Views from my Deck

As I'm sure I have mentioned many times, I LOVE my deck. It is what sold us on the place and even though we could move to a bigger place, there is no way I would give up this deck and it's location. This winter has been unusual. This is supposedly the dry season and the creek (or weir as it is officially called) pretty much dries up. This winter, we still have water up under the deck. We had a horrible rain storm Friday and got about 5.5 inches of rain in less than 24 hours. Since our creek is part of a bigger system, they can control it so it doesn't flood. And on Friday, afternoon, they did open the floodgates and drain out some of the excess. Because of this, the water birds were out in an abundance yesterday and were having a feeding frenzy. It was difficult to get pictures but I did get a few. I'm sure that you can probably spot two little duckies making their way toward me. That would be Donny and Marie, a pair of Mottled Ducks who know a good thing when they see it. They found someone who is a pushover and who knows enough not to feed them bread. This someone actually went out and bought a fifty pound bag of duck chow so she would be prepared. So now, Donny and Marie visit several times a day! Yesterday, as the other birds were flying all over the place, these two spotted me and made a beeline through all the flapping wings to get their chow. That would be Donny (he's a little bit country) on the left and Marie (she's a little bit rock and roll) on the right. I'm waiting for the day they show up with a whole family of Osmonds--I mean Duckies. I do have other visitors too. I have a couple of bird feeders and I've had quite a few visitors. This pair of Mourning Doves can be seen hanging around quite often. They've been here the past two or three years as a matter of fact. A couple of years ago, I did a "soft release" for CROW of a Common Grackle. This means that they are ready for the wild but you give them a place where they can come back for food for a few days if they want to. He never came back for the food then but the past two springs, a Grackle does appear at my feeder and I would like to think it is the same guy "coming home to roost". I have also spotted a male and female cardinal and a gorgeous Painted Bunting. I haven't been able to get pictures of them this year but here they are last spring. I'm sure it's the same ones. I've had a beautiful Great Egret out back on several occasions and this gorgeous Little Blue Heron. As you can expect, I go out on the deck several times a day (with my camera) just to see who might be visiting. Chances are, it will be Donny and Marie but you never know who you might find.

Hitting the Trail

Today we took a walk on one of my favorite places on the island--the Pond Apple Trail. Unfortunately there was a sign which said the trail was temporarily closed. We were really bad and took the trail anyway. We soon found out why.

It was a bit muddy and it looks like they are working on the trail. It wasn't too bad though. It is a lovely, quiet, and very uncrowded trail--especially when it is closed. LOL. The trail has some picnic tables and benches along the way. And it finally opens up onto two retention ponds which are home to lots of birds. And yes, there is an alligator. We kept our distance!

We saw LOTS of Vultures circling. I imagine that there was some poor raccoon down there with distemper. Sad!

We really enjoyed the walk and it was one of the quieter places on the island right now.

A Visit from my Former Students

Today was kind of a special day. Two of my former students and their daughter came to visit for the day. I had Tom in Preschool and Cathy in 3rd and 4th grade. Cathy was also a former neighbor of mine in Findlay. Her sister, Christa, married Steve who used to live with us. It is all We all used to go to BGSU hockey games together. Anyway, Tom's mom and stepdad just moved down here to Ft. Myers and Tom and Cathy helped them move. So, today they came to visit. We really had a great time. My signing skills are somewhat rusty but we were able to communicate with few problems. We went down to the lighthouse and fishing pier and walked the beach for a bit. Then to The Great White Grill for lunch. Since it is the busy time of the year, I chose to go to one of the "local" places where there generally isn't a crowd. Great sandwiches and we got right in. From there we went to "Ding" Darling. Unfortunately it was high tide so there weren't many birds. And Alligator Curve is all fenced off due to nesting season I would assume--so we didn't get to see any alligators. After that we went to CROW's Visitor Education Center where they got a guided tour--from me! LOL.

We wound up back at Periwinkle Park where everyone enjoyed looking at the birds and lemurs before they had to head back to Ft. Myers. We had a great time and I'm looking forward to the next time they come back. I promised them a boat ride to Cabbage Key since they want to see some Dolphins.

Happy Birthday Ann

March is a BIG month in our family. My son had his birthday on the 4th. Today is his wife's birthday. Then next week is our daughter and son in law's birthdays. Anyway, I just wanted to wish Ann a happy birthday. I hope it is a great one. I heard Dave had breakfast in bed. I sure hope they do the same for you. I don't have a lot of pictures of her, unfortunately. Or maybe fortunately for her :) But here is a great picture of Ann and her family that I took at Christmas.

Happy Birthday Ann

Finally Made it to the Beach Today

It has been so cold and windy lately that I haven't really felt like going to the beach. It got up to 70 today but there was still a chilly wind. I decided to go anyway and see if there were any shells. I went to Access #6. Lots of others had the same idea today and trying to get a parking spot in one of the Access parking lots was tough! But the beach wasn't all that crowded for some reason.

This guy must have thought I looked familiar because he walked right up to me. Maybe he just wanted his picture taken.This gorgeous White Ibis was showing off his gorgeous red beak and legs.

Of course, the advertising plane for Miromar Outlet Mall was doing his thing.

And the Thriller was doing it's thing thrilling people.

There were a few shells but not a whole lot of what I was looking for.

Don't ya love my new shelling shoes?

I was glad that I had my jacket with me because it did get chilly when the wind kicked up. It was great to finally get back to the beach--and I did bring home a few keepers.

46 Years Ago Today

46 years ago today my firstborn made his appearance. Where do the years go? Just thought I would post a few pics of my boy over the years. Oh, and Dave, even though you may not like all this nostalgia, I love you and am so proud of the man you have become.

Love ya Dave!!

Key West

When our friend, Bob, was here a couple of weeks ago, we did the tourist stuff. WDW one week and Key West the next. I guess it's time I post some pictures from Key West so here they are.

One of the things you have to do when you go to Key West is hit Mallory Square for the Sunset Celebration. It is definitely the place to be. Our first night there was Super Bowl Sunday. I didn't think we would be able to get in anywhere for dinner but we had no problem getting into the Hog's Breath. After dinner we wandered down Duval Street. The streets were practically empty. Everyone was inside some bar watching the game.Lots of booze was being consumed!! (Of course if you were to look closely, you could see that there is a false bottom in this barrel).The next day we headed back into town hoping to see some of the sights. The first thing we did was take the Conch Train tour. It was so crowded, we had to sit backwards which meant whenever the driver said, "Look on your right" we had to look on our left. (This is not our train by the way.)The Saints fans were all wearing their finery. Didn't see a whole lot of Colts gear! Everyone wants to have their picture taken at the Southernmost Point. No way were we going to spend all that time standing in line. I've been through the Hemingway House before and thought Bob might like it too, but with the lines--again--forget it!Of course we had to have lunch at Margaritaville. There was a wait but it was worth it. It was amazing that the empty streets of last night turned into the packed streets today. We discovered why the streets were mobbed! Two cruise ships in port is like dumping the population of two large cities into a little town. We did manage to find a nice hidden garden where we consumed some of the best Key Lime Pie I've ever had. This kitty was VERY interested in the residents of the pond. By the way, if you visit Key West, do go to the cemetery. I had been there before and found some really unique tombstones. Unfortunately, we go there too late to get a map of the cemetery plus there was a burial going on so we didn't find too many of the interesting tombstones. But it still was interesting. We did return to Mallory Square for another sunset (not so spectacular unfortunately) but decided that we would pack up and head home the next day rather than spend another day fighting the crowds. We had a great time but will check out when the cruise ships will be in port the next time!