Holy Smokes!

Another chilly morning here in Florida and once again I sure was glad it was Michael who drew the short straw for Emmi’s morning constitutional!  And he even washed the dishes last night after our guests left—pretty cool husband I must say.

We’ve become quite laid back here in Jimmy Buffet land (did you know Jimmy Buffet’s sister lives in our neck of the woods in Montana??), not getting up until after 7am, dragging out our coffee/computer time for a couple hours and finally heading out for a walk around 10am when the sun has warmed things up a bit.

As we were walking along this morning, thank God I saw him before Emmi did, we encountered this scary fellow:We Googled and Googled different websites trying to figure out what he is and think he may be a water moccasin/cottonmouth snake.  Or he could be a water snake.  The triangular head makes us think water moccasin.  Whatever he is the snake scared the you know what out of both of us!  We walked four miles this morning and after we saw this fellow we were a lot more cautious! 

After a lunch of last night’s leftovers we headed into Cedar Key to visit the Cedar Key Historical Museum.  Very well done little museum.  The population of Cedar Key peaked in 1883 at 1887 residents, today’s population is around 900 people.  Cedar Key has weathered seven hurricanes but with a lot of the very old buildings still standing the shallow water surrounding the island must keep Cedar Key from experiencing really heavy damage???  

Another interesting fact—the high school has burned twice, once in 1943 and again in 2002.  Pencil slats were made in Cedar Key and shipped to Pennsylvania for lead insertion.  There is no hospital or doctor on the island.  And in 1993 the clamming aquaculture was started and is still successful today.  We love this little town.

Back out to the motorhome Emmi was of course glad to see us.  Our neighbor across the street who witnessed Emmi’s exuberant dance of welcome said, “she sure is happy to see you, isn’t she?”  

Another great day in Florida, warmer weather is coming!