What Floridians Do on a Balmy Night....

Well...some of us anyway...Sparky was at the store the other night picking up a few things, so she thought she'd call home and see if Eldo needed anything. She WAS going to get him ice cream from Culver's for a dessert treat and was on her way there.  "No, can't really think of---OH MY GOD! THERE'S AN ALLIGATOR WALKING THROUGH OUR BACKYARD!!! yells Eldy on the phone.

"GET A PICTURE, TAKE A PICTURE, GET YOUR PHONE OUT THERE AND TAKE A PICTURE!" Sparky hollers back and hangs up fast. And she boogies home as quickly and as safely as she can, damn the ice cream, a gator is walking through our backyard!

Now, alligators are common in our neighborhood. We see them all the time---in PONDS, with their heads above water...We see them on the pond riverbanks in the neighborhood occasionally. Most of the time if they see you coming, they skedaddle right back into the water. We have NEVER seen one walk through the back yard in the four and a half years we have lived in Bradenton. There is no pond that is very close to the house, although one pond is halfway down our street. So to see a good sized gator waltzing down the golf course fairway and sauntering through people's back yards is something new. This one was about 8 feet long and he had a company of three sandhill cranes with him. The cranes appeared to be protective of him. Sparky was at first walking towards the cranes and the gator, and they promptly went into a warning dance, jumping up and down, flapping their weeks and making a racket. They were close to the gator and he wasn't interested. He looked like he had had a recent big meal, his belly and throat were distended and full. She didn't know if they were warning to stay away from the gator, or they were just alarmed at Sparky being on the scene. The cranes  in our neighborhood are quite tame and will come up very close to you if they think you might have food. Sparky and Eldy quickly hopped on the golf cart and started following the gator.

Sparky was texting a neighbor friend and told her about the gator. The neighbor was eager to see a gator, as she hadn't seen hardly any since she moved here earlier this year. Eldy graciously hopped off the cart so the neighbor could come along for the ride. Sparky went and picked her up on the golf cart. She was so excited! Sparky says, "Wanna get closer?" And game friend that she is, "SURE!" So we did. And then, "HE'S UP WALKING! OMG, OMG!"  She was SO excited to see this!

We picked up a second neighbor and continued to follow at a safe distance. The gator headed for the sand trap and then plunked down for a rest.

Can you imagine hitting your ball into a sand trap and then coming up over the crest of the hill to see the alligator in the trap?  Don't think anybody would go after their ball, do you? :-) With him deciding to take a rest, and it starting to get dark, we headed back to our house, just a few doors away......

It was a fun way to end the day...and interesting to see the cranes' behavior and how close they stayed to the gator as he walked down the fairway.

Bye for now!

Beautiful Sarasota.....and Happy Mother's Day!

Sarasota, FL      High:   83      Low:   70

We went out for breakfast this morning at Broken Egg in Lakewood Ranch....It's our little tradition to drive around the lakes surrounding Lakewood Ranch and see if we see any wildlife...Sparky is looking for 1) gators, and 2) unusual birds.... It's just a beautiful drive and we always see Great Blue herons, ibis, great white herons, and lots of egrets. If we get lucky, we see roseate spoonbills. Today, we saw both gators and spoonbills---YAY!

The gator was on the golf course...Sparky got a photo from across the street after being warned by Eldo that golfers do NOT like spectators anywhere near them, even if just walking on the golf path. Or is it gators do NOT like anyone near them! In this case, the golf path was no where in sight, so Sparky had to rely on her little point and shoot zoom to capture the gator in front of the golfers. One of the golfers saw the gator and as soon as he whipped out his camera phone to take a photo, the gator plopped back into the water. Better into the water and not headed for the golfers!

Then on the way back along the road while looking for a garage sale, Sparky spotted a roseate spoonbill in a residential wetlands. "STOP THE CAR! IT'S A SPOONBILL, ELDY!" and of course, my man stops the car as soon as it's safely possible, Sparky hops out and heads for the wetlands on a dry path, stealthily stepping very slowly, SLO-O-O-W-W-LY towards the spoonbill, trying to get a better photo with her puny little point and shoot 16X zoom.

Eldy patiently drove around in circles in this residential neighborhood until he spotted Sparky heading back towards the road. SCORE! Spoonbill in flight!

Sparky is stepping out of third person mode here for a bit....

It's Mothers' Day...and Happy Mother's Day to all our wonderful readers that are mothers, step-mothers, and role models for those who don't have mothers...

I am so blessed to be a mother to two fine daughters...Kelly, my oldest, and Kerry, my youngest.

Kelly

Kerry

They have made me so proud to be their mom. They are funny, smart, and very hard working gals. They are thoughtful and loving to me and are making a noticeable difference in this world by their great attitudes, kindness to others, and great work ethics. Kerry is a first time mom this year, so it's an especially special Mothers' Day to me because of that, too. The mom cycle has come full circle. :-) It is very gratifying to see what a wonderful mother she is to her little son.

I am also a stepmother, so to speak, although not officially, to Eldy's two children, Kristi and Brian.

Brian

Their mom passed away in 2006. They are also two wonderful children who I'm proud to say are a part of my family, too!

Kristi

My mother, who was 96, passed away in 2008.

Mildred Dudley Baughman....Born in Winnipeg, Canada, in 1912. She was a beautiful soul...She never judged anybody by their color, religious preference, sexual, or political preference, she was the most tolerant person I ever knew. She had gay friends who loved her to pieces! She had lots of friends who thought she was wonderful, just like we did. She lived life with a joie de vive (joy for life) and danced well into her 90's. Guys half her age and more would see her dancing in place when she went out with my sister and her husband, and fellows would come up and ask her to come out on the dance floor to dance and she did! She LOVED music and I thank her for passing that gene on to me. She never complained when she was sick, she never got cranky in her elder years, and everybody who met her wanted to be her friend and help take care of her when she became ill. She laughed a lot, and kidded a lot. She'd get to laughing so hard, she cried. She was loving, kind and supportive to all five of us kids, and never tried to tell us what we SHOULD have done when we made mistakes, big ones! And she forgave us when we strayed. She was ALWAYS positive in her outlook on life and had sort of that, "It is what is is" kind of attitude when hardships happened. She married three times--her first two husbands died---the first one died in Hong Kong when the Japanese attacked in WWII, and the second one died six weeks after they were married, when he got polio of the lungs, and then she married my dad. It was not a good relationship, but she tried to make it work for 40 years. She enjoyed her last years as a very happy, independent lady and truly was an anchor, a haven for our family. Today, of all days, I miss my mom the most.....I love you, Mom, and miss you very very much!