We wanted restaurant breakfast but they didn't open till 8 and we had to leave at 8:30 so we walked down to McDonalds. Surprisingly they had armed guards at the door. Today is going to be serious! We talked with some parade campers - they were lined up in front of the barriers along St Charles for a parade that doesn't start until 1 PM. They were a nice friendly family and fun to talk with. They do this every year with their kids, a giant party on the street.
We left the hotel with the group at 8:30 for the bike tour and had a lovely walk through the French Quarter on Royal. Loved the buildings at this time of the morning. We started our tour at a park, Washington Square. We had a fantastic tour guide, Casey. He was well educated in NO history and told it in a humorous almost stand up style way. We learned about the various switching of the ownership of NO. Casey was laid back whatever kind of guy, probably typical of New Orleans locals. We had a fantastic tour even with a stop for Bloody Mary's at Marie's Bar. They were great. i would love to do this again sometime and take more photos of the beautiful small homes in the area. We waalked back down Royal and ended up on Decatur looking for lunch with live music. We found BB Kings place with a Blues band. We split a shrimp Po Boy and a couple of beers. We even got up to dance to a few songs. Perfect lunch with cold beer, good music and good food and a few dances. To go home we had to cut over to Harrahs Casino before crossing the parade route and walk down side streets.
We rested up in the afternoon then got dressed to leave at 5:50 in our tux and gowns. Everyone looked fine. We ended up walking about 4 blocks to get to the bus and had an easy ride to the Superdome. Inside we had a nice buffet dinner of pulled pork, andouille sausage gumbo with rice, spinach dip and catfish bites which were really nice. There was an open bar where I had a martini then a glass of wine which was difficult because I went to get free tumblers and when I got back the wine was cleared from the table. I got another wine and headed downstairs to find the group in the arena seats. I ended up on the floor of the superdome. The place was crowded but I enjoyed the many beautiful woman in evening wear. Eventually I found the group in section 114. The noise was too much to take for me. Making it worse was the stupid band kept playing loud music when the bands were coming in and the awful announcer's voice was even louder. His voice was louder than the bands. After the first float arrived, fireworks went off and the sound was unbearable. I ran out of that place and met up with Cathy and Blake who said it wasn't their cup of tea either. Google was showing it was only a 14 minute walk so we joined them in the escape. The walk back wasn't too bad. It was such a relief to get outside into the night air and only hear the sounds of the city. I fell right to sleep after a very nice day despite the disaster at the Superdome.

Didn't get up until 6:45, went down for breakfast and sat with Anne and Paul. I ordered 2 eggs, a muffin and grits which came with coffee. Nice breakfast for $10 each plus $3 for coffee. We gathered at 9:45 in front of the hotel where our police escort and brass band were. We then took off down Poydras and turned on Chartres towards the French Quarter. We marched thorough the French quarter and had a bar stop for Mimosa's. Libbie and I each had one. Our next bar stop was at Jackson Square where we only had water. Finally we marched around the square and turned at Cafe Du Monde towards our last bar stop. Finally we went down N Peter and marched into the Jax Brewery where the band played a lot of music downstairs. i sat upstairs then it was time to partake of the buffet. My meal was some Chicken Jambalaya, some Boudin Sausage, a shrimp Po Boy, gator gumbo with a little rice and a Shiner Bock. I skipped the Bread Pudding which was delicious when I tried a spoonful of Libbie's. After the parade and lunch we walked along the Mississippi then though the French Market and up to Bourbon following a Second Line band with woman with bustiers. it was fun. our last stop was at a Nipple Glitter lady who was painting young girls's boobs. I got quite an eyeful of beautifyul unclothed young boobies of a pretty blonde wearing cutoff short shorts.
We had dinner on the hotel balcony. It was an open bar where I first had an Abitit Amber then a Cabernet. Dinner was a por Boy with London Broil, Penne PAsta, Crab soup corn chowder and then I came back for fried Oysters. Had a little chocolate brownie for dessert. We had to eat this standing up on the balcony then watched allthe parades.

