Florida's Winter is Over?

 

While west Florida had 5-6 inches of snow just a few days ago, it appears that Florida's Winter is just about over.  We woke up to 35 degrees this morning...Pensacola awoke to 30 degrees.  They nearly got up to 60 degrees, we got up to 64 degrees.  Look at the blue skies over our home area!  

The White Ibis were just eating it up!

That brown bird is a young White Ibis...the brown feathers will drop off, and will be replaced with white feathers...probably by summer.

The Great White Egret, or Great White Heron, is also a frequent visitor to the Library Pond.  There were 5 or 6 when Indy and I arrived, but all but one flew away immediately.  An Osprey flew through too...I have seen them quickly fly into the water, and take a fish out and fly away.  Very common thing in Florida...and now and then, you will see a fish out in the middle of the street, parking lot, lawns as every now and then they have a premature dropping of their fish.  That is when the Seagulls and Black Birds fight over the remains.

So, what got me to dig out the camera, charge up the batteries, and write another blog just days from my last blog???

Well...maybe it is this guy...could it be?  Is it??  I have not seen one in our area for a couple of years now... 

             

      YES it is...an American Bald Eagle!  And if there is one...

There is probably a nest...and this time of year, if there is a nest...

There is probably one in the nest.  Both male and female bald eagles stay in the nest to incubate and care for their eggs and young. But the female usually spends more time at the nest than the male.  My guess is, since the one out of the nest was not hunting, there are probably eggs in the nest...but it is probably time to hatch here real soon.  

As I have been taking Indy on her potty/exercise drives, I have seen many people, some with those HUGE LONG CAMERAS, taking pictures of the nest below.  I never saw any birds, but I knew there was something there.  And by the size of the nest, I figured it was an Eagle.

    

This Osprey Nest is a familiar sight in our area.  The female is very likely to be the one that stays in the nest while the male is out "fishing".  Sound familiar???  At least they don't need the newest and best fishing boat to "do their thing"!

She came out, spread her wings a few times, and sat perched looking around.  In this picture above she was staring right at me, her back is to the gulf (Gulf of America!!!!), causing the feathers on her head to stand up just a bit.  Again, did you all notice that blue sky we had today???

Here is a better picture of the boat that run aground during Hurricane Helene. 

This is what our week is going to look like.  Pretty soon we will be complaining about the heat and humidity again.

 

New Year, New Start, Past is the Past

The "Past is the Past" unless you live in Hurricane Country.  The boat above was nearly capsizing a good month after the last Hurricane hit our area in October.  Luckily for this boat owner, the tide came in, the boat leveled out, and some kind soul moved it out into the channel and it has been fine ever since.  Perhaps it was the owner who did this...that, I just don't know.
 

But this other boat ended more like an episode from Gilligan's Island.  It beached itself up along the shore, and has remained that way for the past three months.  (It is the furthest boat in the picture).  Two years ago there was a boat that had capsized...all you could see was the hull since the mast was under water, turned on its side.  It took 8 months for it to be cleared from the channel.  My guess is, when we leave in a few months, this boat will still be where it is.  Perhaps they are waiting for the next hurricane hoping it will move itself back into the channel.  Some times the past can't remain in the past, not here in hurricane country.  FEMA moved many folks out of the housing they were providing up until last week...these folks can't get out of the past...their every day living is just HELL!  "FEMA, we are here to help until your three months run out", seems to be their motto.

When I last left you, we were planning to spend Christmas Day at Marcia's brother Mike's house.  Well, a UTI took that plan away...one of the many issues you face when you have MS.  So, I went to Jallo Wine and Spirits, a fairly new store that opened up about 4 miles from us.  It has a lot larger offering than the local liquor stores have.  Easily found a bottle of Ouzo, a bottle of Johnny Walker Black, and these two gems pictured above.  Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout (for Marcia) and Cutwater White Russian foe me.  My sister Sandy turned me on to Cutwater last summer...especially their Espresso.  They did not have Espresso, but they did have the White Russian...which is a flavor I was interested in trying.  

So our Christmas Day was filled with cooking a Bone-in Ribeye Roast, a Christmas toast with a shot of Ouzo, and a Oatmeal Stout for Marcia with dinner, while I enjoyed my White Russian.  A box came with four each, and we enjoyed one each day for the next three days after Christmas too, along with one enjoyable evening with Johnny Walker over Ice in coffee cups, because we did not have any glasses...well, Amazon has fixed that, so we now can (and have) enjoyed Johnny Walker, over Ice each week, in an appropriate glass.  I would show you that the bottle is still 2/3rds full, but you all would probably think I just went and bought another bottle...so I will skip that, and you will just have trust me.

We did make it over to DeLand to see Marcia's other brother and his wife Caryl for New Year's Eve.  Hoping that the Booms and the Bangs would be less in their area than ours, but it wasn't.  However, I gave Indy a couple of Thunder Wonders, and that worked just fine.  We 'camped' in their driveway for the night, and had no problem with traffic getting there on Tuesday, and getting home on Wednesday.  (We actually left Monday, stayed in a Cracker Barrel for the night, and arrived Tuesday around 10 am.)   We had a very enjoyable time there.

I celebrate the New Year with my final IRS payment of our quarterly taxes.  I ALWAYS take a picture of the envelope before I mail it, and as I mail it...just a good idea, in my opinion.  Yes, I could get a PIN and send it electronically, but I try to keep the good ole Post Office in business each year, so I put on my "Forever Stamp" (bought four or five years ago) four times a year, and send it out.  The 5th stamp I use each year is to send our yearly tax statement out...so you can see, I am single-handedly keeping the USPS in business.

Finally, there is yesterday...  Above is Indy having her Inaugural Hot Dog while watching the Inauguration.  Need I say more...  The past is the past, this is a new year...let's hope it is better for everyone.