Thursday June 20th 2024

This morning was a cloudy and dull weather day. In mid afternoon about five minutes of big rain drops fell light a fanfare for the arrival of the sun. The remainder of the day was sunny and windy. The high temperature for the day was right around the ninety degree mark.

This was a three act day, except the final act was different than planned. The first act of my daily activities was completing a few chores around the RV. The clutter was starting to get ahead of me. I spent an hour or so putting things away and catching up on the dishes. The drain had a few too many food crumbs accumulated to flow properly. Getting everything unplugged took a few extra minutes.

My second act of the day was a few errands. Traffic was moving pretty well today. One surprise was the price of gas. It is sixteen to twenty cents higher than it was this past weekend. With my errands complete I returned to my RV home to drop off a couple of things, before going to Disney’s Magic Kingdom for the evening.

This is where my plans changed. As I was killing time to sync my arrival at the park with the 5PM flag retreat in the Magic Kingdom, I fell asleep. Watching the flag retreat wasn’t going to happen and my overall enthusiasm for a late afternoon and evening visit to the Magic Kingdom didn’t wake up with me after my nap. Instead, I cook some dinner and took one of my usual walks around the RV resort.

Tonight there were more squirrels around the park than rabbits. I saw close to ten different squirrels but only one rabbit. The grass did get mowed today in the area I have been seeing most of the rabbits. That is probably why they are elsewhere. As far as the lawn moving goes, it looks good where they mowed. Unfortunately, they didn’t mow in my area of the park. All the rain has produced a lot of tall sparse and shaggy grass in my area of the park. I wonder when they will get to it.

Wednesday June 19th 2024

In this blog entry we continue the saga of fighting with the weather. When I went to bed last night the forecast called for rain shortly after the noon hour. I planned to get up early (for me) and go to Disney’s Animal Kingdom for the morning. Well, I got up late and the weather had its own plans.

While I was eating breakfast I started watching a YouTube live stream video from Walt Disney World. The YouTube channel ResortTV1 was in the Disney Parks trying to ride all the rides in one day. They started at 7:30 and planned to end at 1AM Thursday. The rain caught them at 10AM. It started at my RV Home a half an hour later.

The updated forecast called for rain through mid afternoon. My updated plan was to head for the parks as soon as the rain passed through the area I was aiming for 4PM. That time came and went. It was almost 6PM before a little bit of blue started to appear in the sky. By then getting to Disney and into the park wouldn’t happen until 7PM or later. Tomorrow is another day.

I continued to watch the YouTube stream from ResortTV1 all day. I’m still watching it now as I write this blog entry. The rain and ride breakdowns have kept them from succeeding in their challenge to ride all the rides, but they are still very entertaining and I think they are having fun.

Before dark I got to take a walk around the RV resort. It is the first time I was out all day. All of the bunny rabbits were out this evening. The rain over the last couple of days really caused the grass to grow. The rabbits were having a real feast eating the tall grass. They better eat quick. Tomorrow is lawn moving day.

Tuesday June 18th 2024

Today’s weather was pretty much the same as the day before. It was a cloudy with a strong wind out of the east. It looked like it might rain at any time, but the only rain we got was a very brief shower in the mid afternoon.

For some reason I was operating in low energy mode today. I slept fine overnight, but also managed to doze off several times during the day as well. Eventually I forced myself to get out for a grocery run.

Walmart was busy today. Just finding a parking place was a bit challenging. A big tent has been setup in the parking lot. I assume it is to sell fireworks for the fourth of July. Inside the store there were plenty of shoppers and an excess number of employees in the aisles. For some reason there was a least one set of employees in most every aisle straightening out the shelves. They weren’t stocking the shelves just bring the stock from the back of the shelf to the front. There were a couple of other employees sweeping the aisles with big brooms. Maybe they have an inspection coming.

Checking out was a time consuming task today. They had plenty of lines open, but the average grocery cart was three quarters full. It took longer than normal for each customer to get checked out. I didn’t check the time, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was twenty minutes to half an hour.

Monday June 17th 2024

Today looked a lot like yesterday with fluffy clouds that blocked the sky most of the time. Unlike yesterday it wasn’t as humid or as hot and the forecast didn’t call for any rain. The temperature even peaked in the upper eighties below the usual high for this time of year.

The bad news about the weather is the forecast was wrong. It rained while I was out on my walk around the RV park. I had to take shelter for about half an hour under the roof at the shuffle board courts near Lake Davenport. This is the first day in a while that my walk around the park got to that far away point. Over the last few days the weather either rain or heat have kept my walks closer to home.

