April 4, 2001
We survived both April Fool's day and the change to daylight savings time. Was a time when the change to daylight savings time was a big deal to me because I dislike the dark so much, but being down here in Florida, it's kind of anti-climactic. Also, I suppose being retired makes a big difference because we're not commuting in the dark. Not commuting at all, come to think of it. Neener-neener-neener!!
On the eastern most boundary of the Avon Park Air Force Range is one of the oldest cemeteries in the state. The land actually is owned (as I understand it) by the Fort Kissimmee Cemetery Association, but since the only way to get here other than by the river is to come through the range, access to it is limited. At one time there was a thriving community here complete with schoolhouse, church, and quite a few homes around the fort area. Our good friends Gene and Sally from church were able to visit us on a day we could drive through the range as far as the river.
From one extreme to the other. The quiet old graveyard one day to the vibrant growing community of Lake Placid the next.
We loved their sense of priority. The pretty sign for what they're all about, and then the dull sign on the freeway overpass for the name of the place. And behind Poor Richard's is one of the largest antique/junque shops we've been in. Must have taken the better part of the hour to get out of there, just gawking at old stuff. Cute train, eh?
And an even cuter trash can. That's right, this little yellow car isn't a car at all. It's a trash can. The window on the passenger side swings in, and the person with the key to the door handle can drag the can out to empty it. The tire on the rear is real, the lights and bumpers were real, but the rest is just for fun.
The murals all have some historical significance, and the railroad played a major role in developing this area. There are several murals with motion detectors, and when you drive or walk in front of them, the loudspeaker plays the appropriate sounds. Here I actually looked around for the train coming, the noise was so realistic.
The trash cans throughout the town were made to suit some mural. The one Barb is standing by depicts the old bait shack, and behind her is the actual tackle store with the fishing mural.
The town has a clown school, and we learned there are basically 3 types of clowns, all portrayed on this mural. On the left is the hobo, the middle is the classical English white-face, and on the right is the flamboyant European clown with the outrageous oversized clothes and shoes. On the right is a mural depicting a bank robbery that was stopped in progress by a 10 year old boy running to get the sheriff. The boy still lives in town, is over 80 years old now, and enjoys telling the story during the towns annual celebration/picnic.
On the left is the town picnic and on the right is the depiction of the turpentine industry spawned by the many pine trees in the area.
Don't try to enter the drug store through this door, even if this is the drug store. And on the right Barby is showing us that Dr. Dewey really is bigger than life to this town. Not only was he famous for the Dewey Decimal System of keeping library books in their place, he was famous around here for bringing in the railroad, developing the area as a resort town and re-naming it after his favorite northern resort, Lake Placid, New York.
Oh good grief. There's a mural celebrating the Florida Scrub Jay. And one of them is eating out of the hand of the woman. How are we going to keep wild life wild if we keep taming it? And Barby's clowning around again along the fence to a school.
On the left is a mural showing most all the wild life we enjoy here on the range. Wild turkey, coon, gopher tortoise, deer, hogs, armadillo, and probably some more I can't remember. The huge Winn Dixie store has the largest, most expensive elaborate mural of all. It's showing the cattle industry of Florida. When you hit the motion detector, you can hear the cows mooing, the cowboys whistling and hollering, and the dogs barking. There were several activities to raise the money to have this mural painted. None really worked all that well until somebody suggested selling the cattle to the local cattlemen. That did it. Most all the cows in the painting are now sporting local brands showing who they belong to. Needed $10,000 for the painting and sold $10,039 worth of brands and other stuff to get the job done. Fun town. We walked all over to see and photograph all 30 murals. Well, we drove for 3 of them and one was inaccessible because it's in the school cafeteria and it was closed, but other than that we got our exercise for the day.
There was some discussion as to who I had here, or who had me as the case may be. I have on the latex gloves because I was preparing to paint the dugout canoes with their turpentine and linseed oil coating. In the plastic sheeting used to cover the canoes for the night was this little guy. I figured he was snake food, but as soon as I caught him I realized our little snake might not appreciate me sharing this with him. This guy was tough. Bit me every chance it got, bit Marian who tried to touch him, and eventually pulled a hole in my glove. I don't think there ever was a conclusion as to which skink I had, but we knew for sure it was a skink. Tough little guy, and strong body as well. He earned and got his freedom after we were done playing with him.
And then a visit from "home." Bill Mast was helping his folks move from PA to FL, and took the time to visit with us. I'd worked with Bill while at Weyerhaeuser in both Federal Way and Tacoma, WA. He was the one I blame for getting me back into competitive shooting again. While he and Barb were looking at the bald eagle nest with its two young birds getting ready to fly, I was looking back at the truck parked at the start of this sandy road. These roads are the ones we traveled in the government 4x4 vehicles while we were "scat scouting," running the coyote trap lines, and tracking the coyotes with collars.
We just learned that the range is mostly closed to turkey hunting this weekend because of aircraft activity. Darn. That means that instead of getting up at 3 AM on Sunday morning to open the remote gate at 4:30, and staying there until closing it at 2 PM, I have to paint the dugout canoes again. Rats. What a shame :-). And because there still is a portion of the range open, that means that Barb will be working the main gate both Sunday and Monday. I'm likely to catch some flack about that, because she has to be there from 6 AM until 1 PM on Sunday and has to work from 1 PM to 8 PM on Monday. It takes me about 1/2 hour to paint the canoes and I have to do it twice a day. Sunday only. Gee, what will I do with all that extra time -- grin..... This is the life!!