Sunday August 31st 2025

It is hard to believe that the unofficial end of summer has arrived. Subtle changes are happening. The number of days with high temperatures in the nineties is decreasing. A few days with high temperatures in the eighties and even seventies are starting to slip into the mix. The over night temperatures are also becoming more comfortable. There are still two months or so until real comfortable temperatures become the norm.

Another one of the subtle indicators can be found in the local Walmart parking lot. Since May the majority of the cars held Florida license plates. The winter residents returned to their northern homes for the summer. When I was walking through the parking lot today, close to half the cars I passed had northern state license plates. New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Indiana were some that I remember seeing. The occupants may have only been here for the weekend, but I’m located far enough from the main tourist areas that they likely had homes in this area. My bottom line is that some of the “snowbirds” are starting to return. On the flip side of that position is the continued absence of residents at the park I live in. They aren’t returning here yet.

Disney’s International Food and Wine Festival started on Thursday. I went to EPCOT to check it out on Friday evening. It wasn’t the best time to visit. First, I arrived just after a thunderstorm passed through the area. Parking was at your own initiative. All of the cast members were still taking shelter. Since one of the lots was closed for repaving, I managed to find a spot far northeast section of a lot I have only parked in once before. It was a long walk in.

Second, everyone and their brother had a similar idea to visit EPCOT on Friday night. It was very crowded. The line at security was longer than I’ve seen it since last Christmas season. Perhaps everyone wanted to see Joey Fatone, the Eat to the Beat Concert series entertainment for the evening. The standby lines were very long when I got to that part of the park. Later in the evening, I learned Disney had suffered several power outages that may have caused people to leave other parks for EPCOT that didn’t seem to have the same level of power issues. I didn’t hang around long after having my Fish and Chips for dinner and completing one lap of the World Showcase.

Thursday August 28th 2025

By Wednesday of this week the daily weather pattern had changed enough that a late afternoon trip to a theme park for exercise and entertainment was back in the cards. It was hot but dry. I decided on a return trip to the Magic Kingdom to check on the Halloween decorations. This time they were all up.

The decorations seemed to be the same as last year. I’m sure there were differences, but they were subtle. Scarecrows in various early 1900 outfits line town square. There weren’t any birds around so maybe they work, but I don’t recall ever seeing them in that area of Disney. The most prominent decoration in the park are the Mickey shaped plastic pumpkins that hang from each lamp post. They aren’t scary. They are very happy faced.

With school back in session traffic patterns have changed. On my way to Disney it took longer to get to the interstate than prior to schools resumption, but traffic on the interstate is still OK. The expedite addition of a fourth lane earlier in the year has really helped. Hopefully, it will continue to help during the winter when all the additional traffic is in the area. There are still many traffic bottlenecks in the area that need new roads to solve. Several major road changes are in the planning stage, but it will be several years before they atually get built.

Sunday August 24th 2025

I have been completely out of sync with the weather the last few days. The pattern has the best part of the day from early morning to about noon. The first major storm of the day starts around noon with lots of thunder and lightening. The rest of the day is a combination of light rain and more thunderstorms with a few breaks in between. Unfortunately, I am not in an early in the day activity pattern. I am just thinking about getting active after a lazy breakfast when the storms arrive.

I need to get back to my furniture building projects. The incentive dropped as I reached a comfortable level of existence and the outside working conditions deteriorated. That was last December when the daily high temperatures dropped to the sixties at best and darkness came early. I missed restarting my building activities when the conditions improved in late February and early March. It was soon too warm to work outside again. My next window of opportunity is rapidly approaching.

Not having a place to put my coffee cup down while sitting on my couch the other day raised my interest level in completing my efforts. I have an end table to complete, a table for the front window area and maybe a coffee table for the middle of the living room. The plans I sketched last fall are still sitting on my desk. Each project requires one or two panel glue ups, so they will take some time. I enjoy the tasks, but working outside under my car port area can be a challenge.

