Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.

Henry David Thoreau

Rains

Wednesday May 17 and Thursday May 18, 2012
Lithia Springs Site 40, Lithia, Florida

 

Finally it rains.

I wake up to rain on the roof Wednesday morning. It sounds like a good hard rain but I know from experience that the RV magnifies the sound of rain quite a bit so I’ll need to go outside to really assess the situation.

 

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I love rain on the roof but I love early mornings on the river bank too.  True to form, my mind is working on how to have both.  So I get the TIBU and put it to a new use as a rain umbrella.  The rain is light.  The perfect kind to soak into the ground.  I enjoy watching the drops hit the water and make overlapping circles.  Doesn’t take much to entertain me.  :-)  

 

 

 

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When David wakes up, he takes these pictures of me from dinette window.  The rain comes and goes all day long and then picks up in earnest about 7:00 in the evening and pounds down all night long.  We think we might watch a Red Box DVD I picked up entitled W.E. written and directed by Madonna about a modern day young woman named Wallis after Wallis Simpson who is obsessed with the life of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor when Christies auctions off many of their household possessions.  But the rain on the roof is so loud, we can’t even hear each other without screaming.  So that idea is scrapped.  But this rain is so needed, it’s been so long since there has been any real rain.  It is great sleeping music so we read some and go to bed early.  I’m anxious to see how our jungle looks tomorrow morning with this infusion of water.

 

I’m up and out early on Thursday to see how things look. 

 

Everything is SO green.  The resurrection ferns growing on the live oak that shades our campsite are totally awake and alive.  But try as I might I am unable to take a good picture of them over my head.   The sun foils every attempt.  So it’s either too bright or later in the day, too dark in the shade.

 

 

I start to go down to the river bank to see how much the river has risen. 

But when I get to the fence, I stop abruptly when I notice someone has arrived before me.   Can you see him on  a low waterside branch just to the left of where I was sitting yesterday??

 

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This is a resident red shouldered hawk whose kee-aah kee-aah kee-aah I hear all around the park.  I’ve seen him flying up and down the river, over at the spring and to and from various trees in the camp sites.  But this is the best view I’ve had and for the longest time.  I stand frozen watching him watch the river and then fly across to the other side and land in a tree with his back to the water.  In the lower right of the picture below you can see the resurrection ferns on the tree branch.  They have been brown and dead looking for months.  Today they are green and shining as the hawk looks over his shoulder.

 

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The river doesn’t actually look like it has risen any so I decide to walk over to the spring and see what has happened there. 

 

Site 40 is the last site in the campground and there is a trail that comes from it to the boat dock.

 

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Unfortunately the trail isn’t marked at the boat dock end saying this does not go to the general campground area so we get folks thinking they are going on a hike along the river but end up in short order at our fire ring. 

 

 

 

 

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It’s a pretty trail along the water.  Though short, it feels like walking through the jungle.  Seeing the river beside me as I walk along, makes me think of Casablanca.  I keep an eye out as I go looking to see if Rick and Ilsa are coming up the Alafia.

 

 

 

 

The spring is crystal clear and inviting.

 

I wade into the spring.  Its water is a cool 72 degrees. Lots of fish around my toes.  They look almost clear too.

 

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But the water level doesn’t seem to be much higher here at the spring than at the river.  I guess it takes more than one over night pounding rain to make a difference in the water levels. 

 

When I walk down the spring run I find a visitor I haven’t seen here before.

 

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The spoon bill is pink but not the bright red of breeding plumage.
Still he’s striking and that is definitely some bill.

 

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Naturally I take zillions of pictures of the visitor and stay forever.  However I know the rules, don’t post TOO many pictures.  And especially not of the same thing. But it’s sure hard to choose.

Who knows how long I might have stayed to watch him if he hadn’t he flown off over the spring and toward the river.

 

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What makes him fly off is the official ATV being driven by the spring flow monitors who zoom from the main spring, down along the spring run and over to the 2nd totally natural spring.   Not sure if their arrival has anything to do with the rain or if they just monitor the flow of the springs on a regular basis.  But they are the only lucky ones who ever get to go over into this beautiful spring any more.

 

  By now it is past lunch time and I am hungry so I take the jungle path back to Winnona.   What a great morning!

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David is taking it easy, paying close attention to how he feels.

His back is not bothering him as much so we are cautiously optimistic but he still has some insomnia and the post dex fatigue has returned early it seems.

