A Hometown Sarasota Holiday

 

Isn't this time of year simply the best? Cold, sloppy and wet, less and less daylight, dead leaves everywhere, can't play golf after work, etc. Oops, wait…those are the reasons you should live in Sarasota, Florida! I have lived in Sarasota all my life and have seen many winters come and go, and yes, we do celebrate the holidays just like our northern friends. Almost.

Many from the North think Floridians miss out on all the fun of the holidays.  A lack of snow in our forecast here in Sarasota doesn’t mean we won’t be able to have a “white holiday”.  We enjoy the white sands of our wonderful beaches in December as easily as we do in June. Frosty the Snowman will not come to life in any Florida yard. We take great pride in lighting our palm trees and setting up fiber optic sleighs pulled by holiday hat clad alligators and flamingos. (It’s not tacky at all). Our homes may not have stockings hung by the chimney, although wet bathing suits and towels are often strung across the lanai with great care.

Even if you are living in a cave, you couldn't miss the radiant glow of all the Sarasota neighborhoods shimmering with bright lights around town…and on boats! Pine trees are trucked in from up north and sold in red and white tents along the roads. The Salvation Army volunteers ring bells and take donations. Shoppers hustle through the malls and stores spending more than necessary. But, these things are all done while we are wearing shorts and flip flops.  Just another day in Paradise!

Some folks turn the air conditioning down as far as it will go, (I have been known to do that at my wife’s request) to get the house cool enough to light a fire in the fireplace. (The local grocery stores carry firewood.) Others go all out with lights and decorations all around the house, the same as up north. Cookies are baked, hams and turkeys are roasted, and families manage to connect, even if it is across the phone and internet lines. The holidays are still special no matter where you are. So, to all those contemplating joining us in the Sunshine State, come on down and buy a home in Sarasota…you will not regret your move. You will soon make new friends, start new traditions and enjoy the Holidays in a new way.  The holidays are the holidays no matter what part of the country you happen to be in, but if you have yet to experience a uniquely Florida holiday, I encourage you to come and visit. Grab your sandals and come on down. And I am confident that you will fall in love with Sarasota and want to buy a house! And when you do, I'm your Hometown Sarasota Realtor!

This holiday season, I am especially grateful for all my clients and friends! Thank you for your trust, business, referrals and your friendship.  Thank you for letting me help you with these life transitions.  I wish you happiness and peace during this holiday season and in the year ahead. 

Thanksgiving 2021 - What Are You Thankful For This Year?

As kids, we learned about the first meal shared at Plymouth Colony where Pilgrims invited Indians to join hands and hearts and gave thanks for the “autumn harvest.” That was in 1621 and was a three-day festival. In 1789 George Washington introduced the event as a national holiday. It was not until 1863 that President Abraham Lincoln set the final Thursday in November. Fast-forward to 1989. President George H.W. Bush, granted the first official pardon to a turkey, a tradition that continues today.

Yes, the holiday continues now, but what are you truly thankful for, at this very moment? Food, football, friends and fun? Perhaps. Is that enough? Let’s all stop and take a deep breath right now—freeze time for a moment. What are you thankful for right now? 

Giving thanks and being thankful—that’s what Thanksgiving is dedicated to each year.  I’m especially thankful for my family, those present and those gone before me, for infusing a spirit of gratitude for every gift of love and time shared with people I love in my life. But one thing we can likely all agree on as a reason to be grateful, is that the best time of the day is finally sitting down at the dinner table with family, whether it's just two of you or a huge family, around a perfectly set table with your best china, or folding card tables with paper plates (but only the good, sturdy kind, of course!)  

Sarasota is my hometown and I am fortunate enough to have an amazing group of people in my life that I am truly thankful for. My business as a Realtor in Sarasota, Florida relies on the recommendations and support of those close to me, and I want to take a moment and say a heartfelt thank you to  to Re/Max Alliance Group and to all of the loyal people who continuously support me.  And to my wife, Liz, who is the wind beneath my wings, and to my family and friends. I would not be successful without all of you.

Happy Hometown Thanksgiving from our home to yours!

Just Do It!

 

I finally did it. I cut the cable. My wife and I have been talking about this for at least a year and spent a lot of time deciding on which streaming service best fit our needs. Even before Covid, our main form of entertainment has been television. While we love going to Raymond James to watch the Bucs or to Tropicana Field to watch the Rays, we really love having to only walk steps to the kitchen or the bathroom...not to mention binge-watching our favorite TV series.

As we were going through the cord cutting process, we marveled at how many streaming stations we all have access to these days.  And since I’m an ‘old fart’ it brought to mind the fact that when I was a kid, in Sarasota we had a total of three stations to choose from…and NO remote control!! These three channels were accessed with the good old rabbit ear antenna (sometimes with tin foil attached) which sat on top of the big square box TV. I can visualize it now, rabbit ears spread wide in a horizontal position, aluminum foil wings on the ends of each antenna while below, Ralph Kramden was threatening to send Alice to the moon. And then came a huge technological marvel...the outdoor antenna that could be rotated by a control inside the house! And the picture was black and white…I remember watching Neil Armstrong walk on the moon on our little black and white TV. 

Here’s a little history of TV broadcasting. The first American TV station began broadcasting on July 2, 1928, but it wasn’t until 1953 that WSUN went on the air in St. Petersburg (and went dark in 1970), followed by WTVT in Tampa and WFLA, which went on the air in 1955 and are still broadcasting locally as an NBC and FOX affiliate respectively. In my one and only bid for stardom, I as den chief, with the help of my parents, took my little cub scout group up to St. Pete to be on the Captain Mac Kids show on channel 38. It was really so corny looking back, but very exciting at the time.

Back to the cable. In the early 1960’s, George Storer ventured into the cable television business in the early 1960’s and Storer Communications became the first cable I remember in Sarasota. This of course added lots more stations and…we had a ‘clicker’ remote control! Storer Communications continued to operate as a cable television company until the assets were split between Comcast and TCI in the mid 1990s. So we went to Comcast for many years, then Verizon which sold out to Frontier. TV’s became bigger and flatter and high definition has made watching football an awesome experience.

