I was just talking to one of the other teachers at my school Friday about the odds of Tim Tebow staying for one more year to play football at the University of Florida. We were speculating about whether or not he would accept his placement in the draft this season or wait it out another year. We were also excitedly wondering what the Gators might look like next year if decided to stay.

Today Tebow announced he will indeed stay at UF for his senior season! UF is already a force to be reckoned with when it comes to so many of their sprits teams and now this just about seals in the reality that next year’s Gators football will be astounding.

All of Florida rejoices!

I am one of those people who is not afraid of spiders. In fact, I like them a lot. Therefore, I feel like I need to be educated about the ones that would pose a danger to me if I were to pick them up and be bitten. I was looking at an article by G. B. Edwards of the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services and he says that only two main types of venomous spiders are in the state: widow spiders and recluse spiders.

Widows can be native to Florida. Of the four species of this type of spider, three are native. The fourth species has been introduced. It turns out that widow spiders are not native to Florida at all, but there are three species that are occasionally found here.

Since both of these kinds of spiders generally stay where they are no easily seen, the article recommends that you wear gloves when doing things like lifting firewood or reaching into a storage box or your BBQ grill.

A widow’s bite releases venom that acts systemically and moves through your lymphatic system. You might notice “intense pain, rigid abdominal muscles, muscle cramping, malaise, local sweating, nausea, vomiting, and hypertension.” The symptoms can last three to five days if not treated, but treatment is easier than you might think. Not only will an anti-venom work, but so will calcium gluconate – with can be obtained at the drug store inexpensively.

Recluse spiders are hunters and more aggressive than widows, but still only usually bite humans when trapped against the skin, like when you roll over onto one in bed or put on clothing where one is hiding. Their bites cause symptoms within two to four hours, generally making a swollen, painful blister at the bite site that is reddish in color and surrounded by blue. This is called a ‘bull’s-eye’ pattern. If it turns purple, the skin around the bite is becoming necrotic, which means it will eventually turn black and the cells will die, leaving a pitted, scarred area.

When I lived in Gainesville, we had a lot of brown recluse spiders in our wooded yard. We often found them on our screened porch. Alachua County is one of the places the brown recluse is often found. We resorted to putting out a brown recluse spider trap, because my daughter was a toddler at the time and liked to run about touching things and exploring the environment. Of course, I still felt safer being right with her so I could monitor her actions.

Let’s just move right past the fact that smokers are a group of people who KNOWINGLY ingest chemicals that have been proven to lead to cancer, emphysema, and a host of other illnesses. We all know that alone is enough to deem most smokers are clinically nuts.

Let’s look now at the ridiculous case of Rick Ming and Billy Locke of Tampa, Florida. The two roommates entered into a petty argument over CIGARETTES and by the time it was over, one of them was dead by the other’s hand. So yes, not only does smoking kill, but apparently so do smokers.

Tampa, Florida – Tampa police say a fight between roommates over cigarettes turned deadly Tuesday morning.

Officers were originally called to the Eden Apartments at 3712 W Cass Street shortly before 6 a.m. Tuesday. Both roommates in unit 25 wanted the other roommate to move out. Officers told them they were both on the lease and there was nothing the officers could do.

Officers say there was no evidence of any physical injuries and both parties denied any physical fighting, so officers left.

Then at 8:00 Tuesday morning officers, were called back to the apartment and found 43-year-old Rick Ming dead. His roommate, 30 year-old Billy Locke has been charged with second degree murder.

Officers say Locke told them he put Ming in a choke hold and accidentally killed him.

Ridiculous, huh?

…but they last longer now, too.

Did you know that you can already get a 2009 Fun Card for Busch Gardens in Tampa? My daughter and I used to get our sometime at the beginning of any given year and then we would be able to get in to the park for the rest of the year on the same full-priced, one-day admission ticket.

The price for an adult Fun Card is going up 8 percent, to $69.95. The price for children ages 3 to 9 is going up 9 percent, to $59.95. However, you can start using these cards now and keep using them through the last day of 2009.

In January, Busch Gardens will replace the Fun Card with a “Pay for a Day” deal where you can get unlimited park visits without blackout dates for the price of a 2009 single-day admission. No news yet on those prices.

Despite what sounds like it might be a money losing venture for the park, their revenue is actually still very strong. They make their money off of parking, food, and other concessions from your repeat visits.

Florida – land of temperate weather and a never-ending growing season. And yes, lots of bugs that thrive in our moist, warm state.

And now, University of Florida researchers say we should be on guard for several new species of cockroaches that have entered the state via lizard owners who buy them to feed their pets.

