Crooked Pond Crt, Ft Myers, Florida

Need I say more?

Venice Beach, Florida

On our two travel days so far, we were robbed of an hour each day. Today was no different since the traffic in the afternoon was so slow that it cost us yet another full hour and 1/2. We stopped shortly after 6:15pm with a couple of hours left to drive tomorrow.

Joan had difficulty breathing at our last hotel and we tried to leave very early. Getting up at 5:00 would have broken all records but... The breakfast opened at 6:30am so we had to wait for that, then hit the road by 7:15.

We had more rain, and some fog. The traffic kept building up and it was really heavy by the time we joined the I-75 near Ocala Florida. The GPS kept adding more time to our original ETA of 6:00pm until it read 7:39pm.

Stopping near Venice meant that we could contact Jan to see if she could join us for supper. The hamburger place lived up to its reputation, and the conversation ended up with lots of laughter. We then came to our room to plan for adventures and visits over the next three months. What a great way to end a year, with another day left...

Holiday Inn Charlotte NC

Another long day behind the wheel.  Yesterday, it was Customs that stole an hour from us, today, it was heavy rain, and heavy fog.

For some unexplained reason, the drive lane beside you always moves faster than the lane you are in. Until you change lanes that is... The scientific process repeats this many times until a firm conclusion can be written and published. I repeat the process many times because I hope that the traffic will move faster, unfortunately, I keep forgetting that hope is not a method, it's more like wishing, but I digress.

The traffic this year seems much heavier than in past years. This year we left on a Saturday, I think all the other snowbirds did too. I had hoped that travelling on the weekend would have avoided the rush hours and the shipping trucks. See, I did it again, hope is not a method.

All day we drove through the tall mountains of Pennsylvania to the rolling hills of Virginia and North Carolina. Some of the scenery looked great with fog banks over the valleys, unfortunately, as we climbed higher, the fog clouds hugged the ground and driving slowed significantly. The great part of the drive was the warming temperatures, the day started at 14ºC and it is now 24ºC

Modern cars have gas gauges, a display of how many Kilometres are left, and a caution light that tells you to gas up. Normal people would have. 

I did all the calculations, the gauge was on the pin, the caution light was glowing brightly, and I had about 40km left in the tank. Our planned exit should have gas, and fit within the numbers. Logical? Of course, but the exit did not have gas, none, nada, zilch, rien. The GPS said that there was a gas station in about 9.4 miles and it was on our planned route, so we set that as our destination.

Good gas, good price, and enough gas left to drive another 3km. Easy Peasy.
That fuel tank was about as dry as it can get. Total cost of gas for fill-up? $37.07 US$

It is now looking that our 24 hour drive will be much closer to 30 hours, so we are not likely to make it all the way tomorrow, so arrival during daylight wins.

Southward bound again

Crack of dawn occurred at 9:30, blue skies, no clouds, and slightly above freezing.

Our first hiccup occurred at the Thousand Islands where we had to wait just slightly over an hour to talk to a US border patrol. The usual questions and the same answers and we were off to Interstate 81.

Barely a snowflake to be seen on the ground, and about 5ºC and we were good to go for the whole day. With luck, we should not see freezing temperatures until end of March... How cool is that?

By the afternoon, things had turned grey and the traffic increased. Unless you stuck tight with the fast guys, 4 or 5 mph over the speed limit was pretty well all you could muster, and there were quite a few troupers giving tickets to cars that had passed us. All this to say, the day was a lot slower than usual...

We stopped for the night in Harrisburg Pennsylvania around 6:15, when it was already pitch dark. The joys of December...

We have driven a little less than a third of the way so far, and the weather look pretty good ahead of us, with some rain expected.

Home at last

Thank you for following our progress. Today was an uneventful day where the traffic diminished  as we edged further North.

Pennsylvania was clear and quite fast driving; construction zone slowdowns didn't seem to happen: the construction was there, but the slowdowns were not. People kept driving near 75-80mph wether the posted speed was 70, 65, 55, or even slower. We made very good time...

