ascend into the 30s.

Polly want a cracker?

Nicest day so far, the temperature reached the average high for the date.  As previously noted we are not complaining.  But today was mid 70s, not much in the way of wind and a very pleasant level of humidity, nicest day so far.

We journeyed across the world's scariest bridge to Punta Gorda (or perhaps Poonta Gorda) to the BIG banyan tree over there by the Jim Cantore memorial hurricane hotel site.

That line is probably a little too inside to be decipherable by nearly anyone but me but here goes:  We know someone who thinks that the Tamiami Trail bridge from Port Charlotte to Punta Gorda is a terrible scary bridge the crossing of which is an absolute low light of her life, there was a famous weather stand-up in front of a hotel over there in the early to late early stages of Hurricane Charley in 2004, it IS a really big banyan tree and there is a division of authority over the accepted pronunciation of the name of that town.

The most fun of the day, however, was had down by the parrot tree.  I checked the Wikipedia article and southwest Florida is outside the natural range of parrots but it appears that enough parrots have escaped or perhaps have been released in Punta Poonta that they have established themselves into a nice little colony in some palm trees near the YMCA about half way down the series of waterfront  parks over there.

And by golly are they ever noisy.

They are a little hard to spot at first as they are parrot colored which sorta blends in with the tree.  This also renders photography difficult.

But I persevered and got a photo of fauna so exotic that they are not just exotic to a mid-continent guy, they are exotic to Florida.

There must have been a dozen or more parrots but not a single one of them responded to polly want a cracker.  I suppose that once freed they cast off the language of their serfdom and give voice to their true feelings.  Did I mention they are really, really noisy?

Sunset rapidly approaching.

Nicest day so far.

This would be a nice spot for a rest stop

I feel fairly certain that a rest spot at this location would within a relatively short period of time become world famous.

I say this because I am pretty sure that is what happened to that one across from Tunnel Park.

As you can see bicycling broke out and that is a good thing.  Visible in the photo are the GuestRider and the HostRider.

Personally I enjoy the occasional forays into travel writing, some of those travel posts are among my personal favorites.  For example I like the one with the photo of the FT bringing lunch back from the boulangerie with Notre Dame in the background.

But fundamentally this is a bicycling blog.  It needs bicycle content.

We took a bicycle ride.  As is almost always the case the second ride of the year was quite a bit more comfortable than the first ride.  My shoulders ache almost not at all and a seat adjustment remedied a front of the knee pain that surfaced overnight after the first ride (seat very slightly too high).

We are enjoying the exotic flora, it is one of the most striking aspects of any mid-continenters trip to the sub-tropics.  We haven't seen very much of this this year for some reason.

The semi-local snowbirds report that times have been tough for citrus since the hurricane several years ago.  Many of the citrus were weakened or out right killed by the big storm.  Further the last couple of years have had some citrus disease.  And then I guess we are not here at the exact time of years that we have been here previously.  In any case we haven't seen many orange trees with large numbers of ripe mature fruit.

That one seems to go against all of those problems.  It is a largish tree, certainly one that predates the storm.  It looks healthy, and it has a fair number of oranges.

Here's one that just isn't anything at all like the pine trees in the great north woods.

Very odd looking pine tree, almost a pseudo palm pine tree.  Very odd.

So I guess the temperature is a bit below average for this time of year here but today seemed pretty sunny and balmy to the GRider and me.  It sure beats shoveling.

Boca Grande

Today was a nice mid-winter day here in Florida.  The temperature scared 70 but we are not actually sure if it got there or not.  It was a bit windy but the sun came out and 68 and sunny seemed way nice to the snowbird population.

We went to Boca Grande.

This is the hosts' residence.  Barely visible but still evident is the fact that the house backs up to water.

See it peeking through on the left?  The locals refer to it as Spring Lake.  Mid-continent folks like me point out that the water there is brackish, salt mixed with fresh and that I personally once spotted a manatee back there.  That's no Lake of the Isles, it is a small arm of the sea.

Just a couple of miles away, however, is the real sea.  The attraction at Boca Grande is the real sea, in this case a small arm of the sea known as the Gulf of Mexico.

Today we saw dolphins, a whole bunch of dolphins.

We walked all the way down to the end where Santini and friend posed with an exotic bit of former flora and future driftwood.

The FT wanted a photo with those grape leaf things that she likes so she could show the photo to her mother (who also likes those grape leaf things).

We are pasty white skinned mid-continent types so we tried to be careful not to overstay our moments in the sun.  It was a spectacularly nice day and we saw dolphins.

We had lunch at the South Beach Bar and Grille, an establishment that is rapidly becoming fixed as a traditional lunch spot for the visit to Boca Grande.  The FT agreed to forego the Key Lime pie blind taste perhaps because the piece she had at the SBB&G looked way too good to save part of for later blind taste testing.

