Too Much Excitement

That was way more excitement than I needed. Peg, Betsy, and Keith came over Sunday morning, and we piled into our truck for a tour of the Lake Apopka Wildlife Tour. All the usual: alligators, egrets, ospreys, red-winged blackbirds, etc. Afterwards, lunch of barbecued pork, baked beans, and mac ‘n cheese that Peg had rescued from a Future Farmers of America (FFA) her son Robert hosted. Way too much food had been ordered, so she filled freezer bags with leftovers and brought what the attendees didn’t take home. Even with Steph and Kyle joining us, we still have a couple of bags in our freezer. 

Monday, Memorial Day, we got up and went to Oakland Nature Preserve, on the south shore of Lake Apopka. This time the alligators were 5 babies, about 18” long. We didn’t see mom, but she would have been around. A swallow tailed kite flew over. After a late lunch at Yellow Dog Eats, we returned home for naps, Keith’s sweeping our roof, and Betsy and my cleaning and moving the birdbath closer to the house.

Getting to the excitement.

About 6:00, we decided to walk over to Allen’s Ice Cream for a cone. Anyone who wanted dinner after could eat the lunch leftovers they’d brought home. I had a scoop of gold mine (chocolate with swirls of caramel) and butter pecan in a waffle cone.  Grant had the gold mine with butter crunch. Not sure about the others, but while we sat and ate our huge ice creams, Peg picked up an Observer, the free local paper, and began perusing it. There were 2 sections of delinquent property tax rolls. We got to discussing looking up townships, sections, ranges, and parcels. Peg though the land was numbered in a serpentine manner; Keith, a surveyor, added what he knew about New Zealand’s method. I looked up our house’s description, 08-23-28-1948-01-120, and Grant searched the columns. OMG: Pamela Schrimsher, $103.64.

I about had a heart attack. These were notices of deeds going to be sold for tax liens on June 1st, I think, I guess, I don’t know. Betsy and Peg assured me all would be well. I could see us loosing our house, being outbid at an auction on the courthouse steps. Catastrophic thinking, here I go.

I always pay our property tax in late November to get the maximum discount. Last year, I used the wrong year when I dated my check. I found this out when two months later, I got it back with from the Orange County Tax Collector who insisted on a correctly dated check. I mailed in a new one, but I guess I didn’t have the right amount, since there would have been less discount. I don’t know. We will be living in our truck. Shouldn’t I have gotten a bill or some notice? My heart was pounding,  and I’m sure my blood pressure was up.

In any case, my name was on the delinquent tax list, and it was Memorial Day evening. I did not sleep well that night. At 8:45 the next morning, I called the tax collector’s office and told my sad tale to Kay, an extremely nice and competent woman who talked me off the ledge and walked me through paying my tax online, with just a $2.30 credit card service fee. She was sure I’d been billed back in April. I’m sure I’d didn’t get a bill. Who knows? All good now.

Note to self: consider paying online. Having an immediate receipt is worth the service fee.



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