Friday Meanderings

Big stuff going on the Nature Coast!

This Saturday is the last open house for this season at Three Sisters Springs.  Park at King’s Plaza and jump on the free bus to the park.   Or you can do as Terry and I do–park at the plaza directly across the street from the Three Sisters Springs driveway and walk the 1/2 mile back.  I don’t know the name of that shopping center but there is a Sherwin Williams on the one end.

Well worth the visit.  Might not be manatees there because it’s supposed to be 80 degrees!  Zowie!  Hot for February!

Manatees at the January open house.

But the really BIG event is the “Cocktail Hour for the Tower” at the Homosassa Civic Center.  This will be a huge fund raiser for the painting of the Old Homosassa Water Tower.  Put on by the Old Homosassa Heritage Council, there will be a gourmet dinner, dessert bar, music by Chuck Andrews, a Chinese raffle, and a silent auction.  We originally hoped to sell 50 tickets–the group has sold 68!  Tickets are SOLD OUT!

Yes.  That water tower will be painted this year.  And then we can move on to the museum!

pig

And to our next big event.

The 2nd Annual Old Homosassa Community Day!

April 7th, 2018

This year the American Legion 166 is holding a pig roast.  HOMOSASSA GOES HOG WILD!  Proceeds going to their building fund.

The ukulele group will be performing on the stage.  We are called the Homosassa Ukers now.  Funny? No?  (Well we thought it was funny.) There will also be open mic–anyone can get up on stage and sing, dance, model, whatever.

Watson’s Art Gallery is putting together an Art and Farmers Market.  Only $20 a booth.

There will be a HUGE yard sale in the Homosassa Civic Center–all proceeds going to paint that tower!

Non-profit community groups will also have booths set up with info.

ALL ON ONE DAY AND IN ONE AREA.

I’m sure I’ll be writing a lot more about that in the coming weeks.

Have a great weekend!

Kathy

 

 

Friday Meanderings

I didn’t post last Friday because my network hard drive crashed.  Pieces everywhere–not really.  Very sad.  And I hadn’t backed it up since the middle of December.  Heavy sigh.  Live by PC. Die by PC.  I’ve spent some time on the phone with first level techs who told me to do everything I had already done.  (Once upon a time I was a network specialist so I’m not clueless)  Now I’m waiting for a call back from second level tech that will tell me that the drive is bad and send it back for a brand new replacement. Which I can’t do because there is data on there that I’m not sharing with our friends in India.  Heavy sigh.  Live by PC.  Die by PC.  Now I’m looking at cloud based storage.  And I had all my photos for the past few months on the card in the camera so I was able to retrieve those so it’s not a total loss!

Okay.  On to better stuff.

The squirrels are in retreat since Terry has covered up every possible spot that they could chew through.  They still run across the office roof sounding like tiny elephants in full charge.

The Old Homosassa Heritage Council has a big event coming up– “Cocktail Hour for the Tower”.  My friend Connie is running it and has it amazingly under control.  She is very detail oriented plus an experienced caterer and pulled this together in a very short time frame.  This will be FUN!  Almost all the tickets have already been sold!

Cocktail Hour

Sad News.  The Yardarm and Monkey Bar closed down on Tuesday.  Locked the doors and sent everyone home!  This 50 year old restaurant/bar had significant damage from the last hurricane plus sitting right on the Homosassa River the foundation has rotted away. The owner says that they will replace it with an outdoor structure by scallop season.  I probably haven’t been there for two years so, while I felt bad that another local landmark was being replaced, I didn’t think it would effect me.  Well.  It does.  A group of us went to the Old Mill for dinner on Wednesday and couldn’t get a seat. We ended up at the shiny new Margarita Grill.  It’s on the other side of the river–on the other side of the bridge!  Surprisingly, we got parking and a table to seat us all.  Guess 8 o’clock on Wednesday is the time to go!

Friday Meanderings
That’s Tommy Piliourous, the owner, setting something on fire.

The food was good.  Just like the old restaurant before it burnt down.  There is outside seating but it was a little chilly that night.

Mentioning the “bridge”, it’s been one lane for quite some time now. (Which has caused at least one medical emergency)  I can’t remember when it started.  Supposed to be done this month!  There was even an article in the newspaper a few weeks ago with an official quoted as saying February 2018.  Ha! Maybe February 2019. They haven’t even finished the first lane and will have to divert traffic over to it when its done and then work on the other lane.  They’ve had all kinds of issues–starting with an osprey making it’s nest on one of the cranes.  They are protected.  Just can’t move a nest!  Then the water lines burst washing out a lot of the ground around the foundation.  And they issues driving the pilings in.  More to come in the future on that subject!

The ukulele group is growing.  I was calling it the Ukulele Ladies and Laddies just because I like to say it, but someone referred to it as the Homosassa Ukers.  Funny?  So that’s who we are now! Playing uke is relatively easy–not like picking a banjo.  I just wish I could sing!

Friday Meanderings
The empty seat is mine. 14 ukers!

Last big announcement.  This is an event still in the making.  Haven’t even got the graphic done yet.  The 2nd Annual Old Homosassa Community Day!  April 7, 2018.  Put it on your calendar.  There will be a giant yard sale in the Homosassa Civic Center with all proceeds going to the Old Homosassa Heritage Council to paint the water tower.  The American Legion 166 will be having a hog roast and poker run–proceeds going towards getting a building for them.  Open mike on the stage–the ukers will be making their debut.  Gil Watson, local artist, will be setting up an artist and farmer’s market.  Our local community groups will have information booths.  The Homosassa Civic Club is sponsoring this event.

Okay.  Enough for today!

Have a great weekend.  Enjoy the commercials and halftime at the SuperBowl!

Kathy

 

Damn Squirrel!

squirrel

It’s a constant battle against the squirrels here.

It's Spring!

Maggie used to keep them under control but now she just sleeps all day.  She’s 18.  No more squirrel chasing for her!

In the Garden
Here’s Maggie, protecting the gardens from the squirrels 5 years ago.

Once upon a time I had a vegetable garden.

Damn Squirrel

Squirrel with orange

In the “squirrel-proof” bird feeders.

Damn Squirrel.

damn squirrel

Damn Squirrel

Dam Squirrel

Chewing the twinkly lights we have on the trees.

squirrel

squirrel

squirrels

On the hummingbird feeders.

Damn Squirrel

Squirrel on feeder

Playing a wee banjo.

squirrelie

I didn’t get enough snaps of the most recent incursion.  This guy was sitting on the downspout and then jumped up into a hole he had chewed in the eaves.  Fortunately there was no attic in this part of the house and Terry was able to get him and his girlfriend out before they started a little family.

squirrel
What!

Terry went to Ace and got some cage wire that the guy recommended and covered the screen with that.

But this is a very determined squirrel and promptly got back to work.  He not only chewed through the cage wire but also chewed through the wood.  Terry put up a metal plate.  So the squirrel moved onto another spot that was directly into the attic and chewed right through the wall!

FULL OUT WAR WAS DECLARED!

We even missed the Gasparilla Pirate invasion on Saturday thanks to this little fat rodent.

There is now a rat trap in the attic and another metal plate covering that hole.  BB gun is ready!

Your move squirrel….your move!