rainbows and rain showers

i just wanted to share this experience, albeit no pictures, from today.

i had a long list of errands to run today but on the way home from the office the weather was absolutely perfect. not too hot and absolutely stunning light.

dropping everything, i loaded up my bike. exercise and beauty. sounds like a winner to me.

about 10 minutes into my ride around lake jackson, the largest lake in sebring, (although not in highlands county) a rainbow started to form over the water. first one end appeared, then the other end. the middle came around eventually to produce the single most impressive and complete rainbow i'd ever seen. end to end perfection. i could even see where one half of it ended, although it was over the water and my scuba gear is out on repair so i wasn't able to go searching for the pot 'o gold. sad, i know.

just behind the rainbow were dark gray streaks: rain dumping out on the other side of the lake. it seemed to be heading away from me for a minute. then there were more gray streaks and much closer.

then there was ten minutes of absolute rain fury. actually, it was pretty mild, but the story is better if absolute rain fury.

so, like i said, absolute rain fury and i'm stuck on my bike, pedaling alongside six lanes of traffic. drivers snickered, trucks sloshed water, rain pelted me senseless.

not really. the rain did sting my eyes a little and i'm sure more than one person noticed the moron riding around in the rain but it felt more like a nike commercial than anything.

it was a quick shower. it soaked my shirt and my hair but both were fairly dry by the time my hour ride was over. the rain felt nice. cleansing. now i can partially understand why oregon is so appealing to people.

that is all. i normally don't give a crap about rainbows, but this was the supermodel of all rainbows. therefore deserving documentation. sorry about no pictures. it probably would have ruined it anyway.

good night.

lounge lizard

the lounge lizard is a pretty normal nightly occurence at club lotela (the nickname for our lake house, for those not in the know). during mayfly season, the lounge lizard brought all of his friends over for a feast.

tonight the mayflys are gone and the moonlight makes a nice spotlight for our little buddy.

while my brother is getting frost and 30 degree weather in iowa and my girlfriend is turning on her heat for the first time, i'm lounging on my porch in my shorts and only feel the slightest hint of a chill that seems 900 miles away...

though confusing to the mind, late october in florida is amazing.

another lotela sunrise

last week i worked the early shift while kathy was vacationing. lucky for me, the sunrise over lake lotela is pretty nice in the a.m.

today, i mowed the beach

today marked the first time i mowed our yard here in florida.

initially, i was really excited about this. i'm a sucker for a well kept yard. the bad news is this yard presents many challenges. here they are, in particular order:

1. no one has really kept the yard here for two years or more.

2. our yard is more like our beach. florida is in a crazy drought right now (though it rains nearly every day) and grass just isn't growing unless you irrigate. thus our yard is 3 parts sand, 1 part grass.

3. the lawn mower that traveled with us from kentucky doesn't have a mulching attachment, thus blowing sand everywhere like an iraqi sand storm. i think sand will be coming out of my eyes for weeks to come.

4. there are probably 20 fire ant mounds in our sand box. i am not exaggerating. and they hate lawn mowers.

5. the water level on the lake is really low, thus leaving 20 to 30 feet of former beach front with grass growing on it. thus making it even more difficult to mow than the rest of the sand box. so i literally mowed the beach. it was awesome and confusing.

below you will find self-deprecating pictures of myself to illustrate the problem of mowing the sand. note the blue bandana. i finally succumbed to florida redneck culture after only one month.



the water level used to be about where i stand in the picture. you can't see the sand as much on my skin as you can below.


that's what i'm talking about. next time i'm wearing jeans and a parka when i mow to keep the sand off.

florida sky