So…we did it! We cancelled Frontier (other than the highspeed router) and now and not only is our cable bill less than half of what it had been, we have more channels than ever with the various apps we chose. It has taken a little getting used to, but we are totally happy with our decision. This is yet another instance that everything these days is internet driven and thing will continue to evolve. It’s been an interesting ride from rabbit ears and clickers to speaking into my remote control to find pretty much anything we want to watch! It will be interesting to see where it all goes in the future.

Liftoff!

We have liftoff! A few nights ago, we stood in our driveway looking up at the northeastern sky watching the ball of fire that was SpaceX Dragon lifting off into space…with four civilians aboard! So many people take this amazing feat for granted! The manned space program is 60 years old this year…the Soviets sent the first person into space in 1961. Ever since those first rockets blasted off, I have been fascinated with the space program, beginning with Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. I vividly remember watching the first man in space, Alan Sheppard, walk on the moon. I was hooked! 

Then there was the Space Shuttle era. My wife and I drove across the state more than once to see it blast off. What a powerful feeling to experience the ground shake and the sky light up and see the bright streak across the sky. Over 30 years, NASA's space shuttle fleet—Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour—flew 135 missions and carried 355 different people to space. As humanity's first reusable spacecraft, the space shuttle carried people into orbit repeatedly; launched, recovered and repaired satellites; conducted cutting-edge research; and built the largest structure in space, the International Space Station. And now we have commercial and private space transportation with the SpaceX Dragon and the like. Have you seen the SpaceX booster rockets land simultaneously back on a barge in the Atlantic? Fascinating, as Spock would say!

Man's interest in space started long before the creation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Humanity's interest in ‘the heavens’ has been universal and enduring. Fascination with the idea of people going into the sky for adventures in other worlds goes back to ancient myths. Science flourished during the European Renaissance. Fundamental physical laws governing planetary motion were discovered, and the orbits of the planets around the sun were calculated. In the 17th century, astronomers pointed a new device called the telescope at the heavens and made startling discoveries.

And humans are still driven to explore the unknown, discover new worlds, push the boundaries of our scientific and technical limits, and then push further. And now, we are on Mars! Mars has always been a source of inspiration for explorers and scientists. Robotic missions have found evidence of water, but if life exists beyond Earth, it still remains a mystery. And I love a good mystery!

Future historians will likely view these pioneering flights through the solar system as some of the most remarkable achievements of the 20th century.

We have the NASA app installed on our smart TV and iPads and routinely watch the latest. Also, I highly recommend at trip to The Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral if you haven’t been yet! And until we make the move to live in space, I am still available to help you buy and sell homes in Sarasota, Florida and surrounding area! 

 

Hot Time Summer in the City!

 

Hot Time Summer in the City!

We are in the dog days of summer and new residents of Sarasota, Florida may be wondering if it will ever cool off and if we do indeed have ‘Seasons’. Even though we have sunny weather most of the time, we do have seasons here in Florida. Though the seasons may not be as recognizable as those in the North, there are differences in each season.

Summer, as you probably know, tends to be very hot…but there is almost always a breeze off the Gulf of Mexico to enjoy. When I was a kid growing up in Sarasota, we didn’t have air-conditioning but we somehow survived on the breeze! 

Summer starts sometime in May, as the temps begin to climb. Temperatures average in the high 80's to mid 90's and more. It’s a good time to enjoy the A/C during the day and the pool in the evening. The best times to visit the beaches are early in the morning and of course, in the evening for the beautiful sunsets. Summer also brings the rainy season and the threat of hurricanes. Thankfully, it’s been many years since Sarasota has experienced a hurricane.  Regarding plants, Florida native plants grow like crazy during the summer; grass needs to be cut once a week. If we do have a good rainy season, we have to cut grass every five days or so. A typical rainy season produces the chance of afternoon or evening showers, on any day. In years past, I could almost set my watch by the 4:00 PM showers which cleaned and cooled the air for evening.

Fall usually starts about mid-October. Floridians really look forward to the cooler temperatures and lower humidity levels. It’s finally time to open the windows and enjoy the fresh air! For Halloween, there is as much a chance for very warm weather as there is for a cool evening. Hurricane season ends November 30th, a date we are all happy to see. This is a good time to enjoy the beaches, or go to Myakka State Park for a wildlife tour. There are not many tourists yet, and the seasonal residents (Snowbirds) have not yet arrived.

Winter in Florida can be a surprise. Even as a lifetime Florida resident, it’s still weird decorating for Christmas when it is 75 degrees outside, but that is most often the case. If you look closely, there are subtle differences in the plants as the temps get a bit cooler. Some tree leaves change color a little bit, but nothing like up North. We have seen winters where the overnight temps never dropped below 55 degrees. On the other hand, the temps have dropped to the mid-twenties in the past. Some of the plants lose their leaves, but not many. The grass slows its growth, to the point where it only needs to be mowed every 14-20 days.  Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, Snowbirds arrive in force. Stores, streets, beaches and restaurants become very crowded. We'll see if this is the case this fall with COVID in the air!

Spring is the best season in Florida! Maybe by then, COVID will be in the rearview mirror. Starting in about mid-March, Spring usually offers cool nights, warm days and lower humidity.  A day at the beach can literally be an all day affair, as long as you don’t mind crowds. Springtime brings lots of guests and tourists to the Sunshine state. The Snowbirds have not yet made their way back North and the Spring Breakers pay a visit although it’s not as crazy as on the East coast of Florida. In our area, we do not get the large groups of young people looking to party hard, but we do get a good amount of those looking for a spot in the sun to relax. Just as in the North, Spring brings new life to plants and some animals. If there were frosty nights in the winter and some of the plants lost leaves, new growth starts now. You can actually see some of the trees and plants get a greener color. Oak and pine trees start to throw off pollen, causing problems for those with allergies. So, Spring is not without some disadvantages; it arrives at the peak of the dry season. With the low humidity levels and the lack of rain for several months, the chance for brush fires is heightened.

A few other 'unofficial' Florida seasonal dates:

• Hurricane season is June 1 to November 30
• Snowbird season is about October to May, give or take a few weeks 
• Strawberry season is December through May depending on the weather
• Fishing seasons vary by species
• Alligator mating season runs from about mid April to June, so watch out on the golf course! 

