Spring Has Sprung !
Winter is apparently over (sob!). The killer heat will blast into Florida at any minute, and my eldest kitten has gone into heat for the first time.I much prefer the quiet of the all too short coolish days of winter. I would sit on my couch cuddled up to the front window, hot chocolate in hand, air conditioner full blast, and pretend it was a freezing cold winter day up north. Then I'd walk outside in my T-shirt and shorts and break a sweat swimming through the humidity to the car.
I have spent most of my adult life in Florida so at least I don't have to deal with lawn care. In my years of rented houses while I was a single mom, they were mostly the kind that the landlords had covered over the lawn with cement painted green to save the trouble of tending to all that nature. Plus, concrete keeps away the burrowing animals, giant mutant crabs, and various snakes. But, alligators do like to warm their tummies on the green cement. So it's a toss up.
To newcomers: Most Floridians, if they're not living in a cement enriched single family home, either live in condos or McMansions. There's no outdoor work connected with either one. Condos hire folks to tend the walkways and pool, and mow the patch of grass, and McMansions owners also hire others to tend to their outdoors.
The thing with McMansions though, is the houses are so overwhelmingly huge there's usually no land surrounding them. There might be a walkway to the backyard which are 100 percent filled with pools and tennis courts, and maybe an authentic cactus shipped in from Arizona, but the only true green you'll see are the palm trees lit up at night. Can you imagine spending a couple of million bucks on a house that is literally 10 feet from your neighbor? Me neither. Give me enough cash to buy one of those hideous monsters and I'd buy 20 acres in Wyoming and plop a log cabin in the middle.
So, I'm not all that familiar with yards although I do have a tiny one now. Last year I bought at a garage sale my first ever lawn mower. Husband Jim is still rolling his eyes, and it's been months since I toted it home. The thing is, it doesn't have an engine. It's just a couple of wheels, some blades and a handle to push it with. I tried it out last year and it made an impressive path in the long grass, but it wasn't really cutting anything. Turns out I have to find someone to sharpen the blades. My nail file didn't do a thing.
I did discover if I kept the kitten in plenty of cat nip and the occasional kitty tranquilizer, that she'll sleep through the night at least. The rest of the time she's begging me in no uncertain terms to find her a mate. She'll yowl and vocalize and purr and then squinch down on her stomach and wave her tail in the air. She's saying, "C'mon, I'm ready, I'll take on all the neighboring Toms, come find meeeeeee!"
So now instead of new tires for the car I'm saving up for Kitty-Kitty's operation. I'd rather go skidding off the road into a canal than endure another month of howling misery.
