Two rats down – how many left???

Another one bit the dust! Went up to check traps and one held a bounty – YES!  Tonight I will be listening for the pitter of little feet. I did call Massey for a free inspection, ‘guestimating’  how much do I estimate the service will be? Over $300 for the pest control and traps are ala carte — will let you know what the estimate is. Tomorrow I will put aluminum mesh over my plumbing stacks so things cannot get in and out. I don’t want to say I have won until I hear no running above me. Hopefully no weaned babies are up there.  So for now, I reset the Victor traps and let them sit in waiting. From my results, those traps are instant death!  
Since the daylight savings time went into effect, it has affected my sleep, I wake earlier, but go to bed the same. I have become lethargic around 10am, and have had to nap an hour for the past two days. This is not how I operate.
This morning I was up by 5:15am and of course it was actually getting light. I opened the back door and heard the heron close by wailing. He was sitting in one of my pines.
It actually stayed until after 8:30am. The cranes flew over for an early birdseed breakfast.  While I went out and cleared my lakefront of weeds. The water is going down so I can pull in some of the stuff clogging the shore line.   And maybe soon, that area can look like the part I was able to clear further along the lake.  The weeds are locked together like webbing and pull in in blocks.
You can see from this picture where my neighbor’s property still has the weeds next door.
The cranes came along and thought my weed pile was a play pile and pulled weeds out and tossed them about, dancing and jumping, they had a great time and I enjoyed watching them.
The baby had an itch  – the heron stayed out of their way safely in the tree.

That’s it so far on the Rat Wars,  Victor can call me any time for an endorsement…

October state of mind, now where’s the cold front?

It’s been a little while, but really have been waiting for the heat to subside. The birds have been hardly coming, everything is just rather worn out by this heat. last night was supposed to be the beginning of a cold front touching down to bring some relief.  The fishing is lousy because of the mooching turtles. The fish are not biting like they were over a year ago. The bass have retreated somewhere though Ringo and I relentless keep our eyes on all activity that stirs the surface.  Today started sunny hot and humid, all week it has been high 90’s. The cranes flew in   to make their presence known
As usual they did
a rain dance

rain dance

The flowers seem tired too, we all need a change.  But they always manage to still color the yard.

The day clouded up and got to a cool 87 degrees, so that was about 10 degrees cooler than it has been.  They said big rains were coming with this cold front, but only a short period of just droplets came and that was it. We ended up with a rainbow hardly visible.  But still nothing that remotely felt cool. So still waiting for our big Fall to fall.

Red in the morning – sailors warning

This is exactly how it looked at around 7am. I have not re-touched it at all, the day began as a red one, now it is going from pinks and blues, to blue and vanilla. Gotta get gardening before the vampire sun comes up to get me.  The cranes came for their seed and I noticed when I came out to take a photo, the shadow of the baby was on the body of the mother.

8:28am, I have washed my hands literally of weeding and trimming, so much more to do! But I got a nice reward, the blue girl roses are in bloom and smell so sweet  .

Tonight the clouds settled in and they were thick, I didn’t see the moon till it got higher over the lake,  It was beautiful. I watched it go through the clouds as it moved higher. 

It is just a beautiful sight as the moon moves in orbit.  Tomorrow it will happen once more. I will of course be watching.
I am working on “ab”-stractions, my way of making crappy photos I take into abstracts – here’s a few samples, 

It’s a lot of fun – what will become of them? Some will be used on exhibit, some will get trashed – but some bad photos turn into new art, and what the heck is wrong with recycling?

Harvest Moon

Last night ther heron came down and fished with Ringo and I. He stood in the water, I stood at various places on the lake, neither of us caught anything, but that didn’t matter, I was glad to have the heron back. Every morning I keep going out to see if it is on a branch in it’s nesting tree.
Earlier I had been out in the yard taking pictures

of dragonflies, they are everywhere and will stop close to me as if they are as curious about me as I am about them. 

The butterflies too were all over. 

We now have a small bunny that appears from time to time .    The little guy came when the cranes were here and Papa crane chased him off.  Baby crane is still changing color, his eyes are still lighter and he does not have the red crest yet, though it is coming in little by little.

Ringo was busy under the bushes eating a long blade of grass.

The band of brother mallards are still hanging around with the pekin ducks, but Carbs is nowhere to be found. Have not seen him in weeks.
Fishing is horrible for some reason, even with the harvest moon tonight, not one little tug on the bobber. 

