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

That nickel allergy is a real bummer, Liz! But at lest you know what it is and can try to avoid it. Darned beans.

196. The new HVAC guy came today and I really liked him. He's the first to suggest at least one of the thermostats could be replaced under warranty (which given it would be about $2k to replace all three would be nice). Another he said maybe could be replaced. Then I would just have to pay for the 3rd so they were all on the same system. He also explained why my dad's rooms struggles so much to get warm. It's because the ductwork is buried in the concrete slab foundation and the heat that comes from heat pumps is not as warm as a gas furnace, so it never warms the ducting up enough meaning what comes out in the room is a good 15 degrees colder than what leaves the unit. The rest of the house is the same, but the main living areas have in floor heating which counteracts the heat loss. So Kimbled again for them cheaping out and not putting in floor heating in the whole house. *******s. The HVAC guy said when the time comes, I could replace the heat pumps with propane furnaces where the air comes out of the unit 25-50 degrees warmer, but I'm not sure what that would do to my propane bill for 3 units.

Anyway, I may do some chores today and walk Kirby, but no other plans. It was 71 yesterday which is crazy. Today should be 67.

Take care!

Feels like temp here is 44 right now and I wouldn't consider AZ as a retirement place because winters are too cold (and because there isn't enough green for me)! You got us beat by quite a bit! Wednesday should be more normal temps for FL.

Grrrrrr on being Kimbled again!

It was 85 in Phoenix yesterday! Record high for the date. But I'm 3500 ft above Phoenix.

Kimbled again! Seems like these folks did a lot of cutting corners building their dream house.

Good find on the HVAC guy. Don't you wish all contractors were smart and honest?

120.6, same.

New antibiotic I'm taking can cause insomnia. Guess who didn't fall asleep until after 4 am? There are a bunch of other potential side effects that were making me feel uneasy taking it but the big one was a warning about it causing a pretty serious heart rhythm abnormality which I am already more at risk for. I will be starting a different med tomorrow!

Still cold here. Tomorrow will be too with warmer weather returning on Wednesday. Doing putzy stuff around the house and ran to the bank today. Did my Costco order online as they have free delivery. I think we might only go to the store when we have to get perishables and meat. The Fort Myers store is always crazy busy and traffic getting to and from there is equally as crazy!

Still working on my new photo offerings. A neighbor came by today to see if I would donate some art to a Homes for Veterans fundraiser the ladies in our community are putting on. There will be a luncheon, fashion show and then auction of donated goods. I gave a nice sunset picture I took during a Fort Myers trip several years ago and will attend the event as well! Good way to meet more ladies in the community, even if the lunch costs $40! Lol, it's for a good cause!

Hope you are having fun with your friends in the Keys Liz! Will be nice when the weather starts cooperating again!

Good idea to get off that medication - does sound a bit risky for you.

I did find Fort Myers and the West coast of Florida much busier than the east coast once I began going to the latter with DH. One of the things that made me want to live on the east coast. I had no comparison prior to that because all my friends were on the west coast so that's where we always went to visit (other than the Disney area of Orlando which is its own world).

Greetings all

Yet another sunny day here. I think we are short on annual rain fall but it can rain a lot in the spring. So I had a lot of errands today starting with a bank deposit. The stupid bank still has no business deposit tickets, They gave me some that are kind of like a personal checking account. Seriously? How does a credit union not have deposit tickets? More errands to the accountant for payroll and such. I spent some time at the studio glazing and dealing with banking.

Liz the place at the keys sounds great. How do you find all these places? Enjoy. Rats on the nickel thing but at least you know. Do you think it is getting worse? Seems like you used to be able to eat some beans.

CC glad you found a decent HVAC guy. Kimble defense! Odd about the heating arrangement. You could get a space heater for your dad but that seems stupid in such a nice house. Amazing how warm it is there and how cold it is in Florida.

I stopped at the store for a few things.$92 for a bag of groceries!! Ok there was wine and most stuff was from the deli. Oh well.

We watched the Grammy's last night. I thought it was a really good show even though I had not heard of most of the people. I feel old. The tribute part was really good.

DH brought home hot dogs yesterday in order to get the pills into the dogs. But that took only one hot dog so guess whats for dinner tonight. He did get the good all beef kind and not the cheap mystery meat ones.

Diane S

I like an all beef hotdog in natural casing once in a while, especially if it has chili sauce and steamed buns!