A "Cracker" of a Museum

Wanna know why Sparky loves being out in nature so much? Because it CALMS her down and makes her focus for awhile. (Yep! confirms E. She needs all the nature she can get!) Sparky actually stops to check out things like this bee on some Queen Anne's Lace after making a visit to the Crowley Museum and Nature Center today.

Here's another interesting bloom that caught Sparky's eye...

The Crowley Museum and Nature Center is a quaint, very old pioneer homestead setting with early Florida outbuildings, cabins and a "Cracker" museum on the premises. More about the "Crackers" later.
At the Welcome Center, they have the coolest sculpture standing in the corner. It has to do with the watershed, but that's all the gal in the office could say about it.

This is the Tatum House c. 1888-1892, one of the oldest examples of rural architecture in Sarasota County. They didn't build houses on the ground, they built them up a little to deter snakes and other critters from entering.

As Sparky was coming in the narrow drive to the complex, she spotted three deer, one was a little fawn checking her car out.

She drove a little further, and a newborn calf was in the fields....She just had to get a photo, he's too cute!

This is a really great place to explore and see nature and learn about early Floridians....A half-mile boardwalk takes you back through 5 Florida habitats to a sawgrass marsh. Bet you haven't seen THIS on a hiking sign lately! It says, "Yield to cattle on the trail"....This farm property/museum is an open range it seems.

The boardwalk as you walk further in, is heavily shaded which is really nice on a hot day like today. The colors of the ferns, the decaying palm leaves in the water, were beautiful.

There's a tower and observation deck a half mile into the boardwalk where you can observe the Tatum sawgrass marsh.

You can come down from the tower and continue on a ground level trail, but it was too wet and flooded today....






Sparky watched for snakes all along the way. She vigilantly checked the rails on the sides for them and for them possibly hanging down from low hanging branches. She only was startled once, by this little guy, who slithered sideways along the railing, hoping Sparky wouldn't see him, thus making him look like a SNAKE!

Sparky retraced her steps from the tower back and checked out the outbuildings, the blacksmith shop, another cabin and the children's trail. That was really cool! The 3/8 mile Children's Discovery Path has a mini zip line and cool statues at learning stations for kids. Sparky liked the eagle spotting station, although she didn't see any soaring above today.

The panther learning stations was cool. They have a little suspension beam for kids to walk to see how agile panthers can be.

As Sparky walked PAST the statue, she saw something out of the corner of her eye, and was startled, thinking a big cat was behind her. It was just the realistic looking panther statue, but the way he was crouched was a little startling if you saw it out of the corner of your eye as you passed by. The spider web climbing rope ladder was cool! Kids learn about the types of spiders in the area at this learning station.

The last stop at the homestead was the museum...all about the Florida Cracker culture...The Crackers were settlers who practiced sustainable farming. They believed in "use half and keep half". These settlers were different from the settlers who settled the north in colonial days, both in their farming and in their style of houses dictated by the hot humid Florida climate. The Crackers were terrific herdsmen, and had strong family ties.  A lot of people believe that this style of farming and architecture was heavily based on the Celtic peoples' lifestyles and that the Crackers came from Celtic stock. They scratched a living from the soil, they believed in having the minimal to sustain themselves. They made a living from their environment wherever they settled in Florida where others couldn't make it. If they were on the coast, they fished, they grew sugar cane. In the north central part of the state, they relied on wild game hunting and pig farming. River dwellers hunted alligators and catfished. Personal independence and self reliance were far more important than material possessions, so some thought the Crackers were poor or lazy because they seemed to be living in poverty. The Crackers just used things up until they wore out, so there aren't as many artifacts left from their society today.

Cracker houses had funny names like Single Pen, Dogtrot, Saddlebag, and Shot Gun--On this last one, if a shot was fired from the front porch it would exit straight through the house without hitting anything because of the way the rooms were lined up. They were constructed from materials from whatever happened to be handy lying around, so they were worn and had a thrown together look. The Marjory Rawlings house in Cross Creek, FL, is probably the most famous Cracker house known and it's one of the nicer ones. Sherry, of In the Direction of Our Dreams, did a great blog on this house and has a lot more history if you are interested. Here's a link to her post on the Rawlings House.

