0069 - Wau-CHU-la

So here we are in sunny/rainy/sunny Wauchula... the daily rain showers continue to make it very sauna-like outside.

As usual, we're learning as we go along... we apparently needed to ask certain questions about our cabin... and I was so happy to have a place to stay that I did not think to ask them... Such as...

• Is the bed at least queen-sized? We ended up with a full-sized brick that we now have two egg crate cushions on and it is barely comfortable.

• Does it have internet access? No, it does not. Thank goodness for mobile hotspots. I have reactivated mine... Otherwise, you have to go to the office to get the internet.

• Does it look like the type of place where you might check out a dvd from the office, there are a bunch of random images that flash across the screen, and once it finishes, you get a creepy phone call that whispers "...seven days..." and then people start looking all smeary when someone takes a photo of them but by the time the week is over they're dead? Yeah, it kinda does... except you can't borrow a dvd from the office. (referencing The Ring, if it wasn't clear)

• Might there be alligators on the property? There might. There damn sure are mosquitos. The mosquitos are epic. One almost flew away with me the other night. Or maybe that was one of the thousands of vultures. Did you know that vultures love oranges? Apparently they do.

• Is your cat going to keep you up all night letting you know about all the raccoons, squirrels, stray cats and other night creatures outside the windows? Unfortunately so.

This is not what we had envisioned. Having seen the cabins at our Home Park, we thought we were getting a light-filled living room with a large television, a full kitchen, a bathroom, a bedroom and a loft. Something with a small porch and lots of windows. Something that doesn't make you want to cry unless it is out of sheer happiness that your cabin is so cool. The first cabin they put us in was horrible, it was like an efficiency with wooden walls, so small we felt claustrophobic. At least this one is more spacious, but my fantasies about baking biscuits for breakfast and trying my hand at baking Cuban bread flew right out the window as soon as I saw the hot plates. Yes. Hot plates.

My computer screen is as big as our tv.

I am not amused.

The park wouldn't be bad if we were in our RV, it's quaint, it has trees and trails, the kind of things we like in a park. The town is small, I joke that it's WauCHUla - bless you (cuz I say it like a sneeze), and if you sneeze, you've missed it. And by the way, if you clicked on that link THOSE CABINS ARE NOT AT ALL LIKE THE ONE WE'RE STAYING IN.  Thankyouverymuch.

The 5'er will be in the shop for a minimum of two weeks if they can repair the fiberglass in sections, possibly a little less depending on the work load. If the whole ass end of the 5'er needs to be replaced, we could be looking at a month because they have to order that from Forest River and then it has to be shipped here. We already miss having our stuff with us and our own familiar space. And now we also have to figure out how to handle the family reunion at the end of the month... whether we drive down and drive back, or if Mike flies out by himself, or if we rent an RV... This sucks. Maybe we'll get lucky and they can spot repair the back and everything will run ahead of schedule. Surely we are owed some good luck for a change...

So in other news... after we dropped the RV off at Lazy Days, we had lunch at the Cracker Barrel just outside the gate. There was this little old lady who was having problems walking. She had a cane, but she was trying to carry a to-go box and a drink, so she wasn't using it, and her knee kept giving out. I felt bad for her so I helped her to her car... she almost fell at least five times... she had a granddaughter sleeping in the car - not a kid, someone close to my age... How the hell do you leave your grandma in the restaurant and go sleep in the car if you know she's that frail? And when we got to the car she didn't even get out, she just sat there and watched. People need to start acting right... she's everything that is wrong with this country.

We got to meet up with one of Mike's buddies this afternoon. He flew in from Miami to visit with us which was really nice of him to do. Really cool guy, he gave Mike a hard time and that's always fun for me to watch as I'm rarely able to get one over on him myself... I married a smartie and a smartass, it's an unfortunate mix sometimes, but he keeps me on my toes for sure. After that we went to Charlotte's Web (if you click on the site be aware that it has sound) and had a couple of bloody marys... the drink that is also a snack. It was the best BM I've ever had... hahaha. They put horseradish in it and garnished it with a pepperoncini and an olive. We smell like smoke now and I can barely stand myself... but it was a fun place, cool people, and the BM's were only $2/ea.