Thursday August 21st 2025

I got caught in a strange weather event Wednesday afternoon. The hour by hour forecast was clear of rain and the weather radar app on my phone was clear as well. It seemed like a perfect afternoon to pay a visit to Disney’s Hollywood Studios for exercise and entertainment.

There were very few clouds in the sky as I set out for the park. As I approached Disney property dark clouds seemed to be hanging over the area, but I was still driving in bright sunshine. Suddenly there was a white wall ahead. It looked a little bit like fog, but turned out to a torrential downpour. Even with my windshield wipers on full speed visibility was difficult. It didn’t last long before calming to a steady rain. After waiting in the parking lot for ten to fifteen minutes the sun was back out and all the clouds were dissipating. It didn’t rain again all night.

My visit to Hollywood Studios was short. I didn’t check the schedule before going. There was a separate admission after hours event scheduled for later in the evening. Crowds started to grow and attraction schedules seemed to be altered. I got in my exercise and watched the new Villains show again, but I didn’t have dinner or wait in line for any other attractions. It was still a fun trip and the rain storm made it very interesting.

Sunday August 17th 2025

The weather pattern this weekend was back to oppressive. The national weather service issued a heat advisory on Saturday. Mostly it was high 90s temperatures with lots of humidity followed by the usual afternoon and evening thunderstorms. The difference was the storms lasted a little longer than normal. Transitioning from AC to outside humidity and getting stuck in the rain are the only real discomfort associated with the weather pattern, but I stayed indoors most of the time. The late afternoon rain discouraged by lose plan of going to Sea World.

Between chores around my base camp and errands I watched a lot of YouTube this weekend. There are a few things like live streams from Disney World I watch regularly on YouTube. This weekend I got into binge watching many other things. Many of my viewing choices were base on YouTube suggestions. Since the selections come from Googles surveillance of my search history and other interactions, some of YouTube suggestions were right on the mark. The videos weren’t necessarily very good. Particularly when I have more experience in the subject area than the author of the video like about life in an RV.

Some of the videos are created by people new to camping or living in an RV. They want to pay it forward by providing information to other people new to RVs. Speaking with confidence and authority they describe things as absolutes or revolutionary, but somehow get it just a little wrong. For example, a water pressure regulator is very important, but you install it at the hose bib not at the RV just before the water entry into the RV. One of the things you need to protect from high pressure is the hose. Another video tried to emphasis the value of the commercial plastic leveling blocks designed to go under trailer tires like Lego blocks. For some reason the presenter was insistent that wood blocks couldn’t be used. I’ve never owned a set of plastic leveling blocks and have leveled many different RVs fine. I will not even begin to describe the convoluted process one guy videoed for winterizing his trailer. Why did he need ten gallon of antifreeze? I used to do it successfully with a gallon.

After watching more how to videos on topics I was familiar with, I’d say most of them are accurate but make a big deal about little things. I wonder how much misleading information I’ve got watching videos on topics I was trying to learn.

Thursday August 14th 2025

While the temperature is still running at full summer strength, a few other things are starting to hurry the fall season into existence. First, the kids are back in school. The school bus are stopping traffic and traffic patterns have changed. The second indicator is the timing of sunset. Daylight at 9PM has slipped away it is dark around 8PM and shrinking fast. Last, but significant for the region, is the theme parks are getting ready for Halloween. The home supply stores are already selling blowup Halloween spooks and demons so the theme parks need to catch up.

Disney starts its first separate admission Halloween party tomorrow (Friday 8/15) night. Universal begins Halloween Horror Nights on the 28th and Sea World starts its scare the pants off of you “party” Howl-O-Scream on September 5th. Halloween is a big thing around here. I’ve decided to go to the Disney’s Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party on September 9th. It will be my first Disney Halloween party. I hope to enjoy the parades and shows plus lots of “free” candy.

