An Afternoon on Osprey Trail

Hi Everyone!

Not too much exciting going on down here, although we are happy to be getting some nice weather again. The flood waters have receded, although Glenn did manage to get a picture of fish swimming in our yard.

Glenn will be traveling a good bit over the next couple weeks so we may not have a ton of pics for a while. He was in Dallas last weekend, and I believe these are some cloud pics he took out of the window on the flight.

Also, Glenn took my camera out the other evening and took some pics of bunny rabbits and sunsets.

Look at his little cotton tail!

Yesterday, we decided to head over to Honeymoon Island and once again explore Osprey Trail. Those of you with impressive memories will note that we went there  - probably over a year ago - with our bikes and spotted our first armadillo.

This time, we went on foot. We should have realized it was a bad omen that the first animals we saw at the head of the trail were a couple of vultures.

But, it did seem like a beautiful day for a hike.

And true to the name of the trail, there were a lot of ospreys, waiting to have their picture taken. (From far away to up close and personal.)

Looking right at the camera!

What?!

 

 

So, as we walked and were taking osprey pictures, we kept walking through patches of mud that were just swarming with bees. Fortunately, they were kind enough to leave us alone, but hordes of mosquitos and other biting insects were attacking us with gusto.

This trail is kind of weird too, because they have burned a lot of trees and "invasive" plants, so there is a stark, kind of ghostly feel to the place.

We also spotted a couple of roseate spoonbills in a tree.

He kinda looks like he's smiling.

It was around this time that a storm rolled in.

Rain and lighting quickly overtook us, and we ended up walking probably 3/4 of a mile back in a deluge and got completely soaked. Glenn kept telling me to run (he was afraid of the lightning), and I kept telling him to shut his stupid mouth. :-)

At least the pouring rain stopped the bugs from eating us.

So ultimately, our hike was not super enjoyable, but I was happy we got some nice pics out of it.

In other news, here are some random photos that Glenn hadn't downloaded off his phone that didn't make it to past blog posts.

Last night, we met up with Chad and Lisha at a restaurant called Brick & Mortar in St. Pete. We had a great evening with them, and after dinner took them up to the Canopy - which is a rooftop lounge. They hadn't been to either place before, so it was fun taking them someplace new.

So anyway, that's about it for us for now. Hope you all have a great week!

A Flood of New Pics

Hi Everyone -

Sorry it's been so long. We've had, I've been told, a record of 21 consecutive days of rain here in Tampa Bay, which means we really haven't gotten out to have any blog-worthy adventures. The result of all this rain was that, last week, we had some really major flooding after we got 12 inches of rain in 2 days. On Monday, both Glenn's office and mine closed due to the flooding.

Here are some pics from the local news.

This is Westshore Blvd - one of the main highways through Tampa.

And this is Bayshore Blvd. Much nicer when the Bay stays in the Bay.

Things in our backyard got a little dicey too, and our pool was very close to overflowing. Fortunately, the rain stopped or we would have had to get sandbags.

A River Runs Through It

But anyway, we survived. The sun has returned and all is well. The week before all this madness was, of course, my birthday. Glenn and my parents went in to get me an awesome new camera.

TA-DA!

 

One of the best things about this awesome camera is that it has a 50X zoom on it. Which means, I can now get pics of all the birds and animals etc. that are far away from me - or zoom in super close on things. I can't believe how nice the pics are coming out so far, so sit back and enjoy!

First, I just started with a few shots around the house.

Deuce was very excited when he saw there were gifts (he thinks wrapped presents are for him.)

ARROOOOOOOO!

But then, I took my camera with me on a couple of my lunchtime walks around the lake.

The turtles sang with joy.

A rare tri-colored heron (I think that is what he is) agreed to let me take his photo.

Remember those fuzzy grey baby birds I posted a while back? I believe that they were green herons (which are actually more blue and purple, but that is what they are called.) Here is one of them...

You cannot hide from the super zoom!

For those of you who know how terrifying the squirrels are down here, you will appreciate my bravery in getting these next two shots.

Look, you can tell he's thinking about killing me.

Ok, so I suppose he is kind of cute. But speaking of cute, I did find my beloved moorhen chicks. These little babies are only about 2 inches long and are so ugly with their pink bald heads and black fuzz and tiny little wings, that I find them totally adorable.

This one is giving me a piece of his mind.

I'm telling you, word at the lake spread quickly that I had a new camera, because, literally, after about 3 months without a single alligator sighting, my friends returned for their cameos.

Note: the superzoom makes these gators look much bigger than they are. Don't be afraid.

[Meanwhile, last night we heard a story on the news of some woman who had her arm ripped off by a gator. While this is sad, she was also a complete idiot...swimming in an area marked "Beware of Alligators". We kind of feel like evolution may be at work here...]

Anyway, it's amazing all of the wildlife I see on my little lunchtime walks.

Stretch that foot!

Ok, so you get the idea.

On Wednesday, we had the first sunny evening in a month, so we decided to go celebrate (plus, Glenn was leaving for Dallas the next morning.) We went to the SandPearl resort for a lovely dinner by the ocean, and I took some pics of the sunset.

Oh wait, that's Glenn taking pics of the sunset...

When I saw I got this next pic, I just couldn't believe it.

Thank you, superzoom!

After sunset, we went down to the beach and sat around a bonfire with our toes in the sand. It was a good Wednesday.

So anyway, that's about it for now. We may do something adventurous today, but we'll save that for the next installment of the blog.  Hope you all are having a great week!