A Full-time Life

HOPE and GRATITUDE

 

We have decided to head for home (in Oregon) a couple of months early, practicing social distancing while on the road.    It's actually hard to know what the best thing to do is under the current circumstances -- but when we weighed the options, this is what came out on top.   So we've been getting ready to close up the Canal Cottage -- a routine we go through every season, but usually not this early and usually not working this quickly.   Obviously, none of the pictures in this post are new.    

 

 

The sign is on a back-road in Big Cypress National Wildlife area.  We did NOT turn around then and I hope we will not wish we had on this trip.     Usually just keeping on works out pretty well for us.   

 

These Spring Flowers are blooming in yards here in the Florida resort where we spend the Winter/Spring season.  The pictures are from another year, but the same flowers (even the same potted plant) are blooming right now.     Spring is different here, but we enjoy it.  Most snowbirds go home  in late March or early April.  We enjoy the people, but also (in better years) the quiet after they leave.   We'll miss that, but it will be good to be closer to family after this trip.  I'm grateful we are able to travel between states.

 

 

These were  two neighborhood baby eagles a couple of years ago.   Actually, I guess, teenage eagles by this stage -- shortly after I took this pictures, they flew the nest never to return.   This year, the adult pair lost their first hatch and they now are incubating a second pair of eggs.    If the first hatch had been successful, the young ones would be flying away right now.  This pair has never had a second hatch before and like approximately a million other people worldwide, I'll be watching the webcam and hoping for success.  

 

 

We usually do some Florida exploring in April and May.  These are some of the birds we've seen on those trips in other years and were looking forward to seeing next month.    I'm quite sure the lack of audience won't bother the birds one bit .  Still,  I hope we get to be among their fans again -- in person --  next year.

 

Sunset over the wetlands that border our neighborhood 

 We'll be practicing  social distancing while on the road with our new (and very small)  travel trailer.    I hope to be able to keep in touch with other bloggers as we travel.   It is comforting in the midst of all this to touch base.   And to see the beauty that still exists in nature no matter what.  And to read about  how everybody is dealing with the social isolation and all the changes.   Reading your blogs makes everything more "real" than the news stories. 

(not my picture, not our trailer)

 

 I'm grateful that we have a relatively safe way to cover the distance  between here and Oregon (3,184 miles).  And, as always, I'm beyond grateful to "the travel planner" for making it possible.)  

 

And I'll really be grateful if that planner and I are still speaking to  each other by the time we get the Canal Cottage closed up and hit the road!   (We're definitely not practicing social distancing from each other right now as we work together  in two small spaces! ) 

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THANK YOU to all bloggers for keeping in touch with posts and comments -- and as always thank you to the hosts of the following sharing opportunities (which I hope to be able to link to on the appropriate days):

 

MOSAIC MONDAY;   ALL SEASONS; THROUGH MY LENS;   OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;  TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;    SAY CHEESE;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; WILD BIRD Wednesday;  SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;   FRIDAY  BLISS;    SATURDAY CRITTERS;  and RATHER B' BIRDING

 

 

KEEPING IN TOUCH ...

... in the time of Corona Virus

 

The first day of Spring in this hemisphere happened last week -- but it was kind of overshadowed by all that other news.   I hope everybody was able to go outside for at least a breath of fresh air.  

 

 

We are using technology to keep in touch during the isolation  -- but for us that really isn't all that different than ever, since we are so far away from family.     Just that it is even more important these days.    

The Blue Jay pictures above are mine -- taken near home (the Florida one) on the first day of Spring.    The rest of the pictures were texted to me from further away  ---   also on the first day of Spring.   I'm grateful that all of our families are well and able to go outside and breath some fresh air.    

The first two below are from Oregon:

 

A Rhododendron  blossom from our daughter and son-in-law's yard.

(in Oregon)

We didn't venture far from home last week.   Nature parks and beaches (and restaurants) are closed here.   We kept busy  -- working on the Canal Cottage project and spending some time assessing our various traveling options in light of the current situation. (Traveling back to our home in Oregon -- nothing more exotic than that needless to say.)

