I travel for work. Like a number of my family, and friends.

I stay at a lot of hotels…mostly Comfort or Quality Inns…points, baby..points.

This morning I am standing at the back of the pool looking at the wildlife fence that is separating this property from the next. And it is really beautiful, and peaceful.

The fence is comprised of bamboo, go figure, palm trees, palm frondy things that are short, and wild flowers. There are monarch butterflies flitting about on the flowers.

It is a perfect post card Florida morning. Sun is shining, there is a nice warm wind blowing, the butterflies are flitting. The only thing that spoils it is the sheer number of carrion birds in the trees because the property next door is a supermarket. The birds are feeding out of its trash.

I drove to Weeki Wachee this week to do a small project. I drove down 19…a 4 lane highway that follows the eastern side of the Gulf of Mexico. This route is, and has been a major vacation route for this side of Florida. And you can see how peoples tastes, and fortunes have changed over the years.

The sheer amount of abandoned buildings that at one time held, hopefully, healthy businesses. But tastes changed. We like our stores in clusters, not spread out over the countryside.

Some local, truly local stores are still plugging along. You have to admire that.

The wildlife area separating my hotel and the stores next door seemed to be a perfect analogy.

Carrion birds, and all.