Captions only

Some scenes from my corner of the world. No narrative -- no words needed.

Above: Park closed -- when your one-horse town becomes no horse. Avon Park FL is in Highlands County (along with Sebring and Lake Placid). So far 35 cases of Covid-19. 34 are local residents, 21 men and 14 women, two deaths, 10 hospitalizations. How does this compare with where you live?

Above: Methodist Church was still open for Sunday Service according to another sign I saw. Perhaps God would be more likely to protect them if the congregation was willing to help themselves. Just sayin'.

Above: Most businesses are closed. I was surprised this Chinese restaurant wasn't open for carry-out.

Above: But Walmart, of course, was open and plenty of cars in the parking lot.

Above: But no toilet paper. What is it with TP?

Above: Walmart offered hand sanitizer when I left. You'd think I should get it before I entered as well. Notice the lady in background -- she counted customers as they entered and left. Signs everywhere to stay 6 feet apart, but some ignored that. Why am I not surprised?

Above: Is this your favorite MOJO man or is it a dangerous bandido? "Put your hands up. Give me your money!" Yeah, I thought so.

Did you know that in the newspaper printing business, captions were called cut lines? If you are really bored from staying home, check this out here.

UPDATE: As of Wednesday, April 8: 44 cases, one non-resident, 27 men and 17 women, 4 deaths, 14 hospitalizations. Hospitalization means that a person was hospitalized at some point in their illness and may not be in a hospital now.

Why all the shootings?

Above: How often do you see an almost empty parking lot at a WalMart? Notice the yellow police tape.

I've been at my Memphis area home for a few days and my air conditioner wasn't working. When the repairman got here this morning, he apologized for being late.

"Did you hear about the shooting at WalMart?" he asked. "The traffic was backed up when I went by there," he explained.

No, I had not heard about it, but a quick internet check showed a disgruntled former employee had shown up and killed two people. When officers arrived, he fired on one of them before being shot himself.

Why are we having so many shootings the last few years? People didn't used to be like this. When I grew up, we didn't lock our home at night. It was safe to hitchhike. Now shootings seem to happen all the time. I find it particularly sad when school children die.

Has the world gone crazy?

Photo taken with my iPhone 7.

Irma's aftermath

Above: My avocado tree took a beating from Hurricane Irma.

I returned Friday to my Florida home. I'd heard the power was back on, but a Thursday night storm knocked it out again. Finally, Sunday night the electricity came back on, and things are now almost back to normal. With no lights, you use candles, flashlights and go to bed early. I couldn't cook, so peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were common. You learn how to take a quick shower when there is no hot water, lol.

I had no damage to my house. I did have a shrub blow over (see below), and a lot of cleanup from downed branches (also see below). We sure take everyday things for granted, don't we?

Above: The shingles in the trash pile are from my neighbor across the street. I had no roof damage.

Above: Maybe I can get the shrub standing upright again and save it.

Fleeing from a dangerous lady

Above: The bread aisle at WalMart last Wednesday around noon. There was no water either.

She's coming and she's angry -- Hurricane Irma that is. When I moved to Florida I promised myself that I would get in my car well ahead of time and just go somewhere when a hurricane threatened.

I always go to Raleigh NC the first weekend after Labor Day for my fantasy football draft with my bridge-playing friends. Our league was started in 1989 and it would be a sin to miss getting together for the draft and the fellowship that goes with it. Don't forget I lived in Raleigh for 21 years, a large part of my life.

So, I already had my airline ticket and left yesterday at 1 p.m. The airport was jammed with others who were evacuating. I heard one lady say that she could get a room in Atlanta and drive there, but it was just as cheap to fly to see her family. Turns out she made a great choice as they are now saying Atlanta might get hit. The shuttle bus from the airport parking was packed with evacuees and one person heading to a fun weekend of football and that would be me.

I'm supposed to return Monday afternoon, but that's not happening -- Irma is now predicted to go up more of the center of Florida and arrive at Orlando (my airport) around noon on Monday.

The Hammer Zone and his poker queen have decided to ride it out. They are in Tampa area and should be safe, but my thoughts are with them.

Well, at least I'm safe. Just hoping I don't return to no electricity or worse.

Costa Rica wrap up

Above: Howler monkeys use their tail for balance and to hold onto tree branches. They are given that name because they make a lot of noise. Their favorite trick is to start this at 5 a.m. to wake up American tourists.

