A Full-time Life

CYPRESS DOME TRAIL

 

 

 

Real  moon and fake stars (fairy lights) from our screen porch

(Last Sunday)

It was cooler last week with some rainy days, but no more bad storms.   There are home improvement projects going on here so the rain is OK and so is the cooler (for here) weather.

But we chose a sunny day on Friday for a short hike  on the Cypress Dome Trail, part of the CREW Watershed.   It's a few miles from home, well out of my comfort zone for driving through city traffic, so I was happy that Bill (who is  the one actually doing the home-improving)  was willing to take the time.

 

 

The particular trail we walked was part of the CREW Caracara Preserve.    It was an interesting area --   a mixture of palms, palmettos, and hardwoods surrounding prairie-type lands.  

 

 

 

It was a perfect day for being outside. We saw a couple of woodpeckers and  spent a few minutes watching a murder of crows chasing a couple of much larger hawks, but no Caracaras.    So no good sightings of the bird the preserve is named for,  but also no sightings of the Florida Panthers or bears for which this is also a habitat.          

 

 

 

We did see panther tracks though!!  You could see where the big cat had been bounding along the trail we were on.   I would really love to see a panther in the wild, but would just as soon be in a car or shelter of some kind when I do.   

 

 

CREW stands for Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed  and the CREW Land and Water Trust is a private non-profit conservation organization dedicated to preserving wildlife as well as the watershed.   The organization maintains public trails and some camp spots in several different areas in Collier County.   We hope to visit more of them this season.

Although we didn't see Caracaras on this day, we have seen them a few times in other places in Florida.  Here is one of my archived photos:

 

The Crested Caracara is Mexico's national bird.  (Some people call it the Mexican Eagle.)  It is a raptor with a face that looks like a parrot.  In the USA it is seen only near the Mexican border and in Florida. 

 

Grateful for the work of CREW and happy that they open the trails to the public.    

 

Linking this week the following sharing opportunities:  Thank you to the hosts.

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS; and  SATURDAY CRITTERS;

 

Winter in the (not always) sun

 

Sunny Saturday -- 75 degrees F in the neighborhood and hardly a cloud in the blue sky.    But then  on Sunday ....  We were actually under a tornado alert for a couple of hours.  The picture on the right was taken this morning from our covered porch after it was safe to go outside.     Our phones buzzed the warning at 8 a.m. and continued every half hour until 9:30.    We had no damages in our immediate neighborhood  -- just a dark morning with lots of wind and hard rain.   Other parts of our area were not as lucky, but as of right now I don't believe there were any fatalities or serious injuries.

 

Harriet guarding her home

 

I stopped by the Eagle Pasture on Saturday.    Our neighborhood pair are raising two eaglets this season.   As always,  the very popular SW Florida Eagles nest cams shows way more than any picture from the ground can.    But I like to stop by a few times during the season just for fun and maybe for bragging rights.   The pasture is really close to our Cottage and just off the main road we travel for everyday errands.   It's fun to know that people from all over the world are watching the nest and we can easily be there in person.     I just checked the webcam and Harriet is feeding her babies.  The rain and wind obviously didn't bother them a bit.  And besides that the sun is shining again now.  Weather is changeable here.

 

This is one of the other residents of the Eagle Pasture -- one that you won't see on the Eagle Cam.   There are always at least half a dozen horses within camera range and they are often followed around by  cattle egrets. 

 

 

I always like to include an un-zoomed picture of the Eagle tree,  just to show how far away the fence is.  The eagle family is safe. 

  

Here is a link to the webcam.  You have to put up with some ads but after clicking on the video they go away.

 

LINKING this week to the following.  Thank you to the hosts:

NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS;   SATURDAY CRITTERS; and RATHER B'BIRDING.

 

 

 

Winter in the Sun

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Counting our blessings as we enjoy Winter in the sunshine.

 

 White Pelicans, Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Sanibel

Unlike these pelicans, we're still trying to maintain some social distancing, which is a little harder to do here than at home in Oregon.  But fortunately the real Florida -- the natural places -- are easy to access and they feel safe.    These pictures are from some we've visited over the past couple of weeks.

