Skeeters and Pho

With subtropical storm Alberto coming up through the Gulf of Mexico, we are far enough east that we are expecting a lot of rain here on central Florida’s Atlantic Coast, but that’s about it. But I did want to get those last two PVC pipes for our retaining wall pounded in while we could, so Terry and I were up earlier than usual yesterday morning to get that done.

With all of the rain we have been having the ground was soft enough that it was pretty easy to get them sunk. Well, except for the mosquitoes.

We are used to mosquitoes and their nasty little cousins, the no see ums, and while they can be a pain, we have learned to work our schedules around them. The worst times are usually first thing in the morning and in the evening around sunset. But with all of this rain we have a bumper crop of the flying vampires, and they are flat-out vicious.

We bought a bug zapper to hang out near the garage, and another one that screws into the porch light bulb fixture, hoping that would help. And then Friday night the County supposedly came through and sprayed the area, but if it’s the truck we saw, he was in and out of our little community in less than 10 minutes, so I doubt he accomplished much.

We sprayed ourselves liberally with mosquito spray and went at it to get those last two PVC pipes sunk, and even with all of our preparation, we both got bit a dozen times. With the pipes sunk, we made a quick trip to Home Depot for a couple things, and picked up two cans of Cutters Backyard Fogger. Later, when I checked on Amazon I learned I could have gotten two bottles for not much more than the price of one at Home Depot. Once the rain stops I’ll give it a try and see how well it works before we start the next phase of the project. But I’ve got a suspicion that nothing short of napalm is going to wipe out the little pests.

After we left Home Depot we stopped at a gas station that carries non-ethanol gas for boaters, and I filled up a five gallon can. Today I plan to get our new Honda EU2200i 2200-watt portable inverter generators unboxed and ready to use. I don’t expect any power outages from this storm, but I want to make sure everything is in working order when we do need them.

I’ve been I’m always on the lookout for good Chinese food, and when my neighbor Chris Fisher recommended Leanh’s Chinese Restaurant in Daytona Beach I told Miss Terry I wanted to try it out. So when we were done with our chores and taking showers to cool off, we went there for dinner with our friend Jim Lewis. As most of you know, I like Chinese restaurants and we have eaten a lot of them around the country. This is probably the best Chinese restaurant we have found anywhere in the state of Florida, or a lot of other places.

I went with my standby favorite, shrimp fried rice, while Jim had the shrimp in garlic sauce, and Terry chose the Pho Ga, which consisted of sliced chicken breast and rice noodles in a chicken broth. She said it was a hard decision to make because the menu is so extensive. We were all very pleased with our dinners, and Terry said the Pho Ga was probably the best she has ever had.

The service is also excellent. In a lot of restaurants you have one waitress who takes care of you, and if you need something you have to wait until she is free and notices you. Not at Leanh’s. Three different waitresses were keeping an eye on us, refilling water and drinks as needed and doing everything they could to make us feel welcome. Terry and I both agree that we have found our new favorite Chinese restaurant.

Since Alberto is going to keep things pretty wet for a while, I plan to spend the next couple of days writing. I am a bit over a third of the way through my new Big Lake book, and I hope to make some good headway.

Today is your last chance to enter our Free Drawing for an autographed copy of John and Kathy Huggins’ So, You Want to be an RVer?: Celebrating the RV Lifestyle. This is the guide to RVing that every wannabe, newbie, and veteran RVer should have on their bookshelf. To enter, all you have to do is click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn this evening.

Thought For The Day – Even duct tape can’t fix stupid. But it sure does muffle the sound.