April 7, 2006 - Lovers Key S.P., Florida

No, we're not part of the permanent scenery here.  At least not yet.  Current plans have us leaving here and heading to Nacogdoches, Texas, on the 17th.  In 10 days.  Going to be tough to leave here for all kinds of reasons.  We obviously love what we're doing, and where we're doing it, but the people we're with are absolutely tops.  We've had a great experience here and really love the park and its staff.  Even the ones we occasionally elicit a frown from!

Since we have pictures dating back to February, I'll be posting a lot of them and keeping the blather to a minimum.  Maybe.  Sometimes I can't help myself, eh?

The canal behind the Road Abode is constantly changing, and Barb caught it at its calmest.  She caught it at 7:07 in the morning in February and the sun hadn't really come up yet.

And then Elmer and Ann and Barb and I put up a wire fence on the wooden fence we'd added to in order to keep the kids from the playground wandering off onto the highway.  Some mothers really shouldn't have become mothers, judging from the way they tend their kids.

And then on the 15th, the four of us did some sightseeing at the Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium in Ft. Myers.  They had a small butterfly house with native critters.  Matter of fact, they had a lot of native critters in the place, and we had a great time.  The planetarium shows are always fun, and this one was no exception.

This particular butterfly is sitting on the handle of the container it hatched in, before fleeing to better pastures in the butterfly garden.

The caretaker, Kim, is a friend of Brie, a ranger here at Lovers Key, and we got a "twofer."  That's a coupon that lets one person in for free with a paid admission.  Since Barb and I have the Entertainment book with the same thing, Elmer and Ann used the coupon.  Penny saved is a penny earned, right?  Kim is showing us the chrysalis for the monarch butterfly.

The butterflies were real active, and I nearly upset plants and people snagging some of these shots.  When they'd land on people (there were about 10 of us on the "tour" of the butterfly house),  I'd try to get a shot of it, but they were too quick most of the time.  Ann felt special because this little one stayed on her for more than a moment.

Barb and I both like birds of prey.  They look so dignified standing up so straight, and they all have a powerful presence even when they're just soaring around looking for a meal.  This guy had a broken wing, but we didn't learn the details.  I think it's a red-shouldered hawk, and stands about 15 inches tall.

"What's the matter with you?  I'm not a bald eagle, Dummy, I have plenty of feathers covering my head."  "Oh, that's just what you call me.  OK.  Sorry."

She was here rather than in the wild (what's "wild" about perching on the cross of the local Presbyterian church, eh?) because (again) of a broken wing.  Actually, she was missing the wing as it had to be amputated to save her life.  And even though we lived with many of the birds in Alaska, it's still cool to be up close like this.

Ever seen an albino raccoon?  We hadn't.  Our lives seem to have a thrill a day down here.  This guy was picked up from somebody who'd had it as a pet.  Several of the animals in this place had been "rescued" from the pet status.

This yellow rat snake is about the same size and color of the one we saw all kinked up in the road one day.  Since it was a cool day, the snake was a bit sluggish.  First I'd seen of the underside of it.  Rather a striking snake........no pun intended.  It's a constrictor by nature and non-venomous.

And then the reptiles.  Big fella there on the left, by anybody's standards.

Then a face only a mother could love; it's an opossum.  Then some epiphytes (air plants which are common here), with the big one in bloom and the little one just getting started.

Think the boardwalk has been here a day or two?  Nice interpretative signs along the way.

Back home, Barb couldn't resist taking some shots of these brilliant daisy-like flowers in our Lovers Key butterfly garden along with a wild poinsettia covered with dew.  And mushrooms are a favorite of hers; this one's particularly large.  Maybe because they're both built so close to the ground, eh?  (Barb's not very tall, and I tease her about it once in a while.)

Barb takes her camera with her when she goes shelling and shoots birds.  Doesn't matter that we have hundreds of pictures of birds, she still shoots them.  And I'll agree, they're always a bit different.  Like the upper left where there's a combination of birds, and some who look like they've had a bad hair day.  Those are the white ones that look like they're balding (white on top & black around); these are "royal terns" in their winter plumage.  In summer, their head is full of black feathers.  The ones that are mostly black with the orange and black bill are "black skimmers."  They have the distinction of having a lower bill that is much longer than the upper one.  They use it to create  ripples on calm water, then circle around and skim off  the fish.  There are also one or two plain old gulls too.  And the lucky girl got a pretty decent photo of a dolphin besides.  Good picture day.

