Flarda flashback

Just came across this tiny little bit of Flarda's past.
I have a feeling at least one reader has seen it before. 8-}

Florida Factoid Friday

Florida is the only state to designate two fish as state symbols -

- the largemouth bass and the sailfish (1975)

Pictures courtesy University of Florida IFAS Extension

A river runs through it...

I've been missing the day trips DS and I used to enjoy so much. He's off living his own adult life and gas prices are keeping us closer to home. So yesterday was a real treat. We had planned to amble down to Cedar Key... no solid itinerary, just drive down and see where the road took us.

As we were getting ready to leave, we started talking and ended up with a completely new plan. We were going to Albany. Driving up the forest road, the conversation continued and we thought maybe we'd rather chedck out Dothan. It's been a while and we both like the town. After batting a few pros and cons around the car, we both agreed that Albany was the tour du jour.

It was a beautiful day. We thought we'd just explore the town a bit, see what the mall's food court had to offer, then meander home. As we came into town, I spotted a sign that said we should take the next right for the Flint Riverquarium. Hey, that sounds pretty cool. Let's check it out.

Now I gotta tell y'all, DS is not one of those spur-of-the-moment lovin' guys. But he went along with it coz he knew I wanted to do it. He wasn't too thrilled with it, but he reckoned he could suffer through it and then get on with the plan.

Despite the lack of further directional signage, my instincts did me proud and took us right to the place with no aimless goose-chasing. It's beautiful! Let's go inside and see how much... Yeah, OK, whatever. Well $9 a pop sounded like a bit of a waste to DS, but he admirably bit his tongue and didn't let too much grumbling slip out. Within 2 minutes, he had a huge smile on his face and was agreeing it was the best thing we've done in ages.

Seriously, if any of y'all are in the area, this is a wonderful place to spend a few hours. This is the first thing we saw, through a huge wall of windows.

This blue hole spring hosts a variety of turtles...

and fishes

One of my favourites is the Longnose Florida Gar.

This is getting a bit image-intensive, so I'll continue on Tuesday.
Now I need to dig up something for Monday Morning Mystery. Hmmmm....

Name That Tuna

Recently, I've started snapping fish. It's tricky business catching these shy creatures in just the right light. And it helps if they stop moving for a second or three. Both of these are lake livers. I grew up saltwater fishng and to this day know relatively little about freshwater fish/fishing. I do know that Lake Seminole, where I shot the first little guy, is the 5th best bass fishing lake in the country. The second shot was taken yesterday morning at Lake Esther in San Luis Mission Park. Any idea what species they are?

Back and ready to go again

Hey, y'all! Sorry I didn't post yesterday, but I woke up with a raw, raspy throat and was pretty 'blah' all day. It was a fabulous mini-vacation. DS got sick the night before we left, but refused to back out. We ended up leaving about 5 hours later than planned, but I'd allowed for delays, so we still got there in time for a little sight-seeing before dark. DS dragged a bit the first day and a half, but was glad he went.

We were only an hour late getting out the second morning, which, considering our history, merits a punctuality award. We started a gorgeous day at Fred Howard Park in Tarpon Springs, then zipped over to Tampa and got to Lowry Park around 10.15, just in time for the penguin feeding. The white tiger cubs were too adorable, but the clouded leopard cub was snoozing under a rock and blended in much too well for pics. We made it halfway through the second aviary before the heat did us in. Reluctantly, I fnally admitted defeat. If we'd stayed another 5 minutes, they'd have had to cart both of us off to the stroke ward. No kidding, I've never been so beat by the heat. I'm sure the extra-high humidity in the aviary accelerated my downfall. We'll definitely be going back this winter.

After a nice cold drink and a couple hours in the AC, we decided we were going to live. By that time, we'd taken the scenic route through Tampa, crossed the Courtney Campbell Causeway and found a parking spot surprisingly close to Countryside Mall's entrance. The food court was a bit disappointing, but I was glad to see the ice skating rink is still there.