 

Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Ding Darling 

Sanibel is a little bit of a distance from the Canal Cottage, but it's a lovely island and the Wildlife Refuge alone is well worth it.   There is a one-way wildlife drive with places to park and some walking paths.  We also saw a lot of birds we didn't get pictures of  including Roseate Spoonbills, shorebirds, ospreys, and the usual egrets and herons.   

 

Ibis under Cypress Tree, Franklin Locks Park

Franklin Locks is an easy neighborhood drive.  The park is well-maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers  with paths and views of the Caloosahatchie River and boat lock.  It's less "wild" than some of the other places I like to walk,  but the ease of access makes it worthwhile.    Traffic in this area this time of year is very heavy and access to Franklin Locks is along  familiar and relatively lightly traveled streets, so it is a comfortable fit.

 

Sky Reflections (Six Mile Cypress and Manatee Park)

Watching the sky by looking down is almost a Zen thing for me.   But you can do that just about anywhere around here.  You only need  water, blue sky and fluffy clouds --   all are in good supply.

 

Florida Snow (Richardia grandiflora) seen everywhere here 

This feels a bit like rubbing it in while everybody everywhere else is dealing with the real white stuff.  But that really is what this tiny little wildflower/weed  is called.  It blooms here in late Fall and early winter and blankets just about every grassy area.  (I think it's probably called a weed by anyone who wants a perfect lawn, but a pretty little wildflower by the rest of us.)  

 

Manatee Park, Fort Myers (with an old photo at the lower right)

 

Manatee Park is another neighborhood destination.  As  the name implies it is a hangout for these awe-inspiring water-dwelling mammals.   When the water in the Gulf is too cold, they hang out here because the water is warmed by a nearby power plant.   Their closest living relative is the elephant and they can get just about as big as one.  But it is very hard to get a good picture because they only surface for a few seconds every five or six minutes.  And of course when one does surface it will be nowhere near where it was first spotted.    So I threw in the bottom right photo from a long time ago (and from a different place in SW Florida) because it is the only one I've ever taken that actually shows its face.

 

Babcock Ranch  

 

Grateful for wildlife, sky, water,  winter color -- and warm toes.

 

Linking this week to the following sharing opportunities.  Thank you to the hosts.

 

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS; and  SATURDAY CRITTERS;

Bonus Week

 

The days between Christmas and New Year's have always seemed like a bonus at the end of the year.    And especially so when that week starts on a Sunday. 

 

 

So I'll be using the bonus either to catch up or to relax completely -- one or the other.  Haven't decided which.  Back next year! 

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Welcome Back to the Slough

 I missed visiting Six-Mile Cypress Slough last year.  It's one of my favorite natural places.  Follow along on my first walk of this season.  

 

 

Sometimes I wish this sign were portable so that I could take it with me wherever I go.   Not always -- but sometimes.

 

 

It's the end of the rainy season here and there was still water in the slough.  And beautiful greens as a result.    

 

 

Dozens of songbirds flitted around on one branch of the trail -- they were loving the berries or seed pods on these trees  in particular.   I sat on a bench for a while and watched the feeding frenzy.  Most of my pictures are of places where the birds used to be. But there's a glimpse or two of a downy woodpecker.   

 

 

I don't know what this little one is, but it did stop long enough to show a  face.    (The photo is highly cropped -- I really wasn't close at all.)  Addendum:  My knowledgeable blog friend Sondra (her blog is here) identified my bird:  It is a female Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher.  Thank you Sondra. 

 

 

Cypress trees love the water -- they literally grow in it.   Hard to tell which are the trees and which are the reflections.

 

 

Creatures of the slough.  (Cypress knees.)

 

 

Six-Mile is a good place to sky watch --  looking down or up.

 

 

 

Grateful for beautiful walks....   

 

and for the magic of the rainy season.

 

LINKING this week to these sharing opportunities.  Thank you to the hosts.

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS; and  SATURDAY CRITTERS;

 

 

 

CROSS-COUNTRY ROADTRIP, part 2

 

Going back in time today (not even quite two months, but it seems longer).  Here's a collage to set the mood:

 

ROAD-TRIP!!