So tomorrow we'll probably visit a local bike shop... find a winery... there is a castle in the area... and there is a wildlife refuge in the area that we're going to attempt to visit (they only give tours twice a month so it depends on our luck). I don't know, but Florida makes me tired... I didn't used to be able to sleep past 7 or 8 am... now I'm lucky to get my ass out of my before 10 or 11 am. Mike is an early riser so he is very patient with me, and sometimes I get breakfast out of the deal. :)

Pictures:

A black swan. For real, none of that ballerina bullshit.

Peace River. Now sing that to the tune of Moon River and you are privy to my private hell.

Eek! Alligator! Oh. Hello Mr. Lizard.

If this doesn't give you a warm fuzzy, I don't think you're capable of human emotion.

Kinda looks like a quilt patter in the sky. Hello Nancy!

Attack of the yellow butterflies.

Cool flower ball Mike found.

It's weird to me to run across a forest of palm trees.

Roots.

Looking up a palm tree. And so the series of palm tree photographs I began in the early 2000's finally regains momentum...

Bunny rabbit!

Is it just me or does this tree remind anyone else of that demented bunny from Donnie Darko?

But the back is even cooler.

Angel hair.

Pretty hawks. We see them flying by all the time. Mike finally caught them on film.

A cardinal flirted with me.

We have critters in our cabin. Or perhaps we are bored. Anyway... there is a parrot...

... a goose looking up at the sky...

... and a squirrel... and I swear there is also a bass, but when I photographed him, he didn't look much like a fish after all...

Vulture anyone?

Mmmmm... dead armadillo... it's what's for dinner.

Colin coming in for a landing.

When did we start hanging out with tall people?

Do you really want to go here for service?

Florida hates white people... cracker hunts? Really? It's almost as funny as The Cracker Plantation Restaurant... I don't make this stuff up, I really don't...

0068 - Rollin'

Today we got the truck back. It now has six new tires, new shocks, a new map sensor, and most of the fluids and have flushed and replaced. We replaced the brakes in Tennessee and had some recall work done. It rides so much better now, or maybe it's because there is less weight to our wallets... We get compliments on Rammy everywhere we go; people tell us it's a nice truck or comment on the Resistol package. We have to admit, we have been extremely pleased with it. We were also really happy with the shop here in Florida, McGee Auto Service and Tires in Zephyrhills. The manager was awesome, a great guy who loves his job and loves to joke around. I told Mike that would be a great place to work just because people love what they do and the atmosphere is pleasant.

After that we attempted to visit the orange grove around the corner... but they are closed until October. It's a trend we're noticing. So we went straight to Florida Estates, another local winery. You have to pay $3.50 if you want to taste all their wines, but if you want just two samples it's free. We liked their Spice wine the best, it was a little sweet with a cherry flavor that goes really well with chocolate... excuse me... it pairs well with chocolate. *cough* Their unique wine was a key lime, it's part key lime, part grape, not sweet, not exactly dry either. They also had an orange wine, but I am so addicted to Stonehaus' tangerine that this couldn't compete.

Next it was on to Villa Verde. One of the sales clerks at a western wear store we visited told us about this place and we tried to go... only to find out that it was another one of those places with odd hours... it is not open until 4 pm, and it is open Wednesday thru Saturday. I have to say, it was worth the wait. We were very happy with our meal. They didn't have the first entree I wanted so I made an offhanded remark that what I really wanted was chicken piccata, and she had the chef make if for me. They make their own pasta, which is so far superior to pre-made that it's almost a different thing entirely. The oil they serve with the bread was nice and garlicky, had almost a feta flavor to it. Dessert was delicious, a chocolate cake that wasn't overly sweet, just the right dry/creamy mix. And they had sangria. We seem to be very into sangria.

