Freezing in Florida

It's been a cool, windy winter so far.

Christmas week was cool, windy, rainy and sometimes cold. But the first few weeks in January were downright FREEZING!

The whole country had a cold blast that swept across from west to east. It hit Florida big time.

It was so cold that lots and lots of fish died from the cold waters. I don't know what kind of fish they were, but they were definitely warm water fish.

People here started talking about how many of the fish had died some years ago due to cold weather. They talked about how smelly all those dead fish were.

Well, it happened again.

Gradually we started to see fish floating upside down in the inlet by the marina - dead! Then we saw more fish, and more fish and then we saw a lot of birds having a feast on all those fish.

Then the wind started pushing all those fish into the marina area and around the homes that border the intercoastal. The pictures say it all. It took about 1 1/2 weeks for the fish to finally float away or sink to the bottom. In the mean time - it SMELLED and SMELLED and SMELLED.

There were also a lot of dead fish being washed up on the beach along the ocean. We've never seen anything like it before and hope we never see anything like it again. We haven't even seen any manatee yet this year and only a handful of dolphin. They must be staying in warmer waters for a while.

I guess it was a good thing the weather was still cool after the fish died. It wouldn't be too good to go kayaking among the dead fish.

Christmas in Florida

We left Texas and headed for Florida arriving at Ocean Resorts on December 24.

We looked forward to a warm Christmas with Joni's kids, Jim and his wife Barbara, Ken and Chris. We were all disappointed when the weather was cool. Most of the time, light jackets were needed.

Jim, Barbara, Ken and Chris were all looking forward to lots of beach time and scuba diving, tennis and kayaking. The only thing we could do was play tennis. Even our walk on the beach was cut short because it was too chilly.

A highlight of the week was our gift exchange......... You won't believe what the kids gave Joni!!!!!!! Obama paraphernalia!!!! Obama calendars, and Obama and Michelle paper doll cutouts! They couldn't wait for us to open our gifts. Afterwards they said we could make a dart board out of the pictures. See the photo of us with Obama! Also see Ken checking out his new jacket and Barbara trying on her new hat.

Doesn't Jim look good in his hat!

The motor home is quite small when there are more than just us in it, so we were a little crowded for our visit, but it was cozy. We all had a good time! At least the weather was warm enough one afternoon for us to eat outside.

One of our favorite activities is tennis. We all went down to the courts and played round robin tennis. Jim forgot his sneakers so he played barefoot. The court surface is similar to artificial turf and has a few tons of sand on top. The court was pretty easy on Jim's feet, better than a hard surface would be. It was quite a competition because Joni challenged the boys that they couldn't even win a game. Well, they did well, although we (Joni and Delton) were trying to be easy on them.................

We all had a real good time playing tennis. Barbara was the cheering section and cheered us all on.

Last year we got to go kayaking, but this year it was too cold. We were hoping to paddle out and find some dolphin and manatee. We walked out to the marina where we usually find them but we didn't see any. I think it was too cold for them. Well, maybe next time.

Christmas went by way too fast. Being with your family is the best present anyone could get. We look forward to the next time we can all be together.