Panama City Beach

My wife and I bought a house in Panama City Beach three months ago. We had appointments in Rhoda Island and left early April. Carol's daughter in Elsie, Michigan had a baby boy May 26Th. On May 31st we set out for Elsie, well we stayed in Birch Run, Michigan 35 miles away. It was the closest pet friendly and acceptable motel for us. I decided we should go to our Florida home for a week or so. RI was having a cool rainy spring. We arrived here to mid 80 degree weather. Little did I know that would be one of the cooler days. Mostly it has been high 80's low 90's since then. Fortunately, our house is about 1/2 mile from the Gulf as the crow flies and about a mile via the two streets to park at the beach. So the breeze off the Gulf may not be real cool, it is refreshing and a brief respite from the heat.

Lately our daily routine has been up early and over to the beach by 8 AM. I swim for about 30 minutes I drip dry in the already hot sun while I watch the progress on the rebuild of the county pier. The prior one was destroyed by hurricanes. It is fascinating to watch the two cranes pass big buckets filled with concrete out to the outer part of the pier to be poured in the forms. On the way back to the house I drop Carol off at the complex pool. Even though she gets wet in the Gulf, She does not swim. She does not like getting her face splashed by the waves. I go much farther out than she does. She likes early at the pool . . . no children that early. Both of us were bothered in the Gulf this morning by little fish nipping at our bodies. They don't hurt, but are a bother.

The rest of our days are spent doing errands, trying to plan our evening meal. Evening meals are a real challenge. I am basically a meat and potato guy. Carol has decided to pretty much eliminate meat from her diet. She might have a small taste of chicken or fish.

Carol has a borrowed bike and tries to ride in the evening depending on the heat index. Last night she rode for about 30 minutes and upon arrival back announced when I buy a bike in September it is going to have a better seat. My butt is sore. I sat in a lawn chair and enjoyed what little breeze there was while she was riding. I am not doing as well as she with the heat.

We spend time on our respective laptops and have watched a number of movies on DVD as we do not have cable here yet. That will be another topic. For now, there were some good ones and a couple of real dogs. There is no end in sight for the 90's here. The locals refer to these temperatures as August weather.