Here are some pictures of the alligator clutch along the main road (Peavine). A clutch is what you call a group of young gators, much like a flock or heard. Momma is keeping a close eye on her little ones. They young ones appear to be about 12 to 14 inches long. You really have to look close to see them on that mud island. This is the mom and babies.
This is a close up of just the babies – how many do you see?
After doing what we could do on Tuesday we stopped by the office to let Charlie know we will need more Thompson’s. He next wants us to repaint the sign at the front entrance.
Wednesday morning we loaded up one of the Ranger’s and took our sanding gear to the equestrian area to continue table prep and brought the Ranger back. We then rode our bikes to do the work as we only had four tables to sand, but two of them were in pretty bad shape and took a lot of work.
After lunch Judy looked at her sock and thought maybe her toe was bleeding and then she looked in her shoe. She found the remains of a tree frog smashed in the shoe. We then did the bolt count in the family campground and then loaded up the sanding gear to return it to the shop. While at the shop we gave Bruce the list of bolts and the need for another five gallons of Thompson’s. Think we may take all or part of Thursday off – all of it if we don’t have any material to work with.
Well as it turned out we had no more Thompson’s and no bolts so about 10:30 we took off for Port St Lucie on the east coast. Not a hard drive but a long one along fields and fields of pasture and cows and dairy farms and then acres of vegetables – corn, cabbage, green onions and potatoes. In some you could see the migrant workers picking cabbage. Had a nice lunch at a place called The Captain’s Galley just of US1 and then made a couple of shopping stops and headed back home. On the way out of town pulled into a Raceway gas station and topped the tank of as diesel was only..yes only $3.81. We had just enough time upon our return to relax for an hour before heading to the office for game night. As other volunteers had gone into Okeechobee for corned beef and cabbage, it was just us and the Anderson's so we taught them the game “Five Crowns.”
Our supplies had arrived on Thursday afternoon so Friday we headed to the equestrian to finish up the tables. But we were short stopped by the heavy dew and fog from over night. The tables had standing water on them – and not from rain. We did the legs of the remaining ones and then after lunch and the sun and wind had dried them, finished the tops and benches. We are glad that task is complete. Now to go back and put in bolts and screws on the ones which are not tight.
Can’t believe it but we slept in some on our lazy Saturday. After breakfast we took Lilly for her morning stroll and on the way back she chased a squirrel up a tree. Then she moved to the next tree and we thought at first she was following the squirrel through the branches and suddenly hair on her back stood up and she growled. When we looked up we saw a raccoon. They were just starring at each other.
In our area, in fact right behind us, four families came in after dark and set up tents. They have three or four little ones under 6 and they are having a good time. They made little noise setting up camp and getting the kids into bed.
We decided to go out for lunch with Janice and Bob. What used to be Cissy’s is now called The Prairie Cafe and under new owners. The reports are accurate as the food is good and they have done some little things to improve the atmosphere. The rest of the day was just taking it easy. Saturday night’s moon rise was spectacular. The moon was at a point closest to the Earth and rose so red and full. Tried to capture a picture but it just would not work, but did mange to get a shot of sunrise Sunday morning though.
We made a day of it on Sunday, church, flea market and grocery shopping. The flea market is nothing special but we can say we made it this year. For a change we hit the Publix instead of the Wal-Mart and picked up the few items we needed.
Monday it was back to the projects. Jon had to finish working on the tables (adding bolts and tightening others) and Judy was off to the office. Judy was busy reconciling billings filing, she just loves office work – not – and Jon completed the main campground and rounded up what will be needed to power wash the ramp entrance to the Clivus. The “Clivus” is like a large porta-potting but it composts waste and does not need to be emptied. The wooden ramp and railing are dirty and in some areas green with mold.
The campground is full of lubber nymphs. They are baby Lubber grasshoppers (Romalea microptera (Beauvois)), an interesting species very common down here. They are flightless and really don’t hop very well either.
Tuesday saw the conclusion of power washing and the end of office work for a spell. By the time everything was done and all the equipment put away it was after 3. We may take Wednesday off and go looking for long needle pine trees so we can collect more needles for Judy’s next crafting idea. Saturday morning there will be a ‘sparrow roundup’ in the prairie area east of the campground. They will flush the birds into a net and check and band the ones they catch. This prairie is home to the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow – an endangered species.
Well Wednesday turned out to be a full day on the prairie. About 9 we received a radio call from Mike and Carol (also volunteers) about going out in the park manager’s truck to check out the primitive camp sites. We had originally suggested sites in 2008 and then added two in 2009 and last fall they done more work on the locations. So off we went, spending all morning to the west locating and inspecting three locations/sites. A little after noon we came back to the campground for lunch and discovered Lilly still outside – tied of course. We thought that she may have started winning after we left and Bob let her out. She has started that business when we are visiting Bob and Janice two camp sites away. Well she looked pretty guilty and we thought for sure that is what happened, but it was not. When Judy had returned with Lilly from her morning walk, Lilly’s paws were very sandy, so she tied her out to let her feet clean up some. Well, between the radio call and then a phone call and getting ready to go out to the prairie, we forgot that Lilly was tied out. She often goes under the trailer to nap and we just did not see her.
On our way back from locating the sites to the north, we pulled into an old citrus grove and picked some grapefruit. This area also has several orange trees, but they are very bitter. These wild citrus are nothing like the orange trees one sees in the many groves here in Florida. These trees are big, thirty to forty feet high and because of this, many of the best fruit are too high to get to.
As we were making the four mile trek along a dirt road that serves as a fire break, we spotted three swallow tailed Kite drifting in the air currents. These are rare to see in this area. They are mainly found along the northern countries of South America. They don’t use their wings to navigate – they use their “V” shaped tail as a rudder and sometimes as a pusher.As we did not get to ‘play’ on Wednesday as planned we decided on Thursday to go out for lunch and search for long pine needles for Judy’s new craft. We did do some work in the morning, putting site numbers on the electrical boxes in the campground. After lunch at the Prairie Cafe, we headed for a trail head north/west off 98 passed the river. We did not have to walk in too far and came upon lots of long pine needles. We gathered a good bunch and will probably go back for more.
Friday morning was very foggy, but we got on our bikes a little before 9 for the five mile ride to the shop area where Charlie had set out the paint for our next project. The big sign at the main entrance required painting. As we were painting the background and back of the sign, Judy stepped on a red ant hill and she knew it right away. Luckily she came away with only one bite. We finished the base color and had a nice lunch overlooking the prairie and about 12:30 checked the paint. Because it was old, old oil based paint and was applied over a sign made of compressed foam and other man-made materials, the paint was slow to dry. We decided to take a break rather than sit and watch the paint dry so we drove back to the Greystone and took a two hour rest. About 2:30 we went back but in some areas the paint was still tacky. We did mange to get one coat of yellow on the letters so the sign looked good for the weekend. However, Monday we will have to do some touch up and make it look better.
Saturday Jo, Amy and Missy drove up from Jupiter/West Palm Beach for a visit. Some how they managed to miss the two foot by three foot sign for the park and drove 15 miles into the little town of Lorida, but finally did make it. We had a nice visit and enjoyed a good meal of Jambalaya and corn bread.
Sunday will be our day in town and means we only have two more weeks here. We plan on beginning our trek north on Sunday the 10th. Most of the other volunteers depart next weekend so it will be a lonely last week. Slow getting this blog 'published' as we had a busy Sunday and Sunday evening. It is now Monday morning and it is raining so no work for a while today.
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