Dorques? The Holy Order... Thanks to Al Bore; Angola; Spin the Globe! The Last Centurion

What is a dorque? One of this blog's Faithful Readers (Fair Lady Sharon) emailed me that dorques are "those individuals who idle away hours combing through the internet looking for Mystery Doors". I would prefer the term "Wonderfully Inquisitive People (WIPs)", not to be confused with Inquisitors, of auto-da-fe fame, or whips, which the aforementioned Inquisitors wielded with such joyous fervor and abandon. (Hold that thought, though). 

Okay, back to The Door in Question. Here is the close-up of The Door.... 

Incorrect answers included "a door in St. Augustine" (actually quite a good guess...) and a "garden door to home of elves" (a very clever answer). But the correct answer is that this very Spanish-looking door is located in The Villages, Florida, about 50 yards from Panera in Spanish Springs, in the little tower that sits at the intersection of Main Street and Highway 27/441. Congratulations to Annie, who lives here in The Villages, who was the first responder (no, she's not an EMT) with the most correct answer! See the wide angle photo below.... note The Door at stage right. "Told ya' this was an easy one!"

Okay, back to whips and chains (ooooohhhh, I'm getting excited), and the Spanish heritage of Florida... the Holy Office of the Inquisition was not one of the finest moments of the Catholic Church. The Spanish and Italian Offices seemed to be the most enthusiastic branches. Here is an image of Tomas de Torquemada, a 15th Century Spanish Dominican friar who was Spain's Grand Inquisitor until he died in 1498. With a haircut like that, you can see why he might have been (a) a loser with the girls and (b) a bit grumpy. He actually made the Spanish Inquisition slightly less brutal than his predecessors, requiring that torture only be dosed out to those accused by "two persons of good nature". Condemned people had to wear a penitental garment called a sanbenito; the sanbenito of those to be executed was adorned with embroidered hell's flames, demons, dragons and snakes. (That must have encouraged the others to better adhere to church doctrine...)





In Italy, one of the most famous trials by the Holy Order is depicted in this painting. Here we see Galileo Galilei facing the Roman Inquisition. He was found "vehemently suspect of heresy" by believing in the Copernican theory that the Earth revolved around the sun; he was required to "abjure, curse and detest" those opinions contrary to the Church's doctrine, and sentenced to imprisonment at the pleasure of the Inquisition. He was held under house arrest until he died. (We know how correct the Church was on this one, don't we?)





On the positive side, the Holy Order of the Inquisition did a lot for the clothing industry in Spain and Italy. All of those sanbenitos had to be produced, and senior Holy Order clerics, like Juan Pardo de Tavera, one of the Grand Inquisitors of Spain, had to have many suits like this tailored to keep up appearances. After all, he couldn't just buy them "off the rack", could he? (Yes, the racks were quite full of the condemned... sorry for the pun).














I would like to officially recognize the debt that Western Civilization owes to former vice prez Al Bore (sorry, "Gore") for inventing the Internet. I mean, this poor guy has been castigated for being one of the most boring elected officials in American History. He really should have been awarded the Nobel Prize. Think of where we'd be today if he hadn't graciously given us the Internet.... I wouldn't have been able to provide these photos of Torquemada and Juan Pardo... I thought about putting his picture up on the blog... but I just couldn't do it. Inquisitors, yes; Al Bore, Naaaahhhhh......  I do have some standards.


As some readers are already aware, Your Faithful Correspondent is a geography freak. Part of it was inbred from my mother, the rest came from my Navy years. My Lovely Bride gave me a very nice globe a few years ago, and every now and then I will close my eyes, spin it, and put my finger down and see where it stops. I did this the other night ten times, just to see if I had been to any of the places that stopped under my digit. Here's the list:


1. Iran - visited there (Bandar Abbas) in 1973, before the Shah was thrown under the bus by Jimmy Carter; it wasn't too bad a place then, and we were treated very well by the Iranian Navy, most of whom were shot by the Ayatollah's goon squads, otherwise known as the Revolutionary Guards. Thanks, Jimmy.


