New critters: Big mouth bird and the good snake

 

 What has a huge mouth and the face of a lizard?  The new bird in our yard! It's called a Chuck-Will- Widow.  And boy is it LOUD!  It sounds almost like a whip-or-will but with a slight inflection and the volume turned way up!  We had all our windows open the other night and was serenaded all night but this amplified megagmouth.  After hours of his loud singing I was ready to tell him " We're glad you're happy, now shut up already! "

His "singing" was helped by the acoustics in the dome which amplify every sound. It is near impossible to be quiet. Just making breakfast can sound noisier than a 10 piece brass band.  We have even gotten used to watching TV with the closed captioning on all the time.  Otherwise the audio bouncing off the high diamond shaped ceiling makes everyone sound like they are speaking a foreign language.   Just another unique facet of living in the dome.  

Missy alerted us to our next yard "guest".  At first we thought the black snake exiting our yard display was another Black Racer. We know we have two of those living on the property and are glad to have them. I'm sure to many the only good snake is a dead snake, but after years of handling them as a zoo docent I developed a new respect for them and let them go about their business.  Black Racers are nonpoisonous, keep down the rodent population and will kill and eat poisonous snakes!  Every Black Racer we have ever had is called Samantha after a children's book I wrote several years ago about the first Samantha.

Black Racer between screen dome and pool

 But this new snake had a different shaped head, was brown half way to the end and was LONG!  I mean well over 4 feet!  We looked him up and found out he is a "Coach whip snake". Another nonpoisonous snake that will also kill and eat poisonous ones. They are called Coach whip as the end of the tail resembles a whip with it's coloration and tapering.  This snake can grow to over 8 feet long so we suspect ours is a fairly young one and we welcome him to the yard. 

Attack of the Scorpion King!

The other night while getting ready for bed I received the shock of my life!  All of a sudden I was wracked with intense searing pain!  Everywhere I felt the intense pain  there suddenly appeared a huge red welt. Soon there were 5 on my stomach and one on my wrist.  The pain was so intense I was near fainting and yet I couldn't see what was attacking me. Jim was trying to calm me while trying to figure it all out when I happened to look up in the mirror and there slowly making it's way across my neck was the biggest of the Florida Scorpions, the Bark Scorpion!  Well you can imagine the shrieking that when on with that discovery!  I knocked it on the floor and he was killed and given a "burial at sea".  The pain was still intense but after using Witch Hazel it quickly dissipated. All of the Florida Scorpions are not poisonous but I can tell you first hand their stings hurt like hell!! How he got on me I have no idea. He must have climbed on my shirt when I was outside and then got stuck inside it where he repeatedly stung me. In my panic I didn't get a photo of the little demon but here is a reasonable facsimile.

While living here in a Florida I have been stung or bitten by nearly every bug there is: bees, hornets, wasps, yellow jackets, fire ants and even a spider. Thankfully it wasn't a Brown Recluse Spider!  My brother-in-law Steve was bitten by one of those and it sent him to the hospital for over a week. Steve is by no means a sickly frail guy so these small innocent looking spiders are to be taken SERIOUSLY!  They have the same type of venom as a Rattlesnake which causes skin tissue death and deformities.  The bite left untreated can result in skin grafts, massive plastic surgery or even death. For more information or pictures go to:  Brownreclusespider.org

Brown Recluse

 In salute to one of the many dangerous critters in Florida here is my poem.

                                               The Itsy Bitsy Spider-Florida Version

                                The Itsy Bitsy spider climbed up the water spout
                                 Jumped on my leg and made me scream and shout
                                 For the Itsy Bitsy spider was a Brown Recluse
                                 Off to the medics I then quickly flew
                                 While lying sick in bed for relief I did beg
                                  Thanks to the Itsy Bitsy spider
                                   I nearly lost my leg

Fun things to do in Weeki Wachee

Every now and then we leave the peace and tranquility of our woods and head out into the "big city".  I should explain that the big cities here in Hernando county have expansive areas and hardly any people.  The population for Brooskville, FL is around 7,000,  Weeki Wachee's 8,000, Springhill is by far the most congested with a population hovering slightly under 100,000. So we try to avoid SpringHill, although sometimes it's a must.  Clearwater, FL where we moved from was no prize either its population was over 110,000. Clearwater is in Pinellas County the tiniest county in all of Florida yet has a population close to a million! Or 1/36 the ENTIRE population of all of Canada. During snowbird season you can double that. When you think of it in those terms it seems nuts to live there.  Oh sure they have great beaches. Like the old saying goes a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there! Anyway back to the original topic.

