I'm considering moving to Tampa area in June 2014

Tell me why you like living in the Tampa area and why NOT.

I grow tender tropicals and having spent a couple of months there with Stacey (Floridian), it seemed like a good place to grow beautiful plants.

Please fill me in, with no sugar-coating your answers.

Thanks!

Hi Kay,

I am a native Tampanian and I love it here. The weather is great here 99% of the time and most of your tropical plants will grow and thrive. Generally speaking, it is not close enough to the water to have the salt bother your plants. The summers get really hot and muggy, but we have never recorded a temperature above 99, due to the Gulf breezes. Spring is pretty dry, and you will need to water frequently, but summers bring afternoon showers almost daily.

Shauna

Thanks, Shauna!

kay, i thought you moved back to missouri; you're staying in florida now?

Tara, I have tousled with this decision for several months, and cannot decide what I should do!

I just can't handle the weather in KC any more - too humid, freezing cold, ice, snow, wind, heat, tornados, brown-outs - the list goes on.

I have researched, extensively, Las Vegas - you can hardly grow anything green there and the heat is like a hot blow dryer during the summer, plus - they get more freezing winter days than we do here in NW Florida.

I thought about the Tampa Bay area, but my research shows summers are unbearable, due to humidity AND more and more sink holes are developing all over the state. ALL of Florida sits on about 60' of limestone, which is porous and full of holes that are eroding more and faster every year.

I can't afford California or Hawaii, Texas is a hot dust bowl - see my predicament?!!!

I have no idea where I should move, but will need to decide soon - I will be getting a 30-day move notice any day now.

I have not lived in many places...upstate NY. Brooklyn and Queens NY, Fort Lauderdale and here in the Piedmont of NC. I love it here ( we do have a few short weeks of cold weather -- unusually so this year - but last two years we had very short and warm winters) Rare hurricane. Rare ice storm - few and far between. Our summers are humid but nothing like Fla. 2 hrs from beach and 3 from mountains. And we are zoned 7a 7b - I can't grow tropicals however -- but autumn colors are lovely and the springtime is special. Taxes aren't bad and my sis complains bitterly about HO insurance costs in Fla. -- ours are decent. We are 2 hrs from beach and 3 from beautiful NC mountains. Universities with medical schools ( UNC, Duke, Wake Forest) usually mean excellent medical care access, strong economy, the arts, and a vibrancy typically associated with presence of young adults. Don't mean to sound like a travel brochure...but have you considered NC ( or Virginia )

Rosie, I am 63 years old and probably the best move I could make would be to the KC area, where all my family is. I just am having a difficult time dealing with the 6 months of cold and humid weather there.

Rosie,
I think the Fl. bureau of tourism should hire you. LOL When first married and husb. was Navy we lived in Eliz. City, NC. Met some wonderful people there.

Kay,
Don't think any place on earth is perfect in every way. It's all according to what a person wants or hopes for.

Follow your heart and mind and just give a new place a try. If you don't buy a place you can always move on. I've been in same house for 44 years which we bought when we came here and I was promised we were just going to TRY it. Long try. My mom and fam. up north are all gone now so with my kids being here mostly ( 1 in Cal.) I'm sure I'll stay right here. Can you tell I'm not much of a mover.

Sincerely hope you find your special place and are happy.
PS Central Fl. is nice also and good for gardening.
Bonnie

where is it NOT humid? except for out west. truly, i don't mind the humidity all that much. that's what AC is for. i garden when i can but if it's too humid or too cold, then i go inside. no place is perfect.
the ideal for me is right where i am and keep shifting to more cold hardy plants. i still have to blanket a few but each year the amount goes down. that way i can enjoy the cool/cold weather and not have to stress out.
i've been held captive by the garden in summer because of watering and that is another thing i'm trying to remedy. tough plants are looking better to me all the time.
i would like to be able to board the dogs and just go sometimes without worrying about the damn plants!