Yes, finishing up our cross-country road-trip from Oregon to Florida.        The pictures above are all from the car window shots  (some are from the first part of the trip, before our stop in Colorado.)    The one at the top left was on the back of a  truck that we had to follow for miles  in spite of the instruction not to do so!   It doesn't take a lot to make me laugh when we're road-tripping, but I thought that was funny.     We were waiting for a pilot car to take us through a construction zone convoy and this truck was right in front of us the whole time, while we waited and while we drove the gauntlet.       

You can scroll back  a few posts to see more about the first part of our journey and about our stay in Colorado, where we spent the most time with the nicest people and where we saw the best Fall scenery.  The collage below  shows the difference in terrain between Colorado and neighboring New Mexico.   

 

 

We like to stay off the freeways as much as possible and for almost the entire trip we were able to do that.  We like to think about the people who live in the small  towns we pass through and wonder what their lives are like.   The terrain and landscapes along the way are different and every town is unique in some way -- not at all like off-the-freeway stops which are the same everywhere.  

Once out of Colorado we spent a couple of nights in western New Mexico without unhooking the tiny trailer -- The first night we stayed in Bloomfield New Mexico which is near or perhaps on the Apache Reservation.   We have explored this history-rich area on previous trips.   

 

Then we spent a few days near Socorro NM, hoping to see the Autumn flyover of snow geese and cranes.    We have been there to see this twice in previous years but sadly this time we were too early and barely saw a bird.      

 

 

There was good sky-watching and good eating.  Even though we cooked almost all of our meals in the trailer, we did venture out to a nearby restaurant that is famous for its green chile burgers, because it wouldn't be a visit to the area without that.  

  Without the birds  though there really isn't a whole lot to see  so we moved on down the road.   

  

 

But we took a little New Mexico with us!   Green Chile sauce was the most common condiment in grocery stores here.   I include this unpaid advertising because it shows how much you can learn about an area by shopping for groceries.  For us that's one of the fun parts of RV travel.   

Mostly as a memory aid for myself, I am including the names of all of the places where we spent a night on this trip.   We spent two more nights in New Mexico after leaving Socorro.  We travel in a leisurely fashion!  In New Mexico, we stayed in Bloomfield, Pie Town, Socorro, Fort Sumnter, and Clovis.  

 

We drove right through Texas (well this part of it anyway ) with our only stop being to grab a few pictures  of this small town's signs which I loved.   We were driving through cotton country.   This was the only state we drove in without spending at least one night (and without spending any money at all).   We were in Oklahoma by our first night after New Mexico. 

 

By the Lake RV Park Ardmore Oklahoma 

We stopped for groceries  at  the Choctaw Country Market in Clayton Oklahoma.    We had been driving through the Choctaw Reservation which we found so interesting.   At the top the receipt from the store says "Halito ((Hi).  I'm Ashley" ... and at the bottom "Yakoke (Thank you) for Shopping With Us."    So now we know two words in the Choctaw language.     Tribal Nations are sovereign governments, so as we traveled without leaving the United States, we had actually also been in a couple of different Nations within the last few days.   (The Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma and Apache Nation in New Mexico).  

In Oklahoma, we stayed in Altus, Ardmore, and Clayton.

 

Eastern Bluebird

We spent a couple of nights in Arkansas and I finally got a picture of a bird!    I really took very few pictures on this whole part of the trip -- partly because we were still on a scenery high from our Colorado Autumn (and nothing is as picture-worthy) and partly because after Socorro we didn't spend a lot of time exploring outside of the RV Parks where we stayed.  

In Arkansas, we stayed at Mena and Lake Village. 

Mena Arkansas

 I'm not sure what  the RV Park manager meant to convey with the Truth sign on this decorated pickup but by this point in the trip, our truth was that we were eager to get back to the Canal Cottage.  We had three more days on the road after Arkansas, but we arrived home with four more days of October to spare.     

We stayed in Marion Mississippi, Dothan Alabama, and Alachua near the center of Florida

 

It was good to be home.

We are thankful that we both enjoy traveling by RV and that we have the time to travel in a leisurely fashion.  We were happy to find good RV Parks all along the way (no bad experiences at all), and grateful that people we saw in those parks and almost everywhere we stopped to buy food and fuel were following Covid-safe common-sense precautions.    (And grateful that the same thing is true here at home in Florida).  