We got up early this morning and walked down St Charles where we had breakfast a McDonalds on Canal. The McDonalds there is huge and very efficient. After breakfast Libbie recognized a guy in the restaurant as Blaze from Facebook. We introduced ourselves and had coffee with them while they had breakfast.
We shared a ride on Lyft with them to the restaurant, Andreas. Cost was $22 including tip. Uber was quoting $25. We waited in the bar and had a beer while waiting for the group to arrive. When they arrived we had a fantastic meal of cannoli appetizer, redfish main meal with roasted potato and veggies and a Tiramisu dessert. The meal was fantastic and will serve as oue one meal for today. We got to the hotel, rested a little then went out to find the French Market on the other side of the French Quarter. Pam and Eileen from our group came with us. We found music on N Peter at Crescent City brewery where we sat at the bar and had a craft beer and wings. We came back and the parade was already in progress. We had to wait a while at the crosswalk before the Police would let us across at a break in the parade. We joined some in our group in a reserved area in front of the hotel. We stood with Tom and Kathy Graham and Paul and Anne Cain as well as others who came and went. We stayed and watched Muses until the last float at 11:30. I was tired!!!!. When we got to the rooom I totally passed out and didn't wake until 6:45.

Up at 5 and left Stoneybrook at 5:36 in a light rain. As we approached Tampa the rain got heavier and so did the traffic. Our only problem area was the exit ramp off 275 to the airport. It was stop and go in harder rain. Because it was raining so hard Libbie suggested that instead of the economy garage we should park at the terminal in the long term garage. We did but ended up parking outside on the top deck. We had the worst breakfast ever at Quiznos in the Southwest gate area. Awful soggy flat bread with tasteless egg and bacon and instant coffee. it was horrible. We had an on time takeoff in a full plane. The ride was very bumpy on the climb in the pouring rain. The approach had some bumpy moments as well. Our seatmate was a charming woman from the Meadows in Sarasota who was a cajun dancer. She was going to Lafayette for a week to dance. Pretty cool.
We took an Uber ride in a Black Civi that looked pretty new driven by a young black girl named Jimmice. It was a great experience. Ride was $33 plus a $7 cash tip. Once we checked in, which was great because it was 10 AM and well before check in time, we took a walk into the French Quarter and had Beignets and Coffee at Cafe Beignet. We had a street musician just outside our table, We were in the patio which was great. After breakfast we walked Bourbon a while and ran into a second line with a group carrying umbrellas and waving handkerchiefs. We then went back to the hotel and rested before getting dressed up to go out to dinner. We walked the 7 blocks to Brennans and had the meal of a lifetime for $210. The wine list is a phone book, we had several servers waiting our table. i ordered the Poisson Bolange which was a Pompano in a white sauce over a bed of lobster, clam and shrimp. Wow, was this good. We started our meal with a Rock Shrimp Remoulade and finished with Bananas Foster. The experience was so worth it. The couple at the next table was celebrating an anniversary. They were from the DC area and were quite friendly. They got engaged here 3 years ago and have been returning for their anniversary every year.

I checked in at 8:35 this morning and ended up in the B group at B3 and B4. Amazing. Unfortunately weather is showing rain tomorrow morning. We will have to fly through this stuff on the way to New Orleans.
Spent the day packing and gathering our things. It's supposed to rain tomorrow in Tampa so it'll be a bumpy flight getting out of town.
Didn't do too much of anything else. Sunset was nice, I had triscuits dipped in the Chili Head Salsa which worked out well. For dinner we had our leftover Thai food from yesterday. I had leftover Chicken Pad Thai which I washed down with 3 glasses of Cabernet. That was a bad thing to do since I was trying to cut back but delicious! Went to bed around 10 and set the alarm for 5 AM tomorrow.

Bill and Barb came over after breakfast. Bill forgot his hat yesterday so he picked it up on the way to Fort Meyers to visit Carrie's parents. After lunch we went to Benderson Park which is the Sarasota Rowing facility. We had some trouble on I-75, the traffic was stopped so we got to Bee Ridge and got off then took honore to the top of the lake. I was looking for the road at the South end but couldn't find it. We ended up at a small parking area at the North end. We had an enjoyable ride around the lake then found the little roadway which is called Athlete Dr but turned around and took the 4 lane Cattleman to Fruitville then onto I-75. For sunset I ate the chips from yesterday but mainly I wanted to taste the chili head salsa. Next we went to the Party Store to look for Mardi Gras stuff. Lib bought a Boa in green and gold that was a little pricey at $10. On the way back we went to Bangkok Thai where I had a glass of Cabernet and Chicken Pad Thai. We started the meal with 2 Spring Rolls, one each. During the meal i found not to put the hot sauce on that is on the table. That stuff is hot, hot, hot. It burned my lips and required tons of water to put out the fire. Very good.