Bonnie, I was just researching central California - Denair area - wonder if it's a good area to consider. I found it can get into the low 30's there in the winter and 100 degrees in the summer - I don't WANT THAT! It seems that what is ideal for me just doesn't exist!

one other thing to consider, kay, is flight or drive time. if your family is in MO, CA is a long way away, time and money wise.

Tara, I'm not big on traveling. Being retired, I have to have SOMETHING to do. Tropical plants and painting are my hobbies, but I'm getting too old to drag plants in and out.

btw, i'm not tara; i'm debi. LOL

Sorry, Debi - just wait until you get old - you won't even remember your kids' names!

Geeze, I looked in the mirror this morning and saw an old lady staring back at me. I asked who the hell she was - never saw before in my life - she was SCARY! I asked her if she had any plans today - she said 'nope, too cold'.

For a moment I thought it was the cartoon lady, Maxine, but soon realized she looked to haggard to be Maxine, then realized 'dear God, it's ME'!

We all have those moments and cleaning the mirror doesn't change a thing. I have a friend who will be 83 next week and she doesn't have any mirrors except for the bathroom. Foggy mirrors are our best friend.

I recall when I entered a big box store, when they first installed security cameras, and I looked up and thought "that woman needs help". It was me!

LOL!!!

I stopped shopping there!

I don't blame you, Pirl. I only look in a mirror or store window on accident - it just scares the pee outta me when I see what's looking back!

Here's a piece that everyone over 40 might be able to relate to:

The Stranger in My House

by Rose Madeline Mula

A very weird thing has happened. A strange old lady has moved into my house. I have no idea who she is, where she came from, or how she got in. I certainly didn't invite her. All I know is that one day she wasn't there, and the next day she was.

She's very clever. She manages to keep out of sight for the most part; but whenever I pass a mirror, I catch a glimpse of her there; and when I look into a mirror directly to check on my appearance, suddenly she's hogging the whole thing, completely obliterating my gorgeous face and body. It's very disconcerting. I've tried screaming at her to leave — but she just screams back, grimacing horribly. She's really rather frightening.

If she's going to hang around, the least she could do is offer to pay rent. But no. Every once in a while I do find a couple of dollar bills on the kitchen counter, or some loose change on my bureau or on the floor, but that certainly isn't enough. In fact, though I don't like to jump to conclusions, I think she steals money from me quite regularly. I go to the ATM and withdraw a hundred dollars, and a few days later, it's gone. I certainly don't go through it that fast, so I can only conclude that the old lady pilfers it. You'd think she'd spend some of it on wrinkle cream. God knows she needs it.

And money isn't the only thing she's taking. Food seems to disappear at an alarming rate. Especially the good stuff — ice cream, cookies, candy ... I just can't seem to keep them in the house. She really has a sweet tooth. She should watch it; she's putting on the pounds. I think she realizes that, and to make herself feel better, I know she's tampering with my scale so I'll think that I'm gaining weight, too. For an old lady, she's really quite childish.She also gets into my closets when I'm not home and alters all my clothes. They're getting tighter every day.

Another thing: I wish she'd stop messing with my files and the papers on my desk. I can't find a thing any more. This is particularly hard to deal with because I'm extremely neat and organized; but she manages to jumble everything up so nothing is where it's supposed to be. Furthermore, when I program my VCR to tape something important, she fiddles with it after I leave the room so it records the wrong channel or shuts off completely.

She finds innumerable, imaginative ways to irritate me. She gets to my newspapers, magazines and mail before me and blurs all the print; and she's done something sinister with the volume controls on my TV, radio and phone. Now all I hear are mumbles and whispers. She's also made my stairs steeper, my vacuum cleaner heavier, all my knobs and faucets hard to turn, and my bed higher and a real challenge to climb into and out of.

Furthermore, she gets to my groceries as soon as I shelve them and applies glue to the tops of every jar and bottle so they're just about impossible to open. Is this any way to repay my hospitality?

