KTgreen – Page 94

Friday Meanderings

July 28, 2017 by KTgreen

It’s HOT! And HUMID!

Florida in July.

What else should we expect? Right?

I tried to escape from all that temperature by heading to Spedwell, Tennessee.

With my besties.

Here’s a pic of us at McCloud Mountain Restaurant.

From the left, me, Yvonne, Sherri, Barb, and Donna

We all worked at the same company. All at different locations. And in some cases different times.

I was at the Moore McCormick office in Brooksville. 1984????? I was the marketing secretary. Donna, Yvonne and Sherri were was at the Florida Mining & Materials cement plant in Brooksville which was owned by Moore McCormick. Barb was at a cement plant in Ohio with SouthDown which eventually bought Moore McCormick.I moved to the Tampa office when that happened.

Somehow, we all got to be besties over the years. Even though I left SouthDown back in 1990.

And it was STILL HOT but not quite as humid in Speedwell, TN. But they have a boat on a lake with no alligators! So we made the best of it!

And I made a new friend while I was there.

I’m back!

Today is the last day of the Summer Program at the Old Homosassa Learning Center. The Fall Program starts on September 5th. We have a new coordinator on board to run the program. The learning center will be open from 3:30 – 5:30 everyday that the Citrus County school system is open. There will be a different theme each day. Our yoga teacher will be teaching yoga to the kids for half an hour on Tuesdays. Our sewing coach will be helping the kids make costumes for Halloween on Thursdays. And the guitar classes will continue on Wednesday.

First we have to do a MAJOR cleanup of the building. Smells like sweaty kids!

Speaking of sweaty, Terry and I are doing the parking on Saturday for the scallopers. Money goes to the learning center. We need two new doors, a refrigerator, and a projector. We’ll be working a lot of Saturdays!

Not much else going on around here. Because it’s HOT! Oh yeah, I think I already mentioned that!

Have a great weekend!

Kathy

Old Homosassa in July……

July 21, 2017 by KTgreen

and August….. and even September…..

Okay, if you follow me on Naturecoaster.com, you’ve already read something about this.

But, I cleaned it up for Naturecoaster. None of my pithy comments or wry personal observations.

There are a couple of big draws back here for visitors to Old Homosassa. (besides the Freezer, of course.)

The first is manatee season. No, you can’t catch and eat a manatee. But we do get a lot of tourists back here in the winter that want to swim with the manatees. Or kayak with them. Or touch them. Or ride them. (both of those last two are illegal)

And the other big event is scallop season.

Such a fun time in Old Homosassa for all those that get out into the Gulf and scoop those future delicious morsels out of the sea grass.

Also a boon for our local businesses which is a very good thing for Old Homosassa because they are owned by our friends and neighbors who in turn employ people from our community. No chain restaurants or stores in Old Homosassa!

But everything isn’t sunshine and roses for the local residents.

This pic is from a traffic back up last year. All the way back to the Homosassa Elementary School. This year at 7:30 in the morning on opening day, traffic was backed up all the way to Kevin Jenkins art studio. And vehicles were driving in the wrong lane to get around the jam while other vehicles were heading out of Homosassa. Very scary.

Several years ago Citrus County started having employees from the Parks and Recreation department direct traffic at the county boat ramp in Old Homosassa on the weekends. This alleviated a lot of the congestion and some of the arguing at the boat ramp as visitors attempted to put their boats into the river or pull them out. Kind of made it boring for Terry and I because we used to bike down there on Saturday mornings just to watch the launch battles!

But there were still too many trucks and trailers to park in the county parking lot. A few businesses and several home owners with large yards allow trucks and trailers to park for a fee.

But still, not enough parking on any Saturday during scallop season.

This is supposed to be a two-lane road. Not during scallop season! Wondering how a fire truck would maneuver around these obstacles plus dealing with oncoming traffic if there was an emergency.

