Wordless Wednesday-Up The Down Staircase

I know you are all busy checking out everyone's Wordless Wednesday but take the time to bookmark me and drop back to check out my blog. I am a retired Special Ed teacher who now spends most of her time on Sanibel Island, Florida volunteering for a Wildlife hospital rescuing and rehabbing wildlife. I even dumpster dive for injured Raccoons!! I am also the proud grandma of 5 wonderful grandkids and brag about them often!! I also have a blog called Branches and Roots where I talk about genealogy and my ancestors. OK, enough about me. Back to Wordless Wednesday.

Enjoy more Wordless Wednesdays at Wordless Wednesday.

Ruby Tuesday-Not the Prettiest Bird on the Planet

The Turkey Vulture is obviously not the prettiest of our feathered friends. But he/she does serve a purpose in the circle of life. We often have these as patients at the wildlife hospital where I volunteer. I took these pictures on a trip to the Everglades last year.




OK, I know you are all busy checking out everyone's Ruby Tuesday but take the time to bookmark me and drop back to check out my blog. I am a retired Special Ed teacher who now spends most of her time on Sanibel Island, Florida which is a Sanctuary Island for wildlife. I volunteer for a wildlife hospital. I am also the proud grandma of 5 wonderful grandkids and brag about them often!! I also have a blog called Branches and Roots where I talk about genealogy and my ancestors. OK, enough about me. So if you really want to see red go to Work of the Poet

Camera Critters-Happy New Year

Awhile back, I found this great meme called Camera Critters. I love the pictures and decided that with my wealth of critter pictures down here in SW Florida, I would join in and I have for several weeks now. I would like to have you hop on over to Camera Critters. There you can either sign up for your own post for Camera Critters or see lots and lots of other great critter pics. So, now that you've done that--here is my critter for the day.

This was Munkin, our friend's cat, living it up on New Years Eve a few years ago.

Merry Christmas Everyone

I just wanted to wish everyone out there a very Merry Christmas. May you get everything you want and more.

Ruby Tuesday--A Scottish Santa

This is my Scottish Santa. Knowing that I LOVE Scotland and anything Scottish, my son gave me this guy for Christmas a couple of years ago. I really love him, even though he isn't wearing my Montgomery tartan. But then I guess purple is very Christmasy is it?


OK, I know you are all busy checking out everyone's Ruby Tuesday but take the time to bookmark me and drop back to check out my blog. I am a retired Special Ed teacher who now spends most of her time on Sanibel Island, Florida which is a Sanctuary Island for wildlife. I volunteer for a wildlife hospital. I am also the proud grandma of 5 wonderful grandkids and brag about them often!! I also have a blog called Branches and Roots where I talk about genealogy and my ancestors. OK, enough about me. So if you really want to see red go to Work of the Poet

Our Twins Are Three

OK, could someone please explain to me how these two got to be three? They can't be more than a year old, can they?

I'm sure their mama would agree--or not!! But at their worst times now, I bet she misses the snuggles she got back then from Luka.

When did that tiny little thing in his mama's arms become this big guy still in his mama's arms?

And I'm sure their Daddy thinks back to those days when they were so tiny.

And wonders when they got this big!!

And I'm sure that big brother, Noah, never dreamed that Ethan, this tiny little bundle of joy

would become this big bundle of bruise!!

Trust me, there were times when we wanted to sell them.

But then the whole selling thing goes right out the window when you see this.

So Luka

And Ethan

Happy Birthday. But there is no way that you are three years old already. It must be your first!!

For My Son and Daughter

We went to dinner at RC Otters on Captiva tonight. They have lots of cute signs but these two caught my eye. One is for my son and one is for my daughter. I'm sure they can figure out which is which.

Wordless Wednesday--Christmas Island Style

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I know you are all busy checking out everyone's Wordless Wednesday but take the time to bookmark me and drop back to check out my blog. I am a retired Special Ed teacher who now spends most of her time on Sanibel Island, Florida volunteering for a Wildlife hospital rescuing and rehabbing wildlife. I even dumpster dive for injured Raccoons!! I am also the proud grandma of 5 wonderful grandkids and brag about them often!! I also have a blog called Branches and Roots where I talk about genealogy and my ancestors. OK, enough about me. Back to Wordless Wednesday.

Enjoy more Wordless Wednesdays at Wordless Wednesday.

Arrrrrggggg

Ok, so some of you remember my tales of woe when we were remodeling down here--long before the days of Bob the Builder--back in the days of Bob the Blind Guy. On November 19, 2007, I posted about all the problems we were having plus the fact that our overhead fan and light hadn't worked since the previous spring when Rusty and Dusty had put in our new ceiling, wall board etc. So that would have been April 2007. Well, we have complained to them on numerous occasions at which time they promised to come out. Well, guess what--they showed up unannounced this morning. Luckily we were here. After they tore down half of the ceiling and have styrofoam spread all over the place, they THINK that they have found the problem and rectified it. Of course it meant putting in wire (which obviously was there at one time because the fan worked before April 2007), putting the ceiling back up, and re-wiring the fan. But hey, even though the ugly yellow cord is hanging down beside the window and plugs in to the outlet behind the entertainment center, it is up and working!! Of course after almost 2 years of non use and the humidity which we are known for down here, the blades are now sagging dangerously low and could really clip anyone over the size of 5'10" so now we have to go buy new blades and attempt to put them up. Maybe that will be a good project for #1 (and only ) son when he comes to visit next week.

