1/14 to 1/31 West Palm Beach

Greetings and welcome back. 

Tropical tolerance triumphs. As I continue to enjoy the crappy weather in West Palm Beach, Florida, it seems I've gotten used to it all. It will get warm. I can handle the heat, but only to a certain degree. (Yes. That was deliberate) And, the passing showers won't dampen my spirits. As most will agree, "a bad day here in Florida is better than a good day anywhere this time of the year" as illustrated in the temperature map below for January 15th. 

Safe travels and keep warm.

But here I am enjoying and grateful for the hospitality of son, Chuck and Silvia as I "camp" in their driveway. 

My "spot."

With Chuck's guidance, I entered the side driveway entrance....

...maneuvered and backed up snugly into my spot without taking any part of the house with me. That was a good thing. Yay, me.

Once settled, I wanted to tackle the various projects I have in mind. The first was to continue working on my Snail Shell Wind Chime. The second phase requires a way to hang the shells to whatever line I've yet to choose.

Yes, a little overkill, I know. I just need about 30 but 300 tiny eye screws for $2.12 fit my budget. Let me know if you need any.

A dab of Gorilla glue keeps the eye screw solidly in place. Trimming the excess glue is next.

The final step will be to find the right line to string the four rows of five shells. Stay tuned for that next step.

Meanwhile, with no propane flowing (I need a regulator replacement) to make my pancakes and bacon, I finally got to enjoy them indoors thanks to Chuck, the chef. But what's this? My milk is "turning?" Add that to the list of "What Next?" Ready to discard it, Silvia came to the rescue. Did you know you can use sour milk for lots of things? Check out the link. Silvia showed me one of them: How to make my favorite, ricotta cheese.

"Ricotta" is Italian for "recooked." It's actually a whey cheese. Silvia poured the 'souring' milk into a pan and brought it to a simmer.

Simmering, not boiling, separates the milk into two distinct ingredients. The solids are called curds and the liquid that is left behind is called whey.

You can see the curds starting to coagulate becoming larger and more solid. Eventually...

...the (very hot) curds and whey are emptied into cheesecloth or, in our case, a linen handkerchief and strained.

The whey is drained.

Depending on your preference for consistency/moisture content, the squeezing out of whey can vary to your liking.

At first, to me, the tightly packed, drained ricotta looked like a ball of mozzarella.

But after cooling a bit and separating, it truly was going to be the main ingredient in our next pasta and pesto dish. Thank you, Silvia.

The end product. Pesto and ricotta with drizzled olive oil. Una cena deliziosa

Avocados were always a part the delicious salad we had with dinner. For another project, I decided to try and get the plant growing with a procedure I used long, long ago. If interested, visit this LINK for the various methods to grow your own. It's really quite simple. 

Simply balance the seed with toothpicks in a glass with just the flat end touching the surface of the water. I will follow up on its progress in future blogs. Stay tuned.

So, with two projects on the table for future blogs, I'll end this blog and post it. I'm "house-sitting" while Chuck is in NV and Silvia is in CA for five days. My excitement will be a walk (ha!) to Sushi Jo's down the street for dinner.

5 (huge) Fried Shrimp Shumai

Maine Lobster Roll: Lobster with spicy mayo, Masago and sesame seeds.

But, as a proud grandparent of two beautiful granddaughters, I could not let the opportunity slip by without sharing each of their recent accomplishments.

In Miami, Sara has passed her Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) exam for her Marine Turtle Permit and with it, has accepted a position as Miami Dade County Sea Turtle Conservation Program Manager. Check out the links for details. 

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country in Corona, CA, granddaughter, Beca, will soon have the gala opening of her own Smart Parke Pet Boarding and Daycare Spa in February.  Check out the link telling you all about it. Congratulations to both for making our families very happy and proud of your accomplishments.

“Congratulations!
Today is your day
You're off to great places
You're off and away

You've got brains in your head
You've got feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself any
Direction you choose

You're on your own
And you know what you know
And you are the [gal]
Who'll decide where you go

Out there things can happen
And frequently do
To people as brainy
And footsy as you

And will you succeed?
Yes you will indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed)

You're off to great places
Today is your day
Your mountain is waiting
Go, get on your way!”
― Dr. Suess

12/29 to 01/14 Lantana/Lake Worth

 

With some time on my hands here in Lantana (ha), I thought it a good time to mention some events that didn't make it into previous blog posts. 

