Diversity

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This morning I woke up to an unusually chilly day down here in southwest Florida. A cold front blew its way down, probably following us from Tulsa, because it was 60 degrees with a light wind. Thankfully, I still had my one sweatshirt close by from our trip up north.

While walking outside around the house surveying the hurricane clean-up needs, I noticed, really noticed the diverse flora at our home and smiled. We don’t have these species back where I am from. Oh, and that coconut that was left in the yard from a few months ago has sprouted two large palm fronds. We need to move that somewhere else before it plants roots and grows into the power lines above it.

I snapped some images with the iPhone as I walked and surveyed the plants. Okay, according to the Information button found inside Apple Photos, we have an Areca palm, 2 tall coconut trees, a tree called Job’s Tears, an avocado tree, an Izote tree (yucca), 6 Garden Croton, 5 Spider Lily, several Tiplants, 1 surviving banana plant left (2 died in the storm), a dwarf umbrella tree, a Spiderwort plant, Shell Ginger, Yew plum pine tree, and a few more royal palm trees. Throw in your garden variety tropical shrubs and wow, what a unique, diverse collection we have here just in our yard.

Garden Croton
Izote Yucca

The landscaping needs a lot of love after being left on its own for a year and a half. I’m looking forward to the projects…someday. Because a lot of these flora are self-sustaining and low maintenance, landscaping is on the back burner. Hopefully, though, we can tackle this while it is still an unusually cool fall and winter.

P.S. I neglected to mention the Dragon Sword plant I purchased for Tracy as our housewarming gift. This has yet to be planted. But where?

3100

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All he needed was a wheel in his hand and four on the road.

Jack Kerouac

We took the long way back home to Cape Coral and racked up a little over 3,100 miles round trip. For perspective, the distance from coast to coast in the United States varies based on the specific starting and ending points, but it typically ranges from 2,400 to 3,500 miles.

Hurricanes Helene and Milton were devastating, as we witnessed separately, their power in the big bend of Florida and between Tampa and home.

We are grateful for the unexpected road trip, the safe travels back, our family back home, and an undamaged house.

I have a lot to think about due to the inspiration that travel offers. Quite a bit to write about as well, in fact, I have been writing quite a bit.

Tomorrow we’ll take down the shutter boards off the lanai, windows and doors. Yard clean-up, trash, and return the pool/patio furniture where they belong. I’ve already re-filled the low, dirty pool water, added six gallons of chlorine and ran the pool pump most of the night.

Maybe, just maybe, after all of that, I’ll have some time to follow-up on that road inspiration and write a bit more. Then I can start to sort, organize all of the creative material I accumulated from a very generous patron of my arts (you know who you are.)

From The Library Of CJD

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I love used bookstores, has it been mentioned? While in Oklahoma I decided to swing by the buy/sell/trade store and pick up some desired reference books such as a dictionary, thesaurus and an encyclopedia. Even the History of the National Geographic Society was grabbed.

Now I am on the look out for an atlas and a globe. These have all been on my list to add for the new study in the new home.

Let’s Go

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I want to go on more adventures. Be around good energy, connect with people, learn new things and grow. – Chris Denbow

I wrote this exactly ten years ago and am pleased that this hasn’t changed.

I’m digging my script that allows me to revisit previous posts.

Nature’s Neon

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Thanks to another coronal mass ejection from our star, the aurora borealis made another appearance further south than usual. I was blessed to witness this event back in May and blessed again for being further north in Oklahoma to see it again.

The light show started just as a small thunderstorm passed to my south but partly cloudy to the north. Thankfully, the clouds dissipated enough for these results!

Nebulae

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Upon further inspection of the Orion constellation image I took the other morning1 I noticed multiple nebulae. Had I remembered or even noticed, I would have broken out the tripod and opened up the shutter longer for a better shot. Here, the Horsehead and Flame nebulas are quite visible, as is the Orion Nebula to the lower right. I’ll try again on the return trip home.

  1. what day is it, I am evacuating Milton ↩︎

Escape From Florida

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After boarding up the house, we left Cape Coral, Florida on Monday, October 7 at 12:30pm to escape from Category 5 Hurricane Milton. Interstate 75 north bound was already filled with fellow evacuees. It seems some have no sense of urgency during evacuations because no less than 30 times I am following a car in the left lane as they drive 10-15 mph less than the permitted 75mph. They would leave gaps in between themselves and the next car anywhere from 2 car lengths to 10 car lengths. Maddening!

Normally the drive from Cape Coral to Tampa would take 2 hours. This time it took 8. I had enough of I-75 and decided to divert west to the Suncoast Parkway parallel to the Gulf of Mexico. Thankfully, the governor had removed the tolls and we flew northwest through the big bend area of Florida…until we came to more stop/go traffic at various spots. There was a backup of 30 miles due to…something. There was another 30 mile backup for no reason. We tried to bed down a couple of times but only managed an hour nap in the car. This area was hit by Hurricane Helene not more than a week ago and the evidence was all around us. We pressed on to the rest of the rural Florida panhandle until we hit a massive rest stop west of Tallahassee. Technically, we were in the clear after a monotonous, frustrating 20 hr drive, having been awake for 30 hours and maybe 3 hrs sleep. After this, we raced to the Florida/Alabama border and began to feel even more at ease. While en route we drove through Milton, Florida just as hurricane Milton was geographically positioned below us in the Gulf. Haha, not today you don’t get us.

Having crossed Mobile Bay, and observed the U.S.S. Alabama battleship, we drove under the city through the Bankhead Tunnel and joined in with the other driver’s in the echoing song of car horns. All of us shared a smile through the windshields.

Tonight finds me on the Mississippi gulf coast line. No clouds, beautiful blue skies. We gorged on boiled and/or blackened shrimp, and fixings until we popped. After we have cleaned ourselves up, we stretch out onto a bed, finally, after two days.

Milton will arrive either Wednesday or Thursday between Tampa and Cape Coral. Evacuating our new home was a smart decision. I just pray that when we return, there will be minimal to no damage to it.

She’s asleep, now it is my turn.

Evacuation

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After boarding up the house this morning we hit the road to escape Hurricane Milton. Eleven hours to go only 250 miles due to other evacuees. We still have a long way to go but this day has been exhausting. Time for a quick nap and then back at it overnight. Hopefully traffic will be lighter and we can make our way out safely.