Monday June 3rd 2024

The temperature is on its way back up. Today was a few degrees warmer than Sunday and quite a bit more humid. The temperature peaked in the low nineties.

Late in the I made another visit to Disney’s EPCOT. This is my first visit since the International Flower and Garden Festival ended last week. The next festival dedicated to food and wine doesn’t start until the end of August. This is the first time in a long time that the time between festivals can be measured in months instead of weeks.

Today’s crowds seemed to be light to moderate. Perhaps that was an illusion because there is more room along the walkways without all of the food and souvenir concessions associated with the festivals being open. Most of kiosks are still in place, but they are shuttered and lonely looking. Wait times at the rides were fairly long compared to other days. If you were at the park, riding the attractions was one of the only things to do without a festival to draw your attention.

I was at the park to get my exercise by walking around the world showcase. Along the way I took plenty of flower pictures and looked for other interesting observations. The best observation I could take a picture of was the line up of Anhingas on one of the boat docks. Observations that I couldn’t take pictures of were some of the outfits people chose to wear. A three hundred pound young adult female in a ballerina outfit is one such example. Even after discounting the possibility that she was mentally challenged, it was odd. I think she was just trying to make a statement of some kind and have fun.

After about three hours wandering around the park I headed for home. Driving west I was headed straight for a bunch of big dark clouds. They conveniently blocked the setting sun, but I feared the rain they might be dropping on my RV home with open windows. The dark clouds turned out to be even further west than my campsite so all was well when I got home.

Sunday June 2nd 2024

A few pictures from a Sunday around home.

Saturday June 1st 2024

A little less heat, a lot more wind and about the same humidity equals a cooler more comfortable day. The temperature peaked around ninety, but all the wind out of the east made it feel much cooler. It was a real hold onto your hat kind of day.

I completed a few chores today then headed north to Clermont. I did a little wandering as opposed to actual shopping in the big box stores up there followed by a walk along the side of Lake Minneola. There is a bike trail along the southern shore. It was particularly good for walking today as I didn’t see one bicycle rider.

There was a good chop from the wind on the lake. Perhaps because of the wind I didn’t see any significant boating on the lake. I saw one kayaker and a bunch of people fishing from shore. The most interesting sighting was a Great Egret in the shadow of a cypress tree along the shore.

Friday May 31st 2024

Yesterday’s breeze turned into a real wind today. The result was an even more comfortable day than Thursday. Wednesday was the warmest day of the week. The temperature and feels like temperature has gone down a few degrees everyday. Today’s high was in the low nineties.

I got caught up in a motorhome maintenance / repair task today. I’ve been having trouble with the signal to my TVs. The satellite is fine, but the signal from the Over the Air TV antenna and campgrounds cable has been a problem. Somewhere there is a loose connection or perhaps a heat related issue. Today I had no signal at all so it was time to start digging into the issue.

I removed a panel in the TV cabinet to get access to the area behind the signal booster cable switch outlet. I found a mass of cables in a real twisted mess all leading to a massive 1 to 8 splitter. My first step was checking all the connections for tightness. It would have been nice if it was that simple. The next step was checking the wiring and power to the booster switch. This seems to be a very modified device using pigtails for the coaxial connections rather than the typical connectors. Visually and electrically it looked fine. I jumped the cable TV coaxial cable around the booster switch and had some success. The issue seems to be with the electronics or connections in the booster switch.

When I started searching for a replacement part on the internet, I learned that this is probably a modified part or a special OEM unit. I couldn’t find any examples with coaxial connections on pigtails. The use of pigtails rather than connectors on the circuit board seems arbitrary. I’ve ordered one with regular connectors and will try to make it work. If necessary, I can probably dig out a soldering iron and repeat the modifications on the old one.

Thursday May 30th 2024

The official high for the day was a degree or two below Wednesday at 96 degrees. It really didn’t feel any different. If you were in the breeze, it was comfortable. The humidity remains low for Florida and the current trend calls for the temperature to be a degree or two cooler each day through the end of the weekend.

