Last Updated on January 23, 2023 by Teri Rehkopf
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You know I love to mow.
I needed to mow the back pasture. But I got stopped a million times taking pictures. Pictures of my neighbor’s horses in her pasture. Her 2 minis and donkey were over by the fence again napping under the trees. So out comes my iPhone to take pics. My dog, Emma, is everywhere too.
Then I started taking pictures of the changing leaves. Then the trees and pastures. Everywhere around me. Needless to say, I was out mowing for 2 hours. Normally, it would be 40-60 minutes.
Our Flora
The people that originally owned our place planted a bunch of trees. We have a lot of maple trees and popcorn trees. The popcorn trees are considered a scourge in Florida. They multiply a lot. They have ‘popcorn-like’ seeds that drop everywhere.
I let the 2 back pastures grow this year to see if the wildflowers would produce a blanket of color. Not so much. Too many varieties muddle it up. I cut one of the pastures. It was more like bush hogging. I had to go back over it more than once.
Beautiful Dreaming
It’s so beautiful now! This is fall in Florida. Mid 70s. 50s at night. Getting up to low 80s again next week though. North Central Florida gets a cool front in late September/early October but gets hot again in the daytime. Wear layers. I can only wear shorts when I’m mowing in the sun. I need pants the rest of the time. And long sleeves. It’s cold at 70 to me.
Hurricane Ian
Ian pummeled the Florida peninsula overnight Wednesday, September 28, 2022 as a tropical storm. Then it emerged into the Atlantic Ocean at the Florida Space Coast near Orlando, proceeding up the coast to South Carolina, becoming a potential hurricane again.
Ian brought a cold front with it. I don’t remember having a cold front after a hurricane. It’s always been crazy hot. That’s tough when your electricity is out. It’s always cold enough at night to make the pool water too cold for me to get in it to wash off. Luckily, the electricity usually is only out for a day.
Not Much Here
As usual, Ian didn’t do that much damage here. Mostly the high winds that cleaned the trees of excess branches. A couple of small old trees. Our house is surrounded by trees. I think that’s what’s holding it all together: so many roots from big and small trees. I also have 3 large stands of gorgeous bamboo. Good for privacy. They are outside my bedroom window. I love to see them bend in the wind.
There’s standing water everywhere, but a lot less than we’ve had before with other hurricanes and nor’easters. We’ll still be doing backbreaking work cleaning it up.
Emma had never seen the pond full before, so I didn’t know if she would swim in it. Well, she did! Took a couple big towels to dry her off, because she decided to roll in her favorite dirt area. The neighbors a mile away could probably hear me yelling at her “No! No! No!”
Electricity was off from 8am – 6pm Wednesday, September 28. It hit Ft. Meyers area on September 29. They are just below us in the state. I woke up to no noise in my room. When I sleep, I have a window air conditioner that is on, a loud, noisy air filter, and I listen to sleep music with AirPods/iPhone to drown out outside noises. I also use a magnetic eye mask. I am “ate up with it all.”
But really, I’m a night person and insomniac. I sleep till 12 pm when I can. We don’t get up till 9:45 am around here! Even trained my dog to wait. We’re such slugs!
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