Grocery Shopping, Etc., Ho Hum

Sarasota, FL      High:  77     Low:  61

Boy, it was an exciting day today! HA! Read blogs all morning, wrote a couple so Sparky can have something to post while she visits her sister tomorrow in Matlache, FL. Went grocery shopping ALONE, which is not always a good idea for Sparky, because she's an impulsive shopper. "Hm-m-m-m...this looks good, that looks good. Maybe we ought to try this for supper..." (One can always hope, prays E.) He says that because Sparky HATES to cook. So, she came home with some new stuff to try-roasted chicken and mozzarella ravioli which reminds her of Carrabba's mezzaluna pasta, but she forgot the sauce. (And she forgot my popcorn...reminds E.) Back to the store she went to pick up a couple more things....Back home again....

Eldy's at Happy Hour at the bar at poolside...and Sparky joined him after a bit....

Sparky is back to crafting today. After playing at least TWELVE games of pickle ball yesterday, half in the afternoon, and half in the evening. Sparky's butt is SORE, and the legs are SORE, so it's time to relax today....Eldy played at least six games himself last night, so it's a take- it -easy day today for everybody! Sun 'n' Fun is really promoting pickleball with many opportunities to play socially during the week, both mornings and evenings. During the socially scheduled times, the park provides lots of extra paddles and balls, so if you don't have equipment, no worries. You can still come out and learn the game. Everybody is really nice here about helping newbies learn. The sport is really growing here. It is so much fun!

You serve underhand, which takes away the problem of trying to do an overhand serve like you do in tennis. The court is shorter, so you don't run so much. You usually play doubles but you don't have to have a partner. You just show up, wait your turn, and they cycle four players off and on the courts just as soon as one court becomes available. The partnerships get mixed up as people come on and off the courts, some rest awhile longer, so your partner in the game usually changes from game to game. Sparky has been the only female to play in a doubles match sometimes, and other times, it's Eldy and me against the rest, or we get split up and go play all night long. You can rest as much as you want, but most of us who play LOVE to get right back out on the court. Our games are really sharpening up with all the playing we've been doing this week.

Because it's a shorter court than a tennis court, and the net is a little lower, you don't run as much but you get plenty of exercise stretching to get those shots. If you've never tried it, you owe to yourself to give it a shot. (yuck, yuck) All kinds of people play pickleball, VERY heavy people to ultra thin, people with bad knees, bad backs, and all kinds of physical problems can play pickleball and have fun while doing it. You don't ever have to have played tennis or any racquet sport to pick this game up and start playing. We just love it! Sparky's water aerobics have kind of gone to the wayside, she's having so much fun playing pickleball and Eldy is getting a lot more exercise now playing pickleball, too.

A nice pickleball racket runs about 50-60 dollars, but you can buy one for less if you are just trying out the game. They sell bundled sets of rackets and balls on Amazon for one possibility...Balls are about 2.50 each....

A night at the bar and grill listening to some GREAT karaoake singers and it's back home to watch some of the basketball tourney. Even Sparky is watching the last couple of minutes of Georgetown vs. the Florida Gulf Coast team, hoping the underdog wins. They did! Woo-hoo! What an upset! Number 15 seed beat the Number 2--amazing! And that's all you'll hear from Sparky, the non-sports fan. But she's ALWAYS for the underdog! :-)

Tomorrow, Sparky heads for Matlache, to see her sister, Lyle and her husband John for the day. Eldy is going to stay home and mind the fort.  Bye for now!

Mah-velous Mote Marine Part II

Sarasota, FL      High:  80    Low:  67

Sparky filled a whole blog yesterday about just the mammal research center over at the Mote Aquarium. She didn't even make inside the aquarium yet. There's the Save Our Seabirds Center which is also on the grounds of the Mote Aquarium in Sarasota. For an additional 5.00, you can see what this wonderful organization is doing to rehabilitate wild birds and shorebirds....Their mission is to rescue, rehabilitate and release injured birds, educate the public about how we humans have impact on wild birds, and provide training for wildlife that have been injured by oil spills. It's a very cool place with a bird hospital in the middle of it.

As Sparky was exploring the premises, an egret or heron, not sure which, was ambling out the side door of the hospital. An escaped inmate, possibly? :-)

But then again, birds of a feather flock together, and this bird sanctuary has lots of visitors from OUTSIDE the park, that just fly in and see their friends, perch on the roofs of the buildings, or just wander around like they own the place.

