Mom, I Forgot To Ask...

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there.

I can't help how I feel on this day, but I also can't help but find some happiness in sharing such a good relationships with my mother for the time I had.

• I do miss our Thursday Survivor nights.
  
• I miss the Far Side One-a-Day cartoons she would put in with birthday cards.
  
• I miss the ravioli she would over cook.
  
• I miss her potentially blasphemous response to a variety of things that might have annoyed her - "Jesus God!".
  
• I miss the defensive mother who declared my 4th grade spelling bee championship downfall word Iodine as stupid.
• I miss her ranting about the Vermont State Park of the Year award (that they won her last year at Coolidge State Park).
  
• I miss her exasperated nasal sigh when I would break too late at a traffic light.
  
• I miss the Chinese buffet and our subsequent complaining about stomach aches afterwards.
  
• I miss her birthday and x-mas celebrations that she put so much into as if we were still 8 years old.
• I miss hearing that I was her favorite. (never confirmed but come on!)
• I miss her incessant worrying about Ebola, airplane food, cave ventilation, Toyota recalls, the cancellation of Arrested Development, my sister (you know who you are), Aspartame, George W. Bush and people who carve their initials into trees.
• I miss her pronouncing MaLe like Count Dracula
• I miss telling her about dangerous things and getting the "you're nuts" response.
• I miss the 5 second phone calls to remind me to Tivo things
• I miss the mother who loved each of her children equally
  
• I miss the wacky, joyful, lovable person who changed all throughout her life and always for the better
• I miss my mom
  

And I thought about something the other day I had never thought before.

I wondered - Did you miss your mom every day like I do?

Just wondering. I forgot to ask.

JQ - Jungleboy Quarterly

It's been 3 months of nonsense and it's time to recap!

After leaving Vermont on January 29th, I've seen and done quite a few spectacular things and know the best is yet to come. We have 54 subscribers, not including dingleberry@redsoxnerd.com (one of my brother-in-law Jim's fake email addresses) and have readers in 24 countries. The goal, is to improve the educational level of the entries while making things simple enough so my sister can understand (she knows which one), increase the sophistication of the humor while adding more poop jokes and get an editor so no one has to endure my bad grammar anymore. Ruth won the grammar correction contest with 44 corrections. Thanks Ruth!

I've received a lot of comments and questions and thought I'd finally answer them all here if possible. I have to paraphrase or simply make up all that I can't remember.

Q1 - Is it a good idea to write when you are angry?
A1 - Sure! I'm angry a lot. And happy a lot too. I've been saddled with the burden of knowledge and hampered with the curse of stupidity. Two great traits that don't taste so good together. There's a lot of frustrating, annoying, crazy things out there that get me fired up and not only does writing focus the energy, it helps formulate possible ideas on how to solve the issues. Or encourages others to solve them. Or just simply pokes fun at it. Which ever comes first.

Q2 - Is your Meez single?
A2 - Quite possibly the most disturbing question. The answer is no. I hate to break anyone's heart or psychotic delusions, but my Meez is just a cartoon facsimile that has a cartoon facsimile girlfriend that is often offscreen. The cartoon girlfriend has to be careful that the cartoon agents from the Department of Homeland Security do not find her.

Q3 - What's your favorite smell?
A3 - Orange Blossoms and/or Methane

Q4 - Is Red Drift Algae always so boring?
A4 - Yes

Q5 - Aren't you scared of the Alligators?
A5 - Funny thing about that. When I was a kid I was terrified. The media sensationalizes animal encounters, often alligator encounters and people end up fearing them more than they should. Respect them. Give them distance. Don't feed them and you will be fine. They are fearful of people 99% of the time. This is a terrible statistic, but there were more traffic fatalities in Lee County last week than there have been fatalities caused by Alligators in all of Florida since 1950. Only 19 people in 57 years is not bad. Unless you are one of the 19.

Q6 - Are you going to shave your cat again this year?
A6 - It's 85 and humid right now on April 30th. That cat needs to be shaved. No one asked this question. I just wanted to post this picture.

Q7 - How many Peeps did you eat in the video?
A7 - Only 5. I had to eat as many as Will did. And yes my stomach hurt afterwards.

