Just a quick trip to visit Mom.
- Tuesday March 5
- Taxi arrived at 3:15 am
- Flew out of Saskatoon 5:30 to Toronto,
- Easy connection to Newark, but it left late and arrived late in Newark airport. Made much worse by a mistake on boarding pass which required us to go to Terminal C, and then back again, braving the shuttle bus on the tarmac twice. Made it to the gate just as the last zone was being called. And this was all in the rain.
- Arrive in and Orlando, long wait for the shuttle to Routes Rental Car. Then discovered that we would not be allowed to take a Routes car out of the state. Since the rental was pre-paid, we were pretty much screwed. Drove off in a nice bright orange Jeep anyways, resolving to sort out the trip to Savannah/Charleston later.
- Ate at Wendy’s on the drive north. Won’t do that again for awhile.
- Arrived late at Spruce Creek, Mom was still up waiting for us.
- Wednesday March 6
- Sandy baked muffins, made much more challenging when muffin tray flexed in half and spilled muffin mix all over the bottom of the oven
- Warren repaired patio bricks
- Sandy started on the task of cockroach removal and kitchen cabinet cleanup and de-clutter. This was to occupy her every day for MANY hours.
- Warren and Sandy went disc golfing at Ocala Greenway. Actually Sandy just listened to an audio book while I threw discs.
- Groceries at Winn-Dixie
- Sandy made Thai Red Curry
- Thursday March 7
- Mom agreed to visit Ah Pho, a vietnamese restaurant in Ocala. Excellent.
- Starbucks with a Tesla Cybertruck in attendance. My first.
- Then the Asia Foods grocery for frozen lemon grass and other spices
- Warren repaired bikes
- Sandy resumed kitchen cabinet cleanup and also cooked lemon grass chicken
- We started on a hellaciously difficlult puzzle
- Friday March 8
- Mom showed us the Lady Lake thrift shop
- Went by Carney Island just to see it. Mom elected to stay in the car.
- Made a reverse tie-dye shirt with/for Mom. Pretty quick and barely counts as an activity. But it did come out well.
- More cabinets for Sandy, more de-cluttering
- More puzzle
- Sandy made beef stew with roast potatoes. As always, excellent
- Saturday March 9
- Sandy and Warren walked around the fitness lake.
- Went back with zoom camera to take a bunch of photos and videos of the Soling RC sailboats racing.
- Sandy resumed kitchen cockroach cleanup and pest control
- Discovered kitchen soap dispenser had cracked and fallen off. Quick trip to buy a new dispenser and cockroach poison and sticky traps. Installed everything
- Sandy made lemon grass chicken
- Sunday March 10
- Bike ride around Spruce Creek. In the heat of the day
- Sandy continues on cabinet cleanup
- Relocated a bunch of unused pots and pans and fondue pots to the garage
- Beef stew, corn on the cob, roasted potatoes and salad for dinner
- More work on the puzzle
- Monday March 11 to Friday March 15
- Shuttle in the big, red GMC to pick up Hertz rental car from Ocala
- Savannah Drive ( is summarized in its own page)
- Shuttle again in the big red GMC to return Hertz rental car to Ocala
- GMC had a big front end shimmy the whole drive home. Not good.
- Winn-Dixie for more groceries
- Roast chicken, tater tots and salad for dinner
- More work on puzzle
- Saturday March 16
- Drive GMC and 6:45 am, in the dark and fog, to Lady Lake GMC dealer, but problem totally fixed itself before we even started driving. Returned home without even getting it looked at.
- Finished the puzzle
- Walmart shopping
- Got new wipers for GMC
- Replaced Mom’s child-proof pill bottles with normal lids
- Bought some pickleball paddles and balls
- Sandy resumed kitchen cabinet project. Many more cockroach traps.
- Sandy made lasagna
- Sunday March 17
- ABC Fine Wine & Spirits visit
- Miller’s Ale House for lunch
- TJ Max and groceries
- Sink Plug improvements
- Marmelade making: 1st Attempt
- Another Winn-Dixie run
- Pizza dinner with other leftovers.
- Monday March 18
- Rainy Day
- Pickleball
- Sandy resumes kitchen cabinets project
- Update Peter’s computer
- Winn-Dixie grocery run. Buy a bunch of tupperware to store meals for Mom.
- Rosemary chicken, roast potatoes and stir-fried veggie mix
- Tuesday March 19
- Redo the marmalade, this time adding some pectin and re-boil
- Okahumpka disc golf with Sandy
- Pet turkey at Okahumpka
- TJ Max and grocery shopping again. Buy a bunch more single dish tupperware.
- Sandy makes chicken pot pie, and salad
- Clean out freezer and package up 20+ single meal
- Discover that we can’t drop off the rental car at 4 in the morning, but Air Canada delays allow us to adjust our flights to a much more reasonable hour.
- Wednesday March 20
- Head to the airport at 9:15. Nice to have lots of time. Drive took 2+ hours going through the back roads, avoiding toll roads.
- Drop off rental car at Routes Car Rental, shuttle to airport and fly home via Toronto. Easy and relaxed.
- Massive coincidence had Kim and Karin returning from New Zealand, arrive in Saskatoon just in time to pick us up at the airport.