Hawk Buddy Protects My House

Most mornings when I go out to get my news paper from the drive way around odark thirty as it is just changing from night to morning I can see the shadow of a small Hawk sitting on the top of my roof.

This Hawk and his buddies seem to like to perch on the crest of the room of my house so they can watch for other birds (fly by meals) approaching and departing from Bonita Pond located just across the street from my house.

Since my Hawk Buddy sits on the crest of my roof the only time I get to see him is when I go out to get the news paper, while my back door neighbor Robbie has what we will call a Bird’s Eye View of my Hawk Buddy and his Hawk friends in action.

This morning early I saw my Hawk Buddy on the roof as I rode off into the sun rise on my tricycle and knew he and his friends would be hunting for fly by birds as they came in out of the sun and were not able to see the Hawks sitting on the roof.

Robbie my back door neighbor called my wife Ann (I was still out on the trike) and told her what he saw and was observing while sitting on his back porch lanai - the Hawk apparently sprang into action and flew straight into the sun and stunned an unsuspecting bird on the way to Bonita Pond. 

The Hawk then flew his stunned pray to the ground, by that time the victim bird was dead, he did not survive the vicious (brutal,ferocious, savage, violent, dangerous, ruthless, remorseless,merciless, heartless, callous, cruel, harsh, coldblooded, inhuman, fierce,barbarous, barbaric, brutish, bloodthirsty, fiendish, sadistic, monstrous, murderous, homicidal) attack.

The Hawk then started to remove all of the feathers from his morning meal and did so quickly in case another Hawk was interested in his morning snack, once the snack was without feathers, the Hawk took his snack and flew away to enjoy his meal without Robbie watching. This was way too much information for Ann who is a bird lover, but Ann appreciated Robbie calling.

When I arrived home Ann told me about the call from Robbie, I got a cup of coffee and my camera and made my way to the back yard area to see what sort of mess was left.

As I approached the lanai I could not see anything, once I was in the backyard area there was a large area of the yard covered in gray feathers. A closer view of the feathers did not find any blood or bone in the grass, only gray feathers, the Hawk did not leave anything except feathers.

A quick look about the area found nothing but a snicker wrapper, so am thinking if we find a Hawk eating a snicker while waiting on fly by bird meals we will have the Hawk who finished off the bird for a quick snack.

Life is always fun and exciting in The Villages, Florida – Smiles.

Military Policeman (MP) in the United States Army (USA)

As a young twenty something military policeman (MP) in the United States Army (USA) my life was exciting in many ways. Not only was I a soldier in the USA but an MP and MP life kept me busy all the time. My schedule was weird most of the time, hours were long, strange, and the job was tough. After all USA MPs enforce the law on folks who are trained to kill when they join the Army and those folks being trained to kill get better and better at their jobs as time and training move along.

Life in the USA started for me when I was turning twenty years old with basic combat training at Fort Lewis, Washington; advanced individual MP training at Gordon, Georgia; then my first MP assignment in Vietnam as an MP serving with the Army Security Agency (ASA) and the 509^th Radio Research (RR). 

At the time serving in a war torn country was exciting for a young guy, but it was a job and my job in Vietnam was to protect RR folks on the ground in tents, buildings, and vehicles; those who worked in bunkers under the ground, in boats on the water and in aircraft in the air. Yep, ASA and or RR folks performed all sorts of duties that took them too many strange areas and locations all over the world.

As and MP it was made very clear to me (MP training on how to protect ASA personnel) bad folks were out to get the ASA and RR folks. The spooks and spies of the 509^th RR the MPs were there to protect did not know they were targets or did not care about being caught because most of those folks did some strange things when they were not on duty.

Many RR folks were not aware they were under surveillance much of the time in order to protect them or at least protect the knowledge they had about the day to day missions of the RR.  

Never quite under stood why many of the code folks who should have known they were not just your average GI Joe did not seem to care who they associated with when not on the job.

The atmosphere at the 509^th RR in Saigon for all RR folks was very laid back, while waiting for my in country MP assignment there were no formations, no physical training, no guidance, just Armed Forces Network television, playing games in the activity room, eating three meals a day, going to the non commissioned officers club at night for the entertainment and waiting for orders to move.

If there had not been a war going on outside my barracks door the assignment in Vietnam would have been a dream assignment, but those extra four weeks of MP training on protecting ASA and RR property and personnel reminded me just how quickly a dream job could turn into the job from hell.

