Unofficial Event: 4th of July Parade

It was an insanely hot day, but well worth it. I got a walk in (about 2 miles) and go to see a parade, which is always fun. The only downside to the parade was the candidates. I made a vow that I will not vote for any candidate who served no purpose other than to delay floats that people actually put effort into (I'm looking at YOU sheriff candidate McMullen). But other than that, the parade was fun. If you didn't GOYB, here's what you missed: (click on picture to enlarge)

It's not nice to laugh at the misfortunes of others, but it was a candidate, so it's cool. If you can't catch what's going on, the car is being towed by the little tractor.

 The Sea Turtles float.

 Someone got run over by one of the parade floats. When I mentioned the accident to a friend, she asked if they were dressed like a peanut. I had to take this picture for her.

I suspect that this kid works at Liberty Tax Services when he's not in the parade.

This was a really cute float. I liked the ones that look like people put effort into, including this one.

 Very proud, PIPS chose to use my osprey puppet to grace their float. And it won first prize! Go PIPS!

 Another shot of the PIPS float.

As anyone who has birded with me knows, I am not a fan of airboats. That said, the airboat club put a huge amount of work into their float and it was soo very cool. This isn't a great picture, but there are all kinds of critters and stuff in the grass.

I like the pink fire truck!

My favorite year corvette.

 Does anyone watch Community? This guy had a bizarre costume on that was WAY too close to the Greendale Human Being. Really freakish. Did not make me want to vote for the candidate, but did make me question their mental stability.

 This poor fella ran out of gas right where I was standing. But he got going again!

 This was my favorite car in the Christmas parade and probably my favorite car in this parade as well. Heaven forbid, but if anything ever happened to Jack, I would totally let these guys work on him.

I got to say, this one scared me a bit. But it turns out, that is a volcano, and it's SUPPOSED to be shooting flames. But the first time I saw it i did freak out  at bit!

It was a hot day, but totally awesome. Be sure to join us for upcoming walks and evens; you will never see cool stuff like this from your couch, you  only can experience it if you GOYB!

Walking Indoors

It's been raining for days, so no outdoor walks cause heaven knows I am sugar and just might melt. The weather is supposed to be better tomorrow and Friday into the weekend. Anyone up for evening walks the rest of the week? Drop me a note if you want to GOYB!

In the mean time, I'll be walking indoors in the usual place:

Getting out there but not taking pix

Just a quick update. Due to schedules and weather, we haven't been doing our scheduled walks, we've mostly had to do them on the fly when the weather is good and everyone is available. I still walk at least a few miles in the gym every day, and we get out at least once or twice a week, but for the most part, we walk in the county park.

The county park is nice, but other than woodpeckers, which are in abundance, there isn't much to photograph. There is, however, awesome company, lots of story telling, laughter and sharing going on though. It's hard to convey all that in pictures; how much meaning and quality it adds to my life. To me it just goes to show that you don't have to go out into the middle of a swamp to have fun and GOYB, there are different ways to experience life, and none of them involve sitting on your butt in front of the tv or a computer.

I do want to get back to doing river walks now though. The river has the benefits of being safe and well lit, with the added benefit of being a little more interesting than the county park. Let me know if you are up for joining us on a river walk this week!

Quick Update: 2 miles at Goodwin

So, David is doing a challenge called "Bird of the Day" wherein you attempt to see one new bird species every day of the year. He has been home not feeling too well for a few days, but still managed to get his birds. Tonight he felt up for going out to Goodwin. I was sure I was going to get eaten alive by bugs, but wanted to get some miles in so I joined him. As always when I decide to go to Goodwin, I had a great time and saw some neat stuff. I only went 2 miles, but I found David's BOTD for him, a barred owl. I didn't get a picture, in fact, it's one of the few birds who I can identify based on it's call. The only picture I took was the sunset:

We also saw a little ring-neck snake that was adorable, but it was getting too dark to shoot.  But overall, surprisingly few bugs, good company, and great weather made for yet another great walk out in the wilderness. 

Come out and join us for a walk soon. We have some week night river walks coming up, be sure to join us!

