Day 7 - All the Creatures

We decided to take a break from the vacay stuff today, and focus on the other reason for being here.

But first, friend needed caffeine. She is very much one of those people who needs to cups of java in her before the day, and brain function, can start. I used to be the same, hubby still is, but that dratted double diagnosis put the kibosh to that.

So, of course, there has to be a critter emergency before she’s through the first cup.

I saw something twitching in the water before the pair of grackles came down to the edge of the sea wall, squawking up a storm. Once I realized the thing in the water was one of their chicks and not, say, a turtle or a fish coming up to the surface, we put shoes on and got down there as fast as we can. I’ve grabbed tools on the way – a net bag from friend’s scuba kit, and a long stick I found on the ground outside. Maybe we can get the nestling to grab onto the stick, lift it out of the water?

Turns out, the point was entirely moot. All sign of the three birds was gone by the time we got there. Friend even lay flat on the sea wall to see over the edge – nothing.

Before her second cup of coffee. Ooooh, the mood was rotten for a while. She wasn’t mad at me, just at Life for having an emergency before she could function.

So, back to sorting. After that second cup.

What to keep. What to pass on. What to pack and send home with us to store for her. What used to be sentimental, and now only holds bad memories, and is there a way to transform them into, not better memories, but different memories that can overlay the older ones, like a new planting of flowers on a bed where all the old bulbs had gone bad.

Not our fault, of course, but the manure that Life throws your way sometimes has a penchant to… um… stink. Clingy, nasty stuff.

And when decisions were made, things got packed into our SUV. We rented a medium size for just this purpose.

Then, it was time to take a break. Time to meet the neighbors!

There are only two people left on the first floor, and both are only there till their real houses, still being built, are done. S has been frustrated by the red tape tying up the building permits, even though much of the work has been done. And now, with contractors working at a premium? But unfortunately they’re not building to code, or even to a solid hurricane standard. Of all the buildings under construction, I saw one, count it, one, that was up to modern hurricane codes.

Sigh. Florida.

S is one of the kooky nice people who’s still living in the Florida of the 80’s and 90’s before the explosion of people, and turning swamp land into condos. She truly thinks this is paradise. For some, perhaps, but I was already on the edge of my tolerance for heat and humidity, and summer’s not here yet. That’s why there used to be so many snowbirds traveling back and forth, though they’re gone now, only FOR SALE signs swinging in the shore breeze behind them.

S had a problem, one that I was uniquely able to solve.

She has a porch full of plants, flowering and tropical and burgeoning, including a lone milkweed plant.

Fourteen monarch caterpillars had nibbled the poor thing to nubs, and were starving.

So I gave advice, lots of it. And killed the wasp that kept sneaking in to take caterpillars off for food. Go find another buffet in the afterlife, these guys are endangered, you aren’t! She ended up clipping a net laundry basket around it to keep out the predators, and sneaked over to her other property to plant it with the other milkweeds there to protect / feed the rest.

I thought about taking them with me, after buying a few more milkweeds at the nursery, but bringing them home early by two or three months means there’s nothing to feed the adults up here properly.

Then, we went on a bit of a wander.

I had seen lots of butterflies, and the little blue ones I thought were Spring Azures. Um, nope, this is one we don’t have up north. This is a Ceraunus Blue, and it took much longer than I expected to get some decent pics of them sitting still. Flowers of some non-native bush were blooming, and they were all over it.

I didn’t think about why they’re so skittery. That would be because of these guys:

But of course, this handsome male wasn’t concerned about a meal, he was concerned about the nice scaly lady anole lower on the tree. As soon as I took the pics, she darted away, he followed, and I got discreetly out of the way.

Of course, the dolphins were out. They’re notoriously shy about pics, so getting a “good shot” involves a fin off in the distance.

The manatees decided to come right over to the sea wall right in front of us, and fed there for a good fifteen minutes or more. We just let them do their thing, they get harassed enough by the idiot boats zipping in and out at unsafe speeds.

Birds. Pelicans feeding. Ospreys hunting. Grackles, crows, blue jays. A pair of cheeky sparrows that visit the balcony after every meal, looking for crumbs.

The funniest pair were the blue herons trying to build a nest across the channel. Herons are some of my favorite boids, and this pair was a hoot. The male kept trying to find perfect sticks for the nest, but apparently thought that it gave him free mating rights whether or not the stick was accepted as suitable, and she was having none of it. She would take off, he’d follow, crawking and hronking. We turned it into a game of “What he’s saying if we could translate it,” so here are some of our thoughts:

“Honey! Honey? Hey, look, I was watching the hoomans, and they have this great idea, and I think we should try it: Alcohol!”

An hour or so later: “Honey? Honey! Three words: Netflix and chill!”

A few hours later: “Honey! Candlelight suppers!”

Sunset: “Honey! Sushi bar!”

In the dark, seeing their silhouettes flapping away in a shroud of hronking: “Honey? Honey! Moonlight walk on the beach! There’s a beach right here!”

Ah, I’m not wrapped too tightly. But it was amusing, and likely accurate.

The two visitors that surprised us were the rays. For two days, a cow-nosed ray swam by near the sea wall. Today, there was a huge, and I do mean huge, ray at the bottom, swimming around. Fourteen foot wingspan! Big! When it finally surfaced the once, we could see the white spots on the black, and we realized that we were seeing a spotted eagle ray. There was a smaller one the next day, but that was an awesomely cool thing to see in the wild.

And, for another break, we went to a local Greek produce market. I got some lovely bell oranges, some apples, and some Greek olive oil soap, because I love it. I was sorely tempted by their homemade feta, but getting it home? Difficult. And they had no baklava that day, so I shall not whine. It was good to buy local, and get some fresh produce.

Dinner that night was technically a stir fry, but heavy on the onions, broccoli, tomatoes, and mushrooms we’d just bought. There was an egg in there somewhere, but no one cared, because some of that homemade feta was lovingly sprinkled on that delectable NOM.

And then we watched the sunset, and watched the dolphins cruising the channel.

“Honey? Honeeeeyyy! Hey, what about a spa day? That house down the road has a pool, let’s try it! Honey? Honey??”