Pale palomino or Isabelline horse

Juliette Falls Golf Course...

...looking back at the 9th hole.

Lunch break!

Florida "Gator" mailbox

The word, "fan," comes from the word, "fanatic." Many people in Ocala are alumni of the University of Florida. The football team at the U of F is known as the "Gators." Many alumni of the U of F are fans of the football team. They are fanatical! They paint their cars with Gator colors, they wear Gator-colored clothes, the fly Gator flags from their homes, etc.

Then there's at least one fan who bought an old mailbox and turned it into a Gator mailbox.

Coming soon?

This sign has been the window of an empty storefront for about two years. We keep waiting, but no longer think it's "coming soon."

Storm god

McAlister's Deli

This "Islam Car" has returned...

...and was parked in the Heathbrook Market Street parking lot, where it garnered a lot of attention.

Steel is real

The front license plate on this little jewel reads: "If it is not steel, it is not real."

The ghost of Carrabbas

Carrabbas is a fine Italian restaurant chain, with good food and good service. But in the Ocala Carrabbas, there's a problem. As you can plainly see, our Carrabbas has been visited by a ghost of waiters past.

ihmc - Ocala

This is the location of the Ocala office of ihmc (Florida Institute for Human & Machine Cognition); ihmc also has an office in Pensacola, Florida.

From the ihmc website:

"IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System and is affiliated with several Florida universities.

"Researchers at IHMC pioneer technologies aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. Our human-centered approach often results in systems that can be regarded as cognitive or perceptual prostheses, much as eyeglasses are a sort of ocular prosthesis. These systems fit the human and machine components together in ways that exploit their respective strengths and mitigate their respective weaknesses...

"Current active research areas include: knowledge modeling and sharing, adjustable autonomy, robotics, advanced interfaces and displays, communication and collaboration, computer-mediated learning systems, intelligent data understanding, software agents, expertise studies, work practice simulation, knowledge representation, and other related areas."

Click here for an example of "Human-Machine Trust for Robust Autonomous Systems."

Forever Lawn will clean foreclosures

Sadly, in this economy some people have lost their jobs and thus their ability to continue making house payments. Eventually, the bank forecloses on their loan and they have to move out. There are instances when that has led to such anger on the part of the former homeowners they have "trashed" the property on their way out.

Thus, Forever Lawn. They clean up the mess the homeowners make.

Cats 'n Yarn Kittens

Some folks in Bloggerland may be old enough to remember the Katzenjammer Kids

These are not them. These are the Cats 'n Yarn Kittens.

Beef cattle

According to my sources, there are at least 31 different beef cattle breeds. These are Brahmans.

Ocala claims to be the "Horse Capitol of the World," but we also have a number of cattle ranches/farms in the area. In fact, the property now known as On Top of the World (OTOW) was once part of a huge ranch consisting of many hundreds of acres southwest of Ocala. The Stone Creek property was purchased from OTOW. Surrounding OTOW and Stone Creek is what's left of the ranch known as the Circle Square Ranch, which must consist of several hundred acres.

These Brahman cattle reside on the Circle Square Ranch along with a huge herd of Hereford cattle. Just across the road from the Circle Square Ranch is another large herd of Herefords.

We hope the inexorable rush to development will slow to a crawl; that these delightful rural places continue for many years to provide a respite from the urban sprawl that contaminates so much of Florida's countryside.

An ambulance is waiting...

...but not for me.

On this day, however, some poor soul, who merely went to see the doctor, ended up taking a trip to the hospital in an ambulance.

Cacti in Florida

Yes, we have cacti in Florida. This was blooming in a forest.

Paris memorialabilia at Hobby Lobby

Paris is a very popular place in Ocala!

Bo-Kay Florist

Bo-Kay Florist, located near downtown Ocala, is well-known in the area for the quality of their product and their service. The only problem is they don't know how to spell "bouquet." :-)

Off to market?

On Top of the World signage

On Top of the World is a large 55 plus community located in southwest Ocala. OTOW works hard to make the community a colorful and pleasant place as evidenced by this sign at a major intersection nearby.

Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway

There is a greenway, a trail, that transects the State of Florida from the Gulf of Mexico to the St. Johns River (Jacksonville). It runs 110 miles and offers a variety of experiences for the undaunted hiker and is known as the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway.

"A nature trail winds through Marshall Swamp. Trails blazed through barge canal diggings provide challenging rides for equestrians. The Ocklawaha and Withlacoochee Rivers, traversing opposite ends of the greenway, supply miles of scenic paddling. The Santos area offers several miles of trails for off-road biking."

Pictured above is part of the Ocala section of the trail. This is an entrance off the main trail leading to Marshall Swamp.

The Ocala section is a six mile, paved loop cutting through three different types of terrain. We have spent many hours riding bike, jogging and roller blading on this Ocala piece of the trail.

The Early Learning Center...

...of Grace Episcopal Church, downtown Ocala.

Breakfast at Burger King?

Flea Market Bikes

DeFio's

At least two of these billboards have been spotted in southwest Ocala recently. The question is: Would you take your car to DeFio's?

Accident

The Millworks

Dream on! For some time now, city officials have dreamed of "renovating" part of the old downtown area with condo/townhome type residences, boutiques, and restaurants.

The first contractor never got off the ground, but took some of the city's money which proved to be a problem to recover. I'm not sure if the city ever got all its money back.

Then we heard about Millworks, which, as you can see, is another plan to develop a downtown area by creating residences, restaurants and a parking area. That, too, has stalled, and I haven't heard much about it for a long time.

It's too bad, because Ocala's downtown area could use restoration/renovation of this sort.

Tie-dyed patriotism

On this 4th of July, I've already seen many improper uses of the American flag. This is just one of them.

Have a happy 4th; stay safe; don't play with firecrackers! :-)

Near-sighted...

...of far-sighted? And he was reading...a Harry Potter book.

Grows

Not long ago this place housed a New Age shop which featured books, crystals, incense, jewelry, posters, bumper stickers, etc., all of which related to New Age philosophy.  That shop has moved to the downtown
area.

Now it is a counseling service center which operates from a "Christian" perspective while Hands of Mercy Everywhere, Inc., has to do with "A Christian Maternity Home for Teenagers," in Belleview, Florida.

Feed Sam at Sam's

Sam is encaged at our local Sam's Club. Patrons are encouraged to "feed" Sam. Those funds will go to a charity known as the Children's Miracle Network.

It's all so silly I can hardly bear it!