Jackpot at Anna Maria Island This Morning....

Sparky has been VERY busy subbing in first grade this past month. As a matter of fact, she hasn't missed a day of school yet in first grade. The first teacher had surgery, so Sparky opened up the classroom for her. Then, while finishing up that assignment, another first grade teacher at the same school, tripped backwards over a family pet, and broke bones right around her elbow. Ouch! Sparky was in for another two weeks!

The kids are delightful....Sparky has been posting little stories on Facebook, but for anyone who has missed those, here's a couple for you....After taking an oral reading screening test about babies and what babies do, a little boy had a puzzled look for a moment and then asked, "I wonder why babies cry so much?" He pondered that and before I could answer, he replied, "Maybe it's because they poop so much!" Indeed.....

Another day we were outside and it started to rain....The kids immediately wanted to know if we were going inside. Now, when you have first grade, we try to get the kids outside 90% of the time because we really DON'T want indoor recess for a myriad of reasons. So, even if it's raining lightly, we remain outside unless it's a thunderstorm warning. The kids have a nice big cover over the playground so they can stay dry if they really want. But most of them really enjoy the rain. It's the worriers that want to go in. It was just lightly sprinkling. "Mrs. Sparks, are we going inside? It's raining."

"No, we're going to stay out...."  It started to rain a little harder..."Mrs. Sparkles, it's raining. Are we going inside?"  "Why, are you melting?"  "No..." with a grin. "Then go ahead and play. You're ok!" And off they went, running around in circles and screaming and yelling like you've never seen. One little girl, running around, held her arms up high and yelled, "I just LOVE it when it rains!"

Off to Anna Maria Island this morning for breakfast....Then we went over to the Anna Maria Island City Pier. We hadn't been there in three months...Too hot, too rainy, too steamy...Still hot, still steamy, but we thought we'd go see what there was to see. Apparently, it's a good time to see dolphins! A pod of dolphins swimming up close and personal right up to the pier.

They were chasing the fishermen's bait, grabbing Spanish mackerel right off their hooks when they could!

At one point, we saw a cormorant with a fish and a dolphin circling it.... Uh-oh!

The dolphin swam right up under the cormorant, you can't see him here but he's right there. They proceeded to have a little tussle with the fish, the dolphin grabbing it right out of the cormorant's mouth and swallowing it!  Eldy saw another dolphin grab ahold of a fisherman's baited hook and make a run for it. He let the line run out for a bit, not wanting to hook the dolphin, and then finally, he said the heck with it, he didn't want to lose his entire line. As he started to reel the line in carefully, the dolphin grabbed the fish off the hook and made off with it.

This is the most dolphin we have ever seen at the city pier. Usually, it's just a solitary one hanging around and they are usually much further out. But the mackerel are plentiful right now. One of the fishermen said that the dolphins have been very active and very present the last two days, and that September and October are great months to see a lot of dolphin and fish activity at the pier. Woo hoo!

Lots of people fishing today, even some young ones...We love to see them with their dads, (usually)...A great family activity for sure!

A wonderful morning...breakfast on the beach, dolphins at the pier, and stories to share....It's a great life here in Bradenton, FL! Even if it is too hot and steamy for Sparky some times!

Anna Maria Island City Pier and Other Sightings

We love the city pier. We go there once a week just to see what wildlife we can spot and what possible fishing stories we might hear....An old codger today made a quick comment about the fishing while we were standing and watching boats come in and seeing them scoop up HUGE amounts of bait fish into their boats, which were idling next to the fishing pier. And then he launched into the coolest thing he had seen in the 40 years he's been coming to the pier to fish and people watch. And that story was......

There was a boat that came in near the pier (this took place quite a few years ago, but it's still the old codger's favorite memory of the city pier) and it was obvious that the fishermen were novices and the boat was severely underpowered. A small freshwater motor and too big a boat. Well, the guys on the boat landed about a 450 pound hammerhead shark right near the pier. They hauled it in the boat with some kind of grappling hooks and the shark got MAD. He started thrashing so hard all over the deck of the boat that all their gear went flying overboard, and one of the fishermen went flying overboard along with all the stuff. The guys on the pier were laughing their heads off!

He said he saw a pair of dolphins one time catch a decent size fish and play with it, tossing it into the air, rolling over on their backs and just have a grand old time with that fish. The game lasted for quite awhile, he reported.