Having said all of the above, I'm sure you will agree that despite the lack of definitive seasons, we live in paradise! No snow to shovel! Golf and beach-walking every day! Beautiful sunsets every night! What's not to love? So if you are looking to actually LIVE in paradise, call me and I will help you find your dream home in Sarasota, Longboat Key, Venice, Englewood and Manasota Key.

From Paradise to Paradise!

We truly live in paradise! My wife and I are always mindful about how lucky we are to live in Sarasota and to have been raised here. There are so many wonderful, fun things to enjoy all around us and within a short drive and I am happy to share our experiences with you. We just returned from a great short vacation to another paradise...Sanibel Island. If you have never visited there, you must go!

Sanibel is a barrier island less than two hours south of Sarasota and very much worth the drive. It is 12 miles long and 3 miles wide (at its widest point) and is connected to the mainland by a long causeway bridge. As a comparison, Siesta Key is 8 miles long and much wider.

Sanibel is known primarily for shelling and my wife was in heaven. She has a huge shell collection, some of it passed down from her grandmother to her mother. But…she can’t go to the beach - any beach - without picking up shells. Shells have been around for more than 500 million years. People have used them for musical instruments (conch-shell trumpets), spoons, jewelry, and even money. A shell is the protective layer or external skeleton that once surrounded soft-bodied animals. Most seashells are mollusks, a group of animals that includes snails, clams, oysters, and mussels. These animals make shells by growing a thin protein layer over their body, like your fingernail. Then the layer hardens, forming a shell. When an animal dies or loses its shell, the shell may be washed ashore and this is certainly the case on Sanibel Island, more so than most any place in the world. In fact, it has been referred to as the “Sea Shell Capital of the World! Why? It's because it’s one of the very few islands that run perpendicular to the state of Florida, whereas most islands run the same way as Florida, which causes the ocean currents to have the beaches primarily flushing water downward.

As a vacation spot for someone who grew up in Sarasota, home of the world famous Siesta Beach, the slower pace of Sanibel reminded us of Sarasota from years past. And…we love to eat! Surprisingly, there are almost 50 restaurants on Sanibel so there is no way you will starve! Two of the many places we highly recommend are Traditions on the Beach and Doc Ford’s Rum Bar and Grille. 

Doc Ford’s was one of the reasons for the trip. It is owned by one of our favorite authors, Randy Wayne White and we had been wanting to visit for a long time. His books are modern day Travis McGee adventures, which were written by Sarasotan John D. McDonald in the 50’s and 60’s. The main character in Randy’s books is Doc Ford, a marine biologist who lives in a converted fish house on Sanibel and in his secret life, he is a former government agent who still ‘disappears’ on covert adventures. The best part of this book series is all the history of Florida and lots of education about marine life and Florida’s natural wonders.

We also visited J. N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge and viewed the largest mangrove area in the United States…6400 acres, along with abundant wildlife to include 220 bird species! So…lots to do on this lovely little island!  Make plans to visit there soon - it's a great get-a-way for a day or a week!  

Summer Breeze in Sarasota, Florida!

Happy Summer everyone! 

I am overdue for posting my Blog/Newsletter because I was finishing up some Spring projects, including repainting and rescreening our lanai before the Summer humidity hit. We had the screen company remove all the screens and metal except the support posts and scheduled the new cage and screens for one week later. Then we completely emptied everything so we could pressure wash and paint. Painting a ceiling is fun…not!

Once we finished all of that, we had the new cage and screens installed and opted for what is called ‘picture window’ screens. This means no horizontal metal to interrupt our view of the lake, so we have been sitting on our butts a lot enjoying the fruits of our labor.  That’s my excuse for skipping a newsletter last month! While lounging in the breeze, jalousie windows popped into my head since those were common in Florida before air conditioning.  This also relates to the Newsletter I wrote awhile back about the history of air conditioning in Florida. Along those lines, I recently sold a home to a client in Bradenton that included FPL’s “Net Metering” and I had a chance to learn more about that system. So our topic for this month is about languishing in the breeze and when it gets too hot and humid that it sends you inside, a new program to save energy and dollars on your A/C bill!

So what are jalousie windows you may ask? According to Wikipedia, jalousie is the French word for jealousy. It originated in 18th century France from the Italian word geloso, which means jealous, or screen, as in to screen something from view. Supposedly because of their slatted louvres, jalousie windows protect the interior of the house from jealous peering eyes – permitting one to see without being seen.

Jalousie windows maximize natural ventilation by allowing airflow through the entire window area. Historically made only of wooden slats or glass panes, they are well suited to mild-winter climates. With mass production they became very common throughout homes in mid-20th-century Florida, Hawaii, southern California, the deep South, and Latin America. In cooler regions they were rapidly adopted to porches and sunrooms. They were also widely used in mobile homes during the 1950s and 1960s before most manufacturers began switching to sliding and sash windows in subsequent decades. It’s also called a louvered window, and this style consists of horizontal panels, either made of glass, plastic, metal, wood or other window material that sits on a track on the window’s frame.  The operator uses a crank or knob to open and close these horizontal panels, letting in plenty of air. Picture the panels similar to a windowed version of Venetian blinds and its slats, and there you have it: jalousie windows.

The jalousie window first made its debut in the early 1900s. It was originally patented in 1901, but it had a slow start to catch on.  Sometime in the late 1960s, jalousie windows had begun popping up on homes, especially in the south. With the style’s horizontal panels that opened a home up to a passing breeze, these windows were perfect for letting the air-flow inside to cool off or to substitute for the lack of air conditioning during hot summers. Both my wife and I grew up in Sarasota in homes that had no AC and we had jalousie windows all around.

The jalousie window didn’t just hit its stride in the 60s in the southern states.  In the colder parts of the United States, you would see jalousie windows on enclosed porches, gazebos, and sunrooms across the Midwest and Northern U.S.  Jalousie windows also struck luck in the realm of mobile homes. Mobile homes and trailers, strapped with limited space and most with no air conditioning, found that they can benefit from space-saving, ventilating jalousie windows. Almost a decade later, homeowners started to turn away from the jalousie window style.  By the time the 1970s hit, the majority of American homes had air conditioning.  