Things got hectic and I didn't post any blog pieces after the first three days. My trip was amazing. Folks, if you haven't been to Costa Rica, consider adding it to your bucket list. Besides being a beautiful country, the people are beautiful as well.

In 1949, Costa Rica abolished its military, and used that money for education and health care. It has a 98% literacy rate with a huge middle class. Compare it to its neighbor, Nicaragua, which has a few at the top of the economic structure with the majority of people living in poverty -- no middle class at all.

The population of Costa Rica is 5.9 million of whom 1 million are illegal immigrants from Nicaragua. These are people who are trying to find a better life. If the authorities catch them and spend the money to deport them, they are back in the country a day or two later. The Tour guide asked us if this problem sounded familiar?

The bio-diversity is due to the variety of ecosystems and the fact that it is a crossroads for North and South America. We visited rain forests, cloud forests, dry forests, jungles, etc. We went from the ocean to 11,000 feet elevation. We saw two volcanoes (yes, Costa Rica is part of the Pacific ring of fire) and sunset at the Pacific Ocean. It's a pretty amazing place.

Above: Anhingas, sometimes called snake birds, are common where the weather is warm, including Florida. After diving, they sit on branches to dry their wings. They are also called piano key birds because of the markings on their back.

Above: Iguanas are everywhere. The joke was they taste like chicken. One day when we had chicken for dinner, somebody remarked it tasted like iguana. Um, well you had to be there.

Above: A Pacific Ocean sunset. It doesn't get much better than this.

Costa Rica - Day 3

Today my brothers and I toured a Zoo Ave animal rescue sanctuary. It's like a zoo, but the animals are ones who were injured (usually by humans), and can't live out in the wild any longer.

We also toured the famous ox cart factory in Sarchi. The ox cart is a traditional sign of labor in Costa Rica, and the giant wheels are elaborately painted. (See below.)

Above: A brown pelican spreads his wings while grooming.

Above: Macaws are colorful.

Above: A proud peacock struts his stuff.

Above: This giant ox cart was built for the Guiness Book of Records. Read about it here.

Above: An artist at work.

Costa Rica - Day 2

Day 2 in Costa Rica is in the books. The most exciting event today was visiting Poas Volcano National Park.

We also toured a coffee plantation, hiked a cloud forest trail and some other stuff. Weather was cooler because we were close to 9000 feet altitude.

Tomorrow I visit a Wildlfe REscue Center among other things. Will spend the night in Sarchi, Fortuna in the San Carlos valley.

The weather has been wonderful. I hope all of you are suitably jealous.

Costa Rica - Day 1

When I left for the airport this morning, the temperature was 37 degrees F. When I arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica, it was 78. Can you say "dig it?" Pic above shows me chilling out by the swimming pool.

The tours start tomorrow. Have you heard of a cloud forest? It's like a rain forest with lots of humidity, but less rain. Poas Volcano is Costa Rica's most popular park. Besides the volcano, there is lots of wildlife, hiking and a guided tour of a coffee plantation. Should be a busy day.

Above: I'm staying at a gorgeous hotel.

A bucket list item to be crossed off

One of my goals since I've retired was to spend time in Costa Rica. Costa Rica? Yep, it's an amazing place. Because it's a crossroads between North and South America, and because it has many eco-systems, there is a very wide variety species of plants and animals. Here's a quote from Wikipedia:

Costa Rica is considered to possess the highest density of biodiversity of any country worldwide.[3] While encompassing just one third of a percent of Earth’s landmass, approximately the size of West Virginia, Costa Rica contains four percent of species estimated to exist on the planet.[4] Hundreds of these species are endemic to Costa Rica, meaning they exist nowhere else on earth.

I'm leaving March 2 and returning March 10, and can't wait. You can see my itenerery here.

Two words

Nature is beautiful. My sister, Kaye, and her husband Terry headed for vacation in Fiji. Have you heard about the over-the-water bungalos? It must be amazing to watch ocean life swim by.

But besides being beautiful, nature can be terrifying. Late last week, I began hearing about a typhoon headed for Fiji called Winston, but didn't think too much about it. Then I started hearing category 5 storm, most powerful storm in the southern hemisphere since they began recording events like this, deadly cyclone, and similar things -- that got my attention.

My niece, Bonnie, posted Friday on Facebook that her mom and dad, my sister and brother-in-law, were out of contact and power was down. The brunt of the storm would be Saturday, and she thought we wouldn't know anything until Monday.

Sunday afternoon, I got a text message with just two simple words: "They're safe."

What amazing news. Don't we take life things for granted sometimes?

