Well, it has been six years since I made an entry into this blog. A lot has happened since then and a lot has not happened. I am still living in the same apartment. I have had several cars since then. I eat lunch daily at the Boynton Beach Senior Center. In the mornings I go to the Soup Kitchen to get food.

Interesting how life has changed since I retired. The retirement system in the US sucks. Not nearly enough money to live on, no optical, dental or hearing subsidies. I really need new glasses, I have two broken teeth, and I am really getting hard of hearing. I hope to be able to get new glasses, but no dental work and I just say "Huh?" a lot.

The Idle Rich

The idle rich and how they spend their days. Probably talking to their lobbiest as the election nears.

The Beach Part II

More pictures of the beach. Seems there is a limit of four pictures per post.

The Beach

Here are a few shots of what the beach looks like. Not many people here on a beautiful late October day. Well, it was only about 11:30 AM when I was there.

First Sight of Ocean

After you get to the to the top of the ridge, you get your first view of the ocean. And a few signs.

Path to Beach

Path from highway to beach. The path winds through the greenery up a bit of a hill.

Enterence to Park

This is the enterence to the beach park. You have to walk across the highway to get from the parking lot to the beach.

Hammock Park

I found a little park today near where I live. As you can see, it is named Ocean Ridge Hammock Park. It is off A1A. The parking lot is on the west side of the highway and you cross the road to get to the beach. Don't forget that you can enlarge the pictures by clicking on them. One click enlarges them and the second click enlarges them to full size. This is true for all pictures in my blog.

Green Cay 2010

View over the railing at the entrance to Green Cay Nature Center. This is a water filtration facility that has been adapted to look like Florida before civilization hit.

Can't Help It

Just have to take the panoramic shots. Here is another one.

Looking for a Handout

This bird flew up and landed on the railing as I walked along. I think he/she was looking for a handout. I have heard people say they were concerned about the animals becoming conditioned to humans, and it looks like it might be the case here. He preceeded me down the railing for a few yards and then flew off into the wetlands.

Something Fishy

A picture of one of the fish. I have no idea what kind of fish. Just a live fish in a big pool.

Tranquility

Just a very quiet spot. There are several birds on the land to the left of the canal, but they are difficult to see in the picture.

Light and Shadow

Another shot of some of the plants. This was shot near an area where I saw a fresh litter of baby alligators the last time I was here.

More Plants

Another shot of some of the plants. The flowers are just beginning to bloom.

The Alligator

This is the only picture of an alligator I got today. He is sunning himself about half way down the road. Toward the top-center of the picture. Looks like a big log. That was as close as I could get, or that I wanted to get.

Reflections

This was shot into the sun with rather bright reflections. Just a view of some of the plants growing at Wako. Wakodahachee is an artifical area created by the county water department. It is a filtering station for drinking water in the area.

A Panorama

The camera in my phone can do panoramic shots and I can't resist do one once in a while. Here is a shot showing a wide area of the wetlands.

Picture Perfect Day

So calm and quiet. Very few clouds in the sky. Temprature in the low 80s with very low humidity. Just a lovely day. Remember, you can click on any picture to enlarge it.

Turtle

If you look closely, you can see a turtle under water. The head is toward the top center of the picture in the light tan area. The body is pretty much obscured by the reflections of the clouds.

Entrance View

View of the wetlands as you first enter. Not a great number of animals visable, but they are there. I could see quite a few catfish in the water.

Trip to Wakodahachee Wetlands

This was my first trip to Wako since my heart attack. It was such a beautiful day today I decided after lunch to visit the wetlands. I didn't have my good camera with me, only the camera in my phone. It is a high quality camera, but it has no optical zoom, so no closeups. Saw fish, turtles, birds and an alligator. This is the sign near the entrance.

Cars In My Life - 1950 Jeepster Convertible

1950 Jeepster Convertible In-line 4 3-Speed Manual

When I got to the Altoona Campus of Penn State in 1957 I needed a car to get around. Mom had taken over the Mercury, so they bought me a Jeepster. This was a sort of cross-over vehicle between a Jeep and a regular convertible car. The top was manually operated and there were canvas side curtains, no windup windows at all. The car owed much more to the Jeep than to a car. It was very spartan. It had a very small four cylinder engine that only put out 40 horsepower. It was very cold in the winter, the side curtains didn't fit snugly and the wind whistled in while the car was in motion.
I got Moon wheel covers for it. These were spun aluminum covers that were screwed to the wheels of the car. I don't think I had them for more than a week when they were stolen.
In my last year at Penn State I replaced the four cylinder engine with a V-8. What a disaster that was. I drove it to my first job at IBM in Endicott, New York. The car didn't last long at all. Actually, neither did the job.

Cars In My Life - 1953 Mercury 2-Door Hardtop

1953 Mercury 2-Door Hardtop V-8 Automatic

The Plymouth was definitely not my kind of car. I wanted something a lot better looking. The Mercury was the first car that I had a say in the purchase. There were two very similar cars available; one orange and tan and one green and yellow. My dad insisted the green and yellow was the better car, but I was in love with the orange one. My parents bought the one I wanted even though my father objected. I still think this is one of the prettiest cars I ever owned.
I put electric windows in it myself. That was a real challenge but I got them installed.
The car had a sort of loud muffler. In those days the Pennsylvania State Police were very strict about the level of noise that cars made, especially ones driven by kids. My Mercury seemed to pass the noise test, because I was never harassed for the muffler.
This picture was taken on the property of Dr. Lorenzo Runk in the Curtis Park neighborhood of my home town, Philipsburg, PA.

Cars In My Life - 1942 Plymouth Deluxe Sedan

1941 Plymouth Deluxe 4-Door Sedan In-line 6 3-Speed Manual

My first car. My parents bought it for me for my 16th birthday in 1953. I had to wait to drive it until I passed the Pennsylvania State driving test. I passed it on the first try. That is a story for another time.

The Plymouth was a large car, you could sort of walk into it and sit down. The problem was it was way underpowered. It was definitely not the best car for central Pennsylvania where I was born and raised. Too many hills. The windshield wipers were vacuum powered and when the car was struggling to get up a hill the wipers stopped working.
The car had vacuum assisted shifting on the column mounted shifter. It made for very short throws from gear to gear, but the car hissed every time you shifted. I liked to sit at the traffic light in my home town and shift back and forth between second and third gear. It made the car sound like it was breathing.
The previous owner had replaced the factory shift knob with a very heavy chrome plated one. When the car was in second gear, all you had to do was put in the clutch to shift gears. The knob was so heavy that the lever dropped from second to third gear by itself.
The Plymouth had an after-market radio in it. It was a Motorola radio and was mounted under the dash. At night when we were riding around we could get stations from far away cities like Buffalo, New York. That was where we first heard rock-n-roll music.Life was never the same again.
This is the only picture I can find of the Plymouth. I think that is Mom driving it and we at my Grandmother Booth’s house on Second Street. It is obviously winter what with the coating of mud and road salt.

Test Drive

I test-drove a 2008 Chrysler Sebring Convertible last week. Mark is working at KPM Auto Exports in West Palm Beach and he called me about this car. I drove it and it is a pretty nice car. I cannot afford it, though. Too bad, it would be nice to have.

Wildlife in front of my new apartment. These are Muscovy ducks. They have to be one of the ugliest animals on the planet.