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!