2-27-24 Myakka River State Park

 

So the boys won at cards last night so the tally is 2 to 1 in favor of the girls.  We will sharpen our skills tonight.  After breakfast this morning we headed out to Myakka River State Park.  We did see a few things, but were disappointed with the number of birds since the last time we were here.  Two years ago they were working on taking out the dam.   The dam is gone and there is plenty of water this year, but the birds don’t seem to be here.  So today’s list is: anhinga, great blue heron, great egret, little blue heron, cattle egret, white ibis, turkey vulture, blue-winged teal, swallow-tailed kite, American kestrel, wild turkey, black-bellied plover, black-necked stilt, dunlin, American crow, palm warbler, a few small deer and a number of large gators.   We came back for lunch and some reading by the pool time.  I am doing a load of laundry.  We will grill chicken tonight for dinner with fresh new potatoes and green beans.

2-26-2024 Celery Fields

 So after charging my battery, I can now show a few of our favorites from the art show yesterday.  We especially liked the last one of the raven with the typewriter ribbon in its mouth.  And more importantly, the girls won at cards again last night.

So this morning, we went out for a quick birding adventure at Celery Fields.  We saw quite a number that I will list: wood duck, blue-winged teal, pied-billed grebe, anhinga, great egret, little blue heron, tricolored heron, cattle egret, green heron, glossy ibis, turkey vulture, osprey, a pair of bald eagles, northern harrier, red-shouldered hawk, purple gallinule, common gallinule, American coot, gray-headed swamp hen (new one for this area),Wilson's snipe, Nanday parakeet, purple martin, tree swallow, northern mockingbird, red-winged blackbird, boar-tailed grackle and brown-headed cowbird.  We left the Fields to drive back to Siesta Key to meet Cathie's sister Marilyn and her husband Al who were visiting in the area from Michigan.  We had brunch at Another Broken Egg and then came back to our condo for a walk around the complex.  When we got to the canal, we saw two dolphins!  After they left Dave went for a nap and the rest of us read by the pool.  We then decided to walk down to the small market for a few items.  We didn't get too far before we were picked up by a woman driving a golf cart.  She was from England.  We started walking back and got halfway when the free trolley came by.  We saw a man with a Mystic Pizza tee and started chatting.  He lives in Glastonbury, but keeps his boat in Noank - small world!  We decided to have leftovers for dinner tonight and grill our chicken tomorrow night as we are still pretty full from brunch.  So another nice day on Siesta Key!

2-25-2024 Siesta Key and Longboat Key

The girls won at Hand and Foot last night - Yay!

Had breakfast this morning of cereal and fresh strawberries - Yum!  We then drove into town to the small farmer's market in town.  We picked up some homemade bread, a tomato and a few other goodies.  We also bumped into a local celebrity - Scooter.  He has been a lifeguard on Siesta Key beach for 30 years and he only sits in the green lifeguard on the beach.  On Sundays he sells rum at the farmer's market.  He puts a clip on Facebook every morning telling the temperature and the wave conditions while wearing a funky straw hat and "magic" sunglasses.  He is quite the character!  We then drove over to Longboat Key to the Art Show.  It was small, but the selection of art was quite good.  I spoke with a woman who was doing thread art.  She is a retired math teacher and is doing this in retirement.  I encouraged her to show at the Mystic Outdoor Art Festival.  Several of the artists allowed me to take pics of their work so will include them at the end here.  We came back and had lunch at The Cottage - grouper sandwiches all around!  We had a great waiter - so different from our experience yesterday.  His name was Joe and was very funny.  We walked over the Meany's Mini Donuts for tonight's dessert and then headed back to the condo.  Dave went in for a nap while Russ, Cathie and I went to the pool area to read and enjoy the sun.  The boys are grilling tonight.  Cathie and I will make a salad.  So apparently my battery was dead while I was taking pics at the art show - bummer!  I will charge it up and have it ready for next time.  