And then, remember my tale of woe about my new stove a couple of weeks ago? I was so thrilled to have a new oven which I could actually bake in. Well, yesterday I went out and spent a small fortune on ingredients for Chex Mix and several kinds of Christmas cookies. Last night I decided to make the Chex Mix. It says to bake it at 250 for an hour and 15 minutes stirring every 15 minutes. I checked it at 15 minutes and things were getting a little toasty. I checked again at 25 minutes and most of it was burnt to a crisp. The thermometer in my oven said that even though it was set at 250, it was actually 425 degrees!!! So, here I set with my small fortune in Christmas cookie ingredients and company coming next week and an oven which burns anything it sees! Arrrggggg!

By the way, please excuse the fuzziness of the picture. I took it kind of quickly and about scared the you know what out of Rusty as he was doing some rewiring at the time the flash went off!!

Chuckie Jesus

I don't know how many of you guys read my daughter's blog but you have GOT to go read this post. Ethan, one of my almost 3 year old twin grandsons has renamed the Chuck E Cheese mouse. You have got to go watch the video she has up on her blog, Shama-lama Mama. Prepare to laugh.

What I Love About This Island

I would imagine you recall my saying more than once that I LOVE this island, this paradise, this place where we are fortunate enough to call home. And why, you may ask.

Ok, here are a few reasons.
Reason #1. Every so often on a Sunday afternoon, we get a call from Tootie saying, "Let's Crawl!!" Well, maybe she doesn't use those exact words but I get her meaning. So, we meet at one of the local pubs/bars. While there, we meet up with other Crawlers (all of whom we have met online) and have lunch. Then, we generally move on to another pub/bar and if it's really nice outside, a pool bar. (It doesn't get a whole lot better than that.) And then, some Crawlers even crawl to a third place for more adult beverages, more talk, and sometime dinner. Yesterday was one of those days.

The crew at Biddles Bucket. All of us met at one point or another on the BOSC Message Board. We have Tootie, Gary, Tink, the Snowbirds, Sandpail Gail, Sanibel Lover and Mr. Sanibel Lover. From Biddles we moved on to the pool bar at the West Wind Inn. The weather was perfect but unfortunately the no see ums decided they wanted to party with us.

Another blogging buddy sent the original Crawlers (Tink, Tootie, Gary and the Snowbirds) some shot glasses from the frozen tundra of Alaska.

Of course we had to toast Gayle at the White House with our treasured gifts.

Of course some of us had to head to the beach to see what shells there were to be had and to watch the sunset. Some of the Crawlers headed to McT's but the Snowbirds decided to crawl on home.

Reason #2. I can go to the beach whenever I want. Unfortunately, I don't go as much as I could because when you live on a tropical island, you tend to get a bit lazy. And gee whiz, it takes me 5 whole minutes to drive to the beach. At any rate, this morning I decided that I should get my lazy buns out of the house and head to the beach. The last three days have been really low tides and pretty good shelling. (Or so I heard). By the time I got to the beach, it was a bit past low tide but there were still lots of shells to be had and not a lot of competition for them. There were really very few people on the beach. Did I mention that December is my favorite time down here. Warm, no snow, and very few tourists. Anyway, I found lots of nice shells--whelks, paper figs, tulips, sharks eyes, and even a few Mac & Cheese. (These are orange Horse Conches which Tink has named Mac & Cheese.) I actually found one about 4 inches long but unfortunately it had a resident in it and on Sanibel it is illegal to take live shells.

This was the high tide line on the beach this morning. Lots of pen shells and sea urchins but also some nice finds buried under them.

Do you see what I see? A buried Alphabet Cone. Beautiful!!

Oh well, guess I don't really want half a beautiful Alphabet Cone.

This is what makes me crazy. Abandoned fishing line and beer cans.

Look at the size of that hook?? How would you like stepping on that with bare feet?

Just to show you how big this thing really is!!

My haul today already soaking in their little bath. Want to do a little cyber shelling?

Reason #3. Dinner on my deck!! Ok so I didn't take any pictures but we had tacos and margaritas for dinner on our deck with all of our flowers and candles. Life doesn't get a whole lot better.

Camera Critters-I Don't Think These Are My Size

Awhile back, I found this great meme called Camera Critters. I love the pictures and decided that with my wealth of critter pictures down here in SW Florida, I would join in and I have for several weeks now. I would like to have you hop on over to Camera Critters. There you can either sign up for your own post for Camera Critters or see lots and lots of other great critter pics. So, now that you've done that--here is my critter for the day.


Here on Sanibel we have lots and lots of Anoles. (Ok, so we call them Geckos once in awhile although they aren't.) I love watching them scamper around my deck. This little guy decided he liked my beach shoes.