I don’t know about you…

But I was outside in the early chill watching the latest SpaceX launch.

So cool!

Now let’s launch this Tuesday newsletter…

Yes, you vote at a fire station.

It's the only early voting site north of the river that isn't a library.

The other two up our way are Rocky Bluff Library, 6750 US-301 in Ellenton, and Palmetto Library, 923 Sixth St W.

Our take: go on a weekday mid-morning, and skip the final weekend, when everybody who meant to go "next week" finally does.

Sample ballots and the full site list are at VoteManatee.gov, and the eight sites are laid out in the Pulse of Manatee.

Questions go to the Supervisor of Elections at (941) 741-3823.

Ivy Run, the 131 homes off Rye Road, went through this board before it ever got to the commission.

If you've ever stood at the mic for three minutes about another subdivision, this is the seat on the other side of the table.

Details and the application link are in the Pulse of Manatee.

A lazy river is coming to North River Ranch. In 2028.

PulteGroup broke ground on an $18 million amenity campus at Explore by Del Webb North River Ranch.

The 17,300-square-foot Foundry Clubhouse gets a bar and grille, a wine lounge, a café and a golf-simulator lounge.

Next door, a wellness center with infrared saunas and a cold plunge.

Outside: a pool with cabanas, a lazy river, shaded pickleball and a dog park.

The twist: this is the first "Explore by Del Webb" in Florida, and there's no 55-and-over rule.

A Del Webb you can live in at 40.

Our take: two years is a long time to stare at a construction fence from your lanai, so the folks already moved in have earned that lazy river.

Full story in the Business Observer, which lets you read a couple of articles free.

Moccasin Wallow Rd: still nothing.

The newest post on the project's alerts page is still the Sept 2 Labor Day notice.

Seven weeks of silence on a road half of us drive twice a day.

If you know something, hit reply.

US-301 night paving, north of us.

FDOT is repaving 301 from the Manatee-Hillsborough line up to SR 674 in Sun City Center, nightly 7 p.m. to 6:30 a.m., through Friday, Oct 23.

Working nights in Tampa? Leave early. FDOT closures.

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MCSO Operations Center, 600 301 Blvd W, Bradenton, about 20 minutes.

Free, with free hot dogs, chips and water while they last, and food trucks for anything else.

Park free in the old DeSoto Square Mall lot across the street.

Here's the thing nobody's mentioned: that's the same address as the Supervisor of Elections office, which is an early voting site.

Vote by 6, candy line by 6:05.

Listed in Discover Bradenton's Halloween roundup.

Hunsader Farms, 5500 CR 675, Bradenton, about 20 minutes straight down 675.

The first weekend got canceled this year, and this is the last one.

$15 for ages 10 and up, $5 for ages 5 to 9, under 5 free, per Discover Bradenton.

Parking is $5, cash only, so hit the ATM before you leave Parrish.

Hayrides, a petting zoo, pony rides and live music are part of the ticket.

The corn maze and the kids' train are $2 each.

Our take: get there at 9, do the hayride before the line forms, and save the roasted corn for the walk out.

Prices aren't on the farm's own page, so call 941-322-2168 if a few bucks matter.

209 7th St W, Palmetto, about 15 minutes.

Forward Community Church is hosting, and it's open to the neighborhood.

Kids in costume go car to car, and the patch stays open for pictures and pumpkin picking.

No price posted, so bring a few dollars in case a pumpkin comes home with you.

Also in Discover Bradenton's roundup.

Jiggs Landing Preserve, 6106 63rd St E, Bradenton, about 30 minutes, on the Braden River.

Open sunrise to sunset every day of the year, and the county doesn't list an entry fee.

This was a real fish camp.

Al "Jiggs" Metcalf and his wife Agnes bought the seven acres in 1944 and ran it for more than 40 years.

Now there's a fishing pier, a boardwalk, a kayak launch, boat and canoe rentals, a nature playground, picnic shelters and restrooms.

Our take: rent a canoe, paddle out for half an hour, then turn the kids loose on the playground while you eat at the shelter.

Halloween bonus, Oct 28 to 31: a free haunted walk, and haunted boat rides from $10, roughly 5 to 9 p.m., per Fun 4 Manasota Kids.

Nobody's posted a scare level, so call the Outpost at 941-727-4181 before you bring a four-year-old.

Fancy Leaf Plant Co., 8267 US-301, Parrish, on the same stretch as 5 Boroughs Pizza.

Hours: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday 10 to 5; Wednesday noon to 6; closed Sunday and Monday.

It started as a plant shop on a trailer and grew into a storefront.

Women-owned and run.

Houseplants inside and out, plus local candles, soaps and hand-woven baskets.

Tucked inside is Secret Gardens Book Store, with new books by and for women, and you can preorder titles on their site.

The thing to buy: Plant Potion, their own bottle of essential oils and water.

It's for fungus gnats, and they say it keeps the cat out of the pots too.

No pesticides.

They'll also design and take care of plants for your house or office if your thumb is more brown than green.

Our take: if there's a fiddle-leaf fig dropping leaves in your living room right now, take a picture of it and bring the picture in.

Closed Mondays, so don't make it your day-off errand.

(941) 545-5132.

Every time you say "Rye Road," you're saying the name of a town that's been gone almost 100 years.

Rye sat on the Manatee River, named for Erasmus Rye, who showed up in the mid-1840s.

In 1878 he, his son William and a carpenter named Levi Thomas built a house by a creek that's still called Rye Branch.

Logging, citrus and turpentine followed.

Back then the river was the highway.

Rye was where you crossed to get to the county seat at Pine Level, so in 1879 the county paid for its first bridge over the Manatee River right there.

Dredging in 1910 let steamships push all the way up to Rye.

At its peak: 72 families, a general store, a post office, a sawmill and a school.

Then the trains and the cars came, and nobody needed the river anymore.

The post office closed in 1929.

In 1988 a fire the state's marker calls "suspicious" took the last building, the Rye family cabin.

What's left is the Rye family cemetery, out in Rye Preserve at 905 Rye Wilderness Trail.

The state put up a historical marker there in 2021.

Got a grandparent who remembers the Rye cabin before the '88 fire? Hit reply, we want that story.

Luke likes people.

Belly rubs, walks nice on a leash, knows his commands.

He's picky about other dogs, so he'd do best as your only one, or after a slow meet-and-greet.

His coat is thinning with age, and he will never win a puppy-calendar contest.

He doesn't need to.

Three Halloweens in the system is plenty, and a big old dog on your couch by Thanksgiving sounds about right.

Ask about the fee when you email, because the county has long-stay and senior discounts that may apply.

If you early-vote on Rye Road this week, tip your cap to Erasmus: the town quit, but the road kept his name.

Until next week — stay gritty, stay healthy, and keep Parrish strong. — Greg.