I’ve resubscribed to a premium Geocaching service and I am ready to go out and explore more. I was able to upload a few caches to my new Garmin GPS device named “Trekkie.” When I am out working tomorrow, I’ll try to find them on the islands.
Chris Denbow Posts
I was thinking about my annual reading goals and how to remain flexible in keeping them. For example, I recently started my second book of the year and I am not enjoying it as much as I hoped. Do I discard it and save it for later when I am more receptive? Yes, but why do I feel guilty? My book tracker app has the option to add titles to the DNF list that I make use of.
On keeping flexibility, I have no problem with this. I was listening to a podcast while driving and heard a discussion about a book I was interested in that immediately bypassed everything else on my to-be-read list. It’ll count toward the end goal so what does it matter?
Also, what about blog feeds, News app, magazines, short stories and poems and essays? How does someone quantify all of those? Sometimes these snippets are more impactful than a full-length book or a dozen books.
Moving on, I am oscillating on paper and digital books based on nothing else other than convenience. My new bookcase is full of material to occupy me all year, and yet the Kindle is a go to for a quick read before bed. I am digging the Kindle Unlimited trial. Way too many books to consume! Of course every book I read there has highlights and notes I jot down for later. These get sent to my personal database for later reference and inspiration.
From now on I am going to take it easy on myself. Yes, I will keep a list of my reads, but I want to go for quality and not quantity. I’ll pick up five “wow” books a year and not care how long it takes to enjoy, and then get through the rest of my list.
“The problem with reading is that I get distracted by other books.” – someone
Amazon Unlimited offered me another free subscription and already, my 2025 To-Read list is being reorganized to squeeze in some insightful books.
Driving along Estero Beach Ave this morning felt like I was in a Formula 1 race because a police car was setting the pace and leading a long train of cars behind him as we swung around from chicane to chicane down the strip. I wanted to weave in and out to warm my tires but not easy to do in a work truck.
Stuck in traffic on the way to the islands via the Sanibel Causeway this morning I had the pleasure of witnessing floating pelicans take off from the water because a pod of dolphins were swimming toward them. Four of them were swimming parallel to the shore and myself driving slowly until I lost sight of them as I went up the bridge. Wow.
On Captiva Island I heard a convocation1 of ospreys above me and went about my work. I then heard a loud “snap!” of a tree branch and looked up to see the seahawk carrying this large branch off into the sky. The branch was larger than it was and that is saying something.
I love nature down here.
- the collective noun for a group of osprey ↩︎
The self-inking desk stamp has finally arrived so now I will be able to add a little more personal touch to my correspondence. It’ll look great inside the book covers as well.
Video filming is not a skill I have but at the same time I really don’t want to pursue it either. I admire my little brother’s ability to film, edit and make a final product worthy of showing everyone over an audience of one.
The second attempt at setting up a trail camera backfired again. However, it did manage to capture…myself when I was talking with neighbors as they boated down the canal. Not the wildlife I was hoping to capture.
Another video attempt was made when I took the drone out for a few test flights. Remind me to pivot the camera out and not down. I have lovely footage of the ground that doesn’t do me any good. Lessons learned.
I just finished my first book of 2025 only five days in and it was called the Hemingway Thief. This book is based on the true story of Ernest Hemingway’s unfinished works that was stolen in Paris and then the book’s story kicks in after that. The missing briefcase contained drafts of “A Moveable Feast” that Hemingway eventually did have published but…well, I don’t want to give spoilers. An enjoyable read.
Up next is Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes in 1605. I don’t know what to expect but it has been labeled as one of the best books of all time. We’ll see!
A new photo project? Capturing a bird in flight during the week and post it on a Friday? I’ll try this and see if it sticks! In the meantime, enjoy the grey heron in flight over Estero, Florida.
There are so many things I had planned to do to start a new year off but laying in bed off of my foot was not one of them.
I had hoped to get a casual ride in this morning and a dedicated ride in the early evening. Maybe by this weekend!
What a crappy way to start the new year! I tweaked my anterior ligament on my right ankle again and am in a lot of pain as I hobble around. I have today off to recover quickly, hopefully, as I work again tomorrow. Ouch!
Ever since we relocated to Florida I have wanted to set up a trail camera to capture the local, bountiful wildlife in the backyard. After receiving an Amazon gift card I have done just that. I set it up yesterday in a good spot and hoped for the best. The idea was to capture the highly active creatures by day and night.
The first results are in: good camera angles, poor execution on my part. It seems the only wildlife I caught, in vivid photos and video, was myself as I installed and removed the camera. Aargh! Time to check the settings to recalibrate the sensors and timing of the camera. Lesson learned? We’ll see tomorrow!
Sorting through this website’s archives recently, I wanted to look back to see what has changed, if anything over the past few years. Apparently some of the things I want to achieve are the same goals I had back then. But I was a different person at the time, my life was different, the world was different.
For me, I want 2025 to be focused on a healthy balance of creativity/consumption/curation. I want the things I consume and curate to reflect in my creativity. For this I need good material to digest, then curate for future use. Shortly after, the inspiration should kick in and the creativity flows.
I want to find a level balance on analog/digital input/output. I need to spend more focus on analog sources and later post here digitally for posterity. The new bookcase will be full of analog reading material soon. The book is a wonderful magic-based technology and no batteries are required.
This is my hope for 2025. Happy New Year!