Gator Stories?

Got your back!

We paid another visit to the H.P. Williams Wayside Park this week, about 30 miles down the road on highway 41, the REAL alligator alley, towards Everglades City...on duty was a volunteer who works for the National Park Services. This is a great park where you can see alligators from the safe viewing position of a boardwalk, providing it's a warm, sunny day. The gaters are very close to the boardwalk, but there's a fence. We were told that the gators can run very fast, faster than a dog, up to 30 m.p.h. We were also told that they can raise up on their legs and really get moving...the volunteer told us two true stories about someone fishing off the bank at the park, and a gator chased him and the fish he caught all the way up to his truck..he had to jump in the back to get away from the alligator. Then he told us the story about a woman who was standing on the bank concentrating so hard on taking a photo of a gator swimming towards her that she just kept focusing and taking photos until the gator was just a few feet from her. The volunteer was driving down the road and saw the gator heading straight towards her...he jumped out of his truck and yelled at her to get away....he cautioned that you should never get closer than 40 feet to a gator....I don't know if that was said for my benefit as I just had come back from an opened gate that led straight to the bank where two big gators were sunning themselves a few feet below the bank and I was doing the dumb tourist thing, taking photos. The gators were just a few yards away from me, their heads pointed towards the canal and not towards me, there was no fence. I guess it's his job to keep the tourists away from the gators and the gators away from the tourists. He's seen people throw rocks at them to get them to move and other dumb things....like taking photos too close....

Who's watching whom?

After researching this topic a bit, I have come to the conclusion, that gators belly crawl, and crocodiles get up on their legs more, and from what I've read, alligators can NOT run as fast as a dog or as fast as 35 m.p.h. which what a couple of sources on the internet and a local one say..also it's an old wive's tale that if you run zig zag, you can outrun one.....not that I want to find out...(Well, THAT'S a relief! says E.) Let's just say alligators are faster than you think and don't be stupid like I was and try to get too close! End of lecture!

We saw LOTS of great birds at the park as well...on the way back, we headed to the welcome center by Everglades City where there are manatees...Eldy saw two manatees surface together and dive back down together...where was I? watching a gator head towards some fishermen on the bank nearby...missed another great photo! Phooey! Guess I had my fill of gator scare tactics today...I even warned the guys fishing, "HEY, FELLAS--gator heading your way.." Yeah, yeah, lady...we know.....no big deal to them...they kept right on fishing, and the gator kept right on swimming past them....

We REALLY enjoyed our visit to the park today...very interesting conversations, tips and stories of where to go birding, where to drive for short trips to see more nature, tips from fellow photographers, everybody on the boardwalk today had something to share...one guy today had a HUGE camera lens and had captured a photo of an alligator chomping down on an egret in his mouth...he missed the initial grab but got the shot shortly after...taken in this very same area awhile back, he showed it to us on his camera....guess a couple of pythons have been spotted on the road going past the park as well...python have no predators so they are fast becoming an invasive species in the Everglades. Another story was told that they found a pregnant female with 59 fertile eggs inside it...ugh! People are allowed to hunt pythons down here, they are becoming such a problem....We could have stayed on the boardwalk for a couple more hours, but it was getting late and time to get back home......it won't be long before we leave for Texas...a couple more days in beautiful Naples and then we will be doing the Willie Nelson thing...."on the road again...can't wait to get back on the road again...."

More Naples Botanical Garden

Here are some photos from the beautiful afternoon we spent at the Botanical Gardens on Sunday....I liked the name of this bamboo..it's called "dwarf Buddha Belly bamboo"....

Here are some more beautiful lily pads we saw in the Brazilian Garden...

And some more...

This powder puff blossom must have been extra sweet and having a "bad hair day" for these bees to be so interested...

Can't remember the name of these hot pink blossoms!

We found some literature on the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park (love these Florida names!) ...I think we are going to check that out tomorrow or we might check out the vendors at the Fort Myers RV show...we saw a brand new 2011 coach pull in at the resort yesterday with a new feature, a slide within a slide! Interesting! It's a Monaco Diplomat coach. We have absolutely no interest in any other coaches now that we have our Phaeton, but as far as vendors go, there are many many things that are interesting to RV owners once you have an RV. One of the things that concerns us is tire pressure--on our car and the RV. If we had a blowout on the car while towing, we would have no idea of that unless some motorist frantically honked and waved at us to communicate something wrong. Having had a tire blowout in the car recently while driving the car itself, makes us worry while towing it down the road. These systems install easily by way of radio frequency tire valve stems. If pressure drops, an alarm at the driver's dashboard in the RV lets you know immediately there's a problem. Hm-m-m-m, RV show or state park preserve--I vote for the preserve! We'll check out those tire monitoring systems at a later date, I'm sure.

