Manatees in Salt
Spring
A trip up Salt Creek to Salt Spring to observe the Manatees.
Osprey showing us how it is done.
Manatee, river otter, green heron, raccoons & Osprey
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Author Archives: Kent
We have “Liftoff”
We attended a night satellite launch from Canaveral. We watched from a public viewing area in Titusville 12+ miles away as the crow flies. We found a good vantage point in a city park along the Indian River. As launch time approached the crowd grew as did the anticipation. The TDRS-K(Tracking and Data Relay Satellite) went up on time and we were able to see it through separation with the Centaur rocket. With such a great distance the roar of the launch was somewhat muffled and delayed over a minute which was a little eerie. Not as flamboyant as The Shuttle but still, Pretty Cool.
Pile O Gators on Mom’s head
Manatees
Swoosh. Swoosh. Like a whale exhale. What is that noise? Oh yeah, this is manatee country, even this far inland. The manatees are enjoying the warm spring water of Salt Creek as it flows toward Lake George. They didn’t come real close to the boat but we caught a few glimpses and listened to them for a while. Very cool.
Drown a worm. Watch a bird.
Eagles and osprey in search of their next meal circle overhead and do that amazing hovering thing. Fortunately for them, they are much more successful at fishing then we have been so far. Still birds, lots of birds. A couple of great blue herons are regulars around the fish cleaning table. Seems that they get hand outs now and again.
Word around camp is that fishing gets better late January when bass are spawning. Here’s hoping! There is other stuff to do and floating on the lake in 70+ weather isn’t to shabby. We got rained on a bit today but all in all, ok.
Gator country again. Only a couple so far.
Fish? We’ll see. Birds, lots of them.
We have settled in at a Marina on Lake George in Florida. We cruised the lake this afternoon. Birding is going to be fun. There are lots of eagles, heron, pelicans, terns and other water birds and the boat is a great vantage point for watching. Lots of fishing guides claim it is one of the best lakes in the state but we haven’t wet a line yet so time will tell about the fishing.
2013
It is hard to believe that we are beginning another year bumming around the country. The year is loosely planned as a mid-country loop that will include touching base with family in Louisville, a drive by “the old home place” in Elkhart to look up a few folks we left behind there, and some time up at Wakami lake in Ontario to see if there are still any fish up there. We hope to spend a week or two canoeing at Boundary Waters in Minnesota. The rest we will just have to fill in as we go.
Then there are this year’s weddings. The big one (for us anyway); we will hop up to New York for a few days in March for Mike and Tracy’s wedding. That promises to be a wonderful time. In May we head to Louisville for a niece’s wedding. All these “kids” are growing up.
A not-so-typical Holiday Season
Everybody got together in Pa again this year with lots of good food, our share of holiday libations, and time to catch up on lives that are speeding by. We managed to pack in all the essential Holiday goings on. Then it was all about our niece Molly. The beautiful bride (and dashing groom) tied the knot at a lovely news years eve ceremony followed by a fun party, capped off with fireworks. It certainly seemed to me that it was a great start for what promises to be a long and joyous union.
Holiday Pictures
Jumping Fish 
Sand sculpture
Mother Hubbard’s shoe 
Barnyard 
Eagle 
Santa’s Sleigh
Thanks to the Charleston SC Parks Department for the lovely drive-thru display open for most of December. We drove through twice and spent about 2 hours walking around admiring. Really hard to capture the beauty and grandeur of the many acres of lights.
Hmmm, what is that?
Along the shore of a black water pond the pine needles are pushed up into a pile six feet long and two feet across. Some sort of scat is scattered across the whole pile. Ick. Looks a lot like a gator nest to us. I wonder!? It isn’t the right time of year for gator eggs in Florida but we didn’t hang around very long to see if some out of sync mama gator was watching over it.