Twinkle Toe

Well we had a big dinner dance for Valentines Day. Of course the dinner started at 2 PM and the dance was over by 4 PM - didn't want to interfere with anyone's bedtime. Since this was a Valentines Day party, what would be better than to bring in a professional western line dance group.















They were tremendous and knew all the new dances (or at least the steps they remembered).
















And that wasn't all - as a special treat they brought on the Sexy Old Ladies to perform.













This woman was gorgeous - she had a 46" bust - and could really move it.


















OK your test is to pick out which one was me - didn't get any pictures of Polly - and can you spot Paul Curry (picture 2 and 3).

Curry Hamock

Our favorite park in the Florida Keys was Curry Hammock (Paul and Carol Curry have never been there so it's not named after them). One day we went on a Ranger guided walk along the beach where he describes all the weeds, snails, crabs and jelly fish he sees. These snails are eating algae at the waterline.

While we were there we saw a bunch of sail surfers spreading their gear out. Figuring they were getting ready to sail we hung around to watch them. After sunning ourselves for a couple of hours, I went over and talked with them. They were waiting for the wind to pick up. So we left and came back in the afternoon for another Ranger guided tour - this one was a Kayak tour through the mangrove swamp. Now it's getting late in the day and the kite surfers had no choice but to try it with the existing winds.

The first guy must have tried a dozen times before he finally made it up.

Then they all took off - neat sport.

Seeing I had brought our kayaks with us, we thought we would try to row out to Lignumvitae Island - It's a state park with another Ranger guided tour. We drove about 20 miles toward the mainland to where the island was located and was a little surprised to see how far off shore the island was - a little daunting for us amateur kayakers.

But we put in anyway and in a 1/2 hour were out on the island. The Island is named for the Lignum Vitae tree which is a very hard wood used for medicinal purposes, axe handles and, at one time, for drive shaft bearing on ships. The island had a nice old house on it and three champion trees - a Lignum Vitae, a Ficus and a Poison Wood.

You ask - what is a Champion tree? They measure the diameter at a height of 4.5 ft and add it to the height of the tree to determine which tree is the biggest of that species in the world. You can see how the Ficus tree won - the circumference is measured all the way around all the roots that have come down from the tree. The Ficus is a relative of the fig family.

The Poison Wood isn't as dramatic to look at but the ranger says it is similar to poison ivy only twice a potent. Once you get it, the oils get into your blood stream and keep popping out all over the body for the next few months. If it gets in the lungs they have to hospitalize you as your windpipe swells up.

During the walk, the ranger showed us a broken Liguus Snail shell and told us that some of these were worth over $100. So for the rest of the walk I kept looking for an undamaged shells and thanks to my super vision, I spotted one, discretely picked it up and put it in my pocket. Any one interested?

The Rest of the Park

Polly like the heated pool and I liked the thatched hut down by the gulf shore. The huts in the photo are actually the ones on the expensive R/V park next to us but ours was similar.

A glass of wine and a paperback was my relaxation as the sun went down.

The locals kept their boats at the dock and would come in from fishing. The filleting would attract quite a crowd of birds.

They swallowed the fish whole after they fought off their buddies. The sea gulls ocassionly were the fastest especially on the smaller chunks.

The Egrets just stood around and watched.

Pelican R/V Campground

Back to our Key West trip, we picked a campground that was half way out on the Keys just below the town of Marathon. The other requirement was that it was reasonably priced which for the Keys is hard to find but the Pelican R/V campground fit the bill. It only charged $35 a day and then gave a 10% discount for a week stay.


























This was our first trip in our new mini camper - 14 ft long - and a little snug inside. If we can do this without fighting too much, we have a good relationship. The bed converts into the dining table but we never put it up - only ate breakfast in.


















Molly came along and was our watch cat as she checked things out that happened around the camper. Just to show how well we all got along, her litter box was under the bed we slept in.



































One thing Polly loved about the campground was the heated pool - she didn't go into it much but it was the fact that she could take in the sun poolside that she liked.







































We ate all our meals out. I googled the restaurants before we went and found one that was what you would expect in the Keys. It was named Porky's, I don't know if it was associated with the movie series of the same name. The atmosphere was great - I had two draft beers both times we went there and they cost less than Polly's Lemonade.

























