Monday, February 2, 2026

121.8 - back up a bit. I weigh more than Paula right now!

Still cold here, but at least it is 46 vs 31 at our home a bit more north. One more day with the extreme cold, then tomorrow should be a bit warmer and Wednesday be more seasonal.

We had an uneventful 4.75 hour trip to where we are staying in the Keys. We are on Big Pine Key which is 30 miles from Key West and famous for its little key deer. I have seen them previously but they aren't as prevalent as they used to be apparently.

The house here is really cute - on a canal with a nice screened porch with comfortable chairs which we can use when it warms up. Everything is on the second floor because by law homes have to be built on stilts here. There is a common area with lots of light, a nice kitchen, eating area and living room, then a small bedroom and bath to the right and another set to the left. Very small overall but functional for 2 couples. There is no insulation or heat so we are using 2 small space heaters that the owner had stowed away. They work really great! Probably a lot more efficient than the ineffective heat built into our AC unit. I am ordering one to come when we arrive back home.

So I made a mistake on Thursday and ingested a high level of nickel which kicked my allergy in. There was a chicken and white bean soup at the lunch after golf and I thought that if I removed the beans I would be fine. Nope - apparently nickel leaches into the soup. So I have blisters on 3 toes and 1 finger. Now that I know what causes it I can get them to subside in a few days if I don't have any more high nickel foods but it still takes awhile to the skin to clear. The foods that are the highest in nickel are beans, lentils and nuts. Some other foods are difficult but they are the worst. No taco salads for me! The last time I had a breakout was when I sneaked turkey chili and tried to eat around the beans.

Not sure what we will do today other than definitely take a good Justice walk. We packed a ton of clothes including our winter jackets, hats and gloves, so we would have stuff for both cold and warm weather.

Have a mild Monday!

We are famous LOL. We are in one of the pictures in Vero News (4th row, middle picture): VeroNews