Bill and Barb came over today around 11. I previously picked up some cheese and triscuits at Publix. We sat out on the Lanai and had the cheese with strawberries and the orange juice she fresh squeezed from our second bag of Honeybell Oranges. The oranges previously were obtained up in Citra on 301 where they were buy one get one free. The juice was great. We then went out for lunch at the Spanish Point. Our server Brittany was nice and prompt. The girls were wearing some pretty short short almost exposing their cheeks. I loved it. Libbie and I split a plate of 3 shrimp tacos. We also ordered chips and chili-head salsa. I love the salsa. When we came back we went to two Open houses in the estates that were just listed. One had a realtor from RI that Bill talked with. The house was nice but in a bad location facing Tamiami. You can hear the traffic whizzing by out on the street which was too bad. The other one was by Charles Offer. The house was priced at 349 and had a much better location. The layout was a little weird and the furniture had been removed because the owner moved over to assisted living. In the evening around 6:30 I ordered a Dominoes pizza online using the 3 toppings for a large pizza for 7.99 coupon. This time I paid online and went over to pick it up. Libbie said this was her new Sunday night favorite. It was very tasty with very good mushroom flavor but once again the crust was soggy mainly because it's a Brooklyn hand stretched pizza that is not cooked on a stone but instead they use a conveyor belt.

Today I worked on the vintage violets forms and got them working correctly. The request loads the database and a view will display the data. I tried some test data and it worked. Now I need to design the admin screen to be able to delete the data. Lunch was leftover quesadilla then We had a simple dinner of salad later in the day. We left for the 7:30 performance of Italian Girl in Algiers AT 6 pm AND GOT THERE IN GOOD TIME. We sat out in the courtyard on wet seats while we waited for the theater to allow people inside. I was wowed by the dress, especially by one young couple in a tux with silk scarf and a beautiful woman in designer dress and perfectly coiffed hair. Wow.
The opera was a total delight. Campy as expected with lots of Rossini fast singing and very good acting by the singers. Wow, was this ever a great opera. I want to see it again. We got home at 11:30. It was pretty long with 2 intermissions but entirely enjoyable for every minute.

Libbie went for lunch at Bill's then her TSA appointment at the airport. I stayed around and did a lot of tutorials on putting stuff in the database using a taxonomy form and reading the data back using a view. For dinner tonight we went out to Mad Moes. I had the quesadilla which came with fries and I had a Yuengling.

This was a "slow" day. I worked on the vintage violet database for the violet preservation group. I think I can add a group of violets to the database. We shall see. Lib and I took a short walk since it was windy. We only went around Forest Circle. Because the golf course was closed we walked the cart path behind the houses on Forest Circle. Dinner was a salad and the leftover quesadilla. It was a more than adequate dinner.

I did a lot of reading and watching videos of crawl space ventilation. It looks like a traditional vented crawl space is not a good idea. An encapsulated crawl space is much better. Before I can think about encapsulation I need to see if the water issue has been solved with the regrading I did outside the porch where I redirected the roof water to flow downhill instead of against the foundation. Heard from Tina about her requirements for the vintage violet listings. I told her i would look at using Drupal for this. I would like a temporary site with Drupal installed that i could use to test this out.
We did another 2 mile walk today. It was pretty windy out but we went all the way around. For dinner I had 3 pieces of Swiss at sunset then we went over to Pub night for night. I had the Smoked Pork Quesadilla with a Yuengling.

