HAPPY NEW YEAR! May this New Year be better for you than the last one! Our 2009 ended when the 11 o’clock news was over and H turned out the lights. The new year of 2010 looked just like how the last year ended – cold and wet! I thought we were in Florida to get warm and stay out of the cold damp weather! Silly me! The week between Christmas and New Years passed quickly – and other than a royal hassle with State Farm Bank over my “compromised” credit card – our week was pleasant, with me shopping with Sharon, dinners out with them and over to their home while H got to watch Ohio State win the Rose Bowl. We visited several times with Ruth and Jerry, which is always great!
We’ve moved west and south from Ocala to just south of Homosassa Springs Florida. We are in the Chassahowitzka Wildlife Reserve at a county park, which is woodsy and kinda like a fishing camp on the river. It’s still COLD! For the last several nights we’ve unplugged the water hose so it wouldn’t freeze. It never made it up past 45 degrees Sunday and just barely 50 on Monday! Next to us is a couple in a tent who, until Sunday, didn’t even have a heater! They spent most of that night in their truck with the engine running. They finally went to Walmart for an electric heater. They have no air mattress - just 2 sleeping bags and we instructed them to zip them together to better keep the warmth in. H has also helped cover the tent with a tarp.
As we always do when we move to a new neighborhood where we’ve not been in a while, we go exploring. Saturday when we moved here, we found the grocery store and the closest wifi location. Sunday, after I baked some cookies (to help warm up the trailer?) we found Beale’s Outlet and Walmart and in spite of the cold – we returned to Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park.
Winter coats, sweatshirts and hats helped but after a slow ride on an open pontoon boat we were chilled to the bone. Walking fast and ducking into different buildings helped! The zoo has been updated and remodeled since our last visit and the raised boardwalks guided our paths past the enclosures for the owls, bald eagles, the tiny Key Deer, the 3 red wolves, the BIG black bear and the slinky pacing cougar! The path went out and around the waterfowl displays, complete with beautiful wood ducks, whooping cranes, swans and the ever-squawking sand hill cranes! The Homosassa River actually starts there at the springs which is home to 6 VERY large 3000 lb female manatees and a kazillion swarming shiny fish, swimming round and round the under water observation area. Back at the campground the native birds were also putting on a late afternoon concert and we were treated to a great view of an enormous owl in the tree above us!
Monday’s journey led us south to Weeki Wachee State Park in hopes of seeing if the Mermaids had frozen. When we arrived we found out they have Mondays off. Rather than waste the trip we found Big Lots so H could replace the laptops mouse, lunch and a visit to Joann’s!! I needed my fabric fix! Back at the park, we invited our tenting neighbors, Ricky and Robin over for dinner and a respite from the cold, even if it was just for a few hours
