A Wonderful, Sh!##y Day

After a long weekend of not feeling well, Rick finally called an Ear-Nose-Throat specialist on Monday.  He got a late-morning appointment for Tuesday, so we drove to Largo to see the new doctor.  He is young, well-trained, and did a great job of setting up both medication (Prednisone) and tests (a CT sinus scan and an allergy test) to get to the root of Rick's woes.  He still has to take those other tests once the Prednisone has a chance to take effect.  We hope that he has finally found a doctor that can prevent these 8-week illnesses in the future.

Today dawned sunny and warm.  This was only our second day lately to get back to our bikes, but it was a perfect day to ride.  Strangely enough, we passed several city trucks and semi trucks parked on the street before we got to the Pinellas Trail.  Our first ride a couple of days ago was a little over 3 miles.  Today we went 4.3 miles, but we did so against a very strong wind. That's all I have built up to at this point, but the exercise felt great.

After our ride, we did some much-needed grocery shopping this morning, picking up sandwiches for a picnic lunch in a part somewhere.  I put chicken in the crock pot for dinner tonight.  Then we started out for Weaver Park.

Our destination, however, was not to be.  We tried to get to the park but found that the road near the park was completely blocked off.  We still do not know what is happening on Bayshore Drive, but the road has been closed for more that three hours.  I hope we can learn something on the news tonight.

After a detour, we headed for our second choice destination: Pioneer Park by the marina in Dunedin.  We had a wonderful picnic in the shade of the pavilion.  The table was a bit wobbly and the crows were very vocal once they spied food, but we left nothing for them to eat but a few crumbs.

Our view from our lawn chairs as we relaxed
in Pioneer Park.

Sadly, they got their revenge.  We took our lawn chairs and Kindles to settle in the shade for a bit of quiet reading.  We had a great view of the marina, and the breeze kept us cool.  We read for quite a while when I then felt something hit my left shoulder.  Yup.  A bird got me, adding a few left-over droppings on my right pant leg as it flew over.  Dang!  I wiped off what I could, thankful that it had missed my head and hair.

As we walked back to the car, we found that the seagulls and crows in the park had used our car as ground-zero for a strategic bombing.  We had bird poop down every window, on the roof, and peppering our hood and back of the car.  We had NOTHING on the car before we parked at the Marina, but we certainly could not say that as we drove home.

While I changed clothes, treated the stains on my outfit, and started the laundry, Rick set about filling a pail with soapy car-wash suds for the car.  We noticed this morning that the car was covered with a fine yellow pollen, but we really did not plan on washing the car today.  At least the afternoon was sunny and warm enough to wash something outside.

So today we got exercise, stocked the refrigerator, enjoyed a picnic, and spent a while relaxing in the park.  It was a wonderful -- and crappy -- day.