Happy We're In Jacksonville This Winter, Or Spring

Sure, I can say some things about Jacksonville that make people wonder why we moved here. I think the world, and Jacksonville in particular, can be a better place, and I am always willing to offer free advice. However, this winter has not been kind to other regions of the country, and it continued into the spring.


Here's a Facebook post I saw from a friend in Wisconsin, posted on April 18, 2018:

The relentless snow is wreaking havoc on nature. In our driveway right now there are about 2 million bird feathers...they are EVERYWHERE. the entire length of our driveway. It's as if an entire flock of robins BURST in midair right above our home. I've never seen anything like it. V found one bird eating another bird. We found bird legs -- just legs. No words. Just feathers and blood and all this relentless snow.

Birds come back when the weather is supposed to be suitable for them. From further posts, it looks like this caring person started feeding birds because of the lack of food that has resulted from the snow in the Milwaukee area. Apparently, those birds led to larger birds, who were also hangry. Keep your small dogs close, I guess.

Farmers in Wisconsin often worry about too little snow, but this year has been too much too late, and it can also cause a problem--I don't understand it, but Cousin Jason, who took the photo above, could enlighten you, and it probably has something to do with getting seeds into the ground. You've also got your yearly heart attacks while shoveling. I talked to a friend the other day who threw down 40 pounds of salt rather than shovel one last time. If every homeowner did that, it would be an ecological disaster, too. The good news for me would have been lots of cash this year for shoveling for my aging neighbors. But that's not really enough. When I talked to my friend on the phone, I was outside without a shirt on, and he'd just finished clearing his driveway of snow, albeit the easy way.

Outside my house April 18th, 2018

From what I can tell, the East Coast has had just as bad a winter. Probably one more year, and we'll be welcoming even more Northerners to the area. I think there are great economic opportunities for Jacksonville right now, if the weather stays snowy in the North. We really do want these people here, but we also have to remember that a lot of them will come with similar expectations as myself. That means listening to new residents and sometimes changing the way we do things here. But it also might mean some changes to tradition, and that can be difficult. This website is filled with observations from a Midwesterner who sees Jacksonville similarly to how many of these new recruits will see the city, so feel free to read more on the site.

Oh, and the photo I took on 4-18: it was about 80 degrees and beautiful. But this IS Jacksonville, so the reason I took the photo in the first place was because a suspicious guy was parked outside my house, opened his trunk, and started flying his drone over our houses for about 20 minutes. Probably because his own neighbors threatened to shoot the thing out of the sky.