Well, the last few months have been fun here at Casa de Beans. Bad Fall pollen/mold season which left me hacking up lung chunks and pushing the limits of 'almost pneumonia,' in combination with poly tics, have left me angry and grumpy and not wanting to comment on non-political stuff much. (In combination that, really, I don't give diddly squat about a fight between national and international socialists except if the popcorn has extra butter on it. Sorry, OldAFSarge's writing is excellent, but it's, well, don't care, sorry.)
Other than that, whoooo, wonderful times these days, no? Looking forward to finding out how much the steal is come next Tuesday.
Since that is the closest to politics I'm gonna get, guess I'll have to find something other to blather on about.
So...
There we were, Mrs. Andrew, Brigit the wonderdog (half German Shephard, half Newfoundland, big, black, furry and sweet as the dickens) and I were camping at a SCA event in our decidely not-medieval modern tent (a 12x12 Hillary Expedition tent, best tent I ever had) in February at a Boy Scout camp halfway between Gainesville and Palatka. Pack the van Thursday night, leave after work Friday, set tent up, have fun, go to bed late in the night, and wake up feeling weird (yes, weirder than normal weird.) Why? February, North Florida, cold night (down to the low 20's) and three large critters breathing while sleeping.
Hmmm... Why did we wake up funny feeling with headaches? Opened the door to the tent, sheets of very thin ice fell from inside the door. Sheets of ice on the inside. Seems our breaths exhaled enough water to coat the tent inside and to stop decent air flow and air exchange.
Carbon Dioxide poisoning, in a tent, in winter. Who would have thought that possible?
The year or so before, at the same camp, it got so cold so quick a squirrel froze to death stuck on a branch.
Yes, it gets cold up/down here in North Central Florida. Back in the dark ages, there once were orange groves up to the FL/GA border. Those all froze in the very cold winters of 74, 75 and 76, killing all the groves down to just north of Orlando.
After that, we always left the roof flap open. And got wool blankets.
I fixed up a queen-sized frame on wooden legs so we could have a queen futon to sleep on. Headboard to keep pillows from squeezing off, nice sheets and 4 wool blankets, perfect for all-season camping. Plywood tables, one inside and one under the fly, chairs and rugs on the floor. Clothes in foot lockers (old school style from the 1950's) and electric fans and extension cords for summer camping.
Man, I miss that. Fun times with good friends. Sigh. Old age and injuries stopped that from continuing, not to mention the time we were in Mississippi and, I swear, a chunk of said river flew up and fell on our tent, filling it with 2" of water. Unfun time. Killed the tent as the rain fell so heavy the fly and roof of the tent ripped out, dowsing us in water. Bleh.
Travelling, miss it so. But it is what it is. We are alive, still in love and looking forward to the next 50 years or so (with each other. The rest of the world, not so much the way it's acting right now.)
Still have dreams about those days of my youth.
On to other things, a good anime to watch, bit scary, bit bloody (cartoon blood) and very tense. "Another." It's about a school where bad things happen every year to members of a particular classroom. Cursed? Haunted? You decide. Good enough story that it kept me guessing as to what and who pretty much until right at the end. Murder Mystery Mayhem.
First episode is here. Another Episode 01 (Series) - Bilibili
Further episodes found on the sidebar of that episode.
Badgers get autumn hay fever, too.
ReplyDeleteThere's hay fever and then there's coughing up chunks of lung-butter and having said LB clog your throat so you can't breathe. That is what was happening. Thank God for Albuterol nebulizers and hot tea.
DeleteBeans, I had no idea it got that cold in Northern Florida.
ReplyDeleteI have never camped over the weekend at a Highland Games in the past, but I know those who have. Frankly, my ability to consume vast quantities of alcohol, act crazily into the wee hours of the morning, sleep two hours, and then get up and be ready to go for the day are long gone. Hotels and early hours anymore.
On the bright side, hiking has allowed me to do that sort of thing, but without the alcohol, acting crazily, or not getting enough sleep. The equipment now is quite good and even I, in my feeble and aged condition, can lug a 20-30 lbs pack for 5 days and see the world (metaphorically speaking. It is a very small sliver of it).
The first time I ever encountered snow in real life was Christmas Day, 1973, in Satellite Beach, FL. That's south of Cape Canaveral, right across from Melbourne, FL. It does get cold in Florida.