Speaking of food, yesterday we ate at Stonewood Grill & Tavern... it reminded me of a hybrid of my favorite restaurant in Austin (North by Northwest Brewery) and a restaurant we loved in Louisville (Red Star... which no longer exists). We had a bleu cheese and potato chip appetizer, then Mike had mahi with a citrus basil manhattan, and I had sirloin with bleu cheese-horseradish butter and a strawberry-rhubarb mojito... followed by an orange cake with creamsicle frosting... the meal was amazing. Half mine came home with me to enjoy tomorrow... I try to bring half of most of my meals home if I can, and we split dessert (if we get it at all).

Now we're home... ready for more wine and more Big Love. :) Take that as you will.

RV Tip while I'm thinking of it... a couple, actually. We had some dead space above our cabinets, and it was the perfect place to store extra rolls of paper towels and toilet paper. I bought flats at the office supply stores, so we had a lot and haven't had to buy any since we moved in. Anyway, a tension bar for the shower has pretty well kept it all in place as we travel. (see picture below)

Tip number 2 (irony, I love it), the fan in the bathroom... it's awesome if you have it going while you're using the bathroom... when I'm putting on makeup, if I close the door and have the fan on, it sucks cool air under the door and makes it nice. It helps a lot with humidity even if we only run it for a short time. And if you're going to the bathroom, it makes air freshener fairly unnecessary... just don't EVER leave it on once you start to flush the toilet or it will suck sewer gases into the bathroom... and you will never get that smell memory out of your nose... It's kind of subtle at first, like you imagined it, and then BAM! the whole trailer undergoes a transformation. So... remember that, it's important. :)

Tomorrow I'm going to call Lazy Days and schedule our RV service. Now that Mike's job is done we don't have a specific geographic location we have to be close to, so we will just bite the bullet and stay at the Extended Stay near Lazy Days. They accept pets, and they give discounts to customers of Lazy Days. We're thinking that we should visit Gator World and maybe Busch Gardens while we're in the area. I'm probably going to hold off on Harry Potter until I can find someone who wants to go... it's more fun that way, and I keep thinking of all the Muggle children that are out of school at the moment... I hate crowds, so maybe I'll go in the fall when I have airline miles and it's now so new anymore.

Haven't been taking many pics, but here is what we have:

Our paper goods setup in the wasted space above the cabinets. We can't keep anything heavy and unwieldly up there, but it works for paper. Right now the moisture absorbent jug is sitting up there as well. We don't collect a lot of water from it, so that's good, hopefully it means we're doing a good job of managing the humidity.

The sky in Florida does some crazy things. Two things I noticed... the donut hole shaped cloud... and the contrast between the rain and the downpour.

Birds perch on the lights and towers around here a lot. There were two but one is mostly behind the other. I'm still sick that I didn't get a pic of the huge bird that swooped down in the woods in front of me last week...

Like a rainbow in the dark...

Sun behind the clouds always fascinates me.

Clouds almost look like smoke behind the trees.

Moo cows looking indignant.

Crane.

Shy turtle.

 Mike's closeup... his camera is better than mine... I'm jealous. Then again, it comes with its own set of complications... so I guess it equals out to some extent.

0067 - Blah

Yesterday my throat got a little sore and I had a low-grade fever... just enough to put a damper on my day. If I moved around a lot, I felt sluggish, and I slept until noon so I should have felt better than that. As a result, we stayed home all day and didn't do a whole lot of anything aside from laze about, chat, watch tv, and have pasta night. I've been watching Big Love... As I've mentioned, we're pretty limited here, it's either network tv or HBOGo.com so I'm working my way through series I haven't previously seen. I had no idea what Big Love was about, but as it turns out, it's an interesting show... very thought provoking.

I've watched the reality show Sister Wives and found it fascinating how all the wives interacted with each other, and some of the trials and tribulations of a polygamist lifestyle. It's definitely not a choice I would make, I don't like to share and I don't think it's what marriage was intended to be, but to each their own. They're a likable bunch who don't seem to be hurting anyone. So anyway, after watching the reality version of polygamy, it was interesting to watch a fictionalized version and see some parallels (and a few differences) between the two.