Q8 - Was Will actually bitten by a bat?
A8 - The poor kid. In September of 2005 I led a group of homeschool kids and their parents to the Dorset Bat Cave in Vermont. During the next weeks class Will told me he had been bitten by a rabid bat. I dismissed him, thinking he was making up the story. No one had been bitten by a rabid bat in Vermont in many decades. Later someone showed me a headline in the Bennington Banner that explained that a local boy had been bitten by a rabid bat! It was a scary story and really a rarity. To his credit, the 9 year old Will told reporters that it was scary but he still appreciated bats. Cool kid. And he's a Peep eater.

Q9 - Do airboats ever flip over?
A9 - This was asked a few weeks ago and the answer was very rarely. A few days later, an airboat flipped, sending passengers into "alligator infested waters". The water is very low and apparently the boat had a mechanical failure, rendering the driver nothing but a passenger. They hit a clump of sawgrass and over they went. The "alligator infested water" is a perfect example of media hysteria. There was maybe one alligator within a 300 yard radius and wanted nothing to do with the accident. The driver suffered a broken collarbone and passengers had cuts and scrapes. That is the first accident I have heard about in all of the time of been around the everglades. Very rare.

Q10 - Is your criticism of exotic species analogous to your feelings on illegal immigrants?
A10 - Apparently you don't know who I'm dating. (Edited after post - My inarticulate point is that MaLe is a fervent supporter of dignified immigration laws here in the U.S. as am I. She in fact has a tourist visa and is here legally, lest anyone misunderstood me. Her Meez on the other hand is here illegally.)

Q11 - How do you get someone off the phone when you're done talking to them?
A11 - Excellent question. Some people can chat forever and the old excuse - "My show is on!" no longer works if you have Tivo. Kate and Ashley (not the twins) refuse to get Tivo just so they can still use that line. Or they don't want to talk to me. But I like to use "the cat is puking on the carpet!" Which is often unfortunately true and the reason he needs to be shaved.

Q12 - If you could be Pinocchio or Peter Pan, which would you choose?
A12 - No one asked me this but it's still an interesting question. Peter Pan could fly but he wore tights. Pinocchio wore little red shorts and had a slight case of wood rot but he had a pet cricket and if he got hungry he could eat him. So I would go with the Gippetto's kid.

Q13 - Is there an Easter Bunny?
A13 - Absolutely. I once dressed as the Easter Bunny and after trying to explain this to a 9-year old, she became very confused. The Easter Bunny has a cadre of lackeys he uses to distract kids while he hides Easter eggs. There really is no other explanation. But yes there is a real Easter Bunny and yes I pretended to be him for a day.

Pete and Mom - assisting the Easter Bunny for a day.

Looking forward to the next three months of adventure. Keep the comments and questions coming.

That's all folk!

Peeps!

I've been remiss in posting. Call it Writer's Cramp or whatever. I've just not been inspired. I had a plan to write about the "Red Drift Algae" problem on the beaches, but couldn't figure out how to make it humorous so instead began sifting through resumes, looking for a potential new Everglades guide that I need to hire. (and no, bartender does not make you "uniquely qualified" to drive people out to the swamp....)

And then a comment was posted to the blog. A miracle! I love the comments but this one is one of the best so far.

William said...
Hey, this is Will (the kid who was bit by the bat last year). My mom is about ready to make my sister and I stop subscribing to your blog. It is causing a lot of disruption in our home school study time. For instance, this evening I couldn't resist timing how long it took me to eat an entire package of Peeps. I only had one left, so I got a lot of grief for hogging it all. However I managed to swallow all five Peeps in 1:28:82. I'd like to say the ordeal was worth it - given the bragging rights I have earned - but my belly is paying the price.

I looked for a picture of William to post here but couldn't find one from the VINS vault of photos, this was the best I could do.

I have a great affection for Peeps. My mom would buy whichever holiday themed Peeps were in season, including Flag Day. The strawberry Valentine hearts being my favorite, with the Halloween Ghosts not far behind.

We've eaten pretty much all of the Easter Candy from last week, but there was still a package (3 rows, 5 to a row) of pink Peeps just sitting around, and despite my claims of a post-Easter diet, I've attempted on several occasions to dig into a batch of well hidden candy, only to be thwarted by the Ecuadorian who has only recently developed a sweet tooth to rival my own.

So there the package was. Not being eaten. Taunting me in a way only inanimate, sugar-coated, fluffed marshmallow of an unnatural pink can taunt. I had had a rough day and could no longer resist. MaLe had just walked into the other room. So I grabbed a pair of scissors (completely unnecessary), ripped open a row and shoved two Peeps down the pie hole just as MaLe stepped back into the room, staring in horror.