The gater stories will have to wait till tomorrow..I'm still trying to find out how much truth there is to some information we were given at a local park about them...see you later, alligator!

Malware, Bots, and Blogging

Something happened this morning that really alarmed me....somehow some code attached itself to my email contacts (not all of them) but many...Eldy got an ad from a drug company from Canada for a drug that looked like it came from me but it didn't! Several of my friends and blogging friends got weird looking emails that had no message in it but  was blank or said "hi!"  My name was on it. People are asking, "did you send this?" No, I most definitely did NOT! I talked to my geeky (love you, bro!) tech savvy brother about how something could get attached to my email account and he was not sure but had lots of suggestions to try and fix it. He was able to do some tracing from the email that came to him from me, and it came from a server in Turkey or Serbia, I think he said. The attachment that locked onto my email was garbage and harmless. He said it was probably a "bot". A bot is a software application that performs automated tasks much fast than a human can, and is sort of a code gathering software "robot". Because blogs contain so much HTML code that is literally open for the world to see, it makes it easier for these software bots to go gathering bits and pieces of information. But this bot could have gotten through on wi-fi, on downloaded files, who knows where?  Somehow this "bot" got thru to my email and attached itself to the contact list sending out random, garbage email with little or nothing attached to it. I get occasional "anonymous" comments on the blog that are garbage or ads for foreign products. I never open them, I just mark them as spam and delete them.  Guess I'm going to have to take my email off the blog and figure out another way to let people make comments without it being attached to the blog. Stay tuned, there may be some changes!  Now I see why some people on blogs use captcha--this is the graphically encoded text that is slightly twisted or looks very weird to the human eye and you have to type it into a box in order to be recognized by the blog or site you are on. This is to avoid a malicious or harmless bot gathering information from your blog or website because it can't decipher it, it's only recognizable to the human eye. It's a pain sometimes, because we don't always have an accurate perception of what it is we are supposed to type in! At least captcha usually gives you another chance.

There was an Apple store in Naples so off we went to get their expertise. All they had me do was change my password to my hot mail account. The tech guy there said that should take care of it! He was very certain of that. Just frustrating and annoying reminder that passwords need to be changed once in awhile or more often...I'm still a little leery of whether this is the end of it or not, but I know I will change my passwords more often. Here is some advice on password strength from my brother who got it from the Wiki page on password strength. Kinda long, but VERY good advice....Hope this helps someone to avoid what happened to me and to many others, I'm sure...we'll see you tomorrow with some great gater stories!

Guidelines for strong passwords

Common guidelines

Common guidelines for choosing good passwords are designed to make passwords less easily discovered by intelligent guessing:

• Password length should be around 12 to 14 characters if permitted, and longer still if possible while remaining memorable
• Use randomly generated passwords where feasible
• Avoid any password based on repetition, dictionary words, letter or number sequences, usernames, relative or pet names, romantic links (current or past), or biographical information (e.g., dates, ID numbers, ancestors names or dates).
• Include numbers, and symbols in passwords if allowed by the system
• If the system recognizes case as significant, use capital and lower-case letters
• Avoid using the same password for multiple sites or purposes
• If you write your passwords down, keep the list in a safe place, such as a wallet or safe, not attached to a monitor or in an unlocked desk drawer

Additional guidelines

Double a character consecutively, to discourage shoulder surfing, the technique whereby someone observes the typing over a shoulder. Don't triple a character and don't double more than one character. If the typist is fast, it's hard to see how many times a key was consecutively pressed.^[19]

As a user might need access from a phone with a small keyboard, consider which nonalphanumerics appear on all models, if any do.^[20]

Individuals and businesses can also choose to use devices or cloud-based applications that generate a one-time password, which are functional for only one session or expire after a limited amount of time. One-time password generator solutions are available using cloud-based services, mobile phone applications, a security token and other methods.

