Oh, oh, oh, more excitement on the river!

I wish this were more clear but I did not want to mess with getting out the telephoto lens.....The red dot in the middle of this shot is a Coast Guard helicopter which was just now chasing this boat down the river, hovering in this picture right in front of the boat. As though the boater thought he could get away?? Kindly note the ugly skies---maybe the boater is getting "pulled over" for boating in ugly weather!

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Oh, and now they are going back the other way, with the red chopper circling above the boat. It does not appear to be a police or CG vessel, more like a pleasure boat. But no waterspouts in sight...yet!

The tiny chopper is right in the center of this shot, just above the trees, and behind the boat.

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Well, things have returned to what could be considered normal, except I still hear thunder in the distance. This girl does not go into the pool if the sun is not out so I guess getting dressed for the day is next on my agenda. This a.m. I was telling Joanne about my early morning dream, where I was going to a restaurant with a mixed group of people, some from church and some family members, and it was not until I got up to move to the dining room that I realized I had no shoes on! I made the remark, "It must be summer, I have no shoes on!" and everyone laughed. My kinda dream!

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The poor painters will have their work cut out for them in this weather, but there is much more to do than only applying paint on this building. One man had the job of pressure washing The Palace, using a pw mounted on a truck, not the type one uses around the house. Oh, how I would LOVE to commandeer that hose and go wash the area around the pool and cabana! The concrete railings and flower containers all badly need mildew removal, and many complain about how tired the area looks. Realizing that The Club does not have extra money right now for major improvements, at least they could hire a man with a pressure washer to clean up what we are paying for. Or let me do it!

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I just remembered something: a couple weeks ago there was a workday at church for painting the classroom building. Sadly, only about 10 people came, not all of them painters. But, one man, who has numerous little children and a full-time job as a cop showed up with his pressure washer! Brad washed down the exterior of the new building to get the dirt and residue off before Mike K. came along to paint it with his sprayer. Lots of spraying going on that day! I thanked Brad for doing that, and asked if he had a chance to clean off the formerly lighted sign at the street. He had not even noticed it but promised to bring the pw back to do that. Or, let me do it!

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That same day, a very ambitious couple had the foresight to take their trailer and pick up a half ton of ready-mixed asphalt to use for patching our earthquake-looking parking lot. A couple trenches had been dug in order to connect the electrical and plumbing to the street connections, leaving gaping, messy holes in our lot. It looked quite ghetto, if you ask me! The Building Committee, of which I am part (only three of us left!) decided to not make the repairs at this time. I was out-voted, or rather, I kept my remarks to myself. Anyway, a decision was made later to make the repairs, bucket by bucket, but Frank had the idea of getting a load of asphalt and taking care of it. They even got busy and painted lines on the parking lot so we can get more cars in, since people can actually see where they should park. I have to go now and write some "Thank You" cards, right this minute!

What a goofy day it turned out to be!

We have some steady sun shine right now but earlier it was doing a hide 'n seek thing. Being a very high maintenance girl, especially when it comes to swimming, I prefer to have sun on me when I am in the pool. The radio website shows 92 degrees right now so I think I might head down for a bit. Be right back.........

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Here I am, back upstairs and in my nightie again. I spent some time visiting at the pool while splashing about. Expecting to be poolside for at least a couple hours, I took along some greeting cards to write out as well as my memory tablet in order to take some notes as ideas come to me. I am full of 'em, and sometimes even remember a good idea, if I write it down!

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The sun did some more peekaboo games with me so I got out and sat at the table for a while. When the organized swim lessons began for the little ones, a man who frequents the pool daily during the summer came strolling to the adult side of the pool, saying he did not want to smoke around the kids. Great! He can smoke by me instead! Bill is incredibly thin and suns himself until he is toasted. Today he told me the sun helps heals his psoriasis. Huh, who knew? While we were out there, Kathy called after getting out of her training class and we made a plan to have lunch on Thursday, at the request of Janet. They will have to wait until I am done with water aerobics but Kathy said that was fine, as did Janet. As we tightened up the plans, I started getting splashed with cold water, but not from the pool. Rather, it had started to rain, big fat cold drops. Brrrrr! Since it was 94 or so outside, any rain would have felt chilly, even Bill said so!