There are attractions near here where you can spend a few hours and not get trampled in Disney crowd stampedes. Not too far from us on Commercial Way is Weeki Wachee Springs State park. The home of the Mermaids!  This landmark was made famous by two reality shows:  Larry the Cable Guy's -Only in America and "The Simple Life" with Paris Hilton and her friend Nicole.  Both Larry and Paris were Mermaids for the day at the park. While Paris made a very pretty one Larry the Cable guy looked like a misplaced Walrus. We enjoyed both programs even though "The Simple Life" mistakenly said it was in Tampa. I HATE IT when they say that!  Weeki Wachee and Brooskville are so not Tampa!  This mistake happens frequently as there are 6 counties considered the Tampa Bay "Area", including Hernando and Pinellas.  But they are not near the city of Tampa! That is in Hillsborough County.

Young Bri and a Weeki Wachee Mermaid

  Another local attraction made famous by a Cameo in "The Simple Life" was Boyett's Grove attraction and zoo.  It has a cute gift shop filled with Florida Kitsch, a dinosaur exhibit and a zoo. It makes for a fun afternoon, again with small crowds and a low price.

Dumais family in front of fossil display at Boyett's

  There is only one beach in Hernando County, Pine Island. It's okay, has a beach area, little cafe for refreshments, restrooms, and a playground.  Not like the fancy and famous beaches in Pinellas but you can swim, get a tan, etc.  What else could you ask for?

Boyett's Coatimundi

The best fishing areas are Bayport and Jenkins creek, both in Weeki Wachee.  Other than that you would need a boat to catch anything sizeable.  I've seen nice trout brought up at Jenkins and Jim has caught Snapper and one 16 inch Flounder at Bayport.  There is a Historical marker at Bayport that explains about the Civil War skirmishes held in that area.  Every year there is a Civil War re-enactment at Sand Hill Scout Reservation to mark the occasion.  http://www.brooksvilleraidreenactment.com/

Brooksville raid

There are several Indian Festivals held throughout the area. They are always a fun way to spend the day.

                                           

Several local farms offer Blueberry or Strawberry picking. There is a blueberry farm down the street from us. We always wondered why we kept hearing loud guns certain times of the year. Turns out it was air canons firing to keep the birds away from the Blueberries!

This area is also loaded with horse farms, including some exotics that many people have never heard of like Paso Fino, Ardene and Fjord horses. We were lucky enough to visit a Fjord/Ardene horse farm called "Clover Oaks Fjord Farm". The woman who owned it was super friendly and wearing a funny tee shirt that said "I would rather drive a Fjord." LOL.  Both of these breeds trace back to pre-historic times and have retained their sturdiness and ancient looks, the Fjord with it's upright hairbrush mane and the Ardene with it's solid heavily feathered legs.  So gorgeous and well cared for!  

Fjord

                          

Champion Ardene

 Fjord

The next county north of us is Citrus County.  We are close to it's border and visit that county quite frequently.Their main attraction is "Homosassa Springs State Park".  While Weeki Wachee Springs is well known for their Mermaids, this park is well known for what ancient mariners "thought" were mermaids-Manatees. I would like to know how long they had to be at sea to believe they were beautiful sirens.  But I guess after years at sea and a few barrels of Rum anything would start to look good.

A manatee at Homosassa Springs eating a carrot

Florida Panther at Homosassa

Florida Black Bear at Homosassa

 Not to far from there are the Yulee Sugar Mill ruins.  It's historic and there are parks, and picnic areas nearby.  Another fun way to kill time on a weekend.  

The girls at Yulee mill ruins

Giant cog wheels at Yulee mill

Water bubbling up from a well near the ruins.  

  The longer we live here the more fun we are finding. Every Halloween there are corn mazes to get lost in and haunted hay rides with Civil War ghosts dragging away participants.   Weeki Wachee has "Wild and Wicked"  Halloween nights.  Christmas time has area parks decorated for the season as well.  Then when the day is done we scurry back to our safe haven away from it all!  