WE did a 2 mile walk today. I worked on the AVSA website and finally found the problem with the Colorbox. IT had the wrong name. Instead of plain Colorbox it was named colorbox1.x After a rename it started working normally which was great news. Dinner was leftover fish and chips with a salad. During the evening I read about crawlspace encapsulation vs crawlspace ventilation. In general encapsulation is bad and ventilation with a huge exhaust fan is bad if it's humid outside. I need a smart system that compares the outside humidity with the indoor humidity and only exhausts when the outside humidity is lower than the inside humidity. The blogs insist that I need to compare dewpoints instead of humidity. i agree. The indoor dewpoint will need to be calculated whereas the outdoor dewpoint can be scraped from weather underground using either my website data or a nearby site or possibly a combination of the two with one serving as primary and the other as backup.

We got going at 8:15 but got hung up in traffic on 64 going to the beltline. It was stop and go until Route 1 then it was clear sailing all the way, The two construction zones on 95 in SC were a normal one lane merge unlike last month when we did this trip. We had a bathroom stop at the SC visitors center just over the border then stopped in Ridgeland for gas and lunch. Gas at Marathon for credit cards was 2.39, ouch. For lunch I had a Wendy's single with half of a small fries. Our next gas stop was an emergency. it wasn't until we were in the deserted section of 75 next to Tampa Bay that I noticed the gas gauge had only 27 miles until empty. We got gas in Ellenton at a Circle K then continued the rest of the way, arriving at 7:30. After unloading some suitcases we went out for dinner at Mad Moes. I had fish and chips with a Yuengling. It was quite good. Everything looked great, i thought i forgot my camera but found it in our dance bag. Good deal!!!

After the morning programs I went outside and put up a fence guard around the tulip magnolia which appears to have a few buds coming along. Went out to Walmart after lunch for storage tubs and pizza cheese. Walmart had neither of these but i did pick up a jug of antifreeze. My level was down to the low mark so i wanted to top it off. I decided to get the oil changed in Sarasota instead of me doing the job. It's 1,000 miles away from an oil change.
Came home from Target with 4 tubs and a package of cheese. It was crowded. The tubs were in 2 packs for 4.99 which was excellent. I built two probes with DHT-11s on them and built 2 perf boards with terminal strips and Huzzah processors. I packed up a meter and the label maker along with the wires and electronics. Libbbie made her pizza for dinner with fresh tomatoes, the 6 cheese Italian cheese from Target and Shitake mushrooms we picked up in Kroger yesterday. It came out really good and the crust was perfect. Spent the rest of the night doing a little packing and watching the Grammys.

I was having trouble getting the enabled status of the crawl space fan controller. I found that the MQTT callback was never getting to the enable/disable status because of a bracket error in the if then else statement. Fixed that and did some testing and a tiny bit of cleanup and reinstalled the device into the audio closet. Hopefully it's now doing it's thing. Next project is to get a temperature sensor working on a Huzzah for stoneybrook both indoors and outdoors as well as a Prius timer for the charger.
I finished the Prius timer but it's possible I don't need it because the Prius battery is now at full charge and the battery maintainer is now blinking with a green light that indicates it has switched into float mode. I even unplugged it and plugged it back in to see if it was repeatable and it was. I can confidently leave the Prius plugged into the charger without the need for a timer. I will repurpose the timer I built into a one wire temperature sensor but I really want a DHT temp sensor that does temperature and humidity which means one more wire. I'll look at the possibilities of adding another terminal. Libbie and i went to Kroger to get Salmon but ended up buying large 21 count shrimp which were on sale. We also sampled a red blend from Australia called Dark Side which we bought. Dinner was a salad with shrimp and a glass of the Dark side wine.

I made some headway this week in the war against obesity. I weighed 238, down 4 from my worst moment Tuesday morning. Today is only Friday but the pounds are coming off but the clothes still don't fit.
I went to Bunky's and got my car washed this morning. I'm happy with the cleanliness but not the $20 which ended up being $17 because of a $3 coupon. I stopped into Staples and bought the WNDR4500 Netgear router for $83 which will be used in Stoneybrook to replace the Verizon I don't like. Will have to run an ethernet cable to where the fiber comes into the box in the spare room so I can use the router.
I installed the crawl space Huzzah but can't get enabled status back but I can get fan on/off status. I hope this thing works out.
We left at 5:45 for Esquires and arrived at 6:20 without any problems with traffic. My car was shiny and new looking tonight. At Esquires I tried to make wise choices. No wine, a large salad and some fish and squash with one piece of beef. For dessert I had a half piece of Key Lime pie. Dancing was hard. I tired out quickly during each dance. This was probably because I have gained too much weight and need to lose it. We stayed until 10 PM and sat with Gary&Janet, Terry &Charlie, and Jim and Jane. Met a lot of friends including our neighbors. It was a good night.

