November 17, 2005 - Lovers Key S.P., FL   

We've added a new link to our site.  From Quartzsite, AZ, and it's called Celia's Rainbow Gardens.  We've enjoyed visiting it several times, and now there's a website devoted to the garden.  Beautiful site, sad story........ but an example of the goodness of people.

Well, just another exciting day in paradise.  Anybody got any ideas on how to keep the no-see-ums off?  Those little buggers are about the only bug that we find truly irritating.  The skeeters stay away when we use sprays, lotions, or creams, but the little "all teeth" no-see-ums are less deterred by such things.

Later we'll include some pictures of the latest toy.  Bought an old beat-up canoe from the concessionaire and now we can go paddling whenever we want.  After I do a few hours work on it that is.  Need to replace a couple of the thwarts and knock out a big dent.  It's an old aluminum rascal, made by Osage and called the Osagian.   It's 17 feet long with a capacity of about 800 pounds according to the sticker.  The two of us with all our fishing gear will come to less than half that.  This will be a new trick for Barb who's never been around canoes.  I've enjoyed them off and on in the past, but never owned one before.  I'm planning on putting it on the roof of the Jeep when we leave here, and Barb's planning on leaving it here for other volunteers to enjoy.  Stay tuned!

The long-sleeved shirt is an attempt to keep the no-see-ums at bay as I maneuver the fish around the brush (which has since been removed).  This catfish has a variety of names, Topsail Catfish among them.  Supposed to be good eating, but we'll never know as it went right back in the canal.

We really enjoy the sunsets here.  Different than Arizona for sure, but still quite enjoyable.  Rumor has it that the shot on the left will be gracing the cover of a local telephone book, but we'll believe it when we see it.  Maria (our boss) mentioned that the phone book company had approached her asking for something from Lovers Key for their cover, and suggested a sunset.  I submitted several and they told Maria they wanted to use that one on the left.  Be fun if they do, but either way, we enjoy the sunsets.

And sunsets at the beach can drag out, and then I end up with a moon shot!  That little lizard is pretending to be a diamond back rattler, based on the markings on his back.  This place has a larger variety of lizards than anyplace else we've been, and it's always fun to watch them scampering around as we disturb their habitat when we're clearing trail.

Little in this world of environmental preservation is as exciting as a "controlled burn".  Many years ago, I was part of a work party that was doing a "controlled burn" that got away.  Took some houses with it.  In this case, these guys are being extra careful.  Heath, the assistant manager of the park, is making sure the fire hose has pressure.  The water tank is in the dump truck with a nice gas powered pump and things should be just fine.  The breeze is blowing offshore, and since it's directly offshore, the people enjoying the beach up a ways shouldn't even be able to smell it.  At least that's the plan.  And as you can see, it's a pretty big burn pile.  Most of this apparently came from last year's Hurricane Charlie.  There's a new pile for Wilma.

This is a great story, and I'm sure the guys will appreciate me telling you.  An "accelerant" is used to make sure the fire gets a good start.  Yup, good old diesel-gasoline mix.  Or maybe it was just diesel or gasoline.  I couldn't tell from where I was standing.  Anyway, Heath on the left and Mike (the park manager) were out starting little spots to make sure the pile got a complete and safe start.  Heath had poured some of the accelerant on this spot and then had trouble getting the bar-b-que striker to actually work.  When he finally did, the fire started with a big WHOUMP! which other volunteers way on the other side heard, but didn't know what it was. I hollered something about that being great fun, and Mike said, "Yeah, but Heath can't hear any more," and Heath said, "What?"  Thought I'd die laughing.  As you can see, they got the fire going just fine.

Not sure where these park rangers get their training, but we were (are) impressed.  These two men worked constantly making sure things were under complete control at all times.  There were some pieces sticking out of the pile that would eventually have burned, or could later be pushed into the fire, but they went the extra step to cut them off and toss them on the fire early on.  And it wasn't easy work, what with it being a warm day to begin with and them being in their fire suits that close to the fire.

There's always something going on that's funny to me.  In this case, it's the fire hose.  Ron spotted some leaks right off the bat when Heath and Mike were testing it, so a run to the shop for duct tape was made, and that's Ron in the background in the smoke, patching the fire hose!  Where would we be without WD-40 and duct tape, eh?

Meanwhile, Barb (blue hat) and Audrey are keeping beach visitors from getting too close to the fire.  Actually, I think they're looking for shells.  That grass in the foreground has been planted to keep the sand from blowing away; Sea Grape is planted in there as well (lower right photo is full grown Sea Grape).  Kinda makes me wonder when the Sea Grape does a pretty good job of creeping along the beach all by itself just fine. 

And then just a couple more shots of the beach from the burn pile.

Yup, some of us have done controlled burns before.  I was the only one who remembered to bring a chair, and with a nice cool (well, sort of) spot to watch the action.  Is this a great lifestyle or what?

Those people in the water are actually standing up fishing, not swimming.  You can walk a long way out there.  And then the end of another wonderful day.

This was the first time we'd ever seen a snowy egret surf fishing.  I took nearly 50 pictures trying to get it with a fish in its mouth, but it was just too quick for me.  The odd coloration here is due to the setting sun.