They always had a meal on special. The first time it was "beer can" chicken. They put a beer can inside the chicken when the bake it and it evaporates as the chicken is cooked. The second time was barbecue prime rib - they smoke the outside of the prime rib to give it a little taste of barbecue. The prime rib filled my plate. Great place!

Spring Has Arrived

I'll hold off on more Florida Keys photos for a brief look at spring arriving in central Florida. We had some nice 70's weather accompanied with some rain and all of a sudden things started blooming. Most of these flowers we didn't even know we had. They were planted by the previous owners. Look at this beautiful crop of Azalea.





Here is a Pink Azalea that is growing under a Palm tree.














In the front yard is a Camellia, it has loads of buds so we are expecting a lot more from it.














For my birthday a few months ago I got a some Hyacinth bulbs which we planted in the front garden and, walla, two months later look what comes up.














This according to the flower book is an Allamanda, it's a real native flower. It coming up through the dead leaves of a Saw Palmetto.














And another native blossom which I haven't been able to identify yet.
















This last one doesn't have a blossom but does have an interesting story. We parked besides a dumpster and I happen to notice that the store must have pulled out some plants and threw them away. So I sorted through them and picked out two - took them home and planted them. After planting them we realized a couple more would fit in nice so back in the car and back to the dumpster. I sorted through all the new trash, looking for the rest of the plants but somebody beat me to it - they were all gone. Checking my gardening books shows that they are Dwarf Variegated Century Plant.








Well that's the end of the spring flowers. I hope this helps the people up North - Spring will come eventually - the snow and ice will melt - so every morning go outside and check if any new plant has broken through the snow. Guess that's enough gloating for this blog, see you in sunshine.

Coconuts

There seems to be coconuts laying all over the Keys so we picked some up. You can just write an address on the side of the coconuts and take them to the post office and mail them. The grand kids love to get them.

So I put them down near our stuff on the beach and they just disappeared. Some body must have taken them. Well if they needed them that much they can have them.

Boy, since we joined the YMCA, Polly is sure shaping up.

Portuguese man o'war

OK, we're walking along our favorite beach in the Keys and we come across this jelly fish looking thing in the sea weeds. So I pick several of them up and tossed them back out into the ocean but the wind just blows them back in again.

There are a lot of them along the shore line. Some only an inch long but others 6 to 10" long. If you accidentally step on them they pop and make a bang just like plastic bubble wrap.

Later we had a nature walk with a park ranger and he told us they were Portuguese man o'war and if I had touched the tentacles when I was picking them up I would have received a sting similar to that of a wasp. He also told us that they weren't really jelly fish. They were composed of three independent creatures (the jelly fish is all one) and that these creatures work together to survive. One does the tentacles to stun the fish, one digests the fish and I forgot what the third did. Here's a photo of one we took from our kayaks.

I mentioned that this was our favorite beach - well it should be since it's named for the Currys. This Curry gave the state the initial land for the park. She's 103 years old now and still comes around to check up on it.

We're back

I'll bet you didn't even know we were going someplace but we are back. We went to the Florida Keys for a week and have some new tales to tell you but before we start I want to see how observant you are. Look at the photo below and what do you see different?

No it's not that my hair got a little grayer (it did but that's due to Polly). So here's a little close up.

Now you see it - not the mosquito bite - the little piece of plastic tubing leading into my ear - I got a hearing aid - so now I don't have to ask you to repeat what you said. Instead I have to ask you not to talk so loud and can you turn down the TV a little.

They are neat devices - The device mounts behind my ear and it has a microphone pointed backwards. That picks up whatever noise is behind me, cancels it out so I can hear what is being said to my face. It has three different settings ( I push a little button on it's top to change settings). The normal setting for everyday use, a setting for very noisy environments which cancels even more noise coming from behind me and a third for when I go to the opera that increases the sensitivity. Boy is everything awfully noisy now - I can hear myself walk and the grass crush under my feet. Please don't type so hard and don't ever crinkle paper - it's a killer.