We Attended The Pinellas Geo Event #2

The Pinellas Geo Event (#2) was held at Fort Desoto Park this year, which was a great venue for a meet-n-greet and to find a bunch of new geocaches out there. All told, we got 9 new ones for us, and since Karen & Kylor hadn't been geocaching at Fort Desoto before, they ended up with a total of 16 finds.

We did some walking, we did some talking, and especially, we did some finding too!

We came early to the event and there were quite a few of our fellow geocachers here. Even though we had to brave "Tarantula Rains" (see my Mala-Pop-isms post below), at about noon time the weather became rather nice. The sun finally came out, there was a gentle breeze, and then the geocaching began in earnest.

Since the event was a pot-luck affair, I whipped up a batch of Bahmi-Goreng while Karen made a batch of brownies to bring in. As you can see here, 'El-Principal' prefers to handle grill duty from a different approach...

After everything was done on the grill, we were called to line up. With all of those different T-Shirts, we made for a colorful group.

This was the traveler-swap table where you could drop off or pick up geo-travelers that you could help on their way. We picked up two coins and moved them along in our travels around Fort Desoto.

The benches cleared pretty quickly when "Chow Time" was called out.

Even then, the socializing continued.

Since Fort Desoto has quite a varied wildlife, we availed ourselves of the imagery presented us.

Situated along the Port of Tampa main shipping channel, we were able to see quite a few of these big guys go by.

Even Kylor was bitten by the shutter bug and was busily adding some really neat photos to his repetoire.

These 'bathing birds' were making full use of the puddles created by this morning's rains and were throwing water everywhere.

Ah, but the geocaching mustn't wait! We teamed up with Cusmith, Montu Rider and Princess Katie Bug as we looked for a couple of the caches near the pavilion. We did well on this jaunt.

This bench is a monument to Fred, who was a good dog, according to the plaque on the bench. It is also the location for the 'Fred's Dead' geocache that is placed here. I couldn't help but to chuckle and sing a couple of lines from Ray Stevens' song, "Fred, You Were A Good Dog"... Look up the lyrics, it's funny...

There are so many scenic places geocaching takes us to, sometimes peaceful, sometimes playful. This why we like geocaching. It gives us the ability to stretch our photographic wings, so to speak.

And then, it brings us to so many neat-looking trees that Karen practically has to hug every one we pass.

Eventually, she calms down and we get some geo-hunting done.

There were some really nice caches out here, many stocked with all kinds of goodies.

And then, there is the occasional bunny hiding in the bushes you might come across... We can see you!

At Fort Desoto, there is this battery of giant guns that were used by the military. Well, to get to the top of the battery, you gotta take the stairs. Oh, did I mention there is a geocache up there too? More than one reason for us to make the hike, and Kylor took advantage of the view to take some more pictures.

Another tree molested by Karen... This shot was taken post-hug...

Now, what is that on her head? Looks like she found some cute Heidi-locks in a cache container. I wonder if Kylor would like to try them on? Nah... He wouldn't do something like that!

Hello Mr. Egret. This big guy flew down in front of us and started walking along like he was guiding us to our next geocache. Nice.

Every once in a while, you gotta try seeing your world in black & white. This tree was pointed out by Karen for its photographic potential. Interesting.

So, we all worked on trying to get the shot just right.

Well what do you know? A pelican... here... Who would have thought that these things could be found by the seashore?

Well, this was the end of our geocaching day, so we headed back home after finding all kinds of things in our travels, like wildlife, fellow cachers, great landscapes, sore feet and great memories... We can't wait for the geocaching event!

The Space Shuttle Came Home

We were watching Nasa TV on cable this afternoon, wondering when the space shuttle was going to land, when we saw that the weather at the landing zone was a bit too strong and they told the shuttle to take another lap. I checked the new approach vector and realized that this time, it would bring the shuttle practically over the Sarasota / Bradenton area.

