My Bro is a Floridian

For my adult life, since the age of 24, I have lived 1200-1500 miles away from my nearest relative.
I am fortunate that both my kids are in Tampa, so I have the next generation close at hand.  Still, living alone and with no close relatives to depend on tests your resilience.

So, I'm ecstatic that my brother and his wife retired to Palm Harbor, about 15 miles from me.  Thus far, we have shared meals and football, but I'm looking forward to concerts and holidays.  They got here via the movers from hell, and so far have experienced 2 brushes with hurricanes.  The former problem should keep them here, never to move again... the latter makes Florida transplants think twice.  But I'm hoping they'll be here a long, long time.

Here's Gary and Denise with my little granddaughter:

Somehow, Florida seems more like home now.

Tropical Storm Debby.... get me an oar, or 2!

Wow....  we have had a deluge in my little corner of Florida.  Some of the suburbs here have had 12-16 inches of rain in the last day and 1/2.... at Casa Quido, we had about 8 inches.  The gully behind my home that separates my townhouse back yard from a little slice of forever wild forest (where I've seen a lot of deer!), started filling rapidly with runoff yesterday.  By 4 pm Sunday, it was nearly full to the brim, and I started to worry it would overflow and flood the lanai.  


No such bad luck!  I did lose electricity several times yesterday, and hunkered down inside the house, unwilling to brave tornado watches and the likelihood that I wouldn't see 2 feet in front of my face if I went out in the car.  


This morning, the active storm and tornado spottings had moved due east, although the forecast was for more rain here along the coast, since Debby is meandering around in the Gulf like it was a bathtub, on a path going a full 3 mph.  When I opened the garage door, I had to move limbs (several) from the driveway.  I was nearly blown over by the wind.  I had to leave the subdivision by the back way, since the front entrance and street were flooded out. This was one of many road floods and closings here today.  


Apparently, right after I left, the big wind took down this enormous (20+ feet) pine in the back, ACROSS the gully.  It crashed down across the gully and onto the kitchen windows and roof of my townhome, missing by inches.  No rain yet tonight, but more is forecast, and the winds are terrific.  Always remember... Florida in June?  Not a good time to visit!


quid

Tougher to be Unemployed in 9 states

Wisconsin added a "waiting week".... we've always had that in Florida. They also denied benefits to anyone filing for unemployment who fails a drug test. We're much more aggressive in Florida; we're going to make anyone who applies for any type of state aid take a drug test at their own expense. Wisconsin's unemployment is only 7.6%.


South Carolina is slashing weeks of unemployment from 26 to 20. They're also designating any employer who operates 36 weeks a year or less as "seasonal", making their layoff workers ineligible. At 10.5%, they have the 5th highest unemployment in the land.

Rhode Island (for some reason, the 3rd highest in unemployment at 10.8%) has a new calculation for unemployment that will reduce average benefits by $100 a week.

Michigan, at 10.5%, and Missouri, at 8.8%, are reducing weeks from 26 to 20, just like SC.

Indiana's new formula cuts UE from $283 to $220, and they added the drug provision as well. They're at 8.3% unemployment.


Illinois, at 9.2%, and Arkansas, at 8.1% have reduced benefits by one week, from 26 to 25. Arkansas has capped benefits at $451 (which seems like a fortune to Florida workers, at $275)

Florida wanted to see "how low can you go"...at 10.6%. It's at 23 weeks as long as Florida is above 10.5%, however, one week drops off for every .5% reduction; which means that workers will get only 12 weeks if we ever return to 5%. However, given that we have been too busy with anti-abortion and restricting voter rights legislation, we didn't pass any jobs bills while the legislature was in session.

FIRST BIG STORM OF THE SEASON? MAYBE

The fifth named storm (Emily) of the Atlantic hurricane season IS churning west-northwest at 14 miles (22 km) per hour on a track that would put it over Dominica/Haiti late on Wednesday before taking aim at the southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos islands on Thursday.

The NHC also revised its tracking guidance to reflect the possibility that Emily would cut a northward path up the Florida peninsula beginning on Friday night. Its forecast of the storm's wind speeds was also revised upward, opening the door to the possibility of it becoming a low-level Category 1 hurricane by Monday.

It bodes badly for Haiti, where it could cause flash flooding, adding to the woes of the crippled nation, where over 6,000 people have died of cholera since October.

While Emily might still be in Tropical Storm status when it scrapes the East coast of Florida Saturday, as it bounces back into the Atlantic, it could form a potentially weak (category 1?) hurricane as it runs smack into the Georgia/SC/NC coast.

Watching and waiting for the first time this season.

