Fall Essentials, Florida Edition

While the rest of the country gets this for Fall. 

Florida gets this:

Yeah, I know, poor me right? But here’s the thing. I LOVE Fall.  I grew up in Central Louisiana where we had at least some semblance of a fall. I love sweatshirts, hot chocolate, the smell of wood burning, the sight of hunters heading to the woods for whatever is in season.

Here, we joke that Fall in Florida last approximately two days, and that is if we are lucky.  I love seeing all the Fall Essentials posts, so since we don’t get a true fall, here is my Fall Essentials–Florida Edition.

* Hurricane Emergency Kit.  While everyone else is transitioning to Fall in September, we in Florida are prepping to head into the height of hurricane season. This September, instead of perusing sweatshirts and scarves, I was sitting through six days with no power in days of 90-plus degree heat.  And if you are curious as to what is in a hurricane emergency kit, here’s the suggested list from the Hurricane Center:  Basic and Suggested Supplies. 

* Sunscreen With an average temperatures in the 80s, and many sunny days, sunscreen with impregnable protection is essential.  There’s a reason why there are so many plastic surgeons in this area.

* Bug Spray  our little creepy crawlies and pesky mosquitoes hang around us for much longer than anywhere else.  In fact, I was sitting outside at Halloween bathed in eau de OFF and slapping around the mosquitos. I still managed to get bites on the back of my legs…and I was wearing jeans! They may give us a little relief in January. 

* Increased Car Insurance I’m sure you’re saying, “what the heck:” Well, see, we have the invasion of the snowbirds from the north. They begin to arrive around the end of October and they depart around Easter.  In the meantime, we get to witness cars going at least 10 miles under the posted speed limit, cars turning left or right from the center lane, cars going the wrong way on major one-way roads,  lane creep and increased crashes due to the average age of the snowbird being 90 and having no business driving a car. 

* Patience. Lots and Lots of Patience With the influx of our northern visitors and then regular vacationers, lines are long in the grocery store, at restaurants and a stop lights.  Whoever said that patience is a virtue has never lived through a Florida snowbird season. 

There you have it, my somewhat tongue in cheek Fall Essentials.  What are your essentials for Fall? Leave a comment so that I can live vicariously through all of you ‘up north.’