As much as we may enjoy the natural breeze outside in Florida, the time comes when the humidity smacks us in the face and we retreat inside to air conditioning…and the increase in the electric bill. But there is a way to lower that bill. Net metering allows FPL (Florida Power and Light) customers who connect approved, renewable generation systems such as solar panels to the electric grid, to buy and sell electricity to FPL. When you generate electricity from your solar array for your home or business, it reduces the amount of energy you purchase from FPL, and in turn, lowers your monthly electric bills. If your system produces more energy than you need, the excess power is sold back to FPL’s grid. That amount of energy is deducted from your monthly bill or credited toward a future bill in the same calendar year. In my clients case, the solar array is creating a reduction of 80% off his monthly bill. Not bad! Click here to learn more! 

I'm headed to the lanai with a cold drink in my hand...hope you are enjoying a summer breeze of your own!

Do I Hear Bells?

It’s six in the morning and the sun is breaking the horizon atop Iron Mountain. The morning dew settles, hugging the Spanish moss draped over the limbs of oak trees. Swans glide along the pond and rabbits dart in and out of shrubs. This scene wasn’t plucked from the pages of a fairytale. It’s from Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales, a place where serenity is so strong it reverberates through the soul. 

This excerpt is taken from an article in South Tampa Magazine and I used it because I could not have said it better. Bok Tower is one of our favorite places to go for a day trip, especially in the Spring. It's only a two hour drive, and we always take a picnic lunch…and our little doggie, Tiki. 

Lake Wales is home to Bok Tower Gardens, which stands on the highest point in the state of Florida. A Singing Tower with a 60-bell carillon, and a haven for birds, plants and wildlife will entrance you. Built in 1929 by Edward W. Bok, the tower was constructed of pink and gray marble from Georgia and coquina stone from St. Augustine. The tower is rich in carvings depicting the flora and fauna of Florida. 

The tower houses a carillon of fifty-seven bronzed bells ranging in weight from 17 pounds to nearly 12 tons. Surrounding the tower are 157 acres of landscaped gardens. The gardens took over five years to complete and President Coolidge dedicated them in 1929. He called it Bok’s gift to the American people.

Carillons are typically found in towers or churches. The historic Bok Singing Tower is 205 feet tall. And then there’s the carillon. A carillon is kind of like an organ, but powers the bells which will serenade you several times a day. A keyboard and pedalboard are connected between key and bell clappers that respond based on the amount of force applied. The carillon plays concerts at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. daily and brief digital performances fill the garden every 30 minutes. Be sure to view the video below for a close-up look at the bells, the carillon, the tower and the gardens.

At Bok Gardens, something is always in bloom. Among its many resting spots, shady recesses,

sweeping lawns and meandering paths, there are acres of flowering foliage, such as camellias, azaleas and magnolias. I can barely get my wife away from the plants. Liz has even emulated the air plant display they have (see photo) and the 'living screen' hangs on our lanai. 

It’s easy to walk the gardens and they also have a shuttle. The gardens are paved or mulched, and the are broken into nine unique zones:

• The River of Stone
• Pollinator Garden
• Kitchen Garden & Outdoor Kitchen
• Endangered Plant Garden
• Window by The Pond
• Wild Garden
• Exedra & Sunset Overlook
• Reflection Pool
• Peace Lantern

Bok said his goal was to create a place that would “touch the soul with its beauty and quiet.” The end result, Bok Tower Gardens, is considered by some to be among the nation’s most inspiring and uplifting attractions, one where time seems to stand still. “This is nature’s show, not ours,” reads a sign outside the Window by the Pond observatory. To fully enjoy the garden’s beauty, one only needs to sit still long enough to smell the grass, listen to the wildlife or stop and smell the flowers.  

Gardens may or may not be your thing. You may not have a burning desire to explore them, but you would be making a mistake if you don’t. Every inch of the garden is pristine. The colors pop out, and the sweet scents pierce your nose. Everyone will appreciate the design, and for sure, you will feel a calmness. It’s not just about a tower. It’s a historical landmark, a sanctuary, a park, and most important, it’s divine. Well worth the admission cost and well worth the drive to Lake Wales. If you’re a Floridian like me, and you’ve not visited, shame on you…GO!!

Click Here for info about visiting and definately take a look at this great video about Bok Tower Gardens! Happy Spring!

"Make the world a bit better or more beautiful because you have lived in it."

-------Edward W. Bok

No Sinking Feeling Here!

Are you thinking about buying a house in Sarasota, Florida and becoming a snowbird or a full-time resident?  Maybe trading in your snow shovel for a beach umbrella to plant in the sugar sand on Siesta Key?  Or giving up skiing and trade that for boating along the West coast of Florida?  Whatever your goal, whether it be a full-time or part-time Florida resident, looking for a home in any new location requires that you become knowledgeable about your environment in very different ways.

When I meet with a new client who has never lived in Florida, they usually ask about things like hurricanes, alligators, sharks and the like. When you read about real estate in Florida, you may also worry about sinkholes and one of the good things about the Sarasota/Bradenton Area is that you don’t have much to worry about.

Look at the map of the sinkholes in Florida - notice the pink areas which indicate where the fewest sinkholes have been reported. On the West coast there are very few below Tampa.  This regional map depicts sinkhole locations that have been reported since 1954 by the Florida Geological Survey Series No. 110. It does not show all sinkhole activity in Florida, but you can get a pretty good idea of how widespread this problem…but not in our area!

So exactly what are sinkholes? For more than 60 million years, ancient shallow seas covered what is now Florida. Factors relating to the chemistry of the water and the chemistry of the plants and animals that lived here resulted in limestone being deposited beneath these ancient seas. Eventually, the seas lowered to where they are today, leaving a base of predominantly limestone bedrock covered with sand and clay for us to live upon.