2. Angola - visited there in 1973, while it was still a Portuguese colony; then one of the breadbaskets of Africa, it was a delightful place, but that was before the civil war fomented by Castro and Soviets (Russians), which lasted from 1975-2002. Fidel Castro sent Cuban army thugs there to eliminate the "bad" Europeans. Fortunately, the Cubans got thrown out, and Angola is struggling to recover from decades of war and corruption. Not one of the places I would recommend visiting for vacation.
 





3. Oahu, Hawaii - stationed there aboard a frigate 1981-1983; lived in Aiea, close to Pearl Harbor; visited the Arizona Memorial a dozen times... sobering. Wished more Americans (including our current "commander-in-chief") would learn the lessons of 1941. Was at sea 75% of the time, so didn't do much sightseeing. Learned that Haoles aren't real popular among the natives.


4. New Orleans - can't believe my home town fell under my finger! Best food in the world. Otherwise, it's a good place to be from...


5. Port Louis, Mauritius, Indian Ocean: visited there Christmas/New Year's, 1981 or 1982. Beautiful island, poor but friendly people. Soviet Navy (Russians) were also in port. The Russkies had (have?) no sense of humor, especially when our guys were lighting off Roman candles and sky rockets on the pier on New Year's Eve. They thought our sailors were attacking their ships. Russkies are not real bright; but then, anyone who thinks Putin is cool has a box of rocks for a brain.


6. Tristan de Cunha, South Atlantic Ocean, between South Africa and South America; part of the United Kingdom. Passed by on transit from the Cape of Good Hope to Brazil, but never stopped. Bummer, because this is the most isolated group of islands in the entire world. Was once called The Islands of Refreshment... how bad can they be?






7. Trinidad - stopped there in 1972 on the way across the Atlantic to Africa. Local Rastas beat up some of our sailors. One of my least favorite places on the planet. We called this one of the world's "garden spots". It was not meant as a compliment.



8. Baffin Island, Canada - never been there; the largest island in Canada, and fifth largest island in the world. Total population 10,700, about .02 persons per square mile. Really cool ice and polar bears, though, as long as you don't get eaten. Polar bears are probably the most nasty, aggressive animals on the planet, far worse than great white sharks. But they have a great marketing department.







9. Surt, Libya - spent a couple of weeks on patrol on Gaddafi's "Line of Death" off Surt and Benghazi back in 1989-1990. We kept hoping he'd send ships and fighters out to play; he sent out some MiGs to challenge our F-14 Tomcats - not a smart move, because the MiGs promptly got shot down. Tomcats 2, MiGs 0.  I have long proposed that every American be required to spend a week or two in an Arab country to really appreciate what we have here in the USA...



10. Clipperton Island, 10-18N, 109-13W, about 620 miles SSW of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in the Pacific Ocean. Population ZERO, land area 2.3 square miles, used to be a guano (that's bird doo-doo for the uninitiated) mining depot for the Frogs... sorry, the French. Now visited only occasionally by the French Navy, fishermen, scientific researchers, and odd shipwrecked sailors.





So, there you have it, a short geography tour from one sailor's viewpoint. One of the neat parts about spending my adult life (yes, I was a grown-up for a while) in the Navy was traveling to 64 countries, some really cool and friendly, others decidedly less so. It's a very big world out there...

Finally, I just finished reading a great book called "The Last Centurion" by John Ringo. One of the best books I've ever read, very highly recommended, especially if you're a Hillary fan...

Photo Quiz Update

Okay, thanks to Jan Smith for letting Klutzoid know that he had forgotten to add his email address at the bottom of the last blog. (You just can't get good help these days.) Here is the full, now complete, totally accurate photo quiz paragraph for those Internet-challenged readers not willing to go to the last blog entry...

