July has become August and we remain in limbo over Crystal's appendix situation. So, we have been busy with Henry and OG during this oppressively hot time of the year in the Keys.
The AC went out on our Honda Civic so we made the 3 hour drive to the nearest Honda dealer in Florida City to get it fixed. Apparently, the only service that can be done in the Keys on a Honda is an oil change and tire rotation. Making the drive in 90 degree heat with no AC was tolerable only in that we did it across the Florida Keys.
OG has been working on his fishing technique this summer...
... while Henry has made the most of his opportunity to learn some baking skills.
His eating skills are, well, um, also progressing nicely, I suppose.
Meanwhile, the 2025 bird count inched up from 500 to 503 in July. We're waiting to see how the appendix saga impacts our late August trip to North Carolina and Idaho. The birding effort for the year is largely over although I'll be making another run to Arizona with my brother in December. It's good that we got the goal of 500 out of the way early.
The lull in Key West has also given me the opportunity to re-focus on another hobby - family history. I hope to understand some day how our royal European ancestors became poor American dirt farmers.
This image shows one of my great-grandfathers (standing) and a great-great-grandfather (seated) with family about 1890 in West Virginia. One of my great aunts was once asked why this great-great-grandfather would leave a farm in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia to carve out a new farm on a mountainside in remote West Virginia. Her response was, "I think the sheriff had something to do with that." Which might start to answer my question about how we transitioned from royalty to farmers.
