Today's Visit To Silver Springs

Spent the day at one of our favorite hang outs - Silver Springs. It's about a 90 minute drive from where we live. This is part of the Silver River & it is fed from a natural spring. 550+ million gallons of fresh 99% pure water is pressed through the limestone from the Florida aquifer 15,000 feet below each day. Some of the limestone gets forced through the holes onto the river bottom & when it picks up the sunlight, it's shiny like silver - hence the name. The picture of the fish is at one of the spring feeds, you can see the bottom in the shot, 88 feet below.

There are 3 groups of glass bottom boats, operated by the park, that travel through the Silver River & tributaries. Each ride takes about 30 minutes & the cost is covered in the admission price. (We have a season pass - about $100 total, unlimited visits.) During the rides you see gators, turtles, snakes, wild birds, cyprus swamps, & lots of fish. There is also some entertainment history to check out.

Because the water is absolutely perfectly clear, SS has been used as a set location for several movies including the Tarzan flicks of the 30's, The Creature From The Black Lagoon in the 50's, and the underwater battles in some of the early James Bond movies. On the small screen, the TV show Sea Hunt, & at least one episode of I Spy with Bill Cosby were made there. The list is longer but this will have to do.

Inside the remainder of the 365 acre park are animal exhibits, botanical gardens, quaint little shops & eateries. All of that will be covered in another post.

Overall, today couldn't have been better.

By the way - notice the turtle being leaned on by the young gator? He's hanging out in one of the swamps - looks like pea soup.

Oysters On The Back Porch

Mmmmm.... fresh oysters on the back porch. These suckers were in the water this morning & they were awesome this afternoon. Finally figured out how to add pictures, so today was productive (& relaxing).

"The Laffin' Gaff"

What a completely awesome day! I'm sitting on the back porch writing. It's sunny,80 degrees or so, nice breeze, Nubber the cat is in 'his' chair keeping me company, lizards & turtles putting on a show in the yard & on the patio. Deb took pics of lizards fighting - A productive & completely enjoyable day.

Yesterday someone wanted to know how I came up with the name of my boat - "The Laffin' Gaff". (Dang, I need to learn how to add pictures.) The name is written out on the hull in black & gold lettering, ending like hooks wherever possible. The truth is, the name is the result of me being a total wimp.

I should elaborate here - My tolerance for pain has been a source of annoyance for my wonderful wife. She is often amazed how unaffected I am by certain injuries or calamities. Last summer she couldn't figure out how I could have surgery & then move about like nothing ever happened only a few hours later. I'll admit, part of that was an act to make her feel better, but I do have a ridiculously high tolerance - unless it involves a dentist.

My teeth, thankfully, are in great shape. Nice n' straight n' healthy. If, however, you really want to see me sweat, shake & act like a real sissy, put me in a dentist's chair. Just movin' around in my mouth with one of those mirror things will make me squeal like a little kid & I just about rip the arms off the chair (only knowing that I'll have to pay for chair repairs keeps me from doing it - I think). I actually have to have nitrous just to get my teeth cleaned. Laffing Gas is another name for it.

My boat was delivered a few days following a 'dental ordeal'. Since I love to laugh & joke around, & since a gaff hook is a common item to carry on a boat, & since fish have fins &, with the 'dental ordeal' still fresh in my mind - "The Laffin' Gaff" was born.

Warnings Ignored

Times aren't what they were in the construction biz. Slow starts, careful money, tight bids. It doesn't seem to phase some people. My company let a guy go yesterday, after some crazy hand wringing that went on for several weeks. I appreciate the fact that they don't take a decision like this lightly, it is someone's livelihood, but, it should have been done long ago. It was completely justified. That's just a sad fact.

This guy was given warning after warning about his lack of effort. He was warned repeatedly about being uncooperative & argumentative & about not following even simple instruction. I warned him myself many times - sometimes nicely - sometimes not. Didn't matter - he wouldn't change, wouldn't even try. The weird part is, it was an incredibly easy job. No pressure, no decisions, no working weekends or extra hours without extra pay. (I'm salaried - 40hrs or 80 it's always the same.)

The sad part is, he's not a youngster & it's going to be tough for him to get a new job that pays what he was paid, including full medical, vision & dental benefits, sick time, 401k, vacation & bonus. He had it made & HE blew it.

I feel bad about it. Feel bad for his family. If he had just tried, even a meager effort, the company would probably have carried him along through this slow period.

Now it's probably a matter of time until we hear there is some claim being made against us that he was let go without just cause. Guys like that - it's always someone else's fault & everyone owes them something. Some are determined to be victims of their own stupidity.

I hope he lands on his feet quickly & learns something from it all.

