Just a quick update regarding Bay County and ourselves....

Obviously, my family and I have survived the worst of the hurricane! I'll post pictures shortly - our house came out better than some and not as good as others.  Several of my neighbors have lost everything

Thank you so much to all the well wishers and inquiries.

Unfortunately, we still have no Internet access (We're on comcast and are not expected to regain access until end of November).

We also have intermittent power outages, and just this week we were able to get our A/C working again (Thank you Jeff!!!).

In the meantime, I do have some important information about the rebuilding if our area that I will be posting in the next few days as I can get internet access.

For now,

I was speaking with a friend from Alaska yesterday, and Halloween came up in the conversation.

I asked if they were expecting a lot of Trick or Treaters and they told me no, bu they were going to the local Trunk or Treat!

I asked them what the heck is Trunk of Treat?

I was surprised to find out that in many areas today, people decorate their cars and trunks and hatchbacks and bring their children - the kids get to Trick or Treat in safe and crowded area until a given time and then it all gets shut down.

I found this to be verty interesting!

Do you have Trunk or Treating where you are?

 If so, please post some pics!

I personally think this is a great idea and would to see it become a popular event in Bay County, Florida!

Here are some local Halloween events for the whole family.  Bring the kids and have a great Halloween time...

• "The city church @ northside 530 Airport RD. They are having an Outdoor Festival. They have many things going on and many people attend./ Games and candy, snow cones and popcorn etc etc. No charge for anything. Everyone is welcome.
• Pumpkin Carving, wed. Night @ the Annex call 785- 6137 for more details.
• Hiland Park Baptist Church has a Fall Festival on Halloween to give kids a safe alternative to trick-or-treating. Fun for the whole family. Free food, popcor
• The Panama.City Mall is a great place to go trick or treating!
• On October 30 from 4-6pm First Baptist Church Panama City (downtown) is having a Fall Festival. Lots of FREE

Now that All Hallows eve (Halloween as is now called) is upon us, I've prepared a few safety tips for children and the adults they will be chaperoning for treats :)

I hope you find them of value...

Carving that Pumpkin

• Decorate with markers, glitter glue or paint or other art supplies. Let the kids draw the faces and leave the carving to the adults.
• If using candles be careful. Place candlelit pumpkins on a sturdy surface away from curtains and other flammable objects and remember to put out the candles before retiring.
• Never leave candlelit pumpkins unattended.So don't go trick or treating and leave a lit candled pumpkin alone!
• A more modern way to light pumpkins is with flashlights, battery-operated flameless candles or glow

I attended my first political rally yesterday at the Pier Park Amphitheater, and what an experience it was!

Donald Trump was scheduled to start at 7:30pm, so we figured arriving at 4:30pm would give us plenty of time.

We arrived at approximately 4:45pm, parked the car and walked a few block and was met by a line of people almost 6 city blocks long!

We got into line and our creeping journey toward the entrance began.

We chatted with lots of local people as well as visitors from Georgia, Alabama and as far as away Tennessee!

Souvenir hawkers were selling all manner of hats, T-Shirts, Buttons, and signs!  It was fascinating.

What was most interesting to me however, was the crowd!

According to the news, Trump is not doing well with women. I can tell you first hand

If you're down at the beach in Panama City Beach, Fl this time of year you may be lucky enough to see cautionary tape strewn about the beach.

It's not there because of a crime (although some may see it as one), nor is it there to section off a concert for left over Spring Breakers.

Nope, the tape is there because last year, officials counted 47 loggerhead turtle nests and four leatherback turtle nests, which is the best count on record and the capstone on an upward trend for the two endangered species!

Turtle nesting season lasts through October, so if this excites you as much as many in the area come on down and watch.  But PLEASE be mindful:

There are 3 golden rules of turtle watching

1. Don’t touch. As tempting as it is, don’t touch the

Being a city girl, I judge how well an area is doing economically by the businesses that are prevalent (existing) as well as businesses moving in.  Of course, construction is always a key sign, but it has to be "growth" oriented not just - "we're building another strip mall here or we're building more houses there".

So, when I see a sign go up for a national chain business - I get excited.  It signals growth both economically and demographically.

Most are unaware that many of the national chains require an area to reach or obtain a certain population count before they will open a franchise in that area.

In our area, we've been short (at least in my opinion) on decent breakfast locations - yes we have the waffle house and a few local eateries -

We've had many phone calls lately regarding the impact of the oil spill on the Panama City, and Panama City Beach Florida areas.

Several customers were so concerned with the news reports they even canceled their visits.

So allow me to alleviate as many fears and concerns about this situation as possible....

As you can see from the image (the dark spot is the oil slick), the oil is moving away from Panama City Florida which is located at the very top right of the image (at the 30 degrees latitude line).

You can follow the progress of the slick here.

Once the slick hits the gulf stream, it will travel in a southerly direction.

Panama City and Panama City Beach Florida are alive and well and expected to not be directly impacted by the oil

Pier Park has announced the 2009 summer concert series, featuring the following artists:

• De Lions of Jah – Raggae – June 4th
• Eric Lindell – Blues/Rock – June 11th
• Rollin in the Hay – New Grass – June 18th
• Cyril Neville (of the Neville Brothers) – R&B/Rock – June 25th
• The Lee Griffin Band – R&B/Rock – July 2nd
• PBS – New Orleans Fund – July 9th
• The Legendary JC’s – Soul/R&B – July 16th
• King Cotton Blues Band – Blues – July 23rd
• The Donnie Sundal Project – Variety – July 30th
• Beachmice – Eclectic Acoustic – August 6th
• Heat and the Zydeco Gents – Zydeco – August 13th

And don't forget the popular 4th of July celebration featuring music from:

• The Pistols
• The Springs
• And headliner Mark Chestnut

The