Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.

Henry David Thoreau

Day +17 – return to Winnona

Thursday August 2, 2012
Quail Run RV Resort Lot 15

 

 

FIRST:

Happy Lammas to those of you who celebrate the wheel of the year.

It’s Mid-summer, Half way to Fall Equinox, a first harvest celebration.  Bring on the ripe juicy tomatoes and corn!!  YUM!!   Great excuse for a party!   I particularly like RED RED tomatoes and white corn.  But white is hard to come by unless you grow your own so lately I’m having yellow or at best “bi-color”.  Makes me miss my garden.

 

corn & tomatoes

 

Today is the day for corn and tomato salad for dinner or maybe tomato and corn tortillas (with some avocado thrown in for fun).   What do you think??   Both?

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Lammas tomato & corn tortillas

 

 

SECOND:

HEADLINE Tampa: 
Pink Mass identified as villain.

Channeled Apple Snail

 

And now for the educational portion of this post - Educational  in some way other than medical.   I must advise  you that none of us managed to guess the real identity of the pink bubble gum/fungus on the cypress tree.  David stopped this morning at the Lettuce Lake Visitor’s Center to inquire.  They are all too aware of the presence of the exotic invasive Channeled Apple Snail.  This is a BAD guy.  They lay so many eggs so quickly that it is nearly impossible to keep up with eradication.  They eat native aquatic vegetation at a rapid rate and have spread throughout Florida.

snail egg masses

In tests, they have been shown to consume almost every submersed aquatic plant species offered.  Young snails may become reproductive as early as 2 to 3 months of age. In Lake Linda in Lake County, they have removed essentially all of the aquatic plants present in the lake.
Like native Pomacea, channeled apple snails possess both a lung and a gill, as well as a snorkel-like siphon through which they can breathe atmospheric air, at the same time reducing the risk of attack by terrestrial predators. They can resist desiccation by closing their shells using their opercula, as well as by estivating (similar to hibernation) in sediments for up to 5 months. They can tolerate salinity to 8 parts per thousand, and seem unaffected by nutrient enrichment and low oxygen levels. 

This is one tough customer.  If you see them or their egg masses.  Report them or remove them.  I’m going to carry gloves on my hikes from now on along with my ever present trash bag to clean up after the less thoughtful.   How about you???

 

THIRD:

After a total of TWENTY long days, David has returned to Winnona!!

We get up this morning and have our last scrambled eggs and accompaniments breakfast courtesy of the Residence Inn.  David takes a morning walk over to Lettuce Lake where he checks on the pink fungus question while I pack everything in the room for our departure.
Somehow I manage to stuff all the stuff into the car and to squeeze David in too.  It is AMAZING how much stuff we had between the things he took to the hospital, the things they sent him home with and the things I brought to the half way hotel.

 

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David gets the food back in the refrigerator while I bring the rest of the stuff into the rig and work on putting it away.  I had to take the J-M-C along to the half way hotel of course, so he’s making it fit back in the freezer.

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Time for lunch.  I make him a milk shake to go along with his sandwich.  Wish I’d gotten a picture of it.  Although since you couldn’t taste how good it was, you probably don’t want to just look at it.

Then he goes back to the new normal of watching the Olympics while I continue to empty bags.  This time he watches Table tennis and declares it to be “amazing”.  As you can see, he hasn’t put “all” his things away.  But I have gathered them together in the front of the coach so he can see what he’s up against.  :-)

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Lunch, milkshake and Olympics make him sleepy so he naps for an hour while I have my lunch, work on the blog and our financial spread sheet. 

When he wakes up, he gets MOST of the piles put away.   I’ve had a very light lunch so I begin dinner preparations for an early dinner.   It is a Lammas 1st harvest celebration.  I have the light version, he has the more calorie pasta version.  One of the benefits to me of being back with Winnona is not being tempted by all that not so good for me food.

But this dinner was delicious and very good for me.  You can see which first harvest dish I chose.

 

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mmmmm good!Day  17 019

 

After dinner David does whatever he’s doing on his laptop, grumbles that he missed Beach Volleyball at 5:00 and Handball at 6:00 and then falls asleep.  It’s now 6:50 and I don’t eat dessert after 7:00 so here’s what he is doing and here’s what I am doing.  He’s too busy to take the picture.  HA!!  Who’s having more fun????

 

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When he wakes up, he does the dishes while I read and then we go out for a short walk.  His energy is best in the morning and even with frequent naps it runs down hill all day long.   Today fatigue has been his biggest side effect.

 

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We end our walk over at Jo Beth and Catherine’s where Karen and Al have joined them for a “happy hour”.

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It’s been a busy day and he needs to get more rest so we don’t stay long but it is good to be back with Winnona and our friends.

32 comments:

  1. Yay! Home again! What a wonderful feeling! Crazy woman, taking photo of yourself having dessert! Love it! I'd give you a bag of homegrown tomatoes if you were here. We've been giving them away to the roofing crew working on the property. Just too dang many to eat ourselves. Hooray to a just about normal life!

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  2. WELL! Let the party begin! Wish we were there to help celebrate David's return home! Best wishes that things continue to go well!

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  3. Happy Lammas! I'm already feeling the days change toward the long, slow drift into winter :)

    Congratulations on you both returning back home. You must be so happy to get back to your routine. Minus all that unpacking, that is. Where does all our stuff come from?

