There is a pattern developing here in Florida. It seems sunny in the morning,
cloudy in the afternoon, and rains on and off from late afternoon through
evening. I hope this is just left over from the Tropical Storm and not how life
normally is in Florida!
Yesterday, I came out of my office for lunch and
found the kids in the pool. A loud crack of thunder echoed through the
neighborhood and in one effort, my youngest leaped out of the pool and onto the
patio. He knows he shouldn't be in a pool during an electrical storm and is
terrified of it. However, he left all his toys in the pool. So Linda shoved him
back into the pool to retrieve the toys. Hay, threat of death from lightening or
not, Gilberts don't leave toys in a pool.
It appears we are
going through a heat wave right now. Temperatures in New York hit 101 degrees
yesterday! Here in Florida, which in known for its oppressive heat? It has been
miserable. On Tuesday we hit 75 degrees. Yesterday 78 degrees. They are talking
that we might break 80 degrees today. We went into a restaurant yesterday and
had to put our jackets on. I don't really understand how people can stand to
live in Florida when it is so miserably hot out.
Before you think the
temperature differences between New York and Florida are an oddity (hotter in
New York)? We experienced the exact same thing in July of 2011. Temperatures hit
100 degrees in Western New York while we were in the 80’s in Florida
in 2011. It does get warm in Florida, but I think the heat complaints are
overblown.
Yesterday after work, we decided to visit the communities
around Alta Monte Springs to see whether this would be an area for consideration
to move to when we retire. We toured two dozen neighborhoods in the surrounding
areas, similar to what we did in Winter Gardens last week.
What we saw in
our tour was that Alta Monte Springs has a lot of apartments. They also have low
income houses mixed in with average income houses. We would go into a
neighborhood and see seven nice houses in a row, and the eighth would have tall
grass, junk in the driveway, and trash piled on the porch. Getting to some of
the nice neighborhoods required driving through slums and poor neighborhoods.
This mix of poor neighborhoods and nice neighborhoods can only lead to crime. In
fact, we saw block after block of neighborhood watch signs, but we never saw a
single police car patrolling.
There was one nice neighborhood around a
lake. But to getting to it required driving through blocks of low value housing.
We left the lake community a different way and in a different direction in
search of the next house we wanted to see. The next house was only a quarter of
a mile away. As we approached the street that had the house, we noticed there
were several people standing on the corners and in the front yards of the
intersection.
A little more than ten years ago, we visited Vegas and saw
a drug operation on the Vegas strip. The drug operation had incredible
efficiency. There was a front line of people who would approach a car when it
pulled up and take their order. They turned to a second line of people who had a
minimal amount of drugs on their possession. The second line would hand the
drugs to the front line, and the front line exchanged it for cash. The cash
would then go to a third line of people. A fourth line of people were the
runners. They continually ran bags of cash from the third line, to some location
a block away. The fourth line would return with bags of drugs to replenish the
second line. A fifth line watched over everything and provided the security.
This operation was held under the careful eye of the police, who stood on both
ends of the line. The police observed the activity to make sure it stayed
peaceful, yet were ready to crack some skulls if things go out of hand. If the
police had chased the drug activity off the strip? The drug activity would have
moved to another part of town away from the police's careful eye, and
the police would have a mess. Instead, under this situation, the inevitable
activity could occur and maintain civil order.
I remember being
fascinated as I watched this drug operation from across the Vegas Strip. But in
Alta Monte Springs, as I approached that intersection, I wasn't
fascinated in the least. This operation was obviously not as efficient as Vegas.
There were people on the corner handling the drugs and the cash. There was
someone in the front yard handling security. And in the back yard of one of the
houses it appeared to be where the large drug distribution was
happening.
As I approached the intersection, Linda said "Kevin, what are
you doing?" and I said "We need to turn down this street to see the house".
Linda said "No, just keep going. Don't turn!" And I said
"Don't worry about it, these are just business men." Naïve or stupid,
and perhaps a little of both, I turned at the intersection being careful not to
give anyone "the eye". Two houses further down was a second drug house. It was
impossible to tell whether the second drug house was affiliated with the first,
but obviously they had a booming business from the area's affluent
subdivisions.
