Wildlife Photography At It's Best

The Island King and I decided to ride out to Point Washington Saturday afternoon to check on our Message in a Bottle cache.

We wanted to wait until the end of the day so it wouldn't be so hot and by the time we got out there it was almost dark.

These trails are so cool in the dark.



Fascinating and a little scary all at once.

I'd made a critical error by not bringing bug spray - a true idiot error - and by the time we reached the cache at least a million mosquitoes were swarming us.

Volkswagen sized mosquitoes.

Mosquitoes so big and hungry that our chubby selves actually ran, uphill, back to the truck, to escape them.

You can look at us and tell we don't run very often.

Once we escaped the mosquitoes, we started a slow drive home through the forest.

I had my camera in my lap and as we rounded a bend a good sized rabbit ran across our path.

"Did you get his picture?"

"No, he ran across so fast I never had time to pick up the camera."

And he snickered about my lack of wildlife photography skill.

A few minutes later we rounded another bend and there in the palmettos along the side of the road was a beautiful doe.

Who stood perfectly still, looking at us.

I grabbed the camera and started snapping pictures.

This is the best one.



We're stopped in the middle of the trail and the Island King gets frustrated with my photographic capabilities and grabbed the camera from me.

Because he's a photographer, you know.





Good grief.

This picture would have been stunning.



She turned her head and her profile was beautiful in the glow from our headlights.

And then she walked right up CLOSE to the truck.

She was looking at us and we were looking at her and we couldn't have asked for a better photo op.

But this is what we got.



Do you think there's a market for a coffee table book of wildlife photography screw up pictures?

We have a lot of those.

Silent Sunday

It's Snowing in Gulf Breeze!

Well, it was in January of 1973.

I was digging through more old photos and ran across these.

Today, if you stand in the living room of my grandmother/parent's house and look out the window this is what you see.



If you'd been standing there in January of 1973, you'd have seen this.



Which is quite a sight in Florida.

Today.



1973.



When I found this old pictures I sent them to my Dad and asked him to take pictures from the same spots.

It's interesting to see what 38 years and Hurricane Ivan can do to change the landscape.

I'm not a cold weather kind of girl but I'd love to see this again.





Well, maybe not the Ford LTD sitting in the driveway.

But snow would be nice.

Wordless Wednesday

Desiderata - by Max Ehrmann

Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love, for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.

Take kindly to the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Words to live by.

The Heat Did Me In

The day we went to see the helicopters we had to take the Island King's truck because he has 4WD and my Dad's truck does not.

You can't get to the site in 2WD so we all piled into the Island King's truck to make the trip.

But...

Our truck is a Forerunner which is a lot smaller than Dad's truck AND it has NO AC.

The Island King is weird about AC and even though he's had plenty of opportunities to fix the AC he refuses. He complains about the heat but he doesn't want AC.

Weirdo.

And because the truck is smaller than Dad's, I had to sit, smooshed, in the backseat with the boys.

Who fought the entire time.

At one point I really wanted to stop the truck, put them out and drive away.

But that would have been pointless because I have no doubt that they'd show up at the house around dark with full bellies and pockets full of cash. They're resourceful like that.

We drove for miles into the Reservation on clay roads and sand trails, with more sand blowing into the truck than you can possibly imagine.

And it was HOT. VERY HOT.

We got to the helicopter site and even though I'm a relatively smart person - stop laughing - I made the biggest mistake you can make in 100 degree heat.

I drank nothing. No water, Gatorade, not even a Pepsi. Nothing.

Not surprisingly, I started feeling a little queasy.

But I wasn't thirsty, at all, and it didn't occur to me that I might need a little water even though I was sweating gallons by the minute.

We left the helicopter site and drove farther into the woods looking for another geocache and by the time we got to that one I was not feeling well at all.

We started walking down a trail to find the cache and I was feeling sicker by the minute. Dizzy, nauseous, weak and a little disoriented.

And still didn't think about drinking some water.

From there we drove farther into the woods and the farther we went, the more my head pounded and the more I felt like I was going to pass out.

I told Dad and the Island King that we needed to change our plan and head to the pond we'd planned to eat lunch at later.

We got to the pond and it was a little cooler than being in the truck but I was still too hot.

I don't like to wear shorts in the woods so I had on jeans, hiking boots and a short sleeved shirt and when we got out of the truck I was so hot I felt like my skin was on fire.

So I took off my boots, socks and jeans - not caring that my Dad and the boys were standing right there.