Ghosts of soldiers past

This general area where we live has seen lots of history.  There were Civil War battles near here plus Indian encampments.  So it may not be all that surprising that my oldest grand daughter Bri has seen ghosts.  So far none in the house but plenty outside.  Sometimes they are marching, sometimes guarding, she has even heard them talking.  I don't know how I should feel about Civil War ghosts guarding my yard, I guess I should feel honored! We tried to take a metal detector around and look for artifacts but were unsuccessful.  Of course this is a huge yard and we could have missed plenty.  The only thing we did find with the detector was very old examples of barbed wire. One interesting item I found while just digging around in the yard was an ancient empty tortoise shell! At first I only saw a piece of it sticking up out of the ground and thought it was an old football helmet. Boy, was I shocked when I dug out the rest of it!  This old tortoise could have been food for someone, there are holes in the top so I am thinking he didn't die from old age. Was he lunch for Indians, soldiers or a large predator?

Empty partially fossilized tortoise shell

 Besides soldiers this land may have had Indians on it because we have what I believe is a trail tree. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trail_trees  We have one tree that is completely horizontal with three trees growing straight up from it! The Indians would manipulate trees into various shapes to be used as trail markers. There are a few other weird trees but none as strange as this one. 

trail tree

 We did show it to a woman from The Florida Forestry Division and she didn't think it was that old.  Looks pretty old to me, but what do I know?  She did point out though that we had one of the worst invasive species of plant that you could possible have! Gee, thanks a lot. It is called Cogan Grass. And while it looks lush, green and healthy it is brutal and can kill all neighboring plants while being delightfully hard to kill!  Think diesel fuel and a blow torch and you may be able to control it! It was brought over by farmers for their cattle, mistakenly thinking they'd gobble it up.  They should have asked the cattle first, because they hate the stuff and wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole! I'm pretty sure nothing eats it.  Jim has been killing it slowly and methodically and it seems to be working.  We thought it was pretty, had no idea it was a nuisance.

Invasive Cogan grass

 Instead of playing spot the license plate we now play spot the Cogan grass while we are out driving. I wonder if those people know what a dangerous invasive they have in their yard?

Family moves in and Miss Kitty goes to Heaven

The first extended family member to move in was Mr. Fluffy, my daughter's cat.  He needed a place to crash while the family was packing to move.

Fluffy crashing on my bed

 When he came to live with us we still had our elderly cat with us, Miss Kitty.  They got along fine but poor Miss Kitty had gotten "Cat's Heimers" and forgot where her three litter boxes were.  This had progressively gotten worse over the years and now at age 16 it was hopeless.

Mr Fluffy and Miss Kitty eating breakfast

And sadly we knew that this would never work with 4 more people and a dog to move in soon.  It was heart breaking as she was our baby for so many years, but we knew she would have to be put to sleep.

Miss Kitty loved the screen dome

Beautiful Miss Kitty 1999-2015

  Jim and I cried for days. Mr. Fluffy tried to fill the void the best he knew how, but it still took us a long time to recover.  It almost made it more difficult that Mr. Fluffy looked so much like her.  

Mr. Fluffy trying to cheer Jim

Then in August of 2015, my daughter, granddaughters and their dog Missy

Missy ready for a walk

 moved in to sign up for school.  Kevin stayed behind making their Fayetteville home ready for sale, while also transitioning out of a lifetime career in the military.

 Bri and Kaity attend a new school in the area which has been wonderful for them!  They have made lots of friends and their field trips are mind blowing. While Bri's field trip was to Weeki Wachee springs to kayak with manatees, her little sister Kaity spent her field trip in St. Augustine!  Which I already explained in a previous blog is a magical place to visit.  I never had field trips like that growing up, I was lucky to go to a petting zoo!  

Bri and Kaity enjoying the pool

In January of 2016 Kevin could finally join his family already here.  They found a lovely short sale home and put an offer on it that was accepted. That was last summer and we are STILL waiting for the sale to close.  "Short-sale" is an oxymoron if I ever heard one, it is ANYTHING but short!  The banks don't care that they are greatly inconveniencing a family with one member being a retired wounded warrior. Banks unfortunately only care about themselves. But with every day there is fresh hope that they will be able to move into their dream home soon.