February 24 - March 11, 2026 - Golf Cart Work; Farmers Market; Mayors Park; Cookies; Carlene & John Arrive; Sarasota Visit; Dunedin Festival; Cardinals Spring Training; Mahuffers

My Blog Reflection

Time is like a river. You cannot touch the same water twice because the flow that has passed will never pass again. Enjoy every moment of your life.

Harsh Goenka

February 24, 2026:

I purchased tickets today for the spring show here at the park. I participated last year as the sound man but not this year because we didn't know if or when we would make it down. Carlene and John will be here and I think they will enjoy the show.

February 26, 2026:

In an effort to further eliminate the bouncing in the golf cart, I obtained two new tires on five bolt lug wheels for $50.00. Neighbor Dave broke the tires off the five bolt wheels and mounted them on my four bolt wheels. We took it for a ride. It was a little better but there is still some bounce. We will live with it. Dave also mounted the tires I bought two years ago onto my old rims for spares. It was a lot of work for him. He wouldn't take anything so I got him a case of his favorite beer.

February 27, 2026:

I noticed that when it rained, or there was a heavy dew, water ran off the edge of the golf cart roof and on to the driver. A lot of water. I took the metal support loose from the fiberglass top and found a six inch crack in the fiberglass behind the support. I'm sure the top is original. It is quite brittle. Over the years I have patched it in several places because I don't want to hunt around for a replacement, which will probably be just as brittle and/or quite expensive for something close to new. I sanded the cracked area and coated it with one of my old favorites - JB Weld. It held nicely so I bolted everything back together.  

February 28, 2026:

We visited the Farmers/Flea Market for the first time at its new location. The market closed down for a while and has reopened on the parking lot of the old dog track, not far from us. Judging from the number of cars when we arrived I'm sure it is going well. There were two rows of farm produce and about six rows of flea market stuff. The outside of the lot was rimmed with food trucks and food tents. The farmers market is interesting because there are a lot of ethnic vegetables and fruits, many of which I couldn't identify.

The food court was all ethnic food except for one tent selling hot dogs. We bought a Laotian item called "Lao Dog". It was a pork based sausage on a stick. It was really good with different spices than we are used to. Next time I come I'm not going to eat breakfast so I can try several different ethnic items.

Kelly bought cucumbers, leaf lettuce, a sweet onion, and a couple of cartons of strawberries. These onions are large and so sweet some people eat them like an apple.

Saturday afternoon there was a Cornhole Tournament here in the park. I didn't sign up to play. I have only played once this year and I was terrible. I didn't want to pull some other player down in the tournament. LOL.  I will play again on Tuesday. 

In the late afternoon Kelly wanted a Margarita with crushed ice. When Chris and Marj sold there camper two years ago they gave us their blender. Marj said it made great crushed ice. We put it to the test for the first time and it almost made snow cone ice. Pretty cool.

The weather has turned much warmer so for supper I grilled a ribeye steak. Kelly made a nice Greek type salad using the cucumbers and onion we bought earlier. Both dishes turned out great. In my old age I just can't eat like I used to. We shared one steak and didn't even eat all of it. Back in the day I would have eaten an entire steak and maybe looked for more.

After supper I did the laundry so I could rest up on Sunday. LOL. If I rested anymore I'd be asleep.

March 1, 2026:

I can't believe it is March already. Our time here is going by quickly. It is a beautiful day so we took a ride over to Mayors Park at Freedom Lake where we walked around the two lakes.

It is about a mile and a quarter around the big lake. We walked around the big lake and the little lake.

The concrete paths around the lakes are all newly poured concrete about six feet wide. Great for walking side-by-side, like us.

In addition to the two lakes there is a huge playground, several large pavilions and two dog parks side-by-side. One is for large dogs and one is for small dogs. I never saw that before.

After our walk we sat on a bench and watched a guy sale his radio controlled sailboat around the lake. Pretty cool. John told me he can never see any videos I post so I made a change to the format. Let me know if you can view this video.

It is a wonderful park only about two miles from our place so we will be back.

Back home we enjoyed a late lunch and the good weather.

March 2, 2026:

A quick trip to the doctor for Kelly and a stop at Salvation Army on the way home where I bought two shirts and two pairs of shorts. Also on the way home we stopped at Publix grocery store to pick up a few items. Only in Florida would you find a display of canes and cane accessories right as you walked into a grocery store. I found that amusing.

March 3, 2026:

This morning I made a double batch of shortbread cookies, Kelly's favorite. They weren't my best effort but they will get eaten. LOL 

I then went to get a haircut while Kelly went to get her nails done. A man's haircut down here is $30.00 plus tip. It seems a little steep to me but she did a nice job. Man I look old with my thinning hair and receding hairline.

