May & June 2018 By The Numbers

The winning number 8 my friend Ellen landing on to win a cake at the Cabbagetown Reunion Cake Walk.

May – June 2018.

As a way to keep up with the blog over the summer when we aren’t traveling and working hard to make money for more travels, I am going to start doing a regular (hopefully) numbers post documenting what we have been doing the previous month(s).

Numbers can be fun. And when you start breaking things in your life down into numbers it can especially insightful or sometimes just plain weird.

Here are a few fun facts I found on the internet:

20 – The number of muscles that cats use to control their ears.

1,792 – The number of steps in the Eiffel Tower.

6,588,000,000,000,000,000 – The weight of the earth in tons.

But before we dive into all the interesting numbers in our lives from May and June, here is a little plain old recap in boring old words …

The month of May was all about transitions, coming back to Indiantown from our van adventures out West, getting Blue Wing ready to sale (sadly, not sail), and driving back to Cabbagetown (via NC and a visit to Greg’s folks) where Greg remained and started painting houses with his partner Paul, while I made my way back to Florida to deal with boat selling stuff.

At the beginning of June, my friend Ellen drove me back to Cabbagetown where Greg and I will be spending the summer moving in small circles, house sitting, hanging with friends, making money for our next adventures, planning those adventures, and working on van projects.

We came back to Cabbagetown earlier than we planned for work which also put us back in the ‘hood just in time to attend the first Cabbagetown Olympics! Just like in the “real” Olympics, there were exciting opening ceremonies. Here, the Iswald Islanders parade up the steps into Cabbagetown Park.
Each street had their own team, uniforms, and team name. Here Alicia and Ro of the Berean Boll Weevils participate in the “Wet Sponge” race.
Paul, Greg’s painting partner, jumps over the finish line in the Sack Race.
Greg and Peter get ready for the Three Legged Race.

So here go the numbers…

Let’s start with a few numbers about where we slept:

1 – Days in the van in a Friend’s driveway (Thanks Brenda!)

7 – Days in the van at Indiantown Marina while we were getting Blue Wing ready for sale.

2 – The number of days in Greg’s folks house (on our way from Florida back to Cabbagetown)

13 – The number of days house sitting in May. Our first day in Cabbagetown we took over house sitting job from a previous sitter for Nola, Cosmo, and Lucy. We got to do something brand new at this sit — give Nola the cat a pill. Since Nola’s owner, Debbie, was already on vacation and we had no one to demonstrate the best way to accomplish this feat, Debbie sent us a video tutorial. We watched it several times. And although we were successful, we might not be bragging about this skill on our pet sitting resume.

Little Lucy!
Nola says, “Haven’t you people tortured me enough?”
Cosmo comes out for a visit on the porch.

From Debbie’s house, we went up the street to sit for Mike, Little Joe, and Jack Bower. I spent one night there before jumping on a plane back to Florida. Greg finished out the next 6 days on his own. Luckily none of these pets needed pills.

In my absence, Greg would do one more sit for two nights before my return for Kofi and Elliott.**

9 – The number of days Greg stayed with friends in May.

We weren’t really planning on returning in May, so we didn’t try to line up any house sitting until the last minute. It was great to fill the spots we did, but Greg was still left homeless for 9 days in between his house sitting gigs. Our friend Karen and then another friend Karin took him in on two different occasions.

16 – The number of days Duwan slept on Ellen’s settee on her boat in Indiantown Marina in May. Also the longest number of days Duwan and Greg have spent apart since they started living together 15 years ago.

While Greg was painting houses and pet sitting in Cabbagetown, I was trying to sell stuff off of Blue Wing and getting her listed with a broker. My friend, Ellen, generously let me sleep on her settee on her boat at Indiantown Marina. Sleeping on a friend’s settee on their boat is sort of like when that brother-in-law or your spouse’s best friend from college comes to live on your couch for “just a few days” except the space is much tighter and you have fewer places to get away from the lump camped out in your living room eating Doritos and watching non-stop reality TV. I am positive Ellen would tell you it wasn’t like that at all, but it felt like it to me. Ellen spent her days in her V-berth writing and working on promotion for her newly published cosy mystery, Murder at the Marina (buy it here – it’s really fun!) and I spent mine in the Salon corresponding with people about the things I was selling. Every day about happy hour Ellen would come out and we’d have a cocktail and maybe share a dinner before Ellen would return to her end of the boat and I would curl back up in my corner of the boat. It is nice to know that two introverts can live on a tiny boat so comfortably.

We were already house sitting elsewhere when we were asked to take care of Buddy so we weren’t able to stay with him. Still I came to feed him once a day and spent a little quality time with him. Here is his favorite perch on top of the Blue Dog book.

All but one – The number of days house sitting in June in 5 different homes. If all goes as planned we shouldn’t be “house-sit-less” until September 8.

1 – The number of days we split up house sitting in June. The house sitting has been amazingly seamless this year.

7 – The number of cats taken care of (one of these we didn’t house sit) in May and June. Nola, Cosmo, Jack Bower, Little Joe, Buddy, Panda, and Smudge.

9 – The number of dogs house sat in May and June. Lucy, Mike, Kofi, Elliott, Mr. Chien, Gus, Daisy, Bob, and Dave.

We had a few new pets in June. This is Smudge enjoying her new life on the back porch.
And here is Panda. Smudge and Panda were already bonded so they were adopted together.
And here is Smudge and Panda’s new brother and our old pal, Mr. Chein. Mr. Chein loves his kitties.

50 – The number of gallons of paint Greg and Paul have gone through in a month and a half. They have been hard at it and jobs are still pouring in every day.