When those cockroaches escape, they breed happily and quickly in our warm environment. The breeds experts say Floridians need to be on the lookout for are: the Madagascar hissing cockroach, the Turkestan cockroach, lobster roach, and the orange spotted roach. Although Florida has banned the sale of new roach varieties for 20 years now, but the internet has made them easy for pet owners to obtain.

Since the Tampa Bay area is basically devoid of real celebrities, the Hogan family saga is what passes for celebrity gossip around here. And since it has been several weeks since our last tidbit of Hogan hijinks, I suppose it was past due for a new Hogan-ific story.

Linda Hogan says the real reason she is divorcing the Hulk (Terry Bollea) is that he was cheating on her with daughter Brooke’s (former) best friend Christiane Plante.

While Linda insists the reason for divorce is as simple as Hulk’s cheating, Hulk himself is not satisfied to let well enough alone. I suppose he’s just not one to put his tail respectfully between his legs and slink off into the beautiful Clearwater Beach sunset. Nope, he repeatedly and often fires back at Linda with accusations that she simply wants to be in the limelight.

Hulk’s lawyer, David Houston, released this statement:
“It is unfortunate Linda Hogan will do virtually anything to keep herself in the public spotlight. We are not going to demean this process nor the family any longer by responding to what amounts to pathetic pleas for attention.”

He can blow as much smoke as he wants, but I agree that Linda is justified with her simple statement about Hulk cheating. That says it all. We don’t even have to get into the fact that the person he cheating with was the MUCH-younger BFF of his own daughter. That’s the tacky icing on the creepy cake, so to speak.

It’s been an amazing season for the Tampa Bay Rays. They went from being a black spot on our sunny map to the most celebrated team in the region. Tampa Bay Rays apparel can be seen everywhere you go. There is a lot of pride in the team, and a day of celebration has even been named in their honor.

And, even though the Rays did not quite take the World Series, they did win the American League title. And much like a tasty cherry on the top of an already delicious cake, our own Evan Longoria has won American League Rookie of the Year today.

The much loved third baseman won in a unanimous vote by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. This is the first time in the Rays’ 11-year history that they have had a Rookie of the Year on their roster.

I know the Iron Man competition is a big deal. I realize people train for the event for years. There are tons of reasons people challenge themselves to the event – to realize personal goals, overcome adversity, compete with other athletes, even to lose weight as they train. It’s admirable.

It’s also annoying. Traffic here in Clearwater was tied up for hours this morning and afternoon. I took my daughter to a stage version of Sleeping Beauty down in Largo this morning and forgot factor in the bikes. It was insane. There were only a few places you were allowed to cross Route 60. I could not go south and once I turned West, I could not make a left so I could continue south. I ended up making a U-turn when I saw a clear spot on 60 and it was clear sailing from there. I did look on the Iron Man website for the traffic tips, but I found intersections unavailable way past the times that were posted. I could have just used US 19, but I thought I was hitting the intersections I needed during clear times.

I guess I do not understand how in our economy we can justify events that tie up a good portion of our police force and keep thousands of residents from being able to go about their day. The St Petersburg Times even put out an entire section on how to survive the Iron Man, and it was not directed to the athletes, but rather those of use who had to share our city.

As we close in on tonight’s World Series game, people around the Tampa Bay area are alive with the excitement that tends to unify a region. It’s funny to think about last season or even the beginning of this season and how people all over the area looked at the Tampa Bay Rays as a colossal joke. You never saw Rays t-shirts being worn. They could not even give away tickets to the game. And now…, now everyone is their biggest fan.

The irony amuses me.

At the same time, I love seeing the excitement in the kids at school. Even at my daughter’s elementary school I can find signs that say “Go Rays!” nearly everywhere I look. At the high school, the kids are more subtle, but the excitement is surely bubbling underneath the surface.

I haven’t watched any of the games, but I do wish the Rays the best of luck,. It would be thrilling to see them win the big one. This is such a young, enthusiastic team. They know they have a lot to prove and it’s been encouraging watching all that pay off for them.

I thought it might be nice to go back to my roots and just write a blog article on one of the many merits of Florida in general.

People ask me all of the time when is the best time to visit Florida. I’ve got a few answers to that question, based on what you want to get out of your trip. In general, though, I would have to say that there is pretty much nothing more pleasant and paradise-like than October in Florida.

At the beginning of this past week, the humidity all of the sudden just dropped off the map. The skies took on that deep blue color that you only find over large bodies of water. The citrus trees let forth more fragrant blossoms and the daytime temperatures cooled off just enough so that shorts are still comfortable, but a cool breeze still baths your exposed skin.

