Settling Down

We decided to change from full-timers to part-timers and have a home base.  So, we bought a small house in Pensacola.  At 1,000 square feet, it is still 5 times bigger than our RV!  The house is a fixer upper and will provide plenty for us to do.  The structure is good and it has wood floors throughout the house, but everything needs cleaned and painted.  The wood floors will take a lot of work too.

The previous owners didn’t mow for months so the grass was two feet high.  On our 2^nd day, the police showed up asking us to take care of the yard!  Either the previous owners were going for privacy or they just didn’t care enough to trim bushes.  So, there is a row of 10-foot bushes surrounding the property.  Personally I thought we should keep it this way for Halloween for a real scary haunted house.

 

 

It’s taken some time to get used to home living again.  Before we only had to pay for phone and the RV park / state park.  Now we have phone, electric, gas, water, sewer, trash, and internet.  I forgot how much a hassle it is having a home.  On the other hand, having separate rooms for sleeping, reading, watching TV, and eating is just wonderful.

Another comment…Craigslist and Freecycle are one of the best inventions of all time!  The previous owners left lots of junk.  With freecycle, we were able to get rid of lots of stuff that someone else can use versus paying for someone to haul it off as trash.  Craiglist has been good for both buying and selling things quickly.  How did we live before the internet?

Hopefully we can show a few before-and-after pictures of the house.  Plus, we plan to travel for the Christmas holiday and at different times.  Our posts will be more sporadic in the future.

Bon Secours Wildlife

Of course we had to hike through the refuge.  There were a lot of gorgeous butterflies and LOADS of very fast lizards.

The plant life looks like dinosaurs could be coming along at any time.
 

The biggest surprise to me was the Reindeer Moss.  Reindeer eat this up north.  I called it fluffy moss.  It’s not really moss but lichen.  Supposedly it’s edible (if you’re desperate) and is even used in making an alcohol called Aquavit which is popular in Scandinavian.  To me it just looks magical!

 

 

Bon Secours Beach

Bon Secours is a national wildlife refuge in Alabama.  The idea of seeing wildlife is nice, but it was a hot day when we visited earlier this year so we started with the beach area.  These aren’t ours, but I loved these sand castles (along with the bird who was checking it out)!

It’s a very quiet area with few people.

 

On the horizon we could see several oil rigs.  They’re the spots on the horizon.

 

It was a good clean beach for relaxing and jumping in the waves.

LA Fun

While in LA, I stopped at Randy’s Doughnuts.  This is the place that Iron Man hung out in the 2^nd movie.  It’s seen in several other movies like "2012" where the doughnut is shown rolling down the street.  It’s a 32’ diameter doughnut built in 1953 from steel bars and gunnite (like the material used in swimming pools).  Very cool!

I also visited a casino that was close to my hotel.  Since RV parking at a casino is free in many places, I’ve visited several in the last year.  Those casinos were primarily full of slot machines with only a few tables.  The casino in LA was completely different.  Instead of slot machines, there was room after room of different types of poker (hold em, stud, etc.) and tables for 21.  The tables were full on a weekday afternoon with serious looking gamblers.  Some were eating at the table rather than lose their place since there were people waiting to fill open spots.   I’m not used to gambling so slot machines intimidate me.  These games and gamblers REALLY intimidated me!

This space age structure is at the LA airport. It’s called Theme Building and opened in 1961.  It’s supposed to look like a flying saucer with four legs. Again it’s been seen in multiple movies and TV shows whenever the LA airport is involved ("Speed", "Hancock", etc.).  In the saucer is Encounter Restaurant along with an observation deck (only open on weekend), but I couldn’t find an easy way to get across the roads to get inside.

 

The World’s Oldest McDonald’s

Just for the fun of it, I went to the World’s Oldest McDonald’s.  It opened in 1953 as a franchise with the original McDonald’s owners, not Ray Kroc.

It’s just a few miles from the plant I’m visiting in LA.  The design of the place is unique.  You order at a counter outside, pick up your order at another window, and then eat in a different open-air building. 

 

There’s a sign outside explaining the history and it even has a museum.  It has stuff like this, a multi-mixer for shakes.  Because the McDonald brothers ordered five of these machines, Ray Kroc flew out to California just to see their operations and find out why it was so popular.  Ray Kroc bought out the business in 1955. 

Speedee was the original logo for McDonald’s.  Ronald McDonald came into being in 1963 with Willard Scott as the first Ronald.  Love his hat!

I haven’t eaten at a McDonald’s in years, but the food and service was good while the "ambiance" was great!