Vacation Accomplished

I need to get back to work so I can rest. The sod is down, muy perfecto. I finished about two thirds of my list of things to do & stuff I hadn't planned to do - like replacing bad irrigation heads (what a pain in the butt they were), planted flowers out the wazoo, powerwashed the brick patio out back, etc. The weather is going to be crappy late Saturday & all day Sunday. Tomorrow I have to dress up the mulch beds, plant a new grapefruit tree, scrub the soffits, clean the Durango & my truck & maybe the boat - hopefully all done by early afternoon. I won't get to paint the porch columns, maybe next weekend. No big deal - they look fine, but it's better to paint while everything looks fine than to wait 'til stuff 'needs' paint. We're too picky.

We never made it to the gulf coast as planned, but we did get a great day on the beach Wednesday. We went to Jacksonville today & bought a new chair for the living room. Being the dutiful husband that I am, I waited patiently in the mall parking lot with the sunroof open (& read) while Deb bought out Bath & Body - or whatever it's called. That was followed up by a visit to my favorite SeaSide stop, The South Beach Grill for a fantastic 'lunch' of pecan encrusted Mahi with a strawberry-mango-orange topping over a bed of rice (& a few cocktails). No oysters today - bummer.

My YA manuscript is ready to go. Amazon just announced last week that they will eliminate the 'buy' button for books not produced through BookSurge. I'm waiting to find out what's going to happen before forwarding my MS. I've decided that I don't want Amazon to make a dime from my work, so I need to see how this shakes out with the folks that I plan to use for publishing. If they cave in, I'm going elsewhere.

On another note (this is a windy post) - I usually write best in the wee hours of the morning. The other night I was set up on the back porch (me n' the cat). The porch is screened in, the chairs are comfortable & we have a large glass table, so I can spread out. Our property backs up to a nature preserve. Lots of critters roam through the palmettos & the haunted looking live oaks (& my back yard sometimes) & can sound pretty scary. Nubber (the cat) gets freaked out, for as long as he can stay awake anyway - usually no more than ninety seconds. So I started banging out a brand new story around 10PM. At 4AM I knocked off & started reading it. I couldn't believe it, the word count thingy said I had put down just under 9,000 words! It's a first draft but it just flowed. Tonight I'll pick up where I left off & see what happens. I don't work off of outlines, so I have no clue where this one is headed.

It's almost 11PM now - Time to make coffee.

Whining Pays Off - For Once

I whined my butt off about the last minute trip to Atlanta. It worked, but I don't know how. Who cares, I'm not going. The trip was dished off to someone else. Whew!!! The Rocky Theme is playing in my head again. The sod chore is back on (now I gotta rearrange delivery). Vacation starts with a smile Friday afternoon. I plan to get lots of writing done in the next several days. Getting psyched. A quick trip to Clearwater, a few days at our beach, a few days on the back porch beating the keys on another book. Sounds like a plan. Green Side Up Baby!!!

The Best Laid Plans (or sod)

We busted our tails this past weekend to save ourselves from busting them during future weekends. Our house has lots of landscaping & this includes huge mulch beds with plenty of 'stuff'. The problem is, mulch beds have to be weeded. Very time consuming, not to mention back breaking. One 'bed' the size of some yards, runs from a point in the front yard, wraps around down the side of the house & widens between the neighbor's fence & our brick patio. Emptied that bed - at least 200 loads of mulch, cut out roots, transplanted 'stuff', raked & loosened soils. It's READY now for sod. I ordered the sod for delivery Thursday or Friday of this week. I scheduled a week off so we could get the work done & then spend some much needed time away for a few days. Everything is set to go. Getting myself mentally prepared. Rocky Theme is playing in my head..... & then... I got an email at 6PM that may screw it all up.

My project is essentially finished - which justifies a vacation. Everything tied up in a neat little bow. Did I mention I got an email that may screw everything up?

The email says that the company needs me to be in Atlanta Wednesday night to fill in on another project through - get this - Saturday. Saturday! I only work Saturdays when absofreakinlutely necessary - rarely in other words. This arrangement may mean I won't get home until Sunday. That means I'll have a bunch of sod sitting in the driveway for at least a few days before I can start. It also means, that without mulch, weeds will grow in the beds, leading to a duplication of prep work effort. It also means that the 'vacation' will get off to a totally crappy start. Instead of driving home with a smile on Friday afternoon looking forward to 9 consecutive days of no work, I'll be in the air feeling shortchanged. Vacation time for me ranks right up there with OXYGEN. Work hard - play hard - enjoy life - give n' take. The idea is always to sandwich 5 vacation days between 2 weekends.

I fired off an email suggesting they (my company) try to make arrangements for someone else to pinch hit, explaining my great plans & intentions (all totally true). It probably won't get me anywhere. Maybe I'll postpone my vacation so I get my 9 days & just pay somebody to put the damn sod down. The hard part is done.