on the santa fe river...critters. creatures. poop. and the moon.

santa fe river - from suspension bridge

last saturday we did an overnighter at O'Leno State Park. weather was perfect.

30's at night. sunny and in the 60's during the day. great sleeping & hiking weather.

(quick side note: we left kitties at home. sam built a kitty door.

before we left, neighborhood cats started showing up. emo slyly chased them away.

hmmmmm. we think they were early...not supposed to show up 'til we were gone.

oh well. at least they cleaned up before we got home sunday. 

no furballs, signs of food fights, piles of poop or puke, or dragged in frogs or lizards.

good kitties.)

anyway...some of these pic's aren't the best. hiking early on sunday morning...

the sun was BRIGHT and so some of my pic's look kind of washed out. 

santa fe river sink

in O'Leno, 900 million gallons of water per day flows underground

at Santa Fe River Sink...flowing into a complex aquatic cave system...

and reappearing 3 miles away at Santa Fe River Rise.

(at River Rise, the Santa Fe flows for another 35 miles until it reaches the Suwannee River.)

at the river sink...all that gunky green algae stuff collects & coats just about everything!

weeeeeeeee!  get ready for take-off!

and the creature from the green lagoon rises from the swamp...

native wild azaleas grow all along the river

back to the woodsy part of the trails...

Buckeye butterfly

Red-shouldered Hawk

i am fairly certain...pretty sure...that this is a Palamedes Swallowtail. (right? wrong?) (or Black Swallowtail?)

if you know me...then you know i like to ID SCAT & TRACKS.

so here's a pile o' pOOp along the trail. BIG pile. scratch marks around it.

Coyote scat!  of this i'm certain.

finally, eh?

the end.

the moon, saturday night from the campground.

life's a journey. enjoy the ride.

be cool. be safe.

laura

a couple of critters and bOnes...

a leaf...dangling by a web strand :)

it's still been pretty chilly here in north florida.

tonight it's supposed to get down to 33° F.

right now it's a windy 51°! 

i can hear the wind whipping around outside.

dead branches falling.

a couple of days ago the sun was finally peeking through the dense clouds...

and i spotted some critters. yay!!

a couple of (anole) lizards on the side of the house.

i got pretty excited when i heard the distinct tapping away of a woodpecker.

he was at the very top of an old dead tree...and i couldn't get a very good shot.

but, hey!!  it was another critter coming out from hiding, braving the cooler temp's!

a Red-bellied woodpecker.

and here's a pretty cool little (garden) spider's web...iridescent with the sun hitting it just right!

sam & i still go for hikes across the street...into the wooded field.

and i still collect bones!!!

hog skull & jaw

assorted deer bones

NOW THIS is a first!!!

ALLIGATOR TAIL!

obviously someone must have poached a 'gator...cleaned it...and dumped what was left.

i would've liked to see the entire skeleton...but all there was, was the tail!

ok. that's it.

i'll sign off with a couple of pic's of our furry kids!

~ emo ~

~ otis ~

have a nice week!

stay cool & be safe.

laura

“Life is a journey. Time is a river. The door is ajar.”

~Jim Butcher, Dead Beat

oh my! what big teeth you have...

(OR, one of the reasons, why i don't swim in florida's lakes!)

due to cable/modem/router problems (which are fixed!!), work, chores...and, well...due to LIFE...
and the fact that i've been addicted to the books i'm reading lately...

this is the first chance i've had to sit and get online.

the days are slipping by...these pictures are from LAST weekend, when we rode across town to

La Chua Trail, part of Paynes Prairie State Park. this part of the park is known as Alachua Sink, 

which includes the deepest & largest sinkholes in the park.

the air was still a little cool...and many gators were out soaking up the sun!

ENJOY the alligators and assorted birds!!

just remember...stay on the trail!!

and watch where you step because this park also has wild spanish horses

(which i posted pictures of in the past), bison,  and  feral hogs.

SO there is a scattering of humongous piles of POOP!

Great Blue Heron

(if i have mis-labeled any birds, PLEASE let me know!)

Heron:   "I'll just pretend i don't see him."

Gator:  "Have no fear. i'm not in  the mood for bird today!"

egret  &  ibis

great egret

Little Blue Heron:  "hmmm, i think i'll enter the water farther down the shoreline."

little blue heron

ibis

TURTLES!!!!

“Don't taunt the alligator until after you've crossed the creek. “

~Dan Rather

see ya later...yeah, Alligator!

be safe.

laura

...to the lake...

after watching the Cinnamon Fern uncurl...

(and missing milo terribly...)

yesterday, we decided to do the 40 minute drive to Lake Lochloosa.

since we've been having lots of rain lately, we figured the water level would be high enough

to get our 'gheenoe' in.

we could paddle around...troll around...sam could do some fishing...

and i could get some pictures.

rather than posting a long line of photos, i decided to do a collage...of the

Lochloosa skies, butterflies, alligators, egrets, anhinga, herons, water lilies and eagles.

click to enlarge  -  7 oct 2012

“A lake is a landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. 

It is Earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature.”  

~Henry David Thoreau, Walden

thanks for stopping by.

have a great week.

stay cool. be safe.

lk

dragonfly perched on my 'pokey-stick, which sam tooled for me at his work...

i use it to poke in the ground...searching for treasures out back...

better to be at the rear...

(thematic 209 - From Behind)

~being this close...it's a good thing to be behind.~

alligator,  at Alachua sink trail, Paynes Prairie, Gainesville, Florida  (march 2011)

***

i decided to link up with 

carmi's thematic weekly photo sharing -   this week's theme is 'From Behind'.

(i know...like i don't have enough going on...but i'm gonna give this a try!)

join in!  you can read about it here: written inc/thematic

thanks for stopping by!

stay cool. be safe.

laura

“Live each day like it's your last, 'cause one day you gonna be right”   
~Ray Charles