Sunday, January 7 - Here we are, already at the end of our first week of the New Year. And still the cool (here) cold (at home) weather persists. But we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel, as it's 37F this morning, up 10 degrees from yesterday, and promising to hit 70 tomorrow. We have to decide where to go next, so a survey of various places will bring us to a decision.

Meantime, a few little bits about what we're up to. The first two pictures above help to explain why we like it here so much. Birds, like the osprey finding its nest, and the river, the Homosassa. This is truly rural old Florida, away from freeways and congestion. We can find urbanization by going out to route 19, not too far away, but here it's much quieter and easy-going.

The third picture is Boe Anderson, the gentleman I described in my last posting. As Sandy Taylor has written after that posting, this is what makes travel worthwhile, meeting interesting people along the way. He is certainly one such person.

The fourth picture. How to explain a tree that seems to be suspended in the air? Can't have grown that way. But hanging in the air it is!! We've spent some time this week watching a tree removal outfit do their thing, and it's been really fascinating. A lot of trees in our park have been identified as having aged too long and have developed dry rot. The park management is having them cleared so that they don't tumble over on properties during windstorms and hurricanes. One method is to hoist a worker, suspended in a harness on the end of a cable that can reach a hundred feet in the air which is controlled by on operator of a huge crane. The worker scrambles onto the uppermost part of a 60 or 70 foot tree, and attaches a big sling around the trunk. Then he shinnies down about 40 feet, using a rope system, and cuts the trunk with a chain saw. The crane operator maintains tension on the cable and sling, so that as the final cut takes place, the tree is lifted high into the air, swung across the sky, and deposited safely on the street below.

The skill of workers and crane operator make for great entertainment. Nothing better than watching skilled people do their jobs. Often these trees are are only a foot or two away from the homes, so the precision of the operators is quite remarkable. Once on the ground, the trees are cut up by the crew, lifter by a front-end loader into dump trucks, and hauled off. Quite an operation!

The fifth picture...Since our activities are somewhat restricted by the cold, we decided to drop in to the other local watering holes, which we have tended not to do, enjoying The Shed and The Freezer as we do. So we went to the Manatee Pub, then a day or two later, to The Old Mill Tavern, which was packed with people, and last evening to the pub down the road, which was less busy and just fine as well. Each has it's own character and cast of both locals and snowbirds, so good for people watching. We have a beer, at 2 bucks each generally, and back we go to our little house, as these pubs are within walking distance.

 Last night, we sat beside a couple from Pennsylvania and had a good chat. Both are 'packing', he on his hip (not visible), she in her purse, and are staunch NRA members. Wouldn't think of going anywhere without being armed. Never had to use the weapons in 40 years, but they're prepared if anyone tries anything. The man, who goes to Newfoundland to hunt moose regularly, agreed that we live in two different free countries, and simply think differently. No point arguing! Their ideas are entrenched in the Second Amendment, and they're not going to change.

We went to the local flea market yesterday, a huge place full of everything you can think of. Quite a few tables had displays of guns and knives, the guns ranging from .38 glocks up to AK -47s. I asked one vendor what I had to do to buy a gun. "All you need is a Florida Drivers license if you want to buy a handgun." But what if I want a rifle, or that 12 gauge beauty? " No problem, you can buy it if you want." Even though I live outside the country? "Yep, here in Florida, no problem." I don't think they would have sold the AK-47 to me, but any other long barrels seemed okay, including an automatic .22 rifle that uses 50 shot clips. Mass shootings made easy!!

Not much else to report. We managed to get out on our bikes on a nice 16 km trail yesterday. And I got bitten by a dog a couple of days ago. You know, one of those little "cute" things that so many of the folks in the parks have? A couple were walking by with one such cutie, so I bent down to say 'hello', and the little bastard bit me. Right on the wrist. Drew considerable blood, but on the upper wrist, so really only skin, not flesh, was torn. They were most apologetic. "I don't know what happened, he never does that...blah, blah". Hope he doesn't have rabies!! Now I dislike those little so-called 'dogs' even more than before.

That's enough for a Sunday morning. We keep hoping the cold will break up north, as we think of everyone of you wishing it were otherwise. Hang in there!!

No idea where we'll be heading when we leave here on Tuesday. More later. Stay tuned.