2-24-2024 Siesta Key Florida

 A major long day, but we are here and the weather is lovely.  We stayed over near Providence airport last night at the Hilton Garden Inn.  Never again.  There was no shuttle service so I had to put the Uber app on my phone - the bed was hard so I has a hard time sleeping - the curtains didn't shut all the way so the lights from the parking lot shone right into our room . . .  I had the clock set for 3 AM but woke up at 2:45 and jumped in the shower.  That was another weird thing - you had to vault over the toilet to get into the shower - very strange.  We got to the airport and through security as soon as they opened (4 AM).  When it was time to board I was pulled out of line because they are cracking down on two items per person.  I have always carried my backpack, the computer bag and the carry on.  This time I had to check my carry on which turned out to be a major problem.  We got to Sarasota and my bag wasn't on the carousel.  I went to lost luggage and the gentleman there looked it up and said it was coming in on the 1 PM flight from Charlotte.  Russ, Cathie, Dave and I went to lunch at Wicked Cantina - food was good, but service was lacking big time.  We got back to the airport at 1:30 only to discover that the plane from Charlotte was late.  Russ and crew went to the cell phone lot to wait and I texted them when my case finally arrived.  We were still too early for the condo (check in was 4) so we drove through town and then down the strip to Turtle Beach before finally getting the code to our unit.  Dave went in for a power nap while the rest of us went to Publix for groceries.  We are getting ready to play our first game of cards if we can stay awake long enough.  We will have snacks for dinner as we are still full from lunch.  So no photos today.  Will try to get some on tomorrow.  

2/24/23. The last trip to Anhinga trail

On the way to the Everglades, we stopped on the side of the road to take a pic of a field of sugarcane.  We also took a pic of a panther sign even though we never saw one.  It was very quiet on the trail this morning. There were only 3 other cars in the parking lot.  All the usual characters were in attendance.  gators, green herons, Great Blue herons, purple gallinules, American egrets, palm warblers, Anhingas, yellow-bellied sliders, and a huge group of vultures overhead.  We did our two loops on the boardwalk and headed back to town.  We dropped off more books to the library (cybrarium) and then filled up with gas for the drive to the airport tomorrow morning.  We packed up everything except out clothes for tomorrow.  We will walk across the parking lot and have dinner at Cracker Barrel tonight.  We will leave early in the morning to catch our flight back home.  We have been storing solar energy and warmth so that we can last until Spring.  It will be nice though to be home and to sleep in our own bed.

2/23/23. Downtown Homestead

 Dave felt tired this morning even after a full night's sleep (he is only a week away from infusion) so we decided to have an easy day today.  We had a leisurely breakfast and then took a ride to the small downtown area of Homestead.  I was able to find a parking spot on the street on the second block and we took a stroll.  The downtown area is sad though - probably about six blocks long, but there is little retail to bring people here.  About a third of the storefronts were lawyer's offices - injury, immigration, family law and another third were medical - family clinic, urgent care, dentist, optometrist.  There were two churches, only one of which is active, a 100 year old theater for special events, a newish movie theater, one tee shirt store, one small hardware store, an antique store, a Mexican restaurant, and a police station.  There were a number of empty storefronts.  When we were done walking around we went back to the hotel and read by the pool until lunch time.  We will stay in for dinner again tonight.  Tomorrow will be our last day to take a few laps around the Anhinga Trail and then we will have to pack as we will be leaving early on Saturday morning to get to the airport for our trip home.  No pics today.

2/22/23. Shark Valley

 We finally got our walk down the right side of the loop road at Shark Valley.  We had a lovely 3 mile walk and saw lots of anhingas, a raven, cormorants, several yellow-bellied sliders, beautiful swamp lilies, an unknown flower, a dragonfly sitting on a lily pad, several green herons, many thistles (most of which have gone by), several gators, a few Great Blue herons, some American egrets, lots of gas and two little blue herons.  The highlight of the walk was hearing a bull alligator deep in the bushes by the side of the path.  I should have thought fast and recorded the sound - it was loud and eerie.  They roar to mark their territory.  We hit the restroom and headed back to town for lunch in our room.  As soon as I got out of the car, I realized I didn't have my cell phone.  It didn't take me long to remember that I had taken it out of my pocket and set it on the t.p. holder when in the restroom and it was a porta-potty and I wanted to make sure it didn't fall out of my pocket into it.  So . . . after lunch, I left Dave to take his nap and I drove an hour up, picked up the phone from lost and found, and then drove an hour back.  I am just thankful that someone turned it in.  I will not make that mistake again!  We will eat in tonight.