Friday Meanderings

jeep in the water

Just when I decided I’m really going to make a better effort at updating this blog on a regular basis, Hurricane Hermine paid a little visit to our fishing village in the wee hours of last Friday morning.  And there went all my good intentions.

When I woke up that morning, Terry was in the garage.  Me, still kinda sleepy eyed, wondered why my shoes that I had so neatly arranged on their little shoe tray were on the other side of the garage.

They had floated there.  Three inches of storm surge in the garage.  As the sun peeked up, we could see that our house had turned into an island.

The view

But…..

We were one of the fortunate few.  Our neighbors’ and friends’ homes and cars were flooded. Trees came down.  Power was out for 36 hours. Boats, canoes, trash cans and other miscellaneous bric-a-brac just floated away.  The small amount of water quickly drained away.

We headed out in our Jeep late in the morning, thinking that the water had receded enough. Some of our friends that don’t live here full time were a bit anxious about their property. Hey, it’s a Jeep, no problem!

jeep in the water
Don’t drown. Turn Around! And we turned around!  Later an airboat made it’s way down the same flooded streets.

My boots came in handy.

boots

boots

My friend Rosey, that said she tied her canoe on her deck?  Wise advice.  We left ours on the kayak ramp and had to wait until the water receded enough to get out to the kayaks to make our next attempt to check out the neighborhood.  (And Rosey’s house was fine but she lost her car to the flood waters.)

I told another friend yesterday that walking in that water creeped me out.  She said they had to swim across their road to get to her mother’s house.  But she did buy her mother some white boots the day before the storm.

Yeah.  That made me feel like a jerk.

I could show you photos of all the debris stacked along the roads and the storm damage but I’m not going to.  You’ve probably already seen it.  And if you haven’t, it’s bad.  And sad.

The Homosassa Civic Club Campus was flooded.  We’ve got professionals in to clean up the office building.  But members took on the task of cleaning up the Civic Center.

Before
Before
During
During
after
After

Thank you Christine, Rhonda, Dave, Jake, Bill, Clay, Terry, and me. Bleach, water, and 1 1/2 hours of labor.

Some of our regular hard working club members were still cleaning up their own property.

Still have to get in a contractor to rebuild the areas that were dry-walled.

I promise.

Next week.

I’ll post more.

Really!

Have a great weekend!

Kathy

Friday Meanderings

Plumeria

It’s been raining occasionally and next week the temps are supposed to be under 90 degrees. Woo-hoo.   Not long until the weather will be perfect again!

And now I just want to talk about my new plumeria bloom.

Plumeria

My wonderful neighbor that is so kind to share plants with me gave two branches early in 2015.  I stuck them in a pots of dirt.  And one finally bloomed today.  I knew that they were a reddish-pink but thought that they were probably the same ones I already had.  Not so!

I took this snap of the red plumeria I already had. The blossoms are a different shape!

plumeria

How cool is that?????

Took these photo from my other two colors of plumeria.

yellow plumeria

white plumeria

Then I was sad because I found one of the branches from a potted plumeria had broken off.  How did that happen?  Who came here and broke that off?  Hmmmmm?

Terry said “stick it back in the dirt”.  

And I said oh yeah, it will grow. Or not.  But I already have to admit that I already have a lot of these plants.

Plumerias are great. So easy to take care of and I get to share them.  I had a friend show me a photo of one of the branches I gave her that she was raising in water.  And it was blooming!  (I asked her to send the snap to me so I could post it and she didn’t…..sheesch!)

Alright.  Not much going on again this weekend other than scalloping.  

On another subject, I had already heard that the Homosassa River Raft Race was cancelled this year.  It’s usually in September. This would have been the 34th year!

Talked to a rep from the radio station that sponsored the raft race in the past and she had no idea why but it’s definitely not happening. She said that we have the Crystal River Raft Race and pirate invasion in May so the Homosassa River doesn’t need a raft race. What????

This is not Crystal River.  So why does one have anything to do with the other?

There is supposed to be a cleanup on the river instead plus a big “Party with a Purpose” to celebrate “Save the Water” week on September 24th which the radio station is supporting.  Guess the radio station is running the show here now!

By the way, September 24th also happens to be the last day of scalloping.  Should be interesting how we do a big cleanup on the Blue Water with all of our visitors there.

Anyone else think something is wrong with that scenario?

Hey, have a great weekend!  Get outside!  The temps are dropping!

Kathy

Category is…..

Things that fly!

(in my yard)

Butterfly

doves
These guys are always a little nervous…..

Could it be they are looking for predators?

hawks

Well, it is a bird bath! And a hawk is a bird!
Well, it is a bird bath! And a hawk is a bird!
Category is.....
And this guy is only looking for some food from the bird feeder!
cardinal
Coast is clear!

moth

hummingbird

Indigo bunting
Kind of looks like a bluebird here but I think it’s possibly an Indigo Bunting.

Indigo Bunting

hummingbird