Everyone is just sick of the rain and gray skies. It was tough enough living through this last winter with all the snow and gloomy days. Now, all we seem to get is more rain on top of rain! As I’ve said many a time, Mother Nature is in charge and that is not going to change. I know it has not been a good year for our farm friends trying to get their crops in. Let’s just all hope for some sunshine and a warm breeze to dry us all out.
Florida
The weather in Florida was just as bad a week ago when I was there. Out of the seven days we were there, there was only one day without rain. We got a couple of hours in without rain at Universal and Seaworld in Orlando, but by 10:30 each day, most of the parks were shut down due to rain and lightning. Universal had several inside venues and rides, but all the shows are now outdoors and I didn’t get to see any of them since they don’t start until 11. Seaworld was the same way, except we did get to see the dolphin show before the storm blew in. By the time we got to Key West, we were on our second round of ponchos. We got to see buckets of rain in Key West in between touring the Light House and the new Railroad Museum. They had some wonderful old films on how the railroad was built all the way from the Florida mainland to the tip of Key West. It took seven years, three hurricanes and $50 million to get the train to Key West. In today’s money that would be over $500 million. So you see even in “Sunny” Florida a little rain must fall.
Marshmallows
Did you know that they have marshmallows with chocolate in them now? The manufacturers are trying to make it easier on you to make your s’mores. All you have to do is warm up the marshmallow and slap it in between your favorite graham cracker, and you are set. What will they think of next?
Campers
I did a run through of some of the local campgrounds over the Memorial holiday. Even with the “iffy” weather, there was a good turn out of people in the camp grounds. It’s good to see people wanting to be out in Mother Nature’s glory. I saw a show the other day that talked about how more and more people are hitting the open road to do camping and see the great outdoors.
Summer movies
There looks to be a lot of summer movies coming out this year. “Aladdin” is playing locally right now with Will Smith doing a great job of replacing Robin Williams as the genie in the bottle. Also coming this month are “Godzilla” and “Rocketman” (Elton John bio). June brings us “Men in Black: International,” “Shaft,” “Toy Story 4” and “Yesterday.” July kicks off with “Spider-Man: Far from Home,” “The Lion King” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” So there will be plenty of sequels and new movies to see this summer. So, grab your popcorn and soda and settle in for a nice cool viewing of one of your new favorite movies.
Will be missed
This last week, several retirements saw Ty Rogers fade into the Missouri sunset shortly after his retirement party. Jim Anthony hung up his butcher knives after 45 years with the Fareway meat department. I’m sure he will spend a lot of his time working on cars. We also lost good friend in Donald “Pendy” Pendegraft to the “Pearly Gates” this week. Pendy was always entertaining. One of the few people that I have ever watched eat a light bulb! He will be missed by all of us. A character that I will never forget.
Thought for the week: People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character. -Ralph Waldo Emerson