By clearing out the brush we did several things to enhance our back yard.  First, it's easier to get the fish in and, secondly, it cut down on the skeeters and no-see-ums.  That's a black drum I'm holding up and, since it's of legal size, we ate it.  Great tasting mild-flavored fish.

Is that a great "Farmers Tan" or what?  I'm in the process of filleting the fish there.  And then back to work we go.  In this case, we're cleaning up some of the benches along the Black Island Nature Trail.  Barb and I head out together in the mornings (typically) and work on maintaining the trail equipped with rake, broom, string trimmer, hand clippers, lopping shears, and sometimes a chain saw.  And, of course, binoculars and camera.

HA!  This is what's known as the "Fire Ant Dance."  I'm vigorously stomping my boots to knock the little buggers off before they crawl up on my legs and sting me, and then Barb got a shot of me sitting on the bench re-tying my boots after taking them off along with my sox to make sure the ants are all out of there.

Nickerbean vines make me grouchy.  They have a wonderful ability to hang onto whatever bush they've attached themselves to.  Besides, they're full of very sharp thorns!  I won the tug-of-war in this instance.

A close-up of the main vine with it's thorns (they may look small, but they're super sharp) and then the seed pods.  Sort of a pretty vine, actually, but golly are they tenacious once they grab you or your clothes.  It's almost like they hide and wait until you get there then whack! you're attached!

And she calls me picky!  HA!  You can see some of the "stumps" of the Sea Grape I trimmed and Barb hauled to give this resting place a bit of a view.  Next year, that Sea Grape will need to be trimmed again.  It's fast growing, particularly when trimmed like this.

Barb's showing off her new UV-proof hat.  Since she changed some of her cholesterol meds, the only bumps she has on her arms now are from bugs, and not the sun.  Still a good idea to protect the skin from too much sun.  Particularly these fair-skinned New Englanders.

Now, these little berries are actually part of that pretty little pink, yellow, and sometimes purple flower below.   It is called a Lantana (in the Verbena family).  The colors initially are cream, yellow, or pink, then age to orange or red.  They are quite spectacular and will stop you dead in your tracks the first time you see them. 

And these big seed pods belong to ????.   This place is so full of things we don't know, we'd have to stay forever to learn it all.

We do know that Mangrove roots are really a tangled mess.  It's really fun to see the raccoons negotiate their way through them at low tide looking for morsels.  The roots are also an excellent place for me to loose a good fish I've been trying to land!

A shot of the trail we're working on, with some "face slappers" that will get trimmed back, and one of the benches that needs a little cleaning up as well.

A quick before and after.  Well, maybe not all that quick.  Takes us old folks about an hour or so to clean up one like this. 

As we sit there admiring our work, along come some others to admire it as well.  And then it's back to hacking the face slappers.

More shots of the Lantana.  There doesn't seem to be much of a pattern to them, but we love to see them.  And naturally, I wonder why there are multiple colors in the same flower.

The morning glory is all over the place as well, and it seems to me that it's a tougher vine here in Florida than it ever was in California when I was a kid.

The trail (called Black Island Nature Trail) is hardly ever out of sight from some water.  Some spots like this one are brushier than others and keep us busy, and other spots are wide open.  We try to make the trail an easy walk for two people side-by-side, without get their faces slapped with the "face slappers."  The tree on the right is one of my favorites.  The limbs sort of blend into the trunk and don't really look like any other tree in that regard.  It's called a Gumbo Limbo or "Tourist Tree" (because it's always red and peeling).

Another rest stop for the hikers waiting for us to make it look a bit more inviting.  As well as killing the fire ants, and keeping snakes and other critters a bit further away--yes, we do watch for snakes and other critters.

Barb and I enjoy working with each other even though we drive each other crazy sometimes.  Barb's methodical and thorough both because of her nature and because of her professional training.  On the other hand, I'm, well, let's just say I'm somewhat less so.  I'd seldom go to the trouble to pull a weed by hand here on a nature trail.  Sure looks nice though, eh?  And there are several places in the park where these pavers are used.  Obviously we're not on the nature trail any more.

Actually quite civilized over here, eh?

On the left is the ranger station at the entrance, looking out.  Recognize that motorhome over there on the other side of the canal?

Yup, the Road Abode.  The Nature Trail winds around and goes along the canal across from where we're living.  And our neighbor Ron with his nice cleaned up yard.

Who says volunteers don't earn their keep!  Barb's pitching a palm frond that's bigger than she is!  Of course it's all dried out and not heavy at all, but it still looks good.  The tree it came from really isn't all that big, either.

Went sneaking off the trail a bit and came across a little pond we'd heard rumors about.  Scared up a few birds, and.........

...there's "Slimy," the local alligator.  Over there by the other bank.  I tried to walk around to get a better shot of him, but he went under immediately.  Which is a good thing, because that means he's not accustomed to humans.  And no, I'm not napping, I'm fishing! (And what's the difference? she says.)

And the end of another day in paradise here on earth.  Is this a great lifestyle or what?