A Full-time Life

SOMETHING ABOUT THE WIND

 

This is another Friday Flashback post with pictures  taken a couple of years ago at Cook's Chasm on Oregon's beautiful Pacific Coast.   I read a  poem recently that made me think of that coast  as soon as I read it.

 

 

 

Something About The Wind

 

There's something about the wind coming off

the ocean, the waves washing the rocks

that makes a person who is quickly annoyed

by cigarette smoke and men putting nails into roofs

forgetful and unconcerned.

 

If you are easily disturbed

you need to get an ocean.

Sidney Hall Jr.

 

 

 

 

Thank you to Gemma for hosting SCENIC WEEKENDS where this post is linked today and to Mary for  MOSAIC MONDAY.

And thank you to my blogging friend Hildred for mentioning the poetry site called A Year of Being Here.   The site e-mails a poem a day... this was one of them.  

Hildred writes about life in the beautiful Similkameen Country of British Columbia at DAY BY DAY and her posts are poetry themselves.

SHADES OF SKY WHILE EAGLE WATCHING

 Note:  If ads are showing up on this post, I apologize... I didn't put them there and I will be checking in with Typepad to see what's going on.

 Earlier this month I spent a couple of late-afternoon hours near our local eagle nest.  I got a few halfway decent pictures with eagles (this post) and even more without them.  

I focused on the scrub pine where the nest is, waiting for someone to come home.  (The Eagle cam is attached to the trunk on the left.)   

 

Most of the Eagle pictures on the other post were taken between this picture and the one beneath.  The starlings set up a huge racket as they settled onto these branches for the night.

 

Both eagles were sitting only a few yards away from the 'starling tree', but they paid no attention to them. 

 

 

 

 I don't know if there is safety in numbers for the starlings or if they just aren't worth it as food for the eagles.    Sometimes the eagles bring in egrets or gulls to the nest as well as fish.  

The sun was starting to go down.  I love the golden skies we get sometimes ... sunrise and sunset.

 

 

It was almost dark as I headed for the car. Below is one of the eagles silhouetted above the nest.

 

 

 

Both eaglets seem to be doing fine now after the difficult start.  Both are being fed.

 

 

LINKING TO NATURE NOTES (better late than never) and SKYWATCH FRIDAY.

Thank you to the hosts.

LOONY SOUTHWEST FLORIDA

 

No not that kind of loony .... this is a nature blog after all.   (But if it were political  that post title would definitely work.)

Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming and a Common Loon that we spotted on the beach back in early December.

      

 

 

 

At first I thought the bird was injured because he sat still for such a long time just looking this way and that.  And then when the tide came up a little bit he worked his way laboriously into the water. ....   I looked on some Florida birding websites and learned that the loon moves on land by pushing with its legs and flopping forward (it looked like he had broken legs).     The loon cannot take flight from land; it needs water to propel itself into a "run" on the surface of the water until it gets enough momentum to fly.   

  

 

 

 

I also learned that by the time loons reach Florida on their winter migration, its dramatic black and white stripes have changed to a dull dark gray winter plumage with white on the front  of the neck and breast.  It also doesn't make that haunting call much because males and females don't stay together in non-breeding season (and so it doesn't need to call).  

 

 

 

 

 

 

FOR:  WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY hosted by Stewart.

BOATING TO THE THEATER

 

 

Last week we had tickets for a Thursday night performance at the Florida Rep Theater in downtown Fort Myers.    We decided to go by water.

Usually we just boat to lunch.  Boating to the theater was a new experience. 

 

 

We stayed overnight at the Fort Myers Yacht Basin.   I have joked before  that the Yacht Basin lets us in even though we definitely don't have a yacht.   It is actually the City of Fort Myers facility  and the  people are as nice as can be.  We love staying here or just tying  up to go to lunch in one of the downtown restaurants.  

 

 

 

Maybe the dockmaster thought  we were a yacht this time though, because  here is where he put us for the night.  That next door neighbor's dinghy is bigger than our boat!   