Wow, it's significantly colder and windy today. I went over to Great Clips and got a haircut at 9. I was the first one there, the lady was a roving substitute. It was her birthday so the manager gave her a balloon and a cupcake while she cut my hair. I like the haircut. For lunch today I had the Corn chowder which I found was high in calories - 190. Dinner was only a salad with tuna sprinkled on. I finished the crawl space controller today. Hope it all works. Ran out at night to Northern to get a Battery Tender. They had a Battery Minder for $24 which I bought with reluctance. I hooked it up to the Prius and it is showing charging but not topping off after a few hours. The Prius battery was dead today. I learned how to jump start it which is what led to the trickle charger decision.

Two of those pounds went away so I'm now an obese 240. Keep working on it. Built the ESP-Crawl relay board this morning with a Huzzah. This will be an MQTT controlled fan relay for the crawl space. The hope is to not allow venting during cold weather. I also updated the magazine on the AVSA website with Susan's latest teaser for Jan-Feb.
Picked up Libbie at 3:30 this afternoon and did some catch up but no real work on projects.
For dinner we went to Chipotle where we each had a Burrito Bowl. We also stopped at Kroger to get eggs and muffins for Libbie.

I slept until 6:30 which was quite surprising. The driving must have worn me down. I got on the scale and was shocked at 242. This is horrible. I need to stop eating!!!!!! Did some catch up work today. Payed the Stoneybrook and Frontier cable bill. I also researched a new router for Stoneybrook. Staples has the WNDR4500 for $84 which is a very good router at an attractive price, probably because it is discontinued. I went to Staples but it was $89 in the store so i didn't buy it. I bought a $10 Dymo label maker. When I got home I fixed up a 9 Volt AC adapter for the thing. I needed to revers plus and minus leads which I soldered and heat shrinked. The labels are fantastic. I wanted this for Stoneybrook but can't remember what I wanted to label. (It was the bicycle batteries and chargers). I'll bring this down there. I also need to bring a plastic tub or two for the storage unit to efficiently organize misc condo things. At home I started building the crawl space fan controller and also researched crawl space encapsulation and what is involved regarding installation and materials. i found a company in Nashville,, TN that looks pretty good. I have to use butyl tape on the walls then affix the plastic to the walls before drilling a series of holes every 2 feet and fixing the plastic sheeting to the wall with a plastic anchor. I had only an orange for lunch then a whole can of vegetable barley soup which is only 60 calories per serving. I went to Kroger and picked up milk and a cucumber. Libbie will need milk when she returns tomorrow. i checked her in today on Southwest. She got TSA Pre and B11 for her boarding position.

Did last minute packing and loading of the bike onto the rack. I am taking Libbie's non electric bike home to get it out of the way in the shed. Left at 8 AM. Had a little trouble with slow traffic an exit before I-4 but all cleared up as I went through Gainesville onto 301. There was heavy truck traffic on 301. I stopped for gas in Jacksonville on I-10 at an easy on easy off Pilot gas station. I continued and was happy at how empty 95 was through Georgia. I listened to a combo of Met Opera and 50s on 5 as well as a touch of 40s on 4. Next gas stop was exit 170 just past Florence. I wasn't sure I could make it that far but when I pulled into the Pilot station my range showed 70 miles to empty. I only took 10 gallons, the light wasn't even on. Gas was 1.92 per gallon. The remained of the trip was easy, twilight struck as I turned onto I-40 and by the time I got home at 7:33 it was dark. The trip took 10 1/2 hours which is excellent and is due more to the fact that I didn't stop for food. At home I went over to Chipotle for the first time and had a Burrito Bowl. It was outstanding. I would like to do that again. Because Iw as a first time customer my meal was free. Hard to believe.

