A Field Trip in the Time of Coronavirus

We found the best road trip to take during the pandemic!! Social distancing--check! Pretty close to home--check! Fun--double check! On the front page of our newspaper, along the bottom, ads had recently been run for Wild Florida Safari. Because we'd been to their airboat rides, and the super good small zoo, we felt confident that it would be a winner, and we were not disappointed. As a matter of fact, it was even better than we hoped.

Yes, there were giraffes and loads of other grazing animals with crazy horns, as in so many of them have crazy horns!

I booked online, then made a sign to hold up when we got to the gates with our name, so all we had to do was drive through the gates. Immediately we knew we'd come to the right place!

There was only one tiny problem as far as this photographer was concerned...most of the animal activity was on Bruce's side of the car, so every now and again, he moved his arm in front of the camera I had pointed out his window!

Behind his arm there are loads of super cute deer like creatures. Some animals ventured into the road, slowing the already slow line of traffic.

And some came right up to the window as was the case with one of the llamas that poked his head nearly inside our car. You should have seen my face when he came right at me!

Let's take a look at a few of the horn styles, if you will.

I would tell you what each animal was if I knew, but because we had no contact, we failed to pick up the identification sheet.

It was super exciting seeing Buffalo up close because although they are prolific in Yellowstone, we saw but one while we were there. So, here were were, inching closer and guess what?

The buffalo turned around, ambling off and showing his backside. Eventually, on our second trip around, one came close enough to get a decent photograph.

That shaggy fur is really interesting and I'm going to look it up right this minute and find out what it means. Okay, from what I can tell it is shedding the winter coat which, believe you me, they will not need here in sunny, hot Florida. The good thing about this place is it is big with lots of area to roam.

You could see that lots of folks brought their children who I presume they are home schooling right now, maybe considering this a field trip like we did. We were stopped at one point and here's the reason why. All of a sudden, of course on Bruce's side of the car, there was a bit of an impromptu animal parade.

The little girl in the car ahead of us got so excited she dropped her brochure out the window. That was one thing Bruce mentioned, he loved hearing all of the children squealing with delight.

How do they do it with those gigantic horns? Along with the cattle, a very hairy pig(!) was part of the parade cast.

As I mentioned, we went around twice which we thought was such a great feature. You exit into either the parking lot, or there is a sign to direct you right back in again. Presumably you could do it all day if you had a mind to. Around the next corner, well there was a camel munching on some tree leaves.

As well, there were loads of deer and Elk in the woods behind the camel. And more horned mammals!

The next time we go, I will either sit in the back seat behind Bruce, or stick my body out of the sunroom like loads of others were doing.

This llama did not try to nose his way into our car.

Just before you exit, there is the giraffe feeding area that is shared with beautiful ZEBRAS, none of which I was able to photograph well enough to share.

How fun was that little trip? It was very fun in person that's for certain and we plan on returning, especially when the kids are back in school and their poor parents aren't looking for ways to keep them occupied!

On the bird front, it won't surprise you that there is something exciting going on around these parts, in the form of a Red Bellied Woodpecker nest. Not that I've seen the nest, but I observed said bird returning to a tree out back that I'd previously noted had a perfect hole. At the time I wondered about it, but there was no action prior to this past week. Now, the parents are back and forth feeding all of the time. So far, I've seen no little ones, but you can bet your bottom dollar I will keep watching! This is the Mom before exiting on another food run.

 From the looks of things, they've used this tree before, apparently the norm.

So, today is Bruce's birthday and like everyone else during this time, it is slightly unusual. As I type, he has gone to get his birthday present at Lowes in the form of a new porch rug. Don't laugh! He loves sitting on the porch and thought the one we had was looking weary, so it will end up making him very happy even though it sounds unconventional. It was meant to rain, but so far not much has happened. Furthermore, adding to the birthday fun, we went to Costco, the first time in months. We ended up buying all kinds of good eats for him rather than go out. Masks are required there, turning some folks away at the door who were unprepared for the new rules. While there were shoppers, not too many that we felt uncomfortable. And no, they did not have any toilet paper. We still have some rolls, so for now we are good. Also for the first time in I cannot remember how long, I filled my car with gas and was it every cheap. I think it would be safe to say that NO ONE ever expected gas to be $1.59 gallon again in their lifetime. Well, it is.