Finally, here's our Photo Quiz. I have always liked doors. Not "The Doors", like the band from the 70s, but the wooden type that sealed out the Huns and Vandals (briefly), or those that keep your little Fluffy from biting the mailman (oops, sorry, PC Alert! I meant to say "Postal Carrier".) The best and earliest responder to most nearly, almost correctly, come close to identifying the geographic location of this door (area, building, city and state, or city and foreign country... whatever works!) wins lunch with Your Intrepid Correspondent and His Lovely Bride. And don't think this is a really hard, trick quiz... for experienced geo-cachers, a 12 digit lat/long will suit just fine... if you're not a geo-cacher, throw out a wild guess. You have a much better chance of winning this Photo Quiz than you have of winning the Florida Lotto!  Send your email answer to ftgiesemann@aol.com.

Bike Jock; Recovery Mode; Mountaineering Training; Debris Field; Perils of Husbandhood; Playing with Strippers; Photo Quiz

In my pain the other day, I forgot to post these photos from the Fat Tire Fest of a 30-something guy on a bike doing tricks. He could balance on his bike for 15 minutes at a time, only moving forward and back a few inches, and then going boing like a pogo stick, hop the bike onto a picnic table, where he would stay for a minute, balancing on one wheel, never touching the table with his feet, and then jumping the bike to the next picnic table, and finally onto and over a fence! I wanted to stay and take some lessons, but My Lovely Bride gave me a gentle smack with a tire pump and said, "Time to go home, Hot Dog." "Yes, Dear...." 

We are recovering pretty well following our mountain bike spills. A few bruised limbs and one very bruised ego...  Suzanne has decided to pamper herself, muttering something about estrogen vs. testosterone (wuss!).  For me, a five mile run on Monday and a 34 mile bike ride on Tuesday seems to indicate that (a) the body is recovering satisfactorily; and (b) the mind... well, that depends on your point of view. We also had a pleasant walk through Oklawaha County Park just a few miles from the house. Here is My Lovely Bride enjoying the beautiful scenery, lots of oaks festooned with Spanish moss. It was a perfect day, 72 and sunny. 






And here is Your Faithful Correspondent, in the park playground, doing some leisurely mountaineering training in preparation for our 2014 Summer Tour, which will include visits to the Rocky Mountains and the Cascades. The view from up there was terrific! (Yes, I did check to see if there were any age restrictions, and you had to be at least 6 years old.)















We have lots of birds in our neighborhood now that Spring is officially here and those chilly 40 degree nights have become a thing of the past (that's for you, Terri). Some of the common bird species we see are wrens, mockingbirds, robins, pelicans and songbirds, in addition to our resident flocks of sandhill cranes, anhingha, vultures and the occasional bald eagle. We don't have a lot of hawks in our area; they tend to collect more around the forests and farms a few miles from here; we do, however, have several owls hanging about. This is the second "debris field" I've seen lately, probably a result of a mockingbird's unfortunate close encounter of the worst kind with an owl or hawk. There was nothing left but feathers...




Two of the perils of Husbandhood are Fixing Broken Things and Installing New Things. My Lovely Bride decided she wanted a new lighting fixture in her study. I made a tactical error when we went to our local home supply store and she picked out a nice new fixture - I should have stayed home complaining about my sore hip and begged off on that job for a year or three. Instead, when we got home, she said with typical Ensuzyasm, "Okay, Ty, let's get to it... no lazing about today!" Grumbling, I turned off electrical power to the study (remembering the lessons learned from that classic Navy movie, "110 volts, Your Deadly Shipmate").





Rigging the ladder and collecting a few simple tools occupied but a few minutes - not enough time for a beer (MLB drives me hard!); removal of the old ceiling fan and light fixture was pretty simple, except that (1) the goofballs who installed it had stripped the screws holding it in place, and (2) the fact that it weighed about 300 lbs. Okay, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration. In any case, what I found after inspecting the old junction box was that it was totally unsatisfactory for the new light.







