Back From Florida

When we got back from Florida, the temperature went up to the 50's for 2 days and all of the snow that accumulated for two months melted. It was amazing. It was like we brought Florida back with us, except the green grass was replaced by brown and it was covered with two months of debris. The day we left for Florida, I got a bunch of PALM apps that I wasn't able to process. When I got back, I got another bunch of PALM apps to process. Welcome back.

I processed the first batch and when I checked  I caught a lot of mistakes that I then had to correct. The second batch I processed had 10 applications without a stamped self addressed envelope for the confirmation letters which I then had to supply. It took from Wednesday when I got back to Saturday to process all the applications and mail out the confirmations. Then Sunday we were hit by 10 inches of snow, more what than the "storm of the century" gave us. Later in the week we got another 4 inches or so. All the snow that had melted was back.

Because I was in Florida I missed the February potluck that kicks off the Garden Resource Program. There is nothing better than getting together with a bunch of enthusiatic gardeners in February when there is no hope of spring. The best  I could do was help out in the seed packing. There are 1700 people who get seeds from the Garden Resource Program. The seeds are brought in bulk and then split into individual  seed packets by volunteers. There are seed packing parties all over the city. Our group packed Kentucky Wonder pole beans into 1400 envelopes. It took over 2 hours and we were all sick of beans by the end. Then it was off to Calendula seeds. One of our group was a middle aged woman who had done the Michigander several times. I got to talk up PALM. We weren't any closer to spring but we were surrounded by seeds and bike riding anyway.

Back From Florida

I came back from Florida last night about 9:30. There was already a packet of applications waiting for me to process. This will bring the number of riders up to 203 when I enter them tonight. I checked the day's emails and Vickie wrote me that she sent another packet of applications yesterday. I've got to hurry.

Vickie emailed me later last night to tell me that I messed up my application and that I needed to send her a corrected check. I mailed my application on January 25. She is just now getting to my application. If you mailed your application on January 25 or later, don't worry if you haven't gotten a confirmation or had your check cashed. This is proof that we haven't gotten to your application yet.

We stayed in Jacksonville Beach. Since we were on the east coast and we stayed on the beach, I got to watch sunrise starting when it was still dark and the moon cast shadows to when the sun rises out of the sea to cast a different shadow and all the steps in between. There were two days when there were no clouds (unlike Michigan). Of course, it did rain one day and, since we were in northern Florida, the temperature only got up to 65. Enough for short sleeve shirts, but not enough for shorts. I guess you need Tampa or Orlando for shorts.

I did bring back a cold from Florida. I'm glad that I have a day to transition back to winter here. (It's going to be 38 today before dropping to 25 tomorrow.) Maybe I'm lucky that it wasn't 75 or 80 there. Then 25 would have killed me.