Torreya State Park.

I can’t believe it’s almost been a month since I past updated my blog. A lot has happened since then. I guess the biggest news is I quit my job at Trail and Ski. I really enjoyed several aspects of working there, I enjoyed talking with the customers and sharing adventure stories. My boss and co-workers were awesome and had plenty of their own stories of adventures to share. Zoe had through hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, (2653 miles). Anthony is an endurance runner. The miles he ran during some of his races is what I consider a good days ride on a touring bike! I’ll miss them and I’ll miss being surrounded by top of the line high end gear. And the free hats!

What I did not like was being inside all day. I would find myself staring out the window and wish I was out side doing something. After spending the last six months biking 40 to 50 miles a day, I craved physical activity. Putting clothes on hangers and price stickers on merchandise just wasn’t enough. Also the hours were not inline with my weight loss goals. After getting off work at 6pm, by the time I got home and ate supper, it was too late to ride my bike. I never even felt like going to the gym that late.

So anyway I got a new job! I now work for Aquafeatures of Tallahassee. This past week was my first week there. It is a small company that builds and maintains Koi ponds, waterfalls and fountains. My first week was really enjoyable. It did start out a bit on the tough side. In preparation for a fairly large pond that we were building on Thursday, me and another guy had to load 15 tons of rocks into a dump trailer by hand. A few of the stones were large enough we had to work together to lift them chest high over the edge of the trailer. The guy I was working with was used to the lifting and is very strong. Also nearly 15 years younger then me. There was a bit of a unspoken competition going on but I was able to keep up and do my share. I think we were both glad when the last load was done. I know I was. Nearly every muscle I had hurt. It was a great day! I have to add one thing… the young guy I was working with called off work the next day. I guess I wasn’t the only one who was sore.

Thursday we started digging for the pond. I have only had a little experience running excavators and backhoes. I was a bit surprised when I was handed the keys and told to start digging. I was happy to oblige. I figured if I did too bad somebody else would take over. But no one did so I must of done ok.

On Saturday Rose and I went camping at Torreya State Park. There was lots of heavy rain and thunderstorms. After we set up camp we went to the nearby historical Gregory House to take a look around. The house sat on top of a bluff overlooking the Apalachicola River. While taking in the view from the back yard we heard another downpour fast approaching. We ran to the porch to wait it out. After reaching the shelter of the porch and watching it rain a few minutes I walked over and tried the door. To my suprise it wasn’t locked so we went inside and looked around. It was pretty neat. Lots of antiques and still furnished from the 1800s. I thought it was great that it was open to the public but at the same time I found it a bit odd. When we reached the second to last room upstairs we were greeted by a very unhappy park ranger who was in the middle of giving a tour to a small group of people. Somehow we got in right before she locked the door. We were not interested in a tour and the only reason we went in was to escape the weather. Judging from the scowl on her face, I don’t think she believed us. So we hurriedly woke up Rosie from her nap in an antique cradle and headed for the car.

We headed into the town of Bristol to get some bread to go with our dinner. I’m not sure what all we were shopping for but we left with a box of oysters hot sauce and horseradish. We were both excited about the oysters and made a beeline for camp.

There was lots of thunder in the distance so we rigged up a rainfly over the picnic table. We had brought burgers and charcoal. Oysters, burgers and pasta was our dinner menu. Just about the time I lit the fire it started pouring. Around the same time the people in the campsite beside ours were headed out to dinner. They had a little dog that was barking like crazy in there camper trailer. We sure didn’t want to listen to that all evening. So as they were leaving we offered to dog sit for them. The pup was a scared of the thunder. So I cooked in the rain while Rose kept the puppy and unicorn happy and dry.

The sun came out just before dark and we enjoyed a great sunset. As it cleared off the temperature started dropping. It didn’t get too cold though only into the lower 50s.

As good as our dinner was breakfast was even better. Eggs, bacon, oysters and sunshine!

My hours at my new job are 7:30 until 3:30. I really like being home early enough to do things. I lost another couple pounds the past few weeks despite Rosie being a bad influence!

We have been doing fairly well on our budget. We try not to eat out more then once a week. Rose has been making meals in the crock pot before she goes to work. That’s been working out great. I also had time to make my chicken enchiladas a few days ago.