Got out of bed naturally at 3:52 this morning and started packing the car. I was on the road at 4:32 AM. It was pretty dark and I had trouble seeing the thermos for pouring coffee. Stopped up I-95 somewhere above Daytona Beach for an Egg McMuffin from Mickey Dees. When I got to Jax at 7:21 all lanes were stopped. We crept for miles until 8:21 when I reached the scene of the accident. An ambulance crossed the median and flipped closing all lanes. This was a minor setback and put me back an hour. Stopped at St Mary's in Georgia for a tank of gas, stopped at exit 181 between Florence and Dillon for a gas top off and continued. Got home around 4:30 without further incident. Libbie and I went out for dinner at 6:30 to La Cocina to celebrate my homecoming with Margaritas and dinner.

Took a trip to Tampa this morning over by the stadium and Steinbrenner field. Very nice but I won't go back. the stadium is on Dale Mabry. Packed my stuff for the drive. Dinner was fire grilled frozen pizza, two individual round pies. Not very good. I scrubbed some stains on the tile floor, cleaned the sink. I wish I had Scooby here.

This morning I went to Sears and purchased the new washing machine. It was off sale but they gave me the sale price because they still had the sign up. Had some trouble with the Schwab card because it was refused. Called Schwab and got them to do an authorization over the phone for $805, the price of the machine including tax and delivery. I get the delivery charge back in the form of a rebate which is going to be a Mastercard debit card. Oh well. Took a bike ride around Stoneybrook and stopped in to talk to the realtor about rentals. I wanted their take on a new refrigerator without water and ice on the door. they thought it was OK.

Picked up the paper late and read it while having a Publix donut and coffee. I also ran out of cereal so I picked up some for tomorrow. For dinner today I ordered a Cuban with onion petals from the clubhouse. It was very good. I spent some time working on the final part of my Disney story based on feedback. Studied BP some more and also called Hortense about the name of her dog. She could hardly hear me, but I could hear her quite well. Libbie called later and told me the washing machine totally quit. She went to Sears and inquired about a washer but they wouldn't take my credit card over the phone. We have to decide what else to do. I could terminate my trip and come home but that's not likely.

Started out by spackling the holes in the wall next to the light. I put down 2 coats of spackle and think the hole is now invisible. Disconnected the light and suspended it by a string for now. I also had to shop vac behind the mirror since their was a lot of crud there. I taped all the edges and it's ready for painting. I was going to do this today but ended up taking a 5 1/2 hour bike ride all the way to Venice and then on the Venice Waterway trail. I was tired and hungry when I got back. I also seem to be sunburned, especially on my forehead and arms. I went running around looking at Shams. I visited Target, Penneys and Bed Bath and Beyond. They don't seem to make the larger size shams. What I did find was incredibly expensive. For dinner I didn't feel like eating much but I stopped at Subway and got a teriyaki chicken sub. It was not bad but I think I will stick to turkey in the future.

Pumped up the bike tires to 40 from the 20 they were at. Went to Leather Express and got a quote for a sofa and love seat. $2500 will fix me up with top quality. Bought a Logitech headset at Best Buy. Tried using Google Voice to call Libbie and I was pretty happy with our conversation. It was very clear and rarely missed a syllable. Good stuff. I had the rest of the ribs for dinner. Still a lot of food.

This was an easy day, so easy that I took a nap this afternoon after a trip to Nokomis. Returned the Waterpik to Lowes in Nokomis because it was made of plastic. I don't think it will hold up in the shower, especially if it gets dropped on the hard tiles. Took a nap after lunch and my Nokomis trip. Woke in time to go to the clubhouse to order ribs, baked potato and veggies. Very good but I wasn't that hungry. Found brushpicks at Walgreens in Palmer Ranch. the one in Osprey didn't have them. These are important after something like ribs. Picked up some frozen yogurt which really made my tummy stuffed. Replaced the bathroom fill valve today which I purchased in Lowes last night. The toilet flushes very nicely. Now I need to do something about the refrigerator.

My target to leave was 6:45. I actually left at 6:55 but skipped breakfast. I didn't make it to Florence, mile marker 164. I had to stop at marker 181 because the gas light came on. Filled the tank and got an egg McMuffin. It was an OK stop. Gas was 2.46. As always, I then stopped just before the Florida border and filled up at 2.55. Easy traveling through Orlando at 3:45 and arriving in Sarasota around 5:30. Was not hungry tonight so I went to Nokomis Lowes for a new fill valve and stopped at Mickey Ds for a southern chicken sandwich. It was OK, will not order again. The reason for the fill valve was because the master bath toilet would not fill. I reasoned it would fill after I turned the water on, went outside when done to turn on the water and the fill valve did nothing, even after I took the lid off and tried moving the ball up and down manually.

Finished up the Pittman article then hosted Violet club today. This went on forever. I needed the time to get ready for Florida. Dinner was pasta I picked up in Krogers when I did the groceries. Spent the late evening hours packing everything in the car. I hope I don't forget anything. Went to bed around 11 PM.

started writing the Pittman article on Google Docs. Did a lot of reviewing of BP, found a match in Spring Hill. Blew the leaves off the driveway for Violet club tomorrow.

later in the day picked up the paper at McDonalds. Lots of people around Mickey Ds. Libbie made her excellent pizaa which we ate and then watched Lady Gaga win 8 awards on the MTV awards.