New York State was different: one or two miles an hour over the posted limit seemed to attract Police attention, and there were lots of attentive police.  We saw well over a dozen people pulled over, likely for speeding. We set our speed at +2mph, and managed to save a little time and the price of a ticket.

We left at the crack of dawn, 8:30am, after a good breakfast at the Holiday Inn. Once on the interstate 81, we cruised with the fast boys though endless mountains.  By 9:30, we saw our first snow, deep in ditches where the sun could not reach and melt. The temperature was about 12ºF.  By 11:00, there were patches of snow in the fields and quite suddenly, the temp was 4ºF.

The old snow came and went [in the fields] until we got closer to the border, around Syracuse. Then the snow was in the fields but the road remained completely dry: no worries.

The border crossing delayed us a paltry 16 minutes, and we made up that delay on the 401 where 115 to 120mph seemed ok....

We arrived in our neighbourhood where the snow banks are still very impressive,  the most snow we've seen this year. There is about 2' of snow everywhere in our back yard, not a bare spot to be seen. Our front yard has three to four feet of piled up snow, and there is gravel everywhere. The good thing is that the sidewalk, driveway and street are all clear and dry. I wonder how long that will last...

We stopped in to see Joyce and Don who are as much fun to be with as ever, and Aly who is sporting a mean cold. Sophie jumped inside out as she recognized who we were: what fun. We also ran into Lynn and Robert who had done some shopping for us so we had things to eat.  What a great homecoming, what a great neighbourhood.

All in all, this was likely one of our fastest return trips, fortunately completely uneventful and boring.   ...to be continued...

Savana Georgia to Chambersburg PA

Today's crack of dawn was at 8:30, yes, in the morning. The Holiday Inn offers a good hot breakfast and we managed to leave on a very full stomach.

Traffic was less hairy than yesterday, and kept decreasing all afternoon. The flat Georgia was replaced with increasing mountainous terrain as we drove through South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and finally, Pennsylvania.

More mountains tomorrow at least until northern NY. We do have a shot at getting home tomorrow, but that's very weather dependent, especially in the last 100 miles in NY. The 'lake effect' of Lake Ontario, can stop traffic completely between Syracuse and Watertown.  Fingers crossed.

Crooked Pond Crt to Savana Georgia

We managed to leave at the crack of dawn, meaning 9:30am, and started in heavier traffic that just got heavier most of the day. We had major delays on the Interstate 75 and eventually crossed over to the east side, namely Daytona Beach, not exactly the shortest way north.

This alternate route was not much better until the traffic got to be as bad as what we tried to avoid.  All in all, the expected delays were over two hours and we ended up quitting early so we are still about a couple of hours behind schedule.

The good part is that the interstate roads are excellent, the weather warm and sunny.

It seems we have managed to avoid the snowbird migration, but landed in the peak of Spring break.

Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Our Eagles' Nest, Ding Darling

Early Wednesday morning, on our way to Sanibel and Ding Darling, we stopped by our eagle's nest. Now these pictures are the result of very heavy handed post processing [manipulation]: serious cropping and exposure adjustment. 

My post processing resulted in really stretching the information in the digital files beyond their acceptable range, so the pictures are far from good photographs, I just hope you get the general idea of what we witnessed.

At the top side of the nest are a parent [white feathers and yellow beak under the breast of our youngest eaglet, and the youngest of the three eggs that hatched.

Below the nest is one of the fledgling [fledged 2 days ago at most] still learning how to fly.

After a few practice wing flaps, there is a tentative take-off, as the baby of the family looks on carefully.

A moment later, it is lift-off while younger sibling stares on, likely for tips on how to do this flying thing.

Note that during all this, the Parent is busy doing something or other at the baby's feet, without even checking on the progress of our fledgling.

It's as if the fledgling's actions were completely natural. Strange how the human onlookers were seriously coaching the fledgling on what to do next...

After arriving at Ding Darling for our usual Wednesday morning visit with the docents, the promised low tide was not as low as hoped for, and there were very few birds that caught my interest.  The conversations were very interesting and we kept learning a lot.

