Skip navigation.

A lovely? park

Tuesday, 2. June 2009, 02:01:49

,

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.

10 comments

Spider

Sunday, 31. May 2009, 01:04:03

He looked so much cuter before I got my glasses on.

A little closer

Any idea what kind of spider this is?

16 comments

Playing in the mud

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!

20 comments

Strange message

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"

8 comments

Strange message

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"

4 comments

Aerial Walkway - Looking into the Treetops

Friday, 1. May 2009, 19:30:43

, ,

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.html
Approaching the aerial walkway.

Looking down. :yikes:

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.

15 comments

Oddly Enough.....

Monday, 27. April 2009, 18:37:31

I stopped by the sanctuary today to pick up some paperwork and on the way home I noticed a body on the green verge of the highway. Very unusual, I thought, for someone to be sleeping in that spot. The temperature was near 90F and this man was lying on his stomach in the full sun dressed in long pants and a long sleeved shirt. Further, I've never seen anyone sleeping on the side of the road before. I didn't like to stop because I was alone and it could be some clever criminal waiting for a good samaritan to come along. On the other hand, he may have been hit by a car and might need help.

I called Arthur and told him there was a body on the side of the road. He answered, "I doubt it."

Well, really! I know what I saw. So I turned around, checked to see if I had made a mistake, but no, the body was still there. I called the police. I told them my location and the officer asked if I was calling about a body in the ditch. I told him that I was and he said other people had called too and they were on their way.

What was really odd though, and the reason I called Arthur first, and turned around to check, was that this was the second body I saw on the side of the road today. As I neared the gocery store this morning, I noticed a lot of flashing lights, a firetruck, 4 police cars and some paramedics. Someone was lying on the green verge being attended to by the paramedics while everyone else just stood around talking. I assumed it was an accident and didn't want to be in the way, so when I left the grocery I took the long way around so as to not drive right past it, but I could see the emergency vehicles were all still there.

The two bodies were about 3 miles apart. I don't go out a lot, but I have to wonder if this sort of thing goes on all the time.

15 comments

Breakfast at Lithia Springs Park

Saturday, 25. April 2009, 18:24:21

, , ,

Better luck today at the park.

Here we go hunting.


I see one!


Got it!!


Oh, I am so proud! Look at my lovely fish!


Going...


Going....


Gone!

21 comments

An Awesome Mum and Dad!

Saturday, 25. April 2009, 18:10:33

I was concerned about taking a computer to England because of the size and a friend suggested a mini laptop. When I mentioned to my dad that I was thinking it would be a good idea, he put a check in the mail so I could have it!

Don't I have the most awesome mum and dad!!!


Thanks so much Mum and Dad!!

13 comments

Alligators Galore

Saturday, 25. April 2009, 12:02:50

,

Finally, I'm posting again. I've been busy putting down ceramic tile in the computer room, not an easy task, but I'm tired of cleaning carpets and now I can use as much bleachy, hot, soapy water as I like! Actually, it turned out surprisingly well. Arthur had been out of town on business so I thought it was a good time to tear everything apart.

Of course, I can't do things the easy way, I thought that while the furniture was pulled away from the walls, I might as well paint the walls too - and since I had emptied the file cabinets it was a good opportunity to reorganize the files. This is why it took so long!

So yesterday was my treat, going to a state park, although it turned out to be a very disappointing day photographically. I got some shots of wild turkeys, beautiful turkeys and nice shots in the way they were composed, but badly out of focus and dark. They were deep in the woods and after noticing several alligators, I didn't want to be meandering throught the forest. I took the photos through the underbrush, hence the less than happy results. So I'll have to be satisfied with the alligator shots.

I don't think I've ever seen so many alligators in such a small area. All in all, I think I must have seen about 75 yesterday in the different waters of the park.



In this small pond I counted 6 gators in the water, which seemed to be average.


And I'm not sure what this is, my first thought was a small alligator. I was looking at some fish nests and saw this on the other side of the river. It looks rather like a frog or snake but the head was too large, unless we have some extremely large frogs or snakes. The head was about 16 cm wide. The creek was only about 5 feet wide, so I thought it might be a good time to leave, it was a pretty isolated area and I was there alone.... well, except for the alligators!

These were the fish nests, at least that's what I was told they were and it seemed to make sense. The fish wiggle and gradually turn themselves in a circle to push the sand out of the way and make these depressions in the bottom of the creek. They lay eggs in the depressions, but I don't know if they cover them up or not. I wanted to stay and watch, but if it was an alligator watching me, I thought it might be a little safer checking that fact out on the internet than by personal experience!
Hopefully, I'll get some better shots today at the Wilderness Park.

16 comments

« Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 19 Next »

Showing posts 21 - 30 of 189.