It took 15 minutes of looking through my pack rat supply of Miscellaneous Spare Parts and Junk to find the bits and pieces required to complete the job. (Ladies, that's what your husbands keep in the Mason jars on the bottom of their workbenches...) My favorite sub-task is playing with strippers. (Hey, get your mind out of the gutter! I'm talking about wire strippers!) Finally, connect the wires, turn on the power and Presto, "Let there be (more) light!" It actually worked, and I didn't electrocute myself or blow a circuit breaker.

Finally, here's our Photo Quiz. I have always liked doors. Not "The Doors", like the band from the 70s, but the wooden type that sealed out the Huns and Vandals (briefly), or those that keep your little Fluffy from biting the mailman (oops, sorry, PC Alert! I meant to say "Postal Carrier".) The best and earliest responder to most nearly, almost correctly, come close to identifying the geographic location of this door (area, building, city and state, or city and foreign country... whatever works!) wins lunch with Your Intrepid Correspondent and His Lovely Bride. And don't think this is a really hard, trick quiz... for experienced geocachers, a 12 digit lat/long will suit just fine.

Catching Air... and Dirt; "Rag Dolly"; Lightly Battered

It is with great reluctance that I write these words. I had thought that I might keep secret one of the most humiliating events of my life, but alas, Sanaya let the cat out of the bag, so to speak. It's a long story, so grab a cup of coffee or tea, unless you're reading this over Happy Hour, which is probably a much more appropriate occasion, since alcohol has the effect of dulling pain. Here we go...


My Lovely Bride and I were scheduled for a 30 mile road bike trip to Bushnell, Florida on Sunday, but after having such fun on high end mountain bikes on Saturday, decided to return to the Fat Tire Fest and try out some other bikes. As we checked out the tents with hundreds of mountain bikes, I may have noticed that I was the oldest person in sight. Keep this fact in mind as the story unfolds. We signed out two 29ers, bikes that have large, 29 inch diameter wheels designed to roll over rocks and stumps (yes, you actually try to do those crazy things) more easily than the 26 inch wheels mounted on traditional mountain bikes. I ride a low-end (not exactly the same as a "low rider") 29er now, but these were top-end bikes. Mine rode well, but Suzanne was not happy on the larger-framed bike. So, we then checked out two 27.5 bikes, which are much quicker and more nimble than their larger cousins.

Instantly we were back into ZAZOOM mode! For an hour or so, we hammered and ripped the trails of the "Dr. Ruth" section, having a blast. It was Nirvana - we were riding at 15-20 mph in places, very fast for an MTB. Then, the lead rider in our peleton of two made a tactical error... the dummy decided to take a big rock head-on and go airborne ("catching air" in MTB parlance, both wheels off the ground... really cool stuff). The take-off was okay, the flight was exhilarating, but the landing was a disaster. Somehow my front wheel caught something and twisted left, and I was unable to regain my balance, and "augered" into the ground with my right hip and shoulder. Even more unfortunate was the fact that MLB was not expecting me to become part of the trail in front of her, and had to slam on her brakes so hard that she executed a beautiful "endo" over her handlebars onto her left shoulder, the impact only partially mitigated by her left hand. (This is colloquially called becoming a "rag dolly".) I glanced back, and from ground level, Suzanne actually looked quite... well, almost... graceful... just before impact. The "thud" was less promising. Due to the laws of physics, her bike then landed on top of her. In the Navy, we call this NG... not good. You see, we might be responsible for the damaged bikes... but I digress. As we lay there on the trail, my first thought was, "Dude, that was REALLY stupid!" The conversation as we both laid there on the ground then went, "Suzanne, are you okay?" "I think so; are you okay?" "I think so."