Tomorrow night I think I will go to the marina and take some pics of the moon coming up over Lake Monroe.  It’s just such a treat to see it so close and so big.  The anhinga sat up in the tree and watched from his vantage point.   It was a good night for moon gazing and bird watching, just not for fishing, only for feeding turtles.

Dedicated Central Florida animal groups just want their animals to find homes

Today I went over to Petsmart in Casselberry, Florida where RAIN, Rescuing Animals In Need, a 501(c) Corp. had some of their animals on display for people to adopt. They had an assortment of cats and dogs, dogs both small and big who need new homes. RAIN volunteers foster many rescued animals they get  from people giving up their pets to rescuing pets from the streets and from shelters that have animals ready to be euthanized.
They take care to observe the animals first and get their shots and tests like feline leukemia, and heartworm updated. All adopted animals are neutered before adoption. You have to always admire these people for going all out to help animals find a loving home.  Here are a few of the photos of pets available for adoption. ANd you can contact them at 407-620-9736, or go on their website http://www.rescuinganimalsinneed.org

The people at Animal Welfare Alliance of Central Florida have a wonderful founder and activist named Gloria Wade. She has been working with animals and looking out for their rights for years. She and volunteer, Gail Nagin, (who had just come from protesting the Greyhound conditions at the racetrack,) are both trying hard to get a ‘high volume, low cost” spay and neuter clinic for central Florida, one that only specializes in neutering because having animals sterilized is needed badly to discourage this overrun of the dog and cat population. That has to be a priority and hopefully it will be a dream realized.  Gloria had with her a “Chain of Colors”, each link representing a dog or cat euthanized in one Central Florida shelter.
This link represents a Siberian Husky put to death because someone did not have the space for him, each link has a story, and there are over 5000 of them. Gloria
showed them to me with much sadness that so many animals have to be put to sleep because they are unwanted which is her reason for helping people have a low cost spay/neuter clinic.
visit  http://www.awacf1.org both groups are reaching out for your help, if you can, take an animal home and give it the love and attention it deserves, that is a great reward to all these volunteers who open their hearts for animals in need.  Contact AWACF about helping fund the clinic and RAIN  for any of the animals in the photos, and they have plenty more cats and dogs in need of a home, if you are looking for love, try looking here.

Soothing Sunday morning – snakes and flowers

It’s Sunday, the week flies by in nano-seconds anymore. The good thing is that hurricane season is coming closer to the end.
This morning had the cranes right outside mooching for the loose bird seed on the ground.
They have gone and a soft rain is falling on the lake. The cardinals have taken the cranes place.  And as I write now, it is sunny again — that’s Florida!
Thank goodness we have had no pythons come crawling through here YET as yesterday they picked up an 18 foot Python about 20 miles away that was being kept in a risky enclosure. A snake like that when hungry could do some serious eating, like kids! 
The owner said the 300 plus pound, 18 foot snake gave his daughter rides – SAY WHAT? It was fed about 4 rabbits a day.  I noticed on Yahoo a story about a python that ate 11 guard dogs, that wasn’t in the US, but it could be the way pythons are showing up here in Florida these days. I’m sure people are letting them go because they can’t afford to feed them and they grow so large.
I can remember in the learly 90’s when we were involved in the Central Florida Herpetology Club, the people came to meetings with snakes around their necks and arms, (they had to be bagged and caged during the meeting.) There were lots of vendors selling ‘herps’ of all kinds; turtles, lizards and of course all types of non-poisonous snakes. We have had ball pythons, rat snakes, Texas longnose snakes, milk snakes and Brazilian Rainbow boas. We lost some of them in the house from time to time, (but never told any of our guests that when they visited.) And we let our boas swim in our pool once in a while, climb the banisters, but Aaron, the snake’s caretaker grew bored and we sold them.  Not once did we let any go, oh take that back, we did let our mean mean yellow rat snakes loose in the woods, (those were the snakes that bit me,) but they are native.
Today, we still have the same cats we did when we had the snakes, and the
prospect of seeing a 12 foot or longer snake in my yard would be a bit unsettling. So I will just focus and show some pictures of the more delicate flora and fauna.
The flowers are bright this morning, spider lilies were wet. 
The canna lilies bright red. The Meyers lemons are getting bigger and bigger, can’t wait till they ripen.  The water in the lake is still up nicely, though fishing is still bad. Last night I caught a turtle. The fish are not biting. The cranes were though, they did not realize Ringo the cat was so close and Papa crane almost got him.