Today was lawn mowing day in the RV Resort. With the dry conditions in this area over the last couple of months, there isn’t much grass to mow. The last time the landscape company was here was two or three weeks ago. At that time, I don’t think they even unloaded their big lawn mowers. They just used the string trimmers. Today they used the lawn mowers, but only selectively.

Many of the long term residents have been watering the grass on their sites. Their grass looked lush and tall compared to the rest of the park. Lately, we’ve been getting enough rain that the bulk of the grass is a little greener, but still thin and not very tall. The landscape company seemed to take care of the tall grass with the lawn mowers today, including the grass on the sites getting watered. The rest of us seemed to get the string trimmer treatment. Walking around later in the day, I spotted a lot of places they could have put more effort into. The one time I saw them mow everything, back in early April, there were four or five lawn mowers and about a dozen people. Today I think there were two mowers and maybe three or four people. So what’s the reason for the difference, cost or drought.

Wednesday May 29th 2024

The daily temperature continues to peak in the upper nineties. Today there was a little less humidity and an inconsistent wind. At times it was uncomfortable outside.

I got yesterday’s errands completed today. Chief among those tasks was grocery shopping. Wednesday afternoons seem to be the wrong time to visit Walmart in this area. It was very busy and the checkout line was very slow. Watching the other patrons in the checkout line can result in a lot of fun speculation. What are they going to cook? How often do they grocery shop? How many people are they feeding? Invariably the folks with the most junk food have the biggest body mass. I am sure my purchases tell other shoppers things as well.

This evening I made another attempt to see the new drone show at Disney Springs. I got there at 6PM. This mid week day wasn’t as crowded as Sunday night, but it still seemed to be more crowded than I’m used to experiencing. I had already eaten at home, so tonight it was just desert at Ghirardelli’s. My Hot Fudge Sunday was very good.

I got in line for the 9PM drown show about 8PM as they started to allow people to fill in the walkway along the lake. Once again I waited about an hour in the second row of people standing along the guardrail. The show was delayed about ten minutes because of wind. I thought I was in for another failed attempt to watch the show, but it finally started.

Watching the show on YouTube was impressive, but in person it is even better. The scale of the figures in the sky and their 3D nature doesn’t convey in video. The same applies to the pictures I took. They don’t do the show justice.

The crowds getting out of the viewing area and then the parking garage were bad. I state down and watched one of the bands for three quarters of an hour to give the car traffic in the garage some time to thin out. Still, it turned out to be very slow getting home.

Tuesday May 28th 2024

The weather forecast for today didn’t have a high expectation of rain, but it came. Rain is the norm rather than the exception during warm weather in Florida. At midday, as I was getting ready to leave my RV home for some errands, a big black cloud appeared on the south western horizon. I didn’t want to drive in a downpour so I delayed my departure. The big black cloud went by to the south putting on an interesting lightening show with some good rumbles thrown in. We barely got enough rain in this area to wet the ground.

The rain delay allowed me time to prepare and eat lunch. I wasn’t in any real hurry to get to the errands I had allowed the weather to put on hold. About the time I decided to get back in the game, another rain storm surprised me. There were no huge black clouds with this one just lots of rain. For about half an hour a steady beat of rain fell on the roof followed by another hour of occasional spurts of precipitation. I got the message and decided to stay at home today. The errands can wait for Wednesday.

I was saved from doing another of today’s chores by maintenance. The laundry facility at the resort was closed for maintenance today. The resort staff sends out text messages keeping everyone informed about such issues. When I walked by towards evening, after the sun returned, the area was deserted. There were no maintenance people or users in the area, but the all clear text message hasn’t arrived yet.

Elsewhere in the park more of the weekend residents departed this morning. The tent trailer with the additional awnings for sun protection departed this morning. I wonder if it will be back again before I leave. Other RVs here and there around the park also departed this morning. There still seems to be more RVs here than there were a week plus ago. I attribute the increase to the fact that school is out for the summer.

Monday May 27th 2024

Weather wise today seemed to be a clone of the last few. The temperature peaked in the upper 90s. When the wind was blowing it was comfortable outside. If it wasn’t blowing it was downright uncomfortable.