Big Love, of course, it far more dramatic and broader in scope because it is left up to the writer's imaginations and they can draw from reality and take it in whatever direction they choose. Season one had a very interesting plot line between the patriarch of the family of main characters (Bill), and the "prophet" of the compound some of them left (Roman). It was a good yin and yang and you hated the old man, thought he was a dirty bastard, but his character was so interesting that you didn't want him to go away because the conflict brought excitement to the show. Harry Dean Stanton did a great job in the role. Bruce Dern also did a fabulous job of being someone you love to hate, just a worthless individual (he played Bill's father).

In the show, their family didn't start out as polygamist so the wife struggles with it a lot and I think that in a lot of ways, the fictionalized version of polygamy is more honest than the reality show. Cody's family gets along too well... not all the time, but the majority of the time they are far more understanding than most people would be. It may well be true that they are that well adjusted, but what I'm saying is that I can't believe all polygamists are. I don't think they are representative of the majority. In Big Love, people don't always get along, the man of the house is like a stud horse and you see the toll a schedule like that could take on a man, there is jealousy between wives because he has a different relationship with each of them, and often it is the most recent wife who gets the brunt of that, there is resentment for the first wife because she's got legal rights and more status, there is tension because Bill is married to one of the prophet's daughters and her loyalties are tested on a regular basis there are money issues, there is the problem of hiding who you are from the rest of society, the problem of being a second and third wife and never being acknowledged by your husband outside of the home, the fact that polygamy is illegal... it goes on and on.

So why would anyone choose that life? I have no answer for that. Every time I think I do, I find myself with a rebuttal. For instance, my first thought is that the men found a loophole that lets them play the field without being penalized. But then... they have to take responsibility for the additional women and children. And in many ways, they get no peace because there are several families placing demands on them rather than just one. So that doesn't really explain it in most cases, in fact it seems like a reason not to do it.

How do these newer religions like the polygamist sect of Mormons, or Scientologists come about? Or rather, when they come about, why are people so naive that they latch on to those beliefs? I actually read some of Dianetics out of curiosity, and it was one of the most ridiculous things I've ever read in my life. The idea that some of your personality quirks come from being in the womb and hearing your parents having sex, or your mom screaming during the birthing process is ludicrous - especially when you don't even have ears yet and are surrounded by amniotic fluid. Or that you can remember any of it. And from what I recall, it's not your dad's fault, it's always your mom's fault. It's interesting how Mormon polygamy is the only religion that is illegal, at least that I can think of. I think it's less the plural marriage than it is the marriage of underaged girls to old men... prophets... on the compounds, but I'm not sure the law differentiates. I know the law only recognizes the marriage to the first wife and considers the rest adultery, which I suppose is also illegal? I don't know if it is or not. I also know that non-polygamist Mormons look down on the practice, too - it makes the whole religion look bad.

I think it's disgusting when people do things behind the guise of a religion (the underage marriage to lecherous old men)... but religion is misused and abused in many ways... it is used to start wars, it is used to pilfer money from people, it is used a political tool, it is used to hide the abuse of children, it is used as a way to impose morals upon people (I'm not talking about things like don't murder and don't steal... I'm talking about the choice of who to marry, the choice to use birth control... thing that should be regulated by individuals, not by churches or laws). That's not what it was intended to be. That's why many people want nothing to do with organized religion, in some ways it has become a farce... corrupted... manipulated.

I'm not saying religion is a bad thing, churches are full of good people who do good deeds, but you can't turn a blind eye to the fact that it can be abused. Religion is an easy way to control people, because they don't want to go against the word of the church, so people come along with ideas like polygamy, like signing all your possessions over to the church, like going to war, and they will always find a willing flock. Each religion gets to say "I'm right, and you're wrong," and yet many times they hold similar beliefs. That's my beef with it.

I am probably going to catch some flack from my opinions, but that's how I see it. There are two sides to every coin, just because I point out the bad doesn't mean I don't see the good.