 

 

 

 

We could see the theater  from our dock -- it's the low blue building across the other boat docks.  It was only about a two-block walk.

 

 

We went to see Arsenic and Old Lace -- an oldie but a goodie!  The Theater Company was very proud to have received an outstanding review from the Wall Street Journal.

 

Does the Wall Street Journal usually review plays?  Out-of-town plays?  We don't know because we don't  read the Wall Street Journal.  I bet the people on that yacht docked next to us would have known.  I should have asked them!

 

 

For:  Our World Tuesday.  Thank you to Lady Fi, Arija, Gattina, Sylvia, and Sandy for hosting this wonderful meme.

NINE-BANDED ARMADILLO

 

 

For Eileen's SATURDAY CRITTERS, here is the armadillo, certainly one of the oddest and most unusual creatures we've  ever seen in the wild.  According to Wikipedia, they are only surviving family in their order.  They certainly look rather like a prehistoric  'last survivor' .

  

 

 

 This was the first one we ever saw live and it was when we were traveling in Texas.  At first we only ever saw them dead alongside the road.  According to Wikipedia:  Armadillos  are common roadkill due to their habit of jumping three to four feet vertically when startled, which puts them into collision with the underside of vehicles.

 

 

Their shell is leather-like and in fact armadillo means 'little armored one' in Spanish.    Also according to Wikipedia, there are several species of armadillo in South and Central America and one, the nine-banded, has reached Texas and Florida and even further north as their range has expanded due to lack of natural predators.

This picture and the one below were taken just last month here in Florida.   It's hard to get a face, because most of the time they are  rooting in the grass for grubs and worms or maybe making a burrow.   

   

 

As always with wild animals and birds, we were using the zoom lens from a safe and respectful distance  but in case anyone was ever tempted to get closer,  Wikipedia also tells us that armadillos carry diseases that can be transmitted to humans, including leprosy.  

  And here I thought alligators were the scariest creatures I could possibly show you!

**********************

Thanks to Eileen for hosting.  Click the links to see more wild and tame critters -- most of them beautiful and not scary at all.   Thank you for hosting.

 

 

 

EAT .... .... LONGER

 

 For Lesley's SIGNS SIGNS another in the series of upscale restaurant wall decorations.   It took me a while to realize that you have to add the words "eat" and "longer" before and after every tier.  Everybody else figured it out right away though!

 

 We eat a lot of fish.   Not too many clams though.

 

Thanks as always to Lesley for hosting this fun opportunity to share this particular form of the written word .   

 

 

SUNDAY AT THE NEST

 

It has been hard this year watching the North Fort Myers eagle cam.   Ever since the two babies got old enough to be left alone in the nest, the older eaglet has often exhibited what really looks like bullying behavior ... pecking and 'bonking' the younger one, who has been mostly passive.  And the bigger one gets more attention and more food.    It's not fun to watch.  We all have a tendency to ascribe human emotions and characteristics to the birds we love... and we really really would like this behavior to stop. 

But we are not in charge of the eagles (or of much else really).  

 

Ozzie on a nearby snag and Harriet watching the nest

 

These behaviors didn't happen on the nest last year (there were two eaglets then too) and nobody seems to know why it is happening this time.   But whether we understand or not, the eagles just keep living their lives and (we must assume) doing what eagles are supposed to do.  

 

 

Harriet spotted a possible intruder and called Ozzie who flew to her side

Some people who watch the eagle cam had such a hard time with all this that the nest watch operators have been forced to print  reminders that it is illegal to interfere in any way with bald eagles.  (People were actually suggesting removing the baby from the nest and other even crazier suggestions.)

 

 

Ozzie and Harriet

 

 We have to trust Mother Nature  But we can't help hoping and sending good thoughts for both eaglets.

 

 

FOR NATURE NOTES  and WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY  

(Thank you to Michelle for Nature Notes and to Stewart for Wild Bird Wednesday).

FRIDAY FLASHBACK - YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK

 

No, we have not decamped back to the other side of the country.  We're still happy here in sunny Florida.   But sometimes along about this time of year I start to miss the mountains a little bit.  And so it is  fun to look through the archives for some pictures with a little elevation.   