After checking both bodies for concussions or compound fractures, and the bikes for bent wheels, we mounted up and finished our ride, at a somewhat more moderate pace. Suzanne was even laughing a bit hysterically, I think from the relief of being alive. Since no other riders had observed our crash, perhaps I could keep this A Total Secret! My Lovely Bride was hurting more than I, so we stopped in at an Urgent Care for her to be x-rayed. All was well, so she bulked up on Motrin while I chose to medicate with a large dose of Pinot Noir when we got home. I fixed her a nice fish dinner (it was the least I could do, considering). I knew she hadn't lost her sense of humor when she said, "Ty, you're just like this cod... lightly battered!" Here Rudy consoles his Dog-Dad who was feeling less than perky...




Then it was off to a Sanaya session, which went well except that Suzanne got hugs from a hundred or so people, making her wince due to her bruised shoulder. We had only mentioned our crash earlier that day to Bob and Jan, who had been watching our Rudy and Gretchen while we were biking. There was no way I was going to go public with a story about my inept biking! Suzanne didn't bring it up during her discussion before Sanaya stepped in, but one of Sanaya's key points was that "This One" (Suzanne) had experienced a moment of "glimpsing her mortality" today... At the end of the session, one lady commented, "You know, it was very unusual; I saw a bicycle in front of you while Sanaya was talking (and she later admitted she saw someone fly over the handlebars but didn't want to say that)..." This stunned both of us, because no one else there was aware of our mishap. This was the single most remarkable comment I have ever heard from an observer at a Sanaya session. Suzanne had decided not to mention the "event" in deference to my manly pride, but at this point, she had to explain to everyone what had occurred... sigh. Thankfully, not a single person said, "Ty, why don't you act your age?" That's fortunate, because my reply might have been, "Hey, I haven't acted my age since I was 2 years old... why start now?"

We Have a Winner; Second Sally; Say What? Fat Tire Festival; Giant Lust?

Our Photo Quiz (identify the object at right) created a mini-tsunami of entries from all over the US, Canada and even Scotland. Here are some of the answers/guesses we received, grouped by category:
A. Food
- Bacon (Mary Ann, Lynette, Hans, Donna, Michael, Jerry, Lois and Elaine)
- Bacon, or your arteries after ingesting same (Rosemary)
- Bacon, applewood smoked, sizzling, not to be confused with bacon flavored begging strips (Suzanne)
- Bacon, frying (Trish)
- Fried bacon or red licorice (Connie)
- Sauce or garnish on a food (Barbara)
- Frozen salmon covered with plastic wrap (Nancy)
- Filet of fish with some scales (Jeanine)
- Croissant (Stephanie)
- Chicken enchilada (Bob B.)
- Apple- or apricot-filled pastry from Panera or Starbucks (Steve)
- Frozen meat covered in plastic (Terri) 
B. Animals
- Back of a bullfrog (Christi)
- Some portion of a poisonous toad spotted while I was biking (Jan S.)
C. Minerals, chemicals or vegetable materials
- Tree sap (Karen)
- A salt lamp (Cara)
- Pine pitch (Tom)
- Molten lava (Bob)
- Part of an iron meteorite on Mars in an image taken by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover "Opportunity" in 2005 (Elsa)
-Yellow slime mold from my yard (Catherine)
- Someone stripping varnish off a piece of furniture (Jan) 
D. Medical Conditions
- A bad case of shingles (Carole)
- A scrape on my knee from mountain biking (Lynn)
- The over-tanned, leather-like skin of a "mature" Floridian covered in plastic or Vaseline (Terri of the Frozen North, who is just jealous that we have warm sunshine in Florida while her home state of Minnesnowta is still covered with ice and snow)
E. Abstractions or other categories
- Looking up to the blue sky through the branches of a tree, perhaps a bonsai tree (Mary and Jeanine)

Good answers all, but mostly incorrect... except for Stephanie, from Bella Vista, Arkansas, who correctly identified the object as a croissant. The image was taken with a macro lens on a Nikon D-7000 DSLR camera, and the croissant in question was shortly thereafter happily consumed by the photographer. Congratulations to Stephanie, who will receive lunch for two with Corvette Chick and Your Faithful Correspondent when (a) we can get The Coach to Arkansas, (b) get Stephanie to The Villages, or (c) get Stephanie to one of Suzanne's workshops or speaking venues. Thanks to everyone who participated, and we will have another Photo Quiz next week... "Watch this space!"