SOS (Almost!) At Goodwin

Last year, Heather and I were really getting into doing bike rides out at Goodwin, right up until the day the deer flies came back. I blocked that memory out of my head until this week. We only got 5 miles in today, mostly because Heather was sick of hearing me whine about the danged deer flies. Strange thing was, I was getting bit over and over, and she did not get bit once. I guess I am just tastier or sweeter or maybe the deer flies just don't have very good taste. At any rate, up until I got attacked, we had a fantastic walk with a brand new life critter this week! If you didn't GOYB and join us, read on for the insanely cool things that you missed!

We found this skull. We were not entirely sure what it was, I think we narrowed it down to a rodent of some ilk. There were still some ants doing their job still, so it must have met its demise fairly recently.

 A green heron sitting in  a tree. He was quite the little poser, I love it when the birds indulge my inner wanna be photographer.

A black-crown night heron. This is another bird that seems to be having a banner year. Not sure if it's cause we have been walking later at night or if there really are more of them, but I have seen them almost every time we have been out to Goodwin this year. Strange but neat looking bird.

Deer, dear!

This was a new critter for both of us. It is a green rough snake, and one of the prettiest snakes I've ever seen. The color just doesn't do it justice.

 Have you ever been somewhere, a party maybe, where you walk in and feel so out of place, like you don't belong? This snake looked like he belonged at Goodwin. He looked like his mom and dad painted him to match his surroundings at dusk.  

Notice the greens and yellows, remind you of anyone we know?

This was something I don't think I've ever seen before, or if I did I didn't realize it. It's an immature roseate spoonbill. I know you are, but what am I?

I generally don't take a lot of landscape shots, but it was just so pretty out there tonight. The colors were just breathtaking. It was totally worth all of the deer fly bites!

The last thing we saw were a few limpkin hanging out looking quite picturesque.

It was yet another awesome night out in the wild with Heather. As always, so much to see and do, and so close to home. And, as always, you can see pictures on the internet, but you will never ever experience anything like this for real unless you GOYB and join us out there!

3 Miles Along the River

Took a week night walk along the river tonight with David. It always amazes me how many cool things there are just on any old day I get out there. If you didn't GOYB today, here is what you missed:

A Black Racer

The giant land crabs were out in full force this evening.

It's been a banner year for red-bellied
woodpeckers, we have seen tons of them
in the Sebastian/Vero area lately.

I believe these are Assassin bugs. Very pretty little critters!

Even when it's just a quick 3 miles, it is always great to get out, you just never know what kind of cool things you are going to see. Come out and walk with us soon!

SOS at Kissimmee Prairie

Had an awesome (almost) SOS at Kissimmee Prairie. They had recently done a prescribed fire, which made for an interesting and VERY dirty SOS. If you didn't GOYB and go with us, here's what you missed:

David, me, and Heather on the porch of the Kissimmee Prairie visitor's center. It wouldn't be a trip to Kissimmee Prairie without a rock on the porch rocking chairs.

Our first critter of the day was a very young alligator, David guessed about 2-3 years old. Really cute and tiny.

A really freaking HUGE but gorgeous snake. David thinks it was a pine snake.

A poor little frog who appears to have been run over by one of the fire trucks.

David said this was a "small" burn, but I sure wouldn't have wanted to deal with it.

We saw more tracks that I ever remember seeing before, and then I realized that it was critters running away from the burn. If you click to enlarge this photo, you can see at least 3-4 species tracks here.

This was kinda cool, a hawk carrying dinner. Carrion carry out!

Nighthawks like to hang out here. They are cute when they sleep.

The Shrike, or the butcher bird, likes to impress girls by impaling his prey on barbed wire. We did't see the shrike, but we saw a few of his victims. I think if i was a girl shrike I'd be impressed with his skills.

 Another Shrike victim.

A southern toad.

Heather was wearing long pants and sneakers, yet was still filthy when we were done with our 5.5 miles.

As it was my birthday, Heather made incredible noms for after the walk. Shown here is a nice, healthy steak salad. Mmmmm.

Me and Heather.

David, Heather and me.

This was weird. I was wearing sneakers and heavy sox, and still my poor little toes were BLACK when I got home from the dirt and ash!

All in all, another awesome day out in wild. Remember, you can see stuff like this on TV or the internet, but you will never get this dirty unless you GOYB! Join us next week, when I will probably do an SOS in Brevard County. Let me know if you have any suggested locations!