Have You Fallen?

Hi All,

At the risk of sounding like a shill for Apple, I want to describe what happened to me Thursday.

As I walked alone along the hallway between the elevator and our condo, I suddenly felt woosy. My next recollection was sitting on the concrete floor in a puddle of blood. There was so much blood, I thought it was a bad dream. 

After a few minutes I shakily walked to our condo. Soon there was a pounding on the door and in came three Dunedin firefighters followed quickly by the ambulance medics.

Who called you? I said bewildered.

"Your watch" was their reply!

My Apple Watch had detected my fall and asked me if I needed help. Since I was still unconscious and  didn't reply, the watch called 911, said I was unresponsive after a fall detection and gave them my location .

This was not a life threatening situation but it might have been. Food for thought next time you are shopping for a watch/smartphone.

Love,

Carl 

Oh, I'm OK. I passed out due to dehydration and the resulting scalp laceration was closed with four staples. After twenty four hours of hospital observation I am home, aching but otherwise OK

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Tampa Bay Automotive Museum

Hi All,

Another neat area museum. This one is a private collection of almost 100 vehicles focused on automotive technical innovation. All vehicles except toe 1770 Fardier de Cugnot are original and fully operational.

This is a faithful reproduction of the first ever self propelled vehicle. It is steam powered with the boiler up front.

Many of the cars were European with exotic hood ornaments.

In case you wondered why it is called a Running "Board", now you know.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Potpourri Again

Hi All,

Things are good here. It was 42 degrees this morning but no complaints.

Here's an assortment of signs and images for your enjoyment.

Is your dog anxious? Perhaps an Anti-Anxiety Bandana will help.

Sounds like good advice but not worth $28!

Spotted this pattern of colorful lights in a Safety Harbor restaurant.

We bought this glass jellyfish in Boothbay Harbor many years ago. We were delighted when it was unpacked.

Last week we saw a similar item in a store but with a lighted base. We think the $12 we spent on Amazon was a great investment.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Volunteering at Caladesi Island

Hi All,

We have a new volunteer job at Honeymoon Island State Park. Caladesi is a 15 minute boat ride from Honeymoon. We take the crew boat over at 8 AM.

Since the first visitor ferry isn't until 10, we can walk the beach and collect shells. Last year, Caladesi was voted 4th best beach in US! At 8:30 AM, we have the whole beach to ourselves.

Not counting the occasional sanderling.

Today was cold and windy but the shelling was excellent (see Sandy's bag).

We set up a table with exhibits of shells and skulls of Caladesi wildlife adjacent to the ferry dock.

Every half hour the ferry brings us visitors who stop to talk to us about our displays.

We also have activities for kids. These three are triplets.

In late afternoon we pack up the displays and take the ferry back to Honeymoon.

The first two Sundays we talked to 62 and 71 people. Today was cold and windy so we only spoke to 18 hardy souls.

It is a great volunteer gig even though we didn't see any bears.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Imagine Museum

Hi All,

Sandy was checking the museum passes available at our library when she found passes for the Imagine Creative Glass Museum.

What an awesome surprise. Hundreds of spectacular glass creations. If you are anywhere near Tampa, check this place out.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Our Travel Adventures

Our Travel Emails

Hi All,

Several friends have encouraged us to write a book about our travels and volunteering experiences or at least summarize our emails. We'll, we just checked and found 1,101 emails in our blog at:

LivingOurDream livingourdream2011.blogspot.com

Most of our emails have 6-8 photos.

Enjoy but please do not print them out for the sake of the trees🙀

Sandy & Carl 

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Tornado 2 Miles Away

Hi All,

We are fine but having a tornado touch down two miles away was unnerving. It started at 1:42 AM Thursday. We were both awakened by our iPhones' alarm and the following message.

Fifteen minutes later the night light flickered for a minute then went dark.

We awoke to news that a tornado had touched down in the parking lot of the strip mall at the beginning of the causeway. Several stores had windows blown in

and a box truck was blown over.

Across the street, part of the roof and wall of a condo were blown off.

Our power was restored about 7:30 and the debris from the palm trees was cleaned up by days end.

The only damage we suffered was when Sanibelle got twisted by the twister. This morning she lay on the rug with her front legs pointing one way and her rear legs in the opposite direction🙀. Fortunately she untwisted soon afterwards.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Dolphin Cruise

Hi All,

Saturday afternoon we boarded the MV Parrot-Dise for a dolphin watch. We left the harbor with the theme song from Gilligan's Island playing on the speakers.

Our crew included these beach babes we found on the dock.

Amy & Lenny

The dolphins started following us right away.

Flying along in our wake.

Jumping clear of the water

Sandy, Alan, Barbara and Aunt Lily

Some old couple making out in the back!

A great trip. Lots of dolphins and local history. We even saw Hulk Hogan's house.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Keeping Busy

Hi All,

Last Tuesday we attended a raptor program at a local city park, Hammock Park. Volunteers from a raptor rehabilitation center in Clearwater came to talk about some of their "educational " birds. These are birds who's injuries mean they cannot be released.

This beautiful swallowtail kite has a wing injury.

The barred owl is very common around here.

This eastern screech owl is only 6" tall!

We have been training for a new volunteer gig with the CareLift program at the local hospital. Carl will drive the van and Sandy will help get clients in and out of the van as we drive them to and from doctors appointments. This free service operates 8 vans in two daily shifts from 7:30-4:00. That's 32 volunteers per day for five days!

Still lots of flamingo photos being posted as the birds blown north by hurricane Idalia recover from their stressful adventure.

Wildlife in the condo remains curious and entertaining.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502