It's Sunday morning, and another glorious sunny day here in Fort Myers. Abby and I are sitting out on the lanai. A couple of blue jays are duking it out for territory along the treeline. The smell of cigarette smoke is wafting over from next door, as neighbor Randy begins his daily ritual of pickling himself in tobacco and alcohol. (Nice guy, heart of gold, but racing to an early grave.)
I don't have a lot to report since my last blog entry Wednesday. I have more or less fallen into a comfortable routine of goofing off and doing as little work as possible to keep my little watch enterprise going.
Thursday, I met with (former landlord) Heather to catch up and see if there were any developments on her two rental units. She brought me two bottles of Wicked Dolphin Rum (one straight, and one spiced) as a thank-you for my positive review of the Cape Coral Distillery, where her boyfriend (soon to be fiancee I'm told) is the head distiller. She also treated on the drinks and appetizers at Stillwater, where we met. Her renters at both her locations are solidly in place, so there's virtually no chance of renting from her once my lease on this apartment expires in July. It appears her little rental empire is stalled, due to a lack of qualified properties to buy. I think the days of cheap property (resulting from the real estate bust of 2008-2009) are over. More and more folks like me are moving (or at least wintering) in Florida, and there's more demand than supply. Homes that were $40,000 five years ago are now $80,000. Not that I'm looking to buy or anything, but the upward movement in house prices is moving up rental prices as well because the rental income moguls are no longer finding cheap housing to renovate and turn into rental units.
Thursday also saw the arrival of my first batch of shaving razors and complimentary handle from the "Dollar Shave Club." This is an online enterprise where when you join the "club," you get a fresh batch of four razor heads for a buck, plus postage. Niece/nephew Kris and Jim hooked me up with this, and so far I am very pleased. The last batch of disposable razors I bought were just awful, and the name-brand razor heads have gotten so damned expensive, that this was an idea whose time had come.
Friday, I did my usual bike ride to the Farmers Market, and auto trip out to the Fleamasters flea market. The market was jam packed that day, and for the first time I had to park in the overflow parking lot. February is definitely the thick of the high season, and it will continue through March. My grand total expenditure was $3 for a new ballcap to replace one that I lost (no doubt it's around here somewhere!). I had lunch at Pincher's Crab Shack at the downtown marina. I was hungry for fried clams, and (sister) Dawn, they tinkered with the recipe once again, switching from thin clam strips to fat clam strips, and they are delicious and have much more clam flavor than before.
Saturday (yesterday) I took a long bike ride up and down the John Yarbrough Linear Bike
Trail, which runs parallel to a man-made canal for six miles between Six Mile Cypress Parkway on the south end, and Colonial Blvd. on the northern end. It's a nice level ride, with no vehicular traffic, and lots of wildlife in the canal, including heron, egrets, turtles and rumors of at least a couple of alligators, though I have yet to see them. The only downside is that you must cross a couple of busy highway intersections if you want to go from end to end. At one end is the Sunshine Harvest Citrus Company, which is a must stop for the free juice samples. I also got an orange-vanilla twist cone and a slice of key lime pie to complete the sugary shock to my pancreas. All together, traversing the trail end to end and back again, I put in 12 miles, plus another two miles each way to the trail from my apartment. So 14 miles total, which is approaching the upper limit of my comfort zone. It was a beautiful ride, with sunny skies and temps in the mid 70s.
I hope all my friends and family back in Wisconsin are well, and hanging in there with the winter weather. I see Madison and surrounding areas are getting some freezing rain today, so be careful.
Bruce
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