An exciting day of cleaning and Costco shopping followed by an evening at the Venice Italian-American Club. We have to go into the “big” city of Sarasota to fill our pantry with money saving goods. We’re not even sizable enough to warrant a Sam’s Club, so we pay much more for these items at the neighborhood Publix. While the cleaning crew makes our home sparkle, we’ll make the hour drive to load-up on essentials. Tally will stay home to guard our valuables and keep a suspicious eye on the neighbors. 

As you can clearly tell, there’s little to write about today. Baseball starts up again after the All-Star break, and we’ll continue to watch the Mandalorian now that Loki has come to a season-ending conclusion.  It’s Disney to the rescue when it comes to fresh television programming. I also finished the book, Lions of Fifth Avenue and started another James Patterson thriller called Murder Thy Neighbor – a true crime story. The start is particularly disturbing because of a dispute we’re currently experiencing with our next door neighbor. They’ve accused us of turning them into the HOA for feeding the sand cranes. We didn’t do it, of course. I’d never turn anyone into the homeowners association, but he’s convinced we did. 

I’ve only talked to the guy once while our we were in town to inspect our home construction at the beginning of this year. He was actually quite personable and helpful – just like the character in this book. However, he hasn’t spoken to us or anyone else in the neighborhood since then. It would have been nice of him to at least welcome us to the neighborhood instead of confronting my wife with this issue. I haven’t seen him since and my anger is festering – just like the book. All this over some birds! For the record, it is illegal to feed the wildlife and the number one rule in the association guidelines. I now feel like I’m part of a crime novel, hoping it doesn’t escalate and I don’t Murder Thy Neighbor… or he me!