Thursday, September 29, 2016

Sparky Takes up Golf and Other Stuff

Eldo thought it would NEVER happen! Sparky had insisted she had no interest in taking up golf for quite some time now. BUT---things change, and Sparky decided since we were off the road now, might as well find another activity to be able to do things with her better half. :-)  So, golf it is! And hey, it's not as bad as she thought...Yes, it's hot! But we go out early early in the morning, just as the sun comes up, and it's really nice...The course we live on is beautiful....There are always beautiful reflections in the ponds in the early mornings, wood storks,  egrets, limpkins, herons, and the occasional gator.

AND---one morning we saw a BOBCAT! Right on the course, waiting to pounce on a mouse or a rabbit, we thought.

Is Sparky any good? NOPE! (Hey, now, says E., you had a 140 yard tee shot last week. You're just getting started!) Yes, but on the next shot Sparky whiffed the ball three times in a row! :-( But it's just enjoyable being out with Eldy in the early morning hours and getting just a little exercise. We're not walking that much because you can't walk and push a cart unless you play at the end of the day. We prefer the early morning before anybody is really out there besides us and before it gets too hot. Sparky worries about holding people back as it takes awhile for her to get the ball to the hole, haha.

Sparky is riding her bike several times a week, trying to beat the heat...Lots of beauty in nature in Sarasota and Bradenton...something blooming every single month of the year....This is a climbing cactus that is about 40 feet up in the air in a neighbor's yard. Sparky thinks it's possibly a night blooming cereus cactus, but whatever it is, it's gorgeous!
Here are some more shots of the beautiful nature here in Sarasota and Bradenton over several bike rides.....

Nothing special to report....we had the hottest summer on record, but there were a lot of places north, where they had a record number of days in the 90's...several times it was hotter up north than it was down here in Bradenton! But you folks have relief now...we are still having WEEKS in the 90's still. However, temperatures are coming down a tad, to be in the upper 80's starting next week. Still hot and humid.....

Sparky is biking about 10-15 miles at least three times a week, and swimming laps in between working as a substitute teacher. She LOVES her job...The kids are wonderful and she gets LOTS of hugs every day....Eldy is playing golf two to three times a week and looking forward to seeing his northerner friends come down soon. He is experiencing tiredness a lot, but three of his medications have fatigue as a side effect, so no wonder! (Eldy had a quadruple bypass in February this year.) He tries to get some walking in every week besides golf. So life is good, and he is much healthier now.....We are very thankful for that.... A few more nature photos by Sparky before we go.....
Mockingbird, baby bird, baby moorhen chick, and bottom--black bellied whistling duck

P.S. Does anybody know how to get our blog list back that used to be on the right side of the blog? It's disappeared....It was a great way to go visiting other blogs of our traveling friends, but Sparky has no idea how it disappeared nor how to get it back....

Bye for now......