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  4. I don't remember you saying that he could return this soon..... Is this another one of the 'secrets' we must keep? I'm sure though it is a comfort to be back in familiar surroundings.

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  5. Welcome home, David!!! :c) So good to see you back where you belong.

    Thanks for the education, very interesting. Plus I finally learned what the mirror in Winnebagos is for... ;c)

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  6. It's is GREAT that you get to go home already. David never did anything according to the "normal" timetable. Don't let him overdo Glad you have lots of friends there to visit!

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  7. So glad you're home, David! Welcome :) Enjoy all that amazing cooking that Sherry does. Causing all of us to drool on a regular basis, for sure.
    DI

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  8. Today sounds like a good day...smiles for you :-).

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  9. Wow, he's home already??? That's FANTASTIC!!! It's great to be home, isn't it?!

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  10. You are a very funny lady.... taking a picture of yourself eating desert made me laugh out loud!! So happy to hear David is back home. I read somewhere, a long time ago, "Normal is a setting on a dryer" I hope you keep posting, keeping us updated on how your new normal life is going.
    Hugs to the both of you,
    Betty

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  11. It is so wonderful to see the two of you back in Winnona!!! Seems like things are moving along faster than expected...that's a good thing. It will take time to build David's stamina back...NAPS ARE GOOD:o)) Almost as good as Fresh Corn and Tomatoes!!!

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  12. So glad that David is home! I'm sure that you are happy as well, no driving back and forth to the hospital, Residence Inn, etc. Does he still need to go daily to the hospital for check ups?

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  13. Yay!!!!! (The corn, tomato, avocado meal looks quite tasty!)

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  14. No two people could have gotten through this as gracefully as you and David. I couldn't be happier for you. Loved the ice cream picture! When I was very, very young and in our first house I decided to plant tomatoes. Not realizing how many tomatoes I could get from 25 different plants (don't know how many varieties), I could supply our whole town as they ripened! I still remember how good they tasted.

    I hope David sleeps now that he's back in his own bed, and the fatigue subsides. So good to see you both outside visiting with friends. Can't believe it. Betcha Carrie is on top of the world. :)

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  15. Yay! So glad to see you guys back in Winnona again! What a victory! Hope the return to 'Home' proves a welcome relief from the hospital grind. Love you both!

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  16. David... welcome home!! You both must be elated to be "home" so soon. I have appreciated you posting the ups and downs, Sherry, of David's long road to recovery. It seems that he has done very well, maybe surpassing many. As long as there are no stomach upsets, nausea or fevers... the fatigue, while frustrating, can be helped with a lot of napping. What a journey for the both of you.. I hang on your every word in the blog looking for good news. It makes me smile when I see that David has made steps in the right direction. Love the food - my summertime favorites... corn, tomatoes, and avocadoes. I could live on those all summer. Hope you found spots for all the "stuff" you hauled home from the hospital. Stay strong... both of you.

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  17. Home again. Home again! Nothing feels quite as good as being home and sleeping in your own bed.
    The first harvest meal looked great.
    About the pink snail eggs. I almost guessed a spider egg sack when I saw the first picture. However, I'd never seen one elongated like that. Guess I wasn't too far off with the egg sack though.
    This was a HAPPY POST and I'm glad to see it.

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  18. Now that's a good thing to celebrate!

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  19. Gypsy Wife Caravan Kim and GordonAugust 3, 2012 at 9:36 AM

    Fantastic news and we keep in touch with your blogging!
    WOW we are very excited for you both! L'Chaim! To Life!

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  20. This was indeed a happy post! Yeah! Welcome home David!
    Sherry, you cracked me up with your dessert picture in the mirror :)
    Cannot believe you still have JMC left after all this time. You must be rationing it to yourself :)

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  21. YAY for the return - huge news :) Those snails are an almost unbeatable foe sounds like - no good, no good at all... Great pictures of dessert and the other activities. Happy Lammas - the food looked great!

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  22. An invasive, pepto-bis-balls laying, slime trail drooling, voracious eater-critter is NOT what we want to see! Hadn’t yet heard of this invasive, but it appears we have them in Texas now too. Bummer. Fascinating discovery.
    Luxuriate in being Home!

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  23. Yay! Welcome home to Winnona Uncle Dave! That corn, tomato and avacado salad has my tummy growling...Think I need to make some!

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  24. I agree with David - Table Tennis was absolutley amazing!! And so was Badminton. When I was on the trampoline in high school gymnastics, I thought a back flip was the most difficult move there was. I've learned a few things lately ---- No, make that many things! Oh, to be young again and know then what I know now. Let's see - back flip into a half-out and lift straight into a back somersault triple-twisting double back somersault with 1 twist in the 1st somersault, and 2 twists in the 2nd somersault. And that's just the opening move! Piece o' cake, eh? Booyah!

    Good to see you're back, David. Good to see your front, too!

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  25. Welcome home, David! I know it is great to be in your own surroundings...own bed, own shower, own couch!! :-)

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  26. Well, this is all just DUCKY! Except for those nasty eggy things that slimy gal is leaving behind. That's gross.

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  27. Yay, David's home! And those tomato, corn, avocado dishes look yum!

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  28. Welcome home now that's something to celebrate!!!!!! We are away and wifi is sketchy ...glad to see you are both back home..

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  29. David, you are looking really good :-) glad to see you back at home! That tomato and corn looks great... I'm slowly catching up on your blog.

    Gin

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