We've lived in Florida for 9 months now. I can't believe time has gone so fast. It seems like the days were slow but the months went fast. The first few months of living here were great. Adrian was off for the first month and helped us get settled and we went to the beach several times a week. We really enjoyed it here. When we left Utah it was snowing. When we arrived here it was hot, but not sweltering hot yet. I remember telling people we liked it here so much we'd consider trying to get a residency spot in the southeast. My stereotypes of Florida did not pay out. I remember I was worried about alligators everywhere, sinkholes and pythons roaming free. None of these were realistic expectations of Florida.
Then Adrian started rotations. He was busy rotating through the different departments of the hospital and clinics around town. Some rotations were more time consuming than others, but overall he felt he was not learning as much as he should have. The administration at the hospital was not invested in producing physicians that were prepared for real world, real life jobs. Adrian was frustrated about the fact that he "hit rock bottom" in being sent to this residency program. I think for the most part this intern year for Adrian has not been difficult for me and kids. There's only been a couple months when he wasn't home for dinner. Like I said, some months are more time consuming than others.
Once Adrian was working full time and the full blast of summer hit, it was hot. And I mean sweltering hot. We had record breaking highs for lows. It cooled down to 80 degrees at night and was too hot even at 7 am to get the boys out and go for a walk and let them run around. That went on for months. Come September I started expecting a cool down. All I wanted was a little break from the heat where I could get out and not sweat. The heat really is miserable to be in. Even my boys would get grumpy if we went for a simple 15 minute walk around the block. Well, that cool down never came. Until January that is. Each month I thought "it's got to start getting cooler now". I remember our air conditioning running all through December. It still ran a few days in January and February. In fact, it's running at this very moment. I'm told January-March is the coolest time here. We've still been mid 70s to 80s during that time. During the hottest months it was hard for me and the kids. I'm used to letting them play outside and run around and we just couldn't do that because of the heat. Now, we did go the beach and the fountains and played in the sprinklers often, but I can definitely say one summer here was enough for me. I've changed my mind on staying here. It's a great place to vacation and be a snowbird, but I personally like a change in the seasons and I don't mind the snow. I like a good hot in the summer and cold in the winter I've decided.
Other random things about Florida would be the raccoons running around. I've learned that if have garbage in my garbage can, I have to put my can in the garage. Or else I usually have a nasty mess to clean up. There are frogs and lizards just hopping/running about everywhere. Levi loves to catch them. There was one particular week when it rained nonstop for 3 days. All the frogs started croaking and it was a sound I've never heard before. Literally hundreds of frogs from the whole block would be croaking and they were loud. It was crazy to hear. Another unique thing is the flowers on the trees. There were some trees that had flowers for months. And they were different from spring blossoms. It was pretty to see. That seemed to mostly be in the summer and fall.
One thing I particularly don't like are the rude drivers. I've never encountered such mean inconsiderate drivers. Adrian thinks the same thing. There was one time a driver followed me to my destination just so she could confront me face to face and tell me off. It made me quite upset since she was the one driving badly and not me.
One surprising thing is there is hardly any Florida grown produce in the grocery stores. People tell me to hit the Farmer's Market for that, but I was quite surprised that oranges and such are from California or out of the country and not home grown.
When we first moved here we were in the Fort Pierce ward and had to dive about 25 minutes to get to church. I guess we've always been spoiled because that's the longest commute we've ever had to do to go to church. Our ward has since been split and we've been put in another ward in a different building. Our commute is now about 17 minutes. And we also went from being in the Orlando temple district to the Fort Lauderdale temple district.
Oh the bugs in Florida. We've got ants, inside and out, that are a nuisance. The inside ones are called ghost ants because they are mostly white and teeny tiny. They are sugar ants and I had the hardest time with them in my kitchen. Even if I would keep my kitchen clean they would be in my dishwasher or in my garbage can. After months of struggling with them I finally found some ant bait that has virtually eliminated them. Now, we've got these big giant ants in the house. Still haven't gotten rid of them. I squish about 5 a day. They've been in all the beds and I'm worried about one getting in with the baby. We also have ants outside. After Adrian got bit, we bought some ant bait we sprinkled around the yard and they are not much of a problem anymore. Then there's the cockroaches in the house. Yuck. There's phases where I'll encounter a bunch, and then none for a while. There's also mosquitoes here. All year long it seems. They are smaller than the ones I'm used to in Utah. We've learned anytime we go outside we have to put on bugspray. They are also a nuisance when they get in the house.
It's been fun have gopher tortoises around the yard. We had two burrows in the back yard at one time. We have not seem those tortoises in a long time, not sure if they still live there. We had one lay eggs in the front yard. Apparently we missed the hatching day even though we were waiting and watching because we never any baby tortoises.
The ocean is very beautiful and relaxing. The water in the summer was very warm. It's not even terribly cold right now. We still go to the beach and the boys still play in the water. We have encountered some jellyfish and been pulled out of the water due to sharks. But that never deters us from coming back.
