Proceed with Caution

Despite the threat of rain, Wednesday morning Maureen and I took off for Ocala. She needed a ride to Sherri's farm, from there the two of them were heading to Sherri's house in North Carolina to spend some time relaxing. All was high and dry until we reached our exit with only light rain falling. The drive off the interstate to her house was so beautifully scenic with the rain saturating all the shades of green, not to mention the lovely horses in the fields. Most of my Florida readers know that Ocala is the "horse capital" of Florida, but for those who've never been there, it is beautiful. Just like all states, the terrain is different from region to region; Orlando is pretty much completely flat, a bit to the north around Ocala there are what we would call hills, however, most folks from other states would laugh at that description.

Sherri has these beautiful horses:

There was a steady drizzle when I was out trying to get some photographs which I'll blame for the dumb mistakes I made. I should have just switched the lens on the Nikon to one that auto focuses--it is very challenging to get good shots of moving objects with manual focus. My second mistake was with my Panasonic. DUH!!! I have done this countless times, so I should know better, alas, I had it on macro focus for all the pictures. I am so mad at myself. Arriving home after a very stressful drive, I put the card into the reader only to find photographs which should have been gorgeous, fuzzy. After looking at a few, I immediately knew what I'd done wrong. I MUST check this every time in the future!

The rain began to pick up steadily once I was on I-75, and for the next 60 miles I could barely see the road in front of me. I definitely proceeded with caution--once when the wipers were going like mad, and I still could see nothing, I pulled off to the side. This is what it looked like:

One thing in the Elements' favor is that the spray from large vehicles doesn't bother quite so much as it did in the MINI. BTW--whenever I get another MINI it will be red--I just saw the cutest one on the road. Back to the subject at hand, I held on for dear life until I pulled up to the safety of my driveway. One thing that makes me crazy is all the people who don't turn on their lights. What is up with that? I talked to Dana later in the day, she told me she'd driven to Daytona the day before and her forearms were sore when she got home from gripping the steering wheel. How about those folks who drive like there is no rain--chatting on a hand held phone no less. There are two driving conditions which make me very nervous--thunderstorms and road construction. Guess what--I got them both on the Turnpike.

One area where I should proceed with more caution is in my writing. Not so much the writing per se, although I know the grammar police cringe at some of my punctuation errors, but the editing. Sometimes I just write it, and off it goes into cyberspace, although not this time. This time it went to the newspaper for lots of people to see, not the puny audience my blog garners. An article from Sunday's Sentinel sent me straight for the keyboard. I won't go into too many details, but let's just say percentages are not my strong point. On the morning it appeared in print--not to mention with a box around it with the heading Hot Topic--I decided to call David to check my figures. Boy was I wrong! Instead of the 300% I used, it should have been 2400%--yeesh! If Bruce had been home I'd have consulted him, but as it was I used my own crazy logic. Proceed with caution next time Gail.

We're off for the weekend to Siesta Key. Bruce's buddy from work, Steve, is throwing his annual Memorial Day party. Let's hope the rain doesn't spoil things.

Before you get worried I've confirmed Angela has the correct key to our house. She asked me if I'd told Baxter he was spending a few days with his Auntie Angela and Uncle Matt. We are so lucky to have them. She's healing nicely in case you're wondering.

In further news my friend Kelly put this on my facebook wall--I'm so grateful for people sharing these kinds of things with me. No screw ups here!
Free Press
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Listening to: Miranda Lambert - Desperation
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Listening to: Sugababes - Push the Button
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Listening to: Rihanna - Don't Stop the Music
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