Unfortunately though, I didn't know what the altitude would be, so the cloud cover looked like we would have no better than even odds if we went down there to try and photograph the approach. Disregarding the odds, we jumped into the station wagon and headed down to Fort Desoto so we could stand on the shore gun battery in order to be on the tallest structure on Fort Desoto Beach.

Well, we discovered that the space shuttle's sonic booms could definitely be heard from Fort Desoto, but the cloud cover made it hard to see anything at all. As you can see in the first picture below, it shows how bad the surf was, as the tug boat works to get the equipment barge out of the storm. You can see how overcast it was from the tug boat to us, so we didn't stand a chance of getting a shot of something several miles up in the sky. We were able to get a couple of neat pictures of some porpoises playing in the surf though, but the overcast, cloudy day just wasn't going to let us have a glimpse of the shuttle.

Dad Made It Through The Surgery

I got a call from my brother Jody, and he said Dad came through the surgery and the Doc said it doesn't look like the mass he removed was cancerous. Samples were sent to a couple of labs, just in case, and we're hoping for the best. So far, Dad is stable and came out of the anesthesia in the amount of time they had expected he would. The Doc said Dad will have to undergo chemotherapy anyway, because they suspect an immuno-deficiency problem, so when the results come back from the labs, they will decide if he needs anywhere between the full battery of drugs that usually knocks a person for a loop, to something as simple as a pill a day.

So, things aren't as bad as they first seemed, but there is still the issue with cirrhosis of the liver and the Doc who performed today's surgery noticed that Dad has a touch of emphysema too. The testing is continuing as the medical team tries to figure out all of the problems Dad is dealing with.

I'll post more news as it develops.

Dad Is Not Doing So Well

It seems that Dad had been feeling really weak and was having difficulty getting around his place in Arizona, so my sister Treesie took him to the hospital. It turns out he had experienced a mild heart attack this past Sunday and was weak from the after effects and from some other issues.

He is scheduled to undergo lung biopsy surgery tomorrow at 1:00PM AZ time due to an unexplainable mass seen on his x-rays. They tried a needle biopsy yesterday, but the results came back as inconclusive, so now they have to open him up for a better look. If it turns out to be something like a tumor, the plan is to remove it while they are in there. The procedure is expected to take about 45 minutes. The discussion at this time is leaning towards him needing to undergo chemotherapy. In addition to the lung issue, there seems to be a problem with his legs that the doctors believe is due to an immuno-deficiency disease, which could be related to their concerns with the mass on his lung. There's quite a bit of information flying back and forth, but not all of the tests are back yet and it is hoped that the surgical procedure will bring the answers the medical staff is looking for. The cardiac specialist came in today and said that the damage to Dad's heart is extremely minimal and although they first thought he would need angioplasty and a pacemaker, the stress test he performed has shown that his heart is in good enough shape that he does not require either of these and he should be able to handle the surgery tomorrow.

All we can do is now sit and wait. And hope for the best outcome...

Another Wreck On The Way To/From work

Yeah, this seems to happen a little too often.Red car hit the back of the white truck for this one...

Katrina's "Japanese Immersion" Experience

Some of her classmates got to try on a kimono and Katrina tried her hand at flower arranging.

Here are the student 'models' wearing the kimonos (and a jacket). Unfortunately, Katrina was unable to try them on, but she really wanted to.

These ladies were very adept at helping the students wear their garments correctly.

Everything must be adjusted, just so.

Patience, patience... I will have to keep in mind the different styles of bindings for Katrina's kimono.

And here is her flower arrangement. It's simple, yet elegant. The special treat was when the lily opened and it turned out to be a brilliant yellow.

Caching In Ybor

Karen and I decided to team up and go hunting for a WhereIGo cache and a couple of geocaches too. A WhereIGo cache is one that requires a PDA with an integral GPS inside in order to play the game. It took some doing, but Karen kept me on track.

This monument is in honor of the Theodore Roseveldt Rough Riders.

Apparently, there is a time capsule located here.

Wow, what a nice piece of marble!

And here is some more detail. Remember, you can click on most of these images to see a larger view of them...

