The sunshine
is back after two days of clouds and rain. Mid 70 degrees and not a cloud in
the sky. The choices today were to comb Craigslist for furniture, or spend the
day on Sanibel Island. Guess which one I chose.
I’m here at
the Island Cow, one of favorite eateries from my past visit. It’s as good as
ever, but they have no wi-fi … probably had to get rid of it since my last
visit because the Internet barnacles were hanging around too long. No cell
reception, either, at least not on the “Boost” phone. So I am composing this
the old fashioned way … offline. Kind of nice not to be “connected” for a while.
I highly recommend it!I started the day at the apartment with a smoothie and couple cups of coffee. Sent my story off to my editor, along with images. Checked emails, left another message with the maintenance man, and shot a few photos for eBay listings, making use of the morning sunshine.
Then off to Sanibel, renting a beach cruiser bicycle from Billy’s Rentals and parking the Prius. Brunch at the Island Cow was the “Be Crabby,” which is a pan fried crab cake sitting on top of an open-face omelet, covered with melted co-jack cheese. Served with home fries, grits, and fresh fruit. And a strong cuppa Joe. I’m now on their back patio listening to a ‘70s track which has so far included Credence, Joe Cocker, Otis, and Seger, among others. It doesn’t get much better than this.
My “plan” for the rest of the day is to let the food settle a bit, then bike on over to the Ding Darling nature preserve and take a leisurely ride through the flora and fauna. Then who knows after that. Maybe a couple of beers at Doc Ford’s, which is author Randy Wayne White’s bar/restaurant here on the island.
As I inferred earlier, no response yet from “Alan,” the maintenance man who works for Bob Biasotti, the landlord. Not a great first impression, I’m afraid. Just some text messages from the maintenance guy with lame apologies and excuses about “emergencies” that have had to take precedence. Fortunately, the ant population seems to be under control with the bait traps, keeping the kitchen clean, and portioning Abby’s food (i.e., not leaving a bunch of it out all the time). It probably wouldn’t be an issue with the cat food, but for Abby’s habit (adorable as it is) of scooping the food out of the dish and onto the floor, where she invariably leaves crumbs, whereupon the ants come a runnin’ like the early birders at the Golden Corral.
The ride through Ding Darling Wildlife was most excellent. They have repaved the roadway since I was last here, which is nice because the former road surface was quite rough and pebbly. I saw a roseatte spoonbill, small blue heron, white heron, and many ibis. I also something new for me, tree crabs. They look kind of like large black spiders, but they cling to the trees in mangroves and feed off the lichen on the trees. Neat. Here’s a shot I took with the camera built into my Surface tablet:
I saw a
woman get her feet and legs attacked by fire ants when she stepped off the pavement into the
brush wearing nothing on her feet but flip flops. For you ladies who might be
reading this (read: Julie, Amy, Dawn, etc.) if you get down this way, DO NOT be
wearing flip flops unless you intend to stay on pavement all the time. Even the so-called “lawns”
down here have ant nests in them. Nasty buggers with a painful bite.
I stopped at Doc
Ford’s to enjoy a cold Kalik (pronounced ka-LEEK), brewed in Nassau, Bahamas,
with which I’m somewhat familiar! (Julie, are you wishing you were on a cruise ship
right about now?) Pedaled the rest of the way into downtown Sanibel, and am enjoying
an ice latte and complimentary Internet. Just paid my gas and electric bill
back home. Ain’t technology great, especially when it works!
That's all for now. I see on the news that southern Wisconsin will dodge the snow bullet for the most part tomorrow, but up to 18 inches is predicted in northern part of the state. Yikes!
Bruce
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