Kayaking to Caledesi

With our friend Tim visiting from Seattle, we decided to try kayaking to Caledesi Island. Mark was hesitant as he doesnt trust little boats. But we found these kayaks to be very stable....and very slow. I guess there are trade offs to stability.
The water was warm and clear. Except for crossing the boating channel, it was so shallow that you could walk over to the island. We got to Caledesi from the Dunedin causeway pretty quickly and landed on pristine, white sandy beach, complete with a wide assortment of unbroken sea shells. When we started examining them, we found most still inhabited, so we left them on the beach.
After a hike around the north side of the island, we decided it was time for more kayaking. So we confidently hopped onto our plastic boats and paddled...and paddled...and paddled around the mangroves to the island marina.

Along the way, we saw osprey, egrets, and an assortment of other birds living among the trees. All around us mullets were leaping up from the water. We kept thinking we could just reach out and catch them, but never could.
Tim, being the fair skinned Irish boy that he is, needed to get out of the sun. So we took a break at the marina snack bar and watch the tourists arrive from Honeymoon Island aboard the State run ferryboat. We decided they were all wimps!!

We were slowing down on the trip back to the causeway, partly because the tide was going out and we had less and less water to ride on. And maybe a little bit because our arms were getting tired. The excitement came when we had to cross the boat channel which is deep so boats can get out to the Gulf. By this time of day, early afternoon on a Saturday, everyone was heading out. And they werent driving slow. So, we got up our courage and paddled as fast as we could as very tall and big boats motored on either side of us. We hurdled their wakes like outrigger canoes in Oahu waves. And finally, we found ourselves in sandy, shallow water just feet from the rental shop. Whew!!

From tree hugging to tree pulling

 
 
 

Mark is furiously re-landscaping our yard. This past week,I made him too much coffee and he decided to pull out the wild trees in the corner of the yard that were ugly, growing into the cable lines, and taking up his part of the yard. Note: My part of the yard has the flowers, his part has the vegetables. It took him no time, and the trees were conquered.

But then the fence problems became apparent. So, without a pause, he started resetting the back fence. He had a helper on that one - the back yard neighbor Tom. Tom is quite a perfectionist, and has a lot of tools. So between the two of them, the fence was straightened and leveled, posts concreted,and the yard leveled around it in no time. As soon as they finished, Tom added another layer of wood on his side of the fence....so he can't see me and Mark. hmmm. I didnt think we ran around naked THAT much! :')

The French come to the kitchen..door

 
 
 
 
Our contractor and helpers showed up Wednesday morning and are finishing up Saturday morning. With sawing the concrete block, tearing out sheetrock, blocking up the former doorway, and changing electricity around - the yeckyist part was going without air conditioning for 3 days with mid 90 degree, and 90% humidity weather. It was so hot, the mud dripped off the sheetrock, ending Friday's efforts early. By then, we could close our new french doors and turn on the AC to dry out the mud.

Lots of details to finish, but the heavy duty tasks are done. Mark got help from the contractor in installing the HEAVY door. Methinks when the hurricanes come, standing behind the new door would be a safe place to be!

Wildlife in Dunedin

One of our favorite things about living in Dunedin is the variety of birds and Florida wildlife we have around us. This set of photos is focused on our land critters. The gulf wildlife: dolphin, manatees, stingrays are a bit more difficult to catch with the camera.
Mark loves the egrets (tall white birds) and I have to yell at him to stop inviting them into the house. I put a stop to them once they strut into the garage. We've been particularly interested in the Ospreys this month as the chicks are hatching. There are a lot of nests around our neighborhood. While the mother or father are out hunting for food - mostly fish, the 'spouse' is at the nest caring for the babies. The food provider arrives to the nest, remember these are one of the largest birds in the US so they are hard to miss, and feeds the chicks the fresh fish. The City of Dunedin is going to put an online camera in one of the nests so everyone can watch the chicks grow. Not sure I want to watch the fish get torn apart and fed to the babies though.
Meanwhile Mark has become fascinated with the ground bees we watched swarm one evening, ending at our neighbors yard. We have rabbits, lots, hanging around. And gekkos and lizards are as prevalent as mosquitoes around here. In spite of the local alligator news, we haven't seen one in the neighborhood yet. But we do have a black garden snake that slithers by in the evenings.

Hummers

What in the world is going on? Are they giving Hummers away on the west coast of Florida? A day doesn't go by, that I don't see one to eight Hummers on the road. The models range from the original army issue resold to the public, to the new H3. These are $40-60,000 vehicles that get 14 miles to the gallon in the city.

We live in flat land, no battles or skirmishes on the streets, no crossing wild rivers required. So why is it so popular to buy Hummers in this area? Do these folks know something I don't? I know the ocean is rising, expected 3 feet by the end of the century, but how will the Hummer help? What am I missing?

Dirt, Plants and Fertilizer

Mark had a burst of energy this week and tore out the grass/weeds inhabiting 'my' side of the back yard. Understand, Mark has one side (west side), and I have the other side. He has already planted his vegetables, so it was time to get some attention on 'MY' side. Mark kindly removed all grass and the more prevalent weeds from the yard.

We shopped at the Pinellas County Botanical Gardens annual plant sale (see last week's listing for the gardens). Found bromeliads, Ti plants and plumeria - each inexpensively priced compared with Home Depot -our plant price standard. Then, encouraged by the plan success, we ventured over to the Palm Harbor Nursery nearby run by a family from Jamaica...who sounded like they were Irish. They were very interested in Mark since their son, the doctor, had dated a girl from Istanbul for 3 years. What a great selection, and each pot had multiple plants so the cost was reasonable. We walked away with a navel orange tree, bird of paradise, stromanthe.

We enthusiastically prepared the planting areas with organic dirt and potting soil. Then we, with dwindling energy, planted away. Mark ended up on the living room floor moaning about his back. I solved all problems by heading for the gin and tonic. But,in the end, we started the rehab of the backyard!!

Pick a Plant

Spring is in the air, and we are itching to get the backyard past the sandy, weed stage. Especially knowing that hot and humid summer days are around the corner. And when that happens, we wont be itching to be working in the yard.

To generate some ideas, we went to the Florida Botanical Gardens run by Pinellas County. This is a really nice facility that includes botanical gardens, art studios/classrooms and galleries, and a heritage center where visitors can see how early residents lived in Florida.

We enjoyed seeing the variety of plants ranging from spiral palms to colorful bromiliads and ginger plants. The vegetable and herb gardens enlightened us to grow what we wanted....simliar to what we grew in California. When we saw the rose garden we met Sam, who planted the garden in 2000. He assured us that we could grow roses with few problems beyond what we had in California. The aligator warning signs were interesting and reminded us where we were...Florida. Afterwards, I raced home and sketched out the yard with plant ideas, and no room for gators.

The goal is to remove any grass from the backyard which will become the vegetable, herb, fruit and flower part of the yard. Mark has planted his initial raised vegetable bed, approximately 6x16 feet. So, I need to get busy!!