Blink, Dog Park, IRS Goof, Aunt Mary

 

To say that I am overly pleased having the motorhome so close is such an understatement.  The "Blink" cameras came in Friday, and I spent a number of hours learning how it all works, and got them set up Saturday for their first night of duty...that brings even another level of satisfaction to this situation.  

Above is a picture I captured from each camera, one looking to the rear, and one looking to the only entry to the storage area.  On Tuesday I am taking the motorhome for a drive, and when I park I am going to park just a bit further away from the fence, and at a slight angle, so that the rear camera will capture more of what is going on behind the motorhome.  Also, there is a tree which has a branch that is hitting the main entry door...I want to stop that from happening.  To get notifications I have to leave my kindle on with the Blink App activated, but that is not a big deal.  (We don't have smart phones, otherwise a smart phone would work too.)  Found a notification that I downloaded to my sounds which says, "Motion Detection", which I now have set up for ONLY the Blink Motion...before it was a general notification, and that was driving me nuts.  Overall I am pleased with the Blink System.  I did add a WiFi extender which allows the cameras to hook onto our existing WiFi system.  It only provides one bar, but it is ample for allowing the cameras to talk to the Sync Module 2 which captures and controls the cameras.  When the motion detection goes off, it captures a minute of video.  I can also manually activate the video, or take camera pictures.  Amazon owns Blink, and two outdoor cameras and the Sync Module 2 comes to $115 through Amazon.  I am opting for the yearly Cloud Service which will allow us to see what is going on inside the Condo when we are gone (will bring the cameras inside, of course), otherwise video would only be captured and stored on a USB drive, which you have to take out and put into a computer.

         

The first two times I took Indy to the Dog Park, she was the only one there.  I went at 10 am on Tuesday, and found eleven dogs there!  A guy I sat next to told me they come just about every day, some as early as 8:30, and by 10:45 they are all gone.  And yep, at 10:45 it was just Indy and I again.  On Friday we went back at 9:45, and there were 10 dogs there, a few that were not there Tuesday, so a few who were there Tuesday were missing.  So this is going to be our routine, go on Tuesday and Friday early enough to beat the heat and see other dogs there.  Saturday Marcia got her hair cut, so we went to the park which was nearby, and we were happy to find one other dog there at 12:30. 

On Thursday I gave Indy a much needed haircut.  It is nice to see her eyes again, and I am sure she enjoyed less hair the next day when we were at the Dog Park.  (Even at this earlier time period it is well into the 80's with humidity in the upper 70's!)

On Monday we got a refund check from the IRS...but we had marked that we were going to take the credit on our first quarterly payment, which we did.  I looked it up on the IRS website and they have a section on "Returning an Erroneous Refund."  This is what it says as it applies to us:

   If your refund was a paper Treasury check and hasn't been cashed:

1. Write "Void" in the endorsement section on the back of the check.
2. Submit the check immediately, but no later than 21 days, to the appropriate IRS location listed below. The location is based on the city (possibly abbreviated) on the bottom text line in front of the words TAX REFUND on your refund check.
3. Don't staple, bend, or paper clip the check.
4. Include a note stating "Return of erroneous refund check" and give a brief explanation of the reason for returning the refund check.

So we followed their directions, and I returned the voided check with an appropriate letter.  I always try to remember to take a photo of any letter I send to the IRS...you just never know, having that picture might save a penalty/interest charge if they don't get it.  Oh ya, they actually have us interest on the less than a hundred dollar erroneous refund check...I told them to keep that interest since I took the credit on our 1st Quarter Check (which I provided a bank statement copy for that check.  And YES, I erased our address in the picture.)

Well, my Sister Sandy heard from our Cousin Debbie that Aunt Mary passed away in her sleep Wednesday night / Thursday morning.  Here is a precious picture, which I shared on the blog back in late July, of Mary and Mom together.  We knew at that visit that Mary had stopped eating a few days earlier, and that it was just a matter of time.  This leaves mom the only survivor of the eleven children that Grandma had.

