Friday December 10th 2021

For the first time in the current stretch of above normal temperatures, it felt hot today. The fog to start the day was lighter than the last few days. By 9AM a bright sun in a clear blue sky was warming the air. The clouds stayed away all day and so did the wind. It was a very calm day. The temperature peaked in the mid eighties. Compared to summer standards, it was a mild day, but by Florida winter standard it was hot. Tomorrow is forecast to be warmer.

One good thing associated with the warm weather is the return of the wildflower blossoms. The temperature for most of the month of November was bellow normal. As a consequence many of wild flower blossoms died off and new ones didn’t take their place. Of particular notice was the absence of flowers on the lily pads in the lakes. Since I arrived last week more flower blossoms have appeared every day. The last couple of days I’ve even spotted a few lily blossoms in the lakes with more buds ready to burst open in the next day or two.

It seems like every area has a different shopping pattern. I seem to have the bad luck of finding the peak times. Early afternoon on a Friday has been a low shopping time in other areas, but in this area it was a really busy time today. My stop at Walmart started with parking at the back of the parking lot and continued with congestion on all of the aisles in the grocery section of the store. I ventured into the non-grocery area and found a lot fewer customers, so it was food that was causing the draw not Christmas shopping. Either way I got my shopping done with only a few items forgotten. I will have to do without Oatmeal until my next shopping trip.

The campground really emptied out this morning, but filled up again as the evening approached. It seems to be a symptom of the reservation system. People in local travel distance book the weekends, a few of us book the maximum two stay and people traveling fill in the week days.