Airboat Excitement

Last Tuesday our Florida arm of the family took an airboat tour. I did take a picture of the whole group, but it came out terrible, and in the interest of preserving peace I will not post it :-).

The tour we chose was the "Keys to Ozello" tour, a 2 1/2 hour trip starting down the Homosassa River, through part of Chassahowitzka N.W.R., out to the Gulf of Mexico, around the St. Martins keys, and back to Homosassa through the waterways of Ozello. It sounded like fun, and a group of nine of us signed up with River Safaris.

As we idled down the river, we passed the Homosassa shrimping boats. This is an idle only zone to protect the manatees.

Monkey Island, off the shores of the Riverside Resort. There are 5 monkeys residing on the island, but I didn't get any good shots..only butt shots!

Bird life was plentiful...first up were brown pelicans

We then passed an island of nesting Great Blue Herons...here's an adult on a nest

then a juvenile standing tall and proud!

and then I spotted this little chick peering out of a nest...cool!

A cormorant striking a very nice pose for the camera

A very fierce looking osprey atop one of the idle zone signs

Beautiful homes lined the riverfront, and down side canals. Looks like a lovely place to live...until the next big storm arrives! I wouldn't want to try and get homeowner's insurance on these homes!

Picking up speed, we sped through the waters of the Chassahowitzka N.W.R.

Black mangroves

Out into the Gulf of Mexico and the St. Martins Keys. I was so surprised how shallow the water is here, only a few inches deep for the most part. We drifted over sponges and anemones, watching through the clear water.

I thought this picture was very interesting, you can barely tell where the water ends and the sky starts!

A flock of white pelicans, with a pair of mallards high-tailing it away in front

White pelicans in flight

and away they go!

Cormorants taking off...they are very clumsy looking as they take off. It almost looks like their backsides are too heavy for them to lift out of the water!

Great Blue Heron in flight

Only these birds between us and Mexico! :-)

Bird Key...the noise emanating from this island was incredible!

The waterways through Ozello...Captain Bob says he never sees anyone back here, and the fishing is great :-)

Turkey Vultures making like totem poles...I didn't know they dried their wings like that.

More vultures in a row. They almost look nice :-).

                                                        Some final brown pelican pictures. 

It was a really fun experience, and we definitely recommend it if you are in the area. We couldn't have asked for a nicer day weather-wise either! After our experience we went out for lunch to the Riverside Resort's restaurant The Riverside Crab House, where most everyone had their all-you-can-eat fish fry special. It was an unanimous hit, and everyone decided we would have to return again :-). It was an extremely fun day! Thanks to Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Doris for suggesting it, and treating us to lunch ;-).

A Month Left

I can't believe it, but there's only a month left before we head out of Florida and on towards Colorado. The last two months seem like they've gone by in a snap.

Pizza is going well...the stone is helping, and I may even try baking cookies again :-). Tonight is a chicken taco pizza...we'll let you know how it is :-).

We are almost ready to have Al's mom and sister move completely into the house. The important stuff is there now...the personal items from storage has been moved in and put away, and Friday the cable/telephone/internet was hooked up. Good to go! Just waiting on a few pieces of living room furniture to arrive, but they can work around that.

We've had company this week, our close friend Ed from New York has been spending this week with us. Al and Ed have been getting plenty of quality golf time in, a good thing! They've been having a good time, aside from a close call involving a long golf shot and a sandhill crane...the crane is fine :-).

Speaking of sandhill cranes, I started my new volunteer job at Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park last Wednesday. The sandhill cranes had just hatched a chick five days prior, and that day was the first day they had the chick out for viewing. It was very cute, and I wished I had brought my camera...I will from now on!
My first day I worked with a long-time volunteer on the panther exhibit. We have a cart that we wheel out that has different skeletal exhibits, pictures and a footprint casting, and informational sheets on the Florida panther. I also have a talk to do for guests that would like to hear more.  I'll give a synopsis of it here for you, to see if I remember it :-).