 So these pictures are from Yosemite, a National Park that we visited way back in 2004.   We made many family  trips to California when we lived in the Pacific Northwest (Washington and Oregon) but because we'd always heard how crowded the park was in the summer we had never gone there.  

 

 

 So it was just the two of us on this RV trip and  of course by that time, we were traveling in all seasons (all the time).  We went to Yosemite in April of that year.   

 We were told that the waterfalls dry up in the summer, so we were very fortunate to be there in early spring.  They were spectacular.

 

 

 We had to park our RV miles and miles away from the park -- it is a good thing that diesel was cheaper back then -- we made several hundred-mile round trips from our camping spot into the park.  Once we got there, we were able to ride our bikes around ... the park had great bike trails.    We probably wouldn't be able to do that now ... the only bike riding we've done for years now is around a flat RV Park.

 

 

 

 

This is El Capitan -- probably the most photgraphed feature of Yosemite.

 

I am linking to Gemma's SCENIC WEEKENDS  (a favorite meme I've missed way too often lately) and  to MOSAIC MONDAY.  

THIS IS NOT A PICNIC SPOT

 

Just in case you were thinking that the edge of a swamp would be a good place to have lunch .....

 

 

 

... think again.

    

 

 

  The sign, taken in Louisiana, is from our archives.  But obviously it would be excellent advice around here too.   (This alligator was at Circle B last month.)

 

 

For SIGNS SIGNS, thanks to Lesley.  And because  it is mandatory for all Florida bloggers to post at least one  alligator a  year  (isn't it?), I will also link to Eileen's next SATURDAY CRITTERS.    

LUNCHING WITH LIMPKINS

 

The LIMPKIN is another mostly  Florida bird.  According to one of my books, it is local only here and in Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp.  

 

 

Snails are their main food source  ...  and the limpkins were right in the middle of lunch when we spotted them last month.

 

  

 

We saw this bird for the first time about three years ago at Lake Trafford and couldn't figure out what they were.  I posted my pictures on World Bird Wednesday (this meme's predecessor) and got IDs in several comments.   That was wonderful.   

And when we saw these last month at Circle B Bar Preserve and someone asked if anyone knew what this bird was,  I felt like an expert -- all thanks to knowledgeable bloggers!

 

They might not be as showy as some of our other Florida favorites, but I just love the spiky looking feather patterns.

 

 

 I take a lot of pictures of herons and egrets patiently fishing ... and always hope I'll get a picture of one with a successful catch.  It was almost the complete opposite with these  guys ... I had to work hard to catch one without  food in its mouth!

 

 

 

 

FOR:  WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY, hosted by STEWART.  Thank you to him and also to all the great bird photographers who link with WBW.  I learn so much from this virtual community.

 

ORCHIDS IN JANUARY

 

 

 A neighbor couple grows beautiful orchids and staghorn ferns each season.  They attach  them to a large tree in their yard.  They do beautifully in the greenhouse climate we (usually) have here.

 

 

 

They did survive the lower temperatures last week.   (Which tells you that it wasn't really all that cold!) 

 

 

 Thank you to Denise for TODAY'S FLOWERS,  to Laura for I HEART MACRO, and to Mary for MOSAIC MONDAY.  

  

 

 With or without the camera, I never take a walk around the neighborhood without a rest stop at this yard!

 

 

THEY CLIMBED ON THE ROCKS

 

 

 

These two (not-so) little turtles live in Lake Morton, fortunately not in a box.    I didn't see them swimming in puddles, but they certainly climbed on the rocks.

 

 

 

Trying so hard to get to the top.

 

 

 

But that spot's already occupied.

 

 

Still King of the Mountain Rock!

 

 

For  SATURDAY CRITTERS.   Thank you Eileen.

DECEMBER BLUES

 

Sometimes it's not about dramatic sunrises or sunsets .... sometimes it's all about blue sky as a backdrop.  These pictures are from December.  Because ....

