Florida memories

 

Saddle Creek, Lakeland

As I watch the continual destruction of nature for business in the name of progress, I think about all I have read in the past several weeks from people who think they know Florida, but they really don't. 

I was lucky enough to grow up in Florida before the advent of all the people who came down here because they fell in love with it and wanted to escape the winters up north. The problem with that is they also do not like the heat or humidity, rain or storms that we are known for. 

Last week we got a lot of rain. We needed it and although the inches were high, my yard, and I live 5 miles from the beach, was so dry that it all soaked up pretty quickly. Plants and things that were looking a little brown, are now blooming like crazy and everything looks green once again. After the drought last summer which brought very little summer rain, I appreciate all rain, even 8 inches. We are at or below sea level in many areas of the coast so to complain when your property floods elicits no sympathy from me. For 25 years I lived on Anna Maria Island and when it rained, you could canoe down some streets. Now people just complain. 

The photo above is an old one of Saddle Creek in Lakeland. Saddle Creek is a collection of old phosphate pits left behind before mining companies were made to reclaim the land. The creek does flow in to these pits which are the coldest water around in the summer. When I was a teenager, my friend Pat and I used to rent a canoe and spend all day soaking up the sun, tipping the canoe to get wet, tipping it back over to climb back in and then have great conversation about our lives when we grew up. We never thought about the alligators because we knew certain things: don't feed them, don't mess with any babies because there is a momma gator around somewhere, they are more scared of you than you are of them. We were not reckless but it was also not something we worried about. There were wild hogs and raccoons and there could have been a bear or two but we never saw one. We did not think about the pits being bottomless limestone and I don't think we ever had a life preserver on the canoe. We were not reckless, just teenagers having fun. 

We swam in most lakes in Lakeland and Winter Haven. We spent most of our time outdoors in the summer in cutoffs and bikini tops. It was hot and humid, just like today, but we didn't think anything of it. Everyone's house was not freezing cold with air conditioning, and most cars did not have it. We could go the the mall which did have air conditioning and walk around, but we didn't have money, so most of the time we did not hang out there. 

Now Saddle Creek is a park, with houses and a golf course and all the accoutrements you see with the continual building going on. I am not sure if you can swim in any of the lakes any longer. Maybe Lake Hollingsworth but most people are so afraid of what might be in the water, they don't. 

Most of what you see now is on social media in some form whether it is a photo or an article. I read a very good one about humidity that was shared by a friend that was  in the New York Times. It made sense to me. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/11/magazine/florida-heat-sweat.html

I am glad I grew up here when I did. I am grateful for the parents I had at a time when kids were allowed to be kids and not joined at their parents' hips. My memories keep me going when ignorant people begin trying to explain things they really have no clue about. 

Post pandemic rescue observations

Across the country, the coronavirus has forced many animal shelters into crisis mode. Above, a dogs at the Humane Society of Harlingen, Texas which has since found a home.

Sara Cano/Humane Society of Harlingen, Texas

During the pandemic, many, many people who had never participated in animal rescue or adoption began to evaluate what a pet might bring in to their lives while they were unable to leave their homes to go to school or work. Shelters took advantage of this, and promoted fostering or adopting because people were not visiting shelters due to the lockdown. I observed many local shelters become less crowded so staff were able to continue to care for the animals who had not been placed in a home. Fast forward to a little over four years later, and we find the reverse to be true.
Many people are now dumping animals back on the shelters due to the same reasons they were dumping animals at the shelters before the pandemic, only in higher numbers. The same old tired excuses are being used if they use any excuse at all: we are moving, we are allergic, we cannot afford a vet, we don't want to leave them alone for 4 or 8 or 12 hours a day. They deserve better. You think up an excuse and it has been used before. Unfortunately, they don't seem to understand, or perhaps they do and simply do not care, that in a kennel, despite the fact there are people around, they are still alone.
I have reached the age where I cannot handle two dogs. I knew when my last pair died, I would become a one dog household and have had one dog continually for the past 18 months, both shelter dogs, both with issues, both had a piece of my heart. Gideon died after only 5 months but he was the big headed lug, who simply adored me and I gave him the best life I could for the 5 months he lived here. He died loved and cherished and not on a cold cement floor at the shelter, which is where many animals end up, through no fault of their own. It seems, especially in the past year, the shelters have had revolving doors and despite the fact that people are adopting, many others are dumping, adopting and returning, allowing litters after litters to be born because they say they cannot afford to spay or neuter. The list is endless.
We rescuers are getting older, many of us in our 60s and 70s and simply cannot continue to pull the load we have been pulling for the last few years. We need younger, more energetic animal lovers to step up and fill our shoes. It is hard to get people to listen to you. It is hard to get animals adjusted to a home when your energy level is half what it is for a 30 year old. Florida is in crisis mode. All shelters are begging for volunteers. If you don't want to walk dogs, play with the kitties. Give them some love. Do laundry; there is always a ton a any shelter. Give 2 hours a week or 10, it is all appreciated. Please contact your local shelter or rescue and see how you can help. If we pulled together during the pandemic, we shouldn't let that progress disintegrate now.