My legs were redder than I've ever seen them.

At this point Dad and the Island King realize that I'm not "just hot" but am in need of some help.

The Island King took a bottle of water out of the cooler, told me to bend my head down and then poured ice cold water all over my neck and head.

I was getting ready to take my shirt off too (I'm sure Dad and the boys would have loved that. Mom standing there in her bra and underwear lol) but the Island King tells me to leave it on because it will hold the cold water longer and help cool me down.

Then Dad soaked a towel in the ice water from the bottom of the cooler and wrapped it around my neck.

He handed me a bottle of water and I drank it and then drank a second one.

He wanted me to drink a Gatorade but my head was pounding and I thought maybe caffeine would help that so I drank a Pepsi and two more water bottles.

They broke out our picnic stuff and he made me a sandwich, which helped too.

Meanwhile, the Island King has been rummaging around in the back of the truck and comes up with an extra pair of pants he keeps back there.

He gave me his shorts and then put on the pants he'd found.

I felt bad but the pants were a light-weight BDU with lots of rips and tears in them for ventilation. And since he wasn't having heat issues I took the shorts.

I was feeling better but still kind of "off" and hot so I told everyone that even though we had hours more of caching in the woods planned I wanted to go home.

Right then.

We headed home but once we got back out of the woods we had to stop and put air in the tires (we'd let a lot of air out for better traction in the sand) and when we got to the store the Island King told me to go inside and stand in the AC while he put air in the tires.

So I did.

Dad had already gone in and when I walked in he said "Why don't you go in the bathroom and freshen up a bit."

I thought he meant splash some water on my face kind of freshen up but I was wrong.

I took one look in the bathroom mirror and almost fell out.

I was beyond filthy. I had on giant shorts, black socks and hiking boots. And I can't even describe my hair.

No wonder Dad suggested I wait in the bathroom.

But the bathroom had no AC so I walked back out into the store.

Where people stared at me like I'd just blown in from Planet Hasn't Bathed in Months.



It gets better.



What a sight!

I don't know why I didn't drink any water all day, I usually stay very hydrated while out in the heat.

I can say that I won't ever forget again!

Helicopters and Geocaches

I saw a listing on geocaching.com not long ago describing a geocache hidden in a downed helicopter.

I saw pictures on the cache site and the idea of being able to climb all over a helicopter – and find a cache – was too much to resist.

My Dad wanted to go so he, the Island King, both the boys and I set out to see what we could find.

The helicopter is DEEP in the Reservation so we drove along trail after trail until finally, we rounded a bend and there in front of us was a Huey helicopter.







Which we climbed all over.





How often do you get to stand on the very top of a helicopter?



Not too far away was another helicopter.

It seemed to have a little more trouble landing than the first one.







My Dad took this picture and said "This is the one you were driving."



You put a few dents and dings into a couple of cars and a truck or two and people make fun your driving forever.

Apparently, these helicopters are used during Army Ranger training missions.

Luckily, the area was open that day and we were able to play in the helicopters and find a geocache at the same time.

Very nice.

Beach Snacks

Some beaches have waitresses and cabana boys who wander around, offering food and drink to those lounging by the sea.

Other beaches are strictly bring it yourself kind of beaches. If you don't bring it you don't have it.

But our beach has the Pizza Man...




And after you've had your pizza, the Ice Cream Man will bring you treats.



If you don't feel like walking up to the parking lot to get your ice cream you can wait until the Ice Cream Boat comes by. He'll pull right up to you and you won't even have to get out of your chair.



But he doesn't have ice cream truck music like the truck has so it's not quite the same.

If it's something salty you want, the Boiled Peanut guy will be along shortly.



This guy makes really good boiled peanuts. Not too hard, not too mushy, not too salty - just right. And he has some Cajun ones that will set your mouth on fire if that's what you like.

Cabana boys would be nice but I'm loving my little corner of paradise.

Wordless Wednesday

The 1926 Hurricane

In September of 1926 a Category 4 hurricane slammed into Miami, with the eye moving directly over Miami Beach.

Winds reported from the storm were, at that time, the highest winds ever recorded in the United States.

Massive destruction followed - but the storm wasn't finished.

It continued northwestward across the Gulf and then stalled off the coast of Pensacola, where it hammered the coast with hurricane force winds, rain, and storm surge for a full 24 hours.

Nearly every pier, warehouse, and vessel on Pensacola Bay was destroyed.

The storm weakened as it moved inland over Louisiana on September 21st and the Great Storm of 1926 was over.

