STICKY POST
Tuesday, 5. May 2009, 01:15:47
Friday, 5. June 2009, 17:06:12
hawk, ibis, osprey, woodstork
...
Many pictures today, I'm afraid. Normally I get better pictures when I don't expect them. I wanted to try out my GPS today and ended up at the park. I hadn't even planned to leave the driveway.
I pulled over to read the GPS instruction manual and found this woodstork, first posing for me then taking a stroll down the avenue.
Then at the entrance to the park, this osprey family. They must get awfully wet up there in the rain.
I think the red thing in the nest is a plastic cup. I can't think why they would drag it all the way up there.
Then a couple of ibis' in a tree.
Then the real treat. I couldn't believe how close these manatees were to the shore. At times they actually had their heads up on the beach. I could easily have touched them. Here they are having a good splash!
It looked as if there were 3 adults and one baby. One of the adults left soon after I arrived, so I assume that the other two are the parents of the baby. The baby would grasp the mother with it's flippers from under her, but being in the shallows made that difficult, so mum obligingly would move into deeper water.
See the little flippers holding mum?
Baby
Love!
Some close ups.
Damage from a boat propeller. The area had numerous signs in the water for boats to go slow and watch for manatees, but some get damaged nevertheless. Very sad. Even the baby had some damage on it's nose.
And a red shouldered hawk to escort us back to the truck.
Friday, 5. June 2009, 15:47:10
I ordered a GPS a few days ago, and was anxiously awaiting it's arrival. I've never had one before, I think I'm the ONLY person whose never had one, so I wanted to try it out right away.
I was happy to hear a female voice! Maybe my experience with men has had a little something to do with that. It seems that, certainly not all, but a lot of men try to give directions when they have no idea whatever to say. Then, rather than say those three little words that I much prefer to hear, "I don't know", they simply make something up. I can't tell you how many times I've been misdirected by men, on one occassion by almost a hundred miles. Then when an error is pointed out to them, they get angry and say, "Well, you KNEW I meant left, even if I did say right."
So, naming my travelling friend, Miss Streetpilot after Deke's GPS, we took our first ride together.
She's lovely. She's smart, she's articulate (I never have to ask her to repeat her mumblings). She gives plenty of warning for turns, unlike SOME people who scream at the very last second, "Turn RIGHT HERE!!!!!" She's brisk, I have to admit, I think I kind of expected her to respond to my, "Thank you Miss Streetpilot" with a, "You're welcome", which she does not, but that's all right.
We had one small difference of opinion, she seemed to think I lived at the park, a reasonable mistake considering how often I am there, but then I realized, that selecting, Home, and Go wasn't quite enough. I had to press, Save new destination. She had me driving around in circles while arguing with her. I swear she was getting testy on about the 45th "recalculating".
But I think we'll get along well. It's kind of nice to have a travelling companion!
Tuesday, 2. June 2009, 15:08:21
mallard duck, ducklings
This is neither my story, nor my pictures, but it was sent to me in an email from my son and I thought it was so heart warming, I had to share it.
Read more...
Tuesday, 2. June 2009, 02:01:49
shark, black tip shark
My grandson is coming to visit soon and I was scouting out places to take him. He loves fish, sharks etc. and I wanted to take him somewhere that he could see marine life in the wild. One of the places I was thinking about was Simmonds Park. There is a lot of wildlife, a playground and a small beach with a lifeguard. It looked like a great place to take a young child. Naturally, I would have had him wear water wings.
However...... when I checked out the beach, I found this..... a small black tipped shark.

It was just a baby, but where there is a baby, there presumably is a mama. I picked him up, he was probably dead, but just dead, no deterioration at all. I looked in his mouth, I didn't want to put my finger in there or a stick or anything, but I could see farily well and only saw small teeth.
I guess we will stick to the zoo and the aquarium.
Sunday, 31. May 2009, 01:04:03
spider
He looked so much cuter before I got my glasses on.

A little closer

Any idea what kind of spider this is?
Thursday, 14. May 2009, 13:33:00
Here's mud in your eye.... and your mouth, up your nose, in your hair and all over your shirt!

I was playing with Tequila yesterday. It didn't start out that way, I was actually filling her water dish when she decided to have a bit of a play in it, kind of unusual for a leopard to enjoy water, the tigers love it, but I've never seen any of the leopards take such an interest. Maybe she was feeling frisky in the cool morning and thinking of the heat that would come later in the day.
I would add water with the hose, then she would get both paws into the bucket and swish it around until most of it flew out and combined with the dirt on the bottom of her cage making a LOT of glorious mud! Then she would push her face in the spray and let that water add to the mud too. Occassionally she would open her mouth and let me spray the water inside. She was being so cute in her game, I have to admit, I did nothing to discourage her. Little did I realize she had a plan, a devious and evil one at that.
Then the site manager came along, not as impressed by the mess as Tequila and I were, well, not exactly in the same way. She emptied the water bucket and told me to clean it, then removed the sprayer on the hose to elimiate further temptation. I noticed that she put the sprayer in her pocket, so I think it wasn't just Tequila that she was saving from temptation.
Poor Tequila, I thought, her fun little project ruined.
However..... all this time she had been dragging her long tail through the mud. Just at the right time, she whipped her tail up, saturated in mud and sprayed us both. Before either of us could react, she flicked the tail the other way and did it again. The site manager actually got it worse than I did, she spent the next few minutes rinsing her mouth with the hose, all I got was a light spray over my face and hair.
Time for a rest after all that fun!
Saturday, 2. May 2009, 19:47:34
I received the following email messages through Opera and was very confused about what they mean. Does anyone have an ideas?
First message: Your profile always changes?. Browsing with computer rental are you?.
Second message: Are you grazy?. Your collection are user. You don't know them!, and they are so far away from you country. Stranger guys.
The subject was, "Ideas"
Saturday, 2. May 2009, 18:40:56
I received the following email messages through Opera and was very confused about what they mean. Does anyone have an ideas?
First message: Your profile always changes?. Browsing with computer rental are you?.
Second message: Are you grazy?. Your collection are user. You don't know them!, and they are so far away from you country. Stranger guys.
The subject was, "Ideas"
Friday, 1. May 2009, 19:30:43
Myakka River State Park, aerial walkway, Florida
Awhile ago, I went to the Myakka River State Park and was very surprised to find this on one of the trails in the park. It is an aerial walkway and was the brainchild of Dr. Margaret Lowman, designed to provide an easier way to gain more information about the treetops in this Florida forest. It is open to the public and the park has posted a number of pictures of things one might be likely to see walking aross this suspension brige. There is a tower at each end of the bridge, one higher than the other and stairs at the far end take people up several more stories to see the landscape from this height. I didn't make it all the way up, the bridge sways a fair bit and by the time I got to the second tower, I had had about enough of walking through the treetops.
More here
http://www.myakkariver.org/Ycanopwy.htmlApproaching the aerial walkway.
Looking down.

The beginning of the walkway.
Some of the airplants on the way up.
View into the upper parts of an oak tree.
View from the tower.
I've been back a couple of times, and although it's a bit scarey, I have enjoyed seeing something a little different each I go.
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