All of us in Central Florida....

Are glad that this trial is almost over. It has been difficult to be in the spotlight for such a cruel and unusual court case. Unfortunately, for America, as it winds down, the jury is being selected for the trial of Michael Jackson's doctor. We just can't get away from it.

Postscript:

I am willing to consider that Casey was putting Caylee "under" with Xanax (Zanny) and keeping her in the trunk of her care whenever she wanted to be out all night. When she ran out of Xanax, with no pipeline, she looked into homemade chloroform. Using the chloroform with a lack of skill, she gave Kaylee too much and found her dead the next day.

Felony manslaughter with child abuse, 2nd degree manslaughter... if it was an (albeit cruel and abusive) accident.

But, as we will all be able to argue, we think she did it, we don't know much about how it happened, but there was enough reasonable doubt to not convict.
Hard to believe.

Stand back and watch her cash in on the book, and I'm sure she'll want to play herself in the TV movie. Sigh.

My best advice... change your appearance, change your name, move to another state.

Driving Home In Florida

It's June, and while the first part of the month....hot, hot, hot, no rain..... was not atypical for this part of Florida, as we close the month, the norm has arrived. It rains every afternoon.

I often marvel at the late afternoon rains (more like deluges) but nothing is stranger than being in a Florida city and realizing that one suburb is getting a monsoon while the next is still having bright sunshine.

Tonight, Florida rains held us in our offices for an hour. At 5:30, we hadn't followed the wise colleagues who had taken one look at the blackening sky and made for their cars quickly. Thus, as tropical, blinding rain began with what were almost night skies, we looked at each other and decided to wait it out indoors. After about 15 minutes, we doubted our wisdom as the heavy rain created a gushing river in the parking lot. Now, instead of getting clothes wet (even with umbrella, as the breeze was strong), we were faced with the thought that we'd be soaked to our knees if we tried to navigate the water on the ground.

Finally, finally, around 6:30, there was a break in the action and we made a run for it, still having difficulty crossing the 2" deep currents in parts of the parking lot. Damp, and in my car, I began to drive west. I live 12 miles from work. At mile marker 6, I could tell that the sky on the horizon was blue, and the area around me looked like it had had a little drizzle. As I reached home, I marveled at the fact that the roads and grass were bone dry, the sky blue, the sun beautiful and people were outdoors playing. Changeable Florida. Never ceases to amaze me.

A Life Saved - Enock Mezilas

In a truly great story of our community, Enock Mezilas, who emigrated with his parents legally from Haiti via the Bahamas to Ft. Lauderdale, has been in the country for 11 years. His parents didn’t realize they needed to get him a green card; thought that was only for those who wanted to work. Thus, Enock is not qualified for Medicaid. At 13, run down from playing soccer, Enock was initially diagnosed with asthma. His father, who works at an Assisted Living Facility, had health insurance that covered him.

As it turns out, Enock’s breathing problem was misdiagnosed. In reality, he had a rare case of acid reflux; so bad that the acid from his stomach endangered his lungs, and he began to need repeated hospitalizations in order to breathe. Somehow, he managed to earn A’s and B’s in school and recently graduated, late, as an honors student. His only chance of survival? A lung transplant within the year 2011, as Enock’s condition worsened. Lungs found for a transplant at Jacksonville’s Mayo clinic turned out to have been exposed to Hepatitis B, and Enock missed that chance.

The family’s insurance covered the costs of a double lung transplant at Tampa General hospital, and Enock was high on the list, until, it was determined that the anti-rejection drugs, which run $300-$600 a month (for the rest of his life) were not covered. The transplant team needed the family to have a reserve of at least $10,000 in order to move forward….money enough to be sure that he got the anti-rejection drugs and post operative care. It doesn't sound like a lot of money, but Enock's family... dad working to continue to support him, mom with him at all times, had exhausted any funding they might have had to assist him.

The wonderful local newspaper, the St. Pete Times, came forward two months ago with Enock’s story…which was then picked up by local news stations. The local Tampa Bay area community responded with a spirit that has made our community so great over the years. Donations poured in, and over $135,000 has so far been raised, enough to see Enock well into the future. Late in May, Enock received his lung transplant, and, just in this past week, was well enough to go to a rehab facility in our area until he is ready to go back to Fr. Lauderdale.

Word cloud... new governor

One word post about new Florida governor, Rick Scott, (yes, the perpetrator of vast Medicare fraud as the CEO of Columbia/HCA).... shown in a word cloud. Feelings of the populace as Rick begins his new job:

We're optimists, don'tcha know!

He does remind me of Voldemort. Or, as some Floridians spell...Voldermort.