It was a great visit to the Crowley Nature Center and Museum today...highly recommended!

"Dig the Beach!" Volleyball Tournament and Beach Babes

Eldo always does what Sparky wants to do in terms of activities, so today, he got to do what HE wanted to do! And that was to go see the beach volleyball tournament, Dig the Beach 2013 at Siesta Key Beach this morning. Bikini beach babes galore...Yessiree!

But to be fair, this isn't just about the women. It's a co-ed tournament with a junior tournament as well, open to kids as young as 7. Hm-m-m-mm...wonder if they have lower nets for them? We didn't see any. There were a lot of women's teams playing while we were there, that's why you don't see any photos of the men in action. (I'm not complaining, says E., grinning.)

There were 372 teams ready, willing, and able to bump, set, and spike the ball down their opponents' throats today. There were forty courts set up on the beach for play.This event is so popular, there were ninety teams on a waiting list. The tournament goes all weekend....The Dig the Beach Volleyball Tournament is now in its 20th year and Siesta Key is one of its stops. It has been one of the main ones for the last ten years. There was lots of action going on but some were sidelined from the action....

It's a whole 'nuther culture out there, this beach volleyball.

Tattoos were in evidence with the ladies, we saw...

Not a lot else to say about the tourney today..Gotta LOVE the sun and sand and not worry about the burn to be out there playing in the heat and touring the Florida volleyball circuit. Plus, you don't make much money at all. Prize money for the winners today depended on how much was collected in the prize pot. One of the star players in the tournament today has a counseling job at the local high school for her regular gig.

Does Sparky like volleyball? Uh, nope! Sparky does not enjoy playing the sport of volleyball AT ALL. Sparky got bonked in the head plenty of times while playing the sport when she was younger. And she always managed to hurt her wrist and forearm on the serve. She's terrible at volleyball. But Eldo really enjoyed the sport when he was younger.. And he enjoys watching it for sure! Lots to see today....the colorful flags and tents....

the crowd....the babes,

the shots, the action....

the bikinis....Sparky liked this girl's hat. She seemed to have a little extra spunk about her, but we didn't get to see her play.

the babes.....

Ok, 'nuff of that. Sparky is about out of photos for today....(Aw, shucks, says Eldo in the background).

Sparky said, "Eldy, you could go out and train for the volleyball Masters"...Is there one, Sparky wonders? There seems to be a Masters for everything! But Eldy demurred...he'd rather watch this sport than play. He has a bad shoulder and it would probably give him a lot of grief. Sigh....(That woman is always trying to get me injured! says E.) Naw, just trying to keep the both of us moving and doing something for our health.....Eldo knows Sparky means well......

maybe in our younger days....sigh....

We enjoyed our time at Siesta Key Beach today...Water temp is 85 degrees! We should have gone swimming while we were there! Oh, well...another day....See you later.....

Sparky Cooks(!) and Other Amazing (or Boring) Stuff

Sarasota, FL       High:   87      Low:   75

We're excited to hear that there is going to be a Nik Wallenda street party in downtown Sarasota on June 23rd, the day he walks the Grand Canyon. They are going to have a Jumbotron showing his walk, along with a circus themed party---dancing, music and food. FOOD????   We'll be there!

Speaking of food...An amazing thing happened today, amazing for the Sparky and Eldo household, that is. Sparky cooked a meal from scratch! Well, sort of...Sparky likes the meals Publix cooks in the stores. They cook, you get to sample the food. They have the recipe cards and all the ingredients right there in one convenient spot to purchase and the recipes are usually easy and fast and use some convenience foods. This is an interesting recipe in that about half the ingredients are "healthier" options, but the rest aren't! But, it was delicious! So, Sparky bought all the stuff for "Chicken Pillows". Here's the recipe and ingredients:

1 deli rotisserie chicken (any type)
10 saltine crackers crushed (or potato chips)
3 T. fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped
1     8 oz. can reduced fat crescent rolls
8 oz. deli NY style potato salad
1/2 c. sharp shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 large egg beaten
1 cup reduced sodium cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup half-and-half

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat baking sheet with cooking spray.Remove white meat from chicken bones, shred or chop up. Crush saltines/chips, chop parsley.

