Tuesday, July 30, 2019

A Whole Lot of Knobs

Before we get into the knob story, I have something to confess. I am dumb with a capital D. What did I do now? Well, Sunday afternoon, while at the pool, our friend Carolyn Reinike offered to pull David behind their ski boat on his paddleboard. I decided I might like to do the same. First, however, was David's turn, and he made it look very easy.
Next up was Mom who has not stood up on a paddleboard for two years, so why she thought she could do so is a mystery. Wishful thinking perhaps. Anyway, I gave it a go, but try as I might, I could not bring myself to stand up.
Carolyn was gentle with me, going fairly slow which gave me the idea that I could manage to move outside the wake for fun. Then this happened.
Actually, this is after I managed to pull myself back on the board after crashing off. One more go of it,
and I'd had all the fun any 65 year old needs to have on a lazy Sunday afternoon in July. So riding wasn't the dumb part. The dumb part was not standing up because the rubber gripping on the board killed my knee which was nearly healed from a tumble I took more than a MONTH ago. I'd skinned so much skin off that it was taking forever to build back up ,and now I've gone and got a big blister on it. Although it doesn't hurt, who knows how long it will take to get back to where it was before I acted as if I were 20 years younger!

Well friends, we are nearly back to our regularly scheduled programming, namely birds and nature. In fact, shortly we will resume just that, but first let us put some meaning to today's title, shall we? I came home from Home Depot with 24 knobs the other day. Bruce was not sold on them, so we went to Lowes to see what they had in stock. Finding one there he particularly liked, the good news is that it was $1.75 cheaper and when you are buying so many I need not tell you that it is a nice bonus. Buying just one, we did a comparison on the same drawer. I had to admit that his choice was just fine,  so today I bought 23 more knobs and began putting them on.
His choice is more in keeping with the furniture. Finishing the dresser, I moved on to the nightstand and it was then that I counted the remaining knobs in the bag and what I needed to replace. Not one and the same.
I hated to go back out in the heat, but when you are four short, you are four short. Back to Lowes, and now we are get to go. I am happy to report that the room is nearly what we want it to be. A few more touches, and that will be that.

Leaving me more time to observe nature, although this type is not my favorite.
In as many days, I've found this toad in one of my porch plants, and Bruce killed a Cuban Tree frog that was hanging around inside the pot by the front DOOR! If that nasty frog had jumped out on me I would have freaked!  (As a reminder, CTFs are invasive and killing them is recommended by the University of Florida. )

You have to take the good with the bad, and this morning was full of goodness. Stepping out back to see what was happening, I almost fell over with happiness because this was right in front of me!!!!
Thankfully my camera was nearby and I was able to grab it quick, although that turned out to be unnecessary because those two hung out for at least twenty minutes. As is so often the case, lighting conditions were abysmal, so I tried a few things, including this shot taken inside while I was standing on the tub frame.
And just what do I mean about the lighting? Well, it was about an hour after sunrise and the strong backlighting makes it challenging, to say the least. Nonetheless, I was fortunate to get a close up.
If I had to guess, I would say they are young, but that is merely a guess. Oh how I hope they come back!! The only reason they flew off this morning is because the yard guys arrived to do some trimming, catching me in my nightgown with a camera up to my face!! That bathroom shot? Took it when I went indoors to make myself more presentable. :)

How many different birds do you count below?
It is a wonder to me that our four ducklings continue to thrive.
Here's a tip for you----if you want to see a rainbow, go outdoors and look East when the sun returns following a thunderstorm. Usually works. Two in one week!
The above did not last very long though because it began raining again, even while I was taking this.

Mr. Peck took yesterday off from his non-paying job and we did errands after a nature walk twice around Lake Davis. He found these Wood Ducks chilling on a Cypress branch during our first lap.
"Wonder what we will see the second time around", I said. Or should that be asked? Anyway, before long I saw some water commotion and hurried over to the lake edge.
Thinking it was a fight at first, I soon realized it was Muscovey ducks mating. You have seen a bunch of that in this blog, haven't you? You see what I see.
From afar it looked like two ducks, however, on closer inspection we only saw one, thinking our eyes had deceived us because for at least 30 seconds, if not more, the male had the female underwater. Eventually she surfaced and skedaddled.
He, on the other hand, came in hot pursuit!
Eventually they settled down and that was that. Earlier in the Spring I thought our duckling days would be numbered, but by golly, they just keep coming.

 When I sat down to write, the sky was inky blue with huge thunder and lightening crashing all around. Nary a drop of rain has fallen and the sun is, once again, blazing. The weather is nearly as unpredictable as what nature will I come across tomorrow. Isn't it fun?

your friend,


Gail



















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