So that’s how Abbesworld is going today so far. How’s your day? 

Friday – remembering the past

Amazing how fast the years go by – it’s already 8 years since 911. I watched the whole historical footage on the Today show with Katie Couric – it still evokes the same emotions, I got goose bumps and choked up watching that second plane hit. Published two old poems written years ago after 911, they are on http://abberantverse.wordpress.com

It is also my late sister’s birthday, the whole family misses her dynamic personality, her warmth and love.  That’s me front in blue and her behind me in white, (and cousin to right). In the bottom shot, she is in the front, I’m behind. We were always close, she was the ultimate best friend and ‘confidente’!  So it is a day to remember I don’t have her here anymore and miss her bunches.
It was a good day to escape the confines of this ‘BOX’ I am enslaved to and go to the marina and enjoy the view.
I stopped by Veterans Memorial Park and saw someone had put red roses near the flagpole.
It added color to the rather blue day.  I was the only one there. It was so very empty.  The wind driven water was really whipping up against the sea wall.
As I drove up to the duck pond, I could see a number of birds standing in the shade of the trees. I pulled up and could tell right away, these birds are used to getting fed!   
I’m sure they were disappointed that I did not come armed with bread.

I always enjoy seeing the different colors on the pigeons and cross breedings of the mallards.
Again, there was not one muscovy duck up there. Forgot to mention that Carbs has also been gone four days now. I assume he will show up again soon. The Band of Brothers has been coasting around the lake lately.
Back by The Palms, the birds and ducks were all quietly sitting in the shade. Did not see any crows, but did view a few grackles. 

I came home after watching the waves for about ten minutes.  It was very calming.

I came away with a nice sense of peacefulness.
I stopped by my friend Sonja’s.  She told me that her chimney had been struck by lightning. I guess because trees cover part of her house when I fish, that I didn’t notice it. So I had to go take a few pictures.   Her pergola too had wood missing from the porch where the chimney had collapsed on top of the beams. She has work to get done. It affected some of her electric too.  So I guess knowing that her house is just acres away, was struck by a bolt, I won’t sneak out during those random thunderstorms to film.
And back at home, what is the best remedy for the 911 blues? Brownies! Warm brownies packed with a cut up Snickers Bar! So long for today -

Friday, cranes take off

It’s Friday,  this morning there was a fog over the lake But that did not stop the cranes and Carbs the duck from looking for birdseed.  The other birds were busy too, lots and lots of cardinals today. I bet there were about 7 at one time!
When it was time to go fishing, the cranes were still here rooting around the yard. The sky was very dramatic.   across the lake there was this wonderful rainbow patch just above the treeline.  The sky was full of storms to the east.
Most of the day I had been working on my garden. I think I am going to let more than half of it go back to being grass. The weeding is Hell.
That overgrown patch beyond the crane in the first photo is the garden and I have not weeded in a few months. I am really losing interest in keeping it up. The weeds grow the best, so essentially I have a garden of weeds. and maybe I should just let the whole lawn go to weeds and just mow one three foot area going down to the lake?
Anyway, it was time to fish so I chose a lightning rod,  and ran to the lake because there was a great full moon last night. How can I ignore this magnetic call from the lake. I did catch two fish, bream,   they are really very pretty fish with rainbow colors on parts of them.  The sky continued to turn blues and I could see the rain coming down a few miles away.   The cranes finally gathered on the hill and I grabbed my camera. Excuse how messy the image is as I had messy sticky, gooky fish hands and was trying to touch the camera without holding my hands on it too much. But when I saw the cranes all standing straight in a row waiting to take the cue from the father to leave, I wanted to try and get
a video of them flying practically over my head.
I did give up fishing as the turtles were once again making it impossible to throw the bait out without having a turtle charge right for it.
As I looked up, I noticed how beautiful the sky was, it had melded into pinks and blues, and orange my favorite look.  It’s one of those moments you wish you had someone out there besides a duck and cat. The colors were spectacular. So, that’s about it. I came in and Frankie was hogging my desk and had knocked over all kinds of paperwork as she sprawled out.   And that’s it for today – where does a day go? Where does the month go? Where does a year go? Can it all just slow down for a while, life is just passing by way too fast…. Tomorrow I will report on the garden