Sparky saw lots of cool birds on the mend...Some owls....

A pretty loon....

Some beautiful brown pelicans with the deep brown mating plumage...There ought to be a lot of action going on soon in this place with all the brown feathers showing!

There were laughing gulls and ring neck gulls. The laughing gulls are called that because of their noisy chatter that sounds a little bit like laughing. Guess seagulls is a misnomer, as gulls are pretty much land birds that fly around water, foraging for food along the beaches and inland, wherever people leave their garbage. They are extremely smart and adaptable. We've been seeing them more and more in bigger cities, and commonly in parking lots up north where the water isn't anywhere to be seen. Apparently, they have a highly developed social structure and communication skills. Gulls are thriving because they've learned to co-exist with humans.

One of the most interesting birds Sparky saw at Save Our Seabirds was the sandhill crane. The crane is another one of Sparky's favorite birds. They had at least a half dozen sandhill cranes with prosthetic legs at SOS. That was so sad to see. The cranes with artificial legs had been hit by cars or GOLF BALLS. Yep, that's right---golf balls. Which is not surprising, seeing how many cranes are walking around golf courses in Florida.

Sparky finally made it to the main aquarium building and it was just as wonderful as the rest of the place. Of course, it has the most stuff of all to see....

Again, there are several research "mini" centers within the aquarium. There is a seahorse lab and a jellyfish reproduction center.

You can see the lab workers doing their jobs as you wander through the aquarium. Sparky loves the moon jellyfish. They are always in the special lighted tanks that make them look like they are from outer space and not on this planet.

You can learn all about reef development at Mote....and touch a variety of living sea creatures with multiple touch tanks in the aquarium.

Sparky liked the outdoor touch tank that had cow rays in it...They were SLIMY! But the kids loved them...

Wanna see some sharks in an open tank? They are here at Mote....

That's as close as Sparky wants to get to one, from a camera zoom lens! Did you hear about the tens of thousands of sharks making their way north from Florida on the east coast lately?  That was a few weeks ago...Hopefully, they've moved on.

You can see some big fish at Mote...

And lots more stuff. Mote is truly a marvelous aquarium, not to be missed...Come on down and see it in beautiful sunshiny Sarasota, Florida.....See ya later!

Mah-velous Mote Marine Part I

Sarasota, FL      High:  80      Low:  67

Where to start? Mote Marine Aquarium in Sarasota, is not your usual aquarium. Sure, you can see sharks, and manatees, and see some touch tanks...But there is a whole lot more to the aquarium. It's a research/study center, and there are lots of parts to it where there is training and scientific exploration going on that is easily accessible to the public. The amount of information that comes out of this marine aquatic research center and aquarium is AMAZING! They have 1600 volunteers working for them! A couple of lady volunteers tried to recruit Sparky today to consider volunteering next winter. She  might just do that, it was such a cool place! Nineteen dollars for adults to get in, and if you can find a coupon online or in local brochures of things to do, you might save another 2.00.

Let's start with the marine mammal research center. It's across from the aquarium. Not only is it a research center, but it has a sea turtle rehabilitation hospital and a dolphin and whale hospital inside, too.  Mote Marine provides state of the art critical and chronic care for stranded and sick marine animals. They rehabilitate them and return them to the wild as often as possible. One hundred eighteen sea turtles were admitted to the hospital in 2010, as an example. That's a lot of turtles!

It was feeding time for Moonshine, a type of pantropical spotted dolphin that could not be returned to his native waters because of a liver disease, which brought him to Mote in the first place. He could not be returned to the wild because of his condition. He is the only pantropical spotted dolphin living in human care in the U.S.  Moonshine has been trained to accept blood draws, and other scientific procedures which are done humanely and carefully as to not distress the animal.

Sparky watched as the vet tech told him to turn over, he did, and with his flippers up in the air, he patiently waited for the needle prick. The techs pull his tail up into their lap, and the dolphin just patiently waits for the blood draw.

They've trained him to accept little pinches when they are not drawing blood so he learns to accept the needle prick. The pinches are interspersed with LOTS of play during the day so the dolphin really gets used to being prodded and poked. The techs were very loving and enthusiastic with him, gave him lots of praise, and he didn't mind the blood draw at all. He "talked" a lot with squeaks and chirps and seemed to enjoy the company of the two ladies who were working with him. Moonshine has been there nine years, and has contributed much to the study of dolphins at the research center.