Unroll dough and separate into 4 long triangles. Press diagonal perforations to seal. Combine chicken, potato salad, cheese and  peas. Divide mixture onto one half of each rectangle of dough Fold other half of dough over top of chicken, pinch seams closed on all sides and place on baking sheet. Brush egg over top of dough, then coat with saltines or chip crumbs. Bake 20-22 minutes.

Combine soup and half-and-half in small saucepan on low, cook and stir 2-3 minutes until hot. Stir in parsley. Serve chicken pillows with sauce over the top or sauce under the pillows.  Calories: 650 per pillow, 38 g. fat, chop 125 mg, sodium 1170 mg. (even with low sodium soup!)  fiber 2g.

You could use panko bread crumbs to cut down the sodium?, and low fat cheddar to reduce the fat even more. Eldo said, "M-m-m-m-m...this is pretty good!"

More food stuff...Sparky saw a photo on Facebook today....She thinks maybe she ought to print out a color print and post it on the fridge so every time she opens the fridge, she will think about making a healthy choice. HA! Well, at least she's thinking about it!

Stand Up Guys"...with Christopher Walken, Al Pacino, and Alan Arkin, three very talented, award winning actors. Their chemistry together in this movie is wonderful! Rated R for suggestive scenes, some violence implied but not shown, and sexual references--- but not shockingly so, in Sparky's humble opinion.

What else is going on today?   Laundry....sigh....BORING!  Rain...again...BORING! Time to rent a movie..."

Stand Up Guys is about a trio of guys, three decades later from their heyday as gangsters, who are reunited when one gets out of prison after serving a 28-year sentence for being a “stand up guy”. The guys go on an all night "bender" of a reunion that has you laughing, in tears and feeling empathy for these "old timers". The brothel scene is really funny! 

And that's another day under our belts....Until next time...

Up at the Crack of Dawn

"Jeannie, wake up! It's time to get up!" (Jeannie is Sparky's REAL name, in case you didn't know. :-)
"Hunnnnhhhhh....I'm too tired, I'm gonna sleep in..."...
"It's turtle nesting time, remember? You said you wanted to go...."

Oh, yeah...forgot....Every Saturday and some other days as well, the Mote Marine staff heads out to the local beaches to check the status of the loggerhead turtle nests during nesting season, May 1-October 1. And every Saturday, the public is invited at the crack of dawn, 6:45 AM, to join them as they walk the beach, look for nests, monitor any new turtle tracks they see, measure tracks, and do all the cool things they do to protect the loggerhead turtles from people and predators. Sparky dragged herself promptly out of bed after remembering this.

This morning we met out at the Hilton hotel pool area at Longboat Key promptly at 6:45 AM to head out onto the beach. There was a marked nest right outside the beach chairs on the hotel front property. It's the orange tape in the background near the water. It's actually closer to the beach chairs than it is to the water.

A Mote worker spoke to a small group of us first, giving us some general information about loggerheads, and had some exciting news! She got to see one come out of the water to lay its eggs about 45 minutes earlier! The turtle had come and gone, but she had more to show us. C'mon! Sparky is ready to go! We walked the beach for about fifteen minutes until we came upon this....

Turtle tracks! Loggerhead turtle tracks. Almost all the turtles that come ashore to lay their eggs (hundreds of them!) on the local beaches are loggerheads. These are BIG tracks!  Loggerheads can weigh about 300 pounds and up. These tracks look like tractor tire tracks, they are so big. You can tell by the direction of the "swoosh" marks of the flippers which way the turtle is going, but Sparky didn't quite see that at first.

This was the turtle track that the Mote worker saw the turtle making this morning. Here is a better view.

