Music, Kitties, Neighbors Visit

Today is Sunday, and I just gave the apartment a good cleaning because I have company coming over in about an hour and a half. It's Jim and Patty, my neighbors to my left (north). I'm having ham/havarti rollups, Triscuits, assorted soft beverages (they don't drink alcohol), and chocolate chip cookies from the Fresh Market bakery. The main purpose is to visit and to introduce them to Abby (they have a cat also). I will also ask if they will look in on her Jan. 12-16 while Julie and I are on our cruise. They have already offered, so I don't feel like I'm holding them over a barrel by bribing them with refreshments or anything like that.

I see it's been a while since I updated the blog, on Dec. 18. Has anyone missed me? There's been a few things going on, so I'll bring you up to date.

Friday was eventful, starting with the morning bike ride to the Lakes Park farmer's market. I had a bagel sandwich, cinnamon roll, fresh strawberries, and coffee for breakfast there. Dawn, they will be open the day after Christmas, so I am going to take you there so you can try an order of "Poffers." The usual group of retired bicycle enthusiasts were there, who call themselves the "Peckerwoods." We chatted and had a few laughs. I have not been made an honorary member yet, but one can only hope.

Biked back to the apartment (the new tube on the rear tire is holding very nicely, by the way) and then drove out to Fleamasters, where I bought a Scrabble game to keep here, and also a cribbage board that was missing the pegs, but it was only $2, and including a deck of cards.

At about 1:30, I left and headed over to the Gulf Coast Humane Society. It is just down the road from Fleamasters. They don't open until 2 p.m. on Fridays, so I had a little bit of a wait, and there were quite a few people waiting to get in. The first thing I noticed is that they lack sufficient parking, so this could be an issue for staff/volunteers, unless they have an overflow lot somewhere. I skipped the front desk because they were mobbed upon opening, and headed right for the kitten/cat rooms (each has their own room, connected by a door, to keep the kittens separated from the adult cats). I stayed for about an hour, and played with mostly the adult cats and, as expected, found some that were lovers and starving for attention, and others who more or less wanted to be left alone. I spoke with a volunteer there who says it's a pretty easy gig. You don't even have to scoop litter. All they really expect you to do is socialize the cats and try to "talk them up" to prospective adopters. The nice thing about this shelter is that they don't cage any of the adoptable cats; they are free to wander the large room. They have little boxes they can climb into if they want to be alone, but are otherwise free to walk around. On the downside, my impression of the adoption part of the shelter was that it was terribly disorganized. There appeared to be only one person at the reception desk who knew what she was doing, and she was on the phone and trying to answer questions from guests and volunteers all at the same time. So we'll see how I feel about this after the first of the year. It may be that I simply visit the kitties once a week on Friday in conjunction with my flea market visit. I wish there was someone there I could talk to, but they seem to want to deal with their volunteers strictly through the Internet (that's where you fill out your volunteer application).

Back at the apartment, I showered and shaved to get ready for the big music festival downtown with my meetup dot com group. There were supposedly 16 people who RSVP'd they would be there, but when I arrived there was nobody I could identify. I had a slice of pizza and a diet Coke at a place called "Downtown Pizza" which is right in the Plaza. At $4, it was the bargain of the evening. I hooked up with a table of six people from Fort Myers by giving them the old "I'm-new-in-town" sad story and they welcomed me to their table and invited me to partake in their pitcher of beer. I must say I have found the local people here to be quite friendly for the most part.

I finally found two other guys I knew from the meetup group, and we basically spent the next hour scouring the Plaza for signs of any others, but without success. I think what happened was that the group's two leaders (Ed and Pam) had to bow out of hosting the event, and things just fell apart. The three of us guys (me, Gene, and J.T.) hung out for about an hour, listened to a Johnny Cash-style band that was playing out in front of a Mexican-style cantina establishment, and then we left. So basically, I made the best of a not-so-good situation. I did learn a few things from that group I sat with, including the location of a rooftop bar that I may take Dawn to. Beautiful view of the downtown harbor at sunset.

In contrast, Saturday was a quiet day spent reading, surfing the net, and napping. I did order a new set of pots and pans from amazon dot com after the cheap set of pans I bought at Walmart six weeks ago were literally stripped of their nonstick coating in the dishwasher. With some things, it just doesn't pay to buy cheap. Good knives and a good set of pots and pans are a must in the kitchen. I thought I could "slide by" in my little bachelor pad down here, but the immutable laws of cookery are not subject to changes in geography. Shitty pans in Wisconsin are shitty pans in Florida. There's a reason chefs travel with their own knives. Anyway, my new 15-piece set of "Cook N Home Nonstick Black Soft Handled Cookware" should arrive the day after Christmas.

OK, must pause in writing this to prepare my ham-n-havarti rollups for my company, due in about 20 minutes.

Saturday at about 4 p.m. I went back to "Buster's Sports Bar and Eatery" where I had the most excellent fried chicken Wednesday night. Tonight was their 1-pound sirloin steak special. Your slab of meat is cooked to order (mine medium rare), topped with a large onion ring and sauteed mushrooms, and served with baked potato, vegetable (tonight's was stewed tomatoes/onions/zucchini), and tossed salad. All for the bargain price of $11.99. Topped off with a 16 ounce draft Rolling Rock ($2) for the grand total of $14 plus tax and tip for this feast. I brought home half the steak and half the potato for another meal, so I don't see how a person can go wrong with a deal like this. And Busters is a fairly nice place, too. Certainly not the Four Seasons, but more than a hole in the wall also. I wanted dessert after this, so stopped at the upscale "Fresh Market" at the Bell Tower Mall up the road from me (similar to the Copps Metro Market in Madison) and got a single serving of Tiramasu at the bakery, and also picked up a batch of their bakery chocolate chips cookies for my company today.

The visit with Jim and Patty went very well. Nice folks. They enjoyed the treats, and Patty fell in love with Abby, and they are only too happy to watch her the week I am away on the cruise, and I'm sure they'll watch her in March also when I'm away for three days in Orlando/Kissimmee for the watch show.

That brings you all up to date. Tomorrow is supposed to be partly cloudy with a high of 78, so I might head over and spend the day on Sanibel Island, or possibly bike over to the beach.

Bruce