First off, I'm scared silly of spiders. So I don't know why I'm throwing this picture up of a crab spider. He's very small, probably less than half an inch across, and now that I look at him up close, he looks more like a tick that a spider. These guys make their webs across trails quite often, so I walk right into them a lot, and I always worry about where exactly that spider ended up. Is it just me or does that look like some sort of creepy smiley face on his back?
I've always been fascinated by this fish. I don't know why. It's just so incongruous. There he sits, up on a pole, out in the water. No advertising, no message about Jesus, no nothing. Just a fish for the sake of fishness, I suppose. Somehow, that's refreshing.
Seagulls are usually dirty, nasty pests. But they are really pretty when they're in the air.
I see dolphins fairly often while I am out and about, but I almost never get pictures of them. Today I got lucky, and this marine mammal swam across my viewfinder. He was swimming slowly and not diving very deep. so I was able to squeeze off a few shots. He swam under a bridge as I was watching him, so I ran to the other side, but he didn't come up on the far side. I continued walking along the bridge, when suddenly I start hearing voices. It turned out to be the drawbridge tender on his loudspeaker, telling me that there were dolphins on his side of the bridge! It was a little spooky... I didn't get anymore pictures of them, though.
There's nothing like a week in cold, frozen Ohio to make you appreciate the beauty of your own backyard. It's the end of January, but the winter weather is far away from Coquina Beach on Anna Maria Island here in Florida. And this white stuff is sugar sand, not snow. I think I must live in one of the most beautiful spots on the planet!
On the very last day of my recent adventures in Ohio, while in the van on the way to the airport, I finally spotted a deer. I saw three, actually, way off the road behind a thick stand of trees. Not the best situation for a picture, as you can see. It didn't help matters any that there was a well lit clearing behind the animals, making it that much harder to get a shot. But this is what I got. The other ladies were sitting on the ground, and I couldn't get them in the shot. At least I didn't strike out completely this trip.
This week's picture is a group of white pelicans on Lake Morton in Lakeland, FL. These guys migrate down to the area in the winter, so I don't see them around too much. And they seem to prefer freshwater to saltwater, but I have occasionally seen them in the Gulf of Mexico.
Yesterday, Bill, the boss at my Ohio office, took me down through the Cuyahoga Valley in search of some deer. Unfortunately, we didn't spot any, but I did manage to spot this red-tailed hawk. (Well, I believe it's a red-tail, but I'm not an expert on birds anywhere, much less here in Ohio.) Bill must have thought I was crazy when I yelled to stop the van and jumped out with my camera clicking away. In the first few shots I got, the hawk had his head turned down, but this is the first one I got where you could see his head. I was walking towards him slowly, trying not to spook him, when he turned and took off across the river.
I can't even get shots like that in Florida! Right place, right time I guess. He settled in a tree on the far bank of the Cuyahoga, so I kept walking towards him, hoping to get some more shots.
After landing on the far bank, this magnificent bird was too far away to get more good shots, but I waited a little while anyway, and sure enough, he took off soon again and began to circle overhead. It took me a few minutes to figure out why, but it turned out that a crow was harassing him. I got this one shot of the two of them fighting in mid-air. I guess the crows get some kick out of it. I didn't see any food involved, and it's certainly not a mating ritual. But whatever it is, it makes for great pictures!
I know you've all been waiting for these, so here you go... I got up enough nerve to try skiing Thursday night. I didn't realize just how much nerve it was going to take until I actually got to Brandywine Ski Resort and looked up. A giant hill covered in fake snow loomed above me, and I was completely out of my element. I rented some gear, somehow figured out how to get my feet in the ski boots, and wandered out onto the slopes. My lesson wasn't scheduled for a while, so I waited around watching little kids ski around like they were born with skis on their feet, and other folks on snowboards making the surfers down near me look strictly amateur. The instructor finally came around, and it turned out I was the only person in the sub-beginner lesson. (Remember, this is only the day after I saw snow for the first time, yet here I am taking a ski lesson...) He tried his best, but I just couldn't get it. For an entire hour, I'd struggle up a very slight slope, only to slide back down (sometimes backwards!) with little or no control, unable to stop or turn until I either fell over, or, on one spectacular occasion, smash into the split rail fence that separated the slopes from the meltwater stream below. Of the three rails in the fence, I broke two of them clean in half. It wasn't long after that incident that I decided I wasn't going to pick this up quickly enough, and I limped off to the rental return spot with my ego firmly tucked between my legs... (Big thanks to Wendy, an instructor at the resort, for these pictures. Now I know why she didn't want to be my instructor...)
