A Short Kayak Trip

Sandra and Gary came over for a kayak trip. It was a beautiful day with temperature in the low 80's (Ho hum, what's new). We first checked out the upper part of the Little Manatee River but the water levels were a bit low since it hadn't rained in three weeks so we choose the lower part between Route 301 and the Sundance Marina. This was going to be a shorter trip which we guessed would take 2 hours. Below is the Google Earth shot of the river with our path as the red line.

So we started with high spirits getting into the river under the Rte 301 bridge.

The first part of the river was nice and shady with a light current pulling the kayaks along.

After an hour of rowing (figuring we were half way) we pull into the bank and had our lunch.

Back into our kayaks and we rowed for another hour. The river now was getting wider and the current wasn't pulling us along as much so we had to row a little more.

But it still was a scenic row with a lot of turtles watching our progress.

I guess they were out of the water to warm up in the sun but some of them climb up the logs to a good height - closer to the sun.

We paddle on for another hour. By now Polly is stating to panic and figures we are lost. Anyone she sees along the river she asks where we are and how far it is to the Sundance Marina. We finally stop at the 26th street landing (a favorite swimming spot for the locals) and do a potty break. Be careful if you walk behind that palm tree.

Gary and I leave the girls there and take off on our own to find the Sundance Marina, get the truck we left there and drive back to pick up the girls. Twenty minutes later we are at the Marina but Gary had left the keys for his truck back in the waterproof package with the girls. But it wasn't that far so we rowed back and told the girls it was only another 20 minutes and then they could rest. We all took off rowing again. I had my power stroke going and could have rowed for hours.

Polly had her swearing stroke going and wouldn't say a sentence without a curse in it.

So after 4 hours of rowing (almost 4.5 for the guys) we pull into the Sundance Marina. The Google Earth Map says we have only covered 6.2 miles (a little more than the 3 miles I had guessed at the beginning). Polly says she will never go kayaking with me again without a guide (I left out the swear words she used to punctuate the sentence with).

We Found Oranges

Howard, John and myself took a walk along the drainage canal next to our property. It borders about ten acres of land that have not been touched by man. As we walked along, we spotted something very colorful way into the jungle. In we trudged, through the briers, vines and snakes. It was an orange tree, we couldn't reach any and the one we found on the ground was rotten, but as Stanley and Livingston said, (or was it  MacArthur) I will come back.

I did and with an extendable Home Depot picker, I could reach some of the oranges.

Polly and I picked a half bushel. Getting in to the tree we also spotted another tree and getting over to that tree we spotted three more. A whole orchard of wild orange trees.

Figuring they were wild oranges which aren't very sweet, we took them home to squeeze to make orange ade (with a lot of added sugar). Polly insists on washing them first - hey, they were in a true natural state what would they have on them. Well, most of the skin blemishes came off, so I guess something was on them.

As we squeezed them, we tasted a few. They were delicious, a lot of seeds but they tasted great.

OK, so we've got a lot of oranges to pick, the only problem is the trees are taller than the picker can reach even when fully extended to 15 feet. So Paul Curry suggested that I take off the pipe extender from my limb cutter and add it to the fruit picker.

But that might not be big enough so you can extend it.

And if that isn't tall enough you can extend it to 30 feet.

Guess what we're bringing back for everyone.

Puppy Love

We take our guests to see the manatees at the power plant, the winter practice of the Lipizzan horses, the alligators at Myakka but the most liked event is when we go to the dogs, the Southeastern Guide Dogs that is. They bring them out in batches. Each from a different mother.

One took a liking to Polly or did Polly take a liking to him.

They breed the pups but if you want you can adopt them when they are about 9 weeks old.

The only problem is you have to give them back when they are old enough to train.

They sure are fun to play with.

Spring

We don't want to rub it in but spring is in full force in Florida. Sun and warm temperature and some rain have made everything come alive. The azaleas have already passed but the citrus trees that we planted a month ago are in blossom. This is the Meyer Lemon. In November it will have lemons that are bigger than an orange.

