Thoughts on Florida

Feeding the manatees at Silver Springs, FL

February in Florida can be quite lovely, with the temperatures hovering between 68 and 78 degrees during the day and much cooler at night. The humidity is considerably less as well, making trips to various educational and entertainment sites more enjoyable.

A few years ago I went with my buddy T and his son's family (2 boy grands) to the Silver Springs manatee shelter. These animals are mammals, are sort of like hippos in skin texture and very sweet, endangered critters. It is a delight to watch them come up for carrots and lettuce and they stay in the springs area because they need fresh water to drink.

These manatees look like they are having an amorous
exchange, or are they exchanging carrots?

If you want to learn more about manatees, this is the place to go for the details. But when I was looking for pictures of the things I had in my house a few years ago, I found these and found the memories of this little trip very refreshing.

The reason I was looking for pictures is that when I returned to my house a few weeks ago, I came home to betrayal by my so-called friend Betty Johns and her husband, Albert, who took away things that clearly did not belong to them along with their skipping on the rent - a rather large sum, I might add. If you are reading this, Betty, I hope you still have enough conscience to be embarrassed to have taken so much from me when I was so willing to help you out in your time of need.

Your whole family took advantage of my generosity and there will be Hell to pay for doing that. Not by me, because I am turning it all over to a Higher Authority. The consequence of stealing is serious as you will discover.

The greatest pain was not the loss of stuff that I'd accumulated, but the betrayal by someone who even two weeks before claimed to be my best friend, her sneaking out from a debt with no compunction about leaving my car unlocked and available to vandals and all the filth left behind by people who have no sense of values and no pride. I am glad they are out of my life, but I am grieving all the same.