It Was Our Lucky Day!

 

Blairsville, GA – Rivers Edge Rv Park (high 78, low 64)

 

We are still marveling at this cool weather.  We can’t quite believe how much nicer it is here than it was in Tampa, and we spend as much time outside as possible.

We were up early yesterday morning as usual, trying to fit everything into these very short days.  We run out of day before we run out of things we want to do. 

We spent the morning visiting some friends around the park, then sent our friends Terry and Ralph off to Babyland in Cleveland, GA for a trip to the Cabbage Patch. They had an appointment to adopt some Cabbage Patch kids for their granddaughters.  I’ll post some pictures tomorrow of their new family members.

 

By this time we were hungry, so we went into town for some lunch at Monte Alban, our favorite Mexican restaurant.

After lunch, we went to Ingles grocery store.  It’s the nicest grocery store we’ve ever been in, which is surprising, because Blairsville is a very small town.  We enjoyed looking around the store and finding all the hard to find things that we like and can’t find at most groceries.

Do you remember a blog post a few months ago where Al tried some free samples at a local Whole Foods store in Tampa and got food poisoning?     I thought we had agreed no more free food samples when they were left laying out.

So…..guess what he did yesterday?    Yes, he did.  He is like a hunting dog on a scent, when there is free food around.   As soon as I reminded him of the food poisoning episode, he remembered he wasn’t supposed to eat things like that.  Al, Al, Al……..    So far, so good.

 

As we were wandering around Ingles, I remembered a recent blog post Merikay wrote where she had been searching for some unusual food products.  She was happy to have found walnut oil, and oyster mushrooms.  I decided to see if Ingles would live up to her expectations and have those two items (which I had never heard of before).

Guess what I found?

Right next to the Walnut oil were a few other interesting oils.

I’m not sure exactly what you would do with any of these oils, but maybe Merikay will chime in and give us some ideas.

 

The other thing she mentioned was oyster mushrooms.  Guess what I found?

 

and how about these?   Do they taste like lobster, I wonder?

 

So, Merikay, did Ingles pass the test?   I think you’ll like the store when you get here this fall. 

 

As we wandered around Ingles, I was admiring the nice bags of frozen okra and butterbeans, wishing I had room in my small Rv freezer.   Al reminded me we have a big residential refrigerator here in the cabin.  Well, it’s not exactly a big by home standards, but by Rv standards it’s pretty big!   I grabbed some okra and butterbeans, and was also able to take advantage of a buy one, get one free deal on frozen blueberries.   It is nice having more room for this kind of thing.

 

We spent the longest time browsing around Ingles like kids at Disney World.  As we were getting ready to leave, I was paying, and Al walked over to buy a scratch off lottery ticket.

As we walked out, he was scratching the ticket as I was pushing the cart.  He said,  “I think I just won $100,” and then “No, I think, I just won $10”,  then,  “no, I think it’s $100”   I think he was just too excited to look at it carefully enough, so he just walked over to cash it out and see what he had actually won.   

Here he is when he came back with his loot.   It was indeed $100 and he was a happy camper.

So, a prudent person would take the $100 and enjoy it right?   We weren’t so prudent and decided it might be our lucky day, so we took the cash right back in and bought a couple more tickets.  I bought a $5 scratch off ticket which was a loser.  Al gambled big and bought a $10 scratch off ticket which believe it or not was another $100 winner!

So, he won $200 off of two scratch off tickets!   Way to go Al.  

 

We spent the rest of the day putzing around outside.  I planted some more of the flowers and Al did a little metal detecting, trying to find a survey pin showing where our lot line is located.

The birds have once again found our bird feeders and we’ve enjoyed watching them.  It appears we have a family of juvenile Cardinals.  It’s amazing how many birds are in this area.

We have a few goldfinch.  We had a lot of them last year, so we’re hoping more will come.

We have at least two hummingbirds, but I haven’t gotten any pictures of them just yet.

We have a neighbor that has a LOT of bird feeders on his lot.  He keeps them full and the birds are quite happy.  It is not easy to lure them away and it took us quite a while last year.  This year, we had the same problem.  The birds hung out at his place and ignored our feeders.  This year, it only took  a few days for the birds to find our feeders again. We provide the “good stuff” so once they discover our tasty treats, they tell their friends.

We buy shelled sunflower seeds at Wal-Mart, and all the birds LOVE it, including gold finch. No messy shells laying on the ground and there is no waste.  Anything that falls on the ground is quickly taken care of by doves or some other ground feeder.

We’re not sure what we will do today.  We may get rain, so I guess we’ll see. We have a big week-end planned, providing there is no rain.

Missed the Drag Races

 

Cudjoe Key Florida, Venture Out Resort (high 81, low 71)

 

We are settling in here at Venture Out and establishing our routine.  Unfortunately, our routine hasn’t included much boating, due to fairly consistent and gusty winds.

