Hot weather in Florida

It has now become hot here in Florida and apparently we are breaking records with these kinds of temperatures in February. Well, we got air-conditioning inside the travel trailer and outside in the shade with a little bit of a breeze, I find it tolerable to sit reading a book or looking into my iPad for more reading or playing a game.

 

An arial view of the pond with a picnic table. The RVs are in storage to the right.

The hot weather is turning the pond into a swamp

In a previous post I had shown you a photo of that little pond at the outer edge of this RV Park and an old sign warning not to feed the alligators. Of course there are no large alligators there, the management of the park would have them removed, but you never know. Most of the residents here do not even walk that way, but we dog owners do like to stroll around it and take the trail further down in-between fields and along a little creek or drainage canal towards the country road 48. At first sight it appears that there isn’t much to see there and it does look a bit swampy at some places. At the beginning of this month I had by chance come across a turtle just as she was covering up the hole where she had laid her eggs. Today I went there without our dogs just to see if Mrs. Turtle was around for another photo op. She was not, but have a look what I came across, although I had to round the pond three times to capture the wildlife within it. At the first rounding I noticed this fellow, but it took a quick dive being spooked by my surprised move of raising the camera. At the second rounding it just poked the head out the water and dove quickly back in. Once more I did a third rounding and remembered the TV series “Seals” and snuck up on him like the “Special Forces” through the bush and took the shot (with the camera). Below the picture of Mister “Taste like Chicken” 

 

He is just a small gator at about 2+ feet

I spotted fish in the pond (centre of the photo)

A couple of Common Moorhen

This will be a nice water lily when in full bloom

A Sandhill Crane looking for food. He flew off as soon as he saw me.

Last Monday Benno was on the hunt for another edition from Vince Flynn, who is one of his favorite authors and the best way to find one was to head over to the Monday Flee Market at the Sumpter County Fairgrounds, Rte. 471. This Flea Market is smaller than the one in Webster, although still a plenty large area. The Webster Flea Market lies just a few miles further south on the same route. We knew of a lady in one of the stalls that has all her books sorted by authors so you don’t have to riffle through endless piles of books and Benno found one of the series he hadn’t read before, so it was a success. Meanwhile I wandered around to look at things. Here are a few photos of what my eyes spotted while browsing the merchandise.

 

Look at this little piggy. Isn't it sweet!

I didn't ask how much they wanted for the Lynx

This vendor lady showed me her Chihuahua

Perhaps next Monday we will head over to Webster to peruse the vendors at the Flea Market if the weather is not too hot. We’ll see how it goes.

Thanks for dropping in again.

Valentines Day Surprise!

Yalaha Bakery A German Bakery Like No Other!

That said the sign above the entrance door and is printed on the sticker of our takeout box from the"Yalaha Bakery". We came across this little treasure unexpectedly today from our trip to Lowes in Tavares here in Florida.

 

Benno had been sourcing a 5 lb. propane bottle to use instead the 20 lb. one that we use for our barbecue as it is easier for handling and that Lowes store in Tavares apparently had them in stock, which turned out not to be the case as the last one had left the store before we got there. However the drive was very scenic and we enjoyed the outing. On our return trip a bunch of veterans on motorcycles were in front of us on the winding road and the whole group suddenly turned into a driveway with a German flag at its entrance. We decided to follow them to find out what kind of establishment this was.

 

There was some shade parking that we took advantage of since we had the dogs with us. Next to the building was an inviting looking courtyard/beer garden with tables and chairs. As we came through the double entrance door a massive looking display counter that ran almost the entire length of the room greeted us. 

You should have seen our excited expressions as we eyed their spread-out pastries and goodies behind the glass. In the next room they had a deli section for sandwiches and hot meals with indoors seating and every single table was occupied with patrons having lunch. Actually they were stuffing themselves.

 

Coming across such a nice European Bakery, and it happened to be Valentines Day also, we decided to treat ourselves to a piece of pastry each to take home.

Faced with so many choices we had a hard time to choose as they all were tempting. Their menu in the deli read like from a real German restaurant and I am sure that the meals were delicious. They sure looked very appetizing. 

 

On the property adjacent to the bakery was a Mennonite run moonshine distillery and small store offering homemade preserves, hot pot pies, souvenirs and of course moonshine of various flavors. All gluten free.

 

Yes, I did taste test the blueberry moonshine mixed with lemonade. Good thing the glass was small, as it appeared to me very potent!

 

Back home at the RV Park Benno and I indulged us with the cakes from the Yalaha Bakery that joined the chocolates and flowers on the table I had gotten from Benno this morning.

 

Tomorrow and Thursday will be pretty hot here and I am planning on sitting outside in the shade with some good books from Michael Connolly that I purchased at the flea market. Thanks for dropping by again.

Talented RV Neighbour and a Peninsula Cooter Turtle

On Friday morning we woke up to a light drizzle and an overcast sky. The weather app showed some rain until the afternoon that we hoped would actually happen as our truck needed a wash because it was covered in yellow dust from the Spring Polloning. As is so often the case with weather forecasts, the big rain never materialized. The crew from Abel’s Tree Service must have counted on that as they showed up to cut down one massive triple trunk gumball tree standing next to (Sonny & Sandy) our rear neighbor’s RV shelter and shed and two more free standing trees. 

We watched for a little bit the activities. The young lady and (I presume her dad) squeezed together into the cherry picker cab and then rose high into the tree branches. The female did the cutting with the chainsaw and the guy grabbed the cut branches and threw them down. Another female (presumably mom) dragged the branches to the side.  Benno and I headed into town for some purchases and when we came back at lunchtime, the trees were already down but the cleanup carried well into the afternoon.

 

I talked to Sonny and Sandy this morning and they told me that they were so fed up with the gumballs, that they had offered to pay for the tree cutting themselves if they got the permission from the management to have it removed. Now that the trees are gone we are all very happy about it.

 

While I was over there, I admired Sonny’s woodworking talent. He has a woodworking shop in his shed and had just finished making two very unique windmills that he mounted next to his RV shelter. He said he had to be resourceful sometimes for the parts and had to use a sewing machine belt for one of his windmills.

 

He then showed me other pieces that he had created over time and those are truly masterpieces. All of the moving parts on the dozer and the other machines are exclusively made from wood including the tracks of the dozers. So much talent!

 

And I have to include a photo of the Peninsula Cooter Turtle that I came across on my walk around the pond as she was in the process of closing up her nest. I searched the Internet to find out what kind of turtle this was and found that there are 19 different fresh water turtle species here in Florida. 

 

Thanks for your visit again and I hope to have something interesting for you on my next blog posting.