Kinda glad we are a little further north of Sarasota, and are just a little further inland in our new home to where we are not in a low lying area, and the chances of a hurricane passing through Bradenton, is much less likely than the coastal areas of Sarasota that are on the gulf. I'm NOT a nervous Nellie type of gal at all. A big storm is kind of exciting to me. We are in a concrete block house, we aren't in a flood plain or low lying area, and we aren't going to be experiencing tornadoes and frequent tornado warnings like I did when living in northeast Indiana in a mobile home, so the thought of a humongous rainstorm with winds and rain doesn't worry me. We will be sure to be prepared with food and batteries and alternative lighting. :-)
The biggest months for hurricane activity here in SW Florida are August and September, although the season runs from June 1 to November 30. The forecasters are saying June and July were quiet months because of a stalled system over our area and out in the ocean, holding down air flow, or something like that! The Atlantic Ocean is warmer than normal, which contributes to the formation of tropical storms and hurricanes. That coupled with a stronger than normal rainy season in West Africa, which contributes wind patterns to stir up the Atlantic, makes for an interesting next couple of months for us!
Read something new about strokes...A new check added to the usual STR--Smile, Talk, Raise your arms-- list of how to tell if a person might be having a stroke:
S *Ask the individual to SMILE.
T *Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently)
(i.e. Chicken Soup)
R *Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.
If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call emergency number immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.
New Sign of a Stroke -------- Stick out Your Tongue
Ask the person to 'stick' out his tongue. If the tongue is
'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other that is also an indication of a stroke.
Something funny.....According to various news sources, Florida is home to the weird and wacky. Packing all those tourists in with the seniors, boomers, artist colonies and surfer dudes, makes for an interesting mix. It started getting weird in 1880's, when the FL government gave away land tracts of swamp land to anybody willing to drain it or fill it. Problem is, they gave away deeds to 17.5 million acres of land even though they only owned 14.7 million acres. And now we have all these sinkholes, (but not in Bradenton). No wonder there are so many sinkholes throughout the state!
It's the #1 state for mortgage fraud and identity fraud--I can attest to that, having been hacked twice while traveling in Florida.
Here's the latest weird and wacky news and it's true--"Florida man flashes women on the beach, and leaves a note offering 200.00 in exchange for butt kisses." UGH! And no, it wasn't a dirty old man, it was some 35 year old guy! Florida is so wacky, there's a Twitter account called "Florida Man"--"Real life stories of the World's Worst Superhero." A lot of the entries are very funny, some are disgusting, and some are rather offensive, but it just goes to show that Florida has more than its share of crazy and weird happenings. There's even a special news column/blog, called "FloriDUH", from the Sun Sentinal, "the weird and wacky news from the sunshine state", written by Barbara Hijek.
Retirement is definitely NOT boring, if you know where to look and can find things to do...We're going estate sale shopping in a day or two...Love looking for bargains. I'm all fired up after reading an article in a woman's magazine about women making money on Ebay. Now all I need is some capital to work with! :-)
No wonder you love Florida so much all those interesting people there and hurricanes just to keep you on your toes.
ReplyDeleteI live in California-- the land of the fruits and the nuts. Maybe some of them have moved to Florida?
ReplyDeleteThat's a good possibility! :-)
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