I was surprised to see a couple of more resident changes in the lower area of the park near the lake. Two RVs that I assumed would be there all summer were gone. They will be back. Their flowers and patio structures are waiting for them. One RV that departed a month or so ago is back. I am not sure for how long, since they don’t seem to be setting up camp much other than watering their extensive flower gardens. The coming and goings during the summer at this park seems to be interesting to observe. In general, the park is much more active now in the middle of the hot season than it was at the end of the snowbird season. Most of the RVs seem to come in for a week or two.

Up in my area of the RV resort, another RV that was here when I arrived has returned. They are not on the same site, but they are easy to recognize. They seem to overflow their site. They park cars on the paved area and on the grass. A big screened porch structure takes up more of the grass. Last night the only place they seemed to be able to find to sit was behind their RV. Unfortunately, the place behind their RV they chose was in the road. It was difficult for cars trying to make the turn onto my road. They had to maneuver to avoid them. The park security golf cart stopped by their site later in the evening. Some of the behaviors seem to have changed, but why was it an issue in the first place. They clearly weren’t in a safe place.

Sunday June 16th 2024

Today was a lot like yesterday both weather wise and with my activities. It wasn’t a very blog content worthy day. After a slow morning reading and watching some TV, I headed out for a few errands in the mid afternoon. The sky was filled with fluffy white clouds with a few gaps for sun when I entered Target for a little shopping (looking). Upon exiting the store a few minutes later, the same clouds were now dark near black and stretched high into the air. A thunderstorm was forming practically overhead.

During the warm season winds blow in off the Atlantic and off the Gulf of Mexico. When the winds meet somewhere in the middle of the Florida Peninsular storms form. Where they form depends on the strength of the wind from each direction. Today they seemed to meet a little east of my RV home. I made it home before the storm hit. Heavy rain, wind, thunder and entertaining lightening lasted for about an hour. The cloud to ground lightening in the distant sky are interesting to watch as long as you don’t consider the potential damage and danger they represent.

While I was out this afternoon I filled up the gas tank. Gas prices are down a little from the last time I filled the tank. I filled my tank at the nearby Race Trac for $3.19 a gallon. I saw gas as low as $3.09 later in the day. A couple of weeks ago it was over $3.39 a gallon. The price volatility remains a thing to watch.

Saturday June 15th 2024

I fell into the fear the forecast mode again today. This morning the hour by hour forecast for this immediate area called for rain starting in the 11AM hour. The sky was filled with clouds this morning, so it seemed very possible. Eleven came and went without any rain. The updated hourly forecast called for the rain to start at 2PM, but the forecast kept moving out until a little rain arrived shortly after 5PM.

The 5PM rain was very light and brief. It didn’t live up to the build up. I thought I’d dodged another one, but before 6PM arrived the rain, wind, thunder and lightening arrived with a great deal of ferocity. For the better part of the next hour the sound of rain on the roof of my RV home was a continuous roar and the coach rocked a bit in the wind too. I think this may have been the strongest daytime storm I’ve experienced at this site.

The storm moved out quickly. It seemed to go from downpour to nothing like turning off a faucet. I was able to take a walk around the park before dark. There was plenty of evidence of the rain. Sand and leaves along the side of the road were scared by water channels. The smaller drainage pond at the bottom of the hill was filled with water. It will likely be dry again by morning. The bigger drainage ponds just had a lot of dark mud like runoff on the grass, but no standing water.

The bottom line of all this was the ever changing forecast caused (allowed) me to do next to nothing all day. I watched a little TV, read some blither on the internet and watched the weather forecast change. Combined with a few light chores and some cooking it made for a full day.

Friday June 14th 2024

Today’s weather forecast called for a low chance of rain late in the afternoon. The morning and early afternoon were very humid with lots of sun. Not wanting the weather to control another day, I headed off to Disney’s EPCOT in the afternoon.

I have wanted to see the new section of the park that opened on Monday. The weather has interfered with my plans each day this week. The Communicore Hall and Communicore Court Yard opened Monday. It is the final section of the re-imagined and reconstructed Future World Area that has been under construction for years. This area includes includes event space, a meet and greet area for Micky, Minnie and Goofy and an outdoor stage surrounded by a court yard. Currently there is an Encanto inspired show on the stage during the day. Overall the area has a lot of seating and shade, but the show wasn’t my cup of tea.

The humidity made wandering around EPCOT very uncomfortable. The lines at all the drinking fountains were long. I spent most of my time indoors and never reached the World Showcase part of the park. Shortly after five a big dark cloud appeared in the northeastern sky. I decided it wasn’t worth getting soaked by the afternoon rain and headed for the parking lot. My RV home is located to the west of the Disney park. I managed to get home without driving in any rain. From home I watched the storm clouds thicken over the EPCOT resort. The TV forecasters and my weather radar app showed the storm heading in my direction, but it never got here. It seemed to pass to the south.