We decided to double back and check out the other side of Courtney Campbell before taking Memorial Causeway to Clearwater Beach. DS was really glad we did, coz we came across a flock of well over 200 Black Terns basking and bathing on the mostly deserted beach. Halfway across Memorial, we considered visiting the marine aquarium, but agreed to add that to our ever-growing 'next time' list.

Next, we headed back north to Dunedin Causeway. I was scattily snapping shorebirds there when the CARD FULL warning popped up. I don't think I've ever seen that since I got the 1GB card. Well, I could sit there and wade through the 480-some odd shots to see if some could be deleted or I could zip over to WallyWorld and buy a new card. By the time we got out of WM, DS was crashing and we were both getting hungry, so we plotted a circuitous course back to Tarpon Springs. While DS ran into 7-11 for a brownie, I switched memory cards and got frustrated all over again. Now the camera tells me the card can't be used. WHAT?! I splurged on a 60x 2GB memory card and it's no good? Hmmm... new card, old(er) camera... I've outsmarted myself again, haven't I? A quick detour to Ritz Camera confirmed my suspicions. *sigh* OK, so I'll just save this card for my new camera and pick up a 512MB card a t the next WM. Surely I won't take more than 245 pics our last half day, right? (I ended up with 226. LOL!)

By the time we finally got supper at the Kentucky Fried Taco Pizza combo, we were both ready to call it a day. Neither of us had any trouble reaching REM before midnight.

Getting up at 5AM is outrageously out of character for me, but I was first in line when breakfast was served at 6. We were both just as happy to scrap our original schedule and start the day at Wall Springs. A stunningly beautiful park, it was the perfect choice. We'd have spent more than an hour & 45 minutes there if we'd had more time and stamina. But we did want to check out a few more spots before heading home. After Palm Harbor - where we spotted a pair of Black-hooded Parakeets - and Ozona, we drove again around Spring Bayou, then made a quick run by the Anclote River parks. No peacocks or Monk parakeets this time. Up the road, a lone Black Skimmer among the gulls and terns at Pine Island rounded out the bird list right nicely.

Unable to put off the inevitable any longer, we started home. After a quick burger in Chiefland, I was happy to take DS up on his offer to drive the rest of the way. This worked out great, as he usually reclines the seat and snoozes through the endless nothingness of that last leg. About 4-5 miles outside Newport, I noticed something moving way out in the new growth of a recently burned section of forest. Could it be? No way! BEARS! (Thankfully DS is a good driver and being scared witless by my sudden shriek of joy didn't land us in a ditch.) No, just pigs, I reckon... no.. wait.. they ARE bears! A momma and 2 cubs! I've been looking for bears for years. I've seen them in the Smokies, but never in Flarda. We finally found a safe place to turn around without being flattened by the 18-wheeler behind us and went back for a better look. Just time for 2 quick snaps and a quick focus of the bins before more headlights appeared in the rearview. A perfect end to the best mini-vacation ever.

The only really disappointing thing was the quality of my pictures. Some turned out great, but the low light at Lowry made for a lot of mediocre results. It's my one biggest complaint about this otherwise excellent camera. I'll try to sort through and post a few of the better ones later this (Saturday) evening. God bless y'all! 8-]

Swan feeds fish at zoo

A black swan feeds carps at Shenzhen Wildlife Park in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, April 7, 2007. The waterbird and the fish formed the unusual bonding after living together for three years.

A swan in a Chinese zoo feeds its fish friends every day to the amazement of visitors.

The swan picks up the feed and takes it to the mouths of the waiting fish, reports Southern City Papers.

"They became close friends after three years of playing together," say staff at Safari Park in Shenzhen City.

"Every time I come to feed the swan, all the fish follow him to the bank, with mouths open. And he takes the food and puts some into each of the hungry mouths," says the feeder.

"When everyone has eaten enough, the swan goes back onto the water and plays with his fish friends again."