Sinkholes are part of the slow, natural process of erosion in Florida’s limestone terrain that occur over thousands of years. These common geologic phenomena generally occur where the limestone is within a few hundred feet of the land’s surface. Sinkholes can form anywhere in Florida, but the highest activity level occurs in west central Florida because of the limestone environment. There are several influences that increase the risk of sinkhole activity such as long-term weather conditions, heavy acidic rains, and drought-like conditions.

It’s been almost 10 years since a notable sinkhole has occurred in Sarasota - this one was in Venice and prior to that one, another in 1989. Despite all the problems sinkholes produce, they are a natural part of the ecosystem. Historically, although not a guarantee, the Sarasota area has had a significantly lower occurrence of sinkholes than other parts of Florida, particularly in the Tampa and Orlando areas. Feel better?

I am a lifetime Sarasota resident and have never filed a claim for hurricane damage...or a sinkhole! So when you get tired of the cold weather and decide to head south, Sarasota, Florida is a great place to buy a home. Give me a call and I will help you stay on stable ground! 

TOUCHDOWN!

 

We did it. WE WON! 45 Seasons.17 Years between Super Bowl wins.  WE MADE HISTORY as the first team to win on tour home field!

My wife and I love football and we were Miami Dolphins fans until the Bucs came to Tampa and now we are die-hard Tampa Bay Bucs fans…through the good, the bad and the ugly, this Super Bowl was worth the very long wait between Super Bowl wins! Even though we didn’t get to celebrate with all our friends this time due to the pandemic, we ate just as much junk food and consumed as much wine as always. Did you know that the Super Bowl is the second-largest day for U.S. food consumption, after Thanksgiving Day? In addition, the Super Bowl has frequently been the most-watched American television broadcast of the year. 

If you are a football fan...read on! Here’s a bit about the history of our favorite sports day of the year and about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

According to Wikipedia, the NFL officially formed in 1920, but the Super Bowl didn’t happen until more than 40 years later. In 1960, a group of businessmen who wanted to own football franchises—but were denied by the NFL—decided to launch an alternative league, known as the American Football League (AFL). For several years, the NFL and AFL were gridiron rivals, competing for fans, players and support. Then, in 1966, owners negotiated an agreement to merge the leagues by 1970.

The first Super Bowl took place on January 15, 1967, and included the NFL’s Green Bay Packers against the AFL’s Kansas City Chiefs. The game was held at the Los Angeles Coliseum, and even though ticket prices averaged just $12, it was the only Super Bowl that didn’t sell out. (We were offered tickets to this 2021 game for only $10,000 each!) That first Super Bowl game aired on two different networks and drew in an audience of more than 61,000 fans. The Packers outperformed the Chiefs, winning 35-10. The next year, the Packers decisively won again in Super Bowl II, defeating the Oakland Raiders 33-14. Many began to question whether the AFL teams could hold their own in the NFL. But the next year, the AFL’s New York Jets, led by quarterback Joe Namath, defeated the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. Super Bowl IV was the last game played between the two leagues, and the AFL’s Kansas City Chiefs beat the Minnesota Vikings, 23-7. The popularity of the event continued to grow after the leagues integrated. With the rise of cable TV, the Internet, and other entertainment options, the country rarely pauses to watch or follow the same event, except in cases of national tragedy. But the Super Bowl is an exception.

According to Britannica, The Buccaneers were established in 1976, and they posted a lousy 0–14 record in their initial season in the NFL. After playing their first season in the American Football Conference (AFC), the Bucs moved to their current conference in 1977. The team’s losing ways continued in the NFC, as Tampa Bay did not record the first win in franchise history until December 1977, and its 26-game losing streak remains an NFL record. These early Buccaneer teams were notable for the presence of future Hall of Fame defensive end Lee Roy Selmon and for their charismatic head coach John McKay, whose many quips about the team’s failures endeared him to football fans nationwide.

Led by quarterback Doug Williams, in 1979 the Bucs, to the surprise of most of us, won 10 games and qualified for the postseason, where they advanced to the conference championship game but lost to the Los Angeles Rams. Tampa Bay went on to playoff berths in both 1981 and 1982, before falling back to the bottom of the conference standings with a 2–14 record in 1983. The 1983 campaign began a dubious streak of 12 consecutive seasons that saw the Buccaneers post double-digit loss totals. 

We began to turn it around in the late 1990's as head coach Tony Dungy built one of the best defenses in the NFL, featuring tackle Warren Sapp, linebacker Derrick Brooks, and defensive backs John Lynch and Ronde Barber. The Bucs made four postseason appearances in the five seasons between 1997 and 2001, but the offensively limited team scored fewer than 10 points in each of its four playoff losses in that span, and Dungy was fired in early 2002 despite his regular-season success

Then the Buccaneers hired head coach Jon Gruden to improve the team’s offense, but it was our top-ranked defense in the league that helped the team post a 12–4 record in 2002 and upset the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC championship game the following January. At Super Bowl XXXVII the Bucs soundly defeated the Oakland Raiders 48–21 to capture their first championship. 

The Bucs missed out on the postseason the following two years but returned to the playoffs after the 2005 and 2007 seasons, both of which ended in opening-round losses at home. A late-season collapse by the team in 2008—the Bucs lost four consecutive games to close out the season which led to the firing of Gruden and a massive coaching, management, and roster turnover in an attempt to rebuild the franchise from the ground up.

Although the Bucs won 10 games in 2010 (but missed out on the playoffs), that rebuilding effort ultimately proved unsuccessful. The team followed this with a surprise hire of college coach Greg Schiano, who was fired at the end of the 2013 season. The Buccaneers rebuilt around young quarterback Jameis Winston, and the team posted its first winning record in six seasons in 2016 (9–7). However, that revival was short-lived, and the team posted consecutive 5–11 records in 2017 and 2018.

The Buccaneers shocked the football world in the 2020 off-season when the team signed old man quarterback Tom Brady in free agency, ending his 20-year career with the New England Patriots. Brady immediately showed that the Bucs’ talented roster was simply missing solid quarterback play, as Tampa Bay won 11 games to earn a playoff berth. In the postseason the team ran off three straight road victories to advance to the second Super Bowl appearance in franchise history. The Bucs SOUNDLY defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl to win their second championship!

