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

t-t-t-t-turtles!

the azaleas are blooming.

but the butterflies and bees are not braving the cooler weather yet.

it's still dropping to the 30's or low 40's (F) at night.

i have come to the conclusion that our florida critters are spoiled.

no snakes. no frogs. hardly any birds. no bugs.

they're all snugged away in their hidey-holes waiting for the warmer temps.

hmmmmm. maybe not spoiled...but smart?!!

the squirrels don't mind the cold!

one sunny afternoon this past week i did spot a brave lizard

hanging from a window sill...soaking up the sun.

(cool shadow too!)

last weekend we did a camping over-nighter at O'Leno State Park.

about an hour drive. just one night. to get away.

walked the trails along the Santa Fe river.

again...no deer. no 'gators. no rabbits. no hawks.

BUT THERE WERE TURTLES!!

LOTS!

(see the flying baby turtle?!!)

look close. the back end of the shell on turtle to the right is all shredded! :(   boat prop? gator?

well. that's it for now. 

i couldn't get a picture of the FULL moon last night. very cloudy.

still cloudy this morn.

the moon for all us "Leo's". 

yep, the MOON and JUPITER are in LEO right now!!

so, no full moon. but here's the last clear sky moon shot i could get, on jan. 27th.

stay cool & be safe.

laura

“The mind that opens to a new idea never returns to its original size.”

~Albert Einstein

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

o'leno's flora & fauna

nope. this picture isn't upside down.

no, you don't have to stand on your head to see it.

it's a reflection,  along the shore of the Santa Fe River,

a tributary of the Suwannee River, in O'Leno State Park...

(we love this park. not far from home, we go there a lot...for quick getaways.)

so we loaded up 'milo' (our she-cat) and got outa town over the weekend.

of course, i took an endless number of pictures...but i waded through them

and tried to pick some good ones!

enjoy your stay!

Five-lined Skink

the suspension bridge...over the Santa Fe

yep...a 'GATOR!

...waiting in line...for the rest room??!

fungi scales on a downed & rotting tree

a pile of caterpillars on the ground,,,probably got blown out of the tree the night before.
we had a ferocious thunderstorm pass through during the night.

a damselfly resting on a cypress knee in the river

weeeeeeeeeeeee.  ready for take-off...

stay cool.  be safe.

laura

Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. 

Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. 

Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.

~Martin Luther King Jr.