 

Thank you to the hosts of the following sharing opportunities:

 

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS; and  SATURDAY CRITTERS;

 

 

 

 

 

 

GETTING AROUND at the Canal Cottage ... and elsewhere

 

This one is elsewhere -- seen on one of the Colorado backroads we recently explored with our kids:

 

 

I can get lost in a large closet, so I love my GPS.  But I  would know better than to use it on a backroad.  And better yet, I know smart people who do have a good sense of direction who are happy to take me along when they drive them!   

Here are a couple of places where even I don't need a GPS:

 

Morning on the Canal

 

Rise and Shine

Both the above pictures were taken  across the Canal from the Cottage on my morning walk.   I've taken similar pictures for years, but this great start to the day never gets old.

And below, a little further away from home, are pictures from  Franklin Locks Park  where I walked one day last week.    This park is just a bit past our current favorite Farmer's Market,  so the car pretty much knows the way all by itself!

 

 

Ibis along the edge of the river, taken from the pedestrian bridge at the Lock.  And below is my Bird of the Week, the Northern Shrike,  perched on a fence at the edge of the Park:  

 

 

At least that's what I hope it is as it seems to match the description in my books.   Even if I'm wrong he is still my bird of the week just because he posed so politely for me.    

 

Grateful for ordinary days!  

 

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS; and  SATURDAY CRITTERS;

 

LAST WEEK AROUND THE CANAL COTTAGE ...

 

 

Florida Blues (in late November!) including my nemesis bird, the Kingfisher.  We see these birds fairly often, but  they usually  fly away as soon as I even think "camera".   So I'll take their picture any way I can, even this one, a too-far away shot through the car window.  

 

 The only other living creature I got a picture of last week.  (Well, two pictures -- one after he had enough posing).  We stopped in the road to let this guy cross to a runoff canal beside the road.  

Here are some of my better efforts:  

 We made a photo gallery wall in the Canal Cottage from pictures I've taken over several years.    The idea was Geoff's and the framed pictures were a gift from him and Lisa.

Bill hung them (I told him we should never move, because this wall is perfect.)   It's really just one long wall with the burrowing owl in the center.   I couldn't get back far enough to get the whole wall in one shot.  

 

If they look the least bit crooked, it is because of the pictures I took of the wall.  They really do look perfect in real life.

 

Grateful for the memories and hopeful (almost certain) that we will get some more good birding opportunities this season.

 

Thank you to the hosts of these sharing opportunities:

 

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;   MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS; and  SATURDAY CRITTERS;

 

 

FLOR-ORADO - two favorite places

Here's the nature walk of the week here in Florida.   These pictures are from Ann Olesky Park on Lake Trafford,  in the Northeast corner of Collier County.     We  had some rain last week, but on this day, the sky was blue and it was shirt-sleeve weather.

 

Lake Trafford

Lake Trafford is about a 45 minute drive from home and we had to drive about half that distance in order to return a couple of  packages.  When we got to the UPS facility, we found that the Internet in that part of Fort Myers was down and  we were unable to make our returns that day.  So we did some accidental birding -- something that's not at all hard to do around here.    Little Blue Herons and Ibis are both fairly ordinary birds here, but these are the first ones of the season.  Actually of two seasons, since we weren't here last year  and neither of these guys hang out in the Pacific Northwest.                                                     

Like its title, this post is a mashup of two of our favorite scenic states.  The following pictures are from last month's visit to Colorado.

 

 

Aspen trees make wonderful photo ops, whether a picture is a golden stand in the distance or a close-up showing the thin white outer bark, so different from other deciduous trees.   And they are a fascinating tree.     "One aspen tree is actually only a small part of a larger organism.   A stand or group of aspen trees is considered a singular organism with the main life force underground in the extensive root system."  This Source article is well worth reading :  National Forest Service Tree Profile.

 

Debbie's Meadow and Chimney Rock

We went along for Max's walk at Debbie's Meadow one day.   We had a good view of Chimney Rock.  Scenes from the original "True Grit'" movie were filmed here.  And  although I'm not much of a John Wayne fan, of course now I want to watch the movie again because I don't remember any of this. 