Some really big turtles are at the research center....a couple of BIG loggerheads, a Kemp Ridley, and some others....Sparky watched as the turtles were signaled with a blue triangle flag that it was feeding time. They boogied to the gal who had big jellied squares of turtle food goodies for them. The food looked like giant laundry Tide pods! It was fun to watch them feed.....

Sarasota beaches have the highest density of nesting loggerhead turtles in Florida so there's a good chance you might see one during nesting season if you were here, which is May through October. The less humanly populated beaches are, of course, the most favored by the turtles.

They had interesting some "educational learning apparatus" for the turtles. TOYS! One looked like the top of a plastic card table with holes in it the size of golf balls. The turtle like to get the table top on top of his head and then move it around with him.

The turtles were very active...It's the time of year for them to be on the move to nesting grounds so that innate swimming urge is in motion, they were on the move constantly today...Sarasota beaches will have LOTS of nesting turtles starting around May...Good thing the spring breakers are all gone by then!

There were two manatees, Hugh and Buffet, who are the most extensively trained manatees in the country. The manatees have been trained for research and medical procedures in addition to the dolphins to help maintain and protect wild manatee populations. They VOLUNTARILY participate in regular checkups. Would you believe they are trained to pee in a cup? Yep, REALLY! They are learning a ton about the manatees from two manatees in the research center, like how they respond to touch in their environment. They have been trained to "answer" questions by touching a paddle when they sense different parts of their body being touched by water wave movement. They can't see very well at all but hairs all over their body and especially on their face are like sensory antennae for them, and that is how they explore their habitat. It was awesome to see them swimming from a vantage point down below them. They are such graceful swimmers! It was beautiful to watch them swim....

Most people know manatees are vegetarians...Wanna know what they eat at Mote? Every day they eat 72-96 heads of romaine lettuce and kale, carrots, beets, apples and monkey biscuits with vitamins. But it's illegal to give food OR WATER to wild manatees, just so you know!

Sparky saw so much stuff today and learned so much, she's going to have part II tomorrow about the Save Our Seabirds Center which is on the Mote Aquarium grounds and lots more photos...Good way to use up two days of blogging, heheheheh....See you later!

1000 and Running....

Sarasota, FL      High:  77      Low:  63

Four days ago Sparky hit a record--she has written ONE THOUSAND posts! Every single day we've been on the road since we started June 18th, 2012. Can't believe it! Thought I'd run out of things to say and be dwindling down to a couple of days a week, if that. Thought for sure when we spent four months in one place, I'd run out of things to say...but I haven't yet.. Still gonna try to keep going with the blog until we come off the road, whenever that might be. There are quiet days and not so quiet days, but it's important to keep the memories alive of every day we have together, so I will keep on writing....Even if some days are a little boring now and then. Even if writing a blog when you don't really have much to say but want to keep things interesting is a little hard now and then...

What's coming up?  A visit to Mote Aquarium, the circus, a folk and acoustic music festival at Oscar Scherer State Park, a blues fest in downtown Sarasota, and lots lots more. Today, we were going to try and get to Mote Aquarium, but because it was raining and the weather quite cool, everybody and their brothers were out driving around, looking like they were headed to the Mote.  The traffic was so backlogged so far back into Armand Circle, that we gave up going to the Mote today. Instead, we kept driving towards Anna Maria Island and Coquina Beach. Coquina Beach is a fabulous beach with squishy soft white sand and just a beautiful view of the Gulf of Mexico. This happens to be a sand barrier to protect against erosion.

The park around at the beach is long and has a really wide sidewalk/walking path that seems to run for miles along the beach.

Despite the gray day and off and on rain showers, we saw families out having fun despite the bad weather....

You can park a big RV in the spacious parking lots for the day, but you can't spend the night.

Sparky loves seeing what's at the beach in all kinds of weather, but not being a sunbather, she'd rather go when it's cloudy. There were TONS of birds at the beach, waiting to see what the weather was going to do.

"I'm tellin' ya, I think it's gonna rain."

There were a couple of different kinds of terns today. Sparky knows that some of these are a lesser tern, and some of them are a least tern,  and the black ones with the orange beaks she has no clue, but it was still cool to see so many of them resting on the beach.

"I know it's here somewhere!" says the one bird with the beak down.

Sparky loves the crested feathers that make these birds look like they are having a bad hair day! She thinks the one bird on the right might have a broken wing? Royal terns?