It has now been two weeks since I got the HHR out of the shop.  It 'seems' to be running ok, but I want to give it another few hundred miles before I write about it.  I need to take it back in a week or so because it does have a check engine light, but I read that with a new computer this is not unusual as the computer learns how the car operates.  It has 160,000 miles on it, and another 100,000 tow miles, so I don't expect it to be perfect...just hoping it gets us around town here and other areas we might tow it to.

Indy + New Phone + Bad Weather + Sick Neighbor

 

Here is Indy, sitting next to me, checking things out at the Tarpon Springs Dog Park.  We thought Marcia was going to get her hair cut on Saturday, and I had planned to take her to the Dog Park during the hair cut...but her hair lady canceled out on us for Saturday...wasn't feeling well.  So Saturday I mentioned to Marcia my original 'plan' and I used the words "Dog Park" out loud, and Indy lite up like a Christmas Tree!  Within seconds she was jumping from chair to chair, running over to me and then back to the chairs.  Well, cat is out of the bag, so I took her Saturday.  

Above are three of the five dogs that were at the Dog Park on Sunday...yes, I said Sunday.  On Saturday there were eight or nine dogs, and she had a BLAST.  When we got back Marcia said her hair lady called and she can do her hair on Sunday...so Indy got a double dog park weekend.  Talk about one happy dog!

On Monday Marcia had her Bible Study with the ladies at church, and this is when I normally go to the motorhome and charge up the batteries by running the engine for 45-60 minutes.  Well, her phone had busted on Thursday.  The phone still worked, but with a broken hinge, it was not going to work very long.  We decided to order a Kyocera DuraXV LTE E4610 like I have, which came on Saturday.  It is a very durable phone, but it requires a sim card, so Monday I went to Verizon while she was at Bible Study and would do the motorhome on Tuesday.

On the left is my phone (taken with Marcia's new phone), which I got in February 2020...on the right is Marcia's new phone (taken with my phone).  So that we can tell them apart, I put light blue tape on her phone.  The GOOD thing about this change is that now I can help her with questions about how to use certain features of her phone, where her old phone was like CRAZY bad on how to do certain things.  Already this phone is much more to her liking, and it only cost $20 more than my phone cost 22 months ago.

On Tuesday as I was traveling to the motorhome I got a picture of the remains of the storm that went through the Tampa Area.  Little did I know, that just 100+ miles south of where I was...

(This picture taken from Internet)

...a minor Tornado went through the Fort Meyers area.  Now compared to the Tornadoes that went through Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri and other states on the 10th, this was very minor.  One person hurt, a few cars were damaged, a few roofs damaged, a few car ports damaged...it was very minor.

We live in a corner unit, so we only share one interior wall with one neighbor...Mary.  Before we left California we knew that Mary had a heart by-pass.  She had been in rehab for about 6 weeks, and we knew two of her sons were coming out from New York to get her and take her to New York for home rehab.  They flew out Tuesday...not sure if there were any delays or not due to the weather, but I doubt it.  We saw her for just a few minutes on Monday as they brought her out of the rehab to select what she needed to take to New York.  We HOPE she gets better and is able to come back...only time will tell.

March Update - Finally Got My Camera Out

 

When I got my camera out, I found just a few pictures of our trip home still on the camera SD Card.  Here is Indy in the Motorhome looking at herself in the mirror.  This is the same type of behavior she still shows with the mirrors in the condo...but she does not interact with her reflective image nearly as much now as she did at first.  When I toss her ball or chew stick for her to fetch, she will watch the mirror to see if dad really threw it or not...she is a smart little dog for sure.  A few times I have seen her just looking at herself in the mirror...

Three weeks ago I grabbed my camera, got Indy, and we went over to the dog park.  Problem, no dogs there.  Waited about ten minutes and decided to tour the Tarpon Springs Sponge Docks, which are only a half mile away from the dog park.  Indy was fascinated with all the activity there (which is about 60% of what a normal Tuesday Winter Day is on the Docks in pre-Covid terms). 

As you can see, it was a nice, very nice, pre-Spring day at the docks.

Just off the main drag of the Sponge Docks is a side street where 5 Branches Brewery is located...this is where Marcia's son John works.  This brand new Brewery opened just as COVID was hitting last year.  However, they did takeout, added some food so they could sell beer-to-go, and made it through the worst of it all.  They won a silver medal at the 34th Annual Great American Beer Festival, and they also took home awards for “Very Small Brewing Company of the Year” and the “Very Small Brewing Company Brewer of the Year.”  

