On 3/8/14, 2:00 AM, wrote:
On Fri, 07 Mar 2014 21:57:02 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Fri, 07 Mar 2014 21:48:47 -0500, wrote:

On Fri, 7 Mar 2014 14:49:36 -0800 (PST), Tim
wrote:

On Friday, March 7, 2014 12:51:05 PM UTC-6, amdx wrote:


It's so cold, I can't even tell a good story. :-)

It's 49* now going to 43* tonight.

I know compared to the rest of the country, that's not

all that cold, but it is for here.

Mikek

Welcome to the club!

Went for a boat ride tonight. Me and Ed were Ok but Judy wore a coat.

===

It was cool this afternoon by my standards. I put on a sweatshirt
over my tee shirt when I went out to work on the varnish job. Temps
were in the low 60s and windy.

Judy said it was cold too. I thought it was fine.

I guess I have a better resistance to temperature swings

http://gfretwell.com/ftp/Oregon/Mt%2...0Mt%20Hood.jpg



We spent nearly a week in Hollywood and then Ft. Lauderdale, and the
temp was in the high 70's and low 80's during the day each day. Only
noticed a spot of rain on one day.

I hadn't been in Lauderdale proper since high school and of course the
areas along and nearest the beach were almost totally developed with
much higher end properties, although there were still a few smaller
hotels from I'm guessing the 1950's. The beaches were clean and quite nice.

Hollywood is almost entirely high-rise now along the east side of A1A,
which is sort of sad, because you can barely catch a glimpse of the
ocean between the buildings. Really ugly buildings -condos and hotels-
for the most part, new, expensive, and dozens of stories tall. Ft.
Lauderdale has done a better job keeping much of the construction on the
west side of A1A, so you can drive long distances with unobstructed
views of the beaches and the ocean.

Several people told me the "real money" down there no longer is drug
money, but coming in with South American real estate/development
billionaires. We certainly heard a lot of Spanish and Portuguese being
spoken everywhere we went. The Aventura Mall, an upscale shopping
center, had many Jags, Porsches, and Rolls-Royces on display inside from
various dealers. I saw the new Jag convertible. It's a pretty car, but
the sticker price was over $100,000, and not far from it was a yellow
Cayman-S Porsche, a superior car in every way, for a bit more than half
the Jag's price. BMWs are the Fords and Chevys down there.

Once you are away from the "glitz" districts, much of the rest of the
areas look faded, old and tired. Not dirty, just weary. I suppose that
hot sun beating down almost every day of the year fades out most
structural colors.

There's a hell of a lot of heavy construction going on immediately
adjacent to the Ft. Lauderdale airport. Perhaps they are building a new
facility...the current one just plain stinks.

But the flights were good. U.S. Scare is being integrated into American
Airlines, and at least the ice was cold for the can of drink you get
back in steerage. We lucked out on seats on the Emergency Exit rows,
which have more legroom than first class. Both National Airport in DC
and Ft. Lauderdale now allow you to keep on your shoes and belt, and you
don't have to take your laptops out of the carrying bags. The TSA'ers
were friendly and pleasant in both directions.