Tag: Florida life

Photo of the Month of May 2021

I finally got around to visiting the Don Garlits drag racing museum in Gainesville, Florida. I have passed the museum many, many times in the 35 years I have lived here, and this is the first time I stopped. If you love drag racing or collectibles of any kind, check out his museum the next time you’re in Florida. I thought I kept a lot of things, but I am unashamed now that I have seen Don’s collectibles. Well worth spending several hours wandering around in his two big museums. Lots of Cha Cha Muldowney memorabilia, too. 

Photo of the Month of April 2021

After wandering around in the Wildlife Preserve looking for the painted bunting and not seeing one, it was rather exciting to find out that he was sitting in my front yard feeder all along. We had a pair that spent a few months with us. There must have been something very yummy in the seed mix. 

Now, they have flown off to spend a season breeding, and hopefully, they will remember the birdfeeder when next winter rolls around. 

Photo of the Month of February 2021

A trip to the Canaveral Seashore and Wildlife Preserve offered a glimpse into the swamps of Florida from the mosquito-free safety of my car. While there were bald eagles, kingfishers, egrets, alligators, wild hogs and more, my day was complete when I saw a flock of spoonbills lounging around in the muck and  mire. 

I have seen these funny pink birds flying over or gathering in drainage ditches, but I wanted to see them in the wild. Now, I have. I also saw some scrub jays – very endangered – but they were hanging out on telephone wires in the neighborhood. Not quite the same. 

Photo of the Month of January 2021

If you have ever seen the movie “Little Shop of Horrors”, you might mistake this plant as the basis for that movie. In fact, it has a lot in common with the horrors of that movie.

I smelled something dead in the yard for better than a week. We have a big yard, but dead is dead, and you should be able to find the dead thing, especially by smell, within a few feet.
Nope. Looked for a long time for the dead thing.

This horrific thing started to grow in my mulch. It was rising up out of the mulch and stinking dead all around it. I didn’t know what it was, so I had to do some searching. It is a stinkhorn. Stink, it does.

Photo of the Month of December 2020

The mating of a oakworm moth. Once upon a time, I found a striped caterpillar on my screen. I couldn’t figure out what it was and no amount of search engine combinations brought me an answer. Every time I searched for green caterpillar with red stripe, I got all kinds of images that did not match the worm I was looking at. 

When I searched for these two love birds, that worm came up. It is an oakworm moth, and it’s only fitting that they are right next to my oak tree. So, eventually, I got the answer that I wanted about the strange little worm. 

Photo of the Month of December 2020

While this little guy is adorable and fuzzy, it is also one of the most dangerous little guys to touch. Remember my run in with the Saddleback? This one is worse. This is a puss caterpillar. They are so pretty, but so darn lethal. Each of those pretty, furry pieces of the caterpillar offers a potent sting that is excruciating. 

Cute as he was, once I looked up what he was, he became dead immediately following. Sorry all lovers of  the asp moth. 

Photo of the Month of November 2020

Apparently, it is hard work to be a squirrel. This little guy was up in the railing at the top of our front porch. Maybe he just got tired of eating all the birdseed, or maybe he was tuckered out from scampering with his friends. No matter which one it is, he was in for a nap. He spent several hours like that. 

Photo of the Month of October 2020

Deep into the pandemic, we finally broke free and got in the car. After 30 plus years of saying “we’re going to see the leaves change in the Smokies”, we finally did it. 

This colorful landscape is the wildly popular and overly photographed Linville Viaduct. 

We also did a little hiking – well, we had to walk up the path to Grandfather Mountain rather than park at the top and walk up. No matter which peak we visited, we found people so very happy to be out in the open. With the wind blowing and no close contact, we went all in for some outside time.

Photo of the Month of September 2020

While not exactly a standoff, it was a moment of zen for someone. The little fox had  been busy wandering around the front yard looking for something to eat. He spent a lot of time just staring at the birdfeeder as if his stares would make birds magically appear.

Then he set to strolling around the rest of the yard. In the meantime, a very nervous squirrel was hanging down to either see what that orange animal was or doing a death defying balancing act.

​Apparently, my yard squirrels are not acquainted with the bouncing and leaping that foxes are known for. In the end, the fox wandered off and the squirrel went back to foraging under the birdfeeder.