Just as my mind was getting use to Saigon my orders arrived for a place called Nah Trang located on the coast of Vietnam, it was a French vacation area at one time, now home to the USA Green Berets, Rangers, ASA, 509^th RR, my unit to be, 144^th Aviation Company and of course the US Air Force.

One morning bright and early several of us RR MPs and about ten other folks were loaded on a large truck to go get our combat gear, yep, we had been in country several weeks and did not even have our combat gear or not the special combat gear, we did have a flack vest, helmet, and 45 cal side arm.

The truck with one MP gun jeep left Saigon for Long Binh Post with a stop in Ben Hoya for who knows what. On the trip we observed all sorts of locals walking, riding those loud smelly motor bikes, and even saw rickshaws mixed in with all the Vietnamese and American vehicle traffic that choked the roads everywhere we traveled.

This 2013 clip gives you an idea of what it was like, just toss in dirt roads and military trucks with older cars and motor bikes and you get the idea of what it was like to drive in Saigon in the 1970s.

https://youtu.be/M3S0v60dLlA

Remember, just about all of us on the truck were new to the Vietnam War experience and had not seen combat of any kind until that day. We were happy all the horror stories we had read about and seen on TV seemed to be a thing of the past, then the first mortar hit, missed the truck, took out several tin can houses along the right side of the truck, we were all locked and loaded but had no line of sight to whoever was firing on us, if they were firing on us.

The truck pulled over to the left side of the road and all of us dismounted and dove into bunkers located on the side of the road, three more shells hit near the truck but did not damage the truck or injure any of us. The all clear was give after about ten minutes, we got back in the truck with an idea there was more to this war than having a good time in a foreign land.

As we got closer to the Army Post we realized this was a very large military base with lots of protection so we were feeling good again. Arrived at our destination, got out duffel back full of fun war stuff that we would have loved to have had if we were going into the jungle, but everyone on the truck was rear detachment folks and would most likely never be on a jungle mission of any sort.

On the way back we stopped in Ben Hoya for a few hours, and then as we were leaving the military area another mortar exploded in front of us causing the jeep and the truck to take evasive driving actions, we were tossed about the back of the open truck and three guys fell out!

The truck ran off the right side of the road this time, and drove halfway through one of the tin can buildings before stopping, we all had already jumped over the side of the truck and found protective cover in a large trench filled with who knows what.

We never knew who kept shooting at us, they were horrible shots, all they blew up were their own folks and buildings, that was sad, but we were happy we were not injured with the exception of some scrapes and bruises.  When the barrage of ten mortars stopped, all missing us, we jumped back in the truck and managed to make it back to the safety of our military compound in Saigon.

After a night of fun, food, and drink we were loaded on vehicles to head out to our assignments, many got back in the same truck while I was in the MP gun jeep headed for the air field near where we were attacked the day before. Once at the airfield about ten MPs and twenty other folks boarded the Air Force C130 Cargo air craft and headed for Nha Trang, Vietnam.

As the memories come to me I will jot them down and try and refine them some, but a memory is just that, a memory and may not be the best historical source, smiles.

38th Engineer Battalion (Special)-Armed Forces Special Weapons Project (AFSWP)

38^th Engineer Battalion (Special)-Armed Forces Special Weapons Project (AFSWP)

When I was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s I did not know what my father Jack Dempsey Busby did when he served in the U.S. Army in the mid 1940s. It was not until after MY retirement from the U.S. Army Military Police (MP) that my dad mentioned his MP unit was assigned to guard the storage areas, handling, transportation and security for the Atomic Bomb at Oak Ridge Tennessee, and Sandia Base, New Mexico as well as the transportation of the Atomic Bomb fro Oak Ridge to Sandia Base and from Sandia Base for actual test of the Atomic Bomb in a mission classified as Operation Crossroads!

Further conversation with my father found he served in the U.S. Army MPs as a Technician Fifth Grade in the Regular Army assigned to Oak Ridge Tennessee and later at Sandia Base, New Mexico from 1946 to 1948. After Dad left basic training at Fort Sam Houston near San Antonio Texas he completed MP advanced individual training at Fort Belvoir, Virginia and was then assigned as an MP serving with the 2761st Engineer Battalion (Special) at Oak Ridge, Tennessee and later with the 38^th Engineer Battalion (Special) at Sandia Army Base located east of Albuquerque.

In the 1940s the MPs were assigned to individual units and fell under operational control of those units, so dads MP unit was actually the 38^th Engineer Battalion (Special).