  

 

On another day Geoff drove us over a Jeep trail to the ski resort city of Telluride.  It was a beautiful drive and not anywhere near as scary as the sign makes it sound.   We trusted our driver!   It was on this drive where I took many of the scenic pictures from the past couple of posts.  We  enjoyed a good lunch and a walk around Telluride, which wasn't too busy during this off-season time of the year.  (I don't imagine we would have been driving that back road if it had been ski season.)

 

It was almost impossible to stop taking pictures of Colorado gold!   We were so lucky to be there at just the right time.   But November is a pretty nice time to be in Florida and we're glad to be home.   The picture below was taken a couple nights ago from our back porch. It's not the best moon shot ever, not even the best one I've ever taken.  But like the birds in the top photo, it's the first one of the season.  And we don't have  good moon views from our porch in Oregon.

 

                    

We are grateful.

 

LINKING this week to the following sharing opportunities.  Thank you to the hosts.

 

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  WANDERING CAMERA ; SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS; and  SATURDAY CRITTERS

THE ROADTRIP, Part 1

People often ask how long it takes us to drive across the country and it's  hard to answer.  We tend to wander and stop whenever we feel like it.  This time, we covered 4,680 miles and the trip took us almost exactly a month.  About one fourth of that mileage was "side-trips" when the trailer was unhooked and parked in an RV Park.  But we didn't do as much of that as we used to.  Almost all of our day-trip explorations were while we stayed in Colorado -- and we didn't use our car there one single time because our hosts drove everywhere.  

We left our Oregon home the last week in September.   The pictures in the mosaic below are from the week or two before we left.  The top row pictures are from a walk we took along the middle fork of the Willamette River.  That  Juvenile Robin  looks more like Spring than it does the end of September.

 

 

 

The weather was still like summer even though our favorite farm market was displaying the requisite Autumn pumpkins.   And the blue sky was taken in back of our daughter's a few days before we left -- we were packing up the trailer getting ready to go.  (Well, somebody was.  I was taking pictures obviously).     October's usually beautiful in our part of Oregon too and so part of me felt like it was kind of early to leave.   But of course on the day we were actually ready to  hook that trailer up and hit the road it began to rain, and it didn't stop all morning.

 

It was too wet to take pictures, but here's a quick one that encompasses both the sad and happy reasons to head South.   Our daughter and her youngest grand-child (and our youngest great-grand) braved the rain to run out to the barn for one last good-bye.  (Miss Harper was unimpressed with us, but apparently happy to be warm and dry inside Grandma's barn-coat.)  Harper's older brother, who is two, cried when we said goodbye earlier.  All summer, he had enjoyed watching  his Great-Grandpa work  whenever they happened to be at Cyndi and Jeff's house at the same time.    We will miss everyone ..  that is the downside to our love of travel.  

But rain or shine and after all the goodbyes, we did finally get on the road again.  

 

 

It's a long lonesome road to Burns in Eastern Oregon  -- way out yonder pardner.  Those signs are from the RV Park where we stayed .  It took us a couple of days to get out of our home State -- we don't rush things.

More of the same on the next couple of days as we traveled through Nevada --  except not even any interesting RV Park pictures.  We stayed in Winnemucca and Ely.    But the scenery definitely improved soon after we crossed the Stateline into Utah.

  

On the first of October, we spent the night in Green River State Park .  The picture above and in the collage below are from that day's drive.  It was a stunning scenic tour of a day.

 

 

We were getting anxious to get to Colorado to see our family there and so we didn't spend as much time in the Green River area as it deserved.  But there were quite a few quick photo-stops. 

We already knew we'd have beautiful scenery in the next State too, plus good company!    We were both so happy to get to  Ridgway the next day.    Below is a picture of our Colorado family (although it was taken days later, not the minute we arrived):

 

 

And another shot  in (or near) their new "backyard":

 

 

 Colorado wasn't actually halfway on our roadtrip -- it was only the end of the shorter half!  But it was our first and only planned stop.  As we'd hoped, we arrived  at exactly the right time for its famous Autumn color.    Beautiful Fall and no snow yet.  That's perfection.   

More beautiful Colorado scenery and the longer half of the roadtrip still to come along with some getting reaquainted with Florida shots.

Thankful for family and safe and scenic travels.

LINKING this week to the following, with thanks to all of the hosts:

 MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;   MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS; and  SATURDAY CRITTERS