I can't be sure if the look was in disgust over a delicacy she had yet to try or the desperation in which I piled the pink Peeps into my mouth. Staring her down like a vulture protecting a dead armadillo, I pleaded "Don't take them from me". She didn't. She even tried one. And was repulsed.

I ate the other two and we left for our evening walk.

So that brings me back to William's e-mail which arrived just in time. I don't wish to cause trouble in William's household, nor do I wish to condone the consumption of such useless calories, but I can't help but feel proud that somewhere a boy was inspired to scarf 100 calories of sugar while timing himself, because of my writings! It's exciting and further proof that something might be wrong with me.

And for more proof......

Eat well peeps! And mix in some vegetables William they balance out the candy nicely.

Noise Violation

The lease agreement for this apartment complex/hive is fairly strict when it comes to noise. After 9 pm you need to keep it down. No loud music, no barking dogs no use of jack hammers. I first heard the odd noise about two months ago. It was a distant, monotonous, mechanical trill that sounded as if they were doing road work out on US-41 about 1/2 mile away. I ignored it. It was the type of sustained, drone that I typically require to fall asleep. The noise continued for the next few weeks, occasionally becoming louder, sometimes occurring into the early hours of the morning before dawn. It occurred to us that it might be an animal. A treefrog? an owl? Try making a low, guttural "waaaaaaaaaaaaa" noise and that's pretty much it.

It wasn't an issue until my sister Tara, brother in-law Brian and baby Peyton came for a visit. It has rained all of 1/10th of an inch since I arrived in Fort Myers in January. No sooner did their plane touch down and the rain clouds rolled in, dumping over an inch of much needed rain across the area over the next three days. And then came the ungodly noise. As darkness fell two nights ago, the once unobtrusive noise rose to an unending cacophony of ever loudening, monotonous notes, bombarding every open window. Closing all windows dulled the ever present sound. It was time to find out who the culprit was.

With flashlight in hand, MaLe and I set out around the otter pond in the center of our hive where the sounds seemed to emanate from. The sounds radiated from dozens of points which seemed to be in the trees, in the water, on the buildings. The chorus was singing from every available vantage point and as we drew closer to each individual point, our well-cloaked, mysterious callers would cease, drawing our attention to more remote callers and making pinpointing the culprits all the more difficult. After encircling the pond and spooking a Yellow-crowned Night Heron (aka Quwak, because of the similar noise they make),we spotted one huge hopper along the water's edge. Mystery mostly solved. It's a toad! These softball-sized beasts apparently were taking advantage of the recent rains and calling to every Bufonid from here to the Everglades. The species in particular is the exotic Giant Toad Bufo marinus (aka Marine or Cane Toad). They can weigh more than three pounds and females can lay a string of up to 20,000 eggs. Males have a rudimentary ovary and have the ability to lay eggs if their testes are damaged. (stop giggling little sister) Eggs hatch between 2 and 7 days. Adults eat our native frogs and toads. They can also secrete (or "shoot") a fairly toxic liquid from their skin as a defense which can be fatal to small dogs....I should encourage the owners of the Pomeranian that barks all day to try one. I mean have the dog try one. Oh heck they should all try one.

The chorus had calmed last night to a normal decibel, but the pond monsters are still calling. (click here to hear one) Our little apartment pond is far more productive then I would have ever imagined. Who knows what we'll discover next out there.

Not in My Backyard

Oh this title could mean so many things today. I said to MaLe that I would go write and she said in her adorable Ecuadorian accent "Will you write about the perpetual fart smell outside?" The insideous smell has returned this evening after a few week hiatus and you would think people would be up in arms over a smell so foul. But I guess we all did move in to a place where a sewage treatment plant is in our backyard.

People don't seem to mind much in their backyards here. Malls, limestone quarries, nuclear power plants, golf courses. Build it and they will come. Oddly, Panthers, Crocodiles, Alligators and Manatees are objectionable to those that find their presence intrusive and a damper to a certain lifestyle.

The South Florida Water Management District just warned all communities in and around the Everglades that no more water will be drawn from the Everglades, which would seem like a good thing. People are still coming. Nearly 1000 people a day move here and communities are being told - Find another source of water. Desalinization - Recycle Water - Reduced Consumption. Heck - I know where they can get some partially treated waste water. Many have their eyes set on the Florida aquifer - the largest aquifer in the world that lies quietly 1000 feet below the limestone, fun parks and interstates.

