12 Oakdale

After we picked up Peg at Port Canaveral from her Blue Grass and Bahamas cruise, we toured Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. At first, the usual suspects of herons and egrets, with some roseate spoonbills and glossy ibis thrown in. Rafts of coots and a few common gallinules. Some not particularly big gators. At one spot, one white pelican amongst the dowitchers and skimmers.  I saw a Virginia rail when we stopped at one of the bird blinds. When we drove down Marsh Pond Road, we saw one black scoter,  a new bird for both Peg and me, and rare this far south. I had looked at eBird hot spots for the 4 flamingos blown in by Hurricane Ian. Less than 20 hours before, they were reported near the Haulover Canal. We tried along the south shore but couldn’t see where the canal met the river. Back into the car to drive along the other side. There at the end were 2 birders with scopes. The flamingos were visible with our binoculars over at an island. Success! Next to them were sever...

After obsessing, especially at night, yet not doing anything, last Monday, about 2:00 PM, I decided to start decorating for Christmas. My first project was my gingerbread house. Even if it were the only decoration, at least we would have that.  (Grant had put up the outdoor lights the previous Saturday, so that was done.) I was really tired. Perhaps from my jogging program; perhaps from missing sleep. But, whatever the case, my plan was to do a little, then set the timer for 20 minutes for a rest in my recliner. This actually made creating the house go better than usual. I carved out the windows, put in the broken LifeSaver pieces for the window panes, then let the candy melt in the oven. Rest. Check the light for the house and cover the cardboard in new wrapping paper. Rest. Decorate the house. Rest. Put the house together. Rest. Add the roof. Admire my work. By pacing myself, the panes had time to set, and the frosting for decorating and for gluing the pieces together had time to...

Saturday, we drove the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive after our stint as ambassadors there, in hopes of seeing an American flamingo, one of the many that were driven north in front of Hurricane Idalia back in August. Some made it as far as Wisconsin. We didn’t see the reported flamingo, but spotted 3 purple swamp hens, lots of galinules, blue wing teals, a black crown night heron, and great egrets.  Camping at Bahia Honda this week, it dawned on me that perhaps flamingos had been seen in the Keys. Yes, down Indies Road on Summerland Key. We decided to look on our way to Key West. As we slowly drove down the gravel/shell road with houses on our left and mudflats on our right, we begged any white bird off in the distance to have a tinge of pink. We looked and looked, creeping along. Then, I realized there were 3 flamingos were right next to the road. Duh. After taking some pictures, I did a little flamingo happy dance. They were not impressed. We enjoyed them for a while, then travelled ...