The Streets Are Paved In Orange(s)

Citrus is in season

and it's cheaper to pick your own.

Every Friday I drive through a major Florida citrus area and when the fruit ripens, all the intersection looks like the one above.  In fact, this intersection is on the light side; most of them have piles of oranges that fall off the open-top semis that are delivering them...somewhere.  I guess these are considered "juice" oranges because it's not always easy to find Florida oranges for eating...in Florida.

All I'm saying is, skip high Publix prices and pick (up) your own. ;-)

It's the new year

and I got all gussied up for a night on the town.

I don't need to blur my minor companion's face for his protection because 

he has blurred it himself with his crazy expression.

I went for comfort this year and maybe that will be part of my outlook for 2015.

Men's jeans from Goodwill and the shirt...

Gotta love Ross!

All the money I saved on high fashion items

went to my new deck! Love!

I bought the boards; Mike supplied the labor.

I stopped him short of adding the pickets.  I really enjoy the open view.

The hope is that some day I will have a beautiful garden to view.

The laborious process of bringing in dirt and amendments is in full swing and removing the rotted planter boxes greatly improved the visuals.

The chickens do all my tilling for me.

Lucy has developed a penchant for coming into the 

house and hanging out.

She doesn't even have the decency to look startled when I catch her in the act.

She's super cute and I appreciate her getting into the corners and eating spiders but the whole uncontrolled pooping thing makes me limit her visits to a couple of minutes.

I know, I know...they make chicken diapers.

I saw this sign.

I pass it every week on my way to the land of fossils and oranges.

It doesn't look like a swamp at this point but I read up on it and the headwaters of several Florida rivers are located here, including my beloved Peace River, and the Floridan aquifer is one of the most productive aquifers in the world. Good to know!

Not long after passing this sign

I began driving on that stretch of hell known as I-4.

Saturday afternoon, stop and go traffic for miles, I was following this car:

Lots of time to consider their inflatable passenger.

What I decided was these blow-up "sex" dolls must only be produced for use as party favors, frat jokes, etc. because I can't imagine any way that congress with such a thing could be satisfying.

I mean, look at the crazy pillar-esque boobs!

But no sooner did I get home and open my new National Geographic than I was confronted by one of the oldest representations of a human body:

Uh...wow.

Kinda sheds a different light on the physical form of the blow up doll but I'll leave the theories to the sociologists, et al.

And what would my pointless blog be

without a photo of a plant?

It's the little orchid that could.

This is a jewel orchid that has been dropped, sunburned, dehydrated, and forgotten, yet it perseveres. 

I bought it from a Bulgarian woman some years ago and when I asked her for info, she got out her big book of orchids and read up on it.  Insignificant flowers (as you can see) but if you shine a flashlight on it at night, its leaves glisten.  She pronounced it "gliss ten."  A great mnemonic!