Life in the "slower traffic keep to the right" lane

New Year’s Day kayaking

2010-01-01T15:49:00.001-05:00

I liked how the mangroves looked and how they were reflected in the water. I didn’t see the iguana in the tree until I uploaded the picture!

This sponge is HUGE!

Everglades National Park trip

2009-12-28T15:42:00.000-05:00

The pine trees and palmettos reminded us of north Florida.

The Dwarf Bald Cypress forest was pretty cool, in an eerie way.

Some ponds where clear and others were…not. Here are some kind of bugs on the surface of one the …not ponds

Tent camping at Flamingo Point

Perigean spring tide

2009-09-17T16:21:00.003-04:00

Spring, as in "to come forth", not the season...

Overflow from the Sigsbee Marina lagoon

Overflow from the Sigsbee Marina lagoon

Ditto

Sitting at the picnic table

Driving down the causeway

Iguana crossing (the previous day)

Treasure!!!

2009-07-28T09:31:00.002-04:00

I was beach combing yesterday at low tide and found this. The quarter is for comparison.

At first I thought it was a token as it is very lightweight.

It's a very worn Cuban 20 centavos coin. Here is how it is supposed to look. I should have looked up the coin before taking the picture as it would have been a nice touch to have fronts and backs together. C’est la vie…

How cool is that?

Fireworks

2009-07-05T20:36:00.000-04:00

Twilight at Truman Annex, waiting for the fireworks. All the dots of lights are boats lined up to view the fireworks.

Around the Island

2009-04-28T14:26:00.005-04:00

The most photographed goats in Key West at least by my family

The view from the Trumbo Bridge

Jet skiers in action

Fish (tarpon?and Sergeant Majors) at the Truman Complex waterfront

Photographed through a chain link fence

Vandenberg!

2009-04-23T22:30:00.002-04:00

I knew the Vandenberg was supposed to be arriving soon, but I forgot about it. Last night, as we were leaving Truman Annex,Tiny looked over, and said “what is THAT? All we could see at the time were the towers and the satellite dishes. We needed a closer look and we were not alone. There was a small crowd gathered.
Soon she will be scuttled to become an artificial reef

and then the sun was going down…

and then, in a blink, it was gone

Sunrise

2009-04-23T17:37:00.001-04:00

I had heard rumors of this occurrence, had even caught a glimpse of one once or twice.

This may turn me into a morning person…

Salt Life

2009-04-15T18:53:00.001-04:00

A barracuda, seen yesterday while I was snorkeling. I like the sunlight sparkling on the ocean floor. The water was maybe 4 feet deep.

We went kayaking later, trying to find our tarpon. We saw one briefly, but that was it. I did get a few good shots of the other side of “the abyss”. I’m not sure what this sponge is called. I call it a ‘wagonwheel’. There’s a bumper crop of them.

The abyss is much wider at this side of the island

We saw this iguana a few weeks ago. He is the biggest one that I have seen. His face is in the sunlight and is a bit difficult to see

It was a good weekend

2009-04-07T17:07:00.002-04:00

Early Saturday morning we went for a walk. As usual, we stopped at the footbridge to check out the canal. I was insanely happy to see OUR (yes, it is OURS!) big nurse shark swimming back up the canal. It had been a long time since we had seen him. Of course, we hadn’t been looking as much as in the past. I was rather afraid some knuckle-dragger had caught him.

I didn’t have my camera with me (my BAD…). But here's a picture from last year

We went kayaking that evening. I shot a pretty nice sunset photo. The water was nice and still, which makes for a really great kayak trip. I spend most of the time looking down in the water trying to spot wildlife. Three people have told us about seeing dolphins around the canal. If I saw them, I swear I would jump out of the kayak and swim with them!

Sunday evening we went back out after hearing rumors of a manatee sighting. We didn’t see any manatees, but we did find at least 6 HUGE tarpon . I never did get a photo of them, but it was a REALLY cool experience. The ones I got a good look at were probably 6 feet long. They swam by Tiny’s kayak and were about half of its 13 foot length. The first word that popped into my head was “prehistoric”. Here’s a link for a photo that I found on the internet.

Life is good.

What I saw today while kayaking

2009-03-17T21:10:00.001-04:00

A small nurse shark.

Fort Zachary Taylor

2009-03-07T19:58:00.000-05:00

In the year and a half that we’ve lived here, we had never been to Fort Zachary Taylor before today.

