Looking for Manatee

 

Wesley Chapel, Florida (high 65, low 52)

 

The cold front is still sticking around, but it looks like we’ll be back up to the upper 70’s tomorrow.

 

Cold weather brings the Florida manatee to warmer water, so we figured yesterday would be a good day to go to Big Ben Power Plant in nearby Apollo Beach.  

We usually go there every year or two.

We hopped on I-75 and made the drive south.  We find it’s much easier to use the interstate nowadays because the traffic is horrible.  It can take 15 minutes to go 5 miles to the grocery store.  Red light, red light, red light.  Too many snowbirds, too many people. 

Back in the 80’s the power plant started noticing manatee hanging out by the warm water discharge areas, during periods of cold weather.  After a manatee got caught in one of their water intake areas, they made changes to prevent it happening in the future. To their credit, they built a wonderful manatee viewing center with trails, viewing areas, and an a visitor center with interactive games for the kids.  The best thing (besides the manatee) is that it’s FREE!

We pulled into the parking lot and noticed these solar trees.

6 of these trees can power two houses for a year.   Nice idea, but can you imagine how many trees we’d need?

If you have an electric car, you can plug in here and get a charge.     For a FEE!

 

  So much for free solar power, huh?

It felt wicked cold yesterday, mostly due to the wind.  Of course there were a few northerners in shorts and t-shirts.

The kids were sure enjoying the games they had in the visitor center. 

There were plenty of manatee hanging out by the warm water discharge areas.  They have built a wonderful overlook area where you can get a good view of the water.

This one loved to lay on her back and chill.  She would float around on her back, turn over once in a while, then be right back on her back again.   Isn’t she cute?

Manatee often turn over and float for a few seconds, but she was unusual staying on her back most of the time.

The Manatee Rescue group was out tagging manatee.

 

An article we read in the paper this morning said that they released a manatee there yesterday (must have been before we got there, darn it).  It had been captured the previous year after suffering from cold stress. It rehabilitated at Lowry Park Zoo.  Sure wish we would have been there for the release.  I wonder if it was Miss Back floater?   She sure seemed to be happy.

There were a lot of manatee there, but with the wind and cold, we didn’t take too much time taking pictures.

Only one was posing for us anyway.  :)

Here is a picture I borrowed from the web showing the concentration of manatee during cold months.

 

This is a more flattering picture of the Florida manatee.  Cute, aren’t they?

We drove over to a nearby nature trail, but unfortunately it was closed for rehabilitation.  It seemed to be poor timing.

 

I’m sure everybody has seen Grumpy Cat”    

Have you seen Grumpy Man?

 

(sorry Al, I couldn’t resist)   This was taken shortly after he had his surgery and he was a bit grumpy.

Losing an Old Friend and Gaining a Genie

 

Wesley Chapel, Florida (high 55, low 42)   brrrrr….it’s 35.8 degrees now!

This picture is was taken in TAMPA, back on January 19, 1977.   We remember that day well.  It was the last time Tampa saw snow.  (this was from the newspaper…don’t know who this guy was)

 

The weeks prior to Christmas and before Al’s surgery, were extremely busy here.

One of our latest projects was to upgrade our beloved TiVo DVR and go with high definition television and a more current DVR system. 

Many  years ago we discovered the wonders of a DVR when we discovered the wonders of TiVo. It was wonderful to never watch commercials, and watch what we wanted to watch on our own schedule, not when the network said we should.   I especially love that Al can watch football and basketball,  and it won’t cramp my style.  :)   He TiVo's the games now so that we’re free to enjoy the outdoors during the nicest part of the day and he still gets to watch his favorite football games.

Many people tried to copy the TiVo, but in my opinion, none could compare.

Recently, we learned Directv had a new DVR system, called Genie, which is billed as whole house DVR, and is supposed to be as good or better than TiVo.  I was skeptical.  Could anything be as good as TiVo?   

Since TiVo was the original and in our opinion the best DVR on the market, we hesitated to change, but the old TiVo receivers we had weren’t compatible with the high definition televisions of today.  We either upgraded or live with grainy low definition Tv.   As we get older, our eyesight isn’t as good as it used to be.  Maybe that was a good thing with the old Tv’s…or maybe not?

Of course the installation didn’t go without a bit of stress.  Dealing with Directv is a lesson in patience, and many of the reps we spoke to didn’t know you could have a DVR in an RV.

Despite a few glitches and a bit of stress, we got the Genie Whole house system installed before Al’s  surgery.  We finally have high definition Tv and it really is a lot nicer.

It’s clear that Genie tried to copy the TiVo system.  They did a pretty good job, but it still doesn’t compare to TiVo.  It   works pretty well and has some features we like better than our old TiVo, so we’re happy.   We do love the high def Tv.

 

One more project we did before Christmas, was to change my unlimited data smart phone.  My old phone was not working properly and was freezing up on a regular basis.   I had the Motorola Razr Maxx and an unlimited data plan.  I could not get the discounted upgrade through Verizon without losing my unlimited plan.

I learned that you can buy a phone through Verizon at full price and not lose the unlimited data plan, but they were $500-700.   Then I discovered you could also buy another phone on Amazon or E-bay.  You can find new phones, barely used,  or factory refurbished phones.    I found mine on E-bay through a company that had very good ratings.  It was a brand new phone, so I got lucky.

If you buy the exact same phone, its a simple matter of changing out the sim card to the new phone.  If you buy a different phone, you can take the new phone to a Verizon store, and they will give you another sim card to match the new phone, at no charge, AND you don’t lose your unlimited data. Verizon is okay with doing this, and I was told by two different Verizon people to buy a new phone rather than lose my unlimited data.  The phones you buy online do NOT come with sim cards and the phone does not work without a sim card.

I am happy with the new phone and the data transfer went fairly smooth, except for the calendar. I discovered that even without the sim card, I could power up the old phone and pull up the calendar to manually transfer all of my appointments.

So……if you have one of the few remaining unlimited data plans from Verizon, and want a new phone, you may be able to find another phone online and still keep your unlimited data plan.    I paid $129 for my phone which turned out to be a brand new phone.  The latest models cost more. 

Another project we’re working on is to replace the Rv refrigerator with a residential.  We’ve read about too many fires from Rv refrigerators and we would love a residential style refrigerator.  We have a large 4 door Norcold that is less than 4 years old.  It works fine, but there is always that risk of fire.  If anyone knows of anyone looking for a working Norcold 1210,  ours will be for sale as soon as we can get the new one installed.    The problem we are having is finding a refrigerator that will fit in the space of the old Norcold.  The Norcold is about 63 inches high and most residential refrigerators are at least 66 inches high.

 

There is no way to obtain any additional height.  If we don’t find a refrigerator that is 64 inches high or lower, we won’t be able to replace the Norcold.

In researching this, I discovered a company that makes something as a band-aid for the refrigerator fires. It works for both Dometic and Norcold.   I haven’t had time to do any research, but if you have a RV refrigerator, you might want to check out the ARP Control.   We already have an automatic Halon fire extinguished in the outside refrigerator compartment.  It will go off if the temp gets to a certain degree.  

 

Al is doing well as far as the shoulder surgery.  He should start physical therapy in a week or so. He has another issue though.  We now think he has developed some sort of skin allergy and we’re thinking it may be laundry detergent.  I switched to Dreft for babies, but now I changed to All Clear hypoallergenic detergent.  Anybody have any better suggestions?

It’s always something!

 

We’re still dreaming of the Keys.   We want to get some of Al’s PT done and our tenants want to stay longer, so we probably won’t go down until mid to late February.

Stay warm!