"IF" you ever make it to Tarpon Springs, park your car at the Dog Park on Live Oak Street, just east of North Pinellas Ave (also known as Alt 19), walk to the Sponge Docks, and if you wish, you can catch one of these electric trolley cars which, for $5, you can ride all day long.  From Tarpon Springs it will take you through Palm Harbor, Dunedin, to Clearwater, including Clearwater Beach.

Just be sure to spend some time at the Tarpon Sponge Docks, and be sure to buy a REAL Gulf Natural Sponge...it will be the last sponge you will ever need in your lifetime as long as you rinse it out after each use...they really do last forever.

Back to the Dog Park and low and behold, still no dogs.  The white arrow is the bench that I normally sit on while Indy (Skruffy and Bubba before) would play.

Finally Nilla arrived and her and Indy played and played and played.  I got so busy talking with Nilla's mom and dad that I did not get very many pictures.  Indy plays with other dogs so well, I am happy for that.

 

I did get a few pictures of her looking at a dog in the large dog park, and he inspecting various parts of the dog park.  Unlike Skruffy, Indy never barks at the other dogs...for that we are very happy with that.  Indy and I returned to the Dog Park a few times since then, and this past Sunday we hit the jack pot with nine dogs there...boy, did she have fun...but I did not take my camera to capture it.

Today I took Indy over to our local Library, which we can nearly see from our backyard.  Here is the large pond that is between the Library and the street.  Indy, on leash, can wander around and enjoy the smells...enjoy the birds (although today they were lacking), and just get away from the boring backyard smells that she in inundated with daily.

Today there were only two birds...normally we see six to eight, and there have been a few times that there have been twenty or more.

Unfortunately there are a number of indigent and homeless people in the area.  I have seen six or seven people on the far side of the pond at one time, and noticed that many of them are the same people I see out along Highway 19 asking for food and money to survive on.  It is too bad that poverty exists, but it is also too bad that able bodied people are not working, while businesses along US-19 have "help wanted" signs in their windows.  (The bottom picture is the same guy laying on the grass walking with a friend headed for home). In another few months many of these people will not be out due to the Oppressive Heat and Humidity of Summer.  

Got this picture from sister Patti a few weeks ago.  They opened mom's assisted living facility up to where residents can go out, but visitors can not come in.  A week ago or so they lifted the visitor restrictions, so now, with appointment, up to two people at a time can visit as long as the visit is in her room.  So they can go out...but they can't go to a restaurant because those are still shut down...but she can go over to Sandy's for Liver and Onions, which I think is where Patti was taking her since Parker is on mom's lap.  Slowly but surely things are headed back to normal...and the "new normal" will be an ancient nightmare.

Has A Month REALLY Gone By?

Wow, my last post was right after Christmas...that was nearly a month ago.  Just haven't had much to blog about I guess.  We have been enjoying fairly mild temps, with a few nights down into the low 40's and perhaps high 30's, but at least into the 50's, and typically the 60's, and some days in the 70's during the afternoon hours.  

Marcia had her first Doctor's appointment earlier this week, and low and behold, to the Doctor's surprise, her Cholesterol has dropped from around 320 two years ago, to 220 this year.  They have wanted to put her on a 'Statin' drug for the past four years...she has always said "NO!"  Then she names person after person, most relatives, who were on 'Statins' and they are all dead now.  She feels the 'Statin's' mask the issue, it does not correct it.  Well, her weight came down another few pounds, and sticking to the low carb diet, and a little less Bacon and Sausage and more Veggies and now Fruit, there has been no change in anything she has been doing.  The Doctor was more than pleased at all of Marcia's numbers.  

While there, I talked to the Doctor about becoming my primary doctor now that I am on Medicare and not 'chained' to Arkansas Doctors any more through my retirement insurance.  She said "Sure...I am a Family Doctor, and have lots of family members that are in my care."  However, the first appointment for a new patient is late April, so we will be here in Florida probably until my youngest son's 'Wedding Ceremony' in July up in Ohio.  They did get married last July, but not with anyone there.  Like many others, they have decided to hold a one-year 'Wedding Ceremony' on the anniversary date.  After that, we will make our way back to California, route unknown at this time.