This place is truly an amazing part of God's creation.  There's always something different going on either at the beach, on the nature trail, or just sitting around at home.  We've been here for better than five months, and the thrill hasn't worn off in the least.  As I sit here hammering at the keyboard, I'm listening to a mocking bird letting the world know he's sitting on top of the tree next to the Road Abode.  I can almost hear the fish laughing at me because I'm in here rather than out there tempting them with a shrimp on my hook.  Today there's a strong breeze (22 mph) blowing which is making the surf noisy at the beach and keeping the bugs away (very, very good).  Every day is different than the one before, and there are constant changes during the day.  It may be too hot and buggy for us during the summer..... but maybe not.  We're considering the possibility of watching loggerhead turtles come up the beach to lay their eggs.

I guess I was here fishing when Barb caught this guy tipping over his outrigger canoe and climbing back in.  Glad he made it!  That's me on the left, Elmer sitting down (he doesn't fish, but he'll be sociable while we're fishing), then Ron on the right.  That little white thing in the foreground is Max.  And he's one tough hombre too.  At least he wants us all to think so.  Kahlua, the chocolate lab, is laying in the shade and you really can't see her.  They're both constant companions of either Ron or Rainy when they're outside.  Never heard Kahlua make a sound, but Max will let the world know you're on his territory if you come over unexpectedly and unannounced.  Great neighbors.

AHA!  Fresh black drum for dinner tonight!  Great tasting fish.

No, I'm not dancing for the camera!  I'm trying to get the fire ants off my legs, sox, and boots before they make welts on me.  It's called the "Fire Ant Dance" and I do it often and well.  At least while Elmer and I are picking up some mighty big rocks to dump into a hole that's being made by drain water in one of the parking lots. Elmer got bit worse than I did, and I suspect (but I'd never tell him) that's because I'm a better dancer than he is.

The poor old dump truck could only haul so many of these monsters at a time, so we made several trips from where we'd found them in the bushes, to this hole in the parking lot.  Some of the rocks were heavy enough to make the tractor try to stand on its nose, and once it got real exciting.  Thought it was going to flop over on its side!  Barb missed that picture thank goodness.  Ann and Barb were busy making sure we didn't kill ourselves by forgetting that we've had more than 25 birthdays.  It sure was fun to work with those two.  They're about our age, and have some physical challenges too, so we made a good team.  Elmer is fearless and will try anything that even remotely looks like fun.

This "spotted eagle ray" (stingray) has a whip-like tail that seems to be at least 10-15 feet long.  Never saw one so long--impossible to get it all in a single shot.  The end of the tail has two rigid poisonous barbed spines at the base.  Most rays are typically harmless unless bothered or pursued.  We can see them every once in a while as we cross the pedestrian bridge from the bike path to the parking lot/picnic area. 

Elmer quickly learned it was easier to take the "elevator" back to mother earth than climb down from the truck after unhooking the chain we used to keep the rocks in the bucket of the tractor.  And again, Ann and Barb are saving our lives by making us take a break and drink some water.  Is this a great lifestyle or what?

It's party time!  Well, "party time" as defined by a bunch of retirees (for the most part) who like potlucks -- and cake and ice cream.  Ron had a birthday and Rainy let the secret out, and one excuse is as good as another.  That's Ron and Rainy (Lorraine) in the picture on the right.

Above, volunteers Brian and Jane (Canadian); on the right are Dave and Maria Lightner.  Maria is the ranger responsible for recruiting volunteers for the park among other things.  She must have had the day off because she's not in uniform.

Brie and Randy, the two new hard working rangers.  Brie made cheesecakes to supplement her income while in college, and was kind enough to bring some in for the party (yummmmm).  She also made some for the Christmas party.  Fantastic stuff.  On the right are volunteers Tom and Margie.

The birthday boy -- wondering what to do with that cake -- he eventually passed the cutting duties to one of the women who passed it on to someone else again.  There was a reason the cake was hard to cut--it was still frozen (Maria, was this an accident or a planned event????).  Then there's Ann and Elmer again.  Tough to get those two to smile for the camera, eh?  We sure miss working with them.  They're on their way to South Dakota for the summer, but plan to be back here in October.