And if the fire truck got through? The fire hydrant is blocked! Along with the gates into the elementary school. And they are parked on our SIDEWALK! We don’t have many and they aren’t supposed to be used as a parking lot!

Here’s another one on the sidewalk.

Note the “No Parking Here to Corner”. The corner is where that stop sign is. Two boats and trailers!

The board of directors of the Homosassa Civic Club decided that it was time to come up with a solution for this ongoing problem. After talking with owners of some of the local businesses and a meeting with Sheriff Prendergast, the board decided that part of the civic club property could be used for parking.

Our first youth group benefiting from helping out with the parking is the “Unstoppable Student Ministries” from the First Baptist Church of Homosassa. This Saturday will be their third time–they are raising funds to go to camp next year! They should already be pretty close to their goal!

Terry and I worked the parking lot on one Sunday. One guy, in his $40,000 truck and $30,000 boat objected very loudly to paying $10 to park so went and parked at the school in front of the fire hydrant. Really.

Streets clear, local youth groups earning money for their causes, and the smart scallopers won’t be getting tickets!

Win-Win-Win!

Friday Meanderings

July 14, 2017 by KTgreen

It’s Friday! Yippee!

I know, I’ve said this many times, but even though I haven’t actually had a real job at a real desk since 1999, Friday is still the BEST!

(Oh, wait, Sunday is the BEST! Same concept, though. When I worked and actually made money, Sunday was our downtime. Read that big paper. Have a Bloody Mary with brunch. Take a nap. Maybe play 9 holes of golf.)

So Friday is second best. (And I’m still stuck on that whole job agenda. I get up every morning at the crack of dawn and am at my computer by 8 am!)

No matter how long it has been since I had a job, Friday is still HAPPY HOUR! And back when I made a paycheck, the very best Friday was when we could get the boss to go to lunch with us and it turned into early happy hour. Seriously. How lucky was I to have a boss like that. Right?

But now I’m my own boss and I can have happy hour any old time.

But I don’t because I volunteer and people would call me a barfly. (ok, that’s an inside joke)

And I love it. I truly believe that Terry and I are making a difference in our community. Along with a whole lot of other people that I can not even list here. OMG. So many have stepped forward.

And with all that hoo-haw, gotta say all that volunteering and trying to change things around is now my priority. (This little blog definitely is low on the list although I continue…..)

Sorry, those few people that still read. (Donna and Jessica)

I love to write and I love to make statements but I’ve been “re-prioritized”. I didn’t even post for the NatureCoaster.com the last few weeks. (Sorry Diane) And I really have a LOT TO SAY!

And I think I’ll start saying it right here.

There is a person out there that has issues. And this person has done a lot to cause problems in our little community. This person dwells in mendacity. This person has made fake FB pages and purported them as real. Some of the local residents do not know that these are fake pages and false words. But. We don’t bother responding. Because good and truth and real always wins.

And always will.

The civic club started yoga classes last week. Every Saturday and Wednesday at 10 am. $5.00. Tiffany West is our yogi and she is amazing. Gotta say that I believe the Universe sent us Tiffany. My friend and cohort Laurel and I didn’t even check out one of her classes. Just talked to her and knew she was the real thing. Thank you Universe. She is so amazing that she has offered to teach on Tuesday evenings. (Just gotta get 4 people that don’t need to start drinking before 5:30)

Our sewing workshop continues and has really turned into a fun place to hang out and just talk. I love this time. There’s some sewing going on. Maybe some knitting and crocheting. But it’s just fun to talk. We have an awesome group. Took two of my granddaughters last week–Addison and Kendall–and they made pillows from the donated fabric and supplies. (They also went with me to yoga and did all the poses–such cool kids!)

The Universe has blessed me. I have made so many great friends. I have a wonderful home, a great husband, and a sweet really old dog. Our children inspire me. My grandchildren amaze me.

Have a great weekend!

Kathy