This Osprey was flying around within reasonable range and provided these few pictures.

That is it for Ding Darling for this year. We have had many precious and informative visits on our Wednesday trips here. We ended up cementing friendships into good friends and we really look forward to spending time with them as soon as possible. Welcome mats have been spread out and they will likely make their magic happen.

Venice, Audubon Rookery

We drove down to visit Jan yesterday, and as usual, we had some discovery adventures. Jan drove us around Venice, looking for a rumoured nature park. After turning off the main road, we entered a magic neighbourhood of large trees that formed a dense canopy over the streets and houses. After a few turns onto dead end streets, we started noticing 'Canopy Tree' signs that stated that these trees are protected and can not be removed. Many of the dead-end streets led to the waterfront and one led to a public pier. Here is a view from the base of the pier.

At the end of the pier, this fisherman was casting his net for mullet, each harvested one was over a foot long. It turns out that he is a Preacher and fishes almost daily to provide food for some of his flock. There is quite a skill-set required to fish this way, including sharp eyesight to see where the fish are.

As we looked for fish also, we saw some very large schools of fish that actually made the water look like it was boiling. They looked like minnows, but they were actually mullet.There were thousand upon thousands of them.

This beautiful waterfront estate is now a collection of not for profit organizations. They are obviously set up to entertain and amuse visitors with trails, play structures, games [chess, bocce court] rowing racing shells, etc.

The tables under this magnificent oak had permanent chess grids inset in the table tops.

Joan and Jan walking along one of the many paths.

An overview of the magnificent entrance.

These are old wooden garage doors: now the middle one serves as the entrance to the Welcome Centre.

Much like all the different buildings on the property, this building was locked up too.

After lunch, we ended up at the Audubon rookery where Spring has sprung, and nests were very busy. 

This Anhinga was very busy doing a mating ritual dance It is hard to tell if anyone was interested, but there are more hidden birds here than visible ones. 

Note the bright blue eyes and strong coloured beak and feathers.

The head dipped further and further as the wings were spread and the tail raised as high as possible.

Meanwhile, just next door [nest?], the Snowy Egrets were also going through their mating rituals.

The dances seemed to work well since this recently hatched Great Blue Heron was testing its wings getting ready to fledge in a few days more. Note the interesting hair cut. [you can click on any picture to see them all larger if you want]

Another Anhinga nest had these two darling fluffy blond babies, but be careful: these sweet babies can be lethal to the hand [read beak] that feeds them.

One might think that this is family bliss in the Snowy Egret nest, but this is just the calm before the storm...

This is what happens when Mom/Dad doesn't provide food RIGHT NOW. Note that the scrawny one locks the provider's beak at the highest point, and does not let go.

At the next nest, this Snowy Egret is still displaying the breeding feathers, green patch in front of the eyes.  You would think they would think twice by simply looking at what their future treatment will be, as shown in next the nest...

This might give you an idea of just how crowded the neighbourhood is...

Sometimes, it's time to have a break: these do not last long and either a new stick as a gift or some food is brought back to the nest.

It is spring and even the Morning Doves are showing some affection.

We think this is an immature Black Night Heron just soaking up the ambiance

Next is a Glossy Ibis preening his/her full breeding plumage. What a sight!

And lastly, a Snowy Egret returning to the nest with the gift of a small branch [ok, a twig then] to his awaiting partner. It must be the thought that matters...

Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

Pat and Charlie suggested a trip to the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, a place we had not visited before. Today was going to be overcast and an hour trip to the swamp was in order.

After a comfortable trip in Charlie's rented Camry, this was our first sight after parking the car. An male Indigo Bunting in breeding plumage. What a way to start the day! 

We joined a docent led walk who started by explaining the need for prescribed burns: the burning of the forest underbrush to prevent bigger natural wildfires. After the burn of a few days ago, the vegetation was already starting to regenerate.

Here is a close-up of both the damage from the fire to the magical regrowth caused by the fire.

The volunteer docent seemed to favour the plants and pointed out this natural orchid in the preserve.

