Local Faces – Page 13

Friday Meanderings

July 1, 2016 by KTgreen

It’s JULY! It’s HOT! It’s HUMID!

So what’s going on in this heat and humidity?

The restoration has started on the Old Homosassa Water Tower.

tshirts — There are men on that scaffolding!

Marian MacRae, OHHC chairperson, was on Bay News 9 on Wednesday. Talking about the restoration and GoFundMe page. I didn’t get to see it because I have Directv and it’s only on Brighthouse cable. Bummer. But there is an article about the tower on Bay News 9’s website.

Funds needed to update historic water tower in Citrus

We have a very cool new design on our very cool new t-shirts, available for a $20 donation.

t-shirts for OHHC — This is an unofficial photo

I didn’t take this photo. I drowned my camera on the way to this “photoshoot”. With an entire Tervis bottle of water. That I didn’t quite manage to latch. After sitting in rice for 24 hours, the camera still said “Err 20, Turn off and on, or change battery, and how stupid can you be to drown your camera?”

I had totally accepted that I would need a new camera but right before I went to bed last night, I did one last desperate check. And the camera came up! And took pics! Yippee!

terry — My first test shot of Terry being very happy that my camera is working!

I put it back in it’s bed of rice just to make sure it’s totally dry. Plus I’m not taking it out on the boat today when we go fishing.

I’ve been wanting to upgrade to the Canon EOS 70D but it’s big buckets of money. And I do not respect my photography equipment. I just toss it into whatever bag I’m headed out the door with and hit the road. I’ve learned a lesson from this little experience. I’m not worthy of a new camera until I start taking better care of this one! (But I think I might buy a new lens, anyhow.)

I already mentioned that the OHHC had a booth at the Poker Run and Fireworks Festival. Terry and I were there melting away from 11:00 – 3:00.

Here’s John and Donna Fletcher and their friends at the Poker Run.

They were sweating away, too, but they were on a boat with beer. Not like me and Terry. Oh wait. I had beer, too. Just didn’t have a boat! Donna and John worked the OHHC booth at the Cobia tournament back when I was enjoying the chill life in North Dakota a few weeks ago so it was my turn. (Terry worked then, too, I guess he should have been on that boat with them!)

We are volunteering at the Mullet Toss at Old Mill Tavern on July 9th. All the money goes to organizations that are dedicated to helping kids. I don’t know what Terry and I will be doing at the event but I WILL NOT BE TOUCHING A DEAD SLIMY FISH!

Even if you don’t want to enter the contest, you should come. It’s lots of fun. We’ve been going every year and reporting on it. Last year several deputies stopped by and competed. The year before, the former police chief of Tampa was throwing dead fish. Lots of FUN! And it will be even bigger and better this year.

3rd Annual Mullet Toss — Former Tampa police chief Jane Castor in 2014

I’m neck deep in the political process now. So much stuff to do. Can’t imagine what I’d have to do to run for a paid position!

The “Meet and Greet” is on July 11th at the Civic Club at 5 pm. Come meet Senators Dean and Simpson. And see me be a “hostess”. Never done this before. I could be a puddle or a stand up comedian. Or we could have a hurricane come in.

Oh. I got my tote done for the “challenge”.

Here it is….

And here’s me and Maggie. I made many attempts to get her to pose with the bag. Not happening. But then she ran out to join me in this shot. No treats, no cajoling, she just volunteered.

Fireworks in Crystal River on the 4th. I’ll be there. With my hopefully fully resurrected camera.

Have a great weekend and holiday!

Kathy

Friday Meanderings

June 24, 2016 by KTgreen

Sad news for us this week. Our friend Carroll Wood passed away on Tuesday.

Jon and Carroll when they won the family cornhole tournament back in 2015.

Shirley and Carroll chillin’ in our screen

Shirely and Carroll — Shirley and Carroll enjoying an afternoon on the Homosassa River.

He was Terry’s Mom’s “boyfriend”. He loved coming to Homosassa and was just here for Mother’s Day. We all went to “Vintage on 5th.”

We will miss him greatly.

So what else is going on?