I also had my teeth cleaned today. Hesitant at first, I just decided to go with it because Karen wears a serious mask and well, it's been so long! With all of the conflicting information, it's darn hard for us to know what to do. Or, that's what it feels like to me.

Well, Happy Birthday to my darling husband who has returned and is chatting with Jonathan, after spending some time with David late this afternoon. He's the best!

Here's to many more birthdays to this wonderful man who I have been so lucky to spend the last nearly 50 years of my life with.

your friend,

Gail

This and That

Before I delve into the last few days, I've been meaning to pass on both a recipe, and something I've learned recently. For my birthday, Fallon gave me a subscription to Cook's Illustrated, and in said magazine they test ingredients, among other things. I was amazed to find that they suggested that when you are baking it is perfectly fine to use imitation vanilla which is good news because vanilla has become so expensive. I made oatmeal cookies to test the theory.

 What imitation did they discover to be the best?

It is crazy cheap friends, and I don't think there was the least difference that we could taste. Good news---I found someone who was happy to have some of our cookies; Connie claims it is the best oatmeal cookie she'd ever eaten. So, here's the recipe, one I copied down from the web when I was in Vancouver from Ricardo, a big name in Canada.

You might give it a try if you are a cookie person like I am! Love them, and Michelle always makes sure she includes cookies when she is lavishing me with gifts as she did on Mother's Day. Holy cow, were those kids good to me. Well, not kids, but in my heart they will always be kids. Fallon surprised me with a "brunch" from Harry and David. A giant cooler arrived with a quiche, English muffins, Canadian bacon, jam, and a mini Poppy seed cake. Arriving on Saturday afternoon, we could not wait for Sunday morning. But, we did.

The gifts began with the ring of the doorbell on Friday afternoon when one of the most wonderful floral arrangements was delivered by In Bloom, sent by Matt and Tom. Both of us were dying over how beautiful it was, and mostly still is. The mini roses are spent, but most everything else is still in good shape.

Yesterday I called the florist to say how much we loved it and you can imagine their surprise because I suspect the only calls they get are too complain. I hope I'm wrong about that.

Mr. Peck has been helping out around here because we are down a maintenance man. Of course, he's doing only the jobs he wants to, including retrieving our pressure washer from Bill's house and doing our sidewalk and our neighbor's stairs,

along with the carport structure which attracts plant matter due to the large number of trees on property.

And spider webs, can't forget those as they were numerous. Our neighbors were delighted. However did I get so lucky?

The Mallard ducklings are so big now as to be almost indistinguishable from their Mom. While sitting on the bank they enjoy spreading their wings and isn't the structure so very interesting?

We took a little day trip the other day to ride our bikes on the West Orange Trail, beginning at the end, otherwise known as Killarney Station. The weather, always a factor here, was ideal. In an effort to help the economy, Bruce had a trailer hitch put on the car, all while staying safe, then ordered the new bike rack online from Orange Cycle. They installed it that same day as he kept his distance while wearing a mask. We hated to buy a new one, but the one we had was putting dents into the back of the car, so that was not good. Duh! Of course it was not good. Anyway, this one works like a champ.

It is such a pleasant ride although I will admit to just a twinge of uneasiness as we crossed over the Turnpike.

The reason we started at this end was because I wanted to visit a place I'd seen online, the Oakland Nature Preserve.

Indeed, it is all nature, but at one time much of it was citrus groves. Anyway, we parked our bikes and walked on a trail that led to a 3/4 mile long boardwalk.

There were only a handful of folks that we saw which was good. I am reading Cross Creek at the moment, never having read it before and seeing so much of this area in the natural state helps to bring the book to life.

Much of it was over dry land until we got closer to Lake Apopka. Peering down into the water, well, there was a snake swimming along.

And some baby gators that I forgot to upload that I might share in this space. It was a good stop along the way, one that I can safely recommend as to social distancing.

Another neat thing we saw was this, although I saw only a couple of birds in total during our walk.

