Deja Vue All Over Again

Sarasota, FL       High:  71    Low:   48

Ever feel like you are in the movie "Groundhog Day" (that one with Bill Murray) where you keep repeating the day over and over? That's sort of what we are doing this week...We're out and about checking neighborhoods and home models in Sarasota again. It's too cold to do anything else! Although it is warming up, today didn't get to 71, it was only in the mid sixties, so we went looking at more neighborhoods. We checked out Englewood, FL and liked what we saw there....Rather than bore everyone with the names of this subdivision, that subdivision, we will only say that the number of active lifestyles communities in this area is mind boggling. And trying to figure out the amenities fees balancing out the prices of homes, what makes it too expensive or rules it out for us is confusing, to say the least. There are many different fees in different communities in this area and it's a real job to figure them all out, what's included with the taxes, what's not. Eldy is really great at that, so Sparky lets him "do the math".

You have your community development fees, you have your homeowner association fees, you have maintenance free neighborhoods which the homeowner's fees covers, you don't have maintenance free neighborhoods. You have little clubhouse with little pools, big clubhouses with little pools, big clubhouses with bars/restaurants, no restaurants. You have minimum club dining fees or no dining minimums. You have golf clubhouses with no pools but there are community pools. Activities? Lots or NOT! What!??? NO PICKLEBALL??? Our heads are spinning like crazy so we'll probably take another break from all the looking soon....Sparky lets Eldy do the major research, she does the "I like it! Let's get it" approach on just about everything she sees, then a little while later, she says, "Mm-m-m-mm, I don't think this will work." All she knows is, she loves looking at how the homes are decorated.  :-) Sunny and bright!

Again, we went past the lake/pond in Lakewood Ranch where the pelicans are roosting for a few days before they move on.....

They seem to be congregating in the same pond for the last couple of days.

Sparky loves the way they swim together, first one way, then another. They swim around together in tandem so to speak, like all one body, like a school of fish. People would come along, or a mean driver would honk, and they would take off together en masse for the opposite side of the pond.

We also saw several sets of cranes. They are an endangered, protected species of bird, so they certainly don't hesitate to cross the streets in Lakewood Ranch and meander around wherever they feel like it!

We looked for the two roseate spoonbills with their little one that we saw yesterday, and at the last minute we saw them mingling in with the pelicans in the pond. Sparky's battery went dead on her good camera so we couldn't get a shot of them today, but we are going to try again tomorrow.....The Great Blue herons were out in full force, Sparky counted five on the bank in one area. This one was her favorite. He was the closest and didn't spook when she walked nearby.

Although it was cold, it was a lovely day...Had fun looking at houses, had fun looking at the birds, even saw large gators in the ponds in the community of Lakewood Ranch and finally, we enjoyed a meal out for supper. We finished out the evening with a very reasonable "happy hour" dinner at the Pineapple restaurant in Venice (11.99 for a prime rib dinner) and then stopped off to get some frozen yogurt at Earth Fruits Yogurt. Yummy stuff!

Time to take a rest...We'll see you later!