I’ve been working on a project in my sewing room. I signed up for the “Manchester Metallics Summer Bag Challenge” through the blog SewMamaSew.com. I thought that if I actually got picked out of the over 100 people that applied, they’d send me some fun fabric, I’d throw an easy-peasy tote together, post it and they would put it on their website. (Always looking for free publicity) But then I read the acceptance email and realized that it’s actually a challenge against other sewers! What? Now I’ve got to bring my A game! It will be posted next week. Check it out at DesignsByKTGreen.com on Tuesday.

Here’s the fabric I get to work with!

They are all from Kaufman Fabrics and the one on the left is SHINY! The middle one is indigo denim and the one on the right is Kona cotton is silver. I’ve got the bag designed and part of it put together. Still lots of work left to pull it together, though.

Then there’s my new political life. When I originally agreed to run for the Homosassa Special Water District’s board, I thought I was the only one signing up. But there’s a guy from the other side of the river that’s also running. Bummer. Today’s the last day to “qualify” so there could be even more competition!

Tomorrow is the Homosassa Fireworks Festival. Terry and I will be at the Old Homosassa Heritage Council in the afternoon asking for donations for our golf cart raffle and our very cool new t-shirts. Since it will probably in the mid-90s tomorrow and there’s a bar right beside our booth, we’ll probably be drinking beer, too. (Or at least I will!)

Tomorrow is also the first day of Scallop Season! Woo-Hoo! Terry and I will be on our bikes at the ramp watching the local entertainment!

Got some political stuff going on, too. Two candidates for Sheriff will be in Old Homosassa to hang out with the locals on Friday evening. Chuck Kanhel will be at the Civic Club and Phil Royal will be at the Old Mill Tavern. (Chuck Kanhel’s political signs have him as “combat veteran”. I told Terry that I’m putting “wife of Vietnam Combat Veteran” on my political signs. That ought to get me some votes!)

Mullet Toss is on July 9th at the Old Mill Tavern. “Meet and Greet” honoring Senator Charlie Dean is on the 11th at 5 PM at the Civic Club.

Have a Great Weekend.

Kathy

Alpaca Magic USA

June 20, 2016 by KTgreen

I’m addressing this post to our locals that don’t go back off to their Summer homes in the north.

Cause I’m here to help!

Are you getting company this summer?

Most likely you’ll get somebody stopping by for a few days. Since Citrus County is like 99.9% over the age of 60 and we have a lot of kids, grandkids and great-grandkids wanting to visit us. And friends. Yeah, we have a lot of people that live outside of the sunshine state. And they seem to want to visit in Summer. When it’s 99 degrees with 99% humidity. Cause they have the time off and school is out.

Disney and Sea World and Busch Gardens and Universal are GREAT! But they are all about 1 1/2 hours away and WAY expensive. Your guests will want to spend a few days there. And then they are going to come back and want to be entertained.

So let’s look around us and find some inexpensive local fun.

Like Alpaca Magic USA.

Open EVERY DAY from 10 – 2.

And they have so much more than Alpacas.

Although I have to say that Alpacas would be enough for me.

This is Maverick. Adorable. A walking stuffed animal. What child (or adult) could resist?

Besides those adorable Alpacas, there are cats….

Chickens….

A butterfly house….

And so many beautiful and healthy plants.

Succulents are growing — I bought most of these succulents at the open house they held. Happy plants!

While Piper and I were there I picked up a vine to embrace the fence and some parsley for the swallowtail butterflies. The vine is already twining around and making itself at home, waiting for the swallowtails to find the parsley.

We went into the Alpaca store and watched a demo of turning alpaca fur into yarn.

Alpaca Magic USA — This is just a SMALL part of the shop. Lots of other Alpaca items in the other rooms.

Piper wanted to see the Alpacas one last time.

Alpaca Magic USA is a unique place and the owners are so friendly and eager to show you the farm and shop. Piper loved it.

I have more places to show you. Not always free but not Disney-esqe pricing. I’ve had lots of company over the years and we’ve done our best to find fun and unique places to show our guests.

I’ll have another spot to share with you next week!