Oh how I wish I'd see a Blue Bird!

Back on the trail, we came across a home that was all decked out in bicycle decorations, including this near their roof line.

They also had a super cute chicken coop, as did the folks across the trail from them. We rode until we got to a lovely park, part of one of the MANY new developments out that way. The park is lovely with water that looked almost aquamarine from a distance.

There was a substantial dock as well and I asked Bruce about riding on it to which he was game. Signs were posted about alligators being present, and by golly, as I got to the end of the dock, sure enough, one emerged.

It's always kind of neat seeing a gator, but what really piqued my interest was the sound of baby birds. Most years it is fun to go to Gatorland to see the rookery and the multitude of nesting birds, however, as is the case with most of our routines, that was not to be this year. Instead, by pure chance, we saw about seven nesting Egrets, or Little Blue Herons right alongside that dock. Most were so hidden in the Cypress trees I was not able to photograph them, but it was fun watching. One was in fairly good view and it looks as if they hatched many weeks ago.

All practically on top of one another, I would be lying if I said they were cute! Speaking of cute birds, the saddest thing happened the other night. Connie came downstairs, while Bruce was reading on the front porch, that there was a dead bird on her porch and would I come see it? She said it was small so I assumed it was a Carolina Wren. Boy, was I wrong. It was one of the cutest birds that I've never seen before, a Northern Parula. We can only assume it flew into her window, however, there was not the slightest damage, so who knows?

The battle for who is right and who is wrong continues concerning the pandemic.

In my mind, there are two words that have gotten overuse during this time---experts and heroes. I wonder if Floridians are more skeptical of experts than folks from other parts of the country because many of us have spent a lifetime listening to "experts" regarding the weather? Hurricanes happen, no one would argue that, but we've been told we are getting hit more times than I can count and more often than not the experts are wrong. Just thinking out loud here.

Who knows really? In one country you are required to wear a mask, another thinks it is not necessary. We wear them when we go into a store but outside we don't. Whether that is the right thing to do or not is yet to be determined.

your friend,

Gail

Global Big Day

While I'll acknowledge that this post will not be for everyone, it will be a good reminder to me about what I've seen this past week as it pertains to birds. Furthermore, there are probably few amongst you that have any idea where today's title comes from. Well, now you will, as I briefly explain its meaning.

In the birding community today is the big day that people around the world, in said community, will report the birds they see on this date to eBird, an electronic reporting site brought to us by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Whew, that's a mouthful, right? Basically what they call, citizen science, a pretty neat concept if you ask me. Sort of like crowdsourcing except there are projects of many types, not just birds. For instance, you could, if it pertained to you, participate in collecting data on lead pipes to share with real scientists. Who knew that this is Citizen Science month? In case this sort of thing piques your curiosity, this radio broadcast of Science Friday might interest you on how you might become involved during the quarantine.

Anyway, they are hoping to get a count of birds seen throughout the world and I, for one, look forward to the results. As such, I counted birds this morning after having a lovely Facetime chat with Matt for Mother's Day. I'd show you their gift, but in honor of the bird business, I'm limiting the photos to birds today. Out back I counted ten different types in a few minutes time. Pretty awesome for me, don't you think? They were duly reported through eBird.

Aside from birds, let's talk about Thursday's Flower Moon and how awesome it was should you have been lucky enough to witness the magnificence in person. Wow, just wow!

I knew it was coming as I'd marked it on my calendar at the beginning of the year, having consulted a site like this so as not to miss anything. Watching it rise above the trees and subsequently shimmer on the lake was mesmerizing. How did I get so lucky? For the record, even Bruce was amazed and that is saying something!

What I'm showing you now is a series of photos, some terrible, but it puts across the point in a way that I could not begin to describe to you in words. On Monday a new camera arrived, one with a longer zoom than I've had because, let's face it, I want to photograph birds and it is well nigh impossible without a super zoom, as they call it. This is a point and shoot camera, so not fancy, but it is my favorite brand, Panasonic. As such, I'm looking for opportunities to practise using it. On my way home from the store, I drove through the "peacock neighborhood" where I witnessed two males in what might be called, "a stand-off." They stared, they paced, and then they pounced!

