Birds, Birds and More Birds...But First...

 

First, it is a day of reflection.  Here is Indy, looking out at the Library Cats, and this a reflection off the passenger outside mirror.  Don't know if she is reflecting upon the old year and looking toward the new year...but right now I do know she is wishing that ALL THESE FRICKEN FIREWORKS WOULD STOP!!!!  One of these days I hope to get a picture of the many cats that this lady feeds every day in the front parking lot of the Public Library.  Some of these cats are surly Ferrel Cats, but a few are owned by someone living in one of the homes on the other side of the fence.  Perhaps 2024 will the year I get that picture...

Here is the Library Pond that attracts all the birds.  "IF" all those trees were not there on the left, we could probably see the RV Storage where our motorhome is stored, and maybe even a portion of our Condo.  

These larger white birds are very common, but they don't hang around together in the numbers that the smaller white birds below do.  Now I could research and give the name off each of the birds ... maybe next year.  (LOL)

These small white birds have landed on the lawn at the condos, and especially the lawn by where the motorhome is stored.  When they do go to the lawn, it is normally after a good rain which brings the bugs out that they feed on.

This is at Anclote River Park today.  Took the short four mile drive over there to see how busy they were on a Sunday afternoon, with temps around 65 degrees with a light breeze.  Saw a number of families having picnics, many boaters, and some dog walkers and people watchers.  

I love these Pelicans, especially when they are flying.  When less people are around, they gather all over the boat launching docks.  When they fly, many times they fly just above the water by a few feet.

Hope you all have a wonderful New Year.  Now, and anyone tell me when these fireworks will stop?  It is 9:45 and it sounds like it is midnight.  Well, you know what they say in Florida..."It's Five O'Clock Somewhere."  So today, it has to be midnight somewhere, so lets celebrate that time right now.  

Note:  Indy had a ThunderWunders about 90 minutes ago, and has settled down considerably.  Probably will give her another around 11:15, because when midnight hits, all hell breaks loose around here.

BOOM Boom boom NEW YEARS EVE boom Boom BOOM

Home in Holiday / Tarpon Springs area, FL

We have been living the ‘winters’ in the condo now since May 2013, but this year was the first year we were actually ‘at the condo’ for New Year’s Eve.  What a SURPRISE we were in for.  It all started around noon…a few booms here and few booms there.  By 6 pm, the booms had increased 5 fold.  By 10 pm, they were every minute…by 11 pm they were every 15 seconds…by 11:50 it was constant.  THANK GOODNESS poor little Skruffy is loosing her hearing, they did not affect her at all.  By 1 am, it was over, other an occasional one.   And these booms and bangs were all over…close by…with a short duration of calm when the helicopter flew overhead for about 5 minutes.  Around 12:15 the fire trucks went out in force…don’t know what that was about.

Since the day after Christmas, we have been fighting with a slow draining sink.  The culprit, putting Asparagus ends in the garbage disposal Christmas Day, along with a daily fill of Coffee Grounds from out French Press.  This is the THIRD time in our six and a half years here that we have had problems with this sink drain.  The previous two times it was onion peelings…which we stopped after talking to the guy who cleared it last time (at a price of $250 B-T-W)  This stoppage was more of a slowness.  Run water for 30 seconds and it starts backing up the sink drains.  Drain cleaners helped a bit…got it a 45 second limit, but I finally broke down and bought this nifty Drain Auger (snake).  Runs on 110 volt –OR- battery pack.  Since we don’t have much need for these type of tools, no need to buy battery pack, which is separate from the $129 plus tax price tag.  It goes out 25 feet, which is 3 feet beyond the connection to the main line…so perfect for our needs. 

Here is a look under our double sink.  The big Black item to the right is the garbage disposal I put in a few years ago (replacing one already there).  There is a white drain coming out the side of the disposal, and above it a grey line where the dishwasher line empties into the disposal.  To plunge the drain, I have to plug up that line to the dishwasher, turn on the disposal, then plunge the left sink…not an easy trick.  However, this did not work at all.

After getting the drain auger, I took off the trap drain pipe (the smaller arrows), then the pipe line coming out of the wall (the big arrow).  This allowed the drain auger snake line to enter the system.  As it does, it immediately heads down, then to the right.  This electric auger handled these two turns very easy.  The trick is not knowing how far you are with the line.  I estimate that I went about 20’ the first time, put things together, and it did not do the trick.  Did it the second time using all the line…I now know there is a knuckle in the line near the end showing you that it is all out.  That did the trick.  Just to be sure, I will be putting a heavy-duty Drain-o down the line the next two nights.  Glad to report that I ran the water for 2 1/2 minutes this morning, and it drained just right.  Oh, the auger brought out a bit of Asparagus, and some coffee grounds.  YUCK.  At least now we are equipped to do our own drains from now on…and I hope it is not a yearly thing! 

The first thing I did yesterday was go to Walmart and get this 5 cup programmable coffee maker, $17, so we don’t have to mess with the French Press coffee grounds each day.  LOVE the French Press…makes GREAT coffee…but it is difficult to clean without getting grounds down the disposal.  Would rather drink Mr. Coffee than clean out the drain all the time.  (Google - drains coffee grounds - and you will see that coffee grounds are BAD for drain pipes…”Coffee grounds are among the biggest drain clogging offenders”…who would have known, and WHY did the guy tell us about onions and not coffee grounds?)

For those fans of Home Improvement, you KNOW what I am doing … pulling a Tim Taylor Grunt.