We did get out a few days ago, and Al managed to NOT slip and fall on his butt like he did the last time.  He ended up with a pretty nasty bruise from the previous fall.   I’ll spare you the pictures.   :)

When we leave the marina here, we can either stay on this side of the bridge and go out into the Atlantic, or go under the bridge and go to the “back country” as it’s called.  This time we chose to stay on the Atlantic side, thinking it was calmer.  It started out pretty choppy, but the seas gradually laid down a little.  We went over to an island hoping it would block he wind a little bit.  We saw this in the distance. When I zoomed in with my camera, I saw that it was a sunken yacht.  Recently, there was an article in the local paper talking about the cost of removing these derelict boats that have sunk in the coastal waters.  I think the birds appreciate it though.

 

I managed to hurt my knees a week or so ago.  The only thing I can think of is when we took a power walk one morning and I was wearing little flat Keds instead of a good walking shoe. Soon afterwards, both of my knees were hurting all the time, but got even worse when I did any walking. 

Aspirin and ibuprofen didn’t work, so I tried some Joint Flex, which helped some, but not enough.  Al finally suggested I take some Glucosamine, which helped a lot, as long as I keep taking them.  Anyway, lesson learned.  Don’t take power walks on concrete with bad shoes.  I can’t believe I did that.

 

We talked about going down to Key West the other day for the drag races. I wasn’t sure my knees would handle the walking, and as it turned out the wind and seas were down, so  we went boating instead.  Boating trumps drag races any day.

Now, keep in mind, we’re talking about Key West, and the drag races might be a little different than what you’re used to.  :)

The Key West drag races were between drag queens in heels.  There were different categories depending on the heights of the heels the “girls” were wearing.   Only in Key West!  

Here is a picture I borrowed from the internet. Check out those heels as she is jumping a barricade!  That queen had some pretty muscular legs.

It’s an annual event, maybe we’ll get there next year.

We had a nice day boating, and Al caught a bunch of small fish, so we came home with an empty cooler and left over bait.

There is a nice place by the marina to rinse your boat.  It even has a power washer.  It’s another nice amenity here at Venture Out.  Al is a madman with the power washer, so I walked away for the protection of my camera.

At the fish cleaning station, the pelicans and and gulls wait patiently for any fish scraps from the fishermen.  Al fed his leftover bait to the pelicans and seagulls, and then started rinsing out his cooler.

I noticed this guy watching patiently in the background so I quickly grabbed my camera.

I was able to walk right up to this beautiful and rare Great White Heron.

He squawked at me and seemed upset the free meal was gone and he didn’t get any.  Sorry fella.

He was nice enough to pose for some pictures though.

He looks very similar to the common Great Egret, but the egret has black legs.   You have probably seen plenty of egrets, but maybe not the Great White Heron.

Notice the pale legs of the heron?

 

We spent Easter mostly around the house relaxing.   Today looks like a good day for boating, so I need to get moving to get us some sandwiches made for our lunch.

 

Here are my usual sunrise pictures from the past few days.

I’m trying to find new places to photograph, since I’ve done so many of the tiki hut.

There is no good place we’ve found here in the park to watch the sunset. 

Waiting For Andrea

 

Cross Hill, South Carolina

We were up early this morning still undecided as to where we would be going in our attempt to stay away from tropical storm Andrea.  We spent last night just off the coast of South Carolina, near Charleston, and were in a tropical storm watch area.  Just what we had been trying to avoid.

We decided to head up I-95 to I-26 and either go to Cross Hill, SC, or keep going another 60 miles to Asheville, NC.

The weather was okay, with just a few light sprinkles, and yes, the nut held, so the wipers stayed on!  Yea!

After some debate, we decided we would stay in South Carolina and head to a beautiful resort we had heard about, called Lake Greenwood MotorCoach Resort.

We had about a 150 mile drive, and it was all interstate until  the last 15-20 miles.

It’s a privately owned resort, but you can rent sights for either $49 or $59 a night.  If you really like it here, you can buy a site starting at $49k.  Of course the best sites are the ones for $89k.

We met Mel at  the office and he  guided us to one of the nicest sites.   It’s an owned site, but I’m pretty sure it was one of the $89k sites.

Here is our view outside our front window.  Yes, it is that green.

It’s a pull in forward site and there is a nice little deck in the front of the site, with a gorgeous view of the huge lake.

Oh, if you buy one of the $89k sites, you get a free pontoon boat!

Everything is so green and lush and the landscaping is amazing.  It truly does look like a resort, unlike many rv “resorts”.

The roads are terraced, to make the most of the beautiful views.

This is a shot looking up the hill at motor home on the left.

After setting up, we took a drive into town and got a few groceries.  There doesn’t appear to be too much to do around here, other than the lake, but we’ll find out for sure before we leave.  It’s a beautiful natural finger lake and is  huge, with something like 220 miles of shore line, if I remember correctly.