Artistic presentation.  Good pie.

We stopped on Banyan Street once we got back to town.

None of us know positively why it is they named that street Banyan Street.

My life experience down at the plant compels me to wonder whether or not Banyans are native to southwest Florida or if perhaps they are invasive.

By unanimous acclamation, the FT had to pose in front of the 3rd Street Cafe (corner of 3rd and East Railroad).

It appears they have everything there that she needs.  From right to left, rum bar, lunch, dinner, brunch, and not terribly visible behind her there on the other side of the door, beer.  Truly full service.

And we made it home in time for sunset.

All is going well here and no shoveling was required to clear space for even a single one of today's photos.

Bait and switch Florida bicycle style

So the deal in Florida is that you can get a decent rate on a bicycle rental but you will then discover that they have rented you a road bicycle without pedals not for the usual expected reason, which would be that many road cyclists are reasonably expected to have a pedal preference and probably shoes with cleats that match the preferred pedals.  No need to install any pedals until you discover what the preferred pedals are.

No, in Florida the reason why there are no pedals is so that they can charge for installing and removing pedals from the bicycle that you have just rented.

There are lots of violations there probably starting first with a violation of basic human decency.  Come on, that just ain't right.

Then there is the Uniform Commercial Code implied warranty of fitness for a specific purpose.  If you are the "seller" in a commercial transaction (which by code definition includes rentals) with a "buyer" and the subject of the transaction is a bicycle then there is a warranty made that the "bicycle" is going to fit to be used as a "bicycle".  A bicycle without pedals is not fit to be used as a bicycle because clearly a bicycle without pedals is a scooter, and a poor one at that.

Then there is plain old ordinary fraud.  If you advertise that what I am renting is a "bicycle" and if what I rent cannot be used as a bicycle until after I pay an additional fee I have been subjected to bait and switch.

Well, that was fun but we managed to bluster our way out of there without paying the addtional installation fee.  Be advised to bring your own pedals AND your own pedal wrench if you ever consider renting a bicycle from that particular establishment.

So that was yesterday.  I further add that even a few miles on a bicycle when you have not, as I have not, ridden at all in over three months will produce a certain amount of discomfort.  For me it was stiffness between the shoulders as a result of 90 or so minutes of assuming the position one necessarily assumes when riding a road bike.

Today was rainy morning after all night thunder boomers.  Bicycling would not have been a good idea at all, even without the stiff shoulders.

We mostly walked the new linear park down at the upper end of the harbor near the bridge.

There was a white bird.

Much, much closer than you can get to same species white birds that I often come across within bicycle ride distance of my house.

What I like about this shot is probably not what the other photographer liked about this shot.

There is an area shaped such that you could position a community band or a public speaker or some such thing with the harbor as a background and then room for a crowd to assemble in front.

What I found amusing is that preparation has already been made of places there in the grass in front of the speaker for people to place their lawn chairs.

On concrete pads, which is probably handy as the soil tends towards sandy and/or wet.

But I am most amused by the implicit crowd control being exercised by making sure the people in chairs are lined up in rows.

This one is really good.  There is a plaque on the park bench listing a dedication by a donor.  The plaque also includes the name of the artist, Samantha Hultgren.

Which is kind of interesting because the artwork itself is signed by the artist, Charleen B. Elliott.

Of the Florida Elliotts no doubt.

Blue bird.

Again, much, much closer than I can get blah, blah, blah, blah.

When near the ocean eat seafood.  It is much fresher there than the "fresh" seafood available in the center of the continent.

Fresh salmon with parsley and lemon, roasted vegetables, an excellent rice medley and freshly baked corn bread.

There is considerable lobbying at present for a blind taste test to determine the best key lime pie available in the immediate area.

Mooo-ving closer to spring

I dunno, it seems pretty nice here, I just no longer understand what all of the complaining was about.  Here things just seem to be mooo-ving normally along towards spring.

I suppose that my optimism is probably boosted somewhat by the fact that we aren't in Kansas anymore.  Or even north of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Charlotte Harbor in background, stuff hanging off the trees for geographic perspective, FT for general perspective.

I am able to report that by the time of glistening waters equilibrium had been restored, with the FT discovering a chair near the water and a book.

We will be hunkered down here for a few days and then I will be on my way home to shovel the driveway.  Shoveling the driveway is sure to be better exercise than what we engaged in this morning which was head on down to the beach to shuffle around a bit and point at the old people.

There is a pot calling the kettle black warning in there someplace.

Later on that same evening here is a Florida sunset:

Once alerted the FT dropped the book and scooted down to the neighbor's dock for some oohing and aahing.  An excellent beginning.