Unfortunately, this particular turtle chose to try and navigate around some beach chairs. Condo owners are requested to bring in their chairs at night to help the sea turtles be able to nest, but the best that some people can do is to group the chairs in bunches off to the sides. It's a hassle schlepping the chairs back and forth every day at some distance for some of the residents.

The female turtle had lots of trouble. The researcher showed how she came in to the edge of the sand and grasses bank, got trapped around the lounge chairs, and struggled to get back out. Turtles can NOT back up on land, so this turtle went in and around the chairs in circles. Something instinctively didn't feel right about the chosen site, so she left and went back out to the water.

It was documented as a "false crawl". Somebody asked what happens to the eggs if she is not able to lay them? The researcher said they don't really know if she'll come back and try again, or they will get released in the water or exactly what happens.

This is quite the project with tons of volunteers taking information, reporting information, watching the nests, and documenting activity, hatching, etc. It takes 55 days for when the eggs are laid to when they hatch. The researchers even document the G.P.S. coordinates of each nest in addition to measuring turtle tracks, depth of nest, etc.

The Mote researcher talked about why all the condo lights on the beach are red. Apparently, red lights do not affect the turtles' orientation as the hatchlings emerge from the nest at night, seeking the brightest light which is the horizon and the seawater. She said that if anybody even turned on a regular light inside their condo and had the drapes open, that the baby turtles would head towards the condos when they hatch. They have light ordinances in the coastal beach communities to protect the turtles' nesting and hatching instincts.

The researcher said that in addition to observing lighting ordinances in these communities, people can help sea turtles by diligently picking up trash from the beaches, and filling in holes in the sand after digging and having fun burying your family and/or friends. The baby turtles fall in the holes that people dig and can't get out. Then the gulls swoop in and eat them....

The researcher was glad to see this black crowned night heron walking the beach with us this morning. Night herons are not all that common on the beach she said. They eat ghost crabs, which eat baby turtles, so that's a bird you want to see roaming the beach where the nesting sites are!

On we walked a little more...We found an actual nest. To the untrained eye, it's hard to see that this is a nest.

To the rear of the photo is a rounded edge. This is the edge that the loggerhead's shell left behind as she dug a hole for her eggs. The front of the nest has little fresh piles of sand that were flung in front and to the sides as she dug her hole. Once you know what to look for, it's like---oh, sure! Now I see it!

Sparky is definitely going to come back for a few more Saturdays in hopes of seeing some new activity. The babies don't hatch in broad daylight, so the chances of seeing some little ones are pretty slim, but you never know! It was really worth getting up early this morning to see turtle nests and learn all about loggerheads...Hey, you might even see some other cool stuff! Like this...

One morning, the researcher saw a 7 foot hammerhead shark washed up on the beach!

After about an hour, it was time to head back....A wonderful early morning walk on a Saturday morning. Sparky might just get to be an early bird riser....(HA! says E. This I gotta see!) He's the early bird--about 5:00 or so, Sparky is more like 7:00 or so....Until next time.....

Music to Our Ears

We never get tired of hearing great music at Ocean Blues....It's that time of the week again...Monday nights Jazz Jam at Ocean Blues. They have different music every night of the week but Monday just happens to be one of our favorites so far. We enjoy the people watching, the musicians greeting each other and jumping in to play, the camaraderie of the players and the customers, the atmosphere of Ocean Blues...It's cozy, intimate and friendly....

Steve Arvey and Company...

There are regulars--Steve on the guitar, Bryan Post, the drummer, another Steve--the trumpet player and Michael Dempsey, the bass player. Sparky is just going to have to be better about acknowledging the rest of these great musicians and get their names down pat. Steve, the trumpet player, has some cool shirts that he wears.

He came over to talk to us for awhile. He knew that Eldy made brass instruments for famous players and for schools. Steve had a gadget he designed to work with students in the schools, to teach them how to improvise and play their own music. It was very cool, but we didn't have a CLUE as to what he was talking about as he launched into the very long and technical musical side of how this little wheel worked. Sparky is sure a music teacher would have appreciated it a whole lot more. But we were impressed, none the less.

