Stay in Florida

Stay in Florida

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The short time we actually spend picking fruit (and the large number of crews in the grove on November 2) is indicative that there are too many crews right now and not enough work. I expect that as they start harvesting juicing fruit and we get into the heart of the season, this should get better. However, on Friday afternoon Louis suggested I call him that evening after 7PM and he would know whether there was work for Saturday morning. I expected there would be no work this weekend as the growers and such really don't want to work weekends and there is no need. That was the case and I spent the weekend visiting with the Kossoff's in Boca Raton. However, for Monday there was fruit to pick, but hurricane Michelle was giving us loads of rain. Here is the closest Post Office in Fort Pierce, FL as seen from my car in the rain. The windows and part of the door have their storm coverings down.
I checked for my mail there. My mom receives my mail in Denton, TX, but when I am in an area for a while, I ask her to forward it to a Post Office close by with an address of G.P.O. (or General Post Office for general delivery). Then they will hold the mail for me until I pick it up at the counter. However, I learned that the Post Office above (which was very busy and crowded) does not accept General Delivery mail. It is all sent to a larger facility which is somewhat out of the way (for me and most everyone else). So, this is where I will be getting my mail. The lesson I got from this is to ask at the counter if a particular office accepts general delivery mail.
The rain during hurricane Michelle was pretty intense at times. Here is a short video from my car as I was reading and waiting for it to die down before I went into the library. It is about 5 seconds long and 120K in size (so it will take about 40 seconds to download for many people).	If your browser is not set up to show movies you will get a dialog box instead of a player and can just press cancel. If you press the pause button (left bottom) before the movie finishes you can watch the movie again without downloading it again.
One of the things I have learned is that migrant farm work can often mean lots of time waiting for work (and no pay while not working). I spent a lot of my time on days 'off' in public libraries playing RuneScape, an internet game that can be accessed at www.runescape.com. Unfortunately, the Indian River Community College has blocked access to RuneScape (clever them), so I am forced elsewhere for this pass time. Here is the public library in Lakewood Park, FL where I sometimes go to play RuneScape (as well as check my e-mail).
Well, on November 6 we started picking juice oranges. Here is the entrance to the grove where we picked. It is about 10 miles west of Carter's on SR 68 or Orange Avenue (which is about 6 miles west of I95). The grove itself seems to be about 5 miles due north of the entrance on sand roads, mostly wide and graded, but unpaved. I wasn't really expecting to work today so was rushed to meet them. I expect to be working 11 hours days (with only 9 or so as actual work hours) from here on out and we may be working 7 days a week through the rest of the season. Whew! When it rains it pours.
Here are the sprayers at the entrance to these groves (this picture and the one above were taken later on my way to Texas). There were two crews here and only one loader that was already here when we arrived. I have stopped driving the loader. We worked a full day and I picked 4.5 bins (that doesn't sound like much, but it is 4,500 pounds). We get $8 per bin. Another newer picker got 6 and an experienced picker got 9 so I am gradually getting up to speed.