"Frogwatch" wrote in message
...
A couple days ago when I was in Stuart moving my boat, I talked to two
couples who were into long term live-aboard and kinda envied em. Then
I drove back to Tallahassee.

You didn't get killed or injured in an automobile accident *this* trip. And
how much are the car payments? The insurance? What's gasoline costing you
nowadays?

When I drove down my very shady winding
street with fresh water ponds and huge oak trees with lots of Spanish
Moss, the contrast hit me between this and the open hot sun exposed to
the wind and salt water of being a live aboard cruiser.


You didn't get bit by a mosquito carrying equine encephalis *this* time.


I grabbed a
tall glass of ice water and went out onto my screen porch and sat in
the swing watching the fireflies that night listening to the owls
talkin to each other and decided I'll never be a live-aboard cruiser.

And, you tuned out the neighbor's barking dog because there is nothing you
can do about the incessant noise unless you move away? And how about the
loud music? Domestic squabbles? Lawn mowers and weed eaters starting up at
seven in the morning?

You didn't think about how high your property taxes are and how they will
get higher in the future? How your electricity bill always rises. You never
gave thought to that Russian atom bomb that has Tallahassee written on it?
You never looked at yourself in one of your full-length mirrors and thought,
"Good grief, but I sure look soft!"


I s'pose all of my cruising will be short hops cuz coming home is just
so dang nice. Ligustrum and Magnolia is blooming and their scent is
so thick you can almost taste it in the air.


And, how about the air pollution you might not be able to smell? Things like
car exhaust, industrial smoke stack effluent, yard chemicals, dirt, dust
animal dander, carcinogens of all types surrounding you. Tallahassee is
filthy.


Soon it'll be the
gardenias blooming and then Crepe Myrtle and Kudzu, gawd it's nice. I
guess my ancient age of 54 has caused me to slow down and
smell .....all the plants here and decide I like living on lan(d)

Got any poison wood up there? Poison Ivy? Poison Oak? Chiggers and ticks
that carry lime disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever? Black widow
spiders? Brown recluse spiders? How about scorpions? Rattle snakes, water
moccasins in those nice ponds?

Yes, you are the typical lubber. Enjoy your much shorter and less healthy
life while it lasts.



Wilbur Hubbard