14 – Number of days I have waited tables in June. Just so you know I am working and contributing to the traveling kitty too.

Some of the interesting stuff for sale a my friend’s yard sale.

2 – The number of yard sales I advertised. Perhaps you are thinking, but Duwan, you don’t have a yard. Yes, but my friend David does – quite a big yard and quite a big house and he is selling almost everything inside and out, but he doesn’t have internet – or actually know how to use the internet. The sale has become perpetual, Monday through Sunday, and in July I have placed ads twice a week in 4 different places on the internet. We are now calling it Farm and Factory, Odd and Funky. It is a lot of rusty old stuff and some very odd stuff and people are flocking to it from around the state – ‘cause apparently, I am pretty good at advertising yard sales.

Daisy is so sweet. You’d never know she wanted to take one of Greg’s limbs off the first time she met him.
Bob is wise.
Dave is a bit goofy.

9 – The number of Olympic events I photographed in Cabbagetown Park. Not the real Olympics, of course, the Cabbagetown Olympics! And a benefit for Cabbagetown’s very own history museum, The Patch Works Art and History Center.

8 – The lucky number my friend Ellen landing on to win a cake at the Cabbagetown Reunion Cake Walk.

25 – The number of inquiries (that came directly to us as opposed to the broker) we have had about buying the boat. No buyers yet, but lots of interest.

The Cake Walk at the Cabbagetown Reunion. If you have never heard of a Cake Walk before, here is the concept. People bake cakes. Someone puts numbers on the ground. Music is played while people walk around on those numbers. When the music stops, everyone stops on a number, and then a winning number is pulled from a hat. Whoever is standing on the winning number wins a cake! Easy – just like a cake walk!
Cakes waiting to be won at the Cabbagetown Reuion. The Cabbagetown Reunion happens every year the first Saturday of June. It is a time when anyone who has live in Cabbagetown over the years can come back and see old friends. Besides the Cake Walk, there is live music, games, and an artist market.

150 – the number of sights I have marked on my Mexico map.

The next adventure will be 4 or 5 months in central Mexico! We hope to cover possibly as many as 20 Mexican states. It is a lot of territory and there is so much to see and do in Mexico and of course, we don’t want to miss any of it. Ruins, natural areas, city centers, museums, art, volcanos, waterfalls, butterflies, wildlife, etc.

Click on the icons on the map below to see information about any of the places we might go.

11 – The maximum number of times I ran up and down steps in Cabbagetown Park. I am so incredibly out of shape and am determined to climb a volcano this winter in Mexico, so I decided to start training. During July I increase my number of steps, but I also developed Plantar Fasciitis. So no more steps. I am incredibly disappointed because I was doing so well with my training and really really really want to climb a volcano – but also because Plantar Fasciitis seems to be such a popular ailment and it is so hard to spell with all those freaking “i”s.

Never-the-less, I am still doing cardio training and plan on overcoming this silly obstacle.

23 – The number of days late I am with this post. Ugh. Not that I thought I would have this post out on July 1, but I had hoped to have it out much sooner. I am just too wordy and I can’t help it. Oh – and also, today’s my birthday! Now that’s an interesting number we are not going to talk about here.

In Memoriam

We have a sad number 2 this summer. We lost 2 pets. They have such short little lives and as long as we have been house sitting here in Cabbagetown we have seen a few of them get old and leave us. Since we have been back in Cabbagetown this year we have seen the passing of Mike who we house sat in May and then Gus who we sat in June. Here’s to Cabbagepets Mike and Gus, may you find peace over the rainbow bridge.

We have know Gus for a long time – way back when when we had to coax him to come inside from underneath his favorite bush in the yard. We have seen him change from worried all the time to self assured and determined. We’ll miss you Gus.

* All pics are click to enlarge.
** Because I am the main picture taker and either didn’t spend much time or no time at all with some of the pets we sat in May, there are no pictures of them.

What numbers have been significant in your life lately? Do you know any fun fact numbers?

8 thoughts on “May & June 2018 By The Numbers

  1. Wow. You guys are doing the run-around! It’s so nice that you find places to stay, but I bet it’s quite exhausting as well. Hurrah for Ellen lodging you in Tickety Boo, and for both of you making money for upcoming trips. Your Mexico adventures look really promising. We plan to spend some of the winter in Baja California this year, and are excited about living full-time in our camper in a few days. Good luck with the boat sale!

    1. Yes, it is a bit exhausting. It is great to see friends and have time with pets, but I miss living in the van. I am excited for you about new full-time camper life. I absolutely love having my own space and being able to take it with me where ever I want to go!

  2. Great post. Sorry I missed it the first time around. Just FYI,, there is a (paid) site called “house Sitting Mexico” that a friend has good luck with down here, and pet sitting experience is a big plus.

    Hope to cross paths next Winter/Spring!

  3. Always fun to read your blog. Glad for the post since FB screwed up. I guess this is an example why FB stock fell so drastically. Would love to see you before I lose my memory (we got us some great ones!) I’ll turn 65 in 3 months. Whew.

    1. Thanks Denise. We will see you in September. 65? It seems just like yesterday we were hanging out with the boys in the band – but it must have been 20 years ago. Looking forward to seeing you!

  4. I love this post — and not just because you mentioned me a few times ? Such a fun summary of what you’ve been up to. Love all the pictures. I wish I had been there for the Olympics, although the cake walk was pretty awesome, especially since I won that delish cake! Thanks so much for the shout-out about Murder at the Marina!

    1. Thanks! Doing numbers seemed like a fun way to keep up with the blog over the summer. I almost mentioned you another time – since I stole the numbers idea from you!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.