Sunday, Jan 27 - This will be a quick note, just to reference where we are at present. We've in Bay St. Louis, in Mississippi, just east of New Orleans. Friends of ours from Belleville, Debbie and Ray, are here, having spent the past two months in this park. Since it's on our way west, it was a perfect opportunity to stop in and spend a little time with them. As it happened, last night there was a dinner being put on by the new owners of the park, a farewell get-together for the previous owners, so we were lucky enough to be included. A very tasty BBQ dinner, and a friendly group to spend the evening with.
A little side-note so I don't forget. A local guy, older than the hills, was there to play some tunes on piano, spin a few songs. He has played with Jimi Hendrix, and other notables over many years gone by. When I chatted with him he also mentioned that he'd played with the Mamas and Papas way back when. I mentioned our friend Pat LaCroix and the Halifax Three, and he remembered them, although not sure about specifically remembering Pat. Long time ago. Many interesting stories he could tell if time permitted.
We left Arcadia on Thursday, getting to just south of Tallahassee the first night, where we found a very soggy campground to stay in...Rocky's RV Park. Next day we drove route 90, through Mexico Beach and Panama City, where we got a close look at the devastation that was done by Hurricane Michael. I'll post some pics when I have a stronger signal, as it's insightful to see how extensive the damage was, and how far the local community is from clearing up the mess. Mexico Beach may never really recover, as it was pretty much totally destroyed. Left us with a lot of sadness for the people who make (made) the town their home.
That sadness was offset by a nice stay at one of our favorite parks, Topsail, where we finally hit a beach. Six weeks in Florida, and this was the first beach we visited. We did a great walk for nearly two hours, and had a lovely sunset to finish off the day. Cool evening, and cold next morning, but that's nothing new.
This morning we had coffee with Ray and Debbie, and this aft Gail and I will go for a bike ride, ending up at a nearby casino where we'll meet them for dinner. It's only 9C today, but no wind, so a bike ride should be okay. Tomorrow we're booked into our usual park in New Orleans for the next 5 days. We always enjoy it there, and will no doubt find some new adventures. Sorry the weather is so horrible at home. Dave MacKay sent a little video showing the blizzard conditions. Brrrrr!!!
Hope this posts. That's it for now. More later. Stay tuned.
Sunday 27 January 2019
Tuesday 22 January 2019
Tuesday, Jan 22 - Mix of sun and cloud, breezy, going to 22C. A distinct improvement, although yesterday was pretty good as well.
Another little tale of the Back Street Bar. We went over at half time of the first big game on Sunday, and happily, they had the game on their tv. There were a dozen sitting at the bar, bur right in front of the screen, two empty stools. No one was watching the game. There was a bearded bandanned guy at the front, singing sad songs, accompanied by canned music and his keyboard. Nobody much listening, but he soldiered on...good voice too. TV muted.
So we had a beer, chatted with our neighbours a little (he's going in for prostate surgery soon), and watched the rest of the game. I was cheering for New Orleans, so sadly watched the game disappear in OT. After the game, we indulged in a pulled pork, beans and mac/cheese dinner, with a big helping of carrot cake to top it off. Several folks left, so a fellow down the bar moved over to sit beside us.
We'll call him DJ. Long hair, grey beard, bandanna, and bare feet. Drinking wine, the only one in the place not clutching a can or a bottle. (We were the only two drinking draft Bud). Long story short, he was a DJ on the local radio station for 25 years. Until he had Jesus come into his life. He couldn't stand the double standard of embracing his new faith while preaching the lies of the ads he had to read. So he quit. Had nothing, but believed he would be looked after with the Lord on his side. Sure enough, someone gave him a car. And he met a woman who has looked after his needs for several years now. Whenever he thinks he's down and out with nothing in his pocket, something happens to rescue him. He had a definite light shining in his eyes, and was pleased to tell his story, not trying to convert us, just noting our interest and telling his story. He has nothing to do with churches, because he thinks they are hypocritical. He lives his new life in his own way. He lives here in the park, and was doing his laundry when Gail was doing ours. She noted he was wearing shoes. Won't let him come into the buildings here barefoot, he smiled.
