Florida Is Nice

Vero Beach

I found myself scratching a mosquito bite today. Then it occurred to me, this is the first bite I can remember getting in Florida. Ah, it's so easy to forget that the natural state of Florida is infested with lots of flying insect. The unnatural state is man-made and involves lots of spraying.

It's hard to overstate how nice Florida is for us cruisers. I had the chance to move here 40 years ago. On the other hand, living here in a house is not like visiting here on a boat. The traffic is terrible and gets worse every year. The crime is terrible and gets worse every year. If I lived here I'd probably complain about everything.

Still, the climate is delightful and the nature is wonderful. Especially when there are no mosquitoes around and no hurricanes on the way.

p.s. I picked up an engineering magazine in the sailor's lounge today. It was about design and factory automation. If I were starting again as a young engineer today, I think that factory automation would be a very fun field. The kinds of gadgets and the methods used today are 99% the same as they were in the 1970s. However, the gadgets are so much better, and so much easier to use and so well supported by software and by CAD tools that it would be a pleasure to do the work today.