An UNwanted Guest

We have a tree frog on board, not inside but somewhere under the rig. Sparky hasn't seen him yet, Eldo has...He's BIG! About six inches. That's big for a tree frog, right? We've heard him for weeks around the rear wheel well. First we thought it was DUCKS! It sort of sounded like ducks quacking....Then, after listening more carefully, and hearing the same sound in the woods around the RV park, we knew it was the sound of a tree frog.

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Sparky is nervous, she does NOT want to encounter a tree frog in the house like she did the one time we were driving down the road and a slimy little frog (which seemed HUGE at the time) was in the hallway staring at her with its big eyes as she went to use the bathroom. She screamed "E-E-E-K!" The frog screamed. Sparky jumped back. The frog jumped to the fridge with his webby little feet and stuck himself to the door. Eldy was hollering, "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON BACK THERE!?" as he was driving. Sparky was frantically trying to find a cup to capture the frog. Which she did. We let him out later in a small town. Or rather, Sparky unceremoniously flung him out the door into a nearby grassy knoll as we rolled to a stop at an intersection.

Where is this latest tree frog sighting? Last seen this morning climbing up the outside side of the bedroom slide, where he disappeared into the top opening between the topper and the slide.....ugh.....Sparky did a really reading on tree frogs this morning. They normally reside in trees..."HELLO-O-O, FROG! Time to get back to your habitat!" They spend most of their time in trees UNLESS THEY ARE MATING....Oh, crap! Hope a froggie family is not in residence in and around the rig! And hope it is NOT a Cuban tree frog which has become yet another invasive species here in Florida. The Cuban tree frogs are BIGGER and make more noise.. ugh again!  We're going to see if we can find him today. Eldy has previously spotted him climbing the rig and knocked him off the side of the motorhome twice. Wonder what the attraction is on the RV? Must look like a big ole tree to him and it's easy climbing for his webby little feet......UGH! (Can you tell Sparky doesn't like those cute little tree frogs? asks E.)

haha, can't find me, can you?

We have other unwanted guests now and then...Like tiny little ants...In Alabama, they told us they were sugar ants. Somebody else here in Florida said when we asked about little tiny ants around here, "Oh, those are probably Caribbean crazy ants." They call them that because they are so erratic in their traveling patterns....They are a smallish 2.5-3mm in size, golden brown, reddish brown ant. According to pest control companies, they are hard to control and hard to get rid of! Somebody told us they were brought into Florida to control the fire ant problem, that crazy ants eat fire ants, but Sparky can't find any information on that. We're just glad they don't bite and spraying around our site seems to take care of them! So maybe they are sugar ants after all!

So far, in our travels in the past three years, we have encountered: tree frogs, sugar ants, crazy Caribbean ants (?), fire ants, stink bugs, palmetto bugs (aren't they the same as stink bugs? wonders E.) Not sure but add box elder bugs, no see-ums, and the usual black flies and mosquitoes to the list. Eldo says he can't think of anything else. Sparky says, that's enough of a list, for sure!

Enough bug talk for now...Bye-bye and see you later.....

Attacked by Fire Ants! and Other Mundane Things

Gulf Shores, AL      High:  73    Low:   44

When we came to Gulf State Park, we asked a neighbor who had been there awhile, if they had any trouble with fire ants. He said, no, but that's because people on the site previously were apparently treating the area for them. He recommended a granular product by Ortho, said you could get it at Walmart very inexpensively and so we did. We watched for them, saw some activity on our site, sprinkled the granules, and no further problems since we've been here.

But TODAY, Sparky headed out on some errands and stopped by the dumpsters to unload the trash. She stepped out of the car, stood by the dumpsters, opening up the lid. All of a sudden, her feet were on FIRE, and she means burning hot-- hot, hot, stinging hot, as in fire ants attacking her sandaled feet hot! She started jumping up and down, hollerin' "Oh, SHIT! Shit, SHIT!" Sorry, when Sparky is under duress, she cusses. She cussed when her firstborn came into the world, she cusses when hitting her hand with a hammer, when burning herself with a glue gun, when somebody hits her car or she hits something with it, (Uh, Sparky, do you have something you want to tell me?) Uh, that dent happened before I met you, sweetie....and when fire ants attack. And really, Sparky never cusses other than dire situations like that. (She does not cuss, I can vouch for that, says E. I have NEVER heard her cuss!) Well, she was jumping up and down, swatting at her feet, the sandals came flying off first one, then the other, and she was acting like a madwoman. Luckily, no one else was around. It probably looked rather comical, Sparky dancing around, hopping first on one foot, then the other. You know how when you hear about kids having head lice or your own kids get them you start scratching your head immediately because it itches? For the next 15 minutes, Sparky was slapping her feet, slapping her arms, she felt like the ants had been all over her arms and legs instead of just her feet and still were!  Thank heavens only a couple of bites, but man, they STING!

On to other mundane things.....How about Sparky thinking about joining a "polar bear club"? You know those guys and gals who take a plunge in a lake in the dead of winter? Well, today, Sparky FINALLY took the plunge and went for a swim in the UNHEATED Gulf State Park pool, which was an official 60 degrees but felt like about 50. How cold was it? It was so cold that Sparky's teeth went numb. Sparky had to run around in the shallow end of the pool to warm up her body enough to swim a few laps. She lasted about four laps and then had to get out, teeth chattering, feet and toes numb. They are closing the pool tomorrow. But hey--Sparky's ready to join the Polar Bear Club---NOT! No photos to document, ya wouldn't want to see Sparky in a bathing suit anyway. Eldo was back at the rig.