As I was going through some old family clippings I came across the Pensacola News Journal's front page from the day after the storm.



With the exception of the waterfront, Pensacola fared relatively well.

Especially in comparison to Miami.

And I have a really cool old newspaper telling the tale - which I love.

If you want more information on the 1926 Storm visit Adrian's Weather

My Crab Themed Weekend

I've had a crab themed weekend.

There was the crab net incident on Friday afternoon and then I had another crab encounter on Sunday.

I was kayaking along the west side of the Destin bridge towards the Coast Guard Station when I noticed something bright red under the water.

I paddled over and saw a red crab trap. There was no buoy attached and it was filled with crabs.

When I got back to where the Island King was I told him about the trap so we went back down to check it out.

He and the Island Girl snorkeled through the grass beds, looking for shells and it wasn't long before they reached the trap.





He shook the crabs out of the trap and unfortunately they were all females with eggs, which you can't keep, so as they came out of the trap they scurried to the water.



I was walking up while this was happening and I noticed one crab run past me with only one claw.

Poor girl. Luckily, she'll grow a new one.

But then the next thing I see is this.



There's a claw clamped down on the claw of another crab!



(I have no idea why there is no sound. New camera, a lot of features and a dense operator could be the problem.)

And this crab was angry. She'd been attacked, she now has a claw stuck to her claw and she's been trapped in a cage for who knows how long.

We could have caught her and removed the offending claw but she was in full attack mode, hissing and showing us her claws.

So we chose to let nature handle it and stay far away from her as she made her way back into the bay.

And now we're holding a very nice crab trap.

A nice crab trap with no bait in it, no name or tag on it, no buoy attached to it, nothing to indicate anything other than this was a lost or abandoned trap.

Crab trap robbing (taking the crabs out of a trap) and stealing (taking the whole trap) is a big No-No here.

It's been happening for generations and if the owner doesn't find and beat the daylights out of you, the Fish and Wildlife guys will find and arrest you.

So we made real sure this was an abandoned trap and then happily brought it home.

I think we should go crabbing tonight - the way my luck is running I should be able to bring in the mother lode.

I Did NOT Hit That Man!

Late this afternoon I ran up to Walgreens to pick up a few things we needed.

When I pulled into the parking lot there was an older man sitting on the bench next to the building with his head on his chest.

He was a big guy, somewhere between 250 and 300 pounds and had sort of a homeless look to him.

I watched him for a minute and he appeared to be out cold.

I walked into the store and told the clerk that there was a man passed out on the bench outside. She stuck her head out the door and then said "That's Mr. Ed. He comes in here all of the time and he must be resting."

Ok.

I got what I needed, paid, and went back out to my car - which was parked right in front of Mr. Ed.

I sat there looking at him for a couple of minutes and I started watching his chest and stomach.

Neither seemed to be moving.

So I got out of the car and stepped a little closer, but not too close.

And the man did not appear to be breathing.

Two girls walked up behind me and one of them said "It doesn't look like he's breathing."

Which confirmed what I'd been thinking.

We ran into the store and I tell the clerk that someone needs to come and check on Mr. Ed because he's not looking well.

There was a man standing at the register who looked around and realized that he was the only man around and probably needed to step up.

Which he did, sort of.

He looked at me and said "Will you go out there with me?"

Now, here's where I need to explain something.

My husband was a paramedic for many years and he taught me a long time ago that you never get close to a person who appears to be passed out.

You never know if they're going to come up swinging, grab you, or what, so you stay as far back as possible and touch their foot, while calling out to them.

If they do wake up swinging you're far enough away that you won't get hurt.

So as the man and I head out the door I grabbed a crab net out of a stand by the door.

My plan was to reach out with the pole and poke his foot while calling out to him.

The man who'd come with me stood back (thanks, dude) so I held the crab net by the net end, extended the pole out and poked Mr. Ed in the foot, while saying "Hey, are you alright? Wake up. Is everything ok?"

Mr Ed woke up, flailing his arms around and I'm telling you if I had leaned over and tried to touch him to wake him up he'd have hit me with his arms.

When Mr Ed woke up the guy behind screamed like a girl (I am not making this up) and ran back into the store.

So there we are. Mr Ed looking at me and me holding a crab net looking at him.

He said "Well hi there missy, you goin crabbin?"

What could I say? "No, I'm just didn't want to get too close to you to wake you up?"
So I smiled, told him yes and hightailed it back into the store.

