Trial by Current

When you get a boat, you have to take it out, right?

Although it was crazy windy this past week, we, or I should say Bruce, loaded the boats for an excursion. Where to go? Moss Park sounded like a good idea being fairly close to town, and on a Thursday, probably not too crowded. While both of those statements are correct, as in we had the place to ourselves, the high winds kept us off the lake, fearing the newbie in our paddling group would capsize. We actually had the place pretty much to ourselves, that is if you don't count the FIVE deer we saw! Oh my goodness, on our way to check out the campground, in true Bruce fashion, he spotted a deer resting under some bushes. Little did we know that there were actually FIVE.

Perhaps you are feeling a little offended by my use of capital letters, however, cut me some slack on this one, will you? Deer sightings are few and far between, as in they have made a Camera Crazy appearance probably only a couple of times before, meaning my excitement is justified. Both the photo above and the one below were taken after I got out of the car, moving closer for a better look. It is a shame that these two beauties were standing behind fallen branches but you take what you can get when you are out and about!

Lordy, lordy was it fun watching them groom one another! Beautiful white tailed deer.

Now is probably a good time to mention that today's post will contain loads of photos because, frankly, I've got a lot to show you!

There was a time when this area included a sandy beach where folks swam in the lake, however, a girl was bit on the leg by an alligator a few years ago causing the county to shut down the beach.

For those who don't live in Florida, a little explanation on the water color as seen below.

Don't want to bother with the link? The short answer is that it is normal. What is unusual are waves in a big lake which is why the kayaks stayed firmly tied on top of the car! I kind of liked the look of how the wind blew the new pine needles.

If I had better access to our old photos, I'd hunt down one taken of all the boys and Bruce on this dock, fishing when they were young. Speaking of our boys, two of them have a birthday! It was forty years ago today that our lives were changed forever with the addition of two more beautiful boys.

So now where do we go from here? Let's explore was my answer. One thing about this area that astounds us is the incredible growth with houses everywhere. What once was almost completely rural is jam packed with stores, schools, and houses. Astounding is the only way to describe it.

I'd brought along the iPad, so consulting the map we ended up lakeside in downtown St. Cloud, although it was far too windy to eat our picnic lunch outdoors. 20 mph winds off of a lake and everything goes flying! After our sandwiches, we drove to a little Pioneer Village off of 1-92 and it was delightful.

Fairly small, there were, nonetheless, some interesting things to see including this which is an explanation of what the wooden building was originally built for.

If that weren't interesting enough, on the other side of the interior I found this which will interest all of my educator friends.

Speaking of education, here's the little schoolhouse interior.

(a helpful hint, should you be interested, click on the photo itself to enlarge for reading purposes)

We walked the one mile nature trail through the real Florida, minus the summer mosquitoes which I imagine will be killer in June.

I did take a tumble when my shoe hit a Cypress knee, but no harm to either life or limb. Good thing because still more to see!

Good stuff, right?

Driving toward Orlando on Narcoossee Road, Bruce turned when we saw a brown sign, signifying a park. As we drove down Chisholm Road, oh my goodness, this made me very happy!

Many of my photography friends on facebook have been blessed to see Sandhill Crane babies, which are actually called colts, but up until this moment in time, I was not among them. Well, now I am! As you know, Sandhill cranes are some of my favorites and once in the park, there were even more. 

Situated on the shore of East Lake Toho, it is a wonderful park with picnic tables under moss covered oak trees as well as large grassy areas for sports and birds!

All in all, a very exciting time was had by Mr. and Mrs. Peck.

Because Bruce had afternoon meetings, we decided to leave at 7AM Friday morning for Wekiwa Island where we could launch the kayaks. Arriving at 8, we were pretty much the first to arrive.

I was so excited when a Great Blue Heron flew low over the river right in front of the boats. Well, my excitement did not last for long, and here's where the title comes into play. As you know, this was to be my third time in a kayak alone, and traveling upstream turned out to be pure misery. I kept saying, isn't this supposed to be fun? Every single thing I'd just learned went out the window as I tried so hard to paddle, stopping whenever possible for a rest.

Bruce kept asking if I wanted to turn around, however, I kept saying I could do it. Dumb. The current was so strong, partly because lots of it was narrow. Every now and again, it would widen only to narrow again, not to mention being winding.

Do not ask me how I was able to take a clear picture because I really can't tell you except that I was probably being a fool! So paddling upriver was anything but fun, however, upon Bruce's insistence we turned around and it was great going with the current! We paddled back to the fork in the river and went towards Wekiwa Springs and it was a breeze. "Oh my goodness Bruce, I see an alligator! Huge one in fact. "

That was kind of scary, but we've learned that mostly they leave folks alone in the daytime. While paddling upriver we came across some swarms of beautiful dragonflies, almost luminescent, so when one landed on my boat during the easy part, I was delighted.