When we got back from town, we both planned on taking a short nap.  Al has a ball game he wants to watch tonight and we have not gotten much sleep the past few nights that we’ve been running away from the storm.  As soon as we got back and looked at our beautiful site, we decided to skip the nap.  It was just too beautiful to sleep.

We met our very nice neighbors, Peggy and Jay? and their two cute dogs.  They invited us out for a ride in their pontoon boat as soon as the weather clears up!   How nice was that?   If  there is a boat involved, we’re ready.  I guess we’ll have to stay at least a few more days.

We  sat out on our deck for a while and noticed a lot of bird activity nearby.

There are a lot of bird nest boxes around and we were able to  see Mr. Bluebird going in to feed the kids.

Watching to make sure no one is looking.

This should have been “the end” shot.

and here he comes back out.

We took a walk around and saw a lot of interesting birds.

This one was having a bath.

This Robin posed for quite a while.

 

Bluebirds are everywhere.

The landscaping around here is amazing.  Every where I looked is some new and beautiful plant.

I can’t wait to get some photos when the sun is actually shining.

We haven’t dodged the bullet as far as the storm yet.  She made landfall in Florida and is currently heading up the east coast, right towards us.  We’re hoping she’ll stay near the coast and away from us.  We expect rain tonight, but I guess as long as we don’t have winds or tornados, I can deal with the rain.

It has been a bit stressful trying to stay ahead of the storm for the past three days, but we feel we made the right decision.  It was ugly in the area we were at and Florida got at least 10 small tornados.  That is not what I want to deal with, if I can avoid it.  My nerves can’t take it.

Right now, it’s nice not having to go anywhere tomorrow.   We’ve done everything we can do to stay away from the storm, so whatever happens now, happens.  I just might be tired enough to sleep through a storm tonight!

Look What the Rain Brought

 

Wesley Chapel, Florida

On Saturday morning, we were out on the patio by about 6am.  We had both cameras, waiting for the fox to come back.

I quickly realized my big zoom was too much for the fox, should he come, so I made some adjustments.  Too many cameras, too many lenses.  :)

We had  put the birdfeeder inside the truck overnight to avoid attracting the fox to the campground, where he really shouldn’t be.  We love seeing him, but don’t want him getting too tame and expecting food.  He needs to have a fear of man.

We sat there quite a while without seeing the fox, but we did have a few other of our friends.

A family of Sand Cranes flew right over.

A Tufted Titmouse, who apparently was just dropping a mighty big peanut seed.

Sharing with a friend.

 

We decided to walk down to where the otters hang out and see if they were around.

No otters, but we did see this Yellow Crowned Night Heron.

After a beautiful morning, a slow moving front came through, bringing a ton of rain.  Fortunately, it wasn’t windy or severe, but I did hear of two nearby houses getting struck by lightning.  Not real comforting since we live in a motor home!

This morning, we were up and outside early again and again we were rewarded for our efforts.

This next picture is our view from out patio.  The brown reeds you see in the middle of the photo, are cat tail reeds that are growing in the drainage area behind us.  Before yesterday, it was dry directly behind us.   Today we have water and actually saw an otter swimming right behind the rig.  No decent pictures though.

The sound from the frogs was almost deafening.  I kept wanting the remote control to turn them down!

I saw a small Red Shouldered Hawk on the bank on the other side of the pond.  He was hopping around in the grass chasing his breakfast.

I know how nature works, but I don’t like to see it. 

When he flew up to the sign, I saw that it was a frog.  Poor little frog. 

Mockingbirds hate hawks and crows because they steal their babies.  

This Mockingbird was dive bombing the hawk as he ate his breakfast.  I was afraid I would zoom in and find the hawk had a baby Mockingbird.  I was relieved it was a frog, but I’m sure the frog didn’t feel the same way.

Like, I said.  We have a lot of frogs.  This little blue heron was also dining on a frog.  I just hope the frogs stay on their side of the boundary!

It’s amazing what you see, if you just take the time to watch.

Here is a blurry photo of a Daddy Cardinal feeding his baby.

A close up of the red eye of the Yellow Crowned Night Heron. Taken with LC (little cannon) at full digital  zoom.

Al got this shot of a male Cardinal  also with LC at full digital zoom.

and a strange site coming up the bank.

A cute little Titmouse posing nicely for me.  I really need to pick off those old dead leaves that are ruining my picture!

 

 

Yesterday was the first day of the 6 month long hurricane season, and of course there is something interesting forming down south.

The weather forecasters are watching a weather mass that will probably bring some tropical weather up here by the middle of next week.

They aren’t predicting it to become a hurricane, and don’t expect much except for some rain.  However, they do think it will come our way.   My experience with tropical systems is that the forecasters are pretty good about predicting where they will go, but not so good at predicting how strong they will be.