I wanted to share a couple of videos of Indy watching TV.  Above is a one minute video of her watching an SPCA commercial.  Notice how intent she is watching this commercial, and at the end how she gets up on her hind legs to get a 'closer look'.  This behavior is very typical of her every day.

This second video is her watching a similar commercial, but this time she goes back behind the TV looking for the animals she saw on the screen.  This too is a common occurrence.

Here is Indy in the need of a hair cut.

Mission accomplished.  She was so good in letting me cut her hair, and I think it turned out real well.  Of course, after her hair cut she KNOWS she gets a special treat...her favorite, although she only gets maybe one per week, a hot dog...normally 1/4 or so at a time but today she got a half of one.  After yesterday's hair cut, she came in through the sliding glass window (I cut her out on our covered patio area) and she runs to the kitchen.  When I get there, I open the fridge door and she nearly jumps inside it.  The girl LOVES her hot dogs.

A trip to the dog park is a real treat for her.  In fact, we can't even say "D Park" anymore because she KNOWS that means Dog Park.  When I take her to the Library, I have to say "The Book Place".  She gets SO EXCITED to go to either place, but the Dog Park is her most favorite.

I get her over to the dog park at least once per week, and to the library (which is 1/4 of a mile away) about four times per week.  Above are four pictures which represent a few of the visits over the past month.  One time she was essentially alone, but today she was one of eight or nine dogs in the small dog park, and she had a blast.  Last week I pulled in, took a long way around the parking lot, and parked a bit further away than normal...I wanted to see how long it would take for her to know where we were.  After I parked she got on my lap and I rolled down my window so she would look out there instead of the front window.  She looked, smelled, looked, whined, turned her head and saw the dog park...I could barely contain her as she wiggled and squirmed begging to get out and over to the park.  Yep, she LOVES the Dog Park.

No promises, but I will try to do better, and I will 'try' to clean up the good camera, charge it, and hunt down some Florida pictures.

LOOK at what Indy Got for Christmas!

 

Can I keep them dad?  Can I, can I, can I????

Let my leash out just a bit more dad...just a bit more, I am almost there...

WHAT?  They are not MINE?????  Please dad, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE????

Don't know HOW those Wood Storks knew she could not get to them, but they did not flinch, and she did not bark.  I really need to break my camera out and carry it with me, my phone just does not do justice with pictures.  Indy LOVES going over to the Library Pond, the smells there are way better than in our backyard.

 

 

This is Indy watching a commercial you all have probably seen before, the World Wildlife Fund's save the Polar Bear campaign.  Well, WHEN the music plays, she jolts over to the TV to watch the bears.

Here Indy is enjoying a John Denver Christmas Movie, the one where he was a widowed father Architect who is assigned to visit this town in Colorado to see about turning it into a huge tourist ski resort kinda place.  He finds out that this quaint little town, which still believes in Santa, is worthy of keeping its small town personality.  He, of course, falls in love and bingo - bango, gets fired, saves the town from the huge development, and wins the heart of the lady all to his daughter's delight (she wanted dad to find a new love as her Christmas Santa wish).

Let's just say that Indy enjoyed the show more than Marcia and I, but it was good background noise as we were busy on our computers

Of course, Christmas would not be Christmas without a visit to the Dog Park.  Well, the visit was a few days before Christmas...after all, Christmas day barely got up to 60 degrees.  Last night it was down to the mid-30's ... too cold for Santa here in Florida, so I was glad to see the cold held off until Santa made his rounds the night before.

This dog 'thought' it was king of the park until Indy arrived.  She raced right up to it, they played, he took off, she ran him down, he backed off and the rest of the time 'she' was queen of the park and everyone got along real, real well.  In the first dog park picture you can see the lady in the light blue shirt is holding a little dog.  That dog is 1/3 the size of Indy, and much older.  When she put it back down, Indy went over and the two dogs had a long kiss...yes, a real long kiss.  The lady was in shock!  Don't know how, but Indy knows exactly which dogs are there to play with, and which dogs are there to just love up to.  The lady was very protective of this older little dog, and was so happy that Indy treated it with such respect.

