Octagon Wildlife Sanctuary - Saturday Dec 12, 2015

Two hour drive from home to a little off the road place.  This place houses rescued animals and has a little plaque telling each animal's story.  Some are quite sad - rescues from physical beatings trying to make the animals obedient to shoot commercials/movies/or whatever.

Some were purchased by people who really didn't think it through, tigers in the back yard? Really?  I guess it goes back to our roots, we really were meant to have a close relationship with the animals as Genesis 1:28 talks about.

The animals, for the most part, looked healthy looking despite some scars.   There were a few that have some health problems due to owners trying to keep them small or feeding them inadequate food.  One lion was kept in a dog kennel for his first year trying to keep him small.  The scars of some of the animals were seared on their personalities and have trust issues-hmmm sounds familiar.

Mufasa

Lilly, black leopard

 

I turned around and this kitty was staring at me, a bit unnerving.

 

 

I heard growling which stopped me in my tracks.  Checking around hoping one of the "residents" had not got loose...          fortunately it was just Frankie, not a name that inspires fear but OH THAT GROWL! 

 

 

 

Onyx was fed only milk for the 1st year of life as the owner tried to keep the animal from developing aggressive tendencies.

 

 Some were a little camera shy

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Other animals would "pose", this resident looks like he's smiling - not nearly as intimidating as one would think.  And this bird worked hard to get just the right angle for his photo shoot.

  Chill-axin

November 28, 2015  Out of the fire and into the...wind

Not sure why Florida has made one of the best places to live, the weather has moved from rain every day with hot and humid temps to no rain but hot and humid and now we have wind.  Hmmm.  No
pics of the wind but some pics of a drive through a state park and of some "wildlife" at the apartment complex:

 Kept hoping to see some gators or some other critter, had to settle for the flora of the area which is still pretty cool.




Lots of bird life...

And back home the gang was catching some rays...

 

November 15, 2015

Florida has rurals?

It does!  And its a bit scary...Why do I say that?  Anyone who knows me knows that I like to take off and drive, its, my thing.  I was in need of one of those drives so looked on a map and took off.  Leaving the freeway and driving through a little town I saw a sign for a Florida Railroad museum ("a" since there appears to be quite a few) and noticed a lot of cars in the parking lot and beyond the cars I caught sight of a swaztika flag!  A bit unnerved I kept driving and saw coming towards me two tanks!  Yes, the rurals of Florida are a bit scary!  

(Turns out as I looked online today for any news report of some civil uprising/squashing that is was a WWII reinactment of German occupation of Paris and a fictional battle and the last train out.  Whew!)

Bothered by what I saw but unwilling to turn around and witness what I thought was at the very least an uncomfortable situation, I made my way to my original destination....

 It was listed on Google as a Floridian Ghost Town and I needed to drive, so off I went not expecting to actually find rurals!  So much of what I have seen of Florida has been a concrete jungle with wall to wall buildings.

There wasn't anything at Fort Lonesome other than a little grocery store, no remnants of what ever existed previously because, come to find out that there never was anything there.  Not sure how if can be defined as a Ghost Town.

Decided to do some geocaching when I found "no-where" ...

Geocache container in case you are wondering

No houses, no cars going by, no people, I had finally found no-where in Florida and it was wonderful and peaceful and calm.

 There were come interesting critters as I moved from one geocache to the next, there were several on this wonderful road of no-where.

This squirrel had such beautiful coloring, wasn't sure what it was when I first saw it.

 Suprisingly the sight of a cow was very comforting...moooo!

My road to no-where eventually lead to the road that would take me back to the world of hustle and bustle that people view as normal and the retail temples at which they worship and spend their weekends.  

As for me, I am already planning a trip to find yet more rurals and more no-wheres in Florida.

 Well over 3 months and I was ready to believe that the plague of frogs in my life was over.....
IT'S NOT!!!!! ACK!!!!
What did I find on my walkway when I came home but this critter!  To give him credit, he did not move while I tried to get close enough to get a picture in the dark (zoom wasn't enough to get a good shot of him, even this shot could have been better had the unreasonable fear not held me in its grasp............AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!
AAAHHH!... AHAHHA!
 

 Onto other news, have tried to be adventurous but the attempt to get to see cool wildlife resulted in not-so-much.  A few good shots and a nice boat ride and education on sponge diving was the best of what resulted from the Dolphin Cruise:

Saturday August 29, 2015 - St Petersburg, FL

In the middle of St Petersburg is Sawgrass Lake Park.  I'd heard rumors of alligators inhabiting the park.  My first trip, while pretty, yielded no sightings of the reptiles but a  few nice pics:

 

I promised I would not molest them with anything but my camera butt this is the closest to seeing an alligator that I got.

I learned that, once again, the path chosen was the wrong direction.  There was more of a chance to see gators at the other end of the park.

Hot and humid and only 8 am....I gave up, for the day.




Taking off early for my 2nd visit to the park which bore good results:

Look closely and you can see the outline of a big fish.

The birds even tip toe around the lakes hoping not to interrupt a slumbering alligator.



 

I was beginning to think all I was going to see were the footprints/slide marks of where the subjects of my search had once  been...then I reached the "Outlook" and there it was, ALLIGATOR!

 I thought I was going to be witness to a Wild World moment as the gator took off toward this bird.  Silly bird started chirping and moving closer to the hunter.

 Then he turned and started coming my direction...

and he got closer...

      or maybe I zoomed in with my camera.  I was safely up on a deck with no ramp up from the water.

Snuck up on this bird and he seemed to sense someone was watching.

Just when I thought my adventure was done I came upon a fellow adventurer who showed me the baby alligators. 

I was thinking how much like Bolivia this area is and how glad I was there would be no monkeys trying to get my camera and biting me when this rogue squirrel started running towards me, giving me a look...  it was a tense moment until it jumped off in the other direction.

 At the property I live there was a gang of vultures that hung out for a week...a bit disturbing.

 Meanwhile this bird just went about its business.  The pink color didn't show up on the bird very well, can see it better in the reflection.  Its the odd bird out since it is the only part pink one around.