Yesterday, we drove for two hours to the south to visit Corkscrew Preserve, a wonderful cypress swamp. It was much different from our previous visit three years ago, as there weren't nearly as many of the usual birds and gators around. Not a gator to be seen, maybe because it's been quite cool. But we did achieve a goal we've been hoping for, getting to see the elusive painted bunting for the first time. Picture below. Enlarge on your screen and you'll get the full impression of the beautiful colors this little guy displays. A lovely sight, as was the hummingbird we spied near the feeder. We follow with a shot of the cypress swamp, through which we wandered on a very fine 2.1 mile boardwalk.
The park was hit very badly by Hurricane Irma in 2017, with two of their signature cypresses knocked over. Dozens of sections of the boardwalk were destroyed by falling trees, but a huge effort by staff and volunteers had it restored within several months. Perhaps the hurricane made some changes to the environment that resulted in fewer of the local fauna in the park. Not sure!
Anyway, despite four hours on the road, it was a worthwhile trip. Today we'll bike, maybe canoe on the Peace River tomorrow, and go to the Roadkill game across the road tomorrow night. Then we're outta here. Stay tuned. More later.
Another little tale of the Back Street Bar. We went over at half time of the first big game on Sunday, and happily, they had the game on their tv. There were a dozen sitting at the bar, bur right in front of the screen, two empty stools. No one was watching the game. There was a bearded bandanned guy at the front, singing sad songs, accompanied by canned music and his keyboard. Nobody much listening, but he soldiered on...good voice too. TV muted.
So we had a beer, chatted with our neighbours a little (he's going in for prostate surgery soon), and watched the rest of the game. I was cheering for New Orleans, so sadly watched the game disappear in OT. After the game, we indulged in a pulled pork, beans and mac/cheese dinner, with a big helping of carrot cake to top it off. Several folks left, so a fellow down the bar moved over to sit beside us.
We'll call him DJ. Long hair, grey beard, bandanna, and bare feet. Drinking wine, the only one in the place not clutching a can or a bottle. (We were the only two drinking draft Bud). Long story short, he was a DJ on the local radio station for 25 years. Until he had Jesus come into his life. He couldn't stand the double standard of embracing his new faith while preaching the lies of the ads he had to read. So he quit. Had nothing, but believed he would be looked after with the Lord on his side. Sure enough, someone gave him a car. And he met a woman who has looked after his needs for several years now. Whenever he thinks he's down and out with nothing in his pocket, something happens to rescue him. He had a definite light shining in his eyes, and was pleased to tell his story, not trying to convert us, just noting our interest and telling his story. He has nothing to do with churches, because he thinks they are hypocritical. He lives his new life in his own way. He lives here in the park, and was doing his laundry when Gail was doing ours. She noted he was wearing shoes. Won't let him come into the buildings here barefoot, he smiled.
Yesterday, we drove for two hours to the south to visit Corkscrew Preserve, a wonderful cypress swamp. It was much different from our previous visit three years ago, as there weren't nearly as many of the usual birds and gators around. Not a gator to be seen, maybe because it's been quite cool. But we did achieve a goal we've been hoping for, getting to see the elusive painted bunting for the first time. Picture below. Enlarge on your screen and you'll get the full impression of the beautiful colors this little guy displays. A lovely sight, as was the hummingbird we spied near the feeder. We follow with a shot of the cypress swamp, through which we wandered on a very fine 2.1 mile boardwalk.
The park was hit very badly by Hurricane Irma in 2017, with two of their signature cypresses knocked over. Dozens of sections of the boardwalk were destroyed by falling trees, but a huge effort by staff and volunteers had it restored within several months. Perhaps the hurricane made some changes to the environment that resulted in fewer of the local fauna in the park. Not sure!
Anyway, despite four hours on the road, it was a worthwhile trip. Today we'll bike, maybe canoe on the Peace River tomorrow, and go to the Roadkill game across the road tomorrow night. Then we're outta here. Stay tuned. More later.
Sunday 20 January 2019
Sunday, Jan 20 - Here we are in beautiful out-of-town Arcadia, a generally unknown part of Central Florida. Some call it 'Cracker' country, because of the ranches in the area (cracker coming from the sound a whip makes when cowboys are herding their cattle). This is indeed ranch country, as well as orange groves aplenty. And r.v. parks. Even though Arcadia is not well known as a Florida tourist destination, there are at least a half-dozen large r.v. parks in the area. People come here because it's cheap and generally warmer than north of here.
