Owl chick--Mahogany Hammock

(picture by Mike)

Wood Stork--Anhinga Trail

Gator on the Anhinga Trail

Wed, 3/11/09

Long Pine Key, Everglades NP: Another gorgeous day. Took a shower and washed my hair and went over to the rest room to blow it dry. I told Mike I’d like to not use the generator unless we absolutely have to. The solar panels are doing a great job. I’m sure he’s dying to turn on the TV though. We do get great TV reception here, but no cell phone signal. After we both took our showers we topped off the water tank. It’s really easy here since the water spigot is next to our site so we can run the hose over there—as long as we don’t leave it hooked up. After a light breakfast we drove down to Flamingo to see what’s going on there. They’re in the process of tearing down the old lodge/motel there. Plan to rebuild which should be done in 5 years. After exploring around for a while we went to the marina store and bought some ham and cheese sandwiches and some sodas. Sat outside at a picnic table by the water to have our lunch (on the opposite bank of the river there were a couple of salt water crocks). I had one bite of my first sandwich half and this brazen gull swooped down and grabbed the ham and cheese out of my sandwich and flew off. But not before pooping on my camera case. Couldn’t believe it! Had to really protect my remaining half in order to get to eat it. Drove back and stopped at a couple of ponds along the way. Also stopped at mahogany hammock and walked around. There were two barred owl chicks in one of the trees. They were pretty big but still had some down on them. Back to our nice quiet camp site. Just had sandwiches for dinner. Played rummy. Mike won both (sigh). 82 today.