"Honey, can't you do something about your hair? You look like Alfalfa!"

Eldy actually said that to Sparky one morning...  :-) It's the spiky hairdo look, dear. It's supposed to look that way!

And then there is this type of shorebird....The two of them were standing off to one side away from the crowd and looked like they were trying to decide whether to join the group or not...

"I don't know about you, but I'M LEAVING!"

What else did we see? A beautiful Great Blue heron cleaning his feathers....

Such a beautiful, graceful bird....Although they are so very common here in Florida and elsewhere, they are still beautiful to see....

To some, a gray rainy day is ugly, to us, it's beautiful...Florida really needs the rain..They are about 6" below normal for this time of year. We were glad to see and hear the rain come today.....

And the piece de resistance at the end of the day?  DESSERT! How about this salty caramel vanilla cake with buttercream icing, caramel mousse and little crunchies that made it taste a little like caramel butter brickle? (Longhorn Steakhouse, for a limited time only) Which is probably a good thing! Yum!

Bye for now.......

Lost a Day in There Somewhere

Sarasota, FL           High:    79     Low:  61

It was such a quiet, boring day today, that we skated through doing not much of anything. It rained a lot so that put the damper on any outdoor activities. Sparky slept in later than normal, so the morning was about gone after having breakfast and reading blogs. Those quiet kind of days are always nice to have now and then...Can't be doing something ALL the time! (Although she tries to have something going on almost every day, says E. And if she doesn't, she really struggles with just sitting and not doing much of anything.) Sparky ALMOST took a break from the blog today, it was so quiet a day.

So-o-o-o-o....today was laundry day....And go buy a new pair of athletic shoes day....And play six games of pickleball this evening day....

(WHAT??? NO photos today????? wonders E.)  OH! I know something we can share. Eldy went to the dog track the other day, the Sarasota Kennel Club...A rather unremarkable experience...It's a greyhound racetrack in Sarasota, and every Friday, it's .50 hot dogs, .50 admission (normally a dollar), and .50 for a beer or a hot dog. It's not the prettiest dog track, it looks very tired and drab inside and out but it's very inexpensive activity to try if you like that sort of thing. Eldy is a once in awhile kind of guy when it comes to something like that. He just wanted to see what it was like. It was ok.

Sparky wants to go see a polo match soon. Yep, Sarasota has POLO matches. On Sundays, it's 10.00 admission, not bad...So this coming weekend, we might go check that out. You never know where Eldo might go!

Stay tuned........

St. Paddy's Day a Bust!

Sarasota, FL         High:         Low:

We had high hopes for St. Patrick's Day. We checked online for celebrations around the towns of Sarasota and Bradenton. We decided to head to Bradenton, it sounded the most promising--a block party with bagpipers, corned beef and cabbage, entertainment all day long under a tent, Irish and Indie music...it sounded fun! St. Patrick's Day is not all about drinking, there were some cool things going on that we missed, we found out later....(Gaelic dancing, hurling, and other Irish sports....) Lots of green being seen, everywhere we went.

We get to Bradenton's main attraction for the day and it's a dive of a bar, it was called the SHAMROCK.  Definitely Irish, definitely dark and dingy on the inside---and the lines for green beer were snaking around the parking lot/street/block. It was so crowded you could hardly move. The food was nowhere in sight, and it appeared to be THE hangout for the young crowd, they were well on their way partying hearty for St. Paddy's Day.

The music that was currently playing were two guys singing that we thought were awful! This half of the duo looked good, but the sound left a lot to be desired. We left.

On our way out, we saw this. The guy painting the wall was a little late in his project, don't you think? They must have gotten the idea to decorate the wall at the last minute, although it will be good all year for the Shamrock Pub.

O-o-o-o-o-k-a-a-y...Let's try Clancy's in Bradenton--a little nicer Irish pub, but again, the crowds were ridiculous...(What did you expect, Sparky? It's St. Patrick's Day!) Yep, we should have started out earlier in the day. There was also a parade on Anna Maria Island that would have been a lot more fun--bagpipers, floats, but the parking situation on the island is terrible for special events and we just didn't feel like trying to park with all the spring breakers already in town. On our way from one side of Bradenton to the other, we passed through St. Armand's Circle, the elite boutique shopping center for touristy Sarasota. Sparky saw a bagpiper band playing at an Irish bar in St. Armand's, but as we were driving through the majorly congested area, we kept going, there was no parking to be seen anywhere...