We were graced today with visitors from our past. Greg and Marie, of the Sailing Vessel Second Sally, arrived for their first visit to The Villages. We had first met these very experienced cruising sailors in Porto di Roma Marina, about 20 miles outside Rome, Italy, where Second Sally, a Peterson 44, and our sailboat Liberty were spending the winter of 2005-2006. We had both just crossed the Atlantic for the first time, but Greg and Marie have since found that ocean crossings are too much fun to only do once, and have now crossed "The Pond" four times.





We had hoped to enjoy lunch on our lanai, but a cold front has come through and the weather was too brisk to sit outside, so we set up a wine, cheese, bread and foo-foo olive oil feast inside. We ate, swapped sea stories and caught up on news of other sailing buddies, especially our mutual friends Anthony and Annette (A2) aboard Magnolia, a Morgan 44 now enjoying the Bahamian Out Islands. Greg and Marie are considering their next voyage, possibly to the South Pacific, Australia and maybe even Japan. We wish them Fair Winds and Following Seas!








My Lovely Bride loves new electronics, particularly things associated with her iPad and iPhone. In the Navy, she might be called a gearhead or twidget, but those appellations are not totally accurate, because they imply that the person likes to fix things as well as use them. Suzanne's mechanical and electronics abilities are pretty good (for example, she installed a new electric water pump on our sailboat while I was away on travel, and on a second occasion even repaired the electric head, AKA a marine toilet), but now she prefers using complex electronics rather than repairing electrical and mechanical boat gear. She recently ordered a set of wireless Bluetooth headphones, and when they arrived, of course she immediately looked at the instruction manual. (She's obviously not a guy, because as most wives are aware, "Guys don't need no stinkin' instructions!") After reading the manual twice, she had this perplexed look on her face when she said, "Ty, listen to this. 'Can also be un-experienced operator on the designated button to switch operation sound, but need to mobile phone support...' Did you understand that?" The correct answer is, of course, "No, Dear, that is very confusing." (One learns to say "Yes, Dear" and "No, Dear" often when you are an Honor Graduate at Husband Prep School. But in this case, she was absolutely right, the instructions were probably written by someone in a small town far from Beijing without access to a Starbucks barrista for translation assistance.)




To assuage My Lovely Bride's minor frustration with her headphone instruction manual, I suggested we go for a ride on our favorite mountain biking trail. Coincidentally, there was a Fat Tire Festival going on at Santos Trailhead in Ocala, and I thought it would be neat to look at the latest bike technology. This turned out to be one of my Poorer Decisions. Our bikes are several years old, and since we ride them almost daily during our 6 month summer tours, they are getting quite well-worn. Additionally, being low-end models, they are quite heavy. But I did not expect that we would be trying out potential replacements at the bike expo. Here is Suzanne suiting up to test ride a bike designed by and for 20- and 30-something women....it's called the Giant Lust. Really.





I should have realized what was happening when we stopped in at one bike tent and told the young guy what I was riding, and he started laughing. Okay, they were muffled laughs, sort of like "Geez, Dude, only Grandpas ride Diamondback Overdrives, and 29ers are so, like, slow and clunky and retro...." What he actually said aloud was, "Sir, you might be interested in trying our new, 2014 all-carbon 27.5 Anthem Advanced Team model with 1-11 drivetrain, carbon wheels and RockShox full suspension... it's a radical XC rocketship that will blow your socks off." Anyway, after leaving credit cards and being fingerprinted, photographed and retina scanned to ensure they could identify us 20 years from now, off we rode on bikes that cost as much as used cars. We rode an intermediate level trail, much more twisty and faster than we are used to, and we were amazed by the handling, speed and agility of these bikes. It was like going from a 1968 pickup truck to a 2014 Ferrari. But all good things must come to an end, and Suzanne rejected my suggestion that we tell the bike shop guy we had encountered a band of aliens who beamed the bikes up into a saucer and left us tied to a tree...So, no decisions to buy were made, but we are awaiting quotes to see if a second mortgage is required before we can get new wheels...

