Nature Coast of Florida
Just a bunch of photos of two of my grandkids today!
Bismarck to Minneapolis to Tampa to our back yard!
Next day Three Sisters Springs in Crystal River to see the Manatees!
And there weren’t any!
Still had fun!
Off to the Homosassa Wildlife Park!
Finally–A Manatee!
And then they went off with Mom and Dad–to the beach, to the airport to get Riley, and LEGOLAND!
Back in Homosassa today!
Today I’m using my iPad which is using my iPhone for a hotspot. Very thankful for tech that I don’t quite understand.
Heavy sigh.
Having said that, there may be auto corrects and other weird pagination because I’m using the iPad. No photos today because I use my desktop for pics and it has no energy right now.
Kind of like me.
Okay.
I keep a mental “things to be thankful for” list.
Since last Monday, the day of the beginning of the mass evacuation to who knows where for people running from Irma, I’ve added my little Publix on Halls River Road to that list. Because I never had to actually enter the manic drivers on their exodus on US-19. And then after five days hearing that there was no water or soup on the shelves and we will all die from starvation and dehydration and storm surge–my Publix was fully stocked last Friday!
When I was gleefully pushing my cart full of produce and beer to my car last Friday, I received the first mandatory evacuation notice from the county. Kind of put a damper on my joyous mood.
That was the first of many notices and that was followed by numerous storm surge warnings. Yes. According to the sheriff’s department, the end was imminent. The sheriff himself even made a video showing what the storm surge would be like. Possible 6 ft at least 3 miles from the coast.
I turned the sound off on my phone. Couldn’t handle that emergency blaring any more. Yes, I know. I’m going to die. From something. Eventually.
Happy to say that none of that happened. Irma did rip into our little fishing village and we’ve been without power and cable since Sunday at 8:30 pm. I do not know what the wind speed was when it hit us but numerous huge trees were ripped up. Toppled over. Onto the lines. Onto houses. Onto roads. But no storm surge. Seriously, that’s the killer.
I’m not surprised that the power isn’t up yet for everyone. We are still down but many of our neighbors have AC again! Yippee! We are next. Any minute!
So last Friday I was whining about the propane delivery but might have forgotten then to mention that we needed the propane for the water heater, the stove top, and the automatic generator. The generator takes care of most of the first floor. That includes the AC in the master bedroom. Which we gave to Terry’s 92 year old mother. We have it better than most.
And Amerigas didn’t deliver on Monday but did show up on Tuesday. When Terry told the driver that we were sheltering Terry’s mom the driver made sure we got the full tank.
Thank you driver at Amerigas. Maybe I won’t change companies after all.
We are VERY fortunate. As Irma drunkenly stumbled up the coast she could have made a turn to the west. But she chose to make a more easterly path. We were spared.
But. My friends are still looking for gas. And ice. And power. And cable.
Next week. Back to normal.
Or as normal as we can be!
Have a great weekend!
Kathy
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!