 

 

Early December, fuel stop along the River

 

... we really haven't had either dramatic or blue skies much this week.   On Monday, temperatures dropped from 80 in the afternoon  down to the 40s as that night we caught the tail-end of the cold fronts from up North.    

 I should probably duck when I say this, but that is darn cold for here in SW Florida! 

 

  

Lake Morton, Christmas week

 

 But it is getting better ... the sun is  shining today between rainstorms.    I sincerely hope things are improving at least a little bit for those of you in the arctic vortex.   Wish I could lend you some warm temperatures.   

 

 

Fort Myers Yacht Basin (city dock) New Year's Eve

 (Didn't realize that I was taking a picture of a guy working on his boat -- see the yellow shorts on the top deck of the boat on the right?)

 

   

 

Click on SKYWATCH FRIDAY to view more blue skies  -- and more dramatic ones too .  Thanks to Yogi and the host team.

 

 

 

DUCKS CROSSING

 

 

   

    Just in case they want to cross the street ...

 

 

 Here's their sign:

 

 

 

Lake Morton Florida, December 2012

 

 

For SIGNS SIGNS.  Thank you Lesley.

Happy New Year!

PURPLE GALLINULES

 

 The beautiful purple gallinule was a first-time bird for us last month.  

        

 

 We watched it in the marshy part of Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland.   

 

 

 It really liked to hide behind the dead vegetation,  but it would come back.

 

 

 

 In the same marshy area we watched quite a few of its less-showy cousins,  the common gallinule (also known as a moorhen).  

 

We've been lucky to find  moorhens in several different places and I always enjoy them.  

But spotting  the purple gallinule really made it a special birding day.  

 

 

THIS POST is linked to  WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY.  Thank you to Stewart for hosting.   

 

    NOTE:    "Our" local eagles successfully hatched both eggs -- on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  Here's the link to the nest watch camera.

FLORIDA WINTER

 

 

 

Ft. Myers Yacht Basin 12/31/13 (not our boat)

With friends in another boat, we spent New Year's Eve on our boat at the River District in downtown Fort Myers.   The weather was lovely.  On New Year's Day -- about two hours after we docked back home   ... it started to rain hard.  That was good timing for us.   

 

Not as fancy as the Times Square ball, but the temperature sure was nicer

 

Since then, it seems like we've had alternate warm and cold/rainy days.   We get the tail-end of the weather fronts from up North (after they are almost gone).   Tonight (Monday) temperatures of 40 or below are expected -- we will be turning on the heat for the first time this winter.  

  

 I cheerfully admit to being a weather-wimp and while I enjoy seeing the peaceful and serene snowy scenes that I see on other blogs, I am happy that "cold" here in Southwest Florida usually means temperatures of  "only" 50 to 60 degrees.  And I can't wait for the 70 to 80 degree weather to return.  

 

   

Sushi lunch, Lakeland

 

 Yes, Winter is different here.  This is the only snowman of our winter season (I hope, unless we go back to this restaurant). 

 

Happy New Year and thanks to the hosts of OUR WORLD TUESDAY.  

LAUGHING WITH THE BIRDS

  For SATURDAY'S CRITTERS with Eileen.   We had fun birding last month.   Saw some new birds and some not so new but also wonderful  ... and some, like these, that simply made us laugh.

 

 All pictures from Lake Morton in Lakeland Florida.

 

 

Swimming with the big boys.

 

 Making sure he's under the weight limit for the street.

 

 

Are you my mother?

 

 

 Just can't keep these troops in line.

 

 

Don't stare  -- he's having a bad hair day! 

 

Thanks to Eileen for hosting.  Visit her wonderful blog and click the links for fabulous animal and bird watching.

DECEMBER MOON

 

 So last year, but still so lovely, these are views of December's Full Moon. 

 (Really, three of these are the night before and one is the morning after.)

 

 

 

 Happy New Year!

 

 

 

 

 

Back to blogland and looking forward to catching up.   

 

 

Linked to SKYWATCH FRIDAY.  Thank you and best wishes for the New Year to the hosts Yogi, Sylvia, and Sandy.