Blogging From Ocala

Here I sit in our new house in Ocala - the first chance I've had to blog in a couple of weeks. It's really starting to feel like home now. Bill loves his garage and is busy setting up storage for his planes. The last of the furniture we've ordered - a comfy recliner - should arrive tomorrow. There is still lots to do, but the rest of the big projects - and purchases - will have to wait until we return next year.

We will make just one more trip back to our condo in Fort Myers - to spend Easter week with grandson Zachery - before packing the last of our things and closing it up for the summer. The condo is for sale and people are looking, but no offers yet. To help it sell, we planted a statue of Saint Joseph in the yard - upside down and facing the building - but Bill broke his head off in the process - so that might delay things just a tad.

We had a nice visit with Bill's sister, Terry and her husband, Ray. I took this picture at Lover's Key. After a couple of standard posed pictures, I told them to do something fun and Terry decided to hug Ray. He looks startled - but it's a great picture of Terry! Ray scoured the beach for interesting shells to use in his art projects and jewelry.

Naturally, we took Terry and Ray to all of our favorite places. This young Yellow-crowned Night Heron has just snagged a tasty morsel for lunch at the Ding Darling Preserve on Sanibel.

My but that was good!

This is either a Common Merganser or its near twin, a Red-breasted Merganser - the first time I've spotted one on Sanibel.

There are lots of these beautiful Meadowlarks on Cape Coral.

This Florida Softshell Turtle is one of the oddest creatures I've ever seen! Look at his snout!

I always enjoy the cardinals. We have lots of them in Ocala - but we don't often see them in Ft. Myers.

This is the Ovenbird that lives at the Corkscrew Swamp Preserve. It's a terrible picture - but at least it proves I actually saw it!

Last year we saw quite a few Florida Scrub Jays - but they have been more illusive this year.

Bill and I are starting to think more about the mountains in Colorado and plan to head north towards the end of April. We might have to stop along the way for the annual Fayette Flyers RC Show.

Critters

The cold ugly weather finally broke (along with my cold) and we have had several beautiful warm, sunny days in a row. We even went to the pool yesterday afternoon to freshen our tans. Bill is out with the boys today and I'm getting caught up with some of my pictures.

This cute little fellow was walking on the boardwalk at Corkscrew Swamp before jumping down to fish in the water.

Mr. Lizard was enjoying the sun as much as we were.

Just before I took this picture, this black snake had eaten a bird. Guess he was digesting. We've seen this snake before at the same location between the boardwalk and the main lake at Six Mile Cypress Slough.

I know just how she feels! This is a female Florida Soft-shelled Turtle. We know it is a girl because she is so big - 15 - 20 inches across. The males are much smaller - 6 inches across maximum. She can sit on the bottom of a pond and extend her neck almost 2 feet to reach air. I've never seen one before and I was glad there was a naturalist on the boardwalk at Six Mile Cypress Slough to help.

I have lots of new bird pictures to share but I wanted to see if I could actually complete one blog entry without any birds. Here it is - now I'll work on another entry.