Plant P0rn

2009-03-06T22:18:00.000-05:00

We went to MARC so I could get some plants I have been drooling over

Passionflower – smells wonderful! They took the label/price tag off the orchid, so I have no ID for it. Smells spicy

I brought a passionflower vine down when we moved from the JAX area. But ants ate the roots. That has been the fate of most of my container plants up to now. We bought some diatomaceous earth from Home Depot which I have been adding to every pot. I even repotted a big tomato plant and didn’t kill the plant, amazingly enough!

Fuchsias – I don’t have an area outside that doesn’t get full sun. I’m hoping my window sill will have enough filtered light for them

I picked up a couple hibiscus, a pink and a veiny red, but they aren’t flowering at the moment

02/2008 Sigsbee Canal

2009-02-21T16:27:00.002-05:00

We are so fortunate to have the canal across the street. We just haul the kayaks over and we’re on our way. Last year at this time I had just gotten out of the walking boot, so we were making up for lost time.

We really need to get back into kayaking more often.

Fog 2

2009-02-17T10:45:00.002-05:00

Sunday morning we woke to fog again. It was more dense than Friday's fog. It's a shame since the seas were supposed to be calm and many of our boating friends were thinking of going out during the 3 day weekend (4 if you're military!).

Valentine's Day Roadtrip

2009-02-14T23:21:00.001-05:00

This Valentine's Day is the 29th anniversary of our engagement.
We spent the day in a short road trip, driving through parts of the Lower Keys. We saw this Key Deer on No Name Road on No Name Key. He's actually pretty big for a Key Deer. DH looked in the rear view mirror and saw him just ambling down the road.

We spent most of the day at Bahia Honda State Park. It was so beautiful, the pictures don't do it justice. And it was HOT! We stopped there on the spur of the moment, so we didn't have our swimsuits or snorkel gear with us. There was lots of seaweed on the shore. I don't know if that is how it always is.

Fog

2009-02-13T22:17:00.008-05:00

Today was the first foggy day we've had since moving here a year and a half ago.
Click here for more info.

At the Courtyard Marriot
Truman Annex

Where we go snorkeling

Ghost ship
At Trumbo

Low Tide

2009-02-08T15:48:00.008-05:00

Actually, this isn't the lowest I've seen it, just the lowest while having a camera in my possession!

Looking east

Looking west

Cruise ship in the distance

Low tide April 2005

REALLY low tide February 2009

Wildlife we've seen in the Florida Keys

2009-02-03T11:32:00.011-05:00

Dolphins!!! Boca Grande Key

Ibises grazing in a yard

Juvenile ibises

Nurse shark seen off South Roosevelt

Osprey seen on Sigsbee

Key Deer on No Name Key

Shark seen from Sigsbee footbridge

Birds on Trumbo, separated by species

Octopus seen from Sigsbee footbridge

Grouper(?) seen while kayaking in The Abyss

Nurse shark seen while kayaking in The Canal

Sea slugs at Geiger Key

Manatee in The Canal

Herd of starfish in The Canal

Big iguana at The Canal

School of fish in The Abyss

Kayak Trip 1/10/09

2009-01-25T22:27:00.008-05:00

Fivemile Creek

I like the reflection in the water on the paddle.

Ibises at low tide.

Snorkeling 12/30/08

2009-01-21T06:18:00.002-05:00

When Jessica came down for Christmas, one thing she really wanted to do was go snorkeling. Every time we thought about it, the water was too rough or too silty. Of course, once she went home, the water calmed down...
So Tiny, Rachel and I went snorkeling on the 30th. The water was SO COLD going in, but after the inital shock, it actually felt good.

Here are Tiny and Rachel. Notice in the background the large herd of "touristasfromma upnorthofus" captured here in their annual winter migration. Also known as "jetskius americanas". This is the largest herd, I've seen yet...
A fellow crab

Some type of snail

Fish and granite block

We did see a dolphin one night swimming near the Coast Guard Station. No pictures, unfortunately! Jessica is already planning her summer trip down to visit. She's like me, I could go snorkeling everyday. I'm not a great swimmer, I've never been too crazy about getting into the water before now, but I LOVE to go snorkeling!

Parting shot. My camera battery died after taking this photo. Just then the crab latched on to Rachel's hand. I had to force my fingernail between her skin and his pinscer to get it to let go. It was pretty funny, we were all laughing. It didn't break the skin but definitely left a mark on her.
BTW, that is NOT a tattoo on her bicep!