This was one of the stages in the first geocache we went for after completing the WhereIGo tasks.

I was taking a picture of this statue when Karen turned around and noticed what I was up to. I like the little side-step she did in an attempt to move out of the image.

There are all kinds of statues in this Ybor City park.

Ok, I wonder what the "Bureaucratic Blunder" was that caused the fire house/museum to be torn down...

Next, we went over to a park near the football stadium so Karen could find some more caches. Here she is, hot on the trail of an ammo box.

It's located somewhere... that-away!

Ah-hah! She found it. Nothing like finding an ammo box with trade items (and a couple of bottles of water) in it.

The next one she found required that she open a combination padlock.

...and it had tree frogs inside the container, one of which jumped on my sleeve when the box was opened.

There was this cool looking caterpillar on the side of the box too.

Yeah, it's always a great thing when you find a geocoin-traveler in a geoocache container. We did quite a bit of walking today, and Karen's grand total of caches she found in one day was 9. Not bad for a days work...

Girls Night Out At The Ren-Faire

It was time for another get-together with the girls at the Bay Area Renaissance Faire (yes, the acronym is BARF) for some fun with their friends, or as they prefer to call it, G-NO (Girls Night Out). From left to right in this photo we have Karen-of-the-Wild, Luann in black, Teishalyn in orange, Next we have "Miss Jeff", then Connie in dark blue, Jennifer in burgundy and Marci in black. Obviously, some came in costume, while others arrived in 'stealth-mode', looking like any other visitor to the facilty...

Here are some of the girls waiting out front for the rest of the troupe to show up.

Ah, and here is Connie, making her grand entrance while sporting a pair of her hand-crafted faery wings.

Sometimes though, it's not the costume, but the attitude you bring to the Ren-Faire that counts. This was Jeff's rendition of the classic Marilyn Monroe scene where her dress was being blown up by the rushing wind of a subway passing below the grate she was standing over. I think he captured the moment completely...

As the girls wandered through the Faire, they came across Katrina and Melissa at the corset shoppe, so K&M decided to pause for this pose.

Then it was time to shop for some other items, looking at the possibilties and utility of everything they laid their hands on.

Afterwards, the human chess match had begun, so they sat down and watched the show.

Apparently, when one 'chess piece' captures another piece's position, there is a battle of epic proportions that ensues.

Ok, this is a little hard to explain. I'm not sure why this run-down 'Muppet' was at the Ren-Faire, but I guess you can find just about anything here... Kinda like Halloween for the adults.

As the girls were strolling along, they came across this hypnotism show. And, there is Katrina, sitting next to one of her co-workers from the corset shoppe. It was all Katrina could do to keep from giggling during the show.

It looks like Karen found another tree to hug. If she keeps this up, they won't be able to leave the Ren-Faire for a while because there are trees everywhere!

Remember my post about Luann and my recent visit to Ren-Faire? Well, Karen decided come up from behing this 'tree' to give him a hug, and boy was he surprised! See the devilish look in her eyes? She knows she got him good...

Time to stop by the Mermaid Cafe for refreshments...

...and then it was time to visit the 'Horny Man'. A gentleman whom specializes in the manufacture of strap-on horns you can wear around the Ren-Faire. It looks like Teishalyn has chosen a set of curly blue horns. I'm not sure if that's a look of approval from Jeff and Marci though

Next, it was time for Teishalyn to try on a corset at a different corset shoppe. Ok, suck it in girl!

After the bindings and lashings were secured, it was time to check the cleavage effect the corset is supposed to provide. It looks like Karen and "Miss Jeff" aren't giving the 'nod of approval'... So it was returned with a "thanks, but no thanks" to the proprietoress of the shoppe.

Yeah, this is what it's all about. Spending a nice day with friends and family, enjoying their company.

As a special note about Jeff, this is likely to be the last Ren-Faire he will be spending with the girls, as he has accepted a job in Germany and will be moving overseas soon. We will miss you Jeff, and we hope that there any many new and exciting experiences waiting for you in Germany.