way down upon the suwannee river...

a dragonfly resting on shovel handle out back.

Buckeye Butterfly

 ☼

every time i hear the name of that river...the Suwannee,

i can hear  ♪ ♪ 'Way down upon the Suwannee River...' ♪ ♪   playing in my head.

(well...it's better than hearing dueling banjos from 'Deliverance'....huh?!)

on saturday, we went for a drive...only about a 45 minute drive...

to where the old Lake City RR bridge crosses the Suwannee River.

 

we were hoping the water would be low enough to get down and wander

the river basin...in search of old bones, artifacts...cool stones...rocks.

BUT WAIT!   let me back track a little.

on the way up there, along Hwy 441...just before you get to small town Alachua...

we passed a local produce stand that's been there forever!

THAT DAY i had my camera with me...and sam did a U-ey

so i could snap pictures of these misspelled signs!

 ACEPTING is missing a 'C'.  

(EBT stands for Electronic Benefits Transfer. it's Florida's government

food stamp assistance)

fresh cut collards, mustards...

and don't forget to TURNUP the volume!?

(turnips)

☼

OK...back on the road...we made it to the Suwannee...

off US Hwy 41, just south of White Springs.

as we hoped, the water was pretty low! 

usually all the rock you see here...is under water!

we walked along the exposed rock...limestone...

peering into the holes...or cavities, 

which have worn away over time from the rushing river.

as the water churns up the bottom...small stones...artifacts...debris...

can get trapped in these crevices in the rock.

 

the Suwannee River rises in the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia...

and runs south for over 240 miles...until it empties into the 

Gulf of Mexico in the small town of Suwannee, Florida.

(Slider Turtle soaking up the sun)

the Suwannee River's DARK..tea colored water...is because it flows through

forested swamps, picking up decaying vegetation.

(a Little Blue Heron...also enjoying the sun & running water)

(weathered wood at the edge of the water)

(looking under a large limestone rock)

 

(a damsel fly)

so with heavy pockets...we headed back to the truck.

we didn't find any old bones...or artifacts. but we did pick up

a few OLD shells!  SO old in fact...they're like rock!
we found petrified wood...fossilized shells and coral...from long ago...

when most of florida was covered by the earth's oceans!

☼

on our way back to the main road we passed bunches of Coreopsis wildflowers. 

the Coreopsis is Florida's state wildflower!

you can see these bright yellow blooms all along the roadsides and in fields.

☼

heading south down Hwy 41...toward home...

we passed some florida long horn cattle! well, probably originally from texas...

sam did another U-ey so i could get a couple of pictures!

...and a here's a Gopher Tortoise digging his burrow...on the side of the road...

Gopher Tortoises belong to a group of land tortoises that originated

in North America 60 million years ago!

in florida they're considered endangered and threatened.

☼

back home...we put our collections together and rinsed everything off.

look closely at this piece of coral (you can enlarge).

it amazes me when i hold something like this...to feel it in my hands...

thinking about how old it is...and what the earth was like when this 

coral was alive...in the ocean.

and all the little long skinny pieces...

like stone...but what are they? petrified wood? coral? 

whatever! i could do this every day! 

hike...explore...search for treasures...

but we need to pay the bills.  :)

thanks for stopping by...and wandering...

“Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”  

~Winne the Pooh, AA Milne

stay cool. 

have a safe journey & enjoy the ride.

:] laura

OH YEAH...REMINDER...i made a MISSPELLED SIGN page...up there

at the top...under the header. IF YOU HAVE A sign pic...email it to me with 

where it was taken...and i'll add it to the page with credit to YOU!

☼

((i'm going to try and get on here and post again...SOON!

i have so many pictures i've taken around the yard lately...

snake, woodpecker, hawk, more assassin bugs, frog, butterflies, spider...

my camera is out of breath!))

p e a c e

lk 

bugs, dewlaps, misspelled sign and a bone dOOdle!

(florida anise in front yard)

florida.

land of sunshine.

beaches.  swamps.  alligators.  sharks.  hurricanes.  orange juice.  tourists.
and bugs. lots of bugs. flying. crawling. burrowing. biting. sucking. stinging.

luckily, the caterpillar invasion has died down.

i'm not constantly plucking them off the porch or the front door anymore!

BUT,  i am sweeping their tiny cocoons off the side of the house...
from under the porch handrail...off the porch roof...off the windowsills.
otherwise, we will be setting ourselves up for

a second wave of the tussock caterpillar invasion.

an invasion i can live without.

the 'Anoles' aren't any help either. they don't dine on these hairy caterpillars.
in fact, i've seen the lizards do a detour around the caterpillars
when their paths cross.

BUT i know what DOES think these pesky caterpillars are yummy! 

at first i thought it was a stink bug...

then i saw one chewing on a tussock caterpillar!

ok, i thought.    THIS IS NO STINK BUG!

i started to do a little research...and realized it's some sort of Assassin Bug!

they lie in wait...

then STAB their unsuspecting prey with their proboscis (beak) 

and inject a toxin that dissolves tissue.

the assassin bug then dines on the other bug's liquefied tissue.

UGH!

 the young assassins are called Nymphs.

i spotted one on the Mock Orange bush.

OR this could be a wheel-bug nymph. it's a little confusing. 

so many types. so similar.

they're very small...

it's hard for me to get a good close-up picture with my camera.  

( want to see MORE bugs & pictures? check out this very cool site! )

i know...you're wondering how i could confuse the cute little stink bug

with the terrorizing Assassin bug??!!

well...here...take a look...not necessarily the color...

but the body shape...the legs!  keep in mind, there are many shapes & colors...

here's another stink bug...

i finally realized, the stink bug doesn't have that LONG nose...neck...mouth...whatever!

oOo

another couple of weird bugs seen close to home...

this is an Army Worm (on the front of the house)

here's a Sawfly Larvae...

and a Ladybug...

this butterfly is a Gulf Fritillary...

and this little one is a Horace's Duskywing...

here's a beauty-ful dragonfly!

((thanks sam! he took this picture!!))

"The rich mind lies in the sun and sleeps, and is Nature."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

oOo

on to the lizards. (one of my) favorite critters! the Anoles!

in my last post i showed pictures of two males fighting.  testosterone flying!

this time...i wanted to show the more lovable side of these little critters.

here they're each displaying their dewlaps...that skin hanging from under their necks...

which they stick out when they're trying to attract a female!

(on the roof)

(on the front porch)

(on the side of the house)

(on a tree)

(another on the side of the house)

and this guy. i have to give him credit. he's creative. not afraid to be different.

while ALL the males are using their dewlaps to attract a female...

this one thought he'd try a little pole dancing!

well, it's a lizard thing i guess.

and finally...what ALL the males are trying their hardest to accomplish...

(caught in the act! up on the roof!)

oOo

and lastly...another misspelled sign!

obviously, this is an Air Conditioning company.

cute name...catchy, eh?  it's COLD in the ARCTIC...not the ARTIC!

maybe the owner's name is Mr. ARTIC?  

i hope so.

"It's a damn poor mind that can think of only one way to spell a word!" 

~Andrew Jackson 

(when i have time...i'm going to make a page up there...just under the header...

where i'll post the misspelled signs as i run across them!)

oOo

OH YEAH...i almost forgot!!  i did another BoNE dOOdle!!

made with deer teeth  & vertebrae, raccoon & armadillo bones, and a small pig skull.

(begonia)

'til next time, stay cool.

have a safe journey & enjoy the ride.

:]laura

(and a final message...from Milo...)