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I gathered my stuff together and came upstairs. Having no plans for venturing out tonight, I decided to put my caftan on. The joys and privileges of being retired, answering to no one! So now I am nearly ready for bed and it is only 5:00 pm....the winds are kicking up and storm warnings are in place for some areas west of here. There is presently a man dangling from a tree along the river, trimming the branches of the palm trees. This is being done in order to clear the way for the painters as well as grooming, because branches were broken in recent wind storms and can become projectiles. Windows hate projectiles!

This view is looking south and down toward the lower level, but the man is climbing up toward about third floor height. No wonder he has a couple guys below him as spotters!

As if you haven't seen enough pictures.......

These photos basically speak for themselves as the funnel grows, fades, drops water, gathers it, and reforms into a cylinder shape.....

This is really so cool, and the good news is that there was no damage other than some power outages for a bit....The neighboring building is shown in this photo.

The staff from The Club gathered on our bulkhead to watch the tornado....the bosses must have been gone for the day or they would never have gotten away with this! Notice the flag being whipped by the wind? We even had "surfing" waves on the river but only for a very brief time. The water tower at the Navy base is on the right side of the picture. Traffic on the bridge continued though many pulled over to watch/take pictures, or like my friend, Linda did, went to the base to find a better view of the whole thing!

What an exciting day we had Friday!!!

http://wokv.com/slideshow/thumbs/funnel-cloud (click on this link to see photos)

Some of these photos are taken looking south down the river toward Orange Park, in fact, in a few you can pick out the water tower at NAS Jax.

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Early Friday morning I spent some time chatting with Joanne about a few things and then got myself ready for the day. My hair really needed the shower more than my body did because I have been in the pool daily all week, but my hair gets gunky from the product and the pool water. Sometimes it feels almost like plastic in my hair from being in the pool and out again. Recently I have simply been putting the swimsuit on right away instead of getting dressed first but Friday, I was on a mission!

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Upon finishing the Flock Talk and getting it sent off, I headed to the Island to do some banking and other errands before going over to see Julia at Great Hang Ups. Justin had helped me get some art supplies out of the closet in his room a few weeks ago and found a couple finished pieces that he claimed needed to be framed. So I took them up to Julia for framing and since I was right next door to Koko's...................Yummy! When I arrived at the shop, our shared friend, Sonya, was there with more jewelry for consignment, and I bought a piece to give Martie for her birthday. Shhh, do not tell her!

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After spending much time with Julia and her niece, Maggie, I came back home for a bit. Since I was going away in the evening, I decided to take a rest so I could stay up late. As I rested, I returned a phone call from Ellen, my upstairs neighbor, as we laid out timing for the evening. Originally we were meeting some other ladies at The Loop at San Marco for dinner but Ellen had made a mistake of the start time of the play. Only off by an hour...so what? While we were plotting our departure, she all of a sudden shrieked, and the phone went quiet. I figured she just got a call from someone she had not heard from in a long time.....

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In a minute, she called back, asking me if I saw the cloud "like in 'The Wizard of Oz'", and told me to go to the window. She has a different orientation than mine, where I look at Mandarin, she looks toward downtown. I did not see anything so I said I would come up there. Sure enough!!! There was a funnel cloud, more like a tampon string, as Ellen described it. Well, okay.....It was more straight up and down, less 'funnel' shaped than a tornado would be. She had the TV on and they also had live footage of this tornado/water spout that was dancing in the river. Some were reporting penny-sized hail and branches down but it never got to us, never got beyond the Buckmann Bridge. The river had waves like at the ocean but only briefly. We were just running window to window, like the dogs were, having the presence of mind to call our neighbor whose hubby is in a wheel chair to caution her about seeking shelter. Not us! Oh, no, we are standing in her river room, surrounded on three sides by glass doors!