Window Washing with Kelly Clarkson; A Solo Ride; Special Olympics; Deadlines; Photo Quiz

You would think that by age 66, I would have sense enough to be able to avoid manual labor that could easily be farmed out to someone less decrepit than myself. Alas, that isn't the case. My Lovely Bride asked if I could take on the task of getting the grime off the patio sliding doors. Normally, this would be a 10 minute job, and I could get back to my favorite pastime, watching reruns of Roller Derby. Instead, after transforming the sliding doors to a condition closer to totally transparent than our current Commander-in-Chief has been able to achieve in our federal government in spite of his campaign rhetoric six years ago (that's not a rant, it's simply a comment), I decided to continue on and wash the remaining 243 exterior windows in our humble abode. (Okay, that number may be slightly exaggerated...).









The task was made significantly more pleasurable by having Kelly Clarkson serenading me for hour upon hour. In fact, the job seemed to expand in scope as she kept singing; but I was surprised to look up once and see My Lovely Bride laughing at me... she was trying to record my singing along with KC... fortunately, the recorder could not pick up my unusual frequencies. Danke Gott! In any case, it made the time go by quite pleasantly. (Ladies, when you need your hubbie to get moving on a job, having a 32 year old blonde helping him is sure to ease his pain... just don't let him suggest taking his new assistant on a snowmobiling weekend in Minnesota. With the weather they've been having, the pair might be snowbound in the woods until May. "But Dear, it wasn't my fault... it was due to climate change!")







While Suzanne was returning from her very successful SOAR Workshop at the Edgar Cayce Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.) in Virginia Beach on Sunday, I rigged the bike rack and went mountain biking on the trails of the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway. Supported by volunteers from the Ocala Mountain Biking Association (OMBA), these trails provide a world-class mountain biking venue for riders of every skill level.






 

The trails mostly run through pine and hardwood forest, but this photo was taken in an area that had been mined for phosphates in the early 1900s. (Suzanne, this is a selfie; Kelly wasn't riding with me!) I only had one misadventure, when I took one climb a bit too slowly, fell, and managed to scrape my knee and shin on some roots that shouldn't have been put there. (Scraped knees and elbows are sort of a badge of honor to young mountain bikers... I think I'd prefer to skip that award next time.)










Everyone is familiar with the Olympics. I had the privilege of helping out at the Special Olympics in Ocala this past week. There were about 10 of us adult and 30 or 40 high school volunteers helping about 150 middle school Special Olympians participate and compete in a variety of track and field events. I was the tape measure guy for shot put, standing long jump and running long jump. Seeing those young people smiling and laughing and having a wonderful day at the track despite their disabilities gave me an incredible lift.





Anyone who has known or lived with an author knows something of the perils and pain of "deadlines". In the past, My Lovely Bride has completed her book projects on her own schedule, without a deadline, but her latest book is due to a national publisher later this month, and she is driven to have it completed earlier rather than later. We can go for an hour or two without talking when she is focused, and then she will ask me to read her latest chapter and we will discuss it. She also takes a break for meals, readings, PT and sleep.


I can also tell when she needs to get out into the fresh air... like on Tuesday, when our Honda CR-V needed a transmission oil change. It would be at the shop, located 30 minutes away, for several hours. So I asked for a lift, and Suzanne happily mutated into Corvette Chick for an hour or so that morning, and again in the afternoon. It's amazing what 5,000 RPMs, a rumbling exhaust, top down (as opposed to top-less) and wind in your hair can do to recalibrate your mind...

