It Never Rains in Florida!

That's what I like to tell every visitor to Florida. So today more than a little "liquid sunshine" fell on us as we peddled our way back from our lunch in Fort Wilderness.

But our spirits were sky high as we started out with a breeze and balmy temps. Our organizer, Judy planned a two group ride.  One group, the fast group led by Pete and the... more reserved group led by Judy. Pete was to blister the loops an Judy would be on a perimeter road leisurely adventure. (That's much more appropriate than the "slow" group designation!) Both our groups were to meet at the Fort Wilderness Lodge and split up once again. One group went to the Whispering Canyon while the other group remained true to habit and took the windy boat ride to The Wave.

 

Eleven of us stepped onto the boat and our boat Captain "I-Lean" (private joke) made us feel at home and ready for the rough water ride to The Contemporary via the Campground.

Before untying from the pier a photo is in order. Notice some new faces in our group.

After taking the photo I noticed one of our stalwart riders was not in the photo! Alas, he best and will be part of us!

 

Big Buz will not be left out!

I made sure Big Buz would be in the photo!!

 

Just as we were about to untie from the pier our Captain offered to take a group photo....

Boy, is it me or do we know how to crowd others off the boats! We just seem to take over!

 

While under way something out of the ordinary caught my attention.

Off in the distance was one of the Disney Magic Kingdom ferries heading for dry dock. The ferries usually make their way to dry dock in early morning or late evening.

 Below she is ready to make her turn...

 

 ...and into her last turn as she disappears.

 

We were greeted at The Wave by Brian followed by Betty and her most welcome hugs!

She noted that our group was somewhat smaller than usual. We told her they were traders and didn't want to chance the rough waters and that they didn't want to get wet in the rain and that they wimped out! But they all say Hi!!

 

...and what do you think most of us ordered....

Why of course! Well, of course you know Jack enjoyed his healthy meal and tried to make us all feel guilty.

 

In the mean time, my spy was covertly working to report on the (other group's) lunch.

We learned from Big Buz that one must be careful when they ask for something at the Whispering Canyon.

Below Gary simply said, "I think I'd like a big gulp today!"

That's just what he got...

 

About that time, another "non-believer" made a huge faux pas by asking for a little catsup for his fires!

 

It seems the wait staff enjoy embellishing the western way!

 

As you might expect, we got rained on as we got off the boat, and it rained steadier and heavier as we made our way back.

But, we were treated to a few other local inhabitants who were also trying to take advantage of the leafy canopy to get out of the rain....

 

 

We think there were six or seven of them huddling under the trees to get out of the rain.

The best part of this is that they were in no hurry to leave their dry sanctuary.

 

I guess, it might not be too bad to be a deer on Disneyworld property!

 

Yours truly has been taking advantage of a very quite time at work and getting in a fair amount of carving time. Here's the latest on, "The Man With No Name."

 

The various things like his hat, hands and a few other delicate features will be finished very near the completion of the piece so that I can firmly handle the piece to bring out more detail without breaking a piece off.

 

Lilly's going to have to wait till tomorrow to get on the computer!

 

Activities are picking up!

It's beginning to look a lot like.... the "Snowbirds" are returning! Encore Lake Magic empty camp sites are fewer and fewer. And that means another Monday bike ride. Jim took the lead and headed us on our (what we thought to be) routine ride around Celebration. We headed to our first pit stop at the Hospital. (That's just in case our first trek was too much for the (yet to be) seasoned riders.

 

But Jim had other plans! He headed back in the direction we started! Then, he took us into the seldom charted (ridden) back roads of the East Celebration. The change in course offered us a "lazy" and enjoyable cruise to gaze on some of the most beautiful properties in Celebration.

 

Although, at the intersection below, our neat and orderly cadence fell apart! Jim went left and those who "follow the rear tire of the rider in front of them" went "helter skelter."

We regrouped and were ready to press on.

Our back-street meandering ate up the morning but not the miles. Some of our riders returned to base when we neared the center of town, while the "rough-riders" wanted to press on.

With a few (mis-guided) directions from yours truly, we managed to reach the ten mile goal we strive for.

 

Once again, we return to the Celebration Town Tavern for lunch and frivolity!

Sometimes I have to be a tad more persistent to get everyone in the picture....

OK so it took two photos to get everyone.

If you didn't catch the strange person sitting at the left corner of the table two pictures above, here's a better look....

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Why its none other than the usually quiet and reserved Joepy! (pronounced U.P.)

What is it about the Canadians and their attraction to Maple leaves!

 

It must be the "Captain" in Jim... he seems to like the "head" of the table!

 

There's always one late arrival! 

 

 

 

Pat had the chance to visit The Animal Kingdom with some guests the other day.

They were in for something really special. The "local" residents were eager to "Meet and Greet" their guests.....

This giraffe took a lot of interest in Pat's party...

For a second they thought he was going to join their safari trek!

(Thanks to Pat for these awesome photos.)

 

 

 Kings Ridge Clubhouse was the site for the KR Car Club and their annual "Harvest Market" (flea market).

 

This Falcon is Pat's favorite car.

 

Thanks to the "Harvest Market" we can fit both of our cars in the garage! Finally!

 

Another bike ride... off to the West Orange Trail.

I took advantage of a late start at work and met up with our group and participated for most of the ride.

 

Hmmm, look closely at Jim on the right. He's happy to be back to work at Disney. But, he found out he'll be statused in the Magic Kingdom! He just realized that being the new guy... he might be closing for most of his shifts! Can you say.....closing around 3:00 in the morning!!!