The face of Art – we need to kidnap Carbs

The day began with the titmouse banging into my window again as I sat paying bills and looking for art opportunities around town as I write an art submission blog, http://art4submission.blogspot.com So feel free to take a look and see if there is an opportunity for you. 
I did finally grab Adam and head for the Drivers License Bureau to change a title which will double in price after September 1st. We know they have to make money somehow. That was a two and 1/2 hour wait! Actually we took our number, and then ran a few errands and came back.
It was slammed!
Finally we headed downtown to pic up my enlargement from Roger McNichols of RT Art. He lives in a wonderful older neighborhood downtown and has artists traipsing in and out all day and night picking up their work. He and his wife Trish have massive equipment, he dry mounts, stretches canvas, giclees,  uses textured paper or whatever you want, he can probably do.
http://www.rt-art.com
Right on his street was a beautiful fountain, and I mean on the street literally.  It looked very European down Washington Ave.
Adam and I drove toward home and I told him we would stop and look around Lake Lily for some wildlife, usually I see turtles and birds. We had passed several lakes earlier and saw nothing.
We passed all the new condo/shops near Lee Rd.  WOW, they really looked good, (and I improved them with color and filters as they would look in Abbesworld).
We parked near the lake and began to explore when suddenly Adam was surrounded by faces and beaks that were all works of art! (have a few larger views at   http://offshoot2.wordpress.com
Adam looked like he was in the middle of a new Sy-fi  movie- Zombie Bloodsucking Ducks. They are used to getting food from people, and what happens if they don’t get their way? …They just waddle away
We actually smiled all the way around the lake at face after painted face, each with such unique markings – I love the Muscovys. But, I don’t need to tell you, like a good writer I need to “show and don’t tell”…

When we got back in the car, all we could think of was how happy Carbs would be if he lived here! No band of brothers, (BOBs), the mean mallards who always chase him off. We wondered if we could kidnap Carbs and throw a box over him and take him to this park??? Carbs is not like these ducks, he is still very shy of people. I am not able to get too close to him, even when I feed him some birdseed and bread, he waits till I am about ten feet away before he will come to eat. If only he knew we were doing it so he could be so happy and never again have to worry about being chased off.  We plotted ways in the car. I think we need a big net and a box – ummm, it’s something to think about, kidnapping a duck for his well being.  Just tonight I saw the BOBs chase him and peck him as he hurried away through the neighbors yard. It breaks your heart because Carbs is so happy until the mean mallards come and dominate him. We did not witness one incident of a duck bossing another one at Lake Lily. The egrets were bossy, but not any of the muscovys we saw.  Carb’s wings just don’t work or I’d map quest a direction and tape it to his wing and send him off. And, it is way too far for his flappy, yellow feet to carry him.  What shall we do? Stay tuned and don’t quack about this too loudly until we deducked the situation. I have a feeling I will dream of things like strapping him with a remote set of wings, or hitching him to a kite, or even dreaming of him with wings that hold the power of the wind. I can’t wait to go to bed and dream in deep Rem of muscovy art and Carbs being in the land where he can conduck his life with no fear of the BOBs!   The BOBs with Elvis in March. Elvis flew away and have not seen him since…
Carbs

Getting ones feet wet…

Today I walked out to feed the birds and Carbs was gone. I wondered if the BOBs had chased him away. The yard was busy, especially down by the lake where many many dragonflies and bees flew all over the yellow blooms down by the stump of my fallen oak. In fact so many bees were there pollinating, the air was humming. 
The fungi growing in the wet grass even looked happily like a cute couple.

The cranes flew over and the baby was quite intimidated by the step-father crane who kept bullying him. The baby would fluff all up and crouch with it’s head  down when it was near the male.  It knows to try and stay away from that dominant beak.