I visited the Magic Kingdom on Tuesday in hopes of seeing some of the Halloween decorations. They hadn’t made as much progress toward Friday’s opening Halloween party. The only real decorations I saw were the bunting on the buildings along main street. None of the scarecrows or lamp post decorations they have had in past years were up yet. I’ll see them during the party I booked or sometime before they go away at the beginning of November.

The other big change was the draining of the Rivers of America in Frontier Land. The whole are including Tom Sawyer Island is being re-imagined into a Cars attraction set in a Pacific Northwest themed National Park. The current attractions closed in the beginning of July and the river is almost pumped dry now.

Sunday August 10th 2025

I don’t really have anything to write about in this blog entry. Call it the August doldrums or just the weather. By the time noon arrives the outlook for any kind of outdoor activity is poor. Each of the last few days have included random showers and full on thunderstorms off and on from noon to midnight.

I’ve been focused on chores around the base camp, a few random shopping runs and cooking slightly more elaborate meals. That just means meatloaf instead of franks and beans. In the morning before outdoor activity gets problematic, I got a few outdoor chores done. The rapidly growing bougainvillea bush got a trim. I was a week late and it was looking very shaggy.

Life here in the RV Park is very slow. I think this month is the peak of the northern exodus. Some of the folks that have been here all summer are currently gone. Next month will mark a year since I purchased this park model mobile home. Things were a little more active in late September.

Thursday August 7th 2025

Last weeks weather with above normal temperatures and only occasional rain has returned to normal. We are back to normal low nineties temperatures with thunderstorms and rain sometime during the second half of the day.

The problem is predicting the timing of the rain. The hour by hour forecast is not very reliable. Today’s forecast called for the rain to begin around 6 or 7. I went to Disney’s EPCOT for my exercise at 2:30 to be on my way home before the rain. The sun was out and it was hot when I arrived. An hour later dark clouds were on the horizon. I made a quick walk around the World Showcase and returned to my car in the parking lot. It was raining by 4:30 about two hours before it was forecast. It was a quick visit, but a good visit.

The weather pattern isn’t the only thing changing around here. Kids in the area start to return to school next week and I’m sure traffic patterns will change. The stores, particularly Walmart, have been busy this week. Lots of clothes and school supplies in the carts at checkout. Growing up, we always started school the week after labor day. It is very hard to understand the concept of starting school at the beginning of August. I think the kids around here get a fall vacation which we never did.

The flower pictures in this blog entry are all from today’s visit to EPCOT. There weren’t as many in bloom as I usually see.

Sunday August 3rd 2025

Today’s location for my walking exercise was Disney Springs. The shopping and entertainment district was only moderately busy this afternoon. There were only a few clouds in the sky, so it was warm in the sun reflecting off the concrete. Maybe that is what kept the crowds down.

I had a good time walking around and stopping in a few of the shops. My wallet never came out of my pocket. Even my planned purchase of food didn’t happen. The middle of the afternoon wasn’t the right time for eating. It seemed like most of the people were behaving in a similar manor, more walking than buying.

The original plan for the day was a visit to Sea World. I still want to see their night time drone and fireworks show. My issue is all the waiting around time that entails. Since I am not into roller coasters I spend my time watching the shows and walking around. Sea World isn’t the greatest walking theme park around. The pathways are often narrow with many choke points. I wasn’t ready for all the downtime today.

Walking might be better if all the people understood my etiquette for walking in a theme park. Just like driving, in this country, you should walk on the right and pass on the left when space is available. Be patient. Don’t bulldoze your way through the middle of the people walking three abreast. The people walking four, five and six abreast are just asking to be broken up. Please don’t suddenly stop in the middle of the pathway to gather your group together and debate your next move. Big groups milling about on the side of the pathway are hard enough to get around. Last, but not least, don’t backup. Turn around and move forward. Backing up in a crowd is guarantied to get in someone else way even if you don’t step on them or knock them over.

OK, nobody cares and I’m probably guilty of a few of these as well. I just think about these things as I people watch on my visits to the parks.