Cold and Freeze

Ok, here is a picture of our flower garden BEFORE the cold and the freeze or should I say the freezes. Our neighbor covered them while we were gone, and we covered them once we got back home but, unfortunately, the weather won out. They say this is the coldest it has been since 2003. I know that doesn't sound like a long time, only six years, but 20 degrees in Florida just doesn't compute. This weekend when it warms up I will trim back the "frozen" leaves and hopefully some of the plants will survive.

Do you know what they do about the strawberry crop? When the temperature goes below 32 degrees they spray water on the plants, the water freezes, encasing the plants which keeps the strawberries from being damaged. It seems to work. Later this month there will be a strawberry festival in Plant City. It is a huge event down here. Last year we missed it but maybe this year we can go.

That is one nice thing about traveling fulltime. We had free, fresh citrus from November through March in our campground, strawberries in February, and when we were in Oregon last year, we had fresh peaches in September. We have already had fresh grown sweet corn down here. We try to buy from local farmers when possible. The price is usually better.

We have kept warm by buying a heavier blanket, using our space heater, going shopping, and line dancing. Bill is the star of the class. Everyone loves it when he has to shimmy his behind. There have been two other gentlemen in the class, but not since Bill started dancing. Maybe they are afraid of the competition.

Bill has signed up to officiate softball in Florida and so we needed to purchase a pair of light gray trousers, which is part of his regulation uniform. We went to Sears, Pennys, K-Mart, Bells, Bells Outlet, but have not had any luck so far. We are going to have to order from a catalogue.

Tonight is Texas Hold Em night. I have my Bingo nights and Bill has his poker nights. While Kenny was here he was in a Texas Hold Em tourney and won. He was thrilled. He didn't even feel bad about taking money from complete strangers.

Heard from Mike, our youngest son, yesterday. It was snowing again in Indianapolis to the tune of four inches in three hours. He has purchased his ticket to fly down here later this month. Can't wait to see him. He has asked his dad to save at least four days so they can go fishing. Bill didn't turn that down.

Our neighbor had surgery Monday. He had rods put in his back. Can you believe that he was released from the hospital today? He seems to be doing quite nicely. God is good!

Well, we will just have to see what is in store for us tomorrow. God bless you all.