This is our wonderful neighbor's window.  The snow globe with the seven candles on it that is front and center in the window is a gift to her from Marcia and I.  It is a Nativity Scene, and she just loves it.

Well, our Christmas was uneventful.  We enjoyed more of our homemade soup along with prime rib roll-ups on our low carb tortillas that we get.  We both seemed to have had a strange reaction (gas pains) to our Christmas Eve dinner, and we narrowed it down to bad broccoli, which I was going to add to the soup, but added to the dumpster instead.  

 

Eta Bearing Down on Us

 

So...start with a Tropical Storm which may be a Hurricane when it passes off our coast (close enough that we will have high winds and massive rains), or do I start with pictures of Indy.  Well, as you can see, Indy wins again!  Took her to the dog park twice this week.  The first time was kind of a dud, as she had the small park to herself while the large dog area had a number of large dogs there.  But today, she had a few dogs just her size.

This dog, which is an older dog, was the right size...but too old to want to run and play despite Indy's many attempts to get it to play.  Eventually a dog about a third of Indy's size showed up, and it was too small.  I was so concerned about how she would interact with it, that I did not get pictures...but Indy did very well with the little dog.  

On our way home from the dog park, I decided to drop by the public library to see how it looks on Sunday.  Now, with voting over, it is once again closed down and no one was around.  So now my plans are take her to the library on Sundays, and to the dog park mid-week.

When I pulled up to the dog park, she got very excited.  When I pulled up to the Library and parked in front of the pond, she was not as excited...until I rolled down my window.  She jumped on my lap and stuck her head out and started to growl.

It was those Sandhill Cranes again.  Right after I took this picture, Indy nearly jumped out of the car.  She is fast, but I was faster.

Drove to another area by the pond and finally got her to see an Egret.  The Egret stood still for a long time, and she just did not take notice of it.

On Monday while Indy and I were at the motorhome while Marcia was at Bible Study, I was rolling down the driver window so Indy could look out and suddenly there is a BANG, and the window drops, and drops, and drops all the way down despite me taking my finger off the button.  I knew right away that I busted a window regulator.  Thank goodness I take my Kindle and the Air Card each Monday, and I was able to find out how to remove the Door Panel.  I then was able, using a pair of long nose locking pliers to hold the window in the up position, but it was still open by an inch.  I taped the inch portion to keep bugs out, and went to take Marcia home.

Once home I looked at another YouTube on how to get the regulator out and put a new one in.  Not much room to work with, and you have to drill out some rivets.  Also I found out that this is a very common item which breaks on the Fords.  I went back to the motorhome with a couple of clamps, bought a small C-clamp from ACE Hardware, and after cutting a wire from the regulator which was binding, not allowing the window to raise up, I got the window up, secured it with the clamps, and now we can drive until I get it fixed.  Talked to Arny, and he also told me that this is a very common breakage item with Ford, and if wait until we get back to California he has all the tools and new rivets to fix it.  I just wanted to be sure we could drive it in case this pending storm got real big and real close.

Which brings me to ETA.  Eta hit the coast of Nicaragua very close to a category 5 hurricane.  It turned north into Honduras and made another turn to the east and headed to Cuba.  It dropped to a Tropical Depression, but back to a Tropical Storm before it hit Cuba.  Now it is battering the Keys just shy of Hurricane strength.  Above you can see the current track projection, which takes it off our coast and hitting Florida between Cedar Keys and Crystal River.

 

 

Above is the projected wind speeds.  A level one hurricane has winds from 74-95 mph.  Sometime Monday and into Wednesday morning it is projected to be a Level One Hurricane.  But it is projected to drop back down to a Tropical Storm Wednesday as it gets closer to the Tampa coast...we are just north of Tampa by some 40 miles.  So if all holds, it will be a Tropical Storm as it goes by us.

Above is the radar of the storm passing over the Keys.  So far we have only had some minor winds, with no rain...but by tomorrow the rains will come and last through Friday...very heavy at times with heavy winds from time to time.  For now, we will ride it out as is...but if it intensifies, we will probably drive inland and/or south.  It just doesn't look like we will need to do that.