DeleteBack in the pre-orange grove days, Florida's cash crop on the east coast was pineapples. But it got too cold for those, and Hawaii took over pineapple production, so citrus became king. From just north of the Everglades to almost the Georgia border, citrus everywhere. Then the killing frosts of the mid 70's hit. You used to be able to see dead orange groves just north of Orlando if you travelled the FL turnpike up to around 1995 or so. There's a scenic overlook on 441 south of Gainesville that used to be a grove and you could take the stairs of the grove stand and go up a tower and look over oranges everywhere. Same thing, death by cold in the 70's.
Have probably camped at that same location.
ReplyDeleteYes, North Florida can get seriously cold, mainly due to the humidity. While living in Jckvl, had a neighbor that moved from Ohio complain that he had never been that cold. Folks don't realize that NE Florida gets its own form of Nor'Easters - temps in the upper 40's with winds in the 20s and humidity over 80%. It is ugly.
And earlier, I think '75, when living in the Panhandle, a cousin & I took a jon boat and broke ice on a local pond.. for the fun & novelty of it. Good Times...
See it all the time here in Gainesville. Yankees come down here thinking 'Florida is Sunshine State and is hot' and get sorely disappointed when they freeze and have left all their winter gear at home. Wet and cold is no way to have fun.
DeleteBack in the mid 70's, it was fun riding to school from Satellite Beach to Indian Harbor and see all the yards covered in ice from people having automated sprinklers and cold freezing weather.
As a nurse and ex-EMT, they taught us that CO tell-tail is a cherry red tongue, with extreme headache, tired, and confused. When ever using gas/wood stove, run cars with doors closed, or you have holes in your floor boards, then check your and others tongues. If bright red, leave area for fresh air, may need hyperbaric oxygen therapy, aka go to ER. CO has huge affinity to hemoglobin, hence remains attached and block O2 absorption, removal takes time. Pulse Oxidation device readings are false. Please tell others.
ReplyDeleteYup. CO2 is fun stuff. But all the heat we had was 3 warm bodies and who would expect on a cold night that your breathe would freeze on the inside of the tent and thus try to kill you? Weird but true...
DeleteGlad you verified that we get cold here in NFL (29.28N, 85.05W). Thanks. It’s perfect. Don’t tell any Northerners.
ReplyDeleteI like that we actually have 4 seasons and mostly without snow. Though it gets far hotter inland than on the beaches during the summer.
DeleteGood to see you back in the lists, Beans.
ReplyDeleteAs to poly tics (noticed that, stole it), you can write about it as much as you wish, Tuna does. I just don't like the modern stuff encroaching on my "Living in the Past" (Tull reference).
I remember camping, we never did it for reals. Slept in a pup tent at Gettysburg for a re-enactment when I was nobbut a callow youth. Slept under a cannon with naught but a blanket at Fort Number 4 on the banks of the Connecticut River, good fun. Last time was in the Rockies when all that MWR had available was sleeping bags...
"Sarge, why are you bringing a blanket? We've got sleeping bags."
As night fell and I was constructing my primitive lean-to (using my GI-issue blanket) the others all scoffed. When I awakened the next morn all of my comrades were covered in dew. Moi? dry as an old bone.
I'm with TB, hotels and room service, that's what I call camping these days.
Great post and thanks for having my six!
Back in the days, when we went to Gulf Wars (a 'war' between Trimaris (Florida, surrounded on 3 sides by water, get it?) and Ansteorra (Texas - the lone star, get it?) in Lumberton, MS (because going to FL or TX was too far to drive) we started out in the Eureka tent. And then after the river hit us we did on-site cabins for a few years until the 'royals' of other kingdoms took over all the on-sitecabins. After that we became what was called, in the SCA, "Ramada Rangers," usually by staying at the very crappy and continuously getting worse motel that was found at the road on the way in to the war site. Hot waters, clean sheets if you brought them from home, and a washer and dryer. We'd cook in the room, using crock pots a lot. Fight all day, come home and dinner was ready after delousing and demudding and starting the wash of all the dirty clothes (which fighting does tend to create.)
DeleteAhh, camping. Remember it fondly as a child, then again with my own children. But later I became a Scoutmaster and camped WAY TOO MUCH. I'll take a decent bed over an air mattress now any night of the week. I can hike in the nature whenever I want, and have no need to sleep in it!
ReplyDeleteThus the bedframe and queen-sized futon. Plus there was storage under. And the whole thing fit in the back of our Ford Econoline van, so we could camp in the van if we wished.
DeleteOn the ground camping? Nope.