Yesterday the 6th "Florida Panther" in 2007 was hit and killed by a vehicle on Interstate-75. (Click here for a map I'm working on of Panther fatalities) There is an estimated population of around 80-100 cats in the Everglades. They have been dubbed the most Endangered mammal on the planet. The thing is, the Florida Panther has long been considered a subspecies of the Mountain Lion Puma concolor (aka Cougar, Puma, Painter, Catamount (shout out to the cats in VT), Screamer and Nittany Lion.) The population had dropped to around 20-30 just 20 years ago and they were so inbred that they had numerous physical and physiological mutations. A cowlick on the nape of the neck, a kinked tail, leaky valves in the heart and males with testicles that did not descend. (stop giggling little sister) Fish & Wildlife introduced 10 Texas Cougars into the population a few years ago to expand the gene pool. They are the same species, but when mixed, would the Florida Panther cease to exist? In truth, the Texas Cougar and Florida Panther are essentially the same animal, with very few distinct genes, so the answer is no. But many found the transplants to be an abomination. Funny thing was, in 1993 when they studied the genes of cats in the Everglades National Park and the Big Cypress National Preserve, the Park cats had DNA from a South American Puma! Biologists knew something was odd. No cat would range that far. They determined that these "non-native" genes had entered the population about 40 years earlier. Apparently, an owner of a roadside zoo back in the 50's had released his cat into the wild. He refused to admit it but decades later, the evidence is still present in the Florida Panther population.

The cats are the natural heritage of the Everglades. The landscape would be severely diminished without them and while the species would still survive from Alaska down to Tierra Del Fuego under other names, the loss of the Florida Panther subspecies would be disheartening. So 6 cats in 3 months is terrible, regardless of their genetic stock. 16 in 18 months is even worse.

There is less and less room for the panthers to roam. A male requires about 200 square miles and refuses to share with another male, often leading to confrontations and occasionally death of one cat. The steady erosion of habitat continues and as people continue to relocate and expand their habitat it would seem soon there will be none left for the cats. Sadly and certainly, not in my backyard.

Cardinal Red

If you're going to do something stupid and suffer the consequences - blame your sister. It sometimes worked during my childhood, so I'll try it again.

I had a day off so Ma-Le and I wasted some precious dinosaur juice and drove across the Everglades to Jupiter to see my World Champion St.Louis Cardinals play the New York Mets in spring training (Cards 5-Mets 4).

We stopped along the way at Lake Okeechobee and in the Everglades Agricultural area, a vast "reclaimed" wetland of several million acres that is the source of most U.S. sugar and the greatest consumer of water from Lake Okeechobee. Water that once flowed through our greatest wetland is now stored and poured onto these agricultural areas when and where they need the water. I won't bore you with more stories of drought. So here's a picture of the lake from today. Normally the lake would spread out across the marsh you see beyond the boat. It's quite a bit lower than normal. I don't blame my sister for this. Later at the game, I realized I forgot the sunscreen again and ended up with a fantastic burn on my knees and the right side of my face. It's truly a nice shade of Cardinal Red. Can't wait for work tomorrow. You'd think I'd learn. I don't blame my sister for this either. After the game we stopped at my Grandmother's and took her out to dinner and then headed across Alligator Alley at around 9 pm. The Alley stretches 70 miles across the Everglades and with the exception of the Micasukee Indian Reservation gas station that closes early on Sundays, there are no gas stations for the entire stretch. Just before we got onto the interstate, my sister Tiffany called and we talked for a good 25 minutes. When I hung up the phone, we were somewhere in the middle of North America's largest wetland and my "low gas" light came on. We were at mile marker 72 - the nearest gas station was at marker 101. Could my truck make it 29 miles with the gauge on "E". Keep in mind, this is what the night sky looks like in the Everglades. You get a great view of the stars, far from the Megalopolis of Miami/FortLauderdale/Hollywood/PamBeach/Jupiter/DelRay/Dayton. Of course I'm just planning my spin for when the car coughs to a stop and I've stranded us in the middle of my favorite nowhere. Ma-Le suggested the truck shaking was probably a sign that it was running out. I didn't wish to tell her it was probably me shaking. We made it to exit 101 and filled the tank with a record amount of fuel for my truck. I guess I can't blame my sister for this either since it was something that was entirely my fault. And no need to call AAA and tell them I ran out of gas at "the office". One more trip safely through the Everglades, and the darkness hid my embarrassment from Ma-Le who couldn't see in the darkness for those last 29 miles that the rest of my face was also Cardinal Red.

