Tuesday Tidbits

It's Tuesday, kids.  Time to leave the kitchen so the adults can talk.

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It's no secret that early hours in a city are fraught with an army of people out and about doing things not usually done in the daylight. I mentioned last week, or maybe two weeks ago, how my hackles were raised during my 3:00 am walk around Clearwater's Highpoint area.  Some kind of watering system fail scared the hell out of me for some reason.  I take off and it takes about an hour to jogwalk my course.   I go past a Section 8 housing area, an upper crust condo, a deserted field, an empty park, up toward the main highway, and then back to Sinkhole Estates.  9 times out of ten nothing out of the ordinary happens.  But that one time can be exhilarating, or scary, or funny.

The other day I was jogwalking and a guy, sitting on a golf cart at the entrance to a medical center, asked if I was jogging for my heart, diabetes, or blood pressure.  I told him there wasn't anything wrong, just trying to stay fit.  He was a guard here and then launched into a dissertation on his heart stents (6), where they sent the cameras (wrist and groin), how he should be dead and how now all he does is sleep, just like his dad who dies young.  OoooKaaay.
He was four years younger than me.  I am assuming his guard duties don't entail anything much more than driving the cart.  

A couple days ago, during the dark section, I was jogging down the road and I heard some voices behind me about a block away.  They were fairly loud and my imagination started spinning out of control.  I thought they were harassing me and the voices got closer and this is a section where streetlights are at a minimum.  There was no place to go and then there they were, a couple kids on bikes next to me.  It was 3:30, why are these kids out there?  They were next to me on the road, and I veered onto the sidewalk.  They stopped, turned around and left.  Hackles.       

A couple days ago I was 3/4's of the way home, and I noticed next to a business building a guy was on the bank of a decorative moat and he was fishing!!  One needs to be careful about taking pictures of night people but I took this after I had turned the corner on my last leg back to Death Valley.    
     

Here is the early morning fisherman casting into a fishless decorative moat.

The next day I took this picture to show you where the guy was fishing.  The fountain (in the center) has been turned off.  On the bank you can see some of he gear he left behind.  When I walked by I asked if he was having any luck.  He said he thought he saw something in there but hadn't gotten any bites yet.

Night people doing night things.  Crazy night people doing crazy night things.

I love it.

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Latest edition of overused talking head words:

by the way, conflate, we'll talk about it on the other side, disingenuous, red meat for the base, 

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Norah has started gymnastics and she loves it.  Last week while watching I noticed the guy in front of me had other things to do, like Solitaire. 

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Latest on Whizzbang, aka, Dumbstruck the Wonder Pup

Whizzy got on my computer and ordered a 6 month subscription to Bark Box.  Each month they send a box of toys and snacks.

She has been grounded and lost her driving privileges for three weeks.

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Speaking of driving.

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This little act of nature played out in the daughter's garage last week.  Yeah, it's what it looks like.  Cat 1, snake 0.  I'd sell the house if I lived there.

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Our weekly Dunkin Donut outing.  Don't be fooled by the innocent faces.

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During their vacation, SIL Drew, daughter Kenzie, and granddaughter Norah escaped to Devil's Den near Ocala.  It is an underground water-filled cave.  There is a walkway over this section of the cave.  You can see divers.  I can't attest to the fun, I wasn't invited.  I babysat Alfred.

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Now I'm not saying Alfred is tough to babysit, or that she has trouble with rules.  But I did see this message at their home when I went to pick them up last week.

   

I was assured it was written in jest.  

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And finally, different times. 

This was written by Beatrix de Burgh in 1902.  Different times indeed.

She also wrote Terry, the Troop Horse.  Amazon awaits.