He doesn’t do much these two days.  He works on some minor repairs which he enjoys.  Things that don’t require a lot of energy.  He fixes both breakfast and dinner.  I offer to do the dishes but he’d rather do them and have me read aloud from Peter Matthiessen's Shadow Country.  This link is a bare bones wiki discussion of this award winning book.  The book is anything but dull and is beautifully written.  During many weeks of dinner dishes, we’ve done nearly 600 of 900 pages of this story about the history of south Florida and E.J. Watson.  The only days we don’t read are those when he is just too tired to cook or clean up.

 


 

After lunch it is time to try out my new screened room. 

David offers to help me in this set up effort but I decline although the label on the screen case clearly says in all capital letters at the bottom of this photo…..

Not sure when exactly 095C

 

However, the reason I bought this one was the manufacturer Coleman said “easy 5 minute set up”.  So it is time to try it out and find out whether I can do this by myself.  That has now become a necessary criteria for anything purchased.   If I can’t and they are right about this BOLD STATEMENT, then the room will have to go back 

 

Screen house, Gin & Syl 002

Here are the results. 

TA DA!!! 

I guess we’ll keep it at least long enough to test drive it with mosquitoes.  But no need to encourage them to show up any time soon.

 

My only regret is that I don’t look more smug in this picture.

40 comments:

  1. Great wildlife pictures! That is the first time I have actually seen the red shoulder on on the hawk named after that patch of color. Thank you for capturing that and so much more that I otherwise would have missed from this day.

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  2. You go ahead and post as many pictures as you like ... of the things you like. It's your blog and we're guests enjoying your words and images. I would have been right there with you, setting up my sun umbrella to enjoy the pitter patter of the rain. We're back at Pohick Bay and I just got back from a walk even though there was some light rain coming through the heavy canopy.

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    1. Thanks for the go ahead E. You can see I posted 3 rather than 1. Wish you'd been here, we would both have fit under the TIBU. I actually love to walk and run in light rain. It is so refreshing.

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  3. Love the spoonbill and yes, that is some very clear water in the spring. The hawk by the river is awesome!
    Syl

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    1. I see those fish now and think of you two. What a great thing!!
      That hawk was awesome and he stayed around and he was so close. I'm REALLY hoping we can get site 40 just one more time.

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  4. Lovely picture of the spoonbill. You should be very proud to put that thing up by your own self :)

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    1. Thank you Laurie. I knew I could do it. Can't figure out why they have the big bold print. Hope there isn't some hidden reason I haven't discovered yet. :-)

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  5. Great morning and photos!!! Love the way nature renews itself with water:o)))

    Nice job on the screen room...looks like a winner!!!

    We're hoping David has found the back pain relief he needs to get the rest (sleep) he needs:o))

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    1. Well it's not as nice as yours for sure but then my basement isn't as big and my help isn't as healthy just now. Jury is still out on the back pain. Better for sure....gone, not yet.

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  6. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    1. Well I didn't know they were going to put this up when I deleted Laurie's duplicate comment. So I'd better explain now. Those of you who are not used to your comments not showing up instantly may think your comment has disappeared. But it hasn't. Because of Spam, I have all comments come to me to post so I can delete the spams first. Thus, if I'm away or have gone to bed or as tonight, gmail was SLOOOOWWW in getting me the comments, I may not get them up right away. Usually if someone posts the same thing twice, I'm sure that's what it is and I post one and delete the other. I missed this one. But I did not intend for you to think that I would delete a comment from someone because I didn't like it. See Laurie's comment above. It was the same comment. So sorry blogger can't take care of all the spam itself so I could just let things post away all on their own. Hope you don't mind. Your comments are important!

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    2. No worries! Sometimes with slow internet (we tether our phones at night) it appears that the comment doesn't go through (I know you moderate). Weird that it went through twice!

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    3. Thanks Laurie. I'd much rather have double posts than no post. ;-))

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  7. Lol, I admire your determination to get your screened room up. I have an easy-up and it is anything up easy to put up!! But I fight and yell (just a little) and up it goes. The tricks I learn to get it up somehow are forgotten by the time I need to put it up again. Geezs! Anyway, Good Job!

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    1. I know what you mean about forgetting the tricks by the time you need them again. Thanks for the encouragement!

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  8. Oh, I love the pink spoonbill. That is so lovely -- like a light flamingo, but prettier than a flamingo. That's one of my favorites of all of your pictures. Of course, the picture of the screened room is lovely, too. :-) Happy Memorial Day weekend. I hope that it will be relaxing for y'all. Take care!

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    1. They really are lovely Pam but those bills are just funny looking. Makes me think of someone who has a fat lip or something. :-) Thanks for the good wishes.