Earlier today a gentleman with the most charming southern accent stopped by to chat with Eldy. Hello, Roger Davis! He and Eldy chatted about all kinds of cool places to go in northern Georgia and North Carolina where the ruby mines are...He had done some "mining" on his travels and found several rubies of multiple carats. Sparky is ready to go gem mining! Then again, he probably just got lucky....Eldo learned a lot more about places we haven't seen in the southeast. We really enjoyed chatting with him, he was really funny and charming. Sparky was sorry to miss the conversation, but had to leave to run some errands.

Off to the Blue Girl Beading Company on E. 2nd St. in Gulf Shores, to get some beads for pine needle basket decorating and jewelry making...Very nice shop, tremendous selection, LOTS of beautiful, handcrafted jewelry for sale, and cool classes are offered.....

Checked out Tallulah's Treasures in Orange Beach...Sparky just HAD to have a garden crab ornament that wiggles all its appendages at the slightest breeze like it's crawling like mad  (that's her astrological sign, and boy, does it fit! explains E.) and some shells, and a little felted purse. Beautiful place--some items are expensive, like the clothing, but there are LOTS of cute, smaller items that would make great gifts. Wonderful jewelry, artwork, clothing, home decor, seashore items, personal accessories you don't see anywhere else--a little bit of everything!

Finally, off to the Gulf State Pier for a beautiful sunset...almost missed it trying to fill out the form and pay 2.00 a person to go out on the pier.

You are on the honor system after 5:00 PM. It's a 24 hour fishing pier. Sparky saw lots of people head out onto the pier without paying. Tch, tch, tch!

Saw a great blue heron and a pelican have a little spat over fishing rights for leftovers on the pier. Several pelicans waited for fish scraps...

The pelicans and one lone heron walked among the fishermen and sightseers easily, patiently waiting for the opportune time to strike....

It was a beautiful evening...After watching the birds and the sunset, it was time to go home....We'll be seeing you later.......

Lake Magic Encore RV Park

After a harrowing day yesterday figuring out what to do about my bank card that had been hacked, we settled in to the Encore Lake Magic Park in Clermont, FL. An update on that is, Wells Fargo did an awesome job helping me sort things out. I've already been reimbursed for the fraudulent charges even though they still have to dispute the charges with the merchants. Yay!

Lake Magic is close to Disney World, within 7 miles, and we are thinking about going there, MAYBE, because Sparky has never been to Disney World. We picked up some brochures from the office like we usually do, to read about the area. We are here for just three nights and two days, so we're gonna have to move quickly if we do tour Disney World, AND we're going to have to agree on which park section to see. Eldo has been to Disney World many times, so he is really not too picky about which one he sees. It's just that it's kind of expensive, but we've gotten some tips about where to get discount tickets and it's NOT from the street shops leading to Disney, that advertise with gigantic signs, shouting, "DISCOUNT TICKETS HERE!"  Stay tuned, we might be going.....

Our site at Lake Magic #233

Lake Magic RV park is a very nice park....level, spacious concrete sites, but very little shade...It is surrounded by pretty apartment/vacation rentals. It has two pools, laundry, shuffleboard, pickleball and a small lake...our site, #233, a pull through, has no concrete patio and the ants (fire ants? wonders E. nervously) are everywhere. The sign at the office says to let them know if you are concerned and they will come and spray. Sparky got bit just the other day and YES, WE WANT YOU TO COME AND SPRAY! Man, those fire ant bites are PAINFUL! Those little boogers are tiny, tiny, but they come with a BIG bite and leave a nasty, pus filled sore the next day. UGH! Here is another view of the park....

We love the pool, it's very pretty and it has shaded areas for sitting...

Our first full day here...Eldy woke up and went outside to enjoy the early morning sunrise. He saw about TEN hot air balloons come floating by. Knowing that Sparky loves nature photos and events photos, he came inside to the bedroom and whispered, "Sparky, are you awake?" Sparky was fast asleep so SHE MISSED A GREAT PHOTO OPPORTUNITY! Rats! Eldy did not get any photos of the balloons, he tried with the camera phone, but just missed the bunch. Sparky caught an errant balloon that seemed to be part of the group, but was having difficulty staying in the air. Next time, Eldo, YELL for Sparky to come out and what's going on! I guess these balloon outfitters are regulars around the area, and they have been known to land in the park! Bless his heart, he knew she needed her sleep with a bad shoulder that had been keeping her up at night for the past couple of nights. But, first night on the sleep number bed and she was out like a light!

The park has a little laundry room with a beautiful shady porch just outside it for waiting for your laundry to get done...nice touch!

Free cable TV, 30-50 amp at all sites, you pay for Wi-fi (3.00 a day Tengo Internet services), seasonal cottages available to rent for 60.00 a day, or 1850 monthly (ouch!) Four hundred seventy-one full hookup sites, seventy pull thrus, 45 foot maximum length RV. There is pickleball and tennis....There's a boat launch and a lake--Lake Davenport, at the back of the park, it's big enough to kayak in! This park is part of the Florida Max Pass that we obtained at the Tampa RV show, so we are staying for FREE!  We are only going to stay three days, because that's the maximum stay allowed to move to the next Thousand Trails/Encore park without having to stay out a week of the system. We're kind of checking out the Thousand Trails parks this year in preparation for next. Since the Tampa RV show was in January, we've got till the end of next January to use our Thousand Trails zone memberships and the Florida Max Pass.  This park charges 35.00 a day at this time of year (April) and 180.00 a week, if you don't have the Max Pass. Great rates, but this is April.... We really like the park and highly recommend it!

That's the latest on the park for now.....We're heading over to check out the Thousand Trails park in Orlando later today, and the Florida Mall where there is an M & M store...(Sparky's in trouble already, she LOVES peanut M & M's. The last time we visited an M & M store in Las Vegas, Sparky had a stash that lasted for months! explains E.)  See you there tomorrow!