A titmouse was continually banging itself against my window. I will go into that in a day or two. The butterflies were all over the place, and the roses were young and tender.  
The brown thrasher was the bossy bird this morning. The bird was happily having fun splashing and cooling off.
and then a dove decided it was it’s turn to get wet .  The thrasher was wildly twisting and jumping and I suppose the dove thought it looked like such fun, it decided to join the thrasher.  Except the thrasher wanted no part of sharing the bird bath and screamed at the dove and sent the dove flying off. The thrasher fly up on top of the feeder.
Finally it ate enough seed and flew off.
I ran out to my Free lunch at Don Pablos. I won the free lunch for 4 by putting my business card in a bowl about two weeks ago. I took my good artist friends who have been so helpful and nice to me, Pam, Judy and Leslie. The service was great and the conversation too. Judy, Pam, and Leslie are always inspiring to listen too, always have irons in the fire. Leslie is a published writer who should have another book out sometime soon. She writes about film, (movies) and does a very detailed and thorough job of research, she also writes poetry and reads it at local venues. Pam has been juried into many shows, I think she said 8 or 9 this year alone, her infrared photography is a standout. Judy has a super group, she started the Womens Caucus for Art branch here in Orlando and really took pains in getting it to a non profit status. So I am the slacker of the group, well, actually I have one piece, a photo I did of Jimmy Hendrix, to be put on display for a month as part of an interior design show downtown. Tomorrow I have to go pick up the work at RT Art. Just one email and Roger said he’d have it for me so I could get it framed this weekend, that’s service!  sales@RT-Art.com
On the 8th of September, I will have 3 pieces at the Gateway in Debary for a month. So things are not that bad for s struggling artist getting her feet wet just like that brown thrasher, enjoying the exposure, lost in her abandon of the arts and the wonderful natural view in front of her window…
P/S, carbs came back and is still here…

Ever see an elephant pee?

It’s my birthday! Thank you very much, but why bother celebrating being old? Let’s just move on – I decided to go visit the Sanford zoo and look for crows as they are always there waiting for discarded food at the concession stand. I want to take more for the art exhibit I am trying to get together for the upcoming Seminole Community College submissions for 2010 and to submit as a proposal for some other galleries.
I first looked for Carbs and threw him some seed.  Then headed on to Sanford Zoo only about 5 miles away. The sky was really overcast, threatened to rain, but figured I’d take my chances.  The Zoo was quiet, they are gearing up for a Grand Opening for the obstacle course with low and high, tree level walkways. I wonder how long that will last till they have an accident and the liability will end that.  

The Zoo itself was quiet as the kids are back in school. I came first to a red shoulder hawk on display. After that I headed toward the concession stand and nada, nothing, no birds anywhere! So I moved on to where they were feeding the iguana.
The alligators head was so close to the wall, I couldn’t even take it, so I took his knobby body. I passed up on the snake room this time as the sky was darkening and thunder could be heard and I am handling metal. I went to visit the cats and Maude and Mary the old Asian elephants.
The cats were all sound asleep. Except the leopards who were panting away like last time, poor jail birds.  The monkeys were also sound asleep, not one was moving! On to the elephants.  , Maud or Mary, whichever it was was posing nicely. Then she took a massive leak. 

And it kept going and going  —

I then wandered on to the butterfly garden,  So much of the zoo is built around a natural setting which makes it such a treasure. It is not manufactured like other zoos. The bad part is the cats and elephants, they need a lot more room. 

The natural flow of water is also a bonus with all the streams hidden among the cages and exhibits.
I made my way to the cheetahs, 
One of the cheetahs kept pacing and pacing. he looked so bored.  Finally I saw some grackles at a little pond across from the emus.  The birds frolicked and had fun dipping in the water. I took a good amount and then hurried through a few more paths of animal cages. 
And the sky looked and sounded like it might open up so I hurried out. On the way back home right outside the zoo was a wild turkey, but I was driving and could not stop to take the photo. I did see a rooster by a house and no one was coming so I pulled over and took it’s picture, – it was quite handsome!
And that’s how my day has gone.  I came back and had more birds in bird bath and eating at feeders. Love sitting and getting side-tracked at my desk.  That’s a mocking bird shaking off the water. And so far, that’s the day. I really love that being this age has brought a real passion for taking pictures. I feel that is me, I can’t even imagine not having a day without a photo!  Thanks to Lee and Andrea for our sushi dinner last night and to Adam who gave the family Journey tickets next month. I’m excited to see that new guy who sings like Steve Perry.