*

After all the commotion and drama had died down, we realized that the area where we were going was most likely underwater, as San Marco is known for its frequent street flooding. We changed our plans and agreed to meet Maggie O. and her friend at 'our' Loop on Wells Road instead, especially since we were not really ready to go yet! In a few minutes we transformed ourselves and had our dinner before heading to the play. It was called "Into the Woods", a take-off on children's nursery rhymes. Maggie O. is a retired drama and voice teacher so this was surely her element, with her friend, Pat, also a teacher. Maggie had performed and spent time in this theater for countless years, either performing or working behind the scenes. This is an untapped resources, at least by me, and Theater Jacksonville is going on its 90th year! Do I hear church field trip???

Another "manatee" on the river!!!

Here I am, kickin' back and enjoying the party on the sundeck Thursday night. Hugh took the photo and sent it to me, saying that the photographer never gets a picture of themselves! It appears I am having a great time......

A good time was had by all!

Yesterday morning was our water aerobics class. Maggie O. came this time but her friend, our friend, Ellen, was feeling too sunburned to come down to participate. She really got scorched on her first day out in the elements Tuesday. I should have watched her more closely as we sat and talked for hours and hours in the sun!

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When the class was over, one of the ladies, Lonnie, invited me to have lunch with her friend and her at The Club. Phyllis lives in the Capri which is the building next to mine and was walking over to meet us. Of course, I said I would but cannot go into the dining room in my swimsuit. Lonnie had pulled a long dress on over her clothes so would have met dress code. She suggested to Phyllis that we dine poolside, as Ellen and I had done Tuesday, but when Phyllis came back with the menus, she said she would prefer not to eat from the foam "to-go" box. Instead, the hostess set up a table on the patio just outside the addition to The Club, complete with table cloth, flowers, the works, just for us!

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An aside: as I look across the river at the approaching storm complete with lightning, I see the boat that looks exactly like mine dashing toward "home" before the storm comes on full force. I miss my boat, do not miss owning it, but miss riding in it! "Sittin' Pretty" was my boats' name, wonder if that is it....

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Back to lunch: Lonnie wanted me to meet her friend, thinking we would have much in common, and I guess we did. Other than being neighbors, she is friends with one of the ladies in my building, considers herself a frustrated editor, and was just a delight. Both ladies are substantially older than I am but it really does not matter. They laughed at my menu choice however, as I played "stump the waitress" by asking for a hot dog again. She looked at me like I ordered something quite exotic instead of something so low brow. I told her I had it on Tuesday so she went to check, reporting back that indeed, I could have a grilled hot dog! The other ladies had regular menu items while I ate one of the two dogs they brought me and some of the fries. It was great fun to chat with these ladies and appreciated being made part of their little circle!

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After lunch I came upstairs and exchanged my swim clothes for my nightie since I did not want to get re-dressed right away. It is hard to get clothes on after being in a swimsuit most of the day, what can I say??? The afternoon was spent working on the church newsletter which will be an abbreviated version of its usually longer form due to the fact that little is taking place around church during the summer months, particularly since Pastor and family are on vacation. Today it is finished and was e-mailed to the recipients forthwith!

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This evening I am attending a play with Maggie O. and Ellen in San Marco called "Into the Woods", a take-off on children's nursery rhymes. Joanne's dad has seen it and found it quite amusing. I am looking forward to it, especially spending time with my friends!

Oh, like you don't know what I am going to talk about today....