March 4, 2026:

In the afternoon we picked up John and Carlene from the airport. After they unpacked at the house we sat in the Florida Room and enjoyed an adult beverage and some hors d’oeuvres Kelly prepared. We then headed to the Fourth Street Shrimp Store in St. Petersburg for a seafood dinner. Here is a picture of John and Carlene as we ordered our dinner. 

This place has never disappointed us and this time was no exception.  It was Carlene’s birthday so after supper we drove to downtown St. Petersburg to get some of “the best gelato in America” at Paciugo Cafe. 

 We sat outside and greatly enjoyed the treat and the evening weather.

March 5, 2026:

After a light breakfast the four of us drove to Sarasota to have lunch with Vicky Lundy, a friend from Perryville who relocated to Florida several years ago. After visiting with her in her lovely home we headed to “Connor’s”, her favorite lunch spot. Here is a picture of the ladies deciding what to order for lunch. 

The food was outstanding and quite reasonably priced. The fourth had been Carlene’s birthday so they provided a cake with ice cream for all of us to share. 

After lunch we headed back to Pinellas Park. Due to the large lunch we skipped supper. We did enjoy a piece of peach pie while watching “Good Night and Good Luck", which I strongly recommend.

March 6, 2026:

Today there is a potluck dinner at the park with the meat being corned beef and cabbage. Kelly and Carlene helped in getting the meat cooked and with setting up all the sides people bring for supper. John and I helped slice the meat and as the people arrived we sold the 50/50 tickets. The money from the 50/50 is used to purchase the meat for each event. After helping clean up the kitchen and hall we relaxed the rest of the evening.

March 7, 2026:

After a light breakfast we headed to the Dunedin, Florida, to check out their annual Seafood Festival. We walked around the market downtown thinking we were at the festival. Kelly bought a couple of loaves of fresh-baked bread. We were all disappointed with the event. Before leaving we stopped for a beer and some hors d’oeuvres. We inquired about the festival and learned that we had been walking around the weekly market, not the festival. We had to walk about a half mile down to the waterfront to find the festival. We walked down to the park.

It was a beautiful day and there was a nice crowd.

 

I was really disappointed in the seafood options. All I saw was crab legs, snow crabs, and lobster rolls. All were expensive. 

After sitting at a picnic table for a while we headed back. Dunedin is an artist town with many nice homes. We drove around the town on the way out. We won’t go back to this festival next year.

March 8, 2026:

After a big breakfast we took advantage of the beautiful day by loading up the chairs and driving  to “Mayors Park”. It is a very nice nearby park with a large lake and walking path all around. We sat by the water and enjoyed the weather.

For supper we cooked ribs and they were outstanding along with a Greek Salad and Peach Pie for dessert.

March 9, 2026:

John had on his “bucket list” to watch a Cardinals “Spring Training” game. They play in Jupiter, Florida. John had purchased tickets for today. We  got up early and made the four-hour drive across the state to the Cardinals training camp and Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. Here are the ladies in their Cardinal red headed to the stadium.

Here are a few pictures of our seats, the field, and some players. The Cardinals beat the Orioles 7 - 2.

You can tell we got there plenty early. LOL

We got home late and after a quick snack we hit the sack.

March 10, 2026:

Just a lazy day. Everyone slept in, including me. I slept until 6:30 a.m., which is unheard of.

John and I took apart the Florida Room fan, which only runs on one speed. John read online that 90% of the time this problem is caused by the capacitor going bad. I ordered an exact duplicate of the capacitor from Amazon. It will arrive the end of the week.

John then held the ladder so I could pull the foam filter pieces out of the gutters so they would drain better.

We then headed to Mahuffers Bar down on Gulf Boulevard. Carlene and John had never been there and it is something to see. Dollar bills and underwear hang everywhere. The place is even nastier since the hurricane. Carlene wrote a message on a dollar bill and put it in a pair of underwear.

John couldn't believe what he was seeing. 

From Mahuffers we drove to “The Crab Shack” for supper. We had great appetizers and entrees, bringing a big box home for another day. The traffic was so bad getting out we drove all the way across the bay bridge to turn around. It was nice to see the calm water.

March 11, 2026:

In the early afternoon we dropped Carlene and John off at the airport to end a thoroughly enjoyable visit.

I then did the laundry, picked up a few things at Walmart, and cleaned the sunroof cover which had gotten wet when I went through the car wash with the sunroof not totally closed. I hardly ever open the sunroof and apparently earlier in the day had not closed it properly. Lesson learned.