I listened to one of our neighbours, who told me he moved here a few years ago, sold his house in the north, and can live here for $350 a month, in his own place, including electricity. "Couldn't pay my taxes back home for that." He, his wife and son, plus one other person, do gospel music all over Florida, and have performed in many mid-western states. I got a detailed enumeration of his equipment, his wife's allergies, his handling of summer heat, all in 10 minutes. Like I said, I listened.
Turns out there is a very nice quiet series of roads starting adjacent to the property, so I did a 25 km round trip ride yesterday, which got me to the edge of the city and back (it is a city, with everything you associate with American life...Walmart, the whole shebang). So there should be some good riding for the few days we're here. We found all of the stores upon arrival, because our site in the park and all of the nearby sites were set up for only 50 amp. We are 30 amp, and hadn't the needed converter. The office was closed for the week-end (including tomorrow, which is MLK Day and a holiday), so we had to hit all of the stores that might have the necessary hardware. Finally found what we needed at Walmart. Go figure! All the fast food shops and chain stores you ever heard of are in town. Downtown America.
It was a lovely day yesterday (hence the nice ride) but a cold front came in over night, with tons of rain and wind. It's only going to 18C today, with lots of wind, so not nice enough to sit outside. It's football day, so we'll go to the Back Street Bar across the road to see part of the NO - Rams game. We checked out the place yesterday, and met some of the locals, as only they go to this bar. We met Randy, a nice guy, rough around the edges in speech, but talkative and friendly.
Randy told us his life history, starting as a service station manager (youngest in the country at 19) in northern New York State. After 5 good years, he got fed up with the company for exorbitant rental increases, and moved south. Hates winter. Got on as a heavy equipment guy, then bought into trucking, eventually with 8 rigs. Sold them, went back to equipment maintenance, and now works for a local tree grow company. This outfit grows oak trees, palm trees, all sorts of trees used in landscaping. The owner begged his father years ago for 100 acres to start this tree farm, which was dubiously granted him. He is now a multi-millionaire, with 60 employees, and ships treed all over the country. Randy also told us the local fruit groves are in decline, because they just don' t produce the sweet produce that Mexico does. So most of these large orange groves are producing juicers. Still hand-picked by Mexican labor. Confirmed out observation that local oranges weren't great for eating.
Randy also described a game that's popular in the area, called RoadKill. It's sort of like bingo. You get a sheet with three different cards printed on it, 5 bucks a card, and hope your three cards are drawn before anyone else. If you're first to 'cover' your three cards, you're the Roadkill winner. The prize! You go to the front and draw a card, which could have a picture on it of an armadillo or a raccoon or a skunk (hence the name of the game). Flip the card over and see your prize. Meat! Could be rib-eye steaks, maybe fish, maybe even alligator. There's a game on at the bar on Wednesday, so we'll go try our luck.
Conversation also got around to local issues. so I braved the question and asked Randy what he thought of Trump. He's supportive for most of what he's doing. A big guy down from us grumbled, "He's okay if they could just take his f'n phone away from him". They see Trump as a bit of an ass, but approve of the direction he's going. So there's the local view. This bar, by the way, is not fancy, mostly men sitting at the bar, three pool tables, that sort of thing. We asked where there might be a bar in town showing the football games. One was suggested, but the big guy beside Gail said, "Wouldn't recommend it...it's a bit rough". Okay!
That's it for Arcadia, reporting from Little Willie's R.V. Park. Sorry the weather back home is so dreadful. Sincerely! More later. Stay tuned.
I listened to one of our neighbours, who told me he moved here a few years ago, sold his house in the north, and can live here for $350 a month, in his own place, including electricity. "Couldn't pay my taxes back home for that." He, his wife and son, plus one other person, do gospel music all over Florida, and have performed in many mid-western states. I got a detailed enumeration of his equipment, his wife's allergies, his handling of summer heat, all in 10 minutes. Like I said, I listened.
Turns out there is a very nice quiet series of roads starting adjacent to the property, so I did a 25 km round trip ride yesterday, which got me to the edge of the city and back (it is a city, with everything you associate with American life...Walmart, the whole shebang). So there should be some good riding for the few days we're here. We found all of the stores upon arrival, because our site in the park and all of the nearby sites were set up for only 50 amp. We are 30 amp, and hadn't the needed converter. The office was closed for the week-end (including tomorrow, which is MLK Day and a holiday), so we had to hit all of the stores that might have the necessary hardware. Finally found what we needed at Walmart. Go figure! All the fast food shops and chain stores you ever heard of are in town. Downtown America.
