The Bangles

We went to Busch Gardens in Tampa to see The Bangles in concert last night.

Sunburned

We went to Fort DeSoto Beach yesterday and stayed in the sun too long. Today I'm sunburned and really tired. It's a beautiful beach with white sand and clear water. Going to the beach out there is a sort of like going camping. You need to bring along food, water and shelter from the sun. Next time we'll bring a beach umbrella to get out of the sun once in a while.

Chameleon on the Lanai

This morning we found a chameleon on the lanai. I shut the screen sliding door while Alfonze chased him around. The little lizard finally got so worn out that Alfonze was able to pick it up and put it outside. I don't mind the frogs and lizards, because they eat bugs. I was used to leaving the slider door open, but I think I'll keep the screen door shut now.

Tree Frog in the House

When I got up this morning there was a tree frog sitting on the toilet seat. It startled me, but not enough to surprise the frog. The last thing I wanted to happen was for the frog to jump in the toilet to try to hide! The frog jumped on the floor and Alfonze threw a small hand towel over him to try to catch him. Just when he thought he had the frog cornered, the frog ran up the wall. We finally caught the frog and let him go in the backyard.

I didn't even want to think about where the frog came from. It's material for urban legends. Could alligators and snakes get in through the toilet, too?

Grandma Apple says that they follow you in when you open the door. That made more sense than reptiles in the sewers. Tree frogs and chameleons like to hang out in nooks and crannies around the door frame at the front door. That's probably where the frog followed us in.

Beach Hopping

We went to Fort DeSoto's North Beach yesterday. The water is really clear, which makes it a great place to go snorkeling. It's one of our favorite beaches. In the past you had to wade through a little bay that had lots of stingrays. You had to be careful and shuffle your feet to avoid getting stung. I never got stung, or witnessed anybody getting hurt, and the beach on the other side was so great that it was worth the crossing. They filled that little bay partly in by sand, so we didn't have to wade through the stingrays! Yippee!

Fort DeSoto Park:
http://www.pinellascounty.org/park/05_Ft_DeSoto.htm

The sand is white and the water is so clear. There was a soft, cool breeze that made us not want to leave. It was refreshing after a week of muggy weather and smokey air.

We got a lot of smoke from the forest fires that were at the Georgia/Florida border this week. Here's an amazing satellite photo. The fires where hundreds of miles away.

Weather.com Blog
http://www.weather.com/blog/weather/8_12513.html?from=wxcenter_news

Today we went to a place in Ruskin called Simmons Park. It is on Tampa Bay. We went there after taking Grandma Apple out to lunch for Mother's Day. We didn't intend to go in the water, but just to check it out. What a difference the bay water is compared to the Gulf water. The beach had more rocks and the water had a lot of debris in it. The debris was mostly chopped up leaves and twigs. Alfonze said that it looked and smelled just as he remembered it 20 years ago. Yet there were still a lot of people having fun, despite the dark water.

As we were leaving Simmons Park we noticed huge birds nests on top of telephone poles. They were built on top of wooden pallets that were attached to the tops of the telephone poles. If you've ever seen those kinds of pallets up close, you know those nests have to be big. I don't know what kind of bird was up there. Here's a photo of a bird peaking out of its nest.

Sunset Grill at Bahia Beach

We went to the Sunset Grill at Bahia Beach for dinner. The sunset over the water was beautiful.



We lingered on the beach for a while listening to the waves break. The music from the restaurant seemed far away. There was a soft breeze that took the edge off a hot day. The best part is that I don't have to go back to Detroit. I live here now.

Shop 'til You Drop

We've been shopping for furniture this weekend. Got a cheap desk to get the office out of boxes. We went to Target to get some household items and I started feeling dizzy. It was almost 4pm and I hadn't eaten since breakfast. I really need to schedule time for meals. How could I forget to eat?

Busted Ink Cartridge

The black ink cartridge in one of our printers busted and leaked during the move. We were up until shortly after midnight cleaning up the mess.

Note to self: Don't move ink jet printers with ink cartridges inside!

Hurry Up

I got my new drivers license today. There are so many details to take care of after move in. Insurance, drivers license, car registration, bank accounts, utilities, taxes are due Monday, etc. Everywhere I go I'm in a hurry.

Easter at the Beach

We drove to Clearwater Beach this morning. There was hardly any traffic. It was great! The weather was a little cool, but sunny. We had lunch at the Palm Pavillion. Nobody was in the water. The people on the beach were enjoying the sun.

The above picture is from along the causeway leaving Clearwater. There were people on the small beaches along the causeway soaking up sun or fishing. This palm tree lined section is my favorite part of the road.

Sleepy

The adrenaline rush from moving is starting to wear off. As I start to relax I feel soooo sleepy.

Move In Day

The truck arrived promptly this morning. It's move in day in Florida.

Our stuff was packed from floor to ceiling like a giant 3D puzzle.

It's only winter until you get to Kentucky

The weather was 45° F and windy when we left Michigan yesterday. By the time we got to Cincinnati it was 77° F. So, there you have it. It's only winter until you get to Kentucky.

Cincinnati is the first big challenge driving south. The traffic can be terrible and there are a lot of lane changes as you try to stay on I-75 and not end up somewhere in downtown Cincinnati. Traffic was light and we cruised right through.

The next one was Atlanta. We sailed through Atlanta last night around 11:30pm. There was a lot of traffic, but it moved along. The lights of Atlanta are pretty at night.

Today I'm in shorts. The weather is sunny and in the 80's as we approach the Florida border. I've never seen so many billboards along a highway. The Florida vacation billboards start more than 100 miles from the border.

The trip south on the Dixie Highway

We'll be taking I-75 all the way from Michigan to our new hometown in Florida. We left a little late today, but traffic was light and we were able to make good time. We're almost to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Makes me think of Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam doing a "Gone with the Wind" type episode. Bugs Bunny says "General Suh, the Yankees are in Chattanooga!" Sam says "What!!! The Yankees are in Chattanoogee?!!!"

Moving Day

It's moving day in Erie, Michigan. I just got home from picking up breakfast at Tim Horton's. The moving truck is in front of the house and they had already started bringing things out of the basement and stacking them up in the driveway. I didn't recognize the workbenches standing up on end and thought they were some kind of crazy crates at first.

The moving truck crew is a jolly group. They're joking around and having pushcart races in the driveway. I can't believe all the stuff that's coming out of the basement. Where am I going to put all this stuff once we're in Florida where I won't have a basement?

We were up last night until 1:30am packing. I'm running on pure adrenaline and coffee.

Spring Flowers

My garden in Michigan is just starting to wake up. This is the first spring that the rock garden daffodils and irises actually bloomed together. There are also a few crosuses here and there. It is the last time I'll see them.

Damascus House

We're packing night and day. As I'm emptying cupboards and closets I keep finding more stuff that I don't really need to move with us. I've been accumulating household items and clothes all week. Today I took a car load to donate to Damascus House in Monroe, Michigan.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

More Donations

I took another load of household items and collectibles to the "Discovery Shop" yesterday. Today I took non-perishable food items to St. Martin de Poers in Toledo, OH. They have a program called "Food Pantry."

Sold a Bunch of Stuff

I started getting responses to the ads on Craigslist.org and AutoTrader.com already! Last night we sold the truck. We'll go to the SOS to do the transaction on Monday. The ad had been on AutoTrader.com for only a few hours.

Today we sold 3 out of 4 items that were listed on Craigslist.org since yesterday!