It's time for another Photo Quiz. The responder with the most accurate description of the object in the photo at left wins (Maestro, drum roll, please) lunch for two with Your Faithful Correspondent and His Lovely Bride. Answers will be accepted up until noon on Saturday, and may be addressed to ftgiesemann@aol.com. Good luck!

Hodgepodge; Yellow Slime; Saving Kermit; A Cardinal Display; Organizing Junk; Stayin' Centered; Shimmies and Shivers

Today's blog post is titled "Hodgepodge"because the entries have no apparent unifying theme. Not that there is ever an apparent unifying theme in these posts...



The photo at left was taken by My Lovely Bride - deposits of an unusual yellow substance in our front flower bed. Her first thought was that maybe a coyote with a digestive problem had visited our yard and disgorged his stomach contents. An even grosser thought was that it was from a big snake. After some sleuthing, we found that the yellow stuff was actually Fuligo septica, yellow slime mold, also called "dog vomit fungus: (I am not making this up!). It often appears overnight, growing in pine bark mulch after a heavy rain. It is indeed gross, but totally harmless (assuming you aren't a vegan who thinks it might be a yummy snack). 








Speaking of our yard/garden, Wednesday was the day when the trash guys pick up yard waste; we had set out a big paper bag filled with hedge trimmings and six big palm fronds. I happened to be in the driveway when the trash truck arrived; a young man grabbed the big bag and tossed it into the back of the truck; a second twenty-something guy picked up the palm fronds, and after tossing them into the truck, walked back to the driveway where he carefully shooed a little frog from where he had been hiding under the palm fronds and back into the grass where he wouldn't be run over by the car. I was touched that he took the time to look out for another creature the way he did; it may be a lesson for us all...



This next vignette actually occurred back in the Fort DeSoto campground, but I had forgotten about it until today. I was walking Rudy and Gretchen when I saw a cardinal landing on our car. He would alight on the car door, look at his image in the side mirror, flutter his wings and "strut his stuff", then fly away, only to return in a minute or two and repeat the process. He seemed not only fascinated with his reflection, but amazed that the bird in the mirror was performing the same display (perhaps a mating ritual?) that he was performing.







Life isn't always exciting. I mean, you can't discover dog vomit slime fungus in your yard every day. Normal days are filled with mundane chores, like reorganizing one's junk drawer... you know, the one that holds pens, rulers, batteries, rubber bands, stamps, flashlights, small tools, and other assorted "junk" that you can't leave in an obvious, useful, countertop location because your spouse thinks it's clutter. (Hey, what does she know? Smack!) Anyway, I was assigned the task of cleaning up the aforementioned junk drawer. An hour or so later, it looked quite organized, thank you very much. I just hope I didn't throw out her favorite whatchamacallit...






After recovering from an arduous day organizing the junk drawer, I took Suzanne out to the Santos bike trails to burn off some of her excess energy. Most of the ride was through quiet forest, with hardly another rider to be seen. But near the end we found a recent addition to the trail, a wood "roller coaster". Here is Corvette Chick practicing her technique and looking cool."Staying Centered" has a different meaning when you're mountain biking.





 

Finally, our good friends Bob and Jessica invited us to meet them for dinner at a local Greek restaurant (coincidentally, where a famous award-winning belly dancer would be performing). Suzanne thought it would be nice to see them again and have a nice Greek meal. I thought it would be nice to (a) see them again and (b) to watch a lovely, lithe belly dancer perform. (I avoided a Smack! this time by not telling My Lovely Bride about part (b).)  When Jennifer the belly dancer asked for a volunteer, Bob practically knocked me down jumping up to be her partner for the dance. I'm not sure if Jennifer's look has to do with Bob's (apparent lack of) belly dancing technique or something he said to her... her technique, on the other hand... Wow!