Thursday June 13th 2024

Either the weather forecasters got it right or I understood their rhetoric better, but I didn’t get surprised by rain today. While there was still heavy rain in south Florida today, it was a fairly normal summer day in this area. It was humid and cloudy this morning with a few periods of sunshine. Late in the afternoon thunderstorms caused by the convergence of winds off the Atlantic and wind off the Gulf arrived. They brought wind, thunder and spectacular lightening. I watched a lot of air to ground lightening strikes to the southwest of my RV home.

Today was filled with a lot of errands. Some were simple and some were more complicated than they should be. Picking up a package at a nearby Amazon locker was the biggest problem of the day. I often use Amazon lockers. Usually it is easy and reliable. Today lots of things went badly. First, I usually get a notification on my phone when the package is ready for pickup. Today I hadn’t received one by the end of the expected delivery window, so I checked in the Amazon app. The delivery status was there complete with the usual bar code to open the locker. Once I drove the mile or so to the locker, I couldn’t get the bar code to open the locker. It may have been too bright or reflections from the sun that was visible at the time. To make matters worse, I couldn’t really read the message screen in the glare. Finally with strategic blocking and squatting below the screen I could see things well enough to enter the digits of the code manually. Then I almost got hit in the head by the door as it popped open. A two minute pickup took close to ten.

With the unpredictable weather this week preventing me from having any form of routine days, I’ve lost track of what day of the week it is. I thought it was Monday more than once today, but in reality the weekend is rapidly approaching.

Wednesday June 12th 2024

It seems like I’ve been writing blog entries about the rain or lack there of for the last week. Today is no exception. The forecast for rain got in my way again today.

Last night the forecast called for a significant possibility or rain each hour of the day. Therefore, when it started to rain around 4:30am, I wasn’t surprised. When I woke with the intent of getting up around 8:30AM the rain had stopped. The forecast at that point called for rain starting around 2PM. It never rained. At the time of this writing near 10PM, the rain isn’t supposed to return until late tomorrow afternoon. Thursday has a typical summertime forecast with afternoon thunderstorms.

It wasn’t only the rain that got in the way today, but a water outage in the campground also contributed. As I was getting prepared to make the coffee this morning, I found nothing coming out of the kitchen faucet. While I was outside checking the connection, I got a text message from the office staff declaring the hour long “emergency” water outage for my part of the resort. If I know an outage is possible I make sure my fresh water tank has fresh water in it. Today I had enough water in the tank to flush the toilet, but it was far from fresh. If I was going to drink it, I’d boil it first. The water in the tank was about three months old. The water was back on in about an hour and I could make coffee for breakfast.

With all the changes in the rain forecast, I finally headed out for groceries around 2PM. Originally I was going to go shopping during the rain, but since it didn’t see to be coming, I just went. I arrived at Walmart just in time to watch a drone take off from the parking lot. There is am experimental drone delivery service operating out of the parking lot. The Walmart grocery section seemed to be in restocking mode. There were pallets of groceries in almost every aisle. The only thing missing were people to load the shelves from the pallets. The obstructions made navigating a shopping cart a challenge.

Tuesday June 11th 2024

The rain arrived today, but so far it isn’t what I expected. It is coming in bands from the southwest. There was one short period of heavy rain this morning followed by a couple of hours of cloudy threatening sky. Around 2PM this afternoon the rain returned. It rained hard at the start and continued about four hours as light to medium rain. The sun actually made an appearance near sunset. This pattern, driven by a tropical development in the gulf, is expected to continue for the next two or three days.

Knowing that today was going to be filled with rain, I didn’t plan any outdoor activities. Instead I planned various shopping (read looking) tasks. I had the misfortune of being on the road when most of the heavy afternoon rain came down. It wasn’t terrible. I never had to run the wipers at full speed, but at times visibility was difficult. The rain also cooperated to the extent that it was only falling lightly when I had to go between my car and a store.

I was expecting heavy traffic this afternoon, but I didn’t find it to be as bad as expected. While people may have been staying in because of the rain, I think most of the difference is because the kids aren’t in school anymore. It was smooth sailing through some of the school zones that frustrated me back in April. Other areas that were usually backed up before were nowhere near as bad today.

I got one short walk in around my local area of the RV resort just before sunset. I didn’t want to take the chance of getting caught in a new rain shower. There are several drainage areas down the hill from my site that I wanted to view. They do not have any standing water in them yet. If the inches of rain forecast over the next few days happen, these collection areas may fill up.