As the snow melted away on Thursday, I started to notice something odd. There were trails of footprints left behind, like something out of an episode of Scooby Doo. Everywhere I had traipsed around and compressed the inch of so of snow on the ground, it was dense enough to melt at a slower rate. So wherever I had been, you could see these footprints. I knew they were my footprints because I was the only one silly enough to go walking around in it for no good reason.
I figured I should try to find a good Ohio license plate to share with you while I'm up here, and this is what I found. My friend Wendy who works up here has this creative plate that for some oxymoronic reason says UNCRE8V. (She also pulled her old plate from WV out of the trunk that said UNCRE8IV.) This was taken the day after it snowed, I think, or maybe late that same day, so it's starting to melt. And when it melts, some of it refreezes into those icicles you see dripping from the front bumper. That's something you don't see very often back home in Florida.
Previous plates: New York, Maine, Hawaii, Washington.
Here's a snow picture for you, just to prove I actually did see snow while here in Ohio. This was taken last Wednesday (if I remember correctly), down at Brandywine Falls, which I'm sure you remember from my adventures in Ohio last year. So far it's only snowed once during my visit, and it only stayed around for about 36 hours. Yesterday the high temperature was in the mid-50s, so it was all melted except in the most sheltered spots. (This is the 3rd warmest January ever on record here in Ohio. Go figure...) Chances are good for some snow this afternoon and overnight, though, so wish me luck!
Right before I left Florida a few days ago, I showed you a glorious sunrise that was somewhat marred by powerlines in the picture. Well, here in Ohio, I've seen one good sunrise, and what do you know, it's got more powerlines running across it! I've got to start planning ahead for these pictures.
I've got tons more pictures to show you from here in OH, but I haven't had time to get them up. Today might work out a little bit better, so stay tuned if you want to see some snow, and if you're lucky, me wiping out on the bunny slope!
Ever hear of a silk oak? Well, I hadn't either until I came to Bradenton. Turns out they are yet another invasive tree, but they put out these spectacular flowers for a few weeks a year. They sort of look like giant Christmas trees hung with golden ornaments when they are in full bloom. Quite a site to see.
Here's a little shot of sunrise this morning. I was at work, so I was pretty limited on what shots I could get. Had I known this sunrise was coming, I would have driven somewhere else. So try to look past the unsightly power lines in the foreground. This picture doesn't really do justice to the breathtaking panorama that spread out as the sun inched towards the horizon (yes, this occurred prior to the sun actually coming up). It probably went on for twenty minutes or more, which is forever for a sunrise this grand. I'm on my way to Ohio later this afternoon. I'll be there for a whole week on business, and I expect I won't be seeing this sort of thing up there this time of year. I suspect this sunrise was nature's way of saying hurry home...
I was up in Lakeland today visiting the old homestead, when I heard the loud call of this sandhill crane. I had hoped to catch him in the air, but he seemed to have no plans to take off and fly. Instead, he was doing his crane dance next to this cow. I don't know exactly what was up with that, but then neither did the cow. As you can see, he was singularly unimpressed by the dancing crane.
Here's a view of Sarasota from this evening for you. I shot this from the causeway between St. Armands Key and City Island. I had to go in there and remove a bunch of spots from the picture, though. I think my lens must be dirty. I'll have to work on that.
Here's a real stunner of a shot from my trip to Ohio last year. Unfortunately, it's also a rerun, because I shared it with you back then. But I think you can still enjoy it. This is the Route 82 bridge over the Cuyahoga River. I had been over the bridge once or twice, and had no idea what it looked like down below. Someone had mentioned it was a nice spot, but no one had any idea how to get there. I finally figured it out, and was well rewarded. I later found out the scenic railroad that runs through the valley uses a similar shot on their brochures, only with the train in the shot. The railroad tracks are off to the left of this picture in the dark part.
I think this was my last bird of the day. It's an immature night heron, but I don't know if it's the yellow or black kind. I think that bright orange eye should tell me, but I'm too lazy to look it up. You gotta love a day when you can go out and see all these different birds and get such great shots of them.
This is the first bird shot from today that I've actually had to crop. This osprey is either the same one I showed you last week catching a fish, or it's mate. It was in the same area, and I also spotted the mate sitting in the same tree as last weekend. He didn't circle close enough for me to get a frame-filling shot, so this is as good as I got. It's not too bad, though.