We used the Chilis coupon and ordered ribs from Chilis in Cary. Left early and picked up Shiraz in Trader joes to have with dinner. The ribs with two sides and a tip cost 20. The card is a $50 card.

Plugged a Kahlo card in back in the shop and it seems to work except for some broken LCD wires. I'll use this. Did some more looking around on BP. Finished the Death Valley portion of my trip. That place is beautiful. Need to get working on the Hortense article next. Weeded the daylilies and the rose garden. Everything is in bad shape. Put some water down on the daylilies. Dinner tonight was Italian sausage on buns with onions and peppers. We accompanied the meal with steamfresh veggie corn and Shiraz.

Spent an inordinate amount of time on the blog today. Did a little writing of reviews on TER and the other site. Dinner was leftover rotisserie chicken with baked beets and potatoes.

I seem to be very hot this morning, major sweating. I turned the fan off and closed the windows and turned the A/C on. Maybe this will help. Started taking a look at the buzzer on Kahlo. Ideally it will get turned over to an interrupt service routine. Weighed myself after breakfast. I am 235, yikes!!!! How did that happen?

This afternoon I worked on the Kahlo buzzer routines. Have to use the interrupt approach since a timer output is not available. Dinner was Kroger rotisserie chicken with beets and potatoes. Finished up Bryce Canyon in the blog. On to Death Valley!!!

Took some time off from the blogging world today although I did upload the pics of Bryce. Now it just needs the commentary. Took a walk this afternoon. It was quite warm but I enjoyed driving over to the park and then walking around the lake. dinner was pasta followed by skinny minty ice cream.

Spent most of the day doing the blog finishing up the Monument valley trip and drive to Bryce. Dinner was beanburger with our fresh tomatoes on a bun and some bbq beans.

After a brief hesitation I ended up getting the Sunday paper. Today is a cooler day, it's only in the 80's with no humidity. We walked around Seagrove out to 1010 and back to the Glembocki tree through Surry. Nice walk. I wanted to see the new progress back there. Lots of new homes sold, still. Studied BP some more. Reading about Tori of Cary online. Libbie made her wonderful pizza again.

Spent the whole day working on my blog. Sent the link to Jim Fatata. It's looking good. in the PM we went to Fresh market and picked up some skewered beef kabobs. Libbie got the Thomas's they use as a marinade for future meals. Also picked up some Chilean Cabernet in the store after tasting it. Dinner was roast potatoes and beets, beef kabobs and wine. Good stuff.

The charger arrived from Amazon. This is a Battery Tender plus which maintains the charge on a lead acid battery rather than trickle charge it all the time. Hopefully the new Walmart lead acid battery won't blow up when maintained this way. I went under the house and ran the wire to a junction box by the access door. Fortunately it was on the Family Room breaker so it will be activated when the generator is running. This is more good luck. Got everything hooked up, put plates and outlet covers on and then activated the power. The red charging light came on. I took pictures of the charger with the light on only to document the project for my files. I worked some more on the blog which I signed up for from Google. It's really going nice. Tonight is First Friday. I made reservations for the Duck and dumpling at 8. We went to VAE first, looked at a painting of birds swallowing pills and feather in Rx bottles. Don't know about that. Walked through Artspace, more wine and saw a sad exhibit in the front gallery. A Woman lost her 20 year old son 4 years ago. she made wall art from his homework papers and other possessions. So sad. The duck was great. Slow wervice but very nice food. Libbie had Chicken Pad Thai and I had beef and black bean. Nice. Home at 9:30. Lots of dressed up pretty young woman running around.

Had a quick trip to Sanford this morning. Back at 1 then took a walk around the lake. Summer is rapidly coming to a close. Came back from the lake sweaty and showered, didn't like the barbershop smell on my body. Dinner was eggplant parmesan. Mmmm.

Messed around on the web quite a bit. Worked on my trip blog, looked at BP. Went out to Home Depot for a utility box and mounted an electrical outlet inside the generator. IT's screwed down inside the generator so it's pretty secure. I hope there's room for the battery tender that's coming from Amazon. The 7 port hub arrived this afternoon from Newegg. I got tired of my phone always dying because of a bad battery so I bought a new phone at Walmart. It needs 16 hours to charge. Dinner was sole with spinach and lima beans and a sauce. A Trader Joe's creation. We had it with Farmers Market corn. We watched a very nice Great Performances with Renee Fleming and Dimitri H. from St Petersburg. It was great.

Last day of the month. I went under the house to run a wire in the conduit. My effort was short circuited by a Southern Racer snake coiled up where the wire comes through the foundation. I left him there and went back a few hours later. He was gone so I ran the wire into the generator. Now I need to hook up both ends. Dinner was crab cake sandwiches which were yummy since we have nice ripe tomatoes. I'm happy all the garbage from upstairs went out today.

Picked up the conduit for the generator. I need to get 110volts out there for the battery charger which I ordered from Amazon. Did some extensive research on sirius satellite radios and programming. I need a radio with ALA Carte programming which will allow me to purchase the music only option for 6.99 per month pls 50 cents for the Met premium channel. Dinner was Briyani. It's been a while since we had that. Tonight I started a blog for my California trip. I'm supplementing the writing with pictures. It's a lot of work but should be entertaining. Wish I did it from the road.

Did not go out for the paper today. Finished cleaning the office then replaced many of the old AC outlets. Libbie made her super pizza, this time with a pepper from the garden. We watched the Emmys in the evening. It was a better than usual show.