 

 

Cyndi and Jeff's beautiful Black Walnut Tree and the Spring garden under it 

 

The next picture came from our son in Colorado.  Their back yard (taken on, may I remind you, the first day of spring).  It's definitely an outlier among the blue skies and spring flowers:

 

 

 

Colorado people are strong and healthy and happy in all kinds of weather though (aren't they?) --   and anyway, by now, it's highly possible that the snow has melted and the sun is shining.    

My sister sent the next picture from a walk in the park near her Seattle home.    Our oldest son who lives in that corner of Washington State also texted that he  spent the weekend working in their yard.   

 

  

Perfect Spring Days in the Pacific Northwest!  (except for the you-know-what).       As the old song said "The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle" --  it should have added "when it's not raining."    (That is also true for our corner of Oregon .)    

 

(from Oregon) 

Don't forget to keep in touch with those you love. 

And go outside to play as often and as long as you can.

Thank you to our family for essentially writing this post. It would have been a boring blog with just one picture of a Blue Jay.   

 

Linking to the following:  Thank you hosts!!!! 

MOSAIC MONDAY;   ALL SEASONS; THROUGH MY LENS;   OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;  TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  SAY CHEESE;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; WILD BIRD Wednesday;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS;  SATURDAY CRITTERS;  and RATHER B' BIRDING 

BURROWING OWLS OF CAPE CORAL 2020

 

Like probably just about everybody else in the world, especially those in our age demographic, we spent a lot of time last week trying to make sense of the corona virus news and thinking about our options.   And touching base with everybody we love.     As always, in good times or not-so-good, being outside improves my mood.  (And it's an approved activity as long as it's done only in small groups.))

 

 

 

Our neighbor friends told us they had never seen any of Cape Coral's burrowing owls, so we took them on a photo safari around the Cape's maze of streets and canals to some of our favorite places to find these adorable ground-nesters.

 

 

 

Burrowing owls are diurnal -- that is that unlike most owl species they are out and about in the daytime.   It's a little bit early in the season -- by the end of April or May, we will see whole families out by the burrows.   Here's a LINK to one of my posts from another year that provides more information.

 

 

 

We need a little color too -- so from the archives here are some typical Florida Spring flowers.   Gardens are  showier and more flamboyant here in the subtropics than what we remember (fondly) from our gardening days in Oregon.    Oddly, I found these in the same photo file as some owls from a few years ago -- I was searching to see what month it was when I got wonderful pictures of the owl babies.  (It was May).  And sorting my photo files  is obviously something I need to do (and maybe I will  --  if we end up being quarantined and I get seriously bored.)

 

 

Beautiful Florida sky -- this one is also from the archives.

 

I'm grateful this week for weather that allows us get outside -- and I'm especially grateful for cell phones and texting -- technology that allows us to stay in close and instant touch even though we're far away from family.

 

 Sweet Dreams!

May we all sleep as easily and well as this little guy.

 

 

Linking this week to the following:

MOSAIC MONDAY;   ALL SEASONS;  THROUGH MY LENS;   OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;   SAY CHEESE;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; WILD BIRD Wednesday;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS;    SATURDAY CRITTERS;  and RATHER B' BIRDING

 

THANK YOU to all of the hosts!  

 

 

 

 

 

TARPON BAY and LOCAL EAGLES

Drove to Sanibel Island one day this week  -- battling heavy in-season traffic all the way!  Everybody wants to go to the beach.  We forget that fact at least once a year.   This time, we also forgot that the wildlife drive in Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge is closed on Friday.   (We go to the Island to see birds, not to lie around on the beach).   

 

 

Royal Tern

 

So our outing plans took a small "tern" and we hopped on one of the Refuge's pontoon boats for a Tarpon Bay nature cruise.  

 

 

The Tarpon Bay Estuary is also part of the Wildlife Refuge -- we boated past several Rookery Islands (where the birds looked like white flowers from the distance -- that's all the closer the boat got, for the safety of the boat and even more important for the welfare of the birds.)   The Mangrove trees are important for so many reasons.  They provide habitat for wildlife and a natural barrier against wind and storms for animals and people on land.   