Steve Arvey was really working his hot sauces last night. He has several now that he's selling. Must be a blues musician thing going on, selling hot sauces. Remember the "Sauce Boss" who came to Myakka River State park this past winter? We didn't buy any of Steve's sauces this evening...Both of our stomachs and tongues just aren't able to appreciate that really hot stuff!

But we sure do appreciate the music! Great jamming last night....There was a new keyboard player from Brazil, Regis Moriero who lent a Latin bossa nova feel to the music for awhile. Steve did a great job on guitar as always...He has the most infectious grin when he's enjoying his buddies playing along with him. He played an original song he wrote which was just wonderful!

We were happy to be at Ocean Blues..they are always so welcoming to their patrons....Food is great, music is wonderful, it was a great night!

Skywire Training

Nik Wallenda

No, Sparky hasn't lost her mind and started wire walking. You know, we are here in Sarasota, home of the circus and Nik Wallenda of the famous Wallenda family, who have been wire walking for many many years in the circus and other venues. Nik is getting to be more of a celebrity these days because he is personable and wonderful at self-promotion-- in a good way. He's working on making the "Great Wallendas" family more well known in the tech age through his interviews and events. Nik's great grandfather was the famous Karl Wallenda, who fell to his death walking between two hotels in Puerto Rico in 1978. The Great Wallendas are known for their 7 chair pyramid performances among other great acts in the heyday of circus performing.

Nik is modernizing the old circus tight rope/wire walking act in a BIG way lately.  He walked the wire at Niagara Falls last year, one of the highest rated TV media events of the decade. He was made to wear a tether during that walk. The story is that during a previous wire walking event he asked a buddy of his if he wanted to see Nik make the crowd gasp, so  he faked a misstep. Because of that, officials made him wear a tether. This year he's walking (a 2" circumference cable wire) at the Grand Canyon on June 23rd, no tether, no safety net of any kind. The walk will be 1500 feet high over the Little Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, the highest walk he's ever done and it will be televised on the Discovery Channel.

He's practicing daily here in Sarasota, at the new Nathan Benderson Park, a new park under development and future site of many rowing events. He's up on the wire at 10:30 AM and again around 6:00 PM Tuesday through Saturday this week at the park to prepare for the Grand Canyon walk.

We went to see him today....He's a terrific guy, VERY personable....He talked to the crowd the whole time as he walked the wire back and forth today....

It's not very high, about 30 feet in the air, but he said while he's on it, it's 100% mental preparation--he envisions himself walking the Grand Canyon. He said when he does the Grand Canyon walk later this month, he'll be envisioning himself walking the practice wire at Benderson Park.

In the previous walk over highway 41 Tamiami Trail in Sarasota, there were guide wires and guys holding them down on the ground. In the canyon, he is going to have counterweights hanging on the cable to help with sway and movement of the cable.

Sparky asked, "Are we distracting you with these questions?" and he said to all of us watching, "No, thanks for asking. I love having you guys here today. Thanks for coming out."

He told us while walking, that his mom, who is also a wire artist, makes his special shoes for him. They have special soles that help his feet grip the wire.

People asked him all kinds of questions and followed him along as he walked. At one point, he did a fake little slip, and said, "Sorry!" when someone gasped. He was kidding around, again!

We didn't go see him yesterday, because tropical storm Andrea was passing through. It turns out that he came out to practice yesterday late in the day, walking in the rain and up to 52 m.p.h. gusts, and that he actually preferred practice yesterday as opposed to the partly cloudy, gentle winds of 5-10 m.p.h. today! Better preparation for the canyon walk, he said!

Nik has written his memoir, a book called "Balance" A Story of Faith, Family, and Life on the Line....He says his ultimate safety net is his faith.  “God’s grace is the balancing pole that keeps me from falling into self-obsession and self-deception. Whatever I have achieved—and will ever achieve—is the result of my relationship with Him.”

An interesting man, a great promoter of his hometown of Sarasota, a man of great faith...We and everyone who knows about what he is attempting, wish the best for him and his family in his next endeavor.....