Along the bank I was lucky enough to see a Night Crowned Heron. Woo hoo!

The trees are full of air plants.

After the earlier fog lifted, you could not have asked for a more beautiful day to be out on the water. Here we are heading into the actual Wekiwa Springs area where the children and I spent many a pleasant day.

All good things, well, partly good, must come to an end so we turned around to head back to the launch site, seeing another gator, this time in the water not too far from out boats. My hands were shaking so not great....

Speaking of my limbs, my arms were SO tired when we got back to the car I was sure I would be in bad shape the next day, however, somehow I wasn't, which was certainly a blessing. As was the sight of this little guy on the porch a little later that day.

Bruce, having worked so long and hard these many years, is having a ball, making me very happy that he can finally enjoy life to the fullest. Where shall we go next?

Finally, and this is way off topic, but I heard a woman say something on the radio the other day that really struck me: "Comparison is the thief of joy." In the age of social media, that's not an easy thing to avoid, but it sure seems like something to pursue if possible.

your friend,

Gail

Up on the Roof, and Underneath the House

Let's play catch up, shall we?

To begin with, I am very excited about some gerbera daisy plants that I placed in rehab on the side of the house last November or so. By golly, they've done their job, and are flowering once again!

Count this blogger as happy!

That title is somewhat intriguing right? That was last Saturday's fun, had not by me, but by Bruce and Bill. The roof is some material I can't remember the name of, but it is white, and it WAS covered with a nasty green mold. Mr. Bill got up there and went to scrubbing with soapy bleach water.

As it was a momentous occasion, I did my part as the renovation photographer to document his first time on the roof, make that any roof! The funny thing is that when the twins were younger it was
David who was the king of workers, Bill was too busy playing guitar. Now Bill is the one most interested in house related things. That is pretty true though for their entire lives, one would like something at one time, then the tables would turn, and the other one got into it.

This is a silly photograph of me taken in the mirror leaning against the wall upstairs. I wanted to show the blooming pink tabebuia tree reflected, however what's most funny about it is me--squinting away at the camera!

While on the balcony I took this shot of the view:

Remember when the dumpster first arrived? Well, believe me, after Saturday it is close to needing an emptying. The lawn, such as it is, was covered, and I do mean covered, with fallen oak leaves which yours truly removed with the blower. I'm not sure how long it took, at least until I ran out of gas, but for the most part the leaves are now a thing of the past. As well, I had my first taste of using a crow bar! Exciting stuff, right? Never once in my 60 years had I used a crow bar before, but if you want to be part of a team taking down 32 feet of worn-out fence, you've got to be flexible. I did not, on the other hand, carry the 4x4 posts to the dumpster--a task better left to Mr. Bruce.

This all happened after what was arguably one of the most nerve wracking experiences in the project to date. Bill wanted the cable to run to one of the living room walls, a wall shared by the adjacent office. Simple enough, or so you might think while reading this. NOT! Mr. Bruce to the rescue once again! You may recall that this house has a crawl space, and they mean that literally, one has to crawl underneath the foundation to move stuff around. Herbert, God bless him, had already experienced this while moving the plumbing. He did not, however, actually crawl half the distance of the house as Bruce did on Saturday. Bill crouched by the wall communicating with his Dad by shouting at the wall as Bruce crawled with the cable. Maybe you had to be there? Here's Bill under the kitchen trying to grab the cable wire..

The picture also shows all the new electrical wire Herbert is running, the yellow stuff, to make the new kitchen a reality. To say Bill was a nervous wreck with his Dad under the house is putting it mildly. But, as I knew he would, out he comes from the tiny hole used to access the space with his head lantern in place.

Finally, on Thursday evening the cable guy came, and after weeks and weeks, Bill finally has cable, and more importantly, the internet!

We did not spend every day over there, although, you would think so, wouldn't you? One day we had to go to the office to have the folks there work on Bruce's computer. In a bad move, someone forgot to tell the IT folks that he was staying for an additional two weeks, which led to his badge, phone and computer being shut off. While he was inside, I thought I might play with my camera a bit. I'm sort of obsessed with the bare trees right now.

I'd brought along my camera manual, such as it is, to learn more about how the camera works. I say that about the manual because these days, most of it you have to access through a disc. While fiddling around, I saw the flashing light indicating the battery was on it's last legs. Bummer! Happily I had enough charge left to document what came next---an alligator climbed out of the pond while I was watching!!!!

Yup, the gator just lay there taking advantage of the sunny day. You don't see this sight every day, now do you?

Well, it is time to get dressed to head out for another day of construction work; painting is my specialty, as is the pool, which is driving me to distraction trying to make it presentable!

Happy weekend friends!