Local Places – Page 12

“Meet and Greet” honoring Senator Charlie Dean

July 13, 2016 by KTgreen

Finally.

Event OVER! The original date of June 6 for the “Meet and Greet” just happened to be the day that Tropical Storm Colin decided to hit Old Homosassa. Lots of rain and wind. Minor flooding, some tree damage.

Of course, the “Meet and Greet” was cancelled.

Roger Cullin, Rosey Rendueles, and I have been preparing for this event for at least six months. Although it seems like it’s been years.

And finally it happened Monday night. It’s over. Now I can get back to regular life.

And of course, I have pictures and commentary.

First, I want to show you the newly painted Homosassa Civic Club. I wish I had a before photo of the 80’s burgundy valances, the horrendous mural painted on the wall, the nasty bookcase, the cheaply framed photos.

But all I have are “afters”.

I still plan to make new up-to-date valances for the windows. The tables all need replaced because they are stained and just nasty but good sturdy tables are expensive so for now we keep tablecloths on them. The art on this wall is all about the new “Working Waterfront” park. Two prints of renderings made by local artists, Sheldon and Cleo Lydy.

The Civic Club is a “non-political” community group so meetings or statements endorsing candidates can not be made but we can honor a politician. This event was to honor Charlie Dean who lived in the area all of his life, was the Sheriff for 16 years, and then was in the Florida Senate. Politicians may attend, they just can’t “politic”.

This meeting was also a way to get attention for the parks that the “Access to the River” committee has been working on.

That’s our new senator on the left, Wilton Simpson.

Justin Grabelle, running for US Rep Rick Nugents seat.

Almost all of the sheriff candidates were there, along with a woman running for school board, and a few men running for County Commission. Good time to get noticed!

Rodney MacRae spoke about his association with Charlie Dean. That’s the president of the Civic Club, Jim Bitter, in the other chair.

Then it was time to get to the REAL deal. Roger Cullen and Rodney, co-chairs of the “Access to the River” committee, presented packages with details about the two parks to the senators and representatives.

"Meet and Greet" honoring Senator Charlie Dean — From left, Roger Cullen, Jimmy T. Smith, currently FL Representative but his district has been eliminated so he is now running for county commissioner, Dr. Ralph Massulo, running unopposed for FL Representative, Senator Wilton Simpson, Senator Charlie Dean, and Rodney MacRae.

So we did our bit. Glad it’s over. Time to get our parks!

5th Annual Mullet Toss at Old Mill Tavern

July 11, 2016 by KTgreen

We’ve been going to the Mullet Toss since it’s first year. Spend about an hour. Watch the mullet’s fly. Have a couple beers. Laugh. Visit with friends. Go home.

ALL the proceeds go to Kids. Kids organizations and the local school.

This year we volunteered. First time. We were assigned to work at the Silent Auction with Renee.

No problemo. This wasn’t our first volunteer event in Old Homosassa in the summer.

We brought chairs, cushions, a long extension cord, a fan.

It was HOT.

The Tampa weather guy says that it’s a few degrees more than normal.

96 degrees.

HOT.

From 10:30 am until 5 pm.

Sounds like I’m complaining. Actually just trying to set the scene.

We had a lot of fun. Just hanging out. I didn’t get many photos because we were far from the action. We did have a great view of the toilet toss, though. If you got a mullet in the toilet, you qualified to try to get the mullet in the toilet again and win $5,000.

mullet toss into toilet — That’s the DJ from Citrus 95.3 that was emceeing the event.

$3.00 a toss. Two for $5.00.

And that’s Phil Royal. A captain with the Citrus County Sheriff’s Department. Also most likely our next Sheriff.

For $20 you get a t-shirt and two tries to toss the mullet for distance.

There are a lot of rules with mullet tossing. Can’t step over the line. Mullet has to stay in bound. Can not rub your hands in the dirt. The mullet must be wet.

officials — Official measurements are taken.

This is the first year that they had a “Hero’s Toss”. The Sheriff’s Department against the Fire Department.

A lot of deputies were there. Also a fire truck with firemen. But the guys that were competing were off-duty. Can you imagine going back to work smelling like a dead mullet? Pulling one of our speeding golf carts over and the driver saying “why do I smell fish?”

The Deputies won. But by only 9 feet.

Jane Castor, the former police chief from Tampa also competed again. And won her division. Again.

So our job was pretty easy until 4:00 when the silent auction closed.

And then it was crazy cakes.

Remember “Benny Hill”? That’s how Terry, Renee, and I were running in circles.

I don’t think anyone won the $5,000 for the toilet toss. But there was that Benny Hill music going on, so who knows?

We already signed up to take over the Silent Auction next year. Like I said, it’s for the kids. A lot of good local people volunteer. It’s great being part of that group.

Home. Two margaritas. A very long shower. I cooled down. (And passed out.)

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