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Snake! (updated)
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- Published on Sunday, 04 March 2012 17:53
- Written by Sean Masters
This weekend, my wife was cleaning up around the yard. She emptied an open bag of potting soil into the flower bed when an 18 inch Corn snake (incorrectly originally reported to be a rattle snake) fell out. So she did what she always does when she wants something icky killed, she called for me.
Always wanting to be the hero, I grabbed a flat tipped shovel and leaped over to chop the snake in half. Unfortunately, with the soft sugar sand we have in the area, all I ended up doing was pinning the snake to the ground with the shovel. Now I was standing in my bare feet, using a blunt shovel to hold a poisonous snake down and he was not very happy. It does not get any better than this.
Broccoli
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- Published on Wednesday, 22 February 2012 09:43
- Written by Sean Masters
I finally got some florets on my four broccoli plants this weekend. I have been nursing these plants along since last fall and thought nothing was ever going to happen. I got the seeds from the Gourmet Seed Company and a friend at work helped me start them. These four were all that survived from the eight I brought home. I was beginning to think nothing was ever going to produce from them.
Now, I am not a big broccoli fan. However, I have found that if you put enough cheese sauce on any vegetable you can eat it. As I get older and try to eat healthier, I am finding vegetables are not as bad as I remember.
Fat Tuesday
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- Published on Tuesday, 21 February 2012 09:47
- Written by Sean Masters
Well, it is Mardi Gras time again in Lake Wales. This always seemed strange to me for quiet, serene Lake Wales to have what is known as a wild celebration as Mardi Gras. And honestly, anyone from New Orleans or Brazil would find these celebrations very, very tame.
The Mardi Gras in Lake Wales was first started in celebration of one man, Vinton Davis in 1984 but it certainly draws in the rich Catholic heritage in the area. One of the first buildings in Lake Wales was the old Catholic church by the hospital. It is now the Lake Wales Art Center and the new Catholic church is a sprawling complex at the south side of town. There is also a large Lutheran church on Scenic Highway.
Pulling a Ditch
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- Published on Thursday, 16 February 2012 20:14
- Written by Sean Masters
The other day I went past a roadway maintenance operation and it made me think. Roads are expensive to build. They can cost millions of dollars for a single mile. However, they are horribly expensive to maintain because you have to do it. Mother Nature wants nothing more to do than return everything to a natural state. It is a constant struggle to keep her away.
What I saw was a ditch cleaning / shaping operation or “pulling a ditch”. The main piece of equipment is a special excavator. It reaches out and removes all the buildup in the ditch and reshapes it to the original contour. It scoops out the dirt and grass and dumps it into a waiting dump truck to be hauled away.