Not many of the weekend residents in the RV resort departed today. Just like most of the weekenders arrived a day or two before the actual weekend, I suspect they will be leaving a day or two after the holiday weekend. I still have many more neighbors than I did a week ago.

Traveling around the area today, I didn’t encounter as much traffic as I expected. Granted, I didn’t go into the theme park area, but the traffic wasn’t as bad as on an ordinary week day. I crossed over Interstate 4 in a normal backup area and traffic was flowing smoothly. From reports on the local TV channels this weekend has been particularly popular for tourism in the area. I guess it just wasn’t from travel by car. There were also reports of many canceled outbound flights because of the weather issues in the northern states, so travel isn’t fun for some people this weekend.

Walking around the RV resort this evening, it became clear I was an invader at a rabbit convention. Everywhere I turned I found new groups of bunnies. Most of the time they just froze and watched me, but some of the groups scattered as soon as they saw me. The volume of rabbits would tend to indicate they don’t have any natural predictors in the area.

Sunday May 26th 2024

The temperature increased another couple of degrees today and the humidity also climbed. The result was a less comfortable day outside. Inside, my air conditioner got turned on earlier in the day.

Late in the afternoon I set out for Disney Springs. A new nigh time aerial drone show premiered on Friday night. I have seen YouTube videos of the show and I wanted to see it. This is a holiday weekend and the new show is a draw, so I knew I was going to have crowds and traffic to deal with.

I got to Disney Springs at 5:30PM and found a parking space at the top of the Orange parking garage. There was a line of traffic getting into the garage. When I made it into the shopping and entertainment district it was as busy as I have ever seen it. Getting a table to eat my Fish & Chips at Cooks of Dublin was my next challenge. I finally got a high top table just as my food arrived. Since the first drone show started at 9PM, I had plenty of time to eat and wander around Disney Springs.

Just before 8PM I got in line for the preferred viewing area. They let us start to filter in at 8PM. I was in the second row standing behind the rail along the lake. The show is out over the lake. At 8:30 three test drones went up. I assume they were judging the wind or other weather conditions. At 8:45 the three drones went up again. I was getting a little concerned. At the 9PM start time they made an announcement about a delay. The three test drones went up again. At 9:06PM they called off the show. We had all stood around practically shoulder to shoulder for nothing.

The second show at 10:45 was still scheduled, but if the cancellation was for wind, it seemed to be getting worst. If it was a mechanical issue, who knows how long it would take to find and fix the issue. Communications weren’t very good and crowd management had us funneled all over the Disney Springs area. I waited until 10PM to let the traffic leaving the parking garage ease up a bit. Eventually, I join the line of cars heading out of the garage. I try to see the show another time. There are two shows a night scheduled through September.

Saturday May 25th 2024

Today’s temperature reached the top of the nineties. The wind arrived late in the afternoon to help cool things down for the overnight hours. However, it really was an air conditioner kind of day. I went out about 11AM leaving the windows open and fans blowing in my RV home. When I returned, about three hours later, the thermometer for the inside of my RV home read 104 degrees. What little wind there was was blowing toward the side of the RV without many windows. With the door open, the temperature would have stayed a little lower, but the reality was I need the AC on. After closing all the windows and turning on the AC the inside temperature soon became comfortable.

Late in the morning I went in search of a relaxing wooded area to hike. A few years ago I found a state wildlife area between Haines City and Lake Wales. It wasn’t particularly exciting, but had a couple of trails and a swampy marsh area. This year I couldn’t find it on google maps. I decided to try and find it by driving around in the area a bit. I am pretty sure I found the right area, but today there were a lot of new home developments in the area. Old orange groves were all bulldozed into building lots and wide open space. My search was a failure. I’ll do a little more research before giving up the search.

A few more weekend or short term residents arrived today. One is a Class C motorhome that was camped in the same area a few weeks ago. It is a confusing setup. They don’t have another car, motorcycle or other auxiliary form of transportation. I would assume that means they will be taking the motorhome out as transportation. Last time they didn’t and I don’t think I every saw anyone out walking. This time I haven’t seen anyone since they backed into the site. My curiosity is peaked.