Magic Kingdom

There was a family that rode over on the boat with us. The Mom wrote in a sharpie marker on her sons arm: If found, please call -----------. It was really funny. He even liked his 'tattoo'. The Mom said she had lost him once.

Space Mountain. One of the kids working there asked if I was '29'...LOL I said that I had ridden Space Mountain the year it had opened. Well, that was 1974!

A topiary near Cinderella's Castle.

This is where they used to have 2000 Leagues Under the Sea, but they haven't had that attraction in a long time.

A holograph in the Haunted Mansion. Bill took this. I'm surprised it turned out in the dark! He has such great luck.

Cinderella's Castle from the boat to the Magic Kingdom.

Homosassa State Wildlife Park

More pics on the 'Nature Coast' of Florida at the Homosassa State Wildlife Park, just down the road from my Mom's house.

A male Wood Duck in his spring mating colors:

Some 'gators sunning themselves:

This is 'Lucifer'. He is the only non-native species in the park. He is 49 years old. He is the oldest hippo known in captivity.

Manatees

We're back from vacation, we had a WONDERFUL time. Now I need to go catch up on my favorite blogs and get my blog list back up. I don't know how it disappeared. I'll be posting pics all week from our vacation. Today is dedicated to the Manatees.

The area where my Mom lives in winter is known as the nature coast and is well known for their Manatee population, both in the wild and in captivity (in kind of a hospital for manatees). Bill and I were going to swim with these gentle giants, but we simply ran out of time on vacation! Too much to do, so little time.

Here are some pics of manatees at the Homosassa State Wildlife Park just down the road from my Mom's. They are all females, some have young, and they all have been injured, mostly from boats. They eat romaine lettuce, lucky gals!

I would recommend Homosassa State Wildlife Park to anyone visiting Florida. It only cost Bill and I approx. $8 each to get in.

Vacation

Hello Everyone,

It has been a while since we have posted. Sorry about that but we have been extremly busy with work. We are on the eve of our vacation to Florida. We are going down to see Denise's Mom and Grandma. We will be doing the tourist thing as well as going to the magic kingdom to the mouse. We will have a good time no matter what we do. It is going to be nice to get away from work and the winter weather.

This last weekend I went to the cabin with my good friends Tom and Jeff. The plan was to ice fish. That plan got side tracted when a pipe burst. Our bedroom got pretty wet. We got it cleaned up and the I fixed the pipe. Below is a picture of the burst pipe. You know you have good friends when they stay with you and help fix the situation instead of fishing. I felt bad and told them to go fishing, but they refused. It truely was blessing that they were there.

Once we got this plumbing problem fixed and then we fished. We didn't catch anything but we fished. The temps were single digits on Sunday with wind chill in the negative numbers.

On Denise's bird feeders were a flock of common red polls. They must be migrating back to Canada. There must have been 30 or 40 red polls on our feeders. Here are som pics of them.

Hope you enjoy the pics and we will try to blog from Florida. We wiah you all well.

Bill

Fish Video

Good evening everyone,

Of the fishing equipment I have my favorite is my Aquaview camera. It gives a view of what the fish are looking at. Some considerate it cheating but just because you can see the fish does not mean you are going to catch them. Having the camera can be very frustrating because you can see the fish but cannot get them to bite. I thought I would share some video of some pike that I was able to video.

These videos are courtesy of my lovely wife Denise who bought me the DVR for my Aquaview so that I could record these fish. I hope you enjoy these videos.

Right after this Northern Pike went off camera my friend Tom caught him. He was a 28 inch fish. We threw him back. It was a lot of fun catching him and seeing him on camera before he was caught.

This is just long video of a pike. We did everything we could to get him in then boat but he did not want to cooperate. He will be there another time.

Hope you enjoy these.

Take care,

Bill

Great Backyard Bird Count

I always like to count our cabin birds during the Great Backyard Birdcount. I'm always hoping for something rare or new-to-me to show up in the yard, and I was not disappointed!

Here is the species list for our cabin, this year:

Mourning Dove 8
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Downy Woodpecker 2
Hairy Woodpecker 2
Blue Jay 1
Black-capped Chickadee 3
Tufted Titmouse 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 4
White-winged Crossbill 1
Pine Siskin 1
American Goldfinch 87

The White-winged Crossbill was a new-to-me yard bird this year. In fact, I had the camera in my hand, he showed up and I flung the camera in the air and fumbled it because I was so surprised. Hence, the photo didn't come out well. I am checking with my pals at Northern Michigan Birding to confirm my White-winged Crossbill. At first, I thought that he was a Pine Grossbeak, but then I noticed the hooked bill. Normally, I have some of the highest numbers in the State of Michigan for American Goldfinch, but I don't think that I did this year. However, if they were doing the count today - I counted nearly 200 American Goldfinch in my yard this morning, before coming home.

Here are some pics...

Goldfinch 'dripping' from the trees waiting to get to the feeders.

There are 17 American Goldfinch on the ground by this feeder. I have 3 different feeders that the Goldfinch can get on. Plus, I have a woodpecker seed feeder, but the Goldfinch can't get on it.

Mr. and Mrs. Hairy Woodpecker, involved in a little pre-season mating ritual. They dance around the trees with each other and stick their necks out straight. It's amusing to watch.

Mrs. Hairy on the no-no feeder. All the birds that can 'cling' love this feeder. I love it because the squirrels can't destroy it.

And here he is, the White-winged Crossbill. He was only in the yard for a few seconds.

Snowing again!

***But first - Bill and I will be going to see my Mom and Grandma in Florida at the beginning of March. YAY!!! Can't wait to see them!***

Bill has been on the road since 6:00am with Cleo. He JUST got to the cabin at 11:00am! He said the roads are terrible.

I am at work right now and heading to the cabin around 4:00pm today. Thank you to everyone who has asked if I am still employed. Yes, I am, but terribly short handed and excrutiatingly busy. Work is interfering with my social life...LOL The cloud still hangs over that more furloughs are coming. But, for now, I am safe.

I have been clipping coupons and studying hard at being a 'strategic shopper'. Check out CouponMom.com I've been learning a lot there. Unfortunately her website is down today.

Anyway, I'll be heading up north around 4:00pm today. Hopefully the roads will be better. In the mean time, here are some pic's of Cleopatra, Queen of the Cabin.