Old Homosassa – Page 8

Friday Meanderings

July 28, 2017 by KTgreen

It’s HOT! And HUMID!

Florida in July.

What else should we expect? Right?

I tried to escape from all that temperature by heading to Spedwell, Tennessee.

With my besties.

Here’s a pic of us at McCloud Mountain Restaurant.

From the left, me, Yvonne, Sherri, Barb, and Donna

We all worked at the same company. All at different locations. And in some cases different times.

I was at the Moore McCormick office in Brooksville. 1984????? I was the marketing secretary. Donna, Yvonne and Sherri were was at the Florida Mining & Materials cement plant in Brooksville which was owned by Moore McCormick. Barb was at a cement plant in Ohio with SouthDown which eventually bought Moore McCormick.I moved to the Tampa office when that happened.

Somehow, we all got to be besties over the years. Even though I left SouthDown back in 1990.

And it was STILL HOT but not quite as humid in Speedwell, TN. But they have a boat on a lake with no alligators! So we made the best of it!

And I made a new friend while I was there.

I’m back!

Today is the last day of the Summer Program at the Old Homosassa Learning Center. The Fall Program starts on September 5th. We have a new coordinator on board to run the program. The learning center will be open from 3:30 – 5:30 everyday that the Citrus County school system is open. There will be a different theme each day. Our yoga teacher will be teaching yoga to the kids for half an hour on Tuesdays. Our sewing coach will be helping the kids make costumes for Halloween on Thursdays. And the guitar classes will continue on Wednesday.

First we have to do a MAJOR cleanup of the building. Smells like sweaty kids!

Speaking of sweaty, Terry and I are doing the parking on Saturday for the scallopers. Money goes to the learning center. We need two new doors, a refrigerator, and a projector. We’ll be working a lot of Saturdays!

Not much else going on around here. Because it’s HOT! Oh yeah, I think I already mentioned that!

Have a great weekend!

Kathy

Old Homosassa in July……

July 21, 2017 by KTgreen

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!

Friday Meanderings

June 30, 2017 by KTgreen

Here in Old Homosassa, we celebrate our country’s independence a week early.

Gotta say, it’s a good marketing tool. Inverness and Crystal River share the fireworks over the real holiday. Old Homosassa and all of the waterfront bars are ready with a party the weekend before.

The day starts out with a poker run and there are events at just about every waterfront bar and restaurant. Like a tug of war at the Freezer, pie eating and a beer belly contest at MacRae’s, cornhole at Seagrass and a ping-pong twerking contest at Riverside Resort. There’s even a shuttle boat that takes poker run participants to the various places.

Now, I have to say I only witnessed the kids’ pie eating contest. (really wondering how that ping-pong twerking worked out!) But it was freaking hot which required a lot of beer to keep cool. And we had to pace ourselves because my favorite event is the Fireworks Show and there were a lot of hours before that took place.

And it was super. For the first time, we watched the show from a boat on the Homosassa River. Way too much fun.

This weekend the real festivities begin. Saturday is the first day of scalloping season. A lot of fun for those that do the scalloping. And it’s a boon to all of our local businesses.

But the river and our community take a beating.

There’s only a small county lot that offers free parking. That fills up very quickly and then the boaters park their trucks and trailers along the streets, on the sidewalks, even in the retention ditches. Riverside Resort offers a ramp and parking for a price. There are also several neighbors that provide parking for a fee. Some even give a golf cart ride back to the ramp.

But still. Illegal parking. Blocked streets. Trash thrown any old place. Public urination.

The Homosassa Civic Club has innovative ideas to help relieve some of the issues and yesterday met with Sheriff Prendergast, Citrus County’s new sheriff. More work needs to be done but the Civic Club is working with the community, the sheriff, and the area businesses to offer solutions without alienating the tourists.

It will take a while to get everything in place. But…..it will be worth it!

And speaking of our River.

Once again.

Don’t throw your scallop shells in the Homosassa or Crystal Rivers. It’s okay to throw them in the Gulf. But putting them anywhere in the Rivers. They just stay. And they don’t belong there.

Here’s the county sign….

Our local river community groups decided that was too vague and there were not enough signs. So created this version.

This one is in front of Old Homosassa Learning Center. We can only put them on private property. The county supports our ideas but do not support the idea of putting the signs on county land.

And what’s going on with the Learning Center????

A mural by Cindy Ersch, a local artist and lover of our community!

It’s not done.

But.

How about how great this community is!

Right?

The civic club has also invited Tiffany Beck to hold yoga lessons at their facility. $5.00 a session and veterans get a 50% discount. Starting July 8, every Saturday and Wednesday at 10 am. Limited to 30 people.

Have a great weekend and holiday!

Kathy