 

 

At my turn-around I say so-long to the "tail-enders" as they made their way to the Killarny Station.

Sorry I missed the last rider because my camera is slowing down. Time for a new camera! Our blogs are taking a toll on it!

 

I'm happy to say that with the clearing of our garage, my carving bench is once again ready to go. I've been (im)patiently waiting to begin the piece I've been thinking about all summer.

I hope to do Clint Eastwood justice. As many of you may agree, his "spaghetti westerns" have become icons. I've selected a pose of him from "A Fistful of Dollars."

 

Here's how all it all starts....

"The Man With No Name"

I'll post how it turns out on my woodcarving blog:

http://oneofakindwoodcarvings.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

 

Where did the summer go?

Wow! "Time and tide waits for no man (or woman)" We found that out this past summer. We got busy taking care of some long over due household projects and our Blogs took a back seat. And, of course one day led into another and before we knew it months flew by. We certainly weren't sitting idle. Although, at some point (I must admit) I just got plain lazy! Now we've got lots of catching up to do.

We had a really hot summer but both Pat and I worked through it and managed to get quite a lot accomplished. With all of our "snowbird" friends up north except for those who kept us up to date on Facebook we kinda withdrew into our own little world and explored new ways to find air conditioning as we dragged our feet in the blistering sun and brutal heat indexes. Most of the days the heat index was bouncing above 100'. All in all we faired better than we thought and are now basking in the 70' and 80' temps.

To catch up, we've been taking advantage of taking care of Buzz and Darlene's golf cart and got to enjoy evening rides with Lilly. (Speaking of Lilly, she's got lots to write about.)

Where to begin. Let's start with what's going on behind our house!

 

 

Many of you remember DownTown Disney is being turned topsy-turvy! Here are a few changes...

 This is to be "The Landing." It's on the water on Pleasure Island where most of the night clubs where. Notice the huge deck.

 Looking toward the new water-walk that goes from where Cap'n Jacks was to The Legos Store.

 

There's also the new parking garage that will be opening in a month or so... then they start on another parking garage (the same size) and the bus terminal. There are many more additions that I'll leave for you to explore when you visit. But, take note, the weekends are packed so parking is brutal.

We had our first "Unofficial" bike ride. Jim, Jack and I headed to Celebration and trekked over twelve miles.

 I think we look pretty good considering it is our first ride!

 

I must say, we look pretty fit for our first ride! However, I need to add that Jack's been riding all summer back home, Jim was content just "cruzin'" along at a slow and steady pace. And me? Well I was doing pretty good early in the summer but for some reason just got lazy.

 

Soooooooo, here's what we were really thinking when we took the above photos.....

 

First, Jack......

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

 

Jim,

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

 

And, lastly, me.....

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

 

 

 Pat's not much for bugs but this critter caught her attention. His bright colors made him stand out but after a few days of munching on our Hibiscus plant and devouring most of the flowers we had to move him. He's almost three inches long.

 

We didn't visit the parks all that much. It was too hot, and too crowded. We couldn't believe how many were in the parks in that heat.

The Food and Wine Festival opened up a Craft Beer center where the Odyssey Restaurant was.

But by far the biggest shock was to find out that our favorite band, "Off Kilter" ended its run in September. They now have a show of ax throwing and wood chopping. You guessed it, it ain't the same!

 

At last, a few more riders for our 1st "Official" Palm Tree Bikers Bike ride.

We headed to Fort Wilderness and we seemed just a little out of sorts. We lallygagged and never did seem to find our "rythym."

To start out with, Pete had an issue with a cable (I think) on his bike. In typical "guy fashion" it took four guys to oversee and get their hands on the problem! We never did find out if the problem was fixed, but Judy, Joan and I enjoyed the drama!

 

But of course we had the obligatory photo!

By the way, our friends, Servers and Hosts, Brian, Mel, and of course Betty  all said hi and are eagerly awaiting our visits to the Wave.

 

 

In other news, us Earth bound creatures got to witness the largest sunspot in the past two decades. I hauled out my 4" refractor with solar filter to be able to say I saw it. Mind you holding the camera to the eyepiece typically doesn't lead to a photo to do this event justice but at least I have something to show for my observing time...

In the above photo, the Jupiter size sun spot is at 5:00.

(The red glow is merely a reflection off the eyepiece.)

(I must say this, NEVER look directly at the sun without the aid of a properly fitted solar filter.

I used a Solar filter on the telescope. The filter I use allows 1/1000th of 1% of the sun's light to pass through.)

Here is a better view of the sunspot enlarged.

 

Here is more information on solar filters:

 http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/solar-filter-safety/

 

If you want to see a really awesome photo of this sun spot, check this out...

http://www.star.ucl.ac.uk/~apod/apod/ap141024.html

 

 

Before I close I'd like to add an update on Lilly. Lilly needed surgery on her right rear knee to correct  Petalla luxation.

http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/musculoskeletal/c_multi_patellar_luxation

 

She is doing very well and we're trying to keep her from jumping on the furniture. (That is the few pieces she's allow on.)

She's a real trouper. I have to slow her down when we walk and Pat and I are "jump proofing" the chairs she's used to sitting on with us.

 

Here's Lilly recuperating. You can see the incision on her rear leg.

We have to admit, it was pretty tough watching her that first night home.

 

We've noticed something funny about Lilly since her surgery. You know how some times a major event in you life can alter your personality? Well, we think there's just something a little different about her...

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

 

Pat and I just know we'll be paying for this!