Spring Things

It's officially spring now, although in Florida we just call it Thursday. 

How do I know it's spring? Just look at all the spring things...

Here he is. Every March he shows up in this bole high up in a pine tree. He sits out during the day and waits for his mate to arrive. Then they disappear for a while. (ahem: bow chicka bow bow!) and we never see them again unless we spotlight them at night.

Here's the neighbor's tree. This one just screams spring.

I've seen lot and lots of snakes lately, too. This is a Florida water snake. He looks like a rattle-headed-copper-monster but he's not. He has round eyes, not those evil looking slits on a viper.

Yes, little yellow birds everywhere doing the spring thing.

Hibiscus still blooming...

Hmmm.....

And this was one fat healthy snake, so you know he's been eating well. 

These are the seeds from a willow oak tree. Odd, aren't they?

An interesting pattern on a tree.

Every year about this time they open a new route to the airport, or they just start re-routing the regular flights. The big airplanes will practically buzz over the house, low. This one says airberlin.com. I'm thinking he was re-routed a little too far.

Dusty and I did a little bit of fishing today, too. There are bass all over the pond. 

This is what I caught him with. I measured him at about 10 inches... the fish, not the lure.

This is an interesting prickly plant that has grown out of all that swampy muddy dirt we had brought in. 

Here's a little closer view of his flower.

And speaking of spring and flowers, this is a volunteer. I think it's a lily? Anybody know for sure?

At one time I tried to dig these guys up and transplant the bulbs, but I wasn't successful. I think they only come up every 2 years.

I now have an update on this flower. It turns out it is an iris after all. I've had an expert tell me it's called a Louisiana Iris. Perfect!

Have a nice Spring everyone!

Muddled Mix from My Backyard

This is a collection of photos I have taken over the last month or so. For those of you who know me personally, you know that I have been through some serious dental work, with more to come. Because of the drugs that I've been prescribed (and the pain and the fear and the stress, not to mention the side effects) I have been a complete basket case. The end result is that I just can't think straight anymore so I will try not to comment too much on these pictures. I will most likely get it wrong, I'm just happy that I'm feeling better and am able to at least figure out how to get these uploaded and posted. Yay!

What could this be? Is it some rare tropical flower? Nope, it's a baby pinecone!

I like this one. Mike pulled this turtle out of the pond and held him up for me. More on this guy later.

I truly wish this had better focus but I still think it's an interesting picture.

Gnat catcher, that's all I can remember.

You go about taking pictures of pretty flowers and you end up with a bug!

These two are close-ups of a butterfly wing I found.

So here is the same turtle from above. He's not moving. In fact he has been in about the same spot for over a week now. I've picked him up and he is still alive but I'm afraid he is dying. I'll check on him again later today.

I've been sitting on the dock, feeding the fish, trying to get good shots. Hard to do, they splash a lot.

Pink Begonia.

Blue, I forget what...

Robin, they don't like to come too close so I have to take every advantage of the zoom.

A couple of the tilapia in the pond. I've seen lots of little bass, too. The pictures are lousy though. 

And a nice pretty volunteer something or the other.

There was more pictures here than I thought. This is certainly not my best work but I think there are a few gems up there anyway. It'll do!

I Caught a Shark

This is video that Chris took of our saltwater fishing boat trip we took in November. It's actually a bonnet head shark.

Here's the write up of the whole trip:

Saltwater Fishing Trip

Dead Fish Walking

It's been a strange dry season, cold, rainy, and terribly gloomy.

When the sun sticks his head out even for a little while I try to get out there and get some new pictures. Here's Red Ear on the pond.

And the Viper! He looks mean but he's not. In fact, he's not even a viper.

I noticed 15 to 20 birds hanging around the back pond. It is (was) almost dried out and there were some sort of little fish in there, popping the top of the water, by the dozens. And the birds came to catch them. I tried to get a good picture but they were too shy. Here's one though flying away. 

Most of them were wood storks, which is odd to see that many at once. I caught these in flight, too. Now I want to know what they were eating back there in the pond. I tried to scoop them out with a net but I had no luck.

Lo and behold, Mike found this one for me. It's a walking armored catfish. They dig into the mud and will stay in a shallow pond for as long as possible. This one apparently tried to get up and walk away. He didn't make it.

A flower an an ant...

Every March we have a couple of screech owls meet up in this bole, way up high in a pine tree, to nest. This is an older picture of one of them with a baby. As I was walking to the mailbox last week I noticed one little head looking out of the hole. No, I thought, it's way too early for them so I ran to get my camera.

It was a squirrel... 

The hawks were calling back and forth, making quite a racket.

I don't know what he is but he's cute.

And another butterfly...