Beneficial Barry

Mt. Dora area is FINE. Received much needed rain
and very little in the way of wind. Skies are clearing.

"Tropical storm" Barry

Barry - hyped like crazy - all day and night, yesterday and today - with "expected 6 to 8 inches of rain and 50 to 60 mph winds" !!!!! Tonight's Weather Channel forecast for the Leesburg area Saturday is 1-2 inches rain and 10 to 20 mph winds. TV-Wesh2 forecast at 11o'clock is about 3 inches rain & 35-40 mph wind. Started raining early evening, no wind to speak of yet. Will let y'all know if anything changes.

Split-leaf philodendron

Noticed that at a couple of "our" homes some of the
split-leaf philodendrons have this problem.
Some of our philos do too.

From Tom MacCubbin's Orlando Sentinel column, May 26th.....

Q: We have had a split-leaf philodendron in our yard for five years
that does not seem happy. It produces yellow leaves that
eventually turn brown. Does it need a special fertilizer?

A: Maybe it's not a special fertilizer that is needed here but
a different soil. Check the soil acidity and adjust the PH if needed.
Philodendron plantings seem to grow best and have fewer yellow
leaves in the acid soils.

You might use an azalea fertilizer with this plant to help keep
the soil on the acid side and provide some of the minor
nutrients needed for growth.

Thank you, Tom! I had assumed it was lack of water. I will be
trying the azalea/camellia fertilizer on our split-leaf philodendrons
and will let y'all know results.

2007 hurricane season begins today

Just to reiterate -
We know you will be very concerned to hear if your home was affected by a hurricane. We will be concerned also!
As soon as it is safe for us to be outside, we will be out checking your homes. We will put a general message of how Mt. Dora fared in this news section and will contact each homeowner individually with details on your home. We will either email or call you (depending on whether or not we have electric, phone service or internet access.) If possible, where needed, we will send you photos of any situations that we find at your home.

  • DON'T FORGET THAT THE MEDIA NEEDS "DISASTERS" TO KEEP THEIR READERSHIP AND VIEWER NUMBERS UP. DON'T FORGET TO TAKE WHAT YOU READ, HEAR & SEE WITH A GRAIN OF SALT.... OR TWO!


You can get local information on the Orlando Sentinel website (link on our "Weather/Links" page) and on:

www.wesh.com ..... the channel 2 (NBC) website

www.wftv.com ....... the channel 9 (ABC) website

www.local6.com .... the channel 6 (CBS) website

http://ci.mount-dora.fl.us/ ....... a Mount Dora website

  • www.lakegovernment.com ...... the portal for Lake County Government, this Web site changes during emergency situations to provide residents with up-to-date information.

  • www.nhc.noaa.gov ...... the National Hurricane Center Web site provides important weather information and imagery regarding hurricanes.

  • www.floridadisaster.org ...... the Florida Division of Emergency Management Web site offers safety tips and warnings for all types of disasters.

  • www.cityofmountdora.com ...... the City of Mount Dora official website – Will be updated regularly during emergency events with information obtained from the Lake County Emergency Operations Center, as well as with information specific to Mount Dora residents.  Following an event, information will be placed on the website with directions for residents as to where to obtain emergency supplies such as ice, what shelters may be open and other essential information.

We will let you know what is happening as soon as we are able.

So once again, keep your fingers crossed and think happy thoughts for us. You did a great job last year!