Enjoy photos at http://offshoot2.wordpress.com

Tuesday early am

The Band of brothers are back

Carbs has been so happy the past days.  He sits near the shore and primps and when he gets hot, he sleeps under the lemon tree. Life was good, but last night the ‘ BOBs’
showed up with the Pekins.  Carbs had already taken to the lake and was peddling those webbed feet as fast as he could to get away from them. I didn’t think I would see him this morning, but there he was.  There were no more sightings of the BOBS all day. Only lots of the regular birds and lots of butterflies.

and there was so much activity down near the lake. lots of bees pollinating the yellow blooms off something that has grown where my old downed tree fell. All kinds of bees, big and little and the little ones were not shy about harassing the big ones.  Every time I go out in the back, I have my camera ready, and usually I am not disappointed.
Adam and I cleaned out the garage a bit this afternoon. Man oh man, he could have a video store in our garage. Little by little he is getting rid of his old videos.
I got up and cleaned out the gutters in the front. I found it was clogged and had to unhook part of the gutter and find where the clog was. Glad I did that before we do have a hurricane or tropical storm that really soaks us. At least Bill is not coming here, can’t say we even miss him. No one even seems in hurricane mode, it is always an inconvenience. I do keep two of my hurricane plywood pieces up, one on the side of the house at the garage and the other in Adam’s window because it has been painted to look like a horse in a barn looking out and the neighbors like it.
Cross your fingers that the rest of the season is flatlined.
After dinner I went to fish and the BOBS showed up again as I was fishing. Carbs saw them and went for the water, because if they get him on land with his defective wings, Carbs is not fast enough and the BOBS over take Carbs and bite and harass him. In the water Carbs is fast.
The Bobs came swimming over when they spotted Carbs, but Carbs swam away and they didn’t even go after him. They let Carbs go. I was glad. The Pekin ducks had changed a bit since becoming BOB members, they have yellowed on their undersides. But they look very happy with their mean mallards.  They like those bad boy ducks.
Fishing sucked, too many begging turtles, and the fish are not biting. The trees sound like alarms after 8pm, the crickets are very vocal and highly orchestrated!
Tomorrow, another hotter than Hell day – but, I’m not complaining – any day without a hurricane aiming at you is a good day.

Tuesday clouds and wildlife

The clouds are schizophrenic today,  dark, light, puffy, happy and sad.  I went up to the marina to see if anything was going on. Only saw limited birds and ducks. Took pictures of whatever looked interesting. 

Went back home and it stormed hard with driving wind.

It settled down and have had lots of jays, cardinals, and doves by the feeder right out my window. I watched one titmouse take a sunflower seed and put it between it’s feet, then crack the seed and carefully eat it. 
These birds work so hard for their treats. Carbs of course is down at the lake. Adam and I went off to lunch at Imperial Dynasty on 434, we love the sesame tofu. They are even offering sushi classes over there if anyone in Longwood area is interested. Afterwards we took the long way home up Markham Woods road to look at some of the mansions they have built – I can’t even fathom what it costs to live in those massive homes. Did notice several homes that are in foreclosure, lawns uncared for, the abandoned look of emptiness.
We drove up through International Parkway and handed Adam the camera when we saw a woodstork.  He did a good job!
After coming home and sitting here at the computer. I am just so spoiled by an eyeful all the time! Beautiful female red wing black birds are on the feeder this afternoon. they are brown, unlike the sleek males, but still very nicely marked birds.  And that’s how it’s been today so far, dark, dreary, bright and light and so enjoying the birds in the tree outside my window.
Looking at the time, wondering where did the afternoon go? I have been lost in the world of wings, amused by blurring colors and captivated by flight… here’s photos for your enjoyment.

How do I get anything done???

Hurricanes a comin’ – nutria spotted – torso and legs for sale

Had a great time in Tampa. Did see my nutria, ,   also there was tilapia in the condo pond – how they got there — who knows — they are certainly not native.
Also on the condo pond were many female mallards with beautiful faces, and all had different markings.

Other than some long distance birds that I get over here. the wildlife was quiet.  I didn’t go anywhere interesting to take pics this time. Just quiet family time. My Bella and Sasha were there to be my bed mates.
Then it was back home to reality, two tropical storms about to turn into hurricanes with one as a fairly substantial one. Both could impact us.  The first is tropical storm Ana due to possibly hit Florida between Miami and Port Canaveral so far. It will be a rain maker they say, winds around 70mph, that’s not too bad. The other one is worse, will be a Category 2 hurricane. That one is following behind the other one. So far it is TD #3. I went this am to stock up on food and water just in case.
Will be watching closely. Don’t plan on leaving home, will be here to monitor and blog. I can’t imagine leaving my ‘box’ unless it is possibly Katrina big.  Meanwhile, it’s always good to be home. Today went to the flea market and got Orangeblossom-oak flavor honey, ummmm, delicious! I also bought a suet feeder and something is eating the whole block of suet in one gulp over night. I will have to remove it nightly. I do have a lot of cardinals and jays lately. 
One last thing, I was at a garage sale that had dept. store dummies, a few male torso and legs, if you need any, call Katy 407-690-2929

Hummingbird says hello

I was at the computer when I looked out and watched cardinal grabbing berries off a branch of a bush. 