We've seen a school of rays, a mama manatee and her baby swim right under the pier, an aging dolphin swim close back and forth, back and forth along the pier. We've seen all kinds of birds get caught and trapped in the fishermen's hooks, even a ray one day...and today, a pair of dolphins swim so close to the beach, had we been out wading in the water, we probably could have touched them. Sparky couldn't run out to the rocky jetty fast enough to catch a photo as they leisurely swam away....

But she did see a persistent snowy egret trying to get an elusive fish out of a rock hole...
                               "Hey, c'mon outta there. I know you are in there somewhere!"

Sparky saw some cool oystercatchers...Aren't their eyes really distinct looking? Gives a whole 'nuther meaning to "red eye flight"......

We're really excited! By the time you read this, we will be in North Carolina at a cabin in the mountains in the Smokies....Sparky is really excited about going hiking! Eldo will have to take it easy. He took a spill on his bike and fractured a rib a few days ago. One of those things where the tire caught the edge of the sidewalk as he was crossing from riding in the road and transitioning temporarily to the sidewalk to avoid interstate traffic. The tire quickly twisted and down he went, luckily on the grassy shoulder. But still, a rib was fractured from an encounter with the handlebars and he is now recovering. No bike riding for 6-8 weeks, the doctor said.

See you in the mountains next time!

Getting Ready to Head to Houston!

Because Sparky's daughter, Kerry, wasn't able to make the family reunion, she graciously bought her mom a ticket for Sparky to come to Houston! Woo hoo! Sparky is headed there in just a few days to see her daughter and grandson, whom she hasn't seen since he was born. He's now just a shade over two years old.

In the meantime....Sparky is crafting up a storm. Head over to Millie's Girls to see what she's been making.

It's been too hot to bike ride for Sparky, but Eldo, now that's another story! Eldy has been upset about a recent uptick in blood pressure and a few extra pounds put on this summer, so he's on a roll, let me tell you, folks! He is riding his bike every day, even tho it's in the high nineties...out early in the morning before it gets REALLY hot! He's really watching what he eats...No more stick and a half of butter on a BIG bucket of homemade popcorn. And no salt this time....Sparky is impressed! He's making healthy smoothies in the morning, started eating oatmeal for breakfast, and watching meat intake. Way to go, Eldy? Is Sparky doing all that? No-o-o-o-o-o....but she's working on that Coke a day habit, cutting down. Sparky gets in the pool a few times a week and does some exercise and jogging in the water....That's all she can handle for now.....

Gulf Gate Cafe

So-o-o-o-o....we do some of our regular routines...like head to Anna Maria Island once a week to eat breakfast at Gulf Gate Cafe, check out the banana tree, which is growing right outside the restaurant, then we head over to the city pier see what's up.....

Today, there's a little boy fishing....He seems to know exactly what he's doing...We asked him if he had caught anything. He said, "Not yet. But I'm working on it."  A few minutes later, Sparky watched his line take a big curving dip, and she heard him say, "WHAT THE HECK?"  He caught a little fish, no idea what kind. You never know what people are going to catch at the pier. We've seen a ray get caught by accident, a pelican, and an egret tangle with the fishermen's lines.

We've heard people sometimes land a shark!

"What the heck!??!!!!

Sparky is always looking at the birds... A snowy egret getting ready to grab a fish....Not the best photo (iPhone) but look at those legs at perfect right angles!

Another egret that caught a fish.....

We saw a family looking very closely at this small turtle near the boardwalk...They were holding it and handling it gently, but Sparky wished they would place it back in the cover of the shrubs where we think it came from. People have been very informed about sea turtle nesting and turning around baby turtles towards the ocean if they find them in the parking lot but outsiders don't always know the rules. However, Sparky thinks this is a young gopher tortoise. (?)

And we always like to people watch....There are lots of old codgers at the pier, weatherbeaten, leathery, and burnt to a crisp. There's lots to see at the pier......

We've seen fishermen fishing with just a reel of line, no rod....We've had some great conversations with foreigners who speak a little English.... We saw a BIG manatee pass under the pier last weekend and much to the excitement of a French family who had two young children, we called it to their attention. First one they had ever seen, so they were thrilled to see it and thanked us. It had a huge wide scar on its back, so sad.....But it seemed to be doing ok....

