You Steal, You Pay

Today has been a day of football in the park. Many were sad with the final scores while others were shouting victory. As for me, I was unhappy on both counts; but, now that we know who will be going to the Super Bowl, I have chosen to pull for New Orleans. It probably doesn't matter a lot because most people can't remember from one year to the next who played the year before.

Temperatures are rising in Southwest Florida, up to 83 today; however, there is supposed to be a slight drop for this week, to the mid 70's (Now that's my favorite).

We observed a race in the park today, a race of three-wheel bicycles. All of us North Carolinians have the two-wheel versions, thus ineligible to race. It's fun to watch the older q-tips enjoy racing around the block as fast as they can pedal. Two would race at the time and the winner then would take on another biker until a final winner was recognized. People here will do anything to have a little fun.

Yesterday was a huge yard sale in the adjacent park. There were so many people who came from all over the city. Rose and I rode out bikes over and were immediately met by the security patrol to tell us to lock our bikes. Fortunately, I carry a lock and cable on my bike at all times; the most difficult part was finding a tree to lock our bikes to! Every tree was taken! Finally, we located one and I locked our bikes together. There is no way I want my new bike to disappear. It is a shame that now we have to keep everything locked at all times it seems. Our next door neighbor had his bike stolen last week; he was lucky that the police did find it within the week. Another man had his golf cart stolen. When it was found, he had to pay over $300 to get it back! When asked if he was going to press charges on the young boys, the man replied with a very forceful positive. I don't blame him. These young people need to face the consequences of their behavior; they need to learn that you cannot get away with theft. Parents often want to defend them, protect them, and that's only natural; my thoughts are, though, are you really need to pay the piper. Theft is against the law and needs to be dealt with.