People who maintain one home in Florida and one up north are called “snowbirds”. There is a reason that most snowbirds find themselves back in Florida in October. The white hot of summer is past us, but we still have a couple of months of warm weather ahead. It’s marvelous.

Today I opened all of the windows in the house. It’s cooler than usual right now and a chill breeze is wandering through the house. I can smell orange blossoms on the breezes and in a couple of hours; the night blooming jasmine will join the symphony of fragrance.

Sometimes I miss living back up near Washington, DC. I suppose it’s the deep of summer that makes me most nostalgic, or when someone up there tells me they just had their first show of the winter. Other than that, I have no regrets about moving to Florida. You just cannot get this kind of perfect weather up north, ever.

We all know what the Amber Alert. It’s the very successful child abduction alert system used when the police confirm that a child has been abducted.
We can now welcome the Silver Alert. It was enacted today in Florida and will function much like the Amber Alert broadcast system, but it is specifically intended to be used when a person age 60 or older with dementia or another cognitive impairment goes missing. It can also be used for people between the ages of 18 to 59 if they have “irreversible deterioration of intellectual faculties”.

Florida has a large elderly population and I am very happy to see the Silver Alert finally be put into play. I hear about local alerts concerning missing elderly people all of the time and this system will give law enforcement the tools they need to better communicate across regions and between agencies.

It wasn’t so long ago that people here in the Tampa Bay area did nothing but complain about the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team. That was back when they were still called the Devil Rays, before the days of Evan Longoria (brother to Eva) and other newly lauded players. People dissed them, they were the butt of jokes and it seemed like there was absolutely nothing they could do to sell seats to the games.

Things have changed now. I suppose the locals are fair weather friends. Now that the Rays have made it to the playoffs, people are taking off work and skipping school to watch the team in action just a couple hours from now. Start time is 2:30 pm.

The websites for our local television stations are all decked out in Rays colors, with most of the front page information devoted to the team. Fans have been showing their support this week by getting “Rayhawks” – essentially Mohawks – on the sidewalks outside of Tropicana Field.

Fan loyalty is a delicate thing, though. I have to wonder what will happen in the future if there are bad season ahead.

Pauly Shore – he’s getting old, he’s a little creepy, and his brand of humor definitely appeals mostly to a niche audience, but I still love the guy.

And, he’s at the Tampa Improv all this weekend—September 19-21.

The Tampa Improv is located at 1600 East 8th Ave C-112 in Tampa, Florida. You have to be 21 years or older to get into the club and seating is on a first come first seated basis.

I admit I’ve not taken advantage of the venue as often as I should and I’m pleased to see there are performances coming up in the near future by Bill Bellamy, Jamie Kennedy, Hal Sparks and a litany of others.

And no, Trev, like I told you on the phone: closed captioning is not available. This is a live show Mr. Common Sense.

For more info, see improvtampa.com.

What a treat!

This week we found heirloom tomatoes at Publix. They were a hefty $5 a pound, but we picked one each of the available varieties and will save the seeds. It will be fun to try to grow them.

After all the flavorless hybrids I’ve eaten from the local stores, the heirlooms were such a treat. I cannot tell you how much I miss the tomatoes in my grandmother’s garden up in West Virginia. When I went up a year ago for my other grandmother’s funeral. I ate garden corn, tomatoes, and green beans every day for at least two meals each day. I couldn’t get enough.

I’ve been trying some tomatoes on the back patio and they grow and ripen well, but the birds and squirrels keep beating me to the punch so I have not got any actual mature tomatoes yet this summer. I am going to start moving the plants onto the screened porch to see if that works.

Anyway, here is a snap of the tomatoes. Aren’t they pretty? The varieties are Red Brandywine, Gold Medal and Cherokee Purple. According to the stickers, they were all Florida greenhouse grown.

Here in the Tampa Bay area, almost everything is closed down for the day. The first day of school is delayed, offices are closed, and people were evacuated from low areas. And throughout all of this, we have yet to feel even a raindrop. In a bizarre turn of events, the hurricane that was predicted to make landfall in our area in blowing across Florida south of us, will hit the east coast and then bounce back across Florida, north of us. All in all, we are like this funny little triangle of land that will totally get missed this time around.

Years before I moved here, a co-worker up north told me the reason that the Tampa area keeps being missed in most hurricanes stems from an old Native American legend that the area is somehow protected by supernatural forces. That is all I have ever heard about that, because despite much searching I have never found anything to back up that story.

Either way, it looks like we are safe.