Time to head home....Sparky might start subbing this week...She's been having fun volunteering over the lunch hour at the local elementary school, helping the little kindergartners navigate their way through the lunch line and learn how to punch their student number into the code machine to register that they bought a lunch. Some can't even match number to number from a card they have around their neck. But they are so cute! "I don't like that," "I don't eat that," said one little boy who said no to everything the lunch lady suggested. His teacher finally just plopped some food on his tray and told him he had to eat SOMETHING! One cute little blond boy asked Sparky, "Hey, wanna come to my party?" Sparky said, "Oh, are you having a birthday?" He answered, "No, I'm just having a party."  Sparky said thank you, but she had a lot of things to do that day.......One little boy remembered Sparky from last spring! "Hi, Mrs. Sparks! Do you remember me?"  "Uh, no, dear, I'm sorry I don't remember your name."  "Nathan!"   Oh, to have a memory like that once again!

See you later......

Diverse Sarasota/Bradenton!

But living in the Sarasota area makes that very easy to do…One of Sparky's friends from up north said just the other day, "I feel like I'm living in the wrong location! We still have the heat on and are wearing winter jackets!" Come on down, Jeannie…Retire down here in beautiful, sunny Sarasota or the more affordable Bradenton and come see all that there is to do!

We ate breakfast at the Gulf Gate Cafe and Tiki Bar this morning….Didn't spot any dolphins…The food is just OK for breakfast, but boy, what a view! As seen through Sparky's morning beverage of choice.

And there's been sand dredged to expand the beach, so there's a lot more beach to walk afterwards, should you feel so inclined.

We usually head over to the Anna Maria Island City Pier after breakfast to see what wildlife is showing itself. There always seems to be something in the water to see! Today it was several dolphins swimming and diving and a lone dolphin stealing the bait fish off the ends of the fishermen's rods,

along with a pair of snowy egrets waiting for handouts…..

The egrets get a lot of shrimp to eat from the fishermen….They have named some of the birds who frequent the joint…Stewie and Huey were these two…..Sparky resisted asking, "Is there a Dewey and Louie? Or a Dewy, Cheatem, and Howe?" She was in a silly mood. No wine involved.

Sparky saw some cow nose rays gliding by---too wavy and murky today to get a good photo….

Off to downtown Sarasota for the Farmer's Market and a terrific craft fair going on…The amateur piano players were out, but they didn't seem like amateurs. There was some awesome piano scores being played all over town. If you've been reading the blog, you  might have seen the one about there are six artistically painted pianos with built in dehumidifiers in them placed all around Sarasota for several months and anybody can stop and play. Lots of people do! A lot of beautiful music was being played downtown today….

Some artists were out doing their thing…..

Sparky stopped at the arts and craft show and talked to a lady who had very eclectic stuff. It turns out she was a dumpster diver, a purveyor of all things recyclable and trashed…All her art was made from discarded objects from all over the world, bits and pieces of class, metal, and tons of broken objects from her travels and made into funky looking, yet functional pieces. She calls her art "artful necessaries from the finest trash." The name of her booth was "A Pain in My Glass." As Sparky was typing this, she first put a pain in my "ass" unintentionally! Guess that's the whole idea, so you won't forget her booth's name. Cynthia Linden is the artist and calls herself a "trashologist." She was very interesting to talk to, and shared a cute story about how when she first moved to where she is now, she saw the neighbor's house being renovated and a big dumpster outside the house. She saw them leave, thought they were leaving for up north and decided since she hadn't officially met them yet, she'd check out the dumpster while they were gone. While she was IN the dumpster, the neighbors returned, and she couldn't find a good time to exit while they were there. Finally, she poked her head out of the dumpster, at which point they saw her emerge, she introduced herself, and what she did for a living, and now they are the best of friends. Quite the first impression of your neighbor, eh?  Sparky bought a little angel.

By the way, Cynthia's email address starts with "reality bytes….."  A interesting lady with wit and cool pieces of art. Respectfully, Sparky did not take any photos to show you what cool pieces and parts she put together to make things, but a lot of stained glass mixed in with everything you could possibly imagine. Kinda funky, but Sparky really liked her work. (Ummmm….glad Sparky didn't buy anything bigger than this little angel, says a relieved E.) Sparky has trouble convincing Eldy of a home purchase now and then, but he has to admit, that the house has turned out nicely so far. But Sparky hasn't put her stamp of individuality in the decorating department quite yet. She's waiting for the right moment and the right funky piece to add some additional touches. (Uh-oh! And that's all I'm gonna say, says E.)

On to the next event today…The Harvey Milk Festival in downtown Sarasota….A festival honoring the first openly gay mayor of San Francisco AND the diversity of the Sarasota community….It coexisted side by side with the farmer's market, the craft show and had food trucks galore, which caught Sparky's eye. Sparky was more interested in the food trucks than she was in the music entertainment which was so LOUD, it was PAINFUL! After a blah couple of chicken tacos, with eardrums pulsing and the sound booming from the ridiculously loud speakers causing Sparky some significant ear pain, we decided to take our leave…...

