Coffee: Cream, no Salt

In October of 2001, Bill, my mom and I drove to Montana to check on Bill's place in The Yaak (The only town in the U.S. that starts with a "The"). It was just after 9/11 and heading for the hills near the Idaho/Canada border felt like an escape of sorts. The 10 day adventure that awaited would involve no indoor plumbing, electricity from the generator we would enjoy sparingly, no tv, and a radio that picked up only CBC news from Alberta. But there was coffee. And I could live with that. On day one, we set up shop; cleaning the house, getting the generator going and rifling through the 50 gallon barrels of flour, popcorn and other necessities for Armageddon. We were really just visiting, but it felt like we were digging in. While mom and I worked on the wood stove, Bill made coffee, prepared it for us and brought it over near the fire which was now driving away the cold, damp air. Coffee would be good. I took a sip, looked at mom who had the same look of disgust and came to the conclusion that this would be a long cup of coffee and a long 10 days in the Yaak. Bill makes awful coffee. It would seem, that a man who drinks his coffee black, is quick to put any white substance in someone else's coffee. It was salt that sweetened that cup of coffee and thank God he had more beans to grind.

Re-enactment of this morning's cup of coffee (Part 1)

I thought about Bill this morning as I spit my coffee out. I usually have a cup at home before work, but since it's been mandated that we all conform to this arbitrary and unnatural time change, I required a second cup to get me through my Everglades trip. (I'll take this moment to welcome this blog's 50th subscriber - Estelle! Lots of big words in the last sentence kid, but basically your Uncle Petie is annoyed that we had to change the clocks an hour...grr). So anyway, I stop at the Valero convenient store, poured a cup, mixed in my 4 teaspoons of the sweet stuff, prayed that no one was judging my sugar intake and took a big old sample swig. And flashed back to 2001.

Why they put the unlabeled salt container next to the Splenda, Sweet n'Low and non-dairy creamer is beyond me. But needless to say it was naaaaasty.

Re-enactment of this morning's cup of coffee (Part 2)

Spring Ahead

Ma-le's family has been here visiting, so no time to post and much to (my wee little sister) Mandy's dismay, she's had to go back to reading her horoscope in the a.m. instead of this nonsense. Hopefully this helps on both counts.

(March 12th, 2007 - Horoscope for people born on December 19th - "This week you will find the perfect opportunity to embezzle money from your company. Take advantage. You’ll never get caught. Here’s a genuine no risk way to get that bonus you’ve been asking the boss about for the past few weeks. He won’t give it to you? Take it. Follow the true American tradition of taking what you want when you want it. Be aggressive.")

Annnnnyway.....I took the Garcia family to see the Manatees that congregate around the power plant. The warm water discharged from the plant attracts them (the Manatees, not the Garcias), but all of the manatees were out in the Gulf of Mexico since the gulf has been warmer lately for some odd reason...something about "Global Warmings?"

There was a Swamp Rabbit, which was not as exciting as a Manatee. Apparently the males fight ferociously for mating rights with females. I didn't wish to get much closer as it may have been incubating an egg. Which reminds me that I forgot to give up anything for lent. I'll just give up twice as much chocolate tomorrow. I've digressed again.

As their name Swamp Rabbit (Sylvilagus aquaticus) suggests - they do inhabit swamps through out Florida, regardless of the large crocodilians that are found in the some of the same locales.

Failing in my quest to impress with Manatees, I decided to take them out to Sanibel Island off the coast of Fort Myers to check out the beach. Since I had a request for no more Pelican pictures, here are some gulls. It was a beautiful night with a cool breeze blowing and crickets chirping. Juan Jose and I were stumbling through a cluster of Sea Grapes just after dusk looking for a hidden geocache while Patrico was lucky enough to spot 2 Eastern Screech Owls. I abandoned the geo search and pursued the owls. No luck in getting a good photo, but we did catch the owls, mating, which lasted all of 5 seconds.

Awkward segue here, but it's late and I need to sleep so I'll finish with another picture of a sunset - but no pelicans.

Ma-le's mom flies back to Ecuador in a few days, so I'll post this for her.

(Pia, Ma-Le, Juan Jose, Patricio at Bowman's Beach - Sanibel Island, FL)

Bye mama Garcia - see you soon.