So……what do we do? 

We were planning on leaving the area and heading south later this week anyway.   South doesn’t appear to be our best choice now.  We had already ruled out our beach camping at Red Coconuts Rv park because they are full and we couldn’t get a site the week we wanted.   We were thinking of going back to  Kissimmee Prairie, but now we’re thinking if we leave, we should get out of Florida.

I’m not too worried about the storm, but then again, you never know, and I would rather be safe than sorry.

I guess we’ll make a decision today or tomorrow.  Last June, we were in the same situation and we waited too long to make the decision to leave and we were stuck here during tropical storm Debbie. 

Decisions, decisions.

More Excitement

 

Wesley Chapel, Florida

We’ve had some excitement around here, and no, it’s not another park model being moved.  This is real excitement!

A few days ago, Al and I walked down to where the otters have been hanging out.  They weren’t there, but this little turtle was.

I didn’t pay any attention to her until Al mentioned that she was laying eggs.

Sure enough, when I zoomed my camera in, she was definitely laying eggs.  Unfortunately, she laid them on the bank of the pond, and in an area that is mowed regularly.

We took a few pictures, then left her to finish her work.  Our intention was to go back later and put up some stakes warning people away, like they do for sea turtles at the beach.

Unfortunately, by the time we got back, the eggs were gone and the otters were back.  We’re pretty sure the otters ate the eggs.   We felt bad, but not as bad as if they had been incubating for a while and were ready to hatch.

 

Thursday was spent getting paperwork ready for Al to sell his business.  He has already found a buyer, so we just have to get some facts and figures ready for him.   I sure will be glad not to be tied down with that.   He doesn’t have many accounts left, just enough to tie us down even more than we already are with my Mom.

 

Last night, we were sitting outside on our back patio, having happy hour and reading.  I happened to look up and not 15 feet away from me was a little fox, looking right at me.

I wanted to alert Al, but not scare the fox away, so All I said was “fox”…..as I was slowly grabbing for my camera. 

I had my little Canon (LC) unfortunately.   I had it on the sports setting trying it out and I wasn’t happy with my photos, but I did manage to get a few decent ones.

The fox was right under our bird feeder, eating the spilled bird seed.  I believe he is a gray fox.   He doesn’t look nearly as red as the ones that used to play in the pasture at our place in Georgia.

He even went and had a drink of water from the little orange birdbath you see in the foreground of the picture.

You can see that he was panting.  It was warm with that thick fur coat.

Isn't he a beauty?

You can bet that tonight, I’ll be sitting out there with my Big Canon (BC).

Speaking, of big Canon.   I got my 500 mm zoom lens on Wednesday.

It’s a big thing and when attached to the camera, which is already quite a bit heavier than LC, it’s quite a challenge. 

It will not be my “camera of choice,”   but I really like it.  It takes good pictures, but is so bulky that I will probably miss more shots than I get.  My main goal, was to have it in places where the wildlife is abundant and nearby, like Kissimmee Prairie, or sitting by my campsite.  It will be great for our daily drives on the campground road at Kissimmee Prairie.   It will probably not go on a lot of hikes….unless of course Al  (he calls himself the pack mule) wants to carry it.

Anyway, I like the Canon Rebel and the new lens.  I’ll have to get some pictures to show you what a huge beast it is.  The lens is supposed to weigh 4 pounds, but it feels like 20. The funny thing is, it’s less than half as powerful as my “stalker” lens on LC.

Here are a few photos I took with the Canon Rebel (BC) and the  new 150-500 mm lens.

I noticed after I uploaded the photos that they had a blue tint to them.  I must have something set wrong.  I played around with adjusting them with Picasa and got a few interesting shots.

This Tufted Titmouse, I changed to black and white and put a soft focus on him.  These are all modifications right there in Picasa. I figured since the color wasn’t right, I’d just see what it looked like in black and white, and  kind of liked it.

I tried the “warmify” on Picasa and it did help to warm up my bluish tinted photos.

Here is the before picture.  (terrible shot, I know)

Here is the after shot, with warmify added.   Better?

Picasa has a lot of tools to help you fix some less than perfect shots.

This next shot was “warmified” as well.

Here is one that I took that didn’t need to be warmified.

By the way, these are all a family of baby Cardinal’s that have been frequenting our feeders.  You can always tell the babies, because they are so clumsy!

This could be Mama Cardinal

These pictures are all taken with BC.  I shot this Bluebird, but he was still too far away so I had to seriously crop it to bring him into view.  This was zoomed to 439 mm. 

I did some experimenting with the editing in Picasa and got some interesting results.  (That’s what you do when your pictures are crummy)

 

I plan to spend some time today, learning how to use BC and hopefully tonight I’ll get some more fox photos!