This is my fourth week volunteering and living at Ordway-Swisher. A full calendar month has not passed, but I have been 4 weeks on the job! The two biggest challenges for me have been fear and hard work in the humidity.

I felt a momentary burst of fear when I learned that I am the only one RVing out here. That faded quickly because I love camping alone in the woods and this is one beautiful spot. The real fear was towards some of the creatures out here. Well, not some but 1 guy about the size of a pecan. A spider who spins webs across the road, usually up in the trees. One spun a web off my camper and that was the turning point. I sprayed him with a long stream of wasp spray and I now carry it everywhere I go. I don’t use it, but it gives me peace. Ever since, I give them space unless they invade my camping area or are in the way of me getting work done. I often dialogue with them: “hey there, how ya doin. You stay there, I will stay here.” They do stay there. In fact all they do is sit in the middle of a giant spider web all day.

People are at the top of the chain here. The only real predator for the deer are coyotes, who could take down fawns. Panthers are now rare. Some venomous snakes live here, but I have been told they stay away from humans and other animals. The only creatures dumb enough to hover around are the wild turkeys and the deer. The deer do their usual routine: “oh my a truck, let me run in front of it.” The speed limit on the station is 15 mph, so they can get away with that dumbness here. The female turkeys—the ones out and about—are drama queens. They hear me coming on the 6-wheeler, and they do a wobbly run across the road, snitting and fussing as they pass. Are they trying to run in stilettos? Sure looks like it. When I come back that way, they cross again in their high heels, in the exact same place, fussing as always. After lunch, I go back and the girls repeat their routine, in the original direction.  I call out, “wouldn’t it be easier to just stay put?” I learn that you cannot stop a fussy drama queen.

My other challenge? Hard outdoor work in a humid, hot climate? The work of trimming, loppering, weeding, hoeing is familiar thanks to my life as a gardener. Sweating buckets is not so familiar, and I feel like I am in slow motion all the time. Like my spider fear, though, I have devised ways of coping with the conditions. I stop every hour and drink icy cold water. I tie up my hair and keep it wet, also. I take Aleve in the morning  for any aches (the ad about needing only 2 per day is true). I take a shower at lunch. I remember this is only 16 hours per week, which really isn’t much, despite how long those 2 days feel. I plod on, a tamed down version of my exuberant self. Exhuberance and humidity don’t blend well. When Aaron Rogers and company came to Jacksonville a few weeks ago, they brought along electric cooling tubes to put down Aaron’s shirt and bring him some chill. Nice.

Cooler weather is coming. Next week should bring temps in the mid-to-low 80s, which is near perfect. One month of hot/humid and now two months of cooler, classic FL sweetness. Dare I say that the worst is over (watching tropical storm Matthew).  When I return to only two showers per day, I will know that autumn has arrived in north central Florida.