The vegetation here is unique. It's humid and jungley almost. I was excited to see some Spanish Oak trees that have hanging moss. They are pretty, but overall I'm not impressed with the natural vegetation here. I guess I'm just fond of my pine and aspen trees from back home. Though the beach is beautiful, I still prefer the mountains as being more beautiful. Like I said, it's just what's more fond to me.
I just wanted to record some of my thoughts on Florida. It has not been bad living here, it's just been an adjustment. And in fact, I'd rather stay here for a few more years than live the big city we're headed to next.
Once Adrian was working full time and the full blast of summer hit, it was hot. And I mean sweltering hot. We had record breaking highs for lows. It cooled down to 80 degrees at night and was too hot even at 7 am to get the boys out and go for a walk and let them run around. That went on for months. Come September I started expecting a cool down. All I wanted was a little break from the heat where I could get out and not sweat. The heat really is miserable to be in. Even my boys would get grumpy if we went for a simple 15 minute walk around the block. Well, that cool down never came. Until January that is. Each month I thought "it's got to start getting cooler now". I remember our air conditioning running all through December. It still ran a few days in January and February. In fact, it's running at this very moment. I'm told January-March is the coolest time here. We've still been mid 70s to 80s during that time. During the hottest months it was hard for me and the kids. I'm used to letting them play outside and run around and we just couldn't do that because of the heat. Now, we did go the beach and the fountains and played in the sprinklers often, but I can definitely say one summer here was enough for me. I've changed my mind on staying here. It's a great place to vacation and be a snowbird, but I personally like a change in the seasons and I don't mind the snow. I like a good hot in the summer and cold in the winter I've decided.
Other random things about Florida would be the raccoons running around. I've learned that if have garbage in my garbage can, I have to put my can in the garage. Or else I usually have a nasty mess to clean up. There are frogs and lizards just hopping/running about everywhere. Levi loves to catch them. There was one particular week when it rained nonstop for 3 days. All the frogs started croaking and it was a sound I've never heard before. Literally hundreds of frogs from the whole block would be croaking and they were loud. It was crazy to hear. Another unique thing is the flowers on the trees. There were some trees that had flowers for months. And they were different from spring blossoms. It was pretty to see. That seemed to mostly be in the summer and fall.
One thing I particularly don't like are the rude drivers. I've never encountered such mean inconsiderate drivers. Adrian thinks the same thing. There was one time a driver followed me to my destination just so she could confront me face to face and tell me off. It made me quite upset since she was the one driving badly and not me.
One surprising thing is there is hardly any Florida grown produce in the grocery stores. People tell me to hit the Farmer's Market for that, but I was quite surprised that oranges and such are from California or out of the country and not home grown.
When we first moved here we were in the Fort Pierce ward and had to dive about 25 minutes to get to church. I guess we've always been spoiled because that's the longest commute we've ever had to do to go to church. Our ward has since been split and we've been put in another ward in a different building. Our commute is now about 17 minutes. And we also went from being in the Orlando temple district to the Fort Lauderdale temple district.
Oh the bugs in Florida. We've got ants, inside and out, that are a nuisance. The inside ones are called ghost ants because they are mostly white and teeny tiny. They are sugar ants and I had the hardest time with them in my kitchen. Even if I would keep my kitchen clean they would be in my dishwasher or in my garbage can. After months of struggling with them I finally found some ant bait that has virtually eliminated them. Now, we've got these big giant ants in the house. Still haven't gotten rid of them. I squish about 5 a day. They've been in all the beds and I'm worried about one getting in with the baby. We also have ants outside. After Adrian got bit, we bought some ant bait we sprinkled around the yard and they are not much of a problem anymore. Then there's the cockroaches in the house. Yuck. There's phases where I'll encounter a bunch, and then none for a while. There's also mosquitoes here. All year long it seems. They are smaller than the ones I'm used to in Utah. We've learned anytime we go outside we have to put on bugspray. They are also a nuisance when they get in the house.
It's been fun have gopher tortoises around the yard. We had two burrows in the back yard at one time. We have not seem those tortoises in a long time, not sure if they still live there. We had one lay eggs in the front yard. Apparently we missed the hatching day even though we were waiting and watching because we never any baby tortoises.
The ocean is very beautiful and relaxing. The water in the summer was very warm. It's not even terribly cold right now. We still go to the beach and the boys still play in the water. We have encountered some jellyfish and been pulled out of the water due to sharks. But that never deters us from coming back.
The vegetation here is unique. It's humid and jungley almost. I was excited to see some Spanish Oak trees that have hanging moss. They are pretty, but overall I'm not impressed with the natural vegetation here. I guess I'm just fond of my pine and aspen trees from back home. Though the beach is beautiful, I still prefer the mountains as being more beautiful. Like I said, it's just what's more fond to me.
I just wanted to record some of my thoughts on Florida. It has not been bad living here, it's just been an adjustment. And in fact, I'd rather stay here for a few more years than live the big city we're headed to next.
No comments:
Post a Comment