It was a lovely day yesterday (hence the nice ride) but a cold front came in over night, with tons of rain and wind. It's only going to 18C today, with lots of wind, so not nice enough to sit outside. It's football day, so we'll go to the Back Street Bar across the road to see part of the NO - Rams game. We checked out the place yesterday, and met some of the locals, as only they go to this bar. We met Randy, a nice guy, rough around the edges in speech, but talkative and friendly.
Randy told us his life history, starting as a service station manager (youngest in the country at 19) in northern New York State. After 5 good years, he got fed up with the company for exorbitant rental increases, and moved south. Hates winter. Got on as a heavy equipment guy, then bought into trucking, eventually with 8 rigs. Sold them, went back to equipment maintenance, and now works for a local tree grow company. This outfit grows oak trees, palm trees, all sorts of trees used in landscaping. The owner begged his father years ago for 100 acres to start this tree farm, which was dubiously granted him. He is now a multi-millionaire, with 60 employees, and ships treed all over the country. Randy also told us the local fruit groves are in decline, because they just don' t produce the sweet produce that Mexico does. So most of these large orange groves are producing juicers. Still hand-picked by Mexican labor. Confirmed out observation that local oranges weren't great for eating.
Randy also described a game that's popular in the area, called RoadKill. It's sort of like bingo. You get a sheet with three different cards printed on it, 5 bucks a card, and hope your three cards are drawn before anyone else. If you're first to 'cover' your three cards, you're the Roadkill winner. The prize! You go to the front and draw a card, which could have a picture on it of an armadillo or a raccoon or a skunk (hence the name of the game). Flip the card over and see your prize. Meat! Could be rib-eye steaks, maybe fish, maybe even alligator. There's a game on at the bar on Wednesday, so we'll go try our luck.
Conversation also got around to local issues. so I braved the question and asked Randy what he thought of Trump. He's supportive for most of what he's doing. A big guy down from us grumbled, "He's okay if they could just take his f'n phone away from him". They see Trump as a bit of an ass, but approve of the direction he's going. So there's the local view. This bar, by the way, is not fancy, mostly men sitting at the bar, three pool tables, that sort of thing. We asked where there might be a bar in town showing the football games. One was suggested, but the big guy beside Gail said, "Wouldn't recommend it...it's a bit rough". Okay!
That's it for Arcadia, reporting from Little Willie's R.V. Park. Sorry the weather back home is so dreadful. Sincerely! More later. Stay tuned.
Wednesday 16 January 2019
Wednesday, Jan 16 - It's been a few days since last reporting, but not a lot to tell. We've been laboring about where to go from here over the past few days, and finally decided this morning to go south for a week. So we're going to Central Florida, to a place called Arcadia, which is not far from Sebring. Why there? It's going to be warmer, and it's a place we know little about. This morning the temp here was plus 3C, so pretty chilly. Going to 13 C. And looking north and west, the weather is not encouraging, unless you go all the way to Arizona. So we'll hunker down for another week in Florida and see what develops.
The past week has been spent cycling, walking, reading, playing a few games, making the best of coolish weather. We went to the Shed two or three times, had shrimp and chowder at the Freezer, which we'll do again before we go. We spent yesterday over at Crystal River, doing an Ecowalk, and visiting a very old archaeological site, consisting of several large burial mounds that go back from 500 BC to 600 AD. The peoples that lived in that area had a large community for hundreds of years, prior to the arrival of Europeans, but little is known of their affiliation with later tribes.
A few pictures are in order.
We've done a lot of biking...Lar is now over 600kms since hitting Florida, and Gail close to 500.
Our favorite perch is at the bar overlooking the river at the Shed, which has music on the week-ends, and lots of interesting characters drinkin' and dancing. Lots of bikers...mostly oldsters, many veterans.
The main seating area of the Shed, open under a roof, with cheap beer and great French Fries.
My favorite local bird is the brown pelican...great flyers, scrappy, fun to watch as they sweep along the river looking for hand-outs or fish. The Shed has two areas for local fishermen to clean their catch, and when they do so, about 30 to 50 pelicans gather below them or on the dock to get scraps. Quite a site, as they scrap over the scraps.
