Day: January 28, 2017

Posted in weekendcoffeeshare

#weekendcoffeeshare – 01/28/2017

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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Hello everyone! If we were having coffee today, it would be at a coffee shop since I am away from home. We can have fun in the coffee shop nearby!

I hope everyone has been well and that your writing muse is with you. I’ve been traveling, so my writing muse has been absent recently. I haven’t had ready access to Wifi which has also hurt me since I’m so used to writing while I’m online. I do that so I can readily do research when necessary.

If we were having coffee today, I would tell you how much I’m enjoying the weather here in Florida. I’m used to snow and cold at this time of year. Instead, it’s in the 70s and beautiful. We’re having a little cool spell right now, but nothing compared to what my friends in Kentucky are having. We love where we are staying. It’s a special place along the South Florida Gulf Coast.

Big news. We eventually want to buy a house here and move away from the cold. It will take awhile to find what we want. So, as a temporary measure, we have bought a little vacation home on this island we love so much. It’s tiny and temporary…..though we don’t know how long temporary will be. Could be a year or more as property here is so desirable. It will do until we can move permanently.

We haven’t been sightseeing as much as usual. I’m just enjoying being here. Living here for a few weeks. I’m trying to see some things I’ve never seen before. I’m also trying to spend time in the little village nearby.

I’ve been writing a blog series on our adventures driving an RV to South Florida. If you’re interested, you can find the series under Blog Series on my site. I’ve done a little writing besides that series but not as much as usual.

I’m happy to write another #weekendcoffee share. It’s been awhile since I’ve talked with all of you! I hope you are well and happy and prolific. More from here next week.

Posted in Challenges, Uncategorized

#SoCS – Jan. 28/17

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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Two things are on my mind for this stream of consciousness post. First, I am away on a trip and the place where I am is where I would like to live. The unfortunate part is that it is likely to take a while, maybe a long while, to make that happen. I don’t want to go home. “Home” doesn’t feel like home anymore. This place, this magical place, feels like home. There is very little I can do to rush the process of making my dream “place” my home. I have to wait for property to become available and it seldom does. I will wait. I would wait a long time.

Second, I am worried about the state of our country, the U.S.A. I don’t want to offend anyone, but I feel so strongly that we have an incompetent in the White House. Not only an incompetent but an egomaniacal narcissistic man. A dangerous combination for someone with access to the nuclear codes. He has been there one week and has violated the Constitution multiple times. He has also violated at least one important campaign promise. I know people whose most important requirement of the President  was that he was going to build a wall on the Southern border and have Mexico pay for it. Clearly, Mexico is not going to pay for it. Instead, he is going to tax us for it, the hard-working taxpayers. Not only that, but he has harmed the middle class by cutting the FHA mortgage insurance premiums. He doesn’t care about the middle class.

Do we let him go on and violate our Constitution and do absolutely nothing about it? The result of that will be the death of our democracy. Donald Trump may be the last President of the United States. We may be looking at a different, and less desirable, form of government. An authoritarian dictatorship, for example. If we’re lucky, a parliamentary form of government. Surely not a democratic form of government.

Then we have his and his Secretary of State’s Russian ties. Thankfully, that is being investigated.

The very most disturbing thing is the President’s efforts to stop the flow of information out of many of the federal agencies. Shades of Nazi Germany.

I’ll stop here, though I have so much more I could say.

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Posted in Blog Series, Uncategorized

#15: Adventures in RV Travel – January 27, 2017

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

Bob, the Wood Stork

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@Rosemary Carlson 2017

This is Bob. Bob is a wood stork and a part-time resident of Pine Island RV Resort Park in Florida. Wood storks are endangered in the U.S. Their population is more stable in South America. I was able to get such a good shot of Bob because Bob is sort of the Park Pet. He is perhaps the best fed wood stork around, although wood storks live in colonies and make up to people. He likes the park visitors. We feed him fish (they like minnows) and hot dogs. I have known Bob as long as I’ve been going to Pine Island – a long time now. We’re all very fond of him. He even knows his name!

Wood storks are very large. You don’t feed them out of your hand. Look at their beak! They can remove your hand easily. You drop their food on the ground. In the wild, they feed on fish in shallow water. Florida’s dry winters suit them as ponds, creeks, and lakes dry up and make fishing easy for them. Winter in Florida is also their breeding season.

Wood storks nest in large flocks. They used to nest in the trees all around Pine Island. They don’t anymore. They live to be up to 18 years old. We think Bob is starting to get older. You won’t see many wood storks. If you are lucky enough to see one, please be good to he/she and appreciate them. Thank you.