Dad showed me many pictures of him and his fellow MPs taken of them at Oak Ridge and Sandia Base while he served with the 38^th Engineer Battalion (Special) formerly the 2761st Engineer Battalion (Special) that became a special weapons unit and later became part of the newly created AFSWP Field Command,

My father Jack Busby was one of many MPs who provided security for nuclear weapon parts while stored, moved, and set up for testing and was present at  Operation Crossroads which was a pair of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. The purpose of the tests was to investigate the effect of nuclear weapons on warships. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Crossroads

Between my sister Carla Busby Miler and Me we managed to get dad to tell us the following story about his time as an MP protecting the Atomic Bomb,

The Manhattan Project and the Atomic Energy Commission as my Dad remembers it when he served with the 2761st Engineer Battalion (Special) at Oak Ridge, Tennessee and later with the 38^th Engineer Battalion (Special) at Sandia Army Base New Mexico.

Dad joined the U.S. Army in Waco, Texas and left for Army basic training.

Dad was warned when he was in basic training at Fort Sam Houston, Texas and later at MP advanced individual training at Fort Belvoir, Virginia "not to volunteer for anything", but he and about nine others decided to volunteer when volunteers were sought while he was still in training at Fort Belvoir.

Dads group of 9 boarded a train at Ft. Belvoir, VA and traveled for a couple of days before ending up in Knoxville, Tennessee.

He thought this was going to be a very good assignment until they were then put in army trucks and were taken to the wilds of Tennessee way out in the middle of nowhere.

When Dad arrived at the Army facility that had obviously just been built there was nothing there but the Army facility and it was still under construction.

The mission that Dad and the others volunteered for was the Manhattan Project and they were right smack dab in the middle of the building of the atomic bomb!

Dad and the others were assigned to be MPs who would patrol the perimeter and guard the gates of the complex as well as storage areas he would later find out stored Atomic Bombs.

These MP's were at what was to become Oak Ridge, Tennessee. When Dad arrived the Army facility did not have a name, the name was added to the gates several days after Dad started working.

Soldiers and families of Engineers and scientists worked at the plants on the facility developing and building the Atomic Bomb, they lived in special housing at the site. No one who worked at the facility was allowed to leave without special permission and almost no one got special permission.

Dad loved the assignment but did feel a little isolated with all the hills, forest and mountains everywhere.

Dad spent a fun 12 to 13 months in the hills of Tennessee and then received orders to be reassigned to Sandia Base, NM below the mountains of Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Dad flew on a special aircraft to Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1947 and later on to the Army Post referred to as Sandia Base. Whenever atomic bomb parts were shipped or information on the Atomic Bomb was exchanged, two of the MP's would travel with the bomb parts and those who built the bomb to the other bomb development sites in the U.S. and other undisclosed locations. Often, two MPs would go to the mountains near Sandia by car or truck and spend the night with those who went for special meetings or to assist in security for the area.

The MP's, workers and bomb parts were transported by plane from the Army Post below Los Alamos, New Mexico, to the eventual atomic bomb test sites.

The MP's and others along with the bomb parts then traveled to San Francisco, California by plane, then on to Johnston Island by ship way out in the South Pacific; then Kwajalein and finally to Eniwetok of the Marshall Islands for the test drop of the bomb which was dropped from a tower. 

Dad is the one who told us about Eniwetok but later research determined he must have been talking about Operation Crossroads which took place at Bikini Island but who knows if the records or my dad’s memories or both are correct on the locations.

The island of Eniwetok was only three miles long and about a mile wide. Most of the soldiers lived on the ships and worked on the island getting the bomb ready for testing.

One day while Dad was standing guard at the base of the atomic bomb tower and all the other personnel were in the mess hall for lunch Dad realized that there were sparks flying in the room at the top of the tower, and there was a cracking noise.

Dad cranked the crank phone after hollering up to the tower to see if anyone might be up there. He let the person who answered the phone know of the danger of the situation and everyone came boiling out of the mess hall.

The MP Captain did a lot of hollering at Dad and wanted to know why he had not called sooner. Dad responded that he called as soon as he was aware of the danger. There were many plain-clothes detectives on the base to check out the situation, too.

Dad was sure that whoever left a torch on and unattended in the tower had some hollering in his direction...

Dad and others left the island later that day on ships and anchored allegedly at a safe distance to observe the testing of the Atomic Bomb and watched through special glasses as the bomb dropped, and even though they were on a ship 30 miles out, the waves created by the blast reached the ships.

Later when Dad and the others went to the island to check the damage they found the island stripped completely clean of everything except for a concrete bridge, Dad and the others were told being on the ships and the island before and after the test was safe,.