(edit - the little cartoon JunglePete, which gets more comments than anything, which is a bad sign...should be wearing a Cardinals Jersey which Meez.com actually provides at a certain cost, which I'm unwilling to pay! So he's wearing...um....the road blues....not mets or cubs blue.....)

Spring Ahead

Ma-le's family has been here visiting, so no time to post and much to (my wee little sister) Mandy's dismay, she's had to go back to reading her horoscope in the a.m. instead of this nonsense. Hopefully this helps on both counts.

(March 12th, 2007 - Horoscope for people born on December 19th - "This week you will find the perfect opportunity to embezzle money from your company. Take advantage. You’ll never get caught. Here’s a genuine no risk way to get that bonus you’ve been asking the boss about for the past few weeks. He won’t give it to you? Take it. Follow the true American tradition of taking what you want when you want it. Be aggressive.")

Annnnnyway.....I took the Garcia family to see the Manatees that congregate around the power plant. The warm water discharged from the plant attracts them (the Manatees, not the Garcias), but all of the manatees were out in the Gulf of Mexico since the gulf has been warmer lately for some odd reason...something about "Global Warmings?"

There was a Swamp Rabbit, which was not as exciting as a Manatee. Apparently the males fight ferociously for mating rights with females. I didn't wish to get much closer as it may have been incubating an egg. Which reminds me that I forgot to give up anything for lent. I'll just give up twice as much chocolate tomorrow. I've digressed again.

As their name Swamp Rabbit (Sylvilagus aquaticus) suggests - they do inhabit swamps through out Florida, regardless of the large crocodilians that are found in the some of the same locales.

Failing in my quest to impress with Manatees, I decided to take them out to Sanibel Island off the coast of Fort Myers to check out the beach. Since I had a request for no more Pelican pictures, here are some gulls. It was a beautiful night with a cool breeze blowing and crickets chirping. Juan Jose and I were stumbling through a cluster of Sea Grapes just after dusk looking for a hidden geocache while Patrico was lucky enough to spot 2 Eastern Screech Owls. I abandoned the geo search and pursued the owls. No luck in getting a good photo, but we did catch the owls, mating, which lasted all of 5 seconds.

Awkward segue here, but it's late and I need to sleep so I'll finish with another picture of a sunset - but no pelicans.

Ma-le's mom flies back to Ecuador in a few days, so I'll post this for her.

(Pia, Ma-Le, Juan Jose, Patricio at Bowman's Beach - Sanibel Island, FL)

Bye mama Garcia - see you soon.

Otter Syndrome

I drove past a small pond outside of Londonderry, VT a few years ago and watched an otter slide across the ice, look around as if to say "watch this" and t dove through a hole in the ice. From that day forward, I expected to see an otter at that same spot. Every time, no matter when during the year. I never saw an otter there again. But never stopped looking. Now anytime I see an amazing wildlife sighting I expect to see it again in the same place. I call it Otter Syndrome.

I had a full-day Everglades trip today and while my group was on the boat ride (where I filmed the Dolphins last week), I stayed on shore. I can only take the boat captain's jokes once a month. I stopped in at the Everglades National Park gift shop and noticed a baby otter stuffed animal and thought how cute it was - I should get one for mom. It made me sad for a moment but I decided otters shouldn't make anyone sad and let the thought pass. No doubt that will make my sister cry.

After lunch my group headed for our swamp walk which follows a boardwalk 1.6 miles into the Fakahatchee Strand State Park. Along the board walk are interpretive displays like Poison Ivy - in front of a tree covered in poison ivy. Live Oak in front of the live oak. River Otter - in front of a pool of water. I joked to the group that this is where the otters should be. I saw otters here in 1999 and there's a sign here. This is where otters should be right? And we moved on. Further down the walk was a sign for White Tail Deer and I laughed again at the idea that a deer would be right there. And one of the group said "There's a Deer!" And there was! Very odd. It's not unexpected to see the Bald Eagles in front of the Bald Eagle sign, and we did, but on our way back out of the swamp, guess what was in front of the otter sign? Mama otter and two of the most adorable baby otters you can imagine. They played and pounced and dove into the water with their mama. I was only able to get this terrible picture, but that's ok with me. Mama is on the left - one baby is on the right...rolling in mama's urine for some reason...I better go look that up and find out why.
I couldn't help but think about my mom on the way home. When I lived here before and would get stressed, there was a place I used to go on Pine Island to watch the sun set and think about her way out in Montana. It calmed me. I called it my Happy Place. As I drove home tonight I heard her voice tell me to go to the Happy Place. I did - and this is what I saw.