We hope next season brings back our tailgate parties and many more wins...and who knows? Maybe another Super Bowl win! GO BUCS!

I Surrender!

 

• 
  "Unconditional Surrender”
• Artist: Seward Johnson
• Aluminum, 26 feet tall
• Originally displayed in Sarasota in 2005 as a temporary exhibit
• Purchased by late World War II veteran and Sarasota resident Jack Curran from the Sculpture Foundation (now Seward Johnson Atelier) and loaned to the city for 10 years
• Formally became part of the city’s public art collection in 2020
• ‘Surrendered’ (relocated) in January 2021 to an area of Bayfront Park between O’Leary’s Tiki Bar and Grill and Marina Jack to make way for the construction of the roundabout at Gulfstream Ave. and US 41.

I recently sold a condo on Palm Avenue and spent a lot of time around the Sarasota Bayfront leading up to this sale. One day I witnessed a 'strange' sight! As most of you recently read in the local news, the iconic Unconditional Surrender statue located at US 41 and Gulfstream Avenue was just moved in anticipation of the construction of a roundabout, set to begin this February. That was the sight I witnessed!

Each time I drive by the Sarasota Bayfront, it reminds me of how much the area has changed throughout my lifetime in Sarasota. My wife Liz’s family goes back almost four generations in Sarasota and Manatee County and she remembers old family stories of a yellow house which belonged to her Uncle Zeke, just south of Church of the Redeemer. This was long before that WWII sailor kissed the dental assistant (no, she was not a nurse!) on V-J Day in 1945. Of course Uncle Zeke’s Florida cracker house has long since been replaced by a high-rise condominium…across the street from Unconditional Surrender!

J. Steward Johnson’s giant kissing statue parked alongside U.S. 41 has been beloved and despised in Sarasota since it first appeared in that spot for a temporary visit in 2005. The 26-foot-high statue depicting George Mendossa, a World War II sailor kissing a woman, Greta Zimmer Friedman, on V-J Day in 1945 and inspired by an iconic photograph, has had its detractors but it’s undeniably popular. 

Sarasota's Bayfront Park has had the "kissing sailor" statue has surrendered their spot several times. In 2012, a car struck it, knocking a hole about the size of a microwave oven out of the sailor’s foot. The anti-statue folks got a few months’ reprieve before the repaired smooching duo were returned to their prominent pedestal. Tourists and locals alike flock to it, passing their cameras off to someone who can capture their efforts to replicate the giant figures’ pose. The statue has also been the backdrop of many protests and marches, including the 2016 Women’s March, which saw thousands gather at the Sarasota Bayfront park. The “Unconditional Surrender” statue has also attracted the attention of vandals. On April Fools Day in 2015, someone added a pink substance, made to resemble chewing gum, to the heel of the woman. 

In 2019, the statue made national headlines when someone spray painted ”#MeToo” across the man’s legs the day after George Mendosa, the sailor depicted in the photograph that inspired the statue, died. Although the original image of Mendosa kissing Greta Zimmer Friedman has long been heralded for epitomizing the joy shared throughout the world upon the ending of hostilities in 1945, it has come under scrutiny, with many accusing Mendosa of assault. But in a 2005 interview, Friedman’s son said the kiss was nonconsensual, but that his mother understood it was a “jubilant act,” telling the New York Times that she did not view the kiss as an assault at all. On that day, they threw anything and kissed anybody in Times Square!

So whether or not you think our kissing statue is art, it is certainly popular…maybe more so than the road construction of new roundabout which caused its latest move! And if you would like a bird's eye view of Unconditional Surrender, I can help you find a great condo on the Sarasota Bayfront!

Here is a great video about the kissing couple and how they ended up on the cover of Life Magazine!

12 Days of Christmas Humor

With all the craziness of this past year, I thought that it would be a good time to revisit this hilarious holiday post. I don't know who the author is, but it brings a smile year after year...and we sure do need that smile about now! 

12 Days of Christmas Correspondence

Dearest John:

I went to the door today and the postman delivered a partridge in a pear tree. What a delightful gift. I couldn't have been more surprised.

With dearest love and affection, Agnes

***

December 15th

Dearest John:

Today the postman brought your very sweet gift. Just imagine, two turtle doves.... I'm just delighted at your very thoughtful gift. They are just adorable.

All my love, Agnes

***

December 16th

Dear John:

Oh, aren't you the extravagant one! Now I must protest. I don't deserve such generosity. Three french hens. They are just darling but I must insist.... you're just too kind.

Love Agnes

***

December 17th

Today the postman delivered four calling birds. Now really! They are beautiful, but don't you think enough is enough? You're being too romantic.

Affectionately, Agnes

***

December 18th

Dearest John:

What a surprise! Today the postman delivered five golden rings. One for each finger. You're just impossible, but I love it. Frankly, John, all those squawking birds were beginning to get on my nerves.

All my love, Agnes

***

December 19th

Dear John:

When I opened the door there were actually six geese-a-laying on my front steps. So you're back to the birds again, huh? Those geese are huge. Where will I ever keep them? The neighbors are complaining and I can't sleep through the racket. PLEASE STOP!

Cordially, Agnes

***

December 20th

John:

What's with you and those birds???? Seven swans-a-swimming. What kind of joke is this? There's bird do-do all over the house and they never stop the racket. I'm a nervous wreck and I can't sleep all night. IT'S NOT FUNNY.......So stop with those birds.

Sincerely, Agnes

***

December 21st

OK Buster:

I think I prefer the birds. What am I going to do with eight maids-a-milking? It's not enough with all those birds and eight maids-a-milking, but they had to bring their own cows. There is poop all over the lawn and I can't move into my own house. Just lay off me. .

Ag

***

December 22nd

Hey:

What are you? Some kind of sadist? Now there's nine pipers playing. And do they play! They never stopped chasing those maids since they got here yesterday morning. The cows are upset and are stepping all over those screeching birds. No wonder they screech. What am I going to do? The neighbors have started a petition to evict me. You'll get yours.

From Ag

***

December 23rd

You Creep!

Now there's ten ladies dancing - I don't know why I call them ladies. Now the cows can't sleep and they've got diarrhea. My living room is a river of poop. The commissioner of buildings has subpoenaed me to give cause why the building shouldn't be condemned. I'm sicking the police on you.

