Category: Tampa Bay

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Tampa Bay

Tampa Bay freezes this weekend

Tampa Bay is under a freeze warning this weekend. That’s right, out-of-towners, there are times when the temperature here drops to freezing or even slightly lower.

If you’re in the area and haven’t taken the right precautions, this list is for you:

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It Happened to Me Tampa Bay

“Can I get a COVID vaccine here?” “Sir, this is a car wash. But to answer your question: Yes.”

Car wash with a banner that says “COVID shots here”
Photo taken at by Yours Truly on Sligh just east of I-275 on December 31, 2021 at about 3 p.m..

There’s probably a demographic that needs their car details and could use a COVID vaccine booster, but I’m not so sure about getting shots at this car wash that’s just a short walk from our place.

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Florida of the Day Stranger than Fiction Tampa Bay

Just a goat at night glowing in purple light. Nothing to see here.

Photo credit: Katy Sierra Tap to see the goatiness at full size.

Seminole Heights’ seal, which depicts a two-headed alligatorThe combination of many purple-hued street lights (which are the result of a manufacturing defect) and someone’s runaway pet goat have given my neighborhood, Seminole Heights, a Final Destination or The Omen kind of feel.

Fortunately, I am prepared for this eventuality:

Once again, tap to see the goatiness at full size.
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It Happened to Me Tampa Bay

Scenes from this morning’s bike ride

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Seminole Heights’ seal, which depicts a two-headed alligatorI like to start most days with a 10-kilometer bike ride around my neighborhood, Seminole Heights. It’s also how I do the groceries; unless it’s raining or I need to get a lot of stuff or something large, I do most of my grocery shopping on the bike.

It was a pretty morning, so I took a couple of photos. The photo above was from the start of my ride and features our yard. The one below is of Lake Roberta, which is a great cycle track — the street that surrounds it is a quarter-mile circle.

Tap to view at full size.
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Florida Florida of the Day Tampa Bay

Florida of the day: Parking lot pants

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Seminole Heights’ seal, which depicts a two-headed alligatorBecause the Walmart at 15th and Hillsborough (a.k.a. Supercenter #5964) is a bike-able distance from home, has Coke Zero (a vice that makes you productive can’t possibly be a vice) at the best per-unit price, and reasonably well-stocked “ethnic” and “specialty” food sections, I’m there about once a week.

And since I go on bike, I see everything that happens in the parking lot. And at a Walmart — a Florida Walmart — that can be a lot.

But I was really surprised when I saw a pair of jeans, fairly neatly laid out — just as you might lay out your jeans on a dresser for the next day — on a trash can, and on top of them, a black cloth mask, also laid out as if on a dresser.

It was in the middle of asking myself “Now why would someone need to remove their pants and mouth covering in a Walmart parking lot?” that I figured out the answer.

“Well,” I thought, “now’s a good time to leave.”

And I did just that.

Tap to view at full size.
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Tampa Bay

Pumpkin spice brake pads!

Seminole Heights’ seal, which depicts a two-headed alligatorIt’s the time of year when Ice Cold Air (in Seminole Heights, at the corner of Sligh and Central) puts out this seasonal promo.

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It Happened to Me Tampa Bay

Weekend ritual: Spaddy’s Coffee

Spaddy’s Coffee in Seminole Heights, earlier this morning. That’s my bike in the foreground. Tap to view at full size.

Seminole Heights’ seal, which depicts a two-headed alligatorI try to do a 10-kilometer (6.2 miles) bike ride every day, but once a weekend, I take a mid-ride break at Spaddy’s Coffee, a coffee truck in my neighborhood of Seminole Heights with an outdoor seating area.

I’m enough of a regular that they can often remember my usual order: a “Heights Cold Brew,” which is their excellent cold brew mixed with condensed milk, in the style of Vietnamese coffee.

After all this time, I just noticed that they have something on their menu called “Espresso Lemonade,” which is what it sounds like: lemonade with a shot of espresso. I’ll have to try it the next time I go there.