Morning Walk & Tower at Bok

Hey Everyone!

We'll be back in the Burgh soon, but in the meantime, I figured I'd share some of our latest pics.

One nice thing is that Glenn has had the past two Mondays and Tuesdays off, so he has been getting up at daybreak with me and accompanying me on my morning walk. We have both been enjoying it a lot. This morning we saw dolphins and a trio of manta rays. Sorry, manta rays are camera shy.

Still, we've accumulated some pretty pictures from the crack of dawn.

Also, I think I may have mentioned to you that there are flocks of green parakeets down here - just like you would see in a pet store. Glenn and I spotted these two lovebirds on a wire. Not the best pic, but you get the idea.

So, on Saturday, I decided I would help Glenn celebrate his birthday early, so we took a surprise trip to Lake Wales to visit the Bok Tower Gardens.

What's the Tower all about? Not sure. I didn't feel like reading the signs in the welcome center. Visitors aren't allowed in...it seems to pretty much just play bells. But it is a very pretty building.

These lily pads look fake. And they are huge - like 3 feet across!

Very pretty! We also had a fun dinner out in Tampa, and then I gave Glenn his present, which he will tell you all about in person. :-)

Anyway, that's a short post, but I hope you all enjoyed it. Looking forward to seeing you all soon!

Swooning in June

Hi everyone!

Sorry it has been so long since I've posted. This will likely be a mish-mash of pics and a rambling narrative, but hey, it is what it is.

Let's see. Let's start with me. I've been getting up an hour earlier so I can get out and see the sunrise and walk along Bayshore, which I haven't regretted yet.

I always go out on the pier first to look for manatees or whatever might be out and about.

Last Friday I saw a dolphin and a big manta ray (which was really cool), but I didn't have time to get a photo of them.

I did get a pic of this guy.

Night herons are very shy.

Forgive me if you've heard this, but probably a month or more ago, I saw an otter swimming in a pond near our house. (An OTTER!!!) Glenn has made fun of me since then, calling it my imaginary friend and saying that I probably just saw a duck.

So we went fishing a couple weeks ago off a little bridge along Bayshore, and sure enough, as we were fishing, an otter came out onto the bank. This time Glenn clearly saw him (take that!), but unfortunately, in our excitement, he was unable to take a clear picture. You will have to take my word for it.

This is an otter.

In other wildlife news, I found this in our flower bed.

My friend Julie said this would make a nice belt, or, I suggested, a pair of tiny boots.

Ok, what else? We've been trying to go fishing in our spare time, alternating between salt water and fresh. We fished off a pier at Weaver Park in Dunedin, and it was crazy. Everytime we cast out into the water, we almost instantly got a strike (and then was cleaned of our bait.) We went through 36 shrimp. Lots of fish out there though - we could see some big ones, but couldn't catch them.

We weren't completely skunked though.

 

We're hoping in time that these kinds of pictures get a bit more dramatic. :-)

It was a pretty spot too. And we got to see a storm roll in.

Speaking of storms (I warned you this would be rambling), we had a really beautiful summer storm at the house. I looked out the back window and everything was in this weird, green light. When we went out front, we saw why.

Vivid colors everywhere in the sky, and also, at the same time, this:

Props to Glenn for being fast enough to photograph lightning.

Oh, hell's bells. I almost forgot to tell you about the flood. I hear you guys are getting lots of rain. Last week...maybe two weeks ago, Tampa had a big storm and I got a text from Glenn that he was trapped at work with these pics attached.

Glenn was able to eventually make it out of there, but a number of his employees got stuck at work, where water was gushing into the building. Crazy!

Another random thing. When Glenn and I were scouting fishing spots, I asked if we could pull into this Special Events center because I was curious about it. It was a rather overdone and somewhat rundown sculpture garden, but also kind of pretty. Like discovering a secret garden.

Now that is a big statue!

Weird, right? I mean this place is attached to a Guitar Center off McMullen Booth Road!

Wrapping up. This weekend we took an hour and 15 minute drive to Anna Maria Island which is near Bradenton. It was a cute, sleepy little seaside town, apparently so opposed to tourism, that all their stores were closed at 5 pm on a Saturday. The water was pretty off the pier, but I doubt we'll go back anytime soon.

 



Finally, on Sunday, we went fishing at nearby Kapok Park. We've posted pics from here before - it is very pretty.

It doesn't look like it, but this was a very annoying place to fish, because some jerkwads feed the turtles from this dock. Hence, as soon as your bobber hits the water, it is surrounded by hungry turtles. So, of course, Glenn ended up accidentally catching a turtle. It was VERY difficult to get it out of the water, since it was like reeling in a cement block. And once we got it on the dock, Mr. Turtle was not cooperative with our efforts to remove the hook from his mouth. The hook broke off, so now he has a mouth piercing, which hopefully will give him street cred among his fellow turtles.

We found a better place to fish - next to a spillway, under a bridge -  where you could literally see lots of giant fish. I told Glenn this would be like fishing in a barrel.

Sadly, only the little fish were hungry. I literally laid a worm right in front of (and later on top of) a giant catfish, but he just seemed annoyed.

Fortunately, again the day wasn't a total loss.

If you look closely, you'll see that Glenn is holding a fish!

Ok, well, that's it for y'all. I'm beat. Those are the highlights from June so far. Signing off with love, on behalf of myself and Deuce, and, of course, Mojo and Glenn.