 

 

 

Brown Pelican

While the Royal Tern  claimed Mile Marker 15, Post #21 belonged to this napping Brown Pelican.  We saw other terns, gulls, cormorants, egrets, ospreys,  and pelicans on  posts and on the edges of the water --- it was a windy day though and with the motion of the boat (and shaky hands on the photographer) , pictures were hard to come by.

 

 

I took the above picture on the causeway  as we headed off the Island toward home.  Note the blowing palm tree at the bottom ... it was a a good day for the wind-surfers!   

We're fortunate to have a variety of natural places that are easy to get to for day trips.   Some are even closer -- on another  day at home last week,  I stopped at the Eagle Pasture on the way to do errands:

 

 

 I saw at least 50 Cattle Egrets, plenty of small birds, and several very pretty horses.  And only a tiny glimpse of an Eagle's head peeking out of the nest.  (The nest tree is the skinny slash pine in the center picture (center of the center picture).   No Eagle pictures this time, but as always, it is a nice little nature stop on a day otherwise dedicated to mundane activities.  The pasture is right across the street from a supermarket shopping center and on the way to just about every other place we have to go to routinely.  

The pictures below are from the archives.  Two years ago I had much better photographer's luck with these neighbors.

Our Eagle nest -- 2018

And our pair of Eagles had better luck also that year, successfully raising a pair of Eaglets.   The lower three pictures are that year's  "babies"  -- just ready to fledge and (in the center) actually flying away for the first time.    

This year, sadly,  only one of the pair's eggs hatched and that baby died from what  was later discovered to be from ingesting rat poison. Adult Bald Eagles will take both living and dead prey -- fish, birds, small mammals).   Now,  at about the time their nestlings would usually be fledging, the pair are incubating a second hatch -- two more eggs.   This is very late for this climate, so it remains to be seen what happens.    There is a very active webcam site for this pair, so you can watch the progress  from wherever you live!  There are a lot of ads on the site, but the camera angles are good and there are links to several informative sites.    Just google Southwest Florida Eagle cam.    It's a good and easy way to learn about these iconic birds.

 

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

 

 

MOSAIC MONDAY;   ALL SEASONS; THROUGH MY LENS;   OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;  TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  SAY CHEESE;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;  WILD BIRD Wednesday;  SIGNS SIGNS;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS;  SATURDAY CRITTERS;  and RATHER B' BIRDING

 

HARNS MARSH

 

 

Little Blue Heron

 

We went to Harns Marsh Nature Preserve one day last week.  It's a good place to walk but definitely not to do  the"Forest Bathing" that I mentioned in last week's post.   Harns is flat land that the County has reclaimed for flood control.   It is marshy during the rainy season, but here in SW Florida, that is during the summer.   Trails this time of year are easily accessible.  

 

 

 

 A Snowy Egret (Yellow Slippers) waited patiently for a fish to show up.  The middle picture is the same Little Blue as above, not zoomed or cropped.  And showing the odd place it perched -- nowhere near the water.    The bird is perched on some of the flood control equipment.        

 

Great Egret

 

A Great Egret amidst blooming Bidens Alba.    We didn't see as many birds at Harns as we have on previous visits.   Last time, we watched Limpkins eating their meals of apple snails (pretty much their entire diet).  The pictures below are from that visit.

 

Limpkins

All we saw this time was empty snail shells (like in the middle picture).    So we know the Limpkins had been there, but on this day they were somewhere else.

 

 

 

 Bald Eagles

 

These two are also from our last visit to the Marsh -- these are not the ones that live down the street from us who have their own webcam.  It's been a bit sad at that nest this year and so I haven't stopped by to take pictures.   (Update in a future post I hope.)

 

 

 

 

It was a pretty day for a walk even if we didn't see a great many birds.   I definitely think the concept of "Forest Bathing" should be re-titled to something that includes Marshes, Sloughs, River Banks, and Deserts.   The important thing is to get outside and enjoy nature. 

 I'm grateful to be able to do exactly that wherever we are.

 

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

 

MOSAIC MONDAY;   ALL SEASONS; THROUGH MY LENS;   OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; SAY CHEESE;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; WILD BIRD Wednesday;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS;    SATURDAY CRITTERS;  and RATHER B' BIRDING