Where the manager is now standing with the clerk.

As I come in the manager looks at me in shock and says "What are you doing with that crab net?"

Before I can answer he gets a really angry look on his face and says "You hit Mr Ed with a crab net?!"

No, no, no! I tried to explain about not getting too close to someone who's passed out and that I used the net to poke Mr Ed's foot.

He wasn't hearing a word I said.

He was getting madder and madder and kept repeating "You hit Mr Ed with the crab net?"

I tried to explain one more time but the anger on his face and the look of pure shock on the clerk's face did me in and I tossed the crab net back into the bin and flew out the door.

I'm getting in my car and Mr Ed is still being nice and wishes me good luck on my crabbing trip - even though I no longer have a crab net.

As I'm driving away all I can think about is the fact that the people in Walgreens believe I hit an old man with a crab net!

Oh my God!!!

I get home and am totally freaked out. I saw what I believed to be a dead man on the bench outside of Walgreens and the people inside Walgreens believe I have hit an innocent old man with a crab net.

I'm babbling all of this to the Island King who keeps telling me that I did the right thing and not to worry what the people in Walgreens think.

But it BOTHERED me! The idea of someone believing I would hit an old homeless man with a crab net who was just minding his own business really bothers me.

And I vow never to step foot in Walgreens again - having been labeled the woman who beat the old man with a crab net and all.

After I calmed down I went inside to start supper and a few minutes later the Island King comes in and says "I called Walgreens."

What?

He said the incident bothered him too because in his mind I handled the situation safely and he felt like the manager needed to know that.

He said at first the manager was a little hostile and that it took a few minutes of explaining why it's dangerous to lean over someone who has passed out.

Then he heard the manager have an Aaahaaa! moment and realized the man now understood.

The Island King also emphasized that I did NOT hit the man, I poked his foot.

The manager started laughing and said that when he saw me come back in with the crab net that he just kept picturing me out there whacking away at Mr Ed.

Then the manager apologized profusely for making me feel bad and told the Island King over and over again to please have me come back tomorrow so he can apologize.

I'm not sure I'm up for that.

Why am I such a magnet for this kind of stuff. Crazy seems to find me everywhere I go.

Which explains why the older I get the more of a hermit I become.

Silent Sunday

He Tried

I love wandering through cemeteries, looking at headstones, wondering about those who came before me.

And every once in a while I run across a headstone that makes me stop and scratch my head.

Like this one.



Bless his heart - He Tried.

An Afternoon on the Eglin Reservation

After our frogging experience, the Island King and I wanted to go back up to the Shoal River and explore some during the day.

So even though it's hot as Hades outside we decided to skip the beach and ride up into the woods for the day.



The Eglin Reservation is a huge, amazing place and you never know what you'll find in there.

Like these old dog pens.





These pens are scattered through the still hunt areas on Eglin, most of them built at the corners of major intersections in the woods.



The pens were built to hold lost or runaway dogs found by hunters. Once a pack of hunting dogs is turned loose it's not uncommon for one or two to go off on their own and become separated from the pack.

If a hunter found a dog that wasn't his he'd put the dog in the nearest pen. If you'd lost a dog you knew to check the pens and see if he'd been found.

These old pens don't get used anymore because of GPS technology and most of them are starting to fall apart.

I might like to have one in my back yard though.



This old truck must have been pushed off to the side of the trail years ago.





We don't know what the truck was used for but it had a long pipe holding another long pipe mounted on the back.



Not far past the truck we came to Gin Hole Landing, a small boat ramp along the Shoal River.



Well, it's a boat ramp when we're not in the middle of a drought.



You wouldn't do so well if you tried to put a boat in here today.

I love to wander around the river banks when the river is low. The cypress stumps and sandbars that are normally underwater are all exposed and you can really see how beautiful it is - above and below the water.





We could hear what sounded like a waterfall off in the distance so we walked along the ledge until we found the source.



This is one of the many, crystal clear streams that run through Eglin and empty into the Shoal.



We sat down on a cypress stump and watched the water rushing into the river.



Normally, the river would be higher and this stream would just flow right in.

But that day, it was a little waterfall over some beautiful cypress roots.

We wandered farther along the river bank, amazed at how low the river was.



I love exploring the sloughs that cut up into the woods along the river's edge.





There is always so much driftwood up in them that I have trouble not backing the truck up and bringing it all home.

We stayed all afternoon, exploring and enjoying the woods.

We're truly blessed to have such a wonderful playground so close to home.