Boca Grande Key 2/9/08

2009-01-12T14:50:00.002-05:00

Seven Mile Bridge

2008-12-30T01:32:00.005-05:00

We brought our bikes out to Marathon, to ride on the old Seven Mile Bridge.

As we were riding , I remembered a friend telling me her family had driven on this bridge when she was a kid. She said you could look down into the water and see sharks and rays swimming.

So we stopped to see if anything was down there. There had to have been 30 Spotted Eagle Rays swimming around. Some were close by, others were out in the distance. We were excited to see them and I was taking pictures, when another couple stopped to see what the excitement was about. The woman looks down and says, "Holy cow, that's as big as a queen sized bed!"

Unfortunately, the camera focused on the water and not on the ray. But you can at least see the shape.

Pigeon Key

We were headed back when Rachel spotted this sea turtle swimming. I love his face. He looks like a cartoon character!

The end of an era

2008-12-30T01:09:00.006-05:00

I liked the old water towers. They made it very easy to spot Sigsbee in pictures of Key West.

They figure prominently in my "quick, grab a camera, the sunset is gorgeous!" photos

They had character
But they were doomed...

I do need to take a photo now they are completely gone...

Taking the boat out

2008-11-23T00:19:00.027-05:00

Since mid- August we've only gone out in the boat twice. Three tropical storms, thunderstorms on the weekends, out of town trips, sciatica, migraines and repairs to the boat ramp that took twice as long as promised, have all conspired against us.

Last weekend we went to Snipes Point with some fellow Backwater Pirates. Going out, the water was so still and flat, that it was hard to tell where the sky ended and the water began. Much like this
We went during low tide, so there was quite a lot of beach exposed. We were sitting on beach chairs in the water. As the day progressed the beach got smaller and smaller and we had to keep moving inland whenever we would start floating off the chairs. The water was chilly at first but felt good once you were used to it.

Low tide, but not the lowest.

Same scene at higher tide, but not high tide.

Shells and shell fragments

Crab pretending to be rock

On plane

Brrrrrr....

2008-11-11T14:50:00.013-05:00

We went snorkeling this morning at Truman Annex Beach. Man, was the water cold! It took me quite awhile to go all the way in. At one point I know I said "it's too cold, I can't do this!" But eventually I did and adjusted quickly to the water temp.

It was low tide so it was shallow and the water was the clearest I've seen yet.

I stumbled on a rock while coming out of the water and snapped this picture by mistake. I think it's funny!

Unfortunately, there were no fish. We went further out than we normally do, where the current was stronger. It took a lot of effort to get back, as I'm not a strong swimmer.

The past week or two we had power boat racing going on. Those are some big honkin' boats!

Gardening advice

2007-11-20T09:25:00.013-05:00

One invaluable piece of gardening advice is to properly amend your soil. Plants grow best in light fluffy soil.
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Unless of course, they're growing on a concrete bridge
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Backstory

2007-11-04T19:47:00.004-05:00

Not everyone has heard my tale of woe. I have a boo-boo. A boo-boo, known as chronic Achilles tendinitis.

I have been in a walking cast since September 26th. My belief that this would be a quick fix has been proven wrong. Alas, I have no one to blame but myself. During my two year tenure at Kohls, every time I resumed work after pausing for a break, or a morning huddle, my ankles would be tight. Did I think "perhaps this is something I should be concerned with"? No. Not I. Thus the label "chronic", as in "of a long duration".

When we first arrived in Key West, my plan was to take it easy for awhile and let it get all better. Which did not happen.
So, I am basically homebound. My foot is elevated anytime I don't NEED to be on it. No biking, no kayaking, no walking and there goes my goal of getting into shape to run a 5K

I wear the black walking cast during the day and the night splint, well,,,at night

The patio is finished

2007-11-03T17:02:00.017-04:00

Okay, this isn't our patio, it's the one next door. But this is how ours looked before Tiny upgraded it. I forgot to take a before picture. My bad...

AFTER

Here is how ours looks now. He dug out all of the rocks and most of the dirt. Then he placed the pavers in sand and leveled as he went. The pavers were given to us by a neighbor who was moving, so they were free. He closed in the roof opening to keep the torrential rains out. We can live with the reduced light level.