I don't even get any respite at night. More than once her snoring has awakened me. I don't know why she can't do something about that. It's very unattractive.

As if all this isn't bad enough, she is no longer confining her malevolence to the house. She's now found a way to sneak into my car with me and follow me wherever I go. I see her reflection in store windows as I pass, and she's taken all the fun out of clothes shopping because her penchant for monopolizing mirrors has extended to dressing rooms. When I try something on, she dons an identical outfit — which looks ridiculous on her — and then stands directly in front of me so I can't see how great it looks on me.

I thought she couldn't get any meaner than that; but yesterday she proved me wrong. She had the nerve to come with me when I went to have some passport pictures taken, and she actually stepped in front of the camera just as the shutter clicked. Disaster! I have never seen such a terrible picture. How can I go abroad now? No customs official is ever going to believe that the crone scowling from my passport is me.

She's walking on very thin ice. If she keeps this up, I swear, I'll put her in a home. On second thought, I shouldn't be too hasty. First, I think I'll check with the IRS and see if I can claim her as a dependent.


This piece first appeared on May 8, 1997 in the Andover, MA Townsman and has been reproduced in an Ann Landers' column in October of 1999.

I love Elizabeth City been there twice. So nice. A real community feel. Yes lows are low and highs are high and can be scary but it is really the average temps that count. I heard there are places that have NO mosquitoes -- now that sounds great to me because it is what drives me inside. The deer another nuisance.

Yes...above all ( I am 61) I think family ( or support can be good friends ) very important.
Affordability
Medical care
Arts and recreation.
That sums it up for me because I think I can learn a garden and the microclimate and work with it all.

Here we have a rare copperhead and black and rat snakes -- those are not OK with me!

Rosie, I love my family and friends, but when push comes to shove, we are all alone with ourselves.

In order to have great mental health as well as physical health, we must have something to occupy our lives that makes us feel successful, needed and rewarded - my plants do all those things for me. Having said all the above, I feel, in order for me to maintain my plants and be those things, I need a climate where I can be outdoors, tending to them. In a cold climate, I would be stuck indoors for days and days, months and months at a time - I just don't want to do that.

You are right -- I agree -- It is important to do things we are good at and enjoy. Better than pills or booze! Tat's what I tell my kids.

I did not miss NY winters ( but did miss the great food ) and never ever liked Florida - humidity and the heat and I missed the hills and northern landscape. Seasonal change is important and so mild winters tolerable to me as a fair trade. I do wish I could garden just one zone higher -- 8 is a dream but not a fair trade for humidity.

I was one of 14 siblings --those left are in Fl and NY. My son and small family in NC but that is it and so friends are important to me. I am glad that my working years spent here. I made good friends at school and then in workplace. We are sprouting gray hair together. Strange, none like to garden!!

Kay, don't count out FL. especially the west coast. I moved back home to Bradenton area, but since I wasn't able to find a job had to move to a less expensive place, Brooksville. Even though we have hot humid summers, is no way a reason not to move here. It is a matter of learning when to go out and do things, which is usually from noon to 4 pm. early morning and late afternoons are the best times for running errands. My DH didn't want to move here for fear of the heat, but once he got here he doesn't want to go back to his home state of KY. I told him at least we have the daily gulf breezes to help with the heat where as in KY the only time we had a breeze in the summer heat was when a storm was coming....LOL

So come on over to the gulf side of FL and you will love it.

Jan

Good morning, everyone!

Jan, don't you still get freezes? I know I'm harping on not wanting freezes, but I don't want to drag plants in and out - I do that here in Panama City!

Yep, but they aren't like what you have in Panama city. There are ways to over come them without the hauling in and out.....

Was that sinkhole in your town Kay? My husband said it was a Florida city starting with a P. A woman was gardening was startled by a lizard and jumped back into the darn thing. My daughter in PA had houses near her slip into - not sure if can be called sinkholes in true sense of the word -- underground mine tunnels and the river overflowing and flooding caused those collapses. I think they were cakled sinkholes too.