One who means it, Ag

***

December 24th

Listen Idiot:

What's with the eleven lords a-leaping? All 234 of the birds are dead. I hope you're satisfied, you rotten swine.

Your sworn enemy, Miss Agnes McCallister

***

December 25th (From the law offices Taeker, Spedar, and Baegar)

Dear Sir:

This is to acknowledge your latest gift of twelve fiddlers fiddling, which you have seen fit to inflict on our client, Miss Agnes McCallister. The destruction, of course, was total. All correspondence should come to our attention. If you should attempt to reach Miss McCallister at Happy Dale Sanitarium, the attendants have instructions to call the police on sight. With this letter, please find attached a warrant for your arrest.

Merry Christmas.

Thanks & Gratitude...Every Day!

 

I don’t believe in setting aside one day a year as Thanksgiving Day, especially in the ‘age of COVID-19’. Liz and I will be celebrating separate from our families this year, but that's OK. I have always thought that we should be thankful more often than once a year, on the fourth Thursday of November. We should take the time during this week and the next and the next to show gratitude to everyone who has made a difference in our lives.

When life is going well, gratitude allows us to celebrate and magnify the goodness. But what about when life goes badly, like these past nine months? In the midst of the pandemic and the economic maelstrom that has gripped our country, should we feel grateful under such awful circumstances? Yes. It is essential. In fact, it is precisely under crisis conditions when we have the most to gain by a grateful perspective on life. 

Trials and suffering can actually refine and deepen gratefulness if we allow them to show us not to take things for granted. Thanksgiving, was born and grew out of hard times. The first Thanksgiving took place after nearly half the pilgrims died from a rough winter and year. It became a national holiday in 1863 in the middle of the Civil War and was moved to its current date in the 1930s following the Depression. 

According to Robert Emmons at Berkley, when times are good, people take prosperity for granted and begin to believe that they are invulnerable. In times of uncertainty, though, people realize how powerless they are to control their own destiny. If you begin to see that everything you have, everything you have counted on, may be taken away, it becomes much harder to take it for granted. But gratitude does not come easily or naturally in a crisis. It’s easy to feel grateful for the good things. In the face of demoralization, gratitude has the power to energize. In the face of brokenness, gratitude has the power to heal. In the face of despair, gratitude has the power to bring hope. In other words, gratitude can help us cope with hard times. I agree!

So if you are distant from family and friends on Thanksgiving this year because of the pandemic, it really is OK. Hopefully by next year, we will be back to what is more normal. Hopefully, we will be grateful that we all got through this awful time together and will be sitting at the Thanksgiving table together, intact. And in the meantime, just be grateful every single day for what we DO have!

My success as a Realtor in Sarasota, Florida relies on the recommendations and support of those close to me, and I want to take a moment and say a heartfelt thank you to my wife, Liz, who is the wind beneath my wings, to my family and friends, to Re/Max Alliance Group and to all of the loyal people in my life who continuously support me. I am very, very grateful. 

I wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving...stay safe and be well!

 

 

 

Orange Juice – Florida’s Liquid Gold

I bet most of you have a container of orange juice in your refrigerator. I do. I drink it every morning and add it to margaritas on the weekends. Those of us who grew up in Florida like I did probably take OJ for granted. My wife grew up in Southgate, which was an orange grove before homes were built there. Her home, as did all the homes on her street, had a row of orange trees in the backyard. As kids, we always had numerous mason jars of fresh squeezed OJ in our freezer…we rarely had to buy it! But when we did buy it, Tropicana was one of the only choices. I recently had to be in Bradenton and drove past their huge plant and waited at the railroad tracks for a train carrying tons of oranges. The “juice trains,” as they are now known, used to be white but now are all orange and serve as a powerful form of advertising, running 10 trips each week to Jersey City and Cincinnati. Additional shipments trek 3,000 miles to California in specially-equipped refrigerated cars.

At one point, Tropicana`s machines in the plant processed 700 oranges a minute, automatically extracting all the juice at a rate of up to 1.3 million gallons a day, while oils are removed from the peels and the peels are processed into cattle feed high in protein and carbohydrates.

So here’s little history of OJ! Anthony T. Rossi, was an Italian immigrant who arrived in the U.S. with just $25. Florida orange juice proved to be liquid gold. Rossi founded Tropicana in Bradenton in 1947, delivering fresh-squeezed juice to local residents. In 1954, he found a way to pasteurize the juice and was soon shipping millions of gallons around the country.

By 1970, Tropicana shipped bulk orange juice via insulated boxcars in a weekly round-trip from Florida to Kearny, New Jersey. By the following year, the company ran two 60-car trains a week, each carrying approximately 1 million gallons of juice. That was the year the “Great White Juice Train” (the first unit train in the food industry, consisting of 150 100-ton insulated boxcars) began service over the 1,250-mile route. An additional 100 cars were soon added to the fleet with small mechanical refrigeration units installed to control temperature. Tropicana saved $40 million in fuel costs alone during the first 10 years in operation. Rossi’s immense success in the fresh orange juice market earned him the title: “The Father of Chilled Juice in Florida.” In 1978, Rossi retired and sold Tropicana for nearly $500 million!

Today Tropicana, now a division of PepsiCo, is the world’s largest producer of branded juice. And although citrus greening and changing tastes have reduced consumption in recent years, the average American still drinks more than three gallons of the sweet, sunny-hued beverage a year. Their juice is 100 percent oranges. A 59-ounce container contains juice from 16 fresh oranges and a tiny amount of natural oils from the peel. Juice extractors squeeze 34,000 oranges per minute and the plant processes 48 million oranges and fills 2.5 million containers in one day, for a total of 900 million containers per year. 

The processing plant operates 24 hours, seven days a week, employing employs 900 workers. There are 2,000 to 2,500 workers who pick oranges. About 95% of Florida’s orange crop goes to juice. Sadly, citrus greening disease has dropped Florida orange production from 244 million boxes in 1998 to 70 million this season. Florida produces 49 percent of U.S. oranges, just behind California, where greening hasn’t hit commercial groves.