Down to Siesta Key Beach for the 2014 Dig the Beach Volleyball Tournament! Problem was, we waited too late in the day to go see it. Eldy couldn't find a parking space, the lot was full, the side streets were full. So he dropped Sparky off, she took some photos, and Eldy missed all the action. (Well, PHOOEY! says E. I hate it when I miss seeing a talented bunch of women play beach volleyball.) And he hates it when he misses those thonged bikini bottoms and those itsy bitsy bikini tops. We all know that's the REAL reason he's keenly disappointed today….lol……

On the way home, we saw horses at the beach! Kids riding bareback into deep water with guides leading the horses, we didn't know that was offered here, too.  They basically lead the horses with the young riders along the beach for a few yards, into the water up to the horse's chest, then back out to the beach for a photo opp. Each horse has a guide to walk them and then stay with the riders as the horses briefly swim. The little kids were thoroughly enjoying it. Down the road from the horses was this cool bus, the Surfer Bus.

The Surfer Bus has a huge supply of rental kayaks for use. Don't know how much, Sparky doesn't need one. She just got a replacement Sea Eagle 385-- more about that on another day.

We managed to pack in a LOT of stuff today, and there was lots more to choose from besides all that. It's amazing how many visitors are still here in the area. Must be a lot of Europeans with families doing the tourist thing. The beach was FULL today. The restaurants seem to be quite busy, too. Not much of a slowdown going on even after the snowbirds have left. Plenty of tourists are still coming, especially to Anna Maria Island.

A great day, jam packed, time to slow down and relax for the rest of the day…..Bye for now!

May is Manatee Mating Month!

Saw a photo in the paper this morning about sightings of manatees close to the shore in Gulf waters. Guess the females are trying to get away from the males and get some rest. The females will come quite close to shore trying to get away for a bit. On Lido Key recently, 17 males pursued a tagged female manatee trying to get as close to shore as possible to get away from her pursuers. Apparently, the males pursue the females for WEEKS! Mating herds are most often seen in the bay. But lately, as the females have been getting tired, three shored herds have been seen in the past two weeks.

from the internet

The paper had a cautionary warning: "DON'T TRY TO SEPARATE OR PUSH THEM AWAY FROM EACH OTHER!"  Manatees with their bulky bodies (they can weight up to 3,000 pounds) and the roiling of the males jostling for the females trying to get a mate could cause injuries to someone. There's a lot of violent thrashing and rolling going on in shallow water. Guess some people think the manatees are going to strand themselves and need help getting pushed out to deeper water. Leave them alone and let them do the deed, is the preferred recommendation. And by the way, it's against federal and state laws offer them food or water…..Just an F.Y.I…….

We've got love bugs mating, we've got manatees mating, the turtles are laying eggs…What else is going on? A trip to Anna Maria Island City Pier for the latest sightings….Rays! At least two schools of them parading back and forth along the city pier…Wonder if they are mating?

Sparky loves the way they orchestrate their swimming and turn maneuvering together….

The pelicans are interesting to watch. Sparky always thought their food was obtained through plunging into the ocean from high dives in the sky. But sometimes they just sit and wait for the food to come to them. Down goes the bill into the water, and their throat pouches swell up to the size of huge balloons as they use their pouches like a net. They hold both the water and the fish in their pouch.

Then they drain the water from their scoop, and proceed to swallow the fish with great big GULP, GULP, GULPS, clapping their beaks together as they swallow. Their pouch is also used to hold water to cool themselves down, too.

 This is pretty common to see, too. The seabirds were landing on the pelicans just as soon as they saw the pelican's head swish below the water.

"Yoo-hoo! I'm here for my snack!"

They waited trying to figure out how they might partake in some of the pelican's food. Then they started to get impatient. This bird started pecking the pelican's head!

"Hey, what am I, chopped liver? Gimme some!"

The pelicans weren't interested in sharing, not one little bit…..

"HEY! Don't you know it's impolite not to share???"

Finally, once the pelican's head came up, they knew their chances were greatly diminished, so they flew off, looking for the next bobbing pelican head…..Pelicans eat up to about four pounds of fish a day and these guys didn't seem to having any trouble finding the fish today. Over and over and over the beaks went down swooping for the fish kill. 