The citrus we picked all bear fruit which will ripen between October and April so we get them while we are here. The ones that are blooming now will ripen on the October end of the time frame. This is a Midsweet Orange.

When the Millers were here they spotted this tree which has fruit on it already. It's a Loquat and has a yellow fruit the size of a lemon.

A close up shows how many fruit the tree will give - unfortunately they ripen in the May time frame.

Some of the Bromeliads have shot up flowers.

Even in the most unlikely spot, an indent in a rock, an Impatien blooms.

Here's another flower along the driveway- I don't know what it is (maybe a Firebush) but there are a lot of them.

Even Kayla is enjoying the spring. She was out hunting and caught a baby squirrel.

After doing her victory dance she ate the whole thing. Only thing left was the tail.

StufZ

A couple of years ago I saw TV coverage of the National Hamburger Cook Off. The wining entry was made with two thin layers of hamburger - all kinds of peppers, onions, cheeses were put in between them - the edges were squeezed together to seal the ingredients inside and the burger was then cooked. Now I tried it several times myself and they were alright but I never got the edges to hold together very well. But now that's all behind me. I googled "stuffed hamburger" and found StufZ.

They are a little over priced at 2 for $35 but they sure do work. They take 1/2 lb of hamburger, 2/3 of that goes in the lower half and is formed into a pocket by pushing down on the top part of the StufZ. After the bottom is formed the remaining hamburger is put on the cover part.

Then you fill the pocket part up with all kinds of goodies - onions, peppers, olives, mushrooms, cheeses (my favorite is Blue Cheese). To spice it up I used some of Wayne's OMGIH sauce. Worcestershire tastes good also.

Then close the top -

Lock the pusher and press the cover onto the bottom pocket.

Another click, it's open and it's ready for the grill.

Then comes the hardest part - keeping track of whose burger is whose - toothpicks help solve the problem but they have to be removed before cooking.

A half eaten one shows the delicious ingredients all cooked together.

And as proof of how good they taste just look at the satisfied look on their faces (Cousin Ginny and John)

Kayaking the Little Manatee River

Well, we finally did it. I've been trying to get someone to kayak down the Little Manatee River for months. Every time I think I had someone to do it with something happens to cancel it. But I finally talked someone into it - Howard and Jan Miller - visiting from San Diego they didn't know about all the alligators and poisonous snakes that were on this stretch of river - I think the promise of going to Beanie's all-you-can-drink bar swung them over to going.

You can see the chickens standing on the dock at the Sundance Marina and waving goodbye.

Us brave kayakers took off for a 6 mile row.

We had checked the tide tables to make sure we were on an outgoing tide but the wind turned out to be much more important. When it was behind us it was easy rowing but when we headed into it, it was tough.

Oh no, we are going to be attacked by a man eating alligator - row faster. Well actually we didn't see any but we did have several Porpoises (5 or 6) playing with us - we didn't get a picture of them - so the alligator is a space holder for the porpoises.

Lots of houses and boats the nearer we get to Tampa Bay. I had picked out a landing spot by using Google earth - It was close to the bar we wanted to celebrate at and looked like you could drive the pickup truck close to load the kayaks on. Both were correct but it didn't show how steep the banks were and how tough it was to bring the kayaks up them

But it was all worth it for the celebration at Beanie's Bar. All the loaded chips and hot wings you can eat and Amberbock on draft.

Eating and Drinking Wine

The visit of the Millers and Chlupsa to Wimauma, Fl commenced a 6 day orgy of eating and drinking. The Millers brought 6 1.5 liter bottles of wine which we tried our hardest to empty. Here the Curry's are helping us.

We ate out for breakfast once - Masonic Campground is noted for their pancakes and sausage.

However Bob and Polly were up to the challenge and out did them with a Strawberry Supreme Pancake breakfast.
Of course we ate at the dinner train where we had to sneak the wine in disguised in Coke bottles.

And Beanies always is a good way to end the week. Loaded Chips and chicken wings are a gourmet's delight.