We have a new visitor in the form of Dillon the Armadillo. We couldn’t get too close as these creatures can jump three to four feet in the air if frightened, so it’s not a great photo taken with hubby’s iPhone.
The nine-banded armadillo is quite small and mostly nocturnal, so it was surprising to see him during the day. Now we know who is responsible for digging holes in the lawn. There’s always something new to see in nature if one is on the lookout.
“If you truly love Nature, you will find beauty everywhere.” ~ Vincent Van Gogh
Every morning, hubby and I go for a three mile walk around our community. We are so blessed with the weather here in Florida and as long as we get out whilst it’s still quite cool, it’s really pleasant. We see a few walkers and cyclists on our route and always smile and wave, occasionally exchanging a few encouraging words, from the required distance of course. Whilst it’s good to see some of our human neighbours, the beauty of nature is the best thing about our walks.
This lovely garden has a beautiful and fragrant Frangipani in bloom.
Danny and Daisy weren’t taking any chances and crossed the road to maintain social distancing.
Robbie rabbit turned his back on me, just in case.
Sammy was also not in the mood for socialising.
The Great Egret just ignored me as he snootily strutted his stuff.
Almost home and time for breakfast, as we passed this lovely Angel Trumpet vine.
I so look forward to our daily walks. As John Muir noted, “In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks.” Wishing you all a peaceful and safe weekend.
It’s always exciting to see who I can spy through my bathroom window.
Beaky the white ibis.
Tommy the red-bellied turtle.
Jack the Blue Jay.
Picus the Red-bellied Woodpecker.
Wishing you all a very happy Wednesday.
You can join Linda’s ‘One-Liner Wednesday’ by clicking the link.
Here we have Ms Annie anhinga modelling her stunning winter outfit. It presents an elegant and smooth profile with the cape completely closed.
For a more dramatic effect, the cape can be opened right up to show the magnificent placing of the feathers. This outfit can not only be worn in Florida’s sunny weather, but also if there’s a sudden downpour it’s totally water-resistant. In fact it’s so versatile that one can even swim in it.
Wishing you all a very pleasant Tuesday.
Samantha squirrel is looking very pleased with herself and she’s not sharing.
Lenny Limpkin on the prowl.
Happy Wednesday to you all.
Yesterday, hubby received an email from our home owners association, asking whether we would be interested in having our Iguanas shot once a month by guys with pellet guns, at a cost to each home owner of ‘only’ $500 per year. Obviously not the bargain of the century. Of course, our reply to the email was in the negative.
I think that adapting to our environment is essential when moving into a neighbourhood. We should remember that animals were here before humans and in spite of the way that man recklessly abuses our beautiful planet, will most probably survive for much longer too.
We love to watch the wildlife here, but apparently not everyone feels the same way and the thing to do instead of enjoying it, is to complain about it. Some people really need to get a life and wake up and smell the roses as well as admire the birds and animals we are blessed to share our world with.
Apparently some of our neighbours are complaining that their plants are being eaten by iguanas. We have prevented this happening to our garden by planting only bushes and trees which the iguanas don’t find tasty. Our orchids and other delicious flowering plants such as hibiscus, cyclamen and impatiens are protected inside our screen room, which makes perfect sense to us. Anyway, I really don’t welcome the thought of strangers with pellet guns roaming around outside my house. If it does happen, they’d better have good insurance in case they hit one of my windows or worse.
What do you think of my Iggys? Are they not perfect examples of their species, which is more than can be said of some humans?
Here is young Iggy Rock Star, the veritable James Dean of his species. He could be the poster boy for the campaign against cruelty to his scaly brethren. Let’s hope James Dean’s quote, “Live fast, die young, leave a good-looking corpse,” doesn’t come true for him.
I really don’t know what the answer is to the burgeoning Iguana population in Florida. One can hardly give them all birth control. All I know is that I would really miss seeing them around. I’ll let you know what transpires once the powers-that-be have come to a decision on the matter.
Have a great weekend dear friends.
So, yesterday at breakfast time, Mr. GBH didn’t have much luck in our backyard. After flying over to the other side of the water to see whether he could find better pickings, he decided to return here just before lunch. He stood for a few minutes peering into the water, then all of a sudden disappeared from view, triumphantly emerging a few seconds later, proudly bearing a very decent catch.
“Wow, look at me now!” he bragged as best he could with his mouth stuffed full of hapless, wriggling fish. “No point in fighting. Your fate is sealed, and there’s no escape for you my fishy friend. Just keep still and and I’ll have you down the hatch in one gulp,” he promised, as he struggled to manoevre his unlucky prey around to a more manageable angle.
In less time than it takes to say “Fish for lunch,” poor Mr. Fishy who had just been out for a bit of Sunday morning swimming practice, found himself right inside his captor’s expanding gullet. With the strains of Pink Floyd’s ‘Goodbye Cruel World’ echoing in his head, he descended into the blackness and mercifully knew no more.
“Well that was absolutely delicious,” said a very satisfied Mr. GBH, as he strutted off to find a shady spot for his siesta.
I hope your week is happier than was Mr. Fishy’s Sunday. Perhaps you’ll be as successful as Mr. GBH. It just takes a bit of patience and perseverance to get the prize.
I haven’t spent much time watching my Backyardigans lately, but hubby spotted Mr. Turtle cruising around. I wonder if this is the same one who we had outside our garage door last month. If so, little Terrence has really grown a lot.
If any of you have noticed that I’ve been missing in ‘inaction’ for a while, It’s because I’ve been down with this dreadful coughing flu ‘adenovirus’. Some days I’ve managed to surface for a couple of hours, and most nights I’ve spent coughing myself silly. My son and family arrive on Friday and I’ll be really busy catching up with chores until then, and also have an article to write for our club magazine, so I’ve decided to take a blogging break for a while. Please feel free to chat amongst yourselves whilst I am gone.
Have a great weekend.
Debbie Smyth of ‘Travel With Intent’ blog is now hosting ‘6 Word Saturday,’ so do hop over there and add your contribution.
Just outside our kitchen window is the rather sad remains of a water feature and rockery. Now that our ‘abandoned house’ renovations are almost completed, this area will soon be enclosed in the new screen room which is now under construction. We intend to put some Koi in the pond and build a nice rockery around it. Unfortunately for our wildlife creatures, they will no longer be able to sit ‘atop the rock’. I’ve so enjoyed photographing each and every one as they’ve posed for me here.
Samantha squirrel often sat atop there to eat her breakfast.
Sammy also liked sitting there, when he wasn’t busy dashing up and down palm trees.
Rockstar Iggy, so enjoyed displaying his finery atop the rock.
Grandpa Igasho often took the opportunity of showing off his handsome visage and especially his mohawk, atop the rock.
Sweet little Anatole, enjoyed sunning himself whilst displaying his dewlap, atop the rock.
Basil the Brown Basilisk often sat atop the rock, dreaming of finding true love.
I guess it will be the end of an era, once the construction is finished. There’ll be no more photos taken through my kitchen window. I think I’ll be rather sad about that, and so will my gorgeous visitors, but at least I’ll no longer be tempted to have a go at cutting their toenails.
To see more contributions for the ‘Atop WPC’, click here.
