We had a great time at the Elks Volunteer Dinner on Saturday night…prime rib and baked potatoes with chocolate dipped strawberries for dessert. Pretty Yummy.

Sunday after church Neil went on a ride…14.07 miles, 14.47 mph, 58:23…very slow pace today as it was really windy again. After that we just lazed around the rest of the day as Connie wasn’t feeling very well…Neil made some pork stroganoff for dinner and we pretty much did nothing else.

Monday was another do nothing day…Connie worked on our last few campground choices for this season and Neil did some around the outside stuff.

Tuesday was a pretty full day…we ran a couple of errands in the morning then Connie did some Ladies of Elks secretary stuff while Neil went on another in what seems like an unending series of very windy rides this winter…14.45 miles, 15.43 mph, 56:10. His average was low…but he was doing between 19 and 20 mph on the way west on the way home…much better than the 13 on the way out…he can’t recall as many high wind days in our previous 3 years here as we’ve had this year…but then we’ve had a lot more rain this year as well.

Speaking of rain…obviously with the increased rain this winter Lake Okeechobee has gotten pretty full…so for the last month or  6 weeks the Army Corps of Engineers has been doing their job of flood control and releasing water from the lake into the Caloosahatchee River which flows from the lake to the Gulf at Fort Myers. The alternative was that homes and agricultural fields/livelihoods would have been flooded otherwise. So…obviously with the increased flow in the river…the water picked up a lot of silt so the water was a bit muddy. In addition…due to the CoE’s flood control systems…the naturally fresh water river has gotten brackish (mix of salt and fresh water) for about 5-10 miles upstream from the mouth of the river…which means that salt water fish have populated a lot of the canals and marshy areas. The increased flow of fresh water turned the water from brackish to fresh…and as you know salt water fish can’t survive in fresh water so they died, got washed out of the river, and drifted up on the beaches.

You won’t believe all the hue and cry in the media about this down here…all we’ve heard since January was hand wringing about the Corps polluting the river, killing the fish, and destroying the tourist industry. Never mind that the Corps is doing exactly what Congress charged them to do back in the 1930s or so…control flooding of homes and agricultural fields. Never mind that the river would be having these periodic high flows due to rainfall. Never mind that it’s only fresh water and isn’t polluting anything. It’s all the government’s fault of course…and the state legislature is “having hearings” during which they are insisting that “we’re going to legally force the Corps to stop the polluting release of fresh water”. Seems to me that Federal laws override state complaints and while I’m sure the Corps would have liked to not release the water…it was either that or the levees would be overtopped and then damaged by the resulting uncontrolled flooding…not to mention loss of homes, fields, and jobs.

Idiots I tell ya’…idiots.

Neil found this dog’s picture this week…I really like it.

And Mother’s Day is coming up…so don’t forget her.

Wednesday Neil worked on some campground reservations…although a lot of the northern campgrounds aren’t answering their phones or email yet…it’s their closed season and I guess they’re having some time off. Dinner Wednesday night was at a local…well, it was a 40 mile round trip so maybe it wasn’t so local…place named Micelle’s…it supposedly had fantastic ribs on Wednesday night. Well…I gotta tell you they weren’t all that fantastic…in fact they were mediocre at best. They were nice and tender as they had been baked awhile before being grilled…but the sauce was pretty much taste-free. Connie had seared ahi tuna and some oriental salad on the side. 

Thursday she worked on more Ladies of Elks stuff while Neil went on a bike ride…22.14 miles, 14.54 mpg, 1:31:24. This was a new route…he went east (upwind over to US31 then south (more upwind) across the bridge. Turning east (sorta downwind but not completely) on Palm Beach Boulevard which parallels the river on the south side he continued about 7 or 8 miles down to the Tamiami Trail  bridge…this is the next bridge you can ride across, the I-75 one in the middle doesn’t have a pedestrian crossing. Heading north (mostly downwind) back across the river and continued up to Bay Shore Road where then east another 6 miles (again upwind, seriously upwind by now as it was getting pretty close to 20 mph wind) and back home. When he got back we had to close up the house and turn on the A/C…already well into the 80s today on the way to 87 and will continue that through most of next week. In the evening we headed down to the Lodge again…Connie has  Ladies board and regular meetings to attend so Neil will just hang out and drink a beer while he’s waiting.

Friday we pretty much stayed at home.

Saturday we drove down to Bonita Springs to St Leo’s parish where the bishop of this diocese was doing a celebration of significant anniversaries for this year…it’s due to be Neil and Connie’s 40th so we attended the Mass, renewal of vows, and reception. There were about 50 couples that were celebrating their 50th…including 2 that had their anniversary the date of the Mass…and the longest married couple was celebrating their 75th. What a lot.

Neil didn’t feel very well Saturday afternoon…must have eaten something that didn’t agree with him. These symptoms continued on Sunday so it was luckily that he went with Connie Saturday afternoon when she was being the cantor…so he just stayed home while she went.

And finally…this sign is a perfect illustration of why I have trust issues…ya think you’re getting one thing and the actuality is completely different.

Cyas.