Bits and Pieces – Page 66

Friday Meanderings

May 29, 2015 by KTgreen

It’s been another busy week with meetings.

We had more people at the Homosassa Civic Club’s Festival Volunteer meeting on Tuesday than there were at the first meeting we attended for the entire Homosassa Civic Club meeting way back in January. People are excited about giving back to our community! Our goal is that the festival not be bigger, but BETTER!

Then the Old Homosassa Heritage Council had a workshop on Wednesday evening. Again we had a roomful of enthusiastic members. We are definitely moving forward on restoring that water tower!

The t-shirts that we created for fund-raising are CRAZY popular and already in the third printing! We will have a booth at the Cobia and Big Fish Tournament next weekend. And not only will we be selling these beautiful t-shirts, we are having a raffle!

Sal Bottari, the owner of Nature Coast Pawn Shop, has VERY generously donated a rifle or a handgun. Your choice! For $10, you have the chance to win your choice of a Ruger LCP 380 Handgun with Laser, a Ruger 10/22 long rifle with a 25-round magazine, or a Ruger 10/22 youth-size rifle with a 25-round magazine.

And you are supporting restoring the Old Homosassa Water Tower! Win-Win!

Terry Green with Ruger 10/22 long rifle, Sal Bottari, owner of Nature Coast Pawn with Ruger LCP 380 handgun with laser, and Rodney MacRae with Ruger 10/22 youth-sized rifle.

I have NEVER been in a pawn shop. I was expecting dark shady characters and semi-illegal stuff just like on TV. This place was clean and BEAUTIFUL! Both Rodney and Terry laughed when I said that I’m going to start hitting pawn shops. Guess that this one is not the norm!

Sal has completely remodeled this shop from the ground up. He did all the work. And he’s a really nice guy! A BIG shout out to Sal!

Nature Coast Pawn is at 3644 S. Suncoast Blvd., Homosassa. The phone number is 352-503-2087. The building is right next to Ace Hardware. And in the same building as Jeremy Ledger–our favorite dentist! And DeeDee Wilcox, our favorite dental hygienist.

(Probably ought to say here that the winner of the OHHC raffle will need to go through a background check before receiving his choice of firearms unless the winner already has a concealed weapons permit)

One more little note. I haven’t been home much. Here. There. and Everywhere. Today I made a quick run out to the yard to make sure all my plants were still alive. And was greeted by these happy faces.

My neighbor gave me a couple bulbs several years ago. He had dug them up along the road, planted them, they took over, and he was thinning them out. I stuck them in the ground. I never know when they bloom. And they only show up for a day.

I call them my surprise lilies. I can never remember when they bloom. Thought I missed them this year. They have spread very slowly.

Love. Love. Love. These types of surprises!

Have a great weekend!

Kathy

Friday Meanderings

May 22, 2015 by KTgreen

We live on the end of a canal off of Mason Creek. Things float down here and stay. One surreal moment a few years ago, a bunch of partially inflated helium balloons floated by. In the water but just enough helium to have a little air time.

I pulled them out before any dolphins were harmed.

There’s been balls, buckets, beer cans.

A few days ago a palm tree came to visit. It’s been floating back and forth. I told my neighbor that I hoped it ended up in front of her house. She wished me the same.

Today three manatees took a break from manatee love and chewed on the palm fronds on the floating palm. Did not know palm fronds are included in the manatee diet.

And on it floats.

Speaking of floaters, there was a pontoon boat floating around on Mason Creek. No motor. Obviously abandoned. A ghost boat. I haven’t been out on the water for awhile to see if it’s still wandering the canals. I suppose it could end up back here eventually.

Haven’t been out on the water because I’ve been too ate up with doing things that seemed really important. But now looking at them in reverse–probably not. Heavy sigh.

And now on to another subject…

Want to make a quick bit about the Old Homosassa Heritage Council. I now belong to three local organizations. Two of those groups suck the energy out of me. They are turning me into a hollow shell. (unfortunately I haven’t lost any weight)

The Old Homosassa Heritage Council is full of eager, enthusiastic and energetic people dedicated to preserving the history and heritage of our little community. I LOVE this group!

So it made me sad the other day when I was talking about OHHC and wearing my t-shirt and someone said something about why would they want to support the cause of saving the water tower?

But that’s not what we are. That’s a project that we are working on at this moment.

And it’s a good project. It’s the symbol of Old Homosassa. And even better–it brought the community together.

But we’ve also worked very hard to save our trees. Many in the group went to the Board of County Commisioner’s meeting and convinced the commissioners to turn down the proposal of a 3-story hotel on Halls River.

And there will be more.

And that’s why you should support the Old Homosassa Heritage Council.

Oh, let me get off of my soap box before I fall and break a hip.

Have a great Memorial Day!

Kathy

Friday Meanderings

May 15, 2015May 15, 2015 by KTgreen

Not so many meanderings today, I actually have news!

Terry and I went into the Homosassa Library to check out the 90% plans for the Yulee Drive Sidewalk in Old Homosassa. I’ve been on my soapbox about the sidewalks for a few months. Writing commissioners and other county officials and alerting friends, neighbors and anyone else I could get to listen!

Happy to see that all that noise I made might have paid off!

The sidewalk goes around ALL of the trees that had previously been marked to be removed. I plan to send a BIG Thank You to all the people I’ve been bugging at the county offices. Also want to say thanks to everyone out there that also called and emailed our officials!

You remember those old movies where the spy would surreptitiously take pictures of the secret plans with her tiny camera? Well, I didn’t even have to hide my camera and these photos didn’t turn out all that great. Do not think I’d make a very good spy!

The most important thing on all these photos is that there are little bumps where the sidewalk goes around the trees. These pics start at the exisiting sidewalk and go just past Anchorage Street.

90% plans for the Yulee Drive Sidewalk in Old Homosassa — Page 8

The library also has a copy of the old plans on display so we were able to compare the old with the new.

If you are interested in seeing the plans a little more clearly, I would highly recommend stopping in at the library. The plans will be there until next Friday, the 22nd.

What else is going on?

There’s an All Hazards and Hurricane Expo at the Crystal River Mall on Saturday. It’s almost Hurricane Season!

Monday is the Acoustic Meetup at the Coastal Regions Library in Crystal River. From 2 – 4:30. Open to anyone that plays an acoustic instrument or just wants to sing. We also welcome listeners.

On May 25th, Memorial Day, there will be a special service at the Old Homosassa Veterans Memorial at 2:00. Parking is available at the elementary school.

The annual Big Fish Cobia tournament is on June 6th and 7th which is right around the corner. The Old Homosassa Heritage Council will have a booth there. If you don’t yet have your beautiful high quality t-shirt yet, they’ll be available. They are really popular and we’ve already sold a bunch. DeeDee Wilcox, co-chair of the organization just made her third bulk order! You can also buy them at Watson’s Art Gallery in Old Homosassa and River Haven Marina on the other side of the river.

Scalloping season this year is June 27 through September 24. Are we ready for that?

Have a great weekend!

Kathy