So enjoy a glass of Liquid Gold OJ…made in America, made in Florida, made right here at Tropicana! Cheers!

Cabin Fever? Park It!

When I was a kid in Sarasota, I spent many hours outside, climbing the banyan trees in my neighborhood, riding my bike, running on the beach and many other outdoor activities that most kids do. I was a Boy Scout and spent those days camping and roaming the woods and enjoying nature at Camp Flying Eagle. Then we grow up and get too busy for our own good. We think we have to 'go on vacation' to spend time playing outside as adults. And now that we have a really good reason to spend time in the fresh air, we just don't do it enough.

The COVID-19 pandemic has tended to keep most us close to home and thankfully, we can work from home most of the time. But sometimes, we want to get away! We are being very careful so we don’t go out to dinner or to concerts and plays and the like. But this can lead to ‘cabin fever’. Knowing that spending time outside in the fresh air is fairly safe if social distanced, we plan to ‘park it' more often, especially now that Fall is right around the corner and we have a ton of places in Sarasota to choose from.

Beyond Sarasota County's beautiful beaches, shopping, dining and cultural amenities, there really is something else to make you feel better…get a glimpse of Sarasota’s "natural" side and its authentic beauty in our area parks! Sarasota county is home to many local parks and some of Florida's beautiful state parks as well, including Myakka River State Park, Spanish Point, Oscar Scherer State Park and Myakka State Forest. All are unique and feature a special, pristine Florida.

Everybody benefits from the offerings our parks provide. Direct exposure to nature has its own benefits on mental health, reducing stress and increasing happiness. In our increasingly digital world, unplugging is more important than ever. Being outdoors makes you healthier and happier. Fortunately, you don’t need to drive for days to a remote national park or drop a grand on fancy gear to enjoy the life-improving power of the outdoors. The nature fix you crave is closer than you think. There are so many reasons to head to one of Sarasota’s parks and take a refreshing break. Even walking for 25 minutes through a greenspace has positive benefits for your brain.

We have easy access to park and recreation amenities. You should just go. Put your cellphone down. Turn off the dang news. We all need  peace and tranquility in this crazy world. Go sit on a bench and catch up with nature. People watch. Bring a picnic lunch. Take in the sunset. That's the best thing about most parks! You don't really need to have a plan or have to “do” anything to enjoy—and benefit from—them. Simply going for walk by yourself is reason enough. Be a kid again!

Here is a link to help you find an area park that’s just right for you…you won’t believe how many there are to choose from!

Click here to find a park in Sarasota!

One of our favorite parks is Historic Spanish Point...take a look at this video and if you haven't been and would love a quiet walk through Florida history, GO!

Reinventing Myself...My Road to Becoming a Realtor in Sarasota!

When I was a teenager, my first job experience was working with my dad. He was a builder in Sarasota who bought empty lots, built spec houses one at a time and sold them. I was exposed to every aspect of building a home and after I put in my time in the Air Force, I had a few other professions, including…building houses again. Everything back then was by the book…literally. There were no computers to design houses, order materials for houses or MLS software to sell houses. But then it happened. The thing that tied everything together for me later in life. Computers.

My first computer did not have a hard drive or a mouse and had to be booted with a 5 ¼ floppy disk which loaded the operating system. Then another floppy had to be loaded with whichever program I wanted to run, such as a spreadsheet or a word processing program. The year was about 1988 and I had been bitten by the computer bug. I found it fascinating, logical and I began learning on my own.

Fast forward to 1998. In what seems like a decade that flew by, computers had exploded into our everyday world. At that time, I was a computer programmer and trainer. I taught DOS, accounting and programming classes at what was then known as Sarasota VoTech, and became SCTI, Suncoast Technical Institute. I was also a private computer consultant to small local businesses and I built and sold computers on the side. I finally decided I needed to reinvent myself using what I know and love, so in 1998, I began my career as the IT (Information Technology) Director at Re/Max Properties, now known as Re/Max Alliance Group. Back then, pretty much everything concerning buying and selling homes was still on paper; only the business systems and accounting were managed on computers.

These were the early days of transitioning to MLS software on the computer and more importantly in today’s world, moving from paper to paperless Real Estate transactions. At that time, not many of the Agents had personal computers, but that changed quickly and my Re/Max office grew and built a much larger building. It was my job to set up the entire network of hundreds of computers and related equipment in this new office to take us forward into the 21^st century. I have memories of my wife Liz crawling around on the floor, hooking up the network drops for all the new computer workstations & printers for the agents. For the next 10 years, I held their hands when they were frustrated with all the new technology; I trained them on all the various software programs needed to do transactions…and we spewed out a LOT of paper! Our Re/Max office and the department I managed was one of the first Real Estate offices in Florida where transactions became paperless! We had entered the world of online forms that could be filled out and signed virtually.

After 10 years of serving the staff and agents and Re/Max…and learning from them, I decided it was time to use everything I had learned, reinvent myself again and become a Realtor. Fast forward again to today. Now I fly through home searches on MLS, sign offers and contracts online, manage my client contacts from special software programs (as opposed to a Roladex!), create timelines for all of our sales, set up property showings online, open locks with my cellphones to show homes…it’s a completely different world. And in such a short amount of time! Magic! Had it not been for the ability to conduct business online virtually, this ‘age of COVID19’ would have been devastating to our business.

The introduction and adoption of technology by Real Estate agents has clearly provided access to information such as listings, mortgage rates, fees and neighborhood demographics--previously unavailable to consumers. That increase in the quantity of available information has led to better quality information which, in turn, has led to better-informed consumers. Armed with more information, clients have demanded more specialized services as well as better service from Real Estate agents such as myself. 

As it turned out, I was was heavily involved in every aspect of the housing industry, from building the product to helping design some of the original Real Estate contract online systems, to getting the property information from multiple brokerages online, and finally helping the public find the ideal home for themselves.  I was literally on the ground floor of all of this…building homes, the computer revolution and selling homes. I am grateful that for the past 12 years, I have been able to pass on my expertise as a Realtor to assist my clients and help them find just the right home in my hometown…Sarasota!