Observations
on Florida
I
lived here for several years in the early 70's and now am back as a
snow bird. The difference between the two times is partially my
different perspective and partially the march of time...The people
pressure is much greater now, with all the infrastructure that these
greater numbers entail. With my Northern MI lifestyle having few
people in it, this is quite an adjustment for me. The nice thing that
I'm finding is that Florida has set aside, quite a large chunk of
State and Federal land for public use. Naturally it isn't prime real estate (read swamp and marsh) but there are several large tracts
close by so I can get out and commune (and take pictures). I'm
slowly getting to know the ways of the local animal life. I'm
comfortable with the alligators and bears, but have yet to get a good
handle on the wild pigs. I know they can get ugly, but there are
just too many question marks in my own knowledge.
I
was out for a long walk the other day, checking out an area and found
that my biggest problem was that the published map of the area didn't
show all of the secondary roads and paths. I ended up having to
intuit my way out...not a problem, but a minor inconvenience. Every
morning and evening, there are several flocks of Herons and Egrets
that pass over on their way to and from their feeding areas
Am
planing on taking the yak out this weekend to check out a
lake/marsh/river/swamp system near here. On paper it looks to be a
wild area, but so much is built up here, I'm no sure what I'm going
to find.
We
are close to Orlando, but I saw a sign the other day, marking a
stream as the head waters of the Everglades. I guess it has to start
somewhere...
One
of the weather patterns that is strange for me is the fact that there
is often an East wind. At home, we get an East wind about twice a
year, here it's about once a week. The other thing is that the
sunrises and sunsets are almost always colorful, but not being on a
coast, there is always something in the way of a good view.
Anne
and I have both been hired on at Disney and go in for orientation on
Monday, so we won't need to go to plan B, which is a relief. I'll be
at Epcot and she at Magic Kingdom. The hiring process has certainly
changed since I was last involved with it. If you aren't computer
literate you'll never get a job...So far it has been totally paperless
experience, with only one, real person contact. I think that it took
me the better part of three hours to access, read and sign all of the
pre-hire documents...They should have a Geezer link. There was a
Halloween get together last night and the owner of the RV park got an
education in how NOT to turn on the propane before putting a match to
the new decorative fire pit. It wasn't an explosion exactly, but it
got everyone's attention when it lit off...
No
pictures this time around. Be well, Jay