We have two cats on exhibit here, Maygar the cougar and Don Juan the panther. It may seem odd that they are the same species of cat, but have different names. In fact, the same cat is called by five different names: cougar, panther, mountain lion, puma and catamount. They are ALL the same cat, the different names that they are called come from the different regions of the country that they originate from. Don Juan is from Florida, so he is a panther. Maygar is from the west, specifically Texas, so she is a cougar.
Today we have Maygar in the habitat. She is a 12 year old cougar, born in Texas and was sold when a cub to an individual who wanted her as a pet. She was subsequently spayed and declawed, making it impossible for her to ever be rehabilitated to the wild. When she became full grown and unmanageable for the family, she was abandoned, and eventually rescued and now resides here at the Wildlife Park.
Maygar and Don Juan are unable to be together in the habitat at the same time. Being that Maygar was spayed, Don Juan does not recognize her  as a female, and considers her a threat to his territory, and would  attack her if they were put together. So we do alternate them in the habitat on different days.
Don Juan is a 17 year old panther, and had lived his first ten years in the wild in the Florida Everglades. He was one of the wild panthers that the US Fish and Wildlife Service had tagged and were keeping track of. However, Don Juan became a bit lazy as he got older, and started hunting on private farm land. Apparently livestock was easier to catch :-). The farmers did not take kindly to this, as one would think, and Don Juan was tracked, captured and given shelter in the Wildlife Park for his remaining years.
There are currently 59 wild panthers that the US Fish and Wildlife Service have tagged and are keeping track of. The estimate that there is another 60 wild panthers that have not been tagged. So there are only about 120 or so panthers in existence in the wild at this time. They are on the endangered list.
DNA testing has shown that of the tagged panthers, Don Juan is the father of a little over 50% of the panthers. That is how he came to receive his name, Don Juan :-).

That's the basic "story" and then we answer any questions they may have. Its very interesting, and I will enjoy learning more about the exhibits and interacting with the guests. There are several different carts for different exhibits: red wolves, shorebirds, raptors, whooping cranes (thats another interesting story) wading birds, reptiles, manatees. I'm already looking forward to next winter :-).

Other than that, we just finished our work weekend at Otter Springs. Its getting a little busier as spring approaches. We have had some rainfall, so the river and springs are getting higher, but we still need so much more. Its been a very dry winter down here. We've been raking leaves, and they are so dry and dusty they fly all over the place.

This is our crabby kingfisher who hangs around the springs. He squawks like crazy whenever we come around :-).

Tuesday we have plans to take an airboat trip down the Homosassa River, to the Gulf of Mexico, around the St. Martin's and Bird Keys,  and back through the Chassahowitzka Refuge. It should be fun, and I will finally have some pictures to make things interesting again. I'll bring the camera to the Wildlife park as well and see if the sandhill crane chick is out. Until then, have a good week!

Pizza Was....

Great! I never imagined that pizza would generate so many comments! I'm guessing pizza is a fan favorite out there :-). This week we had used real pizza dough rather than the Pillsbury crust, and it tasted like real pizza, rather than the sort of biscuity-taste of the Pillsbury. We sauteed some onions, scrambled some sweet Italian sausage, and threw a couple of stray bacon slices on for good measure. We watched it very closely, and had a great pizza that was perfectly browned on the bottom this time. The only issue we had was we had trouble stretching out the pizza dough to fit the baking sheet. It kept shrinking down on us. There must be a secret to it.  We will investigate ;-).

Yesterday was transition day. Every Monday we load up the truck and drive down to Sugarmill, and every Thursday we head back up to the campground. We're getting used to the routine now. We did take our time, as it was pouring rain outside for several hours. The springs are looking much better after a solid 24 hours of rain. Much much more is needed though, its been so dry down here for so many months.

The rain had stopped just as we arrived. After unloading the truck, it was time to relax on the lanai for a while and catch up with the family. I then needed some oranges, so we drove down to the fruit and veggie stand before they closed up, and then went for a short exploration to find a new place to walk the dogs. We didn't find a trail, but we headed down West Ozello Trail and ended up in this cute little village and boat launch area.  It was really pretty, and would make a wonderful place to launch the kayaks from for a day of exploring. There's also a seafood restaurant down here, Pecks Old Port Cove, with a beautiful location for water and sunset views that we will have to try out. We figure it must be pretty good to be able to stay in business, as you do have a bit of a drive to get there!

This heron was squawking away, announcing his arrival, so I was able to position the camera ahead of his flight path and capture a picture of him flying.

I heard this mockingbird singing away and had to find him....I did, way up at the top of the tree.

Today, Al goes to the wildlife park to begin "shadowing" as a boat driver. I have errands to do with my mom this afternoon, so I may start my "shadowing" tomorrow, or possibly next week. The rain has finally let up, and it's suppose to get quite warm, maybe even the upper 80's by the weekend. It doesn't look good for log splitting if it's that hot ;-).