October 23, 2005 - Clermont, FL

Yeah, that's Clermont, FL.  Been a long time since I left town because of a woman......... but Wilma chased us out of Lovers Key State Park.  It's located on one of the barrier islands just north of Naples and a bit south of Ft. Myers, and if you've been paying any attention to the TV news, you know that's right where the eye of Hurricane Wilma is supposed to hit. 

We got to Lovers Key without incident on Monday and we left on Wednesday.  At the moment (and I'm getting internet updates every two hours), it looks like we'll enjoy 1-3" of rain which is no big deal in this area, and winds of about 30 knots which also is no big deal in this area.  Storm is supposed to be finished with Florida on Monday, and we'll go back to Lovers Key on Tuesday if the roads are passable.  At least that's the plan at the moment.  Is this a great lifestyle or what?  We could pack up all our belongings, not just the "special" items, and high-tail-it out of town with little more than an hour's notice.

This welcome sign sure put a smile on our faces.  These people really have their act together when it comes to taking care of their volunteers.  And there's home.  Well, at least it was home for a couple of days, and should be through December, if not longer.  Be interesting to see what we go back to in a couple of days.

Pretty nice side yard, eh?  And then I went and stood by the front door and took a shot of how far I have to go to stick a line in the water to catch dinner!  Is this a great ...... well, you know.  Can hardly wait to get back there and go to work.......... and do some serious fishing!

To give you an idea of the people we'll be working with is this totem pole.  Belongs to Maria, our "boss," and sits at the entrance to her driveway.  She tells us that the hat will change depending on the season.  Unless she rescued it before leaving town for Bell, FL, with her family, it'll be something different by the time Halloween arrives.

And then a quick drive across the highway and down a bit, is the gulf side of the park.  Public boat ramp is here along with a bait shop.  I was taken by the guides on the trailers.  Pretty handy when the wind is blowing and you've got a boat built for fishing in very shallow water.  They sure were popular.

Barb heading to the bait shop, the boat ramp in the middle of the picture, and those guides on the right.  We can hear these PWC's (personal water craft) from where we live, but can't see them because we're on a canal that doesn't allow any powered watercraft.  Just canoes, rowboats, and kayaks.  They probably allow electric motors, but I'm not sure.

Here comes one of those boats built to fish the "flats" heading to the ramp.  Later, I talked to the fisherman who was alone, and told him to call me if he found himself trying to pole the boat and handle his fly rod at the same time.  He took my card and said he'd call.  Hope he does.

Then it was down to the beach to watch the sunset with Dennis and Mary, the only other volunteer couple there so far.  October is traditionally tough to get volunteers down here because of the heat and humidity, but the place will be full with its complement of six rigs of volunteers on Nov. 1.

One of the best features of these barrier islands are the birds.  We're not die-hard "birders," but we do like to watch them and listen to them.  Pelicans are plentiful and will even fly in a "V" occasionally.

This Osprey was screeching at somebody.  Lots of nests in the area.  With cloud cover like this (on Tuesday, 10/16 - nothing to do with Wilma), we were either going to have a great sunset or none at all.

GROANNNNNNN!  Someday I'm going to learn how to take sunset and sunrise shots.  Really, I am!  At least it was pretty in person.

Well, here we are (with a lot of others, mostly from the Keys) settled into the TTN preserve in Clermont (near Orlando).  With clouds building nicely, I might add.

There was a mocking bird sitting and singing in one of those palm trees while we enjoyed watching the clouds and listening to him sing.  Then he quit.  He still sat in the tree looking around, just doing it silently.  Barb started making  weird (to me) sounds trying to get him cranked up again, but nothing happened.  Then I went to the car, opened the ash tray, pulled out the little Audubon bird caller we've had for years and never used, and sat down.  A couple of squeaks on the call and the bird immediately started to sing!  It was pure coincidence, I'm sure, but please don't tell Barb.  She thinks I'm a clever fellow.  Sure made us grin, regardless.

With clouds like this, we were hoping for some lightening and thunder, and a good rain.  Got nothing.  Not even a sprinkle.

No point in sitting around feeling sorry for ourselves, so we went off on a hike down one of the several nature trails here in the park.  Barb's hunkered down inspecting a gopher tortoise hole.  And then the real Florida "jungle."  At least to us.  Mixture of live oak, pine trees, saw palmetto shrubs, along with assorted grasses.

Another tortoise home, and then some cactus.  Yeah, that's right, cactus.  Here in Florida, with all its rain, humidity and sandy soil.  That must be it.  Sandy soil.  Like the southwestern United States, eh?  Not sure 'bout that, but am sure this is cactus, and looks for all the world like a prickly pear cactus.  It doesn't need to worry about any Javalina coming along and taking a bite out of it here because they don't live here.

Hard to believe this big spider spun that web.  Maybe the web spinner was dinner for this spider?  Why is it I've got so many more questions than answers on these hikes!

Some critter make that hole in the palmetto?  First time either of us actually saw the palmetto berries growing.  And there's positive evidence that the armadillos are active around here.  They root around for grubs.  Or do they grub around for roots?  Naw, they're carnivores, so they root for grubs.  Can really make a mess of a garden too.  Not nearly as bad as the mess the feral hogs make.  Too bad the stupid animal "rights" idiots have such political clout.  If homeowners had the "right" to shoot a feral pig on sight, the problem could sure be reduced.  Since a sow can have three litters a year and average 8 piglets each time, the population is really hard to control, much less eliminate.  Darn shame, as the parks on the mainland are being destroyed by these lucky pigs.