So I decided to wander the yard and see if any photo-ops presented themselves.  The  ducks were waddling around,  
the dragonflies were stopping close by,  
and even a skink came out to sun on the stump of the pine behind the hibiscus-  – I noticed my meyer lemon bush is getting filled with green lemons slowly ripening,
bird of paradise had emerged  but the best of it was when I looked over and thought I saw a hummingbird and it was! A little beauty that was going way too fast, but did get a couple lousy photos ,

But it was a real exciting nature encounter! I was so excited that I ran to grab my old hummingbord feeder, got some hummingbird food in it and ran out the door and tripped, the feeder flew out of my hand and fell and broke a seam on the side and all the juice leaked out. I grabbed the keys and ran to Walmart, I needed a few thingsanyway. I bought a glass feeder and filled that and now I have a hummingbird corner.   So now I keep looking over waiting and waiting to see one show up – jeeze, I hope it won’t take 4 more years!!!  And a big shout out to Richard and Christine for supplying that firebush that brought the hummer over the fence – A BIG BIG thanks!!!

Monday thinking

Baby crane was here this morning with his family. They ate bird seed, groomed, wandered around yard poking the ground and then lined up and took off like paragliders sailing over the lake

Yesterday it was storming off and on when they came. At around 11 am. it got really dark.  the sky blackened and let loose with a nice rain and lots of thunder. The cranes don’t like the noise, they were quite suspicious and kept looking around to see where the thunder was originating from.  It was raining hard for a while and I noticed even a softshell turtle came out of the lake and rested under my lemon tree.
The water was just dripping off the cranes.

I enlarged to see the rain coming down. Even my waterbarrel was gushing from the excess.
Last week we had no real rain, it would cloud up and threaten and the lightning is getting to be way too lethal around here. A guy was gardening the other day and a bolt came from nowhere that hit near him and he said he passed out, and one of his legs didn’t work and he had to crawl back to his house and was hospitalized. That’s why I am paying more respect to the lightning gods lately as they get closer and seem to be picking out a lot of people to play their games with. I look at the sky and turn on local news before I fish to see what is moving where. But the sky is so amazing around Florida, that’s one of the assets is the constant movement of wind and clouds and rain. Sometimes it comes from the Atlantic, sometimes from the Gulf and when they collide – whammo, fireworks. Like I have said before, it will be sunshining in the front, and raining across the lake. Usually by the time it is almost dark, the sky makes peace and all is pink and quiet.
Today so far it is one of those voids where the sun is hiding, but the sky is gray/white! I need to go out and weed whack while the sun can’t fry me and the lightning is still asleep…


reflection of sun on water

Friday’s visitors

This is my desk at 12:51am – maybe I need a blog that shows my desk at different times during the day just for effect! It looks a little messy, but there is a method to my madness. And breakfast at Tiffany it’s not- but that box of POPS was a great deal at the grocery today, 21.4 ounces for $2.50!  Can’t get get perfume per ounce for anywhere near that, not even stuff like nuts, makeup, or even other cereal!  It’s the biggest box of cereal I have ever seen – how could I turn it down? Right now it’s keeping me and my stomach company. I can see how insomniacs gain weight, this box weighs 1 and 1/2 pounds, I should weigh 5 more at the end of the week. Ha ha – just kidding, I don’t intend to eat it all, Adam is about ten feet away and he has been dipping his hand in the box pretty good himself.
Right now I am looking at the huge tree frog on my window, it showed up about an hour ago. I will have photos later at
http://offshoot2.wordpress.com
Yesterday it seemed like I got a few visitors pictures of things around here. First of all Ringo, because he starts my day with a smile. I see his big face and hear him meow and see him flash those big blues and that is a good sign. Out on the porch was a busy anole running around chasing off the other lizards.  Went out in the yard and there were a lot of butterflies on and off. Two were flirting for a long time.
There even seemed to be a few monarchs trying to find some milkweed.  Behind the large hibiscus bush I have a tree stump that had a fresh snake skin across it, so a nude snake is somewhere around. And later on, just about the time I was getting ready to fish, the clouds came in for a visit and they did not look happy. Even Papa Crane was keeping a close eye on “weather” or not I would be down at the lake. And I wasn’t, we had a lot of lightening, but no rain.  I took many photos of the changing sky and will probably post them tomorrow. But for now, I am finishing this and getting ready to post tree frog pics at the other blogsite -
Sweet dreams – don’t let the tree frogs bite…