Other than the bridge there was absolutely nothing living or dead remaining on the island, the only thing left was the dirt on the island, no photographs of any kind were allowed.

On the way back to Sandia Base, something taken from the island was guarded on one section of the deck all the way back into Los Angeles, California, or San Francisco, California.

Marines and Army MPs worked in four-hour shifts to guard the room built on the deck to house the mystery item. Finally, Dad returned to Sandia Base at the completion of the assignment.

The Army has told soldiers like Dad for years they were not at risk by being so close to the detonation of the Atomic Bomb and the bomb testing sites.

Dad was with the bomb when it was being developed, built, transported, assembled, and was within 30 miles of the bomb when it was exploded, then was on the island after the bomb was exploded, and was with a mysterious object taken from the bomb drop site.

Do you think Dad and the others were exposed to enough radiation to cause Dad and the others problems later in life?

All in all it was a pretty intense assignment according to Dad.

https://army.togetherweserved.com/army/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=TributeExt&ID=5288

Men and Fibromyalgia

I have been told and have read Fibromyalgia is a disorder that causes chronic pain, fatigue, as well as many more physical and mental issues depending on the individual and strikes mostly women with very few men in the mix, but men can and do suffer from Fibromyalgia.

The problem for those of us men who suffer from Fibromyalgia is the popular perception this disease known as Fibromyalgia is only suffered by women. In my experience if a man complains of invisible ills he is gold bricking, riding the sick call line, playing hooky, out for disability and shirking his responsibilities.

In my world growing up playing sports, working as a civilian police officer, U.S. Army Soldier, and Investigator for the Department of Defense I found out quickly no one wanted to hear about my invisible ills, if I had a visible injury it got fixed, if I did not feel good or had no energy, too bad, suck it up, get back to work, be a man, and do my job!

During my many visits to the doctor’s office over the years my ills were lumped into other medical issues which may or may not have been my problem, and when the doctors could not fix those invisible ills, I was referred to a neurologist who treated me for chronic headaches.

Near the end of my twenty-one year service with the U.S. Army I was placed on medical hold so the Army could find out why I was suffering from ills no one could see, was I a nut case or was I really suffering.

The Army sent me to Eisenhower General Hospital  at Fort Gordon, GA for two weeks to try and find why I was complaining of Chronic muscle pain, muscle spasms fatigue, Insomnia, waking up feeling tired, severe stiffness in my legs and arms after staying in one position for too long, difficulty remembering, concentrating, and performing simple mental tasks (“brain fog”), abdominal pain, bloating, nausea, and constipation alternating with diarrhea (irritable bowel syndrome), migraine headaches, sensitivity to odors, noise, bright lights, medications, certain foods, and cold, anxious or depressed, numbness and tingling in the face, arms, hands, legs, and feet, increase in urinary frequency (irritable bladder), reduced tolerance for exercise and muscle pain after exercise, feeling of swelling (with and without actual swelling) in the hands and feet.

The U.S. Army decided my invisible ills were irritable bowel syndrome related and retired me with a 10% medical disability and sent me on my way.

My ills over the years during and after my Army and DoD service consisted of all sorts of visible ills which were fixed quickly, but I was still suffering from many invisible ills such as chronic pain, chronic fatigue, difficulty sleeping, headaches, irritable bowel syndrome, restless legs syndrome, memory issues and difficulty concentrating.

During my early years I did not know there was any ill called Fibromyalgia and did not know of the disease until my wife was diagnosed with that invisible ill and medically retired from civil service, then both of us started reading about Fibromyalgia and what we could do to resolve our issues now that we had a name for our invisible ills.

As you can see from reading about my invisible ills men can and do have Fibromyalgia but did and do not always know what they have or what to do about it, we have been raised to ignore our invisible ills, and we have to change that.

My Moments with Fibromyalgia – Fibro Guy

I have read that men who suffer with fibromyalgia do not always have the same type ills or the same pain, fatigue, and depression levels as women do while dealing with this ill called fibromyalgia, and there are differences in the types of medications and treatments for men with fibromyalgia.

Everything I have read and experienced as a fibromyalgia care-giver for my wife Ann who has had severe fibromyalgia issues since the late 1990s and my own relative recent bouts with fibromyalgia ills tend to verify most of what I have read on fibromyalgia.