Our final stop? Anna Maria Island Oyster Bar for a VERY non-Irish St. Patrick's Day dinner which was fine with us, although Eldy did get his green beer....

The best fish and chips ever for Eldy, and Sparky had a beautiful salad, huge shrimp cocktail and a crab cake which was excellent!

What we SHOULD have done was get our usual FREE paper every week on Thursday, called the East County Observer. That's a great little paper for finding out all the goings on in Sarasota and surrounding counties each week and for future events. It had the full run down of St. Patrick's Day events and we just missed it this week. There's also another free paper section that comes out on Thursdays, called Ticket, and is "your guide to life after work".  It is full of the latest happenings in the Sarasota/Bradenton area. It's an interesting little paper. Just to give you an idea, this week's front cover says, "The Gator Club--A century of prostitution, bootlegging, gambling, ghosts, and good old fashioned partying!"  Sounds interesting, doesn't it?

Back to Sun 'n' Fun for an evening of dancing and an embarrassing contest. The d.j. managed to get 10 unsuspecting couples up front for a contest that he said was not a dance contest, but no hint of what was to come. Here's what is was...the guys had to tie a panty hose stocking with a ball inside it to their pants. The d.j. made all kind of sexual innuendo jokes about the length of the pantyhose, problems with their balls, etc. The guys were initially supposed to put the pantyhose inside their pants and let the ball part dangle down. They weren't having any of THAT, so they tied it to their outside belt buckles. Then their woman partner standing at the other end a few yards away was told to spread her legs, and the guys had to push a tennis ball to them and through their legs. The first one to accomplish this, was the winner.

They got a bottle of wine as the prize. Everybody laughed and laughed of course, and some were totally embarrassed as you might expect.  Sparky got in lots and lots of dancing as the night wore on, Eldo was more content to watch Sparky dance with the girls. After all, he and Sparky had played at least 6-7 pickleball games that morning. We had a lot of fun despite the earlier problems with finding a nice St. Patrick's Day celebration. Heck, it ended up being right here in the park!

Hope everyone had a nice St. Patrick's Day...see you later.....

Nokomis Drum Circle!

Sarasota, FL         High:  77      Low:   59

Photo heavy post today...Sorry! But we loved the Nokomis drum circle so much, we didn't want to leave anything out! We won't be able to visit it as much as we did Siesta Key Beach's drum circle, as we are leaving in just a little over two weeks! So here we go.......Different cast of characters as far as the drummers....

There weren't as many performers in the inner circle at Nokomis as there were at Siesta Key...But there was a LOT of audience participation as far as dancing. This gal was a STANDOUT belly dancer...OMG, could she move every little muscle and shake EVERYTHING she had! Which elicited a "WOW!"  and "Look at her go!" from Eldy and a few other appreciative males in the crowd and the females as well. Boy, did the guys' cell phones come out to video her when she was out there in the circle! She had a beautiful costume that enhanced everything she did. We think she was a professional dancer....

Drumming makes people happy.....Drummers and attendees alike....

The elderly......

never too old to wear a jingle skirt!

The young......

You can be as stylish as you want with your drum paraphernalia...Carry your stuff in these cool bags!

Wear some cool suspender straps for your drums....

Or schlep your stuff in on a bike....

Bring a beach chair so you will be comfortable. You can sit, or stand, or in this case, kneel. If Sparky did this, her knees would get so locked up  Eldo would have to carry her out.

Bring your own percussion instruments in....plain...

Or fancy.....

Or, you don't have to bring a thing! But some people just bring food and wine and beer, even though alcoholic beverages are not permitted at the beach....

But whether you bring just yourself or all kinds of stuff, be prepared to boogie to the beat! This gal has the "Pebbles/Bam Bam" look goin' on....You can't see her hair, but she's got a top knot of hair sticking straight up like Pebbles in the old TV show Fred Flintstone. Sparky liked this photo of her joyful dancing the best.

And be prepared to have fun! 

Some guy was there with a BIG homemade bubble blower..two poles and a bucket of solution. Everybody LOVED his bubbles, and the little kids went bananas every time a big one came out....

"OOOOOOOO-H-H-H-H-H-H!" And the adults went, "AH-H-H-H-H!"

We'll be back to Nokomis...Every Wednesday and Saturday nights, an hour before sunset....get there early if you want to sit right at the edge of the circle....See you later!