Protecting Nemo and His Friends or, If You Want to LIve, Jump in My Mouth

What a variety of weather.  We had the water supply freeze for a few hours the other morning and today it was a sauna as a warm front hit with lots of moisture.  Tornado warnings (radar spotted several) but unknown whether any touched down as of this evening.  We are without broadcast TV here but have a good WiFI connection.  Makes you appreciate a “dry heat”.

The more we socialize with our fellow campers the more we hear how this is one of the best campgrounds in the state.  We have a 4 PM happy hour where someone blows the conch shell and we all gather at the fire pit just a few yards down from our space.  It is definitely a different life style.  I feel sorry for the ones that just get to do it for a week or weekend.  This retirement deal gives you lots of flexibility in your schedule and your sense of time and priorities change.  I suspect we have a lot of changing to do yet.

The view from our rear window

The view from our bedroom window and yes, that is frost on the roof at 9 AM!

The upper end of our inlet

Our Open Road from across the inlet

The entrance to our inlet from the Myakka River

Rog, a neighbor of his and I went fishing yesterday and scored another first.  We caught a pelican.  He (the pelican) dove down and grabbed one of our lures as it was being retrieved.  Luckily, Rog had read the press release so we knew what to do.  First you reel him up to the boat.  Then you simply throw a towel around him to bundle up his wings and legs (actually second, first you get a small towel around his beak or he is going to bite your ass), carefully remove the hook, then simply release him to the theme from “Born Free”.  Lucky also that there were three of us and only one of him.  I think I am being gender correct here as it was a juvenile pelican and only a male of the species could be stupid enough to try what he did.  He appeared grateful, as he stuck around until we threw him a fish.  The fact that it was too big to swallow kept him and his friends busy for quite a while.  After it was all done and we finished congratulating ourselves for not killing off one more sea bird, we realized that we didn’t get one picture of the whole incident.  Oh well, Rog and I will be going back, so we’ll get his photo then. He should be easy to find; he'll be the one with the fish tail still sticking out of his mouth.

Raining here, stay dry y'all.