The past week has been spent cycling, walking, reading, playing a few games, making the best of coolish weather. We went to the Shed two or three times, had shrimp and chowder at the Freezer, which we'll do again before we go. We spent yesterday over at Crystal River, doing an Ecowalk, and visiting a very old archaeological site, consisting of several large burial mounds that go back from 500 BC to 600 AD. The peoples that lived in that area had a large community for hundreds of years, prior to the arrival of Europeans, but little is known of their affiliation with later tribes.
A few pictures are in order.
Lots of bikers come to Homosassa, especially on the week-end. Note our bikes parked in their midst.
The big issue here in the U.S. is the government shut-down. Yesterday we met a retired Parks employee, who was very angry and upset with you-know-who for forcig this shut-down. He told us that people are invading Joshua National Park in California, cutting down trees and roaring all over areas forbidden to vehicles. No-one is on duty to prevent such behavior. He is not happy with his President. Lots of reports about federal employees not getting paid, and having to go to Food Banks, borrow money from relatives, to survive. Quite an impasse!
We leave Homosassa on Friday. On to another less-known place...Arcadia. It's cowboy country, the land of the Crackers. Who knows what that'll be like. So stay tuned. More later.
Thursday 10 January 2019
Thursday, Jan 10 - Cool here today. It only went up to about plus 14C, so the furnace and heater were both going this morning. Nice bright sunny day, however, so we were able to sit in the sun this afternoon for a little reading. Going down to 7C tonight. Not asking for sympathy from any quarter.
As mentioned, we're in one of our old favorite places, Homosassa. It's our 4th time in this park, so we know the area pretty well. We did the wildlife park on Monday, which we always enjoy. Tuesday, we rented a two-seater kayak, which was an adventure, yours truly being the novice. Trying to coordinate two long paddles is a challenge, so for the first hour, there was a lot of grumbling from the person in the stern. He finally figured it out. When Gail dips her paddle, you do it too. When she shifts to the other side, you do it too. When she decides to do three in a row on one side, you do it too. Worked a whole lot better than the other options we tried (you paddle on that side and I'll paddle on this side...didn't work, as with the headwind we had, and the current, we travelled three times the distance necessary to get to where we were headed.
Anyway, our marriage is still intact. We saw manatees, right beside the kayak, and managed the last hour much better. And yesterday, I got even, as we drove to Inverness, where we like to do the Withlahootchie Bike Trail. We did 32 kms, which tired the little person out, so she rested while I did another 18, to hit my 50 mark. It's a nice trail, converted rail to trail, so it was a nice day, and even Gail conceded she enjoyed it.
Today, we took it easy, focused on trying to decide where to go on Saturday, north and west, or south. The weather in the west is still not very encouraging, so guess what? After trying out two or three parks, which were all booked up, we took the easy way out, and decided to stay here for another week. The weather looks okay too, so it allows us a little more time before having to decide where to go from here. Typical Richardson decision. If you can't make up your mind...don't!! We rewarded our indecision by walking into the village for a beer, some chowder and shrimp at The Freezer, a local favorite watering/feeding hole. Great seafood.
I may find a picture or two to post from our trip to the Wildlife Park. Stand by.
This fellow is Lu. He had his 59th birthday last month, and is the only remaining mammal from the park that preceded the present edition. Formerly the park contained quite a variety of mammals, but when they redesigned it, all were moved out except Lu. Now the park's focus is birds and manatees, with a few deer and reptiles, plus one Florida panther and a black bear, in the park.
This fellow is a crested caracara, a member of the falcons/buzzards bird of prey group.
Here we have a full-faced white pelican. We've seen them on Dave MacKays family ranch in southern Alberta. Biggest of the pelicans.
Last edition, we mentioned whooping cranes, which we thought we might have seen. Turned out they were Sandhill fellas. This is the real thing, a genuine whooper.
As mentioned, we're in one of our old favorite places, Homosassa. It's our 4th time in this park, so we know the area pretty well. We did the wildlife park on Monday, which we always enjoy. Tuesday, we rented a two-seater kayak, which was an adventure, yours truly being the novice. Trying to coordinate two long paddles is a challenge, so for the first hour, there was a lot of grumbling from the person in the stern. He finally figured it out. When Gail dips her paddle, you do it too. When she shifts to the other side, you do it too. When she decides to do three in a row on one side, you do it too. Worked a whole lot better than the other options we tried (you paddle on that side and I'll paddle on this side...didn't work, as with the headwind we had, and the current, we travelled three times the distance necessary to get to where we were headed.