This huge coconut was found washed along the shoreline of Lake Osborn behind my campsite when I camped at John Prince Campground back in December. Whether it was ready to be eaten remained to be seen.

The anatomy of a coconut

Back in West Palm, Giorgio hacked through the outer shell and husk...

...and Chuck drilled through to drain the coconut water and revealed the coconut flesh.

Along with that coconut, a slew of huge, empty snail shells caught my eye. I collected, rinsed them off and researched on Google.

Apple Snail shells.

I was impressed by the size and quantity that had washed up at the water's edge.

There are several species of the Apple Snail in Florida. The Island Apple Snail is the invasive species that should be eradicated because of its harmful effect on the aquatic ecosystems. 

The Channeled Apple Snail is one of the 100 of the World’s Worst Invasive Species

The egg mass of the invasive species can have up to 2000 eggs. Because they lay their eggs above water on plant stems, the easiest method of eradicating is to simply scrape of the mass into the water.

This is the egg mass of the native species; less eggs, white or salmon in color.

I soaked them in a vinegar-water solution to rid them of whatever.

While transporting, handling and washing these shells, I noticed their very unique glass-like clinking sound. I decided then that I would make a Shell Wind Chime.

I sorted them by size.

Poked a hole in each.

Used craft wire.

The project is not finished but don't cancel your subscription. The completed project will be featured in a future blog. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, I want to conclude this blog before leaving Lantana and heading back to West Palm for the remainder of the month. Friday, January 12th seemed more like a Friday, the 13th as dominoes began to fall.

Problem #1. The saga began last week when I lost power to what I thought was the passing storm. Instead, it turned out to be an old, faulty circuit breaker at the post. Nick, from the campground came by and replaced. We noticed however, that two prongs of my surge protector seemed to be damaged by heat. 

Not good.

A few emails to Progressive Industries' Customer Service, a photo of the damage and proof of purchase (I had the original invoice from seven years ago) resulted in a new one to be shipped to me here in West Palm. Yesterday, I lost power again and noticed the surge protector was functioning normally showing power to the source...but none getting to the coach. Circuit breaks both inside and out were tested and were okay. But, no power. Not good. As a last resort, I called Busy Bee Mobile Repair Service. If you remember from a prior blog, John came down to Delray Beach to fix my slide. Well, now I'm in the same campground where he lives and in a matter of minutes, he was at my door. After troubleshooting, he found the problem in the junction box in the RV.

John indicated that this was a gradual, months-long developing problem.

Problem fixed. Crisis averted. Thank you, John.

Problem #2. Went to prepare a pancake/bacon breakfast when I discovered no propane coming to the stove. Although the digital reading on my panel showed ¼ tank, I learned those reading are not to be trusted. I packed up, unhooked and drove about 3 miles to a filling station; it required 4 gallons of propane. Digital readout now reads Full and now I'm ready for a long awaited breakfast. Sorry, still no propane getting to stove. Contacted Winnebago and after troubleshooting (like am I able to run the propane generator? Answer: No), it's the regulator. So, while John was here fixing electrical, he'll research and see if he can tackle my next problem. Meanwhile, no cooking with gas.

And finally, though not really a Problem #3 for me, on the same day, Friday the 12th I noticed not one but FOUR Palm Beach County patrol cars parked across the road. As mentioned, not my problem but a maybe a biggie for the fella across the road.

For about ten minutes, they spoke directly with the fella inside who, from what I've observed lived alone in the RV. From the sign on his truck, he's a home improvement contractor. The fourth officer remained stationed between the vehicle and the RV and the fifth remained off to the right of the vehicle. 

After a general meeting, off they went as quietly as they came. Now...what kind of call would warrant a visit from four squad cars? Who called? Why? Answers I'll never know.

And that concludes my stay here at the Palm Beach Travelers Park. Thanks for joining me. The weather continues not to be beach-friendly but that's okay as I'm not the beach-friendly type. I'm looking forward to the change of scenery and activities for my final days here on the east coast of Florida. Stay happy, healthy and safe till next time.