Cottonmouth comes to visit

My son and I had gone to the model train exhibit at the Lake Mary Historic Museum and when I came home I was gearing up to fish. I opened the door on the porch and saw Ringo in one corner and heard a ‘bang’ of the aluminum being struck and thought Ringo had a bird cornered. Upon closer observation, I saw a cottonmouth striking at Ringo. 
I grabbed a hoe and had my son grab Ringo and I tried guiding the continually striking snake toward the porch door. He was a devil too. I finally got him headed out the door, but he might be hiding in the bushes next to the porch. Now I am rather paranoid to step out on the porch without giving a good look in all directions! If that snake comes back on the porch, he will be toast!  Ringo is way too bold, he’s like Ricky-tickki-tavi. But it just takes one poisonous bite to make him really sick or worse. Ringo is guarding the door.  Thank goodness Frankie was already inside. I worry more about her being bit than Ringo. She thinks she is as agile as Ringo and also as bold.
Meanwhile, the Historic museum in Lake Mary had a few tables set up with model trains. Old model trains. There were a few young children and their eyes were bright as they watched the trains round the tracks and whistle.
It is on display Saturday afternoon too. Here’s a few photos,

They had old railroad lanterns,  and postcards. Some stamps and other memorabilia. So if you have a fetish for history and model trains,  there you go. The museum itself is a small yet interesting place of all history relating to the tiny city of Lake Mary.
When we left we noticed that in the tiny and I mean tiny downtown of Lake Mary which encompasses only a couple intersections with no traffic lights, there were 4 beauty salons, so apparently the people of Lake Mary like to stay looking good.  There is also an auto repair on that same side street as the Barber shop and there was a cool looking old truck /thing  sitting in front.  
The city hall and Events center are both beautiful new buildings, but downtown Lake Mary is still stuck in a time warp for now. There were also a few empty store fronts for rent  
on both sides of the street, a sign of the times for sure. None of these spaces looked like good places for an co-op art gallery, too small a space, not enough wall area on all places that are available. Traffic is also pretty non existent. The signs of hard times are all over. The biggest sign of a hard time will be the axe waiting for that snake if it thinks he’s coming back for a visit!

Night things to do…

Poor Michael Jackson, I can totally sympathize with his insomnia, last night I slept two hours, actually it was this morning from 8am to 10am. If I had to go onstage like he did, or held a regular job, I’d be screwed.
I was going to go with Dee-dee and listen to a bird lecture, but I had no attention span for sitting and listening, in fact I had invited her to go with me last week and she ended up going alone, some friend I am…
I could use some liquid coma too a few nights.

I have no idea what 8 hours is, I guess for me it is 4 or 5. Don’t get me wrong, I do like sleeping because I like dreaming, dreaming is so damn cool, you can do anything.  But here I am after 2 hours sleep in a 24 hour cycle and I am still up and fooling around on the computer.  I did see a raccoon on the porch,

I brought Ringo in as I was not sure if he would jump that coon or not, or maybe the raccoon would think it was another raccoon because they share the same tail.
I took a few pictures with me and Frankie: 
Frankie was outside too, so I brought her in also. It was hot and very damp outside. Then I took a self portrait and worked it a bit,
Hey, at least I’m smiling! And I took a few pics of furniture,  and even cheated and took Andrea’s cat painting she did and worked that too. It should look like this:  Isn’t Andrea talented? She makes the cutest paintings.
Maybe I will go into my bedroom and veg for a while, turn on the news and relax, maybe read. I do want to say a special shout out to Tabbie my blog buddy, get well ASAP!
Maybe tomorrow I will find more wildlife, these hot days the only things I see are birds quickly in the early morning, turtles when I fish, and cats on hot tin roofs and porches. Even the raccoons know better than to be outside in the afternoon. Good night, it’s almost one, cross your fingers for at least 5 hours of deep alphas and dream patterns…