Waz took a photo of the inside temperature this morning when he got up.
He said it was like an Ice-box! ha! The window was open in the bedroom, and both of them in the bathroom, with the door open between bed and bath rooms..airflow! He said it was colder in the bedroom!
It wasn't much of a night, frankly. The wind turned northward and was pushing the bow into the dock and the stern away from the dock. The Fenders were now out of place and the boat rub-rail was squeaking against the rubber dock fenders. That was the first time Waz got up, around 1am. At some stage I got up to turn the fan off...the temperature was almost tropical when we went to bed, but quickly turned cold as the wind changed to the cold north. Then we were woken again by more squeaking. It had been raining cats and dogs and we could hear the palm trees next to the dock, flailing about and rustling. Waz got his Pj pants soaked the first time he went outside, leaning over the railing, pushing the boat away from the dock, so that he could reposition the fenders. I guess they were almost dry by the time her went outside a second time to do the same.
Next, I got up to close the window nearest our heads. Then I had to get up to take a painkiller as my left hip was aching like crazy. It only takes one Aleve to settle it down enough for me to sleep.
Waz got up and left me to sleep. He finally came down around 9.30am.
We have felt lethargic all day...funny how a lack of proper sleep does that to you:)
Ros, the neighbor across the road, had given us a huge Pawpaw, when we left on NY's day. We decided to have pawpaw with fresh lime juice for breakfast, as by this time it was 10.30am. Bathroom duties done and all clean and well paid for, we decided we needed to go for a walk. We didn't want to walk the streets, so Waz led the way to a Birding Trail we had seen the sign for on El Jobean Hwy, on our way out of town to Gasparilla Island.
We knew we would get hungry if we didn't eat, so I made a frittata with some chicken, tomatoes, a little cheese, spinach and a few pieces of finely chopped bacon, for flavor...and 4 eggs, whipped up. It is a satisfying meal, and meant that we weren't thinking of our stomachs all afternoon.
The trails are 'cut' for the most part, and those that weren't we were not anxious to take, not knowing what critters might be lurking in the undergrowth. It is quite unlike anything we are used to, this open trail, and the low vegetation, for the most part. The scrubby bushes/shrubs, the tall healthy looking pines with their colorful bark...
...and insect holes!
At first glance there was little of interest. Not even birds! where were they all?
We spied this Bald Eagle nest from quite a distance, and made our way towards it. One of the parents was sitting on the nest. No sign of offspring! The other parent circled overhead before alighting on a nearby tree.
You can just see the bird's head and beak.
This was pretty exciting for us. We have seen them at the Peace River Wildlife Refuge, but not in the wild before...well, not like this!
We were tempted to go very close, but didn't want to incur the wrath of either parents when they needed to be doing their duty.
It is easy to overlook the small things, when we are looking for the large. Sometimes it is good for us to stop still and just look...and to SEE what is around us, up close and personal. This is what we love most about photography. It forces us to be more observant when the obvious doesn't take our attention.
These Tilandsia are everywhere in the trees. And to think that they cost a small fortune to buy in most places.
We didn't want to put our hands down this hole to see what came out! We are very aware that snakes inhabit these parts, so we also stuck to the wide path...talked reasonably loudly and sang some songs in case something got startled and didn't think we should be there. A little paranoid??? Not me! :)
What made these tracks? Long claws...Possum? Raccoon? 
Another 'dig', but the hole wasn't well formed. Hard to say what was digging or what it was digging for.
These funghi appeared at first to be growing in the sand, but on closer inspection, there was some vegetable matter to which it had attached itself, just beneath.
There had been a fire through the meadowland and the regenerative growth was quite amazing, and very lush. These fan palms are everywhere.
The blackened stems of some of the palms...but they weren't dead! the new growth at the top of the stem was remarkable.
Waz took a closer look at this large 'trap' or corral...or ? There wasn't anything in there but it looked large enough to contain a large pig or other similar sized animal.
The pines are rather lovely, when you look at them closely. There is little or nothing in between the height of the low shrubbery and the tall pines, though.
If we had had access to WiFi we might have been able to scan the QR code to get the information contained therein. But we didn't. This was just one of the markers on the trail.I don't know what else to call this type of wilderness...which is also a bit of a misnomer, because all we could hear was the sound of traffic from the highway. 
If you look in and under things, you will surely find something worthwhile:)
I would love to have had a box of Pastels with which to 'paint' the colors of the grasses...stunning!
A seed head.
Fan palm blossoms
This doesn't look like something that would unfurl, but it surely is!
The wind kept moving the point of focus on these pretty flowers which reminded me of the Ohelo bushes on Mt Haleakala, Maui. The berries are good to eat. These had black shiny berries which didn't resemble the Ohelo at all.
These berries were all over the place, but it wasn't easy to see what plant they came from. By this stage the foliage was gone.
What we might call 'Pig Fern' in NZ. I was surprised to see it amongst the palms and grasses...but just in the one place.
As we made our way back along the track, we were awed to see a flock of what looked like tiny Tree Swallows. Waz managed to take some photos of them, so I will have to go to his computer to download the images here.
The large rocks at the entry to the Trail contained all these shells. I wonder how long they have been there? I imagine that it is pretty common around here.
The sign at the entry to the Trail.
We didn't see any Alligators...again....:( and there was fencing all around this pond so that we weren't surprised by them. The wind was cold, so they were probably hiding out somewhere warm!
We came home via Target and bought a kitchen scale. It had to be compact, and of course the most compact one was the most expensive! Just our luck. At least it takes AAA batteries!
It was good to be home and in the warmth of the setting sun, inside. We read, made a cup of tea and relaxed until it was time to reheat some dinner. I do like having food in the fridge that doesn't take a lot of cooking!
It is just 9pm and we are pretty pooped already. I think we will have an early night to compensate for the disturbed one we had last night.
Saturday tomorrow.
We have been here 4 weeks today. Where did the time go?
Talk to you tomorrow!!
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