2/27/19 fun pics

Success at last!  We saw a pair of burrowing owls.  The first shot is of an empty burrow.  The last two are of neat things we saw on our neighborhood walk: a date palm and a manatee mailbox.

2/27/19 Wednesday

No owl hunting last night as the clouds came in and it poured!  We will have to try again tonight.  This morning we found the local beach - small, but a nice fishing pier to walk down.  We met a couple from Cornwall, England on the pier.  They were here fishing with their daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren.  The little girl, aged 3, caught a small fish.  It was a toad fish and she laughed as Dave took the hook out as it was croaking at her - she thought she had caught a frog!  Today is a bit cooler than yesterday - 80's rather than 90's.  We sat out on the back patio for a bit after lunch and visited with Molly, the 85 year old next door, and Rosie the dog.  It got a bit warm though so didn't stay out too long. 

The top photo is one of the strawberries we cut up for dessert last night.  Look how huge it is compared to a quarter!  The next is a view from the pier looking at Fort Myers, looking down the pier and a small bungalow on a side canal.  We are going for a walk soon to hunt for owls so will repost if we find any.

2/26/19 photos

Here are a few of my favorites from the day.

2/26/19 Tuesday

We went for a walk in the neighborhood late yesterday afternoon and found the burrowing owl holes.  Unfortunately, no one was popping out to greet us.  I think we need to check early in the morning or at dusk.  We did walk over to the canal and saw a flying fish.  He jumped 2-3 feet out of the water several times - great fun!  We ate at Twisted Lobster last night.  Dave had shrimp and I had a lovely piece of haddock.  The meals were served with mashed potatoes, a half ear of corn, and a lovely coleslaw that was made with pineapple.  I will have the other half of my meal for dinner tonight.

This morning we woke up early and did some wash before heading out for the day.  We went to Sanibel Island and headed for the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge.  We took a hike on the Indigo trail where we saw roseate spoonbills in a tree off in the distance, a green heron, and a small black racer snake.  We then walked back to get the car and took the wildlife loop through the park.  We saw lots of white pelicans, a few smaller brown pelicans, an osprey on her nest, egrets, some ibis, a small blue heron (we spent a lot of time watching him as he was running through the water to stir up the mud and then picking off whatever edible came into his view).  He was very funny to watch.  We then headed over to Captiva Island and had lunch at the Bubble Room.  This is a crazy restaurant that has been in existence since 1979.  Inside, it is Christmas all year long.  There is a train that runs along a narrow shelf through every room.  Funky atmosphere, but the food is good.  Dave had grouper with a tomato and cucumber salsa and refried black beans on the side (he saved half for his dinner tonight) and I had a Mango Tango sandwich - grilled chicken with lettuce and tomato with slices of avocado and mango.  It was delicious.  I brought back the other half for tomorrow's lunch.  The waitress came around with the dessert choices and I had to take a picture of the wonderful and huge choices.  We stopped at Bowman's Beach to pick a few shells (It is un-American not to pick up shells on Sanibel's beaches).  I spotted a tortoise munching on green vegetation on the side of the path.  We then headed back to Cape Coral and will stay in to have leftovers for dinner.  Hopefully we will spot an owl this evening.

2/25/19 Monday

It was partial sun and clouds today and a bit windy, but since the temps were in the mid 70's, no problem-o.  We took a lovely long walk at the Four Mile Ecological Preserve.  Although we didn't see much wildlife, the walk was great.  It was almost entirely on a boardwalk through a mangrove forest.  There were white, red and black mangroves - the white grow furthest from the water, then the red, with the black being at the water's edge.  The burls you see on the trees are caused by an insect that lays its eggs inside the tree.  It does not hurt the tree but it does cause those strange growths that you see.  The boardwalk meandered over small tidal rivers and ended up twice on the bay between Cape Coral and Fort Myers.  We did see a Muscovy duck and two red-bellied woodpeckers (they were too fast for me to get a pic).  We ended up at a Veteran's Memorial "park-ette".  The Iwo Jima memorial was made by the sculptor who made the larger one in Washington D.C.  We stopped at the store for a few lunch items and after lunch went next door to meet our neighbors (this is a duplex ranch).  He is a retired policeman from Minnesota.  He worked at the Minnesota/St. Paul airport for his entire career.  He is retired from that job and now is a guide to an iron mine in his area that is now a state park.  He takes folks down an elevator 850 feet and then they ride a train through tunnels to the last part of the mine when it was operational.  He is here for three

months with his mom and a springer spaniel puppy named Rosie.  I will have to hook him up with Russ next week as he is a marathoner.  Dave just got up from his nap and we are going for a walk soon as Mike (the neighbor) said there were burrowing owls in the area. 

2/24/19 More photos

Here are two shots of a Small Blue Heron - one of him posing and the other after he had gotten a small lizard for this brunch, an Ibis, the roots of a banyan tree, and Dave hugging his ancestor.

2/24/19 Photos

A few of the beautiful flowers at the botanical garden, koi in the pond.  Kelly and her tall friend and a willow leaf bonsai that has been in training since 1975.