Sunday June 22nd 2025

My weekend largely focused on chores around the base camp. I had ideas about going to Sea World for their summertime fireworks and drone show, but the weather had its own ideas. Florida is clearly in a summer weather pattern that has at least one period of rain everyday. It might be just a little shower or it might be a full blown sever thunderstorm.

The problem is knowing when the rain is going to happen. The forecasters seem to only be able to predict the timing about four hours ahead. If you look at the hourly forecast a day ahead, the rain might be coming shortly after the noon hour. By the next morning everything has changed. The rain might be coming around 4PM, but it could still change. That’s what was happening on Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday I went to Disney Springs in the late afternoon into the early evening. The last forecast I reviewed before I departed my base camp called for rain around 8:30PM. My plan was to enjoy some of the entertainment during the early evening and get home before the rain started. I had a good time wandering around the shops and what not in the late afternoon, but Mother Nature had her own idea about my staying for the entertainment. The rain moved in around 6PM and I headed back to my base camp before I got wet.

Sunday the rain began around 2PM and continued into the evening. It was never heavy, but did include some dramatic darkening of the sky. I worked on various tasks around the base camp. The flowering vine that I cut way back in March has bloomed again. Google Lens calls it a Brazilian vine plant called a Mandevilla. I have been keeping the vines climbing the trellis I bought a month or so ago. Today I found one fully open pink blossom with signs of a few more to come. The trick will be to keep the vine under control.