Examples of weak passwords

See also: Password cracking

As with any security measure, passwords vary in effectiveness (i.e., strength); some are weaker than others. For example, the difference in weakness between a dictionary word and a word with obfuscation (i.e., letters in the password are substituted by, say, numbers— a common approach) may cost a password cracking device a few more seconds– this adds little strength. The examples below illustrate various ways weak passwords might be constructed, all of which are based on simple patterns which result in extremely low entropy:^[5]

• Default passwords (as supplied by the system vendor and meant to be changed at installation time): password, default, admin, guest, etc. All are typically very easy to discover.
• Dictionary words: chameleon, RedSox, sandbags, bunnyhop!, IntenseCrabtree, etc., can be automatically tried at very high speeds.
• Words with numbers appended: password1, deer2000, john1234, etc., can be easily tested automatically with little lost time.
• Words with simple obfuscation: p@ssw0rd, l33th4x0r, g0ldf1sh, etc., can be easily tested automatically with little additional effort.
• Doubled words: crabcrab, stopstop, treetree, passpass, etc., can be easily tested automatically.
• Common sequences from a keyboard row: qwerty, 12345, asdfgh, fred, etc., can be easily tested automatically.
• Numeric sequences based on well known numbers such as 911 ^{(9-1-1, 9/11)}, 314159... ^(pi), or 27182... ^(e), etc., can easily be tested automatically.
• Identifiers: jsmith123, 1/1/1970, 555–1234, "your username", etc., can easily be tested automatically.
• Anything personally related to an individual: license plate number, Social Security number, current or past telephone number, student ID, address, birthday, sports team, relative's or pet's names/nicknames/birthdays/initials, etc., can easily be tested automatically after a simple investigation of person's details.

Naples Botanical Gardens

If you've never seen the gardens at Naples Botanical Garden, you have to go...incredible plantings and international gardens. The gardens are divided into sections--a children's garden, a butterfly house, a Brazilian garden, a Caribbean garden, a filter marsh representation of the Everglades, a water garden, an Asian garden, a Florida "idea" garden, an enabling garden that demonstrates strategies to garden even if you have physical challenges. There is a wetlands preserve and uplands preserve, a birding platform and an area where concerts are held in front of the water garden. There are several walking trails about a half mile long and one mile trail that take you out further around the park for your enjoyment. There are many park benches, little tiki huts, and shelters of different architectural designs to sit under and enjoy the day as well, if you don't want to be in the sun....the plants and trees are labeled clearly so you can learn about the different plant species all around the world...they serve food and drinks here as well.

Part of the Brazilian garden

Yesterday we went to see a jazz concert. Normal entree fee into the botanical gardens is 9.95, today it was 12.95, well worth the cost to walk around and hear the concert from just about anywhere in the garden, or lay in one of several hammocks placed in and around the Caribbean garden, and just enjoy the beautiful music. There was a talented quartet playing with an outstanding vocalist, Rebecca Richardson. She has recorded several jazz CDs and did a terrific job of entertaining us. Doesn't it look like she enjoys what she does? And she was beautiful with a beautiful voice, too! She sounded a lot like Diana Krall.

Rebecca Richardson

We spent a long time after the concert today just enjoying the surroundings...I had never seen bananas growing on trees or pineapples growing in a field, so that was a treat. I loved the Brazilian garden the best...cool mosaic or tile artwork in the background with a waterfall, and beautiful tropical waterlilies....

Here are some water lily pads...the coloring of the lily pads was amazing! I thought the pads themselves were as beautiful as the flowering part. I thought this was cool the way the clouds and tree branches were being reflected into the water...

And here is a flowering bush/tree called the powder puff...there were pink ones and red ones, and as soft as a baby's bottom if you brushed your face against it....Watch out for the bees, though, they LOVE this plant!

The caption for this photo...
"I know there's nectar in here somewhere!"

 We'll save some more photos for tomorrow....it's a rainy day and we'll be spending it at home.....see you then!

