Hobo Land

Our son summed it up in a sentence.  "I'm looking forward to the camping, but I don't want to leave my friends."  It's time to look forward. 

We will depart Hobo Land tomorrow for a trip to VA for a family reunion and to put 200 cubic feet of personal treasures into a safe place for storage while we do the farewell tour.  "Hobo Land" is another good one-liner from the nine-year-old, an apt description of our current living state (not the State of Florida...at least, I don't think he meant it to apply to the whole state even though I guess it does sum up certain parts of it). 

For two months, I have been Louie the Liquidator.  However, in this market, there are some things that, though I might think them valuable, really have no value.  So, all of these things were donated today: couches, lamps, tables, toys (painful), and boxes of household goods.  We enthusiastically support an organization called Mustard Seed (http://mustardseedfla.org/).  They describe themselves as follows:

The Mustard Seed is the only furniture bank in Central Florida. When individuals in the community have experienced personal tragedy, homelessness, disaster, abuse, illness or loss of employment, we provide the basic household items and clothing they need to start fresh as an individual or family. During fiscal year 2009-10, 3,945 Central Floridians with 60% of those being children, received help from The Mustard Seed. We rely on furniture and household donations in order to keep our inventory plentiful!

It's a win-win, as we had a ton of nice stuff that just isn't worth the effort to sell, but has years of useful life left in it.  They help us out by taking it away, we feel better about helping others, and someone out there receives a really nice living room furniture set, TV, and enough beer steins to throw an outrageous block party.  After Mustard Seed left, our son christened the living room "Hobo Land", pictured below:

We will Escape from Hobo Land tomorrow morning.

Yes, that is a Grow-Tek NFT hydroponics system, one of the few I could find that was guaranteed to be made from food-grade, virgin PVC, purchased from Crop King (http://www.cropking.com/) and the envy of the neighborhood; and an Excalibur dehydrator, another product that I wholeheartedly endorse.  Excalibur Dehydrator

Wish us a safe journey!