Talk about a unique situation with both Ann and I being care-givers for each other as well as being the patient, we have lots to deal with, lots to remember, and must deal with Fibro Fog, Mood Swings, and all the ills that go with Fibromyalgia while trying not to ruin our friendship and relationship. Those of you who have experienced the mood swings due to pain issues know just how touchy being a care giver or patient can be and how it is so easy to upset the other individual.

Fibromyalgia ills do seem to vary from person to person in the forms of widespread body pain; persistent fatigue, tender areas of the body that hurt to the bone, stiffness in joints of the body, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and numerous other symptoms and ills.

The many symptoms of fibromyalgia are hard to pin down and that is in my opinion why fibromyalgia is hard to diagnose and that uncertainty leads to the reasoning by many the ills experienced are in the patients mind and are not a real physical medical issue other than something for a psychiatrist to deal with.

Trying to suggest to an Army or DoD doctor I may have fibromyalgia has always been useless since most of those doctors do not believe there is an ill referred to as fibromyalgia and if there were such an ill, men would not have it since only women complain about having fibromyalgia.

My life has been one of heavy physical exercise in school and later in the U.S. Army and in the Department of Defense (DoD) and during those times my body hurt all the time but my doctors always told me to endure the pain, take my pain pills and get the daily job or sport done, keep quiet about my ills and “be a man” whatever that means and that I should deal with any physical or mental ills by myself.

In fact the first time I kind of mentioned I felt depressed the doctor advised me being treated for depression could result in my life in the military being over, so I never mentioned any bouts with depression while serving in the U.S. Army or the DoD and have only started talking and typing about my bouts with depression now that I am retired and it is not likely the Army or the DoD will be able to take any adverse action against me for being ill.

When I do mention what I refer to as severe pain an even numbness in my fingers, hands, ankles, elbows, knees and thighs my doctors always advise me I have bad arthritis and treat me for arthritis instead of looking to see if there is another culprit such as fibromyalgia causing the pain and numbness.

The Army decided to lump all of my ills into what was called IBS while the DoD decided IBS and Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) were my issues and forget about fibromyalgia. Once I was retired and continued to complain about my bouts with depression the Veterans Administration (VA) decided I had Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD) and started treating me for that ill along with all the others, but still did not mention anything about fibromyalgia.

Of course with PTSD came even more types of pills to take to resolve my medical issues and since PTSD in a mind issue, now I have pills to calm my brain down to stop my pain issues and that makes me feel like I am being treated as if all my pain and depression issues are non existent – the old hypochondriac diagnoses. 

More to follow on the life and times of ME – Fibro Guy – when my brain fog melts away some and I can remember what I was trying to tell all yall about – smiles.

Body Aches and Pains and Friends, Family, Activities

These last few weeks have been a real pain in many ways, neither Ann nor I have been in the best of spirits, but we have managed to deal with our pain issues and enjoy each other as well as friends and neighbors as much as possible.

Ann and I spend a lot of time together now that we are retired; spend lots of time in the house, lucky for us we have a large house so Ann can escape me when she needs to as can I move to other areas of the house if needed so we can have our own time as needed.

We both read a lot, watch television, play computer games, work on craft projects and even manage to squeeze in some local club and group activities with friends and neighbors when we are both feeling the need for outside social interaction or something like that – brain fog is starting to creep into my thought pattern.

I am still getting out in the mornings to walk, ride my trike, swim, and hunt down those elusive wild birds to take their pictures to share on facebook.  The last several months my aches and pains have become hard to deal with and some sort of depression has kept me from getting out and about as much as I have previously.

Both Ann and I deal with our pain issues differently but WE deal with our pain issues in such ways we are able to enjoy each other each and every day, we even manage to get out of the house every now and then together for a bite to eat, neighborhood parties, and Ann has even been going to the movies and musicals with her friends! Since Ann and I spend a lot of time together I try to get her out with friends and neighbors as often as possible without me tagging along so she can have some time without me – smiles.

Between the pain flair ups and all those issues that come with chronic pain Ann and I both have been working overtime to make sure each other can deal with our pain without upsetting the other, brain fog and memory loss can kick in during pain flair ups and cause all sorts of hurt feelings.

This last week has been tough with pain flairs caused due to changing weather patterns, highs and lows in pressure and temperatures, getting out and about, getting ready for The Villages Florida Fibromyalgia Support Group meeting that starts today at 3:30 PM and last till 5:00 PM at Truman Recreation Center.

Ann is the Fibromyalgia Group leader and arranges for speakers for group meetings who talk about all sorts of medical issues and types of treatments that fibromyalgia folks experience and use, and that involves some preparation once a month and believe me even just once a month is not easy at times due to all the pain and brain fog we both have that runs rampant about the time of a Fibromyalgia meeting – kind of smiling.