Sunday in Naples

Welcome to our newest followers Sandy and Dennis! We're glad to have you along for the ride! This is how we first started our traveling dream...following blogs. Eldy has read a lot more than I have...he researched and read blogs for several years to find out if this was a doable thing. We worry about the costs of fuel sometimes, but you know, we're not going to let it keep us from traveling. We will stay in parks longer, we'll plan our driving distances more carefully, and we'll look to stay under budget more times than going over a little to make up for the costs of going where we want to go. We've stayed in places for as little as 9.00 a night, we've stayed in places that are 69.00 a night, and we've stayed in places for free! (boondocking at Walmart or Cracker Barrell or other spots)...We've been on the road 8 months now, and we've seen the most amazing sights, and experienced some of the most amazing things this beautiful country of ours has to offer, and we don't regret a single moment. Yes, you have a little bit of a gasp as you fork over three hundred and fifty dollars for diesel to fill the tank at 8.9 miles to the gallon, but when you arrive at your destination, you sit tight for awhile, a LONG while so you can see all the wonderful things there are to do, new friends to meet, places to explore  and really get to know the area. We think it's worth it! Besides, we don't have electric bills, we don't have water bills, we're down to one car payment, and we're both very healthy, so it can be done if you plan your trips and budget carefully. I will say that I am the only one of this dynamic duo that still has a house, I am renting out my house to a young couple who is renting to own. We are lucky we can afford to travel because Eldy sold his house. (You'll notice I have not mentioned....sh-h-h-h-h-h...possible  repairs like you have on a house...knock on wood--you have those, too...we're still under warranty, but not much longer.)  There's just nothing like being in a beautiful setting, parked right next to pine trees or palm trees, within 100 feet of the water--lake, ocean or pool, and meeting the most wonderful people...RVers are a special group of people who make friends easily, and work to keep friendships while out on the road. Life is so short, you don't know how long you have, so we aren't going to let the cost of fuel hold us down....while we're physically able, we are going to travel!  And as Eldy says, "No matter where you are, you are home"....

We are starting to find out that people seem to get "freebies" as some of these places. We've run into two couples this week who are staying here for the entire week for FREE! One guy just got an email inviting him to come and stay. The other guy has a Monaco coach, so we think that since Monaco went out of business, the new owners are contacting Monaco owners to get them to come to this resort which was started and then left uncompleted as they went out of business. The new owners came in and completed the resort. They ARE selling lots here, but there has been zero pressure or contact for us to buy, and quite honestly, it's out of our budget range. We're just lucky to be here for awhile and that we were offered a few nights for free.  Heck, I'd workcamp here in a heartbeat to get to come back and stay for awhile in December or January. (Me, too! says E.)

Today was an easy day so to speak, every day is an easy day except when Eldy is driving long distances. We had our coach washed as we are not allowed to wash it ourselves in the park. For $80.00, Mobile Wash out of Naples, will come out with a crew and wash everything--even the generator housing unit.  They actually hand dried the coach. It had a lot of salt on it from extremely windy, stormy weather we had while close to the ocean. So it was great to get it off....the guys were all over the coach--four guys working very hard and very careful with everything...it's so clean you can see your reflection in it! I'd rather have someone come out and wash it than have us try ourselves...I worry about one of us falling off the roof! This afternoon, we went to a wonderful jazz concert at the Naples Botanical Gardens...we'll tell you and show you tomorrow....see you then....

Party Hearty!

This place really knows how to entertain their guests while they stay! Last night and every Friday night is Happy Hour from 5:00-8:00 and usually some kind of entertainment in the clubhouse. Free food, free drinks. I set up my table for Tastefully Simple, and had quite a few people stop by to taste, but only one sale all evening. There was a HUGE hors d'oevres table set up right around the corner from me, so I had LOTS of competition as far as food goes. If I had known that, I would have prepared less food. But that's ok, getting the word out as to what the company is all about is good and I really enjoy talking to people...hopefully, some people will go back and check it out on the internet, which was my goal...having a taste testing event both last night and tonight got us two free nights stay here, so we were happy!

This goofy guy above is Billy Bridger...he had quite the repertoire of songs, costumes, and even a couple of ventriloquist dummies that he did songs with..they were more for show, he didn't actually do the ventriloquist thing.....he is also a balloon artist and after a young family with impressionable children left, he livened up the show a bit. Look very carefully at the balloon this guy has on his head....that's all Sparky is gonna say....

And that's all Sparky is gonna say this evening...I'm pooped! Rode my bike a lot today, ran around and got updates on my computer, and did another round of Tastefully Simple at the clubhouse...people love to sample, but football took the center stage today, so time to turn our attention to that...at least for Eldy...now if it was the Colts, or Notre Dame,  I might watch for a bit, but sports are not too interesting to me.....it's a good thing there's an outside TV on the Phaeton, so I can send Eldy outside in nice weather to watch while I do stuff inside....works for me!  See you tomorrow...no plans yet... thanks for reading!