Not that I know of, Rosie - could be I just didn't hear about it. all of Florida sits on limestone rocks, which are porous and collapse from acidic water and weight. Three counties in the Tampa region are known as "sinkhole alley." This has me gravely concerned about moving into the area. There were 6,700 reports/insurance claims of collapses in 2010.

Now, if you could only find a job as a caretaker (just overseeing work to be done and inspecting the house) on a nice estate in Sanibel or Captiva Island, in return for a modest cottage (with AC and heat) along with a greenhouse, you'd be all set!

If it was anywhere but Florida, which is slowly dissolving!

what about Mississippi? they have some nice little towns over there.

don't sell florida short though; it will be around for a long time to come.

I have a sign attached to one of my trees "Bloom Where God Plants You".

Kay,
When I wash my face in the morning and look into the mirror I see more wrinkles and more gray hairs. I earned everyone of those shiny beautiful gray hairs raising a family. The wrinkles are wisdom lines. Have lots of crowns on teeth but at least they act like my own.

Every morning that I get out of bed I say thank you Lord for allowing me to see another day plus enjoy my beautiful flowers and fish in ponds. I have 4 grown children, 14 grands and 13 great grands and keep in touch with all at least occasionally. I know I'm truly blessed. Still teach Sun. Sch. and work with kids at church all the time.

Sure I have aches and pains now and then but I can live over them. Just being able to walk and pull weeds is a good thing.

BTW I am 76 and fall over garden hoses now and then but I just roll with the direction. Got lots of padding. LOL Also, always love a good clean joke. A sense of humor is another great gift. SO keep smiling and if it helps get rid of all your mirrors. Cleaning fly specks off of them is no fun anyway.

Bonnie I enjoyed your post. I read it twice it felt so good!

Great post, Bonnie!

I always think the climate around Sarasota is lovely. They are far warmer in the winter and far cooler in the summer than we are here along the SC coast. You don't hear much about sink holes there and storms don't often hit there either. It just takes a bit of $$$ :-)

yes ardesia if you have extra money then by all means Sarasota. I personally like Bradenton, some areas require extra money but to be so close to the Gulf is wonderful. I'm in Bradenton right now, dealing with my father who is in the hospital and taking care of my step mother. I miss it here, and I just might be moving back.

Jan

Kay,

I don't think there is any one place that is absolutely perfect year round. Every place has it's pro's and con's...too hot, too cold, too humid, to dry. Not to mention the natural effects of Mother Mature in that particular area...hurricanes, tornadoes, snow, blizzards, sinkholes.

You just need to weigh the pros and cons and think about what you really want and what would be best for you.

I found this story about sinkholes in Florida and it has two different maps that shows the sinkhole zones in Florida. Granted, this is from last year...but if you are still considering staying in the Sunshine State...you might find an area on the map that shows low sinkhole activity you might like to live in.

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/rosetta-stones/2013/03/07/living-and-sometimes-dying-with-karst/

Shauna

Thanks, Shauna. The map you link to is one of many I found during my research, causing me to decide not to live here in Florida any more.

well Bradenton looks to be one of the safest areas....maybe a move back south is in the near future....LOL

Jan

Our area is 27 degrees and covered in ice this morning, sleet falling as we speak.

Kay and Bonnie, love both the post you made...both made me smile...I'm saving both to read from now and then.

I see that impressive radar this morning. It was so nice here yesterday, I even wore shorts while outside working in the garden. They say only down to 45 tonight...hope they're right about that. Back to 80 by Saturday.

I'll take sinkholes over tornadoes any day...they scare the heck out of me. You could just get a motor home and just travel around to the nicest areas at the nicest times. When we are at campgrounds it is sweet to see the full timers bringing out their potted plants and putting them around their camper...a traveling garden.


The only perfect place is Heaven.