Anyway, our marriage is still intact. We saw manatees, right beside the kayak, and managed the last hour much better. And yesterday, I got even, as we drove to Inverness, where we like to do the Withlahootchie Bike Trail. We did 32 kms, which tired the little person out, so she rested while I did another 18, to hit my 50 mark. It's a nice trail, converted rail to trail, so it was a nice day, and even Gail conceded she enjoyed it.
Today, we took it easy, focused on trying to decide where to go on Saturday, north and west, or south. The weather in the west is still not very encouraging, so guess what? After trying out two or three parks, which were all booked up, we took the easy way out, and decided to stay here for another week. The weather looks okay too, so it allows us a little more time before having to decide where to go from here. Typical Richardson decision. If you can't make up your mind...don't!! We rewarded our indecision by walking into the village for a beer, some chowder and shrimp at The Freezer, a local favorite watering/feeding hole. Great seafood.
I may find a picture or two to post from our trip to the Wildlife Park. Stand by.
This fellow is Lu. He had his 59th birthday last month, and is the only remaining mammal from the park that preceded the present edition. Formerly the park contained quite a variety of mammals, but when they redesigned it, all were moved out except Lu. Now the park's focus is birds and manatees, with a few deer and reptiles, plus one Florida panther and a black bear, in the park.
Finally, we have a Great White Heron. Note: he's not blue. But he's very similar, except that he's not blue. He's considered a morph of the Great Blue. First one we've seen, so he'd go on our lifelist if we kept one.
That's it for now, folks. We'll be in Homosassa for another week. Then who knows? More later. Stay tuned.
Monday 7 January 2019
Monday, Jan 7 - Already the end of the first week of the New Year. Thinking of kids and teachers heading back to school, with some sadness and some gladness. Hope all goes well as we head into the reality of this year...US problems, election year in Canada. Could be a very exciting time.
I'm going to make this more of a pictorial entry rather than my usual blathering. Thanks to the Forsyths, we discovered a really good nature area, the Circle R Bar Ranch Preserve. This is an area near Lakeland that was once a pristine watercourse area until converted to farmland for commercial use. After about 40 years, they recognized the damage they'd done, so the owners of the ranch deeded it back to the government, and since then it's become one of the largest reclamation projects in the U.S. Florida needs to do more of this. They've been chewing up the landscape for decades to support the growth in population (now up to 24 million living in Florida).
The result is a park that skirts a large lake, and contains wetlands, cypress swamps, and loads of wildlife. So there were some good photo ops, which I'll share now.
I'm going to make this more of a pictorial entry rather than my usual blathering. Thanks to the Forsyths, we discovered a really good nature area, the Circle R Bar Ranch Preserve. This is an area near Lakeland that was once a pristine watercourse area until converted to farmland for commercial use. After about 40 years, they recognized the damage they'd done, so the owners of the ranch deeded it back to the government, and since then it's become one of the largest reclamation projects in the U.S. Florida needs to do more of this. They've been chewing up the landscape for decades to support the growth in population (now up to 24 million living in Florida).
The result is a park that skirts a large lake, and contains wetlands, cypress swamps, and loads of wildlife. So there were some good photo ops, which I'll share now.
The first photo shows an anhinga with a sizable fish. He works it around, this way and that, to try to get the head facing towards his throat, so that he can ingest the thing. Meanwhile, a very patient great blue heron is standing nearby watching the anhinga's efforts. The anhinga gets the fish part of the way down his throat, but there's just no way he can swallow it, as his throat just isn't big enough. He tried several times, all the while being watched by the heron. Finally, he gave up, at which point the fish was fair game. The heron lunged, and with one gulp, down the hatch it went. Fun to watch.
The next shot is of a lovely osprey, followed by two black-backed whistling ducks (unusual in Florida in these parts...there was a sizable flock of them nesting in the area). Then the usual large gator (had to put one in or it wouldn't be Florida), then a rear view of an anhinga, with its beautiful display of feathers. And finally, two sandhill cranes. We got quite excited when we spotted the cranes, as they resemble whooping cranes. But when we checked their coloration at the center, alas, they're only ordinary sandhills.
We are now in Homosassa, about to go to the local wildlife park for more birds, fish, and manatees. Seems we can't get enough of such. So stay tuned. More later.
Thursday 3 January 2019
Thursday, Jan 3 - We wish everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year 2019. We managed to stay up until midnight on the 31st, and thus were able to welcome the new year in. Then pretty promptly to bed. But we did it. We even managed to keep Kathy O'Driscoll up 'til that hour, which is pretty amazing, given her usual bedtime hour is much earlier.
