A Rare Bird and other Adventures

 

Florida Keys  (high 80, low 71)

We’ve been busy around here lately, but not much that’s blog worthy.

We did discover an interesting subdivision we never knew existed.

There is a runway that runs between the two rows of homes.

On this side of the runway, these houses are on a canal.

How is this for the good life?

A motor home.

A yacht in the back yard.

An airplane,  and golf cart in your garage.

This house also had what we’re thinking is some sort of telescope.

This plane just barely fit into the carport.

The garage doors open like this.  I thought it was kind of interesting.

 

Of course, here in the Keys, you never know what kind of crazy things you’ll see, so I always bring my camera.

This guy has an unique business.

There are palm trees every where, but I’ve never seen one quite like this fuzzy one.

I don’t know what this tree is, but I saw another one with the “legs” about 5 feet tall, and it almost looked like it could walk away.

These interesting looking pods were growing on the tree.

 

Most of the waters around here are in or near the Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge.  Great White Herons are only found in Florida, especially in the Keys and Everglades.  They are larger than the very similar Great Egret, with a more massive bill, and pale legs.

We don’t see a lot of them, but this guy was hanging around the dock at Bahia Honda State Park.  There were 3-4 of us taking his picture, and he was most cooperative.

This couple was coming in on their dingy and the heron was there to meet them at the dock.  Isn’t that little dog cute?

 

Then it was on to some fishing, despite the no fishing sign posted prominently.

We hung around the marina for a while and made friends with Lulu.  She was wearing her life preserver.  I think the people came to shore from their sailboat.

After we left the marina, we headed over to the beach, where everyone was enjoying the warm water.

It has been a little cooler here than normal, but it hasn’t stopped people from enjoying themselves.

 

We finally got the boat out again yesterday, for the first time since we replaced battery #2.   I’m glad to report that it started with the first crank every time.    Unfortunately, the winds have been blowing bringing some choppy seas, so we  found a little cove out of the wind and relaxed.

 

I went up front to read, but Al caught me catching a little nap.

We saw a manatee swim by.

 

These people were more energetic than we were.

 

So, that’s what we’ve been doing the past few days.  We have a Tina Turner show at the campground tonight and we haven’t decided yet what to do today.  It’s still a bit choppy to go very far offshore in the boat, so if we go, we will have to find a nice cove out of the wind.   There is really no place better to read than in a gently rocking boat.