The Cap and Trade Agreement! The Congress of the United States is set to vote on this important, life-changing, probably life-damaging policy change and hardly anyone is aware of it. Why? Because a couple more entertainers died, that's why. Nero is fiddling again and the policymakers rejoice, enjoying the accidental distraction from the business of the country. And we thought a romantic jaunt to Argentina was enough of a distraction---not so much! I used to think how "lucky" it was for Gary Condit when the terrorists attacked us on our shores in 2001, because he was under the microscope for the death of Chandra Levy. Whew! That was close! Guess it turned out that another man was arrested for the murder but at the time, man, for sure, Condit was the guy!

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I have had the national "news" on since about 6:00 a.m. and now they are finally showing something that is real news. Not good news, but worthy of the title nonetheless. What I find amusing about the Michael Jackson story is when photos are shown of him as a young black child from Gary, IN and his "evolutionary" process into a lovely young white female at the age of 50...and no one finds this odd? Of course they do! But now, little will be said about the child molestation charges, the wildly eccentric behaviors, money flushed down the toilet, so to speak, these children he's harvested as his own....Even Geraldo Rivera was telling this a.m. about his last interview with him/her a few years ago, about Jackson's having a piece of tape across what was left of his nose after numerous surgeries had compromised its position on his face. The more an aberration a person is, the more popular they become....I must be getting old and crotchety!

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On a "lighter" note, the sun is nicely warming my chubby arm as I write. In a few minutes I expect Justin to be here for a very important task, or two----soda delivery and a closing! A closing? Yes, here's the story: Yesterday a.m. our maintenance person, Connie, came to the door to get my keys so she could move my car away from the building. Some workers had to park their equipment in my spot so I gave her the keys, saving me from getting dressed first to do so. When she came back up, Connie told me about the screens having to come out of the front windows for the painter. I said I would ask Justin to do it, but she took a look at them, saw they were in the window backward, and pulled them off. Just like that! I had never messed with the screens or windows in those secondary rooms so the screens must have been reversed (pull tabs on the exterior vs. interior) since I moved in. In this process, however, we saw that one of these high windows was open a bit, about an inch or so. Neither of us could budge it from outside so I tried from inside the room, although I had little leverage from the angle I was at. I did what I do best in these situations and that was to contact Justin to come close it for me!

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He was too busy yesterday pulling weeds at the office because someone was coming to look at office space, so he offered to come first thing this a.m. At first I said I would try again but he insisted I just leave it for him, since there was a computer desk and Christmas boxes to be worked around in order to access the window. We just wonder how long it has been opened like that, and who was able to reach over all the junque to open it. No one could have gotten in to rob or hurt us here, as the metal bars are in the windows but a snake or other creatures, or even cold could get in around the misshapen screen. Oh, yeah, and heat.....

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My tummy is grumbling this a.m. probably because I did not really have supper last night. Our building had a social event called "Instead 'a Dinner" which fortunately was not rained out by a tropical storm like last year's was! Or moved upstairs, like we did when Lisa, Lynn and family was here. It was well attended, great food and company, but sadly, only our same group of people came. These events were intended to help bond people, unite, mollify, whatever, but inevitably it is the same people who attend these events, even the nightly ones, who came last night. We all donated assorted appetizers for our entree and I brought my formerly 'fresh-out-of-the-cow' cheese curds. Being such a picky eater (can't tell by looking at me!) I did not overdo it at the table. Not a big fan of humus or freeze-dried green beans or whatever the heck those things were! Hugh took the remainder of the cheese curds home with him to finish for breakfast---if they lasted that long! He loves 'em!

Here are the early arrivers at the "Instead 'a Dinner" event on the sundeck last night. Jack in the wheelchair, Mustafa walking with wine glass, Karen and Maureen along the wall, and Hugh's back toward me. The pools are in the background with people still swimming because it was such a lovely evening.

Jeff is seen here chatting with Connie, our maintenance lady, and Ellen, whose glass I lust after! She made a pan of chocolate rice krispie treats just for me but I shared with the entire group. One of the girls who came later had never had one before....imagine!!