Above: My sister, Kaye, is on the far right.

When I was eleven years old, my parents, sister and I visited Yellowstone National Park. I decided it was time to check it out again. Maybe it's changed, right?

The Park offers various tours, but you should sign up ahead of time to be sure of getting a place. I enrolled about this time last year to take the Essential Yellowstone Package. Package is a better name than tour as it included lodging, escorted touring, and most meals. I arrived Monday and left Friday with lots of fantastic stuff in between. Our group stayed in Lake Yellowstone Hotel and Cabins.

We usually left left about 8 a.m. on our minibus with a dedicated guide. He said he wasn't a guide, but a teacher, and had a master's degree in something related (I don't remember exactly what). He was excellent, by the way. Well, 8 a.m. was correct most days, but one we left at 6 a.m. to see gray wolves in the Hayden Valley.

Above: Notice how the steam that comes from deep in the earth condenses, hardens, and forms walls for Castle Geyser.

Above: Yellowstone is said to be the world's largest concentration of geysers. Old Faithful is not the biggest, but it is the best known geyser in the Park.

Above: There are many geothermal activities besides geysers. This one is named Crested Pool.

Above: MOJO with the Yellowstone Grand Canyon in the background.

Above: The bison own the park, we were just visiting.

Above: We traveled each day on this mini-bus.

Above: This skeleton was probably an antelope or deer.

Photos taken with my point-and-shoot.

Heard on an airplane

While getting ready to take off on my flight to Las Vegas last month, the flight attendant announced:

"All cell phones must be put in airplane mode. If you don't know how to do it, ask the kid sitting next to you."

Need help with a problem

I need help with a problem I'm having. I went to the Tampa Rays/Oakland A's game last night, and it happened again! Chicks just swarm over me like bees are attracted to honey. See photo above. Has anybody else had this problem and what did you do about it?

The Rays won the game to improve to 24-19 and first place in the American League East. Can you believe it? All the ex-spurts picked them to finish last. Do I think they can keep it up. Um, well, no, but stranger things have happened. As they say: "Rays Up."

There are only 20 days until I arrive in Lost Vegas for the WSOP. Getting stoked. If you click on the above photo to enlarge, you might notice I'm holding the book Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand At A Time: Volume 1. I went to the game an hour early to avoid the crowds/traffic (crowds at a Tampa Bay Rays' game?), so took some reading material. I've read this series before, but am doing so again. The books are excellent. (See here.)

Heading to Derby Lane Monday. It's Memorial Day and they are holding a special poker tournament in which $50 of our entry fee will be donated to a wounded-warriors fund of some sort.

Above: The Oakland mascot is named Stomper.

Above: The Tampa mascot is called Raymond.

This 'n' that

Above: Placed second in an online MTT today for a small cash. Ran J-J into aces which crippled me. Typical online cooler. I had plenty of good hands, too, so can't complain.

Above: A day at the ballpark last Sunday. Tampa Bay Rays played the New York Yankees. I had good seats for a change, Row G. (Click on images to enlarge. Press escape to return.)

Above: Baseball appeals to all ages and both genders.

Above: NY Yankee pitcher Masahara Tanaka warms up. I know Tampa is a light-hitting team, but he didn't even work up a sweat pitching seven innings, allowing two hits and no runs. Tropicana Field doesn't have a "real" bull pen -- pitchers stand along the side to warm up.

Above: The Rays' fans booed Alex Rodriguez unmercifully. For his first at bat, he struck out swinging at a ball in the dirt -- the fans loved it.

A Saturday in NOLA

The bridge didn't go well Friday, and we didn't qualify for the finals of the IMP Pairs. Instead of playing bridge in some event we weren't interested in, my partner and I took the day off and went sightseeing. We took a Grey Line Tour called Super City. It was only slightly longer than two hours, so we then went to Jackson Square, always a photo op.

Above: There was art for sale on all four sides of Jackson Square -- some of it nice, most of it cheap stuff for tourists.

Above: Silver Man performed for tips. This lady was dressed for St. Patrick's Day, wasn't she?

Above: The St. Louis Cathedral is supposed to be famous. I believe the Pope gave a talk there when he toured the U.S. in 1987 (or maybe he preached - I'm not exactly sure what Popes do).

Above: There was a long line of tarot card readers. I'm not familiar with what they do, but they looked interesting. Would you want this guy to predict your future?

Above: This tarot card reader presented another photo op.

Above: The White Lady (my name for her) was still, but sprang to life when a sucker person like me dropped some cashola in her bucket.