their only brother (and his wife): September 2007

Boundary Issues

***Warning*** Potential boring post!!!!

This last week we had several "minor" problems with Waste Management. We are required to put our garbage and recycling in the rear of our house next to the driveway. Garbage comes on Monday and Thursday and the recycling is picked up on Wednesday. Because our driveway is in the rear of the house, the truck has to navigate our alley to get to the rear of the house. This week the alley, and narrowness thereof, proved to be more than the driver could handle and our lawn became an unwilling victim. The funny thing was on Wednesday, not only did they drive over the lawn - they didn't even pick up the recycling we put out. Talk about salt in your wounds. When I called WM to file a complaint, they asked if I knew for certain that it was one of their collection trucks. While I couldn't say for certain, all I know is that our lawn got progressively more damaged on the scheduled pick-up days. Hmmm.

This is our neighbor directly across the alley - he got it worse than we did.

a valiant effort

In the three weeks we have been in Orlando, Lisa and I haven't done a lot of sightseeing, unless you count going to Lowe's for ceiling fans or the occasional trip to Costco. Two words, Bor-ing. So last Saturday we decided to stretch our legs a bit and head north on I-4 to go on the Winter Park Scenic Boat Ride. We have been told on several occasions that though the boat ride sounds a bit cheesy, it is a lot fun. Winter Park is located north of downtown, and is around several lakes. For those in Seattle, Winter Park could be compared to Madison Park. Both are considered upscale neighborhoods, located near lakes, and with a lot fun shops and restaurants. We took off in the early afternoon and when we got about halfway there, we started noticing some clouds rolling in. Last week was a relatively dry week, so when we made the decision to go, we didn't even consider the possibility of rain. But since we are proud Northwest natives, there was no way were going to wimp out.

Our first clue . . .

Captain Alex

The canal that lead from Lake Osceola to Lake Virginia.

Uh-oh . . . Minutes later it just started pouring. Lisa and I were in the very front of the boat so we were not spared at all. We got totally soaked - depite the tarp we had over our heads.

Even though the boat ride ended early - we had a real good time. And they gave us rainchecks, so we will be going back. The only thing that stunk was that we were so wet, we had to go home. We had plans to look around Winter Park and go see Rollins College, home of the Tars. Maybe next time.