I haven’t done a pineapple update in some time. Two are going really well with lots of new growth; the two others are barely holding their own. Nancy found another “deal” and picked up 6 more. I cut them up for future use in the blender and planted the tops directly in the main garden.
Simon came home from his gig in Alabama and spent the first couple of days here at the lake helping me with jobs that are just too much for one guy – at least this one guy. We sawed timber, cut jungle, pulled monster ferns and all those things I should have been doing for the past 6 months. I kept up with him fairly well – probably a few extra breaks for me – but I sure slept well, as in total exhaustion, those nights. He’s got two jobs in Orlando but the plan is for him to do an occasional return here to help out and earn some pocket money. One job that we didn’t finish was pulling runaway Boston fern from the coquina wall along the front deck. We were making great progress when I was slammed by a large wasp just under the eye. If you’ve never had a large bee like sting – sting is an understatement – it’s just as if you were hit by a fast pitch with a hardball. My face was swollen for a couple of days but my eye never closed. Simon spotted the nest way down in the fern and took care of it with wasp spray. I’ll work on the fern a bit or let it wait until he comes back – yeah that. In the meantime, Si will be aggressively seeking full time employment as an environmental teacher somewhere in Central Florida – maybe even up here.
Took my first surf fishing trip since the stent work. I dropped Nancy off at her Palm Coast Bridge Club and was making my first cast 15 minutes later. I went south to Beverly Beach instead of north towards Marineland where I had been going. I just like it better. The beach has more contour which, in my mind, makes for better fishing. I had zero problem getting from the car to the beach, climbing over the sand berm with all my gear; zero problem with casting; zero problem landing giant fish (just caught a few small ones) so I’m completely back in the surf business for the summer. A guy fishing nearby did hook a really large stingray that pulled him along the beach a few hundred yards. He was handicapped physically so I helped beach the monster.
Then the highlight – Chris came home for a couple of days. That’s a big thing for him since he doesn’t do hot weather very well. We hooked up for dinner one night with Joey and Tommy et al; went over to the beach for lunch at the Funky Pelican and then drove up to St. Augustine. The plan was to walk around the main street in the village but parking was absolutely impossible so we ended up detouring to some outlet malls and coming back to the lake. One thing Chris missed about Florida from his college days was eating Publix sub’s so we stopped and picked up a few a picnic at home. He may come back for another short visit in the fall or we may drive up to Chicago for a couple days later this summer. Nothing definitive but a real possibility.