LA Driving

This is me whining again.  I flew into Los Angeles for a business trip without my personnel chauffeur.   Without John, I actually had to handle driving in LA traffic.  I grew up in the country.  We thought the traffic was busy when 2 cars passed our house in the same hour. I’m not a good driver so driving in busy traffic, trying to maneuver through the five lanes of traffic, and desperately trying not to die is tough.  Let’s just say there was some cussing going on inside my car (but not yelled out the window).  Luckily the drivers in LA were actually pretty polite and helpful when I made a stupid mistake. 

To top it off, I decided to be environmental and picked up a rental Prius Hybrid.  I’ve never driven one before but it sounded ‘cool’. First, it took me 5 minutes (or more) to figure how to turn it on and get it moving forward.  At one point in LA traffic I actually had to go in reverse.  That took some time to figure out.  Oh, and it beeps when you back up.  Plus, I’m still not sure why it loudly beeped at me in the middle of an intersection, scaring me while I’m trying to navigate all the traffic.

The car may be wonderful (I still haven’t figured out all the displays), but the rear view is terrible.  There’s a bar through the back window and the open area of the window is VERY small.  Here’s what I see in my rear view window.

Speaking of blind spots, yikes!

Johnson Beach

 

Earlier this summer we visited a wonderful beach in Pensacola.  The sand is white, waves aren’t too high, and the long beach isn’t very crowded even on a Saturday.  Matter of fact, there are portions of the beach with VERY few people.  Can’t get better than this.

 

There is a sign explaining that the beach was named for Rosamond Johnson, Jr.  He joined the military at age 15 and died in the Korean War at the age of 17.  During a skirmish, he carried two wounded soldiers to safety and was returning with a third when he was killed.  He was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart. 

Even the locals don't seem to know this, but at the time (1950), Pensacola beaches were racially segregated.  This beach was designated for the sole use of “colored citizens” and named to honor Johnson.  I’m glad to hear it honors someone like this but it’s always unsettling to hear about the segregation of that time.

The picture shows sea oats.  The grain is edible and the plant can be used in dried flower arrangements.  However, the main use is to stabilize sand dunes and thus protect the coast from storms. So the grass is protected.  Disturbing sea oats is punishable by a fine in Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina.  In Florida, that can be up to $1,000 and/or one year in jail.  I’m not coming close to them!

 

Funny story I read…a newly married couple visited the outer banks of North Carolina one day.  On it was a sign that quite disturbed the young wife.  “Stay off the Sea Cats”, it said.  The husband explained the sign was just a bit worn out and it actually meant sea oats.

Yellow Fever Epidemics

Back in Florida now…

 

Sometimes we get a little sick from a cold or flu that’s going around. It’s hard to remember that at many different times in history there have been deadly epidemics from diseases that are now rare in the U.S.  While other port cities had occasional outbreaks, coastal cities in Florida were frequently struck with epidemics from yellow fever (also called Yellow Jack) in the 1800’s.  Different stories:

-    Rev. Saunders of Old Christ Church died from yellow fever in 1839 and was buried under the vestry room of the church (pictured).

-    In 1853, 253 people died of yellow fever.  Several were buried at St. Michael’s cemetery including the father, son, and daughter buried here.

After serving only 10 weeks as rector, Rev. Flowers died from yellow fever in the same epidemic.  He was buried beneath the Old Christ Church with Rev. Saunders along with another rector who died from tuberculosis.  Their bodies are still there.  This same epidemic killed 11,000 people in the bigger town of New Orleans.   

-   It is believed that these two seamen died of yellow fever in 1867.  The markers are made from cast iron, a material used more in Europe than here.  The epidemic must have been so bad that New York doctors were requested to help the city.  Locally, the Navy Yard closed and officers were granted leave.  An estimated 150 to 200 people died due to yellow fever.

 

-    In Pensacola, 354 out of 1400 residents died in 1874. That’s 25 percent!

 -    In 1882, an epidemic struck again killing at least 78.  One story is a ship navigator contracted yellow fever.  His ship left him but he recovered and found a job tending bar in a saloon.  The saloon owner soon died in the epidemic.  Two years later he married the widow and became the owner.  He became a major businessman in the area.

-    A major epidemic in1890 is also mentioned.

-    The last epidemic was recorded in 1905.

Doctors tried to establish screening and quarantine procedures, fumigation techniques, and methods for treating the sick, but even today there is no cure for yellow fever. Many people fled to the country during an epidemic. Since the type of mosquito that transferred the virus preferred clean water such as in urban areas, this helped them avoid the sickness.  Local papers didn’t discuss an epidemic until it was over so it wouldn’t affect shipping and immigration while doctors didn’t want to announce an epidemic since people would leave and perhaps infect more people.  No one knew what caused the disease. 

It wasn’t until 1900 that Dr. Walter Reed proved that yellow fever was transmitted by mosquitoes.  Mosquito control methods were developed.  The first vaccine against yellow fever was developed in the 1930’s.  Even today, around the world 30,000 people die each year from yellow fever.