Sawgrass Lake Nature Preserve

It was May of 2007 that I went to Sawgrass Lake. It's 400 acres located in St. Petersburg, FL. Not on the outside of St. Pete., in the heart of the city. It so odd to walk its 1 mile of board walk and to know it is surrounded by houses and I-275

I did a slide show of the butterflies and a spider I seen. The butterfly garden outside of the building that houses the restrooms. That doesn't make for easy picture taking. Butterflies are a bit skittish in the first place, but then add children running out of a building to the mix. I was so close to getting a piture of a tiger butterfly, when a child came running from the restroom. Yes, I'm like the fisherman, "you should have seen the one that got away."

Walking into the woods you could hear them, and then they would shoot between the trees like missiles. They being the Pileated Woodpeckers. These things are huge.

There's a tower that looks out at the lake. Just below was Momma gator and two of her little ones. (As you can see, I also found software that came with my camera. My iBook couldn't use it. Now I can make collages. I'm in sorry shape.)

This is something Linda wouldn't want to see. It looks like a Cottonmouth (or more common the water moccasin). She freaks out when she see the non poisonous black racer in the back yard. This deadly snake would really freak her out. It was also spotted near the lake from the observation tower.

I discovered we were near I-275 when we spotted the Gopher Tortoise.

I've taken a lot of picture of little Blue Herons, but I don't think I've ever taken a picture of one with a "hair do" like this one.

Ringling Revisited.

I found a way to show you the Howard Brothers Circus I mentioned a few posts ago.

No More Hospital Trips

Linda is finally out of the hospital. She was a little miffed that she had to wait until 10:00 am to get out. She was expecting to be released by 9:00.

Wow what a difference!. Yesterday she needed help getting out of a chair and to a walker. Today she popped out of the chair, grabbed the walker and headed for the door. The nurse let her walk to the elevator before getting a wheel chair.

Speaking of hospital elevators, I had a strange encounter a few days ago. I pushed the up button, and the door opened. I entered the elevator, and a thin, wrinkled, woman with huge sunglasses asked, “are you going down?”

“No, I’m going up.”

“What is wrong with this elevator. It won’t go down.” I then noticed she had pushed 1.

“We’re on the first floor.”

“We are? I’ve been riding up on this elevator.”

Please tell me she doesn’t drive.

What A Day

Took Linda to the hospital this morning for her hip replacement surgery. I came home, since the hospital is 10 minutes away, and waited for the news. The surgeon called at 11:15 to say she did very well. 12:50 she called. I don't think she remembers making the call.

It was really hard seeing her hooked up to all those tubes, and lying immobile. I wanted to cry. Instead I came home and got the girls. We headed to the park.

But the park trip was almost put off. Susie got so excited, while jumping she hurt her front paw. I waited an hour to see if she could walk on it. She finally looked like she was walking it off. I decided to give the park a try. We made it all the way around the lake! Dogs must be like us. They can twist something and a few hours later show no signs.

As you can see Charlie has a new Frisbee. You can pick one up for a couple of dollars, but she would chew on them, and I would have to throw them away. This time for 13.00 I picked up a Kong Frisbee. If it is like the other Kong toys in this house, it should last a long time.

Sorry no pictures of Linda. I just couldn't do that to her.

Lowry Park Zoo

Sunday we headed out for Tampa and Lowry Park Zoo. It is was Linda wanted to do today.. She goes in for hip replacement surgery tomorrow. (She had a 1000 pound machine fall on her 10 years ago. It is probably the reason she needs a new hip today.)

You pay for zoo admission and if you want to take the hour boat ride down the Hillsbourough River you pay additional money. We arrived at the park shortly after opening, and got tickets for the 11:00 boat ride. As you can see, the zoo spares no expense for a bus. The ride to the boat dock and public boat launch is only a minute away.

Sulphur Springs Water tower. It was built in the the 1920’s, and Sulphur Spring water was the first bottled water in the state. People thoutht the springs would bring them good health. A flood ruined the mechanisms that operate the water tower. Bats now make it home, and the City of Tampa has to figure out how to restore the tower, and not harm the bats. Bats in Florida are up there with the angels. They eat the “state bird”, the mosquito. (The sun wasn't in the right spot. I tried using black and white to get more detail)


Talk about picking the bones clean. Can you identify the bones? What ever it was the vultures were finishing, it was once a very big animal. (My mother isn’t going to like this picture. She doesn’t like vultures.)