The whole stalk is about a foot high, so it is a noticeable and delicate display.

A few feet in altitude makes a huge difference here. The grasses here have damp feet while the Cypress forest on the left is almost constantly in water.  What a difference a few feet of elevation can have.

Air-plants were everywhere in this cypress forest. This red bract stood out above this tillandsia bromeliad.

While we heard many birds calling, today was not the greatest day for birding. This Snowy Egret was just staring his/hers breeding plumage and coloration. In full breeding wear the part in from of the eye becomes a very bright green.

I forget how to measure an alligator, something to do with the distance from the eyes to the nostrils, but this lady was to be feared.

Apparently she patrols the area constantly to chase away roaming males that might eat her babies. The babies are favourite food of all manner of rodents, Racoons, Raptors, etc.

She is thought to have hatched 36 eggs of which only two are still alive apparently . When the last two are gone, she will again want to breed and that is likely why the males are slinking nearby.

We didn't see any actions other than slow movement, so all was quiet while we were there.

Joan spotted this Yellow Crowned Night Heron that is not usually seen in this area. He was merrily preening his feathers, oblivious to the cameras with monster lenses that suddenly appeared.

The Red Bellied Woodpecker seemed oblivious to the attention he was generating directly below him.

I have had many pictures of anoles and other lizards found in south west Florida. This green guy is apparently the only local anole that is native to Florida.  The others are all immigrants.

This is not the greatest picture, but it is a barred owl, likely a young one. This was a good sized bird, but the adult Barred owl is a huge bird. Either way, it is a secretive bird and rarely seen.

Dick, our docent, identified this as a water moccasin, a snake that deserves respect and anything else he wants.

There were many of these Iris in a fairly large area and it was quite surprising to see so many colour and shape variations in this naturalized iris.

And lastly, what is likely a red shouldered hawk, standing on one talon, pondering what these tourist below him are doing.

A peaceful and quick trip back home, a dip in the pool, and a quick supper: the perfect end to a great day with good friends.

Fledgeling & Mahogany Seed

Before Joan and I go just about anywhere or after we have been somewhere, we try to drive by 'our' Eagles' nest nearby.

Earlier in the day, the biggest of the eaglets took to flight for the first time. He landed about 50' away from the nest, and contemplated his/her future.

Sometimes Nature does not coddle its babies.

This black fish crow dive bombed our stunned eaglet, and made everyone watching cringe just a little.

As you can see, the Eaglet ducked and blinked and there was no damage, just gained experience.

'Our' eaglet kept pondering his/her future and all the adventures that lie ahead.

But wait, isn't that a fish crow heading back for yet another dive bomb?

This time the fish crow kept to a more respectable distance and the eaglet did not blink, as far as I can tell. 

Unfortunately, fish crows will almost always be a negative part of this eaglet's future. After all, they were the ones that caused about a third of the eagle's nest to collapse. Fish crows will continue harassing eagles as long as they can. I am sure that feelings are bruised, but nobody gets hurt.

There are some mature mahogany trees behind Pat and Charlie's place. Their fruit is a large nut-like fruit with a thick husk that eventually dries by breaking into four parts. At the centre of these four quarters is a small post with these most beautiful 'airplane' seeds, much like the keys of a maple tree.

The keys have the most beautiful mahogany colour, [who would have guessed?] and as everything dries, the keys separate and are carried away by the wind or some rodent.

The whiteish seed at the right is about the size of a small fist. The seed on the left is almost completely dry and you can see that some of the keys have already fallen out. Nature's magic or what?

Making pictures of magic is not always easy or successful.  I was there, I saw their size, felt their feel, and marvelled at their beauty. You have only two pictures and a few words to tell of this magic. I hope that's was enough.

The afternoon consisted of some time at the pool, then supper and Bridge at Pat & Charlie's, who live about as far away here as they do as in Amberwood. 

Hands of Bridge we dealt, bid, and played. According to the scoreboard, the guys had more fun. 

Life is really good here, I hope it is where you are too.