$115 Million and Counting

We have no reason to complain about the weather here in Florida, given the storms up the east coast, the cold, the snow, the airport delays.

But we have had an unusual December (global warming?), much colder than any I've experienced here. Usually we have a week or two in January where we flirt with temps below 40 degrees. This week, it has been in the teens (19 degrees to be exact) overnight, after two prior weeks of bone chilling nights for those of us who spend most of the winter in Bermudas (shorts, that is). Tonight will be better, and it promises to warm up over the New Year Weekend. But the average HIGH temperature in Tampa so far this month, is 53.

Around the bay area is a large farming belt. Strawberries, citrus, winter vegetables .... and tropical fish farms.

Journey is still out on the effect on strawberries and citrus...they are being closely monitored. But through December 20th, the loss on vegetable and fish crops?

$115 MILLION !!! The state believes the cold snap is on its way to a $273 million loss in December. Ugh. This after a 30% crop loss from our freeze LAST January. More economic woe, and you may feel the impact on your peppers and green bean consumption over the next two months.

The Grave HAS GOT TO GO.

So, the real estate market sucks. Nobody's buying houses, and the ones that do sell are deep discounted or slightly wrecked from a foreclosure experience. You think that's bad? Talk to a cemetery....

Excerpt from yesterday's Tampa Tribune....

NEED CASH NOW? GRAVE'S GOTTA GO

Forget burial. Who needs it? More and more Floridians are selling their gravesites and choosing cremation. The economy's just that bad.

Linda Ledesma has joined a small but growing number of people who are selling unwanted cemetery plots. The trend is particularly pronounced in Florida and Texas, that have drawn millions of retirees who have grown more accepting of cremation (editorial comment: About time! Our old European funeral/burial customs are bizarre!) ... others say they'd rather have the money now, to buy gas and insurance and worry about their final resting place later.....

The article goes on to say that it is definitely NOT a sellers market... so perhaps these unwanted and unused plots will be Florida's "greenspace" in decades to come. Macabre, yes. One plot had a sign saying "For Sale By Owner. Never Used.". Love that burial humor.

Florida. It's a trip.

quid