We did get to see a couple of manatees while out on the river. But I don’t think I’ll be able to convince Linda to take the canoe out on the river. We seen 3 gators. One of them was approxiately 8 feet long. Linda will never go for taking the canoe out in water with gators.


This big gator was inside the zoo. He’s covered with bird poop. The giant white egrets have nests abouve him. Actually there are two nests above him. It doesn’t seem to bother the old guy that the the birds use him as a toilet. There was no movement from him at all. The picture really doesn't show what he looked like covered in white goop.

I'm a bit strange. You have all these exotic birds to be photographed and the last two pictures are of very common birds. The first is the Common Grackle. A wild bird.



Why is it that Pelicans provide me with some of my favorite pictures?

By the Way

I posted some of the picture from the cruise I took in January..

There is a link to the right. flbeaglenut.blogspot.com

Otters at Work

What a day. I was on my way to my truck after work. I looked at the water and seen ripples. The wind was blowing. I sat in the truck and looked at the water. Could the wind be blowing that hard? Something had to be in the water. Yep the otters were having a good time.

Not only did I get a still shot, I got them using the movie mode on my camera. And to top if off, I got the video to upload on to this blog.

Oh Happy Days!

Slowly Getting Closer

Any time I'm near water, I hear the voice of the Belted King Fisher. I swear he is mocking me. This bird is so shy. As I peeked through the bushes at work, I got off one shot. One day, I will get a good shot.

The John And Mable Ringling Museum

John Ringling the youngest of 5 brothers made his fortune in the circus that bares his famous last name. He spent the fortune on art, the home he built for his wife Mable, which over looks Sarasota Bay, and a museum to house all the art he collected until his death. When he died in 1936, he left the 32 acre estate to the state of Florida

I used to wonder why so many Floridians I have met have never made the trip to Sarasota to see the Museum. After purchasing a small book titled A Museum Once Forgotten: Rebirth of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, I found the grounds were rarely open to the public before 2000.
The mansion was falling apart and partly covered in vines, and the museum’s roof leaked, putting the art a risk. Florida State University took over stewardship of the property, and with millions of money from the state, it has been restored the 66 acres estate.

Mayra and I hit the rose garden first. The local garden club was pruning them. I had told Mayra what a beautiful place it is, and she wanted to see it before the flowers were all gone. The woman a the desk when we purchased out tickets told us the flowers would be gone by afternoon. That garden club didn’t waste any time removing them early in the morning.

A few years ago, Linda and I had visited the estate, and one of the docents said Mable Ringling could only keep them alive for a few years, and then they would have to be replaced. I figured she over pampered them, or roses weren’t as hardy as they are today. My rose bush doesn’t know pesticides, fertilizers, or regular watering, and the thing refuses to die.

We then made our way to my favorite building, the Tibbal Learning Center. The building houses museum posters, costumes, and the Howard Brothers Circus. Howard Tibbal started building a model circus in his Knoxville home over 50 years ago. Today the model is approximately 3800 square feet. (I created a slide show for you to see more detail. But it wouldn't upload correctly. Back to the drawing board.)
I did like the detail he put into his model circus. He even shows the restrooms and the fact you have to tell me which way to stand, when they pee.

The building next to the Tibbal’s Learning Center is the Circus Museum. It used to be the Ringling’s garage. It now houses circus wagons, and a truck that used to be used to shoot a human out of a canon. (They may have the canon, but they don't have the secret as to how it works) The docent giving the tour a couple years ago, almost put Linda and I to sleep. Not this time. I didn’t want Dorothy’s tour to end. The little woman was so full of life, and really showed that she enjoyed talking about the museum. I wish we could have had her give us a tour of the entire estate. Some are original, and some are reproductions.

I believe she said this one was made by the craftsman who work at the museum.

Ca d’Zan what a home!! Mayra and I tried to bide our time until the next tour. You can’t see the second floor without going on the tour. After 30 minutes or more of wandering around the first floor and the grounds, we decided to head for the museum. We told ourselves we would come back for the last tour of the day. Two trips to Sarasota, and I have yet to see the second floor. We were just too tired.

The art museum is now one of the top 20 museums in North America. On the day we visited the courtyard was alive with musicians and clowns. The place makes me wish I lived in Sarasota. I would become a member. I took no pictures inside the museum. It’s all so breathtaking. It would be easy to spend the entire day inside the art museum itself. The exhibits aren’t just limited to Mr. Ringling’s collection . The Grandma Moses exhibitions will be running until April 13th, and the Jacob Lawrence exhibition can be seen until May 4th.
<