We were sorry to see this pelican had had a run in with a fisherman, you can see the fishing line around his beak, it almost looks like a pair of spectacles, but he was still able to eat….There are signs on the city pier how to disengage the fishing line from birds if they get attached, but you would think it would be VERY difficult to restrain a big, combatant pelican to get the line out, wouldn't you?

We saw one lone manatee a ways out from the pier. We think it was a tired female…..

We LOVE Anna Maria Island and the city pier…..Another beautiful day in paradise, as everyone who lives here likes to say…..

Back to Normal, Sort of…..

The wave of visitors have come and gone…..Family came and went, more family came and went, and just recently, Eldy's nephew came for one day and a night, and then it was back to normal, just Sparky and Eldo. No more wonderful pickle ball with friends over at Sun 'n' Fun. Our friends have left for cooler temperatures. Sparky is still subbing right up until she leaves for Washington, D.C. next week, to see her oldest daughter, who is being deployed overseas in June. But she sure misses pickle ball! She will have to try harder to find some outdoor places to play in the Sarasota/Bradenton area. There are some indoor facilities, but indoor pickle ball is not as much fun as outdoor, Sparky just likes outdoor better. But as it gets hotter, Sparky will start playing now and then indoors. Those hotter temps are coming, it's been in the mid eighties this week!

We're back to investigating garage sales and estate sales, now that most of the snowbirds have left town, we're looking for things we can't live without, or some yard tools that of course we sold when we left Indiana, thinking we wouldn't be needing anything like that! You never know what you'll see…Sparky really loved this lemonade stand, she was such a cutie, and look how professional the parents made her lemonade stand!












You never know what you might see at an estate sale/garage sale in this area. How about this Old Town antique canoe? It was very cool!

We are true Floridians now….complaining at the height of the season that parking is at a premium, fussing at having to stake a seat out for Happy Hour way before happy hour begins anywhere. We should just have our own happy hour, right? Quit complaining, Sparky!  Even the estate sales have cleared out as far as having to get a number to wait in line to get in the door. We don't do waiting in a line for 45 minutes or more in the heat in the peak of the season. We like going in the off season, it's fun to look to see what's out there. Even though we've pretty much got the house the way we want it decorated for now, there's always SOMETHING that we can find to add to it. (She's managing to add all kinds of things, folks, we're running out of room already, fusses E. And we haven't even picked up our storage shed stuff back up north yet!) Now it's the big projects that will have to wait down the road-- like replacing bathroom cabinets and sinks, and something different in the kitchen in the way of lighting, and maybe carpeting in a couple of rooms, and…..Good thing Sparky is working! We've got all kinds of stuff coming up…a family reunion this summer in Traverse City, a visit seeing Sparky's oldest daughter, and who knows what else?

So….weekends come and go….Farmer's Market in downtown Sarasota….This is Siesta John and his woodie…..heh heh heh…..Notice he's playing in his bare feet! Always great music at the Sarasota Saturday morning Farmer's Market.

And always, fabulous organic fruits and veggies, and wonderful things to sample and eat...

We visit the beach sometimes, usually Coquina Beach on Anna Maria Island and the city's island pier…Sparky saw this really cool sea grape (?) leaf. She swears that's an imprint of a regular oak leaf on it, a double imprint at that. You sure don't see very many regular oak trees around, especially at the beach! As a matter of fact, Sparky hasn't seen a single oak tree at the beach.

We always like to visit the Anna Maria Island Pier. There's always LOTS going on…We've seen a dolphin lazily swim very close to shore, chasing the fish in just yards from the swimmers, we've seen a whole bunch, herd, whatever, of brown cow nosed rays---over 60 of them swim back and forth for over a half hour alongside the pier, dolphins stealing fishermen's bait, an angler accidentally hooking a ray, another hooked a pelican and today, it was another ray just swimming along by himself.

Sparky couldn't resist taking a photo of these two cute young anglers…Usually the fishermen or women are lots older and more grizzly looking, skin baked by the sun.

We like to go get pizza at the Main Street Trattoria in Lakewood Ranch and eat it outside….

There are so many places to sit outside at cafes in Sarasota and Bradenton, it would take you a year to sample them all.

Sparky rides her bike at least a couple times a week. Sparky likes these birds of paradise blooming shrubs.

She's always looking for gators, or the elusive bobcat which residents have seen quite a few times in the nature preserve on the back nine and whom we saw cross the road in our subdivision one day…Today we saw a red fox moseying around the golf course just outside our backyard!

And the days fly by…...