V-Day, Anniversary, New Washer, Gators, Birds and THE DESTROYER

 

It has been since before the Hurricanes that I had seen the Gator at the pond at the Library.  Well...it is still there, and a little bigger than the last time I saw it.

Saw this guy who had fish bits to feed them...reminded me of the fishermen in Alaska who tossed fish bits out of their boats and the Eagles would catch them mid-flight and soar off.  Here (above) about a dozen pelicans gather around this lone fisherman.

 Of course, our little girl is always looking out to see what is going on.

One day I see this crane on a barge with two non-survivors of the hurricane.  

    

A few days later THE DESTROYER, ummm, barge had moved over to the other side of the boat ramp, and chewed up and removed boat rubbish to this garbage/rubbish for disposal. On its way over it must have swung by and got that boat that was run aground that I showed in my last blog and got it back into the water, or loaded onto a boat trailer...either way, it is gone.

Although I only got a picture of one Juvenile Eagle, there are two, and boy do they grow fast.  Google AI (artificial intelligence) says, "A young eagle, or eaglet, typically takes around 10-12 weeks after hatching before it can fly, a process called fledging, where a bird leaves the nest and takes its first flight; this involves a period of practicing on branches near the nest before fully taking to the air."  Well, I have seen other photos and clips of these two Fledging Eagles sitting on the nest flapping their wings, but nothing yet of actual flight...but that is coming real soon.

  

Of course, we always have a healthy population of Osprey around.  This nest has at least two, if not three, birds in it, as I can here them chirping when mom and dad are out looking for food.  I thought in the one picture had captured them bringing a fish to the nest, but it was nest repair material, or perhaps bugs in the Spanish Moss it has in its claws.

This is our Fisher & Paykel washer, with the dryer sitting to the left.  On Friday (10 days ago or so) Marcia was doing a load of rags/towels and the washer would not empty the water out.  Called a repair company that had fixed it before, and they said they would be out first thing Monday morning...which they did.  Bad news, the pump is no longer available as a OEM (original equipment manufacturer) and although cheap (his words) pumps are available on Amazon and other places, his company will not allow the repairmen put any parts in that are not OEM.  The washer has been good to us, it is around 20 years old, so we decided to replace it.  I had asked the repair man, a real nice man who even Indy liked, what type of washer he would get and without hesitation he said, "Speed Queen...they just don't breakdown."

 DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH A WASHER IS NOW DAYS????  Well, the low end, on sale, are about $500-$600.  The Speed Queen's are running $1,000-$1,600, depending on model.  GULP.  Bit the bullet, went to Famous Tate's, and got the middle level Speed Queen for just over $1,300 including taxes, delivery, and taking old one away, and a 5 year guarantee.  Saturday (4 days ago, 8 days after the breakdown) it was delivered.  Glad I didn't have my ICE t-shirt on or it never would have made it through the front door.  Because we did not need inlet hoses, they would not hook up washer with the old hose, but they did allow me, reluctantly, to attach the hose before he pushed it in.  I offered him $10 to screw on the two hose lines...no go...go figure...forget that tip!  Yes, that is how rude he/they were, AND, the dryer exhaust hose came loose and blew warm damp air into the condo as Marcia washed clothes yesterday.  Good news, our neighbor Mary had her two boys coming out, and today John was nice enough (and young and thin enough) to get it hooked up for us.  Now, as long as that dryer does not break, we are in good shape for years.  If the dryer needs to be replaced, we are in deep crap because finding a top loading dryer (easier for Marcia to use) will be a hard thing to do.

Yesterday we celebrated our 14th Anniversary!  Around 150,000 miles in a RV.  About 1,400 loads of laundry.  Over 5,000 dinners, same for breakfast, 50% less for lunches which we don't eat each day.  Oh, the list goes on and on...but we made it through the big unlucky "13" years, and headed for number 15!  For V-Day (valentines) we had a leg of lamb, and still have some left overs in the freezer of that...so we decided to have something we don't have very often...PIZZA!  My guess is that of those 5,000 dinners, maybe 100 of them included Pizza!

 

Look Here–Look There–Why I Should Not Hike Alone

“Look at those birds over there”, she says.  “Where?”  “Log??”  “What color??? White!”

“Oh, there…”  [look close, they are in the first picture too]

“Over there…got to get that turtle for you sister Sandy.”  “Where?”  “Grass??”  “Sure it is a turtle???”

“Oh, there…yep, she will like that picture.”

Yep, Marcia was able to make the path today.  The GoGo did very well, got stuck once but it was an easy fix.  Starting at Parking Lot 3, it was not very long before we got to the bridge.  She reminded me that I needed to smell the air, to take it a little slower, and take time to look around.  We decided to leave the dogs in the motorhome…the temps were in the mid-70’s and we just left the vent fan on and a few windows open.  They did fine…but they would have enjoyed being along….but it was best that they stayed, and it ended up being a good decision.

Same bridge as yesterday, from the different side.  Yes, there is a couple on the bridge.

It took a bit of time, and I walked right by it, but we did find “the tree”.  This is from the ground looking up…and the limbs and leaves above right are from this tree.  It is like it something from one of those “living dead” creepy movies.

And she wanted me to get a picture of this Spanish Moss covered tree.  She always tell me how the Spanish Moss is really a slow killer to the trees it lands on.  Yep, this one looks pretty dead to me.

While we were admiring the “Tree from the Living Dead”,  a very nice couple from Wisconsin walked by and in our conversation they told us about an alligator on the other side of the river down pass the next boardwalk.  “You can’t see its head because of how it is positioned,” they said.

Well, that’s the advantage of going instead of coming…since we knew it was there, we could keep looking back at it until the full view opened up.

At the bend in the river I wanted to get a panoramic view of the bend.  Just then, while I had the camera down and off, Marcia says, “Look at this Heron flying along the river…”  By the time I got the camera on and in position I did get one shot….but not the quality that I wanted.  Lucky for you, it landed further down the river, and YES, Marcia saw it first, and I got these pictures below.

Again….  “Look on that log”   “What log?”  “What kind of bird??”  “What side of the river???”

“Oh, that log…..”   We walk on up the river towards the “Big Rapids”.

As we sit there at an area where one can sit on a bench and enjoy the river, the Heron moves over near us….

What’s that you say Mr. Heron?   Yep, you are right….I’m darn lucky to have Marcia along, just think what I would have missed….

Oh, and she even saw the first flowers of the early Florida Spring too….   So we left from parking lot #3, and we came out at parking lot #2.  I have about a 4/10ths of a mile walk to the car parked in the next lot.  After yesterday’s hike, and now todays hike, my mind got to thinking.  Now I know you all wish I had a picture of this…but you are just going to have to use your own imagination.   As we got out onto the bike path, I asked her to turn her seat 180 degrees so that she faced the wrong way.  I adjusted the steering column a bit, and stood up leaning on the back of her seat and that little GoGo became the Little Train that Could.  Now you know why it turned out to be a good idea that we did not bring the dogs.  The GoGo carried us well over half way to the car…but when Marcia said, “There is a big Class A headed down the road…” I decided to stop and walk the rest of the way.  Besides, the ride was a pleasant break.  And no, the GoGo did not break….had it, I would probably be writing this from the HHR where I am sure I would have to sleep the night away…..