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Tuesday Tidbits





The population of the Tampa Bay Area is estimated at 2,975,222 people.  Largo, my latest institutional home is Largo, nestled between Clearwater, St. Petersburg, and Tampa is full of humans from all over the place; traffic is heavy wherever you go.  Seems like every inch of land is developed or undergoing development.  So, it seems quite strange that right next door is a place full of chickens.  Funny, huh?  Oh, and roosters crow all the time just not at dawn.

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This is a picture of a knocker-upper.  In England and Ireland at the start of the Industrial Revolution a trade began that served as alarm clocks before alarm clocks were made.  These people would go from place to place and shoot a dried bean or pea through a tube at their customer's bedroom window to wake them up for work.  


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My generation is the last to:

.....remember life before the Internet.

.....you honked every time you passed someone when driving.

 .....when a phone number contained letters.

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If you are going to have a vanity plate make it so we get it.

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Still the best Halloween costume I've ever seen.

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Saw this at a thrift store.  Strange, huh?  I don't remember any problems with radiation from early computers.

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Florida allows early voting by mailed ballot.  I filled mine out and mailed it this morning.  I exercised my franchise but I don't feel very good about it.  I have not shied away from giving rationales for my votes, but I am simply too embarrassed and wish it all to go away.  

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A heads up for you Halloween revelers.  Friday night at 8:00/7:00 on Turner Classic Movies is the motherlode of old classic scary movies.  Dracula, The Mummy, The Invisible Man and The Wolf Man will be played back-to-back-to-back-to-back.  They are dated, often silly and have lost their punch through the decades but this is where it all began.  Give it some respect.

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Saw this somewhere with the heading Modern Romance.  We have gained immensely with our mobile devices, but we have a lost some, too. 

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Pat Johnson, my buddy  from Mary Davis days and who I see everytime I return to Northlandia, is presently on her 20th disaster deployment with the Red Cross in North Carolina.  An amazing lady.  She definitely decided to do the Jimmy Carter thing in retirement - me, more like George Bush.

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Looking forward to returning to the Cabin in the Woods in a month.  It is a short visit but am planning longer stays during next summer.  

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I became a Met's fan because of my dislike for the Cubs.  I have set aside my animus and am rooting for them in the World Series.   They are the best team in baseball.   While we survived only one game this year in the playoffs, we made it to the WS last year so will step aside and let the Cub fans have their due.  By the way, I made a rare picture post on Facebook a couple weeks ago when three generations of Met's fans put on our uni's  for our big game.  
  
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Finally, there is place nearby called Eagle Lake Park.  Nice place to take a walk, see some nature and take advantage of the first cool weekend we've had here so far.  Took this picture of a couple butterflies and looks like one's wing has been damaged.   





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