We snuck past the second drug house and found the house we
were looking for. It was a large beautiful inexpensive home sitting beside two
houses that appeared ready to cave in. My assessment was this house must have
burnt down or was somehow destroyed and was rebuilt in the neighborhood. Or
perhaps this was the drug king pin's house, for both drug operations could be
observed from a large second floor window. In either case, we were obviously
uninterested. Unfortunately, the house was at a dead-end. Our only way out was
to return, passing by both drug operations. I turned the van around at the end
of the road. The spectacle of a big New York red van attempting to "K" turn on
the narrow dead-end became an attraction to everyone on the street. That really
wasn’t what I wanted. We rolled down the street slowly, careful not to
look anyone in the eye, and as soon as I was clear of the drug corner I hit the
gas and flew back into a nicer neighborhood.
Needless to say, that ended
our tour of the Alta Monte Springs area. We were completely unimpressed and had
an hour's drive down I4 to get back to our house. I decided I had better get
some coffee for the long drive, so, we pulled into the Alta Monte Springs Dunkin
Donuts. We were waited on by a lady in her early twenties with a really gross
looking nose ring, and her entire face looked oddly swelled. Nevertheless, I
ordered my coffee, half a dozen donuts, and some munchkins. After ordering, I
used the restroom and then we all loaded into the van. As I pulled out of Dunkin
Donuts, Linda said "We are not eating these donuts." I said "I know what you
mean, I need to drop a few pounds." And she said "Well, yes, but, that isn't
what I mean. The lady who waited on us was sick. While you were in the bathroom,
she was coughing and hacking all over the donuts on the rack and she blew her
nose over the donuts and she never washed her hands. If we eat these we are all
going to get sick!"
This news presents a serious problem for me. I had
just spent $10 on donuts and coffee. We were on the ramp to I4. I couldn't turn
back. And if I could, what would I say? I want my money back because you have
been coughing all over the donuts? We spent most of the trip home deciding
whether or not we were going to eat the donuts. I was determined there was no
way I was throwing $10 into the garbage. Linda, who was grossed out and using
hand sanitizer just from touching the boxes, said there was no way she was
catching the Dunkin Donuts Flu. To conclude the argument, I ate one of the
donuts. I'm sure I won't get the Dunkin Donuts Flu. I hope I don't. This morning
I woke up sneezing and with a scratchy throat. But I'm sure it isn't the Dunkin
Donuts Flu.
The decision about the donuts was now settled. I would eat
all the donuts and the rest of the family would see if I got sick. Who ever won?
Got the bragging rights.
We sailed down I4 heading through Orlando.
Traffic was reasonable and we were able to do 65MPH. It was then I felt
something crawling on my leg. We have already discussed our battle with roaches
at the house. And we have discussed the revenge of the green beetles at Disney
World. Bugs are a continual and regular presence in Florida. It is a fact of
life. It is just something you have to deal with. But when I glanced down and
saw this giant spider crawling on my leg, it was unnerving! I start swatting at
it and stomping my feet trying to kill it and in the meanwhile I completely
forgot that I was flying down the road at 65MPH. I'm brought back to my senses
only by the honking horns of the cars that are dodging me and the screams of my
family.
"What is it?" Linda is screaming as I pull the van to the side of
the road. I answer "A giant spider". Now Linda is screaming. The kids
don't know what is going on, so, they are screaming. Everyone is
screaming as I get the van stopped. Linda grabbed the flashlight out of the
glove box and we start searching the van for this spider. He has to be
somewhere. And we can't risk getting back on I4 and have the spider attack
again. We searched under the dashboard, under all the seats, in the back. We
can't find it! Then I think to check the bottom of my shoe. I was stamping my
feet - maybe I got it? Sure enough, there was the spider smeared on the bottom
of my sneaker. With the spider crisis over, I ate one more donut and we pulled
back onto I4.
I've written previously about how most houses in Florida
have sprinklers to keep their lawn and bushes watered. And I wrote about how our
house has a water cannon that is used to water the palm tree and the front yard.
The sprinklers work according to some schedule that we have yet to figure
out.
When we finally made it to the house, I pulled into the driveway and
parked the van far to one side to avoid hitting the trash cans that sit in front
of the garage door. Through timing that could not be practiced nor rehearsed,
and could only have been planned by God himself, the water cannon flipped on
about the time Linda opened her van door. The side window deflected most of the
water, but enough of the water drenched her and the inside of the van.
I
take all this as an omen. An omen that tells us Alta Monte Springs is not a
place for us. I am glad we took an hour to drive there and an hour back so we
could see the area for ourselves. In the meanwhile... I am sneezing, scratchy
throat, running nose... could I be coming down with the Dunkin Donuts Flu?