Speaking of Kathy, we had a grand time sharing the occasion with Steve and Kathy at their wonderful place in Champions Gate. They have such a nice home there for their winter months, and it's always a pleasure to spend a little time with them enjoying the surroundings. We went out for dinner to a Mexican restaurant on the Eve, with a large crowd waiting outside, as you might expect. However, Kathy whipped around the corner into the bar area, and we were immediately sitting in a nice booth. No waiting, no fuss, no muss. Kathy's got the secret. No reservations needed in the bar area, so just go in and grab a table if there's one available. A good meal was the result.
The Omni Hotel complex in Champions Gate put on a great fireworks display at 10 p.m., which we could see very clearly from the balcony of Steve and Kathy's place. And later, we could hear fireworks and could see other displays in the distance. Americans really love their fireworks, and so do the companies selling them. New Year's Day we went for a long walk, then headed to the pool complex for a swim and a game of bocci ball. Following was a fine dinner, with Kathy preparing a wonderful pork tenderloin, and then we had to leave to come back to look after Bailey the cat. Big thank you to Steve and Kathy for their wonderful hospitality.
Speaking of Bailey, she's quite a girl. If her litter box isn't tidy, she lets you know with very loud complaining. If she's hungry, she also lets you know, yowling even if it's 6 in the morning. There's no alternative but to get up and feed her. If she wants some attention, she also lets you know in various ways, mewing, climbing up on you, cuddling up on the back of the couch right behind your head. No doubt about who runs this household. But she's very affectionate (so long as she's getting what she wants), so it's been fine looking after her needs.
We've enjoyed the Clubhouse pool and hot tub, and I've been trying to figure out my putting problems on the practice green. Not much luck so far in that regard. Reading, games of Rummykub, some t.v., bike rides to the nearby Saddle Creek Park (18 kms return), and an occasional beer. We've managed to put in the days quite nicely, with wonderful weather (low 80sF). We miss the road, but will soon be back at it.
A couple of pics follow: one of our digs here in Schalamar Creek, and others
from the Saddle Creek Park.
That's it for now. Stay healthy and happy all year long. More later. Stay tuned.
Speaking of Kathy, we had a grand time sharing the occasion with Steve and Kathy at their wonderful place in Champions Gate. They have such a nice home there for their winter months, and it's always a pleasure to spend a little time with them enjoying the surroundings. We went out for dinner to a Mexican restaurant on the Eve, with a large crowd waiting outside, as you might expect. However, Kathy whipped around the corner into the bar area, and we were immediately sitting in a nice booth. No waiting, no fuss, no muss. Kathy's got the secret. No reservations needed in the bar area, so just go in and grab a table if there's one available. A good meal was the result.
The Omni Hotel complex in Champions Gate put on a great fireworks display at 10 p.m., which we could see very clearly from the balcony of Steve and Kathy's place. And later, we could hear fireworks and could see other displays in the distance. Americans really love their fireworks, and so do the companies selling them. New Year's Day we went for a long walk, then headed to the pool complex for a swim and a game of bocci ball. Following was a fine dinner, with Kathy preparing a wonderful pork tenderloin, and then we had to leave to come back to look after Bailey the cat. Big thank you to Steve and Kathy for their wonderful hospitality.
Speaking of Bailey, she's quite a girl. If her litter box isn't tidy, she lets you know with very loud complaining. If she's hungry, she also lets you know, yowling even if it's 6 in the morning. There's no alternative but to get up and feed her. If she wants some attention, she also lets you know in various ways, mewing, climbing up on you, cuddling up on the back of the couch right behind your head. No doubt about who runs this household. But she's very affectionate (so long as she's getting what she wants), so it's been fine looking after her needs.
We've enjoyed the Clubhouse pool and hot tub, and I've been trying to figure out my putting problems on the practice green. Not much luck so far in that regard. Reading, games of Rummykub, some t.v., bike rides to the nearby Saddle Creek Park (18 kms return), and an occasional beer. We've managed to put in the days quite nicely, with wonderful weather (low 80sF). We miss the road, but will soon be back at it.
A couple of pics follow: one of our digs here in Schalamar Creek, and others
That's it for now. Stay healthy and happy all year long. More later. Stay tuned.
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