Annual Bird Migration Has Begun

Florida Keys, (high 81, low 71)

Boy these temperatures sure don’t change much from day to day, do they?

The annual bird migration is hot and heavy here in the Keys (Snowbird)  They are pulling up left and right and soon we expect to almost have the place to ourselves.  April 1st should be the end of most of the snowbirds. Of course April also starts the season for the folks that have a summer week-end site.    Lookout Florida, the snowbirds are migrating north!

Yesterday brought some pretty gusty winds, so we decided against kayaking. 

I don’t know if you will remember me telling you about the fabric we bought last winter for a rv rug, but it’s working great in this wind.  It’s from a place in Center Hill, Florida and here is my blog link.   It  doesn’t blow up in the wind….and we’ve had some pretty good winds to test it.  Our site is gravel, with some fairly large rocks.  We hesitated to lay down the rug, thinking it would blow away on those big rocks…but so far so good.  Most people around here have brought their rugs in, unless they are anchored down.

This is a picture of it I posted last year.  You can see it looks like a piece of fabric.  It won’t kill grass either.

The fabric is similar to what you put on your front windshield to block the sun, or MCD day shades.

Since it was too windy to kayak, we had thought about catching the bus and making a day trip to Key West.   In the end, we decided to just hang around the house and do a few chores.  Our neighbors here from Colorado, made the trip to Key West, and said everything was so crowded due to spring breakers.  Boy are we glad we didn’t go.  It was like that the last time we were there and we didn’t enjoy it.  I guess we’ll wait until after Easter.  When are those spring breakers going to be done anyway?

I took advantage of the winds to do some laundry.  I love to hang laundry out on our little clothes line, if at all possible.  Yesterday was the perfect day.  Our little Splendide washer/dryer is nice, but it takes quite a while to dry the clothes.  The clothes line sure speeds things up, and especially on a windy day.

I made Al some nice pink Key West shrimp scampi for dinner last night. I had never made it before, but I just cooked the shrimp in some Promise Margarine, with chopped garlic and some lemon juice.  He was pretty happy with it.    I am trying to follow the Weight Watchers diet, so I just had a salad.  I’m not having any trouble sticking with the meal plans, but I want my evening happy hour…..after all, we are in the Keys!

We went over to the fitness center for a while yesterday and did several long walks around the park…hope that will counter-act my evening vodka tonic!

We’ve been thinking about going on a fishing charter while we’re here. We understand the  Tarpon are running now, however in checking their prices, we found a trip cost $450 for a 4 hour trip.   Too rich for us!  There are other deep sea fishing charters all over for $60 a person.  That’s more to our budget.  Al will go on one for sure, but I’m not so sure about me.  I have been known to get sea sick and the Keys has the rocking and rolling-est water I’ve even been in.  Even when you get in and head to the bottom on a scuba dive, you can still feel the surge.  My worst sea sick experience was right here in the Keys and I’m not anxious to repeat it.  I used to always take anti nausea medications, however I am not allowed to take it now with the high pressure in my left eye.  I didn’t get a chance to get that eye fixed before we left Tampa and I have to be careful what I take for a while.  No Dramamine, no antihistamine's, no Sudafed.  It’s a good thing there is no pollen here!

There are some natural things you can use to prevent seasickness, like ginger and a band that goes on your wrist.  I have use the band twice…and got sea sick the second time.  Ginger might be an option, but if it doesn’t work, 4 hours can be a very long time if you’re sea sick.  We’ll see, I guess!

Sunrise at Sunshine Key Rv Park and Marina