Auntie Em! It's a Twister!

I don't think I'm in Vermont anymore.

As I sat in the parking lot of the Bahia Mar Resort in Fort Lauderale Beach, a softball-sized chunk of ice slammed against the driver side window of my truck. I looked out at this mishapen glob of ice, now resting on the ground and thought maybe some spring breaker had heaved it from their balcony for fun. But just as I began to step out of the truck to get a better look, a shower of golf ball-sized stones began pelting everything around. (Article from the Sun-Sentinel)

I had thought a few seconds earlier that the sky looked menacing, but it's Florida and thunderstorms are routine. As quickly as the hail began, the rain began pouring down and within a minute the street was flooded. I pulled under the above-ground pedestrian walk-way that led to the beach to avoid the ice-pummeling and soon there were a dozen cars tucked under the bridge seeking refuge from a storm that was now blowing winds over 60 mph. My truck rocked back in forth from the gusts and the hail stones grew in number as they dwindled in size. Panicked drivers of cars that were caught out honked to be let into what little room there was under the bridge.

As the storm was in full force, I called my sister Tiff outside of Boston to ask what the heck was going on. She reported back that a tornado had been spotted in Tamarac 5 miles northwest and another was later reported in Port Everglades less than a mile southwest. A few windshields were cracked, from the hail, but my truck was fine, just a bit shaken. So was I. I'd have more pictures but the sky was as dark as dawn and the rain and wind made it impossible to open a window. When it did stop, I got a picture of the hail stones before they melted.

Check out the palms and flags in the background. Here's a close up where you can see the hail stones raining down. Lookout! Here's the map of Tornadoes for 2/28/2007 - Kansas had a few more. How cliche...

Sun GOOD! Traffic BAD! PETE - ANGGGGRY

Too many people. Too much development. Too many cars. Too many traffic lights. Makes Pete angry! Want to SMASH! I've been practicing meditation while driving lately. I need to relax. A 9 mile drive to work takes nearly 30 minutes and there are over 36 lights on my way to pick up the eco-tour van. I try not to stress. I've even resorted to punishing myself for cursing. Ma-Le gets $1.00 for every really bad word I shout out. (If she hears it - she tunes out my rage!). There are nearly as many people in Lee County (565,000) where I live than all of Vermont (860,000). And the population increased 24% since 2000. Not good.

But the trade off includes beautiful beaches and amazing parks. Work today included scouting Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary for my trip on Saturday. We're taking bigwigs from the largest insurance company in the world and I need to make sure it goes smoothly. So it was walk the boardwalks as if I had a tour and see how the time goes. In the span of 1 hour and less than one mile of strolling down the Bald Cypress shaded boardwalks I spotted 6 baby Raccoons foraging in the swamp (I called them baby acoons when I was little).a juvenile Night Heron, 2 River Otters (one dove under the vegetations and spooked a flock of Ibis) and an American Bittern - doing what they do best, rocking back and forth like the plantlife to blend in. And for Mr. Charbonneau's delight, a nice 4 foot Yellow Rat Snake. Joe hates snakes. (This one didn't bite me).


This was my first day back at Corkscrew in almost three years (since the VINS Teen Eco-Trip in 2004) and I was disappointed to see so much development along the way. I'm not sure when it will stop. You'd think hurricanes and tornadoes would give people pause when they consider coming here. I'm grateful we have these places for wildlife but they're running out of room. The woodstorks are not nesting this year at the Sanctuary and that's a sign that food is not abundant enough to even think about raising chicks. Frustrating. Everyone that comes to Florida should be required to experience the beauty of this place. This is the real Florida. Sadly, it's disappearing and I wonder how many people that live here today have ever even seen it.
My sister Mandy thinks this stuff is depressing. She wants less sad and more happy. So here is a bonus picture of her crying (circa 1975). More for my amusement. And yes that is me in a blue leisure suit.