2/18/17 Saturday

It was cloudy this morning, but we drove down to Gulfport and met Kelly, Lana, and John at the art festival.  It was smaller than we expected, but had some nice things.  We walked around and then headed to the small downtown area to poke around.  Gulfport is right on the water, but is quite small and quaint.  We decided to go up to St. Petersburg to a larger festival, but couldn't seems to get there as the road was closed.  We ended up at a farmer's market, food booth, jewelry, music, buskers area behind the stadium.  Most of us opted for strawberry or blueberry waffles for lunch (what could be better than dessert for lunch!) and then as we continued walking it started to sprinkle.  We said our good-byes and headed home.  It really started to rain as we drove north, but fortunately, we got into the RV before the skies opened up.  It rained really hard for about an hour and then quit.  We just came back from eating at Acropoli Restaurant - Greek, American, breakfast all day family-friendly diner.  It was very good and there are enough leftovers for tomorrow night.

2/17/17 Friday

It was another weird day at the ReStore - this time we were busy early, had a lull and then got busy again before we left.  We had an awesome day in sales: about $3000 by the time we left.  We came home for lunch and then took a walk down by the lake.  We took some stale bread to feed the ducks, geese, birds and squirrels.  The squirrels weren't very interested as there are plenty of nuts on the ground.  The pix today are of a goose, a great blue heron, a squirrel, an hibiscus, and a weathervane I bought at the ReStore for a mere $16!  Tomorrow were are meeting John, Lana, and Kelly at an art festival in Gulfport.  Hopefully the predicted rain will hold off until the evening.

2/16/17 Thursday

Another day like yesterday - slow start and then got slammed.  We stopped for a quick lunch and then drove to the Seaside Seabird Sanctuary down by the beach.  The sanctuary takes in injured birds for rehab.  Some are able to be returned to the wild, but many are too badly damaged that they would not survive in the wild so they have a permanent home here.  The little screech owl, Rufus, was on a volunteer's gloved hand.  He was very cute.  We toured the facility and then walked out to the beach and took a walk.  It was quite windy, but sunny.  The wind caused the waves to be much higher than they were last time we were at the beach.  We saw a couple of older men playing bocce on the sand - quite challenging.  We came back and did laundry and then made dinner.  It is a bit chillier tonight, but tomorrow is supposed to be in the 70's again so no problem.  The bird on the top of the door is a night heron, then Rufus, a great horned owl, brown pelicans, a funny sign, white pelicans, and waves at the beach.

2/15/17 Wednesday

It was a weird day today at work.  It started out extremely slowly, but then we got a huge crush of people.  It was also very muggy today for the first time.  We came home for lunch and the clouds came in and the breeze picked up.  We had a ten minute downpour and then the rain stopped as suddenly as it started.  We went grocery shopping this afternoon and by the time we got home it was too late to go for a walk.  No pix today.  It is cooler tonight so hopefully it will be more comfortable at work tomorrow.

2/14/17 Tuesday

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!  The ReStore was having a staff meeting this morning and wasn't due to open until 1 so we chose to take the day off.  We drove up to Homosassa Springs and visited the wildlife park.  Years ago, this park was privately owned, but when the state took it over in the 1980's, they decided to find homes for all of the animals not native to Florida - lions, tigers, etc. - to other zoos.  The problem was that no one wanted the very large hippo that lived there.  The governor solved the problem by making the hippo a citizen of Florida!  Mainly we were there to see the manatees, but there weren't too many around since the water temperature has been warming up.  We saw a few and a very cute baby.  Unfortunately, my camera battery chose to die today so I didn't get too many pix and none of the manatees.  We did enjoy the many shore birds and flamingos in the park and had a lovely time walking along the boardwalks.  We also saw our first alligators of this trip here.  We just got back home and are ready for a quiet night.  I know from working as a waitress for many years, not to go out tonight for dinner.  It is the second busiest night of the year - Mother's Day is the first.  Today's photos are of turtles piled up on a log, a baby gator, the hippo, a great blue heron, azaleas in bloom, and a spoonbill.

2/13/17 Monday

An unusual Monday - we were very busy today - even had a line at the register, but most of the sales were small ones so I doubt we made too much money.  We came home to chill out for a bit and then went for a nice walk down by the lake.  I put on a few pix of our walk.  The most exciting sighting was of a Great blue heron in the water with his/her mate sitting on the nest on the top of a nearby tree.

2/12/17 Sunday

Another beautiful day today - not a cloud in the sky and temps in the mid seventies.  We took a road trip down Gulf Boulevard next to the inter-

coastal waterway down to Fort DeSoto.  On the way we passed the Don Cesar hotel - a pink behemoth from the 1920's.  We spent most of our time on the pier.  We had a lovely chat with an older couple from England, who live here (St. Petersburg) from November through April.  They were fishing, but not having any luck.  We continued to the end of the pier and saw four dolphins playing very close to us.  One man was pulling in a big fish and the dolphin came out of the water and tried to get it, but the man was quick and pull the fish up out of the way.  I put a picture of the fish on here - the man said it was a sheepshead.  He actually caught another one while we were standing there.  There were plenty of gulls, terns, and pelicans feeding nearby.  We then walked over to the fort and listened to a volunteer talk about the hardships encountered while building the fort (built as protection during the Spanish-American War).  They had no water on the island so had to ship it in barrels from Tampa.  The water wasn't just for consumption by the soldiers, but was used to make the massive cement walls that made up most of the fort.  I put a couple of cannons on.  When we came back to town, we decided to go to the movies.  We saw "A Dog's Purpose" - funny and sad - a good story.  We came back to make dinner and do a load of laundry as we go back to work tomorrow.