As you can see, they were in total shade under a tree with bright sunshine behind them, casting long shadows on the fence. I need way more impressive photography skills to capture something like this, so I'm just going with what I got and hope that you find it interesting.

Those trains make fighting somewhat challenging, or so it appears to me.

Finally, they moved into the light for one last bout.

Pretty wild, right? I've watched these, or their cousins, for years and this is my first time witnessing something like this. Now I've watched both swans and ducks fight it out. Adding peacocks to that list now.

Another day I went over to a new park in Dover Shores and it turned out to be a real hidden gem. Called Demetree Park, I discovered that it has been there since 1988, and this is the first I've heard of it even though it is fairly close to us. I plan on showing more photos of the place soon because there are things about it that puzzle me to no end. Putting those questions aside, while there on my first visit, there were ducklings, so cute and much smaller than ours that were too cute not to photograph.

On Thursday Bruce came along and while he was trying his hand at fishing, I roamed around, seeing much closer than before, a Great Crested Flycatcher, a lot of name for a very small bird.

Here and gone before I knew it! On the other hand, an Osprey flew down from above and stayed nicely in place for a photo.

Three times gorgeous Swallow Tail Kites flew overhead, and although exciting to see in person, it will remain but a memory as there was no way I could get a photograph.

Apparently, at one time there were Peking Ducks on Lake Pineloch, however no more, so it was fun seeing four of them there. How do you suppose she got all the bare spots? Preening? Fighting?

Duh, can't be preening on it's own neck! A bit of a mystery it shall remain. There are several lakes in the park, one of which, for the moment, was home to this Tri Colored Heron.

It is the white belly that gives this identification away. For some reason I struggle with the heron family, confusing one for another!

Seemingly, there are two new additions to our lake family, only one pictured below.

How great would it be if the Common Gallinule pair would produce some of those adorable black babies? Should you be curious, the ducklings remain in excellent shape The orphans joined up with the newer family making 11 ducklings following along after the Wood Duck parents. Out the window as I type, the Mallard family are clustered together, swimming away from our shore.

There are loads of Red Winged Blackbirds, a noisy bird if ever there were one. The males seem to hang out more in the trees than the females.

Here is a first in the annals of Camera Crazy. I give you, what I think, is an ugly bat.

Here's the scoop on having a bat in the blog----our new neighbor has been conducting her business as to her remodel in our now, shared backyard. She's on the phone a lot or working in her notebook while sitting in a chair beside the bushes. I looked up to see her opening our back door to tell me that she'd seen me with a camera and thought maybe I'd be interested in seeing it. You bet I was! So crazy watching it climb all over the split leaf Philodendron during the day! In a stroke of good luck for me, the contractors have been made aware, perhaps by the complex management, that the only projects allowed on Saturdays are quiet ones. Woo hoo! Two days of quiet!

Enough of birds, at least for this post.

I've not mentioned a thing about the virus, mainly because things seem to be quieting down a bit, at least in our area. Hair salons are now allowed to open with limited capacity and strict guidelines, added to the restaurant openings from last week. Nancy's store will be opening in the Atlanta area and from what she's told me, it is no easy task getting ready, what with more regulations than you can imagine. Our newspaper has once again been running stories of murder and mayhem, so you know they don't have as much to write about Covid-19. Another piece of good news is that the unit Fallon works on has been returned from a Coronavirus symptoms ward to a regular PCU ward. She explained to me, when I called her to thank her for their amazing Mother's Day gift, that the newer tests results return far quicker than when this first began. Our dentist sent an email that they too will be back in business. As well, the state forests are now open for camping because they are not nearly as popular, or well equipped, as the state parks. For now we wait to see what comes next.

Finally, it is sad to think that tomorrow would be Carol's 65th birthday, which, on occasion, fell on Mother's Day. If there is any silver lining to that, it would be that she was never a Mother so there are no children to mourn her passing. Friends, a loving husband, and her siblings were more than enough for our wonderful and talented sister. We all miss her so. I cannot begin to imagine what she would have made of these past two months.

your friend,

Gail