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  9. Well Sherry, I hope to see your "smug" face somewhere down the road soon! I know you can do it! :)

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    1. Thanks Gail. Looks like any seeing is going to have to be in Florida. But I don't recommend it as a summer destination. ;-))

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  10. Another wonderful post. I would have trouble choosing a favorite picture. Would probably be one of the spoonbill pics. I'm glad to know that the shot did help David some. Hope you have a peaceful long weekend. I KNOW that if there are any UPS to be found, you will find them!

    Re your email---the kid is a teenager now--Pooh Bear doesn't rate a place in her room. But then, what is Nan's house for except to serve as a huge storage closet for all of her and her brother's outgrown stuff??

    Take care. Know that you have lots of people in the cheering section! Rose

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    1. Wondering how my comment to you got moved down?? Sometimes blogger is just weird

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  11. I'll have to find that book. "Killing Mr. Watson" is another of Mr. Matthiessen's books about the characters of the 10,000 Islands. I picked it up and couldn't put it down once I started reading.

    Nice shots of the hawk and the spoonbill. Truly envious here.

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    1. Hey Page, Check out the link on the book, it's a new workimng of his 20 year writing of this story. Me too, can't stop reading it. I read this when it first came out, knew David would love it but wouldn't get through it unless I read it aloud. He loves it enough to do nearly all the dishes. ; -))

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  12. So glad to have you here Rose. Keeping my eyes peeled for those ups!!

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  13. Never seen a spoonbill but it's on my list of birds I'd like to see. I think they are so cute. Good job on the screen tent! We want to get one of those too! Both Dan and I are anxious to get back down to FL....won't be until September though.

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    1. Sept is a good time to be anxious to return. Looks like we'll still be here to welcome you.

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  14. So glad to hear the shot has given David some relief. Hopefully things will get better for him. Nice screen room and good job setting it up by yourself.

    Post as many pics as you like...if anyone doesn't like them they can scroll through them. Nice spoonbill!

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  15. Love the pics of the red shouldered hawk. We had a family that nested in our subdivision and it was one of my favorite things about Florida- I loved their call.

    Good job on the screen room- you will need that soon :)

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    1. Wow what a great neighborhood. I do love them as neighbors. Very interesting, not too noisy, nice and tidy. ;-))

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  16. I have a Eureka screened room that I can set up by myself; also have a Big Agnes tent I can set up by myself but with difficulty. It is 6 ft tall at the center - nice for standing up in the tent, but difficult to attach the hooks on the outside top.

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    1. Good for you Gypsy. We independent women have to stick together. :-) I had a car camping tent that was tall like that and I had the same problem with the hooks on the outside. Had to hook them before I pushed the poles all the way up which was a trick.

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  17. What a great area to be staying in. I can imagine that you would need that screen room. It is beautiful, but does look buggy there:)

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    1. It's a great area if you can spend all day by or in the water. Pretty hot if you don't. So far the bugs aren't too bad until long about dark. But anyday now I'm sure.

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  18. Sherry,

    That post is worthy of being seen on the National Geographic Channel. It was wonderful! You sure have an eye for the beauty of nature and great talent for sharing it.

    Glad to hear that David's back pain is getting better.

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    1. Thank you for the compliment Paul. That's pretty high praise for little ol' me and my little ol' camera. It is great to see this beauty and be in a place where I can. Do sish I could have gotten those otters when they were here but I just wasn't willing to take the chance of scaring them.

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  19. I too like the sound of rain on a "tin roof". Never thought about it being so loud that you couldn't watch a movie though. Would have been nice if it had worked; the combination of rain and a movie sounds very relaxing. I love sitting on my front porch when it rains - the smell of rain is beautiful. There is a good movie out(I hear... have not seen it) with Tom Hanks - available at Red Box now - about a boy whose father died in the Twin Towers. Sandra Bullock is in it - can't recall the title... but thought you might enjoy it. Something in the title is "incredibly Loud"... I think. Really good to hear that David has a little relief from his epidural... now if we could get some meat on his bones! Congrats on getting that room up. Maybe it will keep the bugs at bay... just seeing it there. Although your replacement umbrella isn't up to snuf... it is very colorful and makes the photos look happy.

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  20. Thanks Carol for the movie tip. I think it's titled Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. We've pretty much given up the "meat on his bones" since it doesn't seem to matter how much or what he eats. These drugs are just making it impossible to gain anything back. We're grateful if he doesn't lose a pound a day.

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  21. My favorite pictures were those of the spoonbill (what a neat bird!), the redshouldered hawk and you by the screened in tent! Oh, wait, and the one of you using the inferior umbrella as a rainbrella is good too - so difficult to choose the best! Rain is always a relief after many, many dry days - interesting that the water did not rise. Another enjoyable blog!

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