Author: livingthedreamwithsallyandvic

We planned a 3 day trip to Kissimmee to look for eagles but when we got ready to hitch up the truck to the camper we found out the left front hydraulics would not work. We’ve had trouble with it before but now it seems worse. So while we are stuck here at the resort we decided to go around in the golf cart and see what we could see locally. I almost got an owl. Here’s what we did get.

We have an appointment on Wednesday in Lakeland and expect the problem to get solved. I sure hope so because we want to go to Ft Meyers and visit our friends Geri and Charlotte the week after.

With a little help from our friends (thank you Jimmie and Ellie!) we left Clerbrook last week and came over to the west coast of Florida. First we spent Sunday at friends Donna and Kim’s where they put on a spread and we watched the two championship football games. We stayed at an Elks Lodge one night, then came over to Palmetto to a harvest host. The host is Paul so I call it Paul’s Back Yard. Its 5 acres, his house is in one corner so the space is wide open.

We met my sister Holly at Celery Fields, a well thought out birding area with a very cool gazebo structure including seating. Parakeets and painted buntings are attracted to bird feeders. We struck out on the painted buntings but here’s the parakeet. They are huge.

After our birding adventures, we met Andy (Hollys husband) at Tide Tables in Sarasota. It is a casual outdoor seating seafood place, we loved it. We had scrumptious fish tacos that came with coleslaw and fries and enjoyed the water view.

Then we went to Mayakka River State Park. We got lucky! We saw a spoonbill, a Lesser Yellow Legs, a couple of Stilts, some Limpkins, and of course some Alligators.

We had to make a pit stop on our way home today at BigFoot of Florida to get our camper hydraulics checked. Turns out the hydraulic control panel needs to be replaced/upgraded which also involves a new electronic system. They have to order parts and we will have to go back there to have the work done.

We met a couple, Cheryl and Tim, also staying in Paul’s backyard. They are full time RV’ers, living in a van! Approx 25 feet. I looked inside. They had the essentials but omg it was a small space. They had 400 amp hrs of solar, enough to power the refrigerator (a little bigger than the college dorm size). They were friendly and nice enough but holy cow it was tiny! Once upon a time they had a thriving portrait photography business and a massive house. We think they went broke and that’s how they ended up in the van. They headed off to Ft DeSoto this morning hoping to see the birds we saw yesterday.

I was homesick for my two daughters and their families. I’m here in Florida and they are in NH and VA (visiting in NY). Today Vic, Zoe and I went to visit my sister 2 hours away in FL. Her son and daughter in law are here for the holidays. We adore them both so it was a wonderful visit. Plus my sister knows how to make sushi! We had that and sushi bowls, totally amazing. Fresh Tuna was the star of those creations. I watched her in the kitchen, son and daughter in law were sous chefs and her husband washed everything up!

After we devoured the feast Shane played a recording of Christmas music he wrote being sung by the choir in his church. He is so talented!

Merry Christmas everyone!

We drove through in the late afternoon one day last weekend. We didn’t see a lot but I was excited to see the black neck stilts. I think their pink legs are so cute!

Here we have Mr and Mrs Kingfisher. Usually the male of the species is the colorful one but with kingfishers the female gets the color.

Now we have Mr and Mrs Hooded Merganser.

We’v had the absolute best time this week shooting pictures of birds every day at Black Point Drive, Merritt Island. Here are a few more of our favorite shots, no romance with these characters though.

We are still at Merritt Island taking pictures at Black Point Drive. Reddish Egrets are so cool the way they “dance” through the water looking for fish. There are 3 or 4 here, the one in these pictures is the prettiest with his reddish mane. They don’t travel in groups, usually we see them one at a time.

We’ve been riding around and through Black Point Drive (Merritt Island) for the last few days. The Roseate Spoonbills are plentiful right now. Do you know what a large group of Spoonbills is called? A bowl. Isn’t that fun? We had so many great pictures this post is just Spoonbills.

We are staying in the parking lot of an Elks Lodge, we’ll be here for a few days. Word is they cook every night yippee. We are the only ones here for now, gotta love the quiet.

Thanks to Walt and Shane helping us get out of our space this morning and special thanks to Walt for finishing up the deck stairs. 💟

Here’s where we are. Stay tuned for bird photos from Black Point Drive. We are just a few miles from there and will spend a lot of time over there taking pictures.

We used Deck Correct to refinish our deck. It was a lot of work but we love the color.

We drove through Apopka on Sunday. There was little traffic the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. An awful lot of people were stuck at airports or otherwise having a miserable time driving home so I’m sure that had something to do with it. The roads had been worked on since the last time we were there. Still not paved but didn’t see a single pothole so that was great. We saw tons of stuff including many alligators. No pelicans or spoonbills but lots of other birds. Here are our best shots.

We are sad to be leaving. Even though we had to suffer through another bout of covid we are in a beautiful place and have been very well care of by Holly and Justin. We so enjoyed the time we had with our two grandsons. Wish we lived closer than 1700 miles. Tomorrow starts our 8 day trek home to Florida.

We ate dinner with the Riders one night and enjoyed Justin’s homemade bread.

Holly made soup one night and it was not only delicious but pretty. Homemade broth, chicken with spinach.

Finn brought home his woodworking project. It’s very cool and he had a story to go with it about him in the water park. The class is taught by a local woman, 85 years old. I say she’s a national treasure.

Here’s a funny