Beautiful Naples

Observation Tower at 10,000 Islands Nature Preserve

Yesterday we took a trip 30 miles east to the boardwalk/preserves at 10,000 Islands. It was a fantastic day..weather in the low 60's...cold for most Floridians, but we liked it...light jacket weather. We've been here before, but it's the Everglades, and you never know what you'll see on each visit...not surprisingly, as it was so cool for temperatures, the gaters were not out sunning themselves except for one here and there.....what was fabulous to see were the roseate spoonbills. A flock was gathering at an open viewing area along the walking trail. We watched as the flock was far away, and then, they started flying in and coming closer! These are truly beautiful birds....it's only the second time I've seen them. The last time was when I saw one flying along highway 41 when we were driving and it went by so quickly I only got a glimpse of enough pink and rose to know that's what it was....I took these photos with a Canon Powershot SX 20 IS....it's got a 20X zoom on it which helps for nature watching. I need to bring a tripod next time. That lens focus point jumps all around when the zoom is all the way out! I know the pictures extend out into the blog today, but I wanted to make them extra big for extra enjoyment.....I love looking at these birds!

Aren't they beautiful?  And here's another view...We counted at least 14 of them....cool!

This was a real treat for several onlookers besides ourselves...we watched as they worked their way closer to us, eating their way towards us quickly as the tide seemed to be going out....there's an observation tower that gives you a nice overview of some of the Everglades...we'll go back again and again whenever we are here. There's a little walking trail, about 1.1 miles that takes you through a part of the marshes and water area, but there are not many breaks in the shrubbery and brush along the trail. However, they also have a few park benches spread out where there are viewing openings, which is really nice. And the wonderful thing about it, is it's free! It's a very heartwarming feeling to see all the wildlife here when it is so threatened in so many habitats everywhere else. We enjoyed the return trip home along highway 41, heading west...saw a bazillion egrets, some crested white birds which I think are another kind of egret, perhaps...tons of herons of all kinds...they all hang out on highway 41 in the water canal that parallels the roadway along the banks of the canal...and yes, the gaters are still sunning themselves along there as well. THAT'S the REAL alligater alley, if you want to see BIG gaters. Watch the north side of the road, after mile marker 74 or so, heading towards Naples.....unbelievable all the species of birds and then all the gaters that co-exist along that stretch!

Today is get ready for the Tastefully Simple party this evening at the clubhouse....made Absolutely Almond cake, beer bread, carrot cake crunch cheeseball mix, a spinach and artichoke warm dip mix that has Swiss cheese in it, and a Sensational Caesar dip mix....yum!  There's live entertainment this evening after cocktail hour at the club, so we'll see what that's all about. I hope I have some good sales! It's been difficult to keep Tastefully Simple going out on the road. I have to make 400.00 in sales each quarter to stay on as a representative...can't always get a taste testing party at a campground, as some places consider that sort of a solicitation, but now that we are staying longer in places, I might be able to work the "happy hour" angle a bit more...I really enjoy it, the food is delicious, and everybody loves the samples when I fix them. I've got a website so people can order from there if they are traveling and need to get something later or have it sent to their home base. I can't have much inventory on board because of weight and space limitations, so hope to get the internet going better!  If you haven't seen the website for T.S., here's how you get to it.... tastefullysimple.com/web/jsparks3  It's a very classy company..if anybody wants to do a catalog book party, you can get any item in the catalog half off if you get someone else to book a catalog party!  Let me know...I promise I won't mention Tastefully Simple again in my blog  except to state I fixed food for a party!

Zumba was fun this morning! I found out that now having done any official exercise classes for quite some time, that I don't have the good balance I used to!  Can't stand on on  leg and do the hamstring stretch any more without falling over! Darn! Great music, Latin tempo, lots of salsa and cha cha moves, the instructor was not quite as "loosey-goosey" with the swivel hips and wiggles as  some zumba class instructors I've seen, it was sort of low key zumba. Wonder if that had anything to do with the average age of the gals that came to class this morning? About 55 or older....that was probably a good thing, as a lot of parts on me don't swivel and move very well any more...I plan on going back to try and loosen those parts up next time the class is offered, next Wed. and Friday...see you tomorrow! It's going to get in the low seventies tomorrow...YEAH!