Did not lose a single pound. Still 240 which is incredibly fat. Measured the cereal. Half of the bowl is one cup so I must have been having 2 cups every breakfast. Bad, bad, bad. This is a 500 calorie breakfast. Debating about going to Swan Lake today vs staying here to visit some Open Houses. All the Silly Bowl hype today may limit the number of Open houses. I'll check a paper.
Bought a paper at Publix along with some salad greens. Checked out the open house listings but nothing stood out. Online is quite a bit better. I got on the bike and went to two Open Houses. Visited Lolita on Knightbridge. Didn't like the house, it did back up to the woods but i prefer a more open feel onto a lake. Visited an expensive house which was 4 bedroom shown by Charles Offer who lives in Stoneybrook Estates. The house had a pool overlooking the lake and updated kitchen with wood laminate floors.
For dinner I ordered online a Dominoes pizza advertised as 3 topping for 7.99. I got onions, peppers and cheese. It was incredibly tasty, especially the sauce. The crust was a Brooklyn hand stretched but was a little soggy. This is probably because it's done on a conveyer belt instead of a stone.
Packed my suitcase and am ready to take off tomorrow.

Drove down Honore and went to Nokomis Groves where I picked up some Oranges (Honeybelle) and a jug of Orange juice. I had the spinach and Kale salad from Walmart but I didn't like it because it seemed slimey. I'll get a bag of Spring Mix from somewhere. Listened to the Met broadcast this afternoon of Rigoletto. It was great as usual. I like this Opera. The router and/or the internet keeps crashing here. It's so frustrating. Spent a few hours reading ASSTR instead of technical stuff. Dinner was a can of Light Chicken Corn Chowder, 200 calories total. I was still hungry later so I had a bowl of cereal. I'll have to measure the cereal quantity in the bowl. It's 180 cals per cup without the milk. Yikes.

Need to really try hard with this weight thing. I thought I was cutting back but weight has not changed even with long bike rides. Rode to Mer Del Lago and went inside scoping out some villas I found on Zillow. Price is attractive around 300k and maintenance is all inclusive including landscaping and building exterior for $275 per month. I really like the place, it covers all our requirements including a garage. When I got back Bill called. He's at the bike shop in Sarasota with a dead battery or a dead charger. He came over and I determined it was the charger because on my depleted battery it was green and not charging. Bill borrowed Libbie's battery. Dinner tonight was leftover Lasagna from the Italian Grill several days ago.

Watched the rest of the "On the Edge of 17" movie this morning and then played with Sonos presets some more. I started work on the crawl space ventilation program. I need this to be able to be controlled remotely. Hopefully I can install it next week when I get home, probably on Tuesday when I'm home alone.
Libbie will come on Wednesday. Did another long bike ride this afternoon, this time on the Venice waterway. Took Honore and then Pinebrook all the way to Venice Rd which is the road with the train station. This is a superior way to go to Venice. Weight has not changed so today was another light eating day. Salad and an orange for lunch, leftover chicken parm for dinner. I need to lose some weight somehow. Maybe when the last of the leftovers is gone tomorrow I'll really cut back. I still can't believe I got so fat. Watched a poor movie, "Good Kids", this evening.

Got up at 4:30 today thanks to Alexa. Libbie's cell didn't go off, she set it for PM instead of AM. We left at 5 AM and had no trouble except i missed the turn onto 60 for the airport. Got off at the next exit and used navigation on Libbie's cell to get to the terminal. Arrived there at 6:20 for her 7:30 flight. Coming back was a lot longer due to congestion at Bradenton where I was in stop and go traffic. Got back at 7:50. I saw a beautiful dawn over Tampa Bay and then the Sunrise when I was on 75 in Sarasota. Weighed myself and was shocked I was at 240, an incredible setback from 220 of last year. Decided to do something about it. Took a 10 mile bike ride today and only had an orange and a salad for lunch. Dinner was the leftover ribs. Sonoos is really doing well with Alexa. I burned a new SD card and got some autostart going for the node.js program of alexa and also for the drive mount of samba. Samba needed a chron job with a delay because the usB takes so long to initialize before the external hard drive could be used.