We’re Back in Tampa

 

Wesley Chapel, Florida (high 78, low 52)

 

We are technically in Wesley Chapel, not Tampa, but it is a suburb just north of Tampa, so consider it Tampa.   We have a nice site here,  some friends in the park, the weather has been lovely, but we are really missing our beautiful mountain retreat and hating the big city living.

Our backyard.

We lived in Tampa for 30 years and are  pretty tired of this area.  The traffic is horrendous.  The drivers are aggressive and there is plenty of road rage.  No one stops for red lights.  You must plan for 5-6 cars going through the light on red before you proceed.  It takes 30 minutes to drive 5 miles because of all the lights.  Ah yes…. welcome back to Tampa.  If it weren’t for my mother, we would not be here.    (do I sound grumpy?)

We made the entire 554 mile trip in two days, which are PDD days for us.  ( for new readers, the term PDD was coined by our blogger friend Sherry.  It means Paul Dahl Disorder.  Paul is one of these drivers that can drive 500-600 miles every day)

We went straight through downtown Atlanta on I-75 around 11pm.  The traffic was fairly light, so we breezed right through. 

We spent the night south of Atlanta, near Perry, Georgia after a 243 mile drive from Blairsville.  Al wasn’t sure he could drive the remaining 316 miles in one day, with the pain he’s been having in his shoulder, plus a raging case of poison ivy. It was all interstate driving, so we had plenty of places to stop and apply pain creams and anti-itch gel. :)  Poor guy.

Al has been battling poison ivy since before we left here in July.  When we got to Blairsville, he had several more bouts of it.  We finally realized our little doggie friends were picking it up and transferring it to Al.   He has been suffering on and off all summer long, and got another dose shortly before we left.

He has every cream and pill known to man for itch relief, but nothing works very well.  

As soon as we got back here, and he went outside to set up, it started getting worse.  He seems to get it internally as well as externally, and he describes the internal feelings as “the heebie jeebies”.   He gets extremely agitated and itches all over.  He’s pretty miserable, (and grumpy). 

We weren’t sure if it was the old stuff he brought from Georgia, or if there was some around here, but it was getting worse.

He had a problem here before we left and we assumed that it might be growing across the pond/marsh. He doesn’t have to touch it to get it.  We checked around the back of our site and found no poison ivy.

He had a really bad first night back in Tampa, so he went to the doctor to get a prescription for Prednisone.  The good thing is, it’s taking his mind off of his painful shoulder!

Yesterday morning, we were outside and Al happened to notice a small plant that we feel certain was poison ivy.  I took a few paper towels, covered my hands and pulled it out.  Barry and Stephanie took it to the trash for me.  I made Al go inside, and shut the windows!   I took a bucket of soapy water and poured on the area where it was.  I don’t know what good that will do, but it was the only thing I could think of.

We stayed in most of the day, and he seems to be a little better today.  It may be the Prednisone, or it may be that we removed the source.  It’s nice to wake up and not hear any complaining.   :)     Poor Al.

 

Still missing our mountains, but also dreaming of the Keys!