August 14, 2020

 

Finally, today is the last game of the regular season games of the restart.  Once again, we have another game that means nothing pitting Toronto against Denver.  Both teams are advancing to the first round of the playoffs and they have nothing to gain or lose with this contest.  But I learned another cool landscaping trick from the crew here at the resort as I walked to catch the bus to the arenas.

 

Around the corner near my room was a fifty foot tall dead palm tree.  The area was passable before but not this morning.  It was cordoned off as they prepared to fell the tree.  It was impossible to simply chainsaw the trunk and let the palm fall to the ground as there were buildings all around and it was in a walkway more or less.  I only had a few minutes to ask them how they were going to accomplish this deed as I had a bus to catch.

 

One of their tools looked like a three tiered brace that had circular metal rings at varying heights.  They attached the bottom braced to lowest part of the trunk, then attached another about six feet higher, then another six feet above that.  So there were three very stable thick metal rings securing the base of the palm. Between the bottom ring and the next ring up the landscaper sawed through the timber above the bottom ring and below the second ring.  Then with a device that looked like a sledgehammer, he knocked that section of wood from between the rings, then loosened the grip of the middle ring and top ring and lowered the tree until it met the bottom ring.  He would repeat this process until the tree was completely removed pretty much cutting it into six foot sections each time.  I didn’t get to see the whole process but I hope there is another dead palm tree on the grounds so I can witness the entire procedure.  I know, this really has nothing to do with the bubble but I found it fascinating.

 

As we entered the Wide World of Sports complex before the game we were ushered into an area to insure we had our proximity sensors active and on our credentials.  I was able to zip right through as I charge my unit every night and place it in my credential holder each morning.  The three people travelling to the game with me were not so lucky.  Two didn’t even have their sensors and one did but it wasn’t charged.  All three were written up and provided with new sensors and were informed this could not, and will not happen again.  It is important we get these reminders now and then because it is obvious some of us need them.

 

The game was over and done in less than two and one half hours.  The referees swallowed their whistles thankfully to not prolong the exhibition.  Everyone was looking forward to the games counting from here on out. I am pretty confident we will witness a different brand of basketball next week.

 

Upon returning to the resort for the evening I discovered that one of our colleagues had hooked a baby alligator while fishing from one of the bridges that cross the lagoon.  He showed me the video that he recorded and sure enough, it was about two feet long and snagged on his hook.  He eventually was able to break free and swim away, apparently unharmed, or I hope unharmed.  But something tells me if there was a baby alligator present there must be a momma alligator in that water as well.