May & June 2018 By The Numbers

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

* 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?