Just read over the information typed on this installment of Fibro Guy and Gal and have no clue where I was going with this information, when I started typing am sure there was a clear and visible idea to be provided to all of yall reading this, when you find that idea let me know because my brain fog has kicked in and the point of this note is lost for the moment – kind of smiling.

Learning to drive a stick shift

Back in the 1960s I had a two door light blue 1966 Pontiac Le Mans with automatic transmission and enjoyed that car all through my senior year at Richfield high school and my first year of college at Tarleton State.

In those days high school seniors could drive a car to school and even go out to eat outside the school lunch room.

During my younger days I was just a little shy and reserved when I was not playing football or running track. Back then we met most of the girls at a party or at a pool and did not necessarily ask the girl out on a date where we would pick them up.

We guys had girl friends but some of us were a little shy about asking a girl out, guess we did not like to get turned down for whatever reason.

One day while I was getting books out of my wall locker a young lady taped me on the shoulder and said hi, I want to take you out for Sadie Hawkins Day tomorrow. The young lady said she would pick me up but I had to drive her car which turned out to be a stick shift. I had not driven a stick shift but she insisted I drive so she picked me up, took me to a parking lot, and taught me how to drive a stick shift so I could drive her car on our date.

Strangely enough many young men grew up driving with an automatic transmission and using a stick shift and a clutch were just strange.

My Sadie Hawkins day date was a hit and the young lady and I dated for about a year before she found someone else to learn how to drive her car. Strange days back in the 1960s.

When I arrived at U.S. Army Basic Training my ability to drive a stick shift and use a clutch came in handy since most Combat Army Vehicles had a stick and a clutch, I was in demand for a time till I made the rank of Specialist and other folks got to drive and I got to ride.

Living the life and having fun remembering the 1960s.

Crazy Gone Wild

Yep, this morning Friday, April 22, 2016, while I was out in my Global Electric Motor Vehicle (GEM) which is considered a low speed vehicle (LSV), registered and insured and is authorized to travel as fast as twenty-five miles per hour on streets with a speed limit of thirty-five and on the multi modal trails, it was obvious there were many folks who do not follow the rules of the road in their carts or their other modes of transportation and cannot be bothered with speed or right of way issues.

This is not a new story and all of us who drive the highways and byways are aware of those weird folks on the road that believe they are the only ones on the road and everyone should yield to them no matter what.

Apparently there are folks with carts with no plates who believe they can drive as fast as their cart will go and as long as they do not have an accident they will not have to deal with the police, but those folks are an accident waiting to happen and a danger to others.

I hate to spout traffic laws and regulations so I will not but really folks, speeding in a cart will hurt you and maybe others if you lose control of your cart, and no matter how great a drive any of us are there will always come a time when we lose control.

While I was driving my GEM at twenty-five miles per hour, a cart with two passengers passed me and pulled away from me, obviously driving faster than a cart should drive (twenty miles per hour), no plates on the vehicle and no clue they were driving too fast.

As I was driving along thinking about the speeding carts I saw a cart sneak in behind another cart at one of the entrance gates as the gate arm came down and struck the back of the cart, the cart continued on without stopping. We all know all you have to do is stop, push the red button and the gate arm will open, no need to take a chance on damaging your cart or the gate arm.

Just as I was about to enter the roundabout near Sumter Landing a cart full of folks apparently driving to fast entered the circle and almost hit two landscapers who were wearing bright colored vest and had orange cones out to keep vehicles from hitting them. The landscapers had to jump out of the way as the cart and its occupants that ran by the landscapers as if nothing was wrong.

This morning was just crazy since as I entered the square area there was a cart with six occupants in a four seat cart driving the wrong way around the square apparently looking for a parking spot and did not have a clue or did not care they were totally in the wrong.

As I drove around the square I observed a cart parked in the blue area adjacent to a car in a handicapped parking space, the cart did not leave any room for the people who were parked in the handicapped space to get in or out of their vehicle.

My observations this morning were not new, have seen these issues before, but it is getting worse and more blatant, and for those of you who wonder why I did not try and report or confront any of these folks, it is too dangerous to confront these folks due to CART RAGE and finding a law enforcement person that can do anything after the fact is not an option.

Action by the law enforcement folks are going to have to pick up in order to get folks to follow the laws, once they have to go to court and pay those large fines for their illegal actions the word will get out and many will start following the rules.