Thu, Mar 23, Jonathan Dickenson SP, Jupiter, FL:  What a difference a day makes! Yesterday it was pristine, today it was rainy and blustery. Undaunted, we headed over to Roger Dean Stadium to see the spring training game between the Cardinals and the Mariners. It started raining again between the 5^th and 6^th innings. Everyone bolted and took cover inside. After it subsided we took our seats again. Sprinkling still. The top of the 8^th it started raining pretty good again. So we left. The Cards were ahead 5 to 3. Back home and stayed inside relaxing, reading, and watching TV. Happy Birthday Mr. Man!

No blue skies today!

Roger Dean Stadium--Jupiter, FL

A good game--a couple of triples and two double plays.

Having fun yet?

Wed, Mar 22, Jonathan Dickenson SP, Jupiter, FL:  Another fantastic day today. Warm sun, low humidity, and a gentle breeze. That’s going to change though, because tomorrow they’re calling for rain and maybe gusty winds. Go figure, since I bought tickets for a Cardinals pre-season game tomorrow—Mike’s birthday prize. Anyway, we drove up to Hobe Sound and took care of the laundry and grocery shopping this morning. After getting that out of the way we had lunch at Scooters, which is in the same little strip mall. Mike had a grilled chicken sandwich with chips and a drink,, and I had a grilled cheese sandwich with chips and a drink. The bill came to $11 and change. I thought it was an error. But no, it was correct. In the Keys this would have cost about $35 before adding a tip. Mid-80s today.

Some wild flowers around our site.

Relaxed outside reading my book all afternoon. It was hard keeping my mind on the book when looking out at the beautiful pines and palms silhouetted against a cerulean sky.

Tue, Mar 21, Pine Isle RV Resort, Homestead, Fl, to Jonathan Dickenson SP, Jupiter, FL:  Left the Pine Isle RV Park overflow area at 11:30 this morning and arrived at Jonathan Dickenson State Park and were set up by 3:00. Stopped at the West Palm service area on the FL Turnpike for lunch. Our get-together last night with the Canadians was fun. We ordered food from Sonny’s BBQ and Charlie and Mike picked it up and we ate at Charlie and Johanne’s site. Esther and Gerald a little under the weather after a whirlwind five-day motor cycle trip to bike week at Daytona Beach. A beautiful day today. Low 80s.

Johanne and Charlie

Molly

Mike, Johanne, Charlie, Esther

Gerald

Our nice, private site.
Jonathan Dickenson State Park
Jupiter, FL

Mon, Mar 20, Everglades National Park:  Lost our power sometime during the night. The park is working on it, but as of 10:15 still no electric. Doesn’t matter because we’re heading to Homestead to see the Canadians and will park our fifth wheel in their overflow lot. Leaving after lunch. Will be fun to see them. A beautiful day here today. Not a cloud in the sky. And the solar panels are doing a good job—so far. But tomorrow we’ll be back on electric, so no telling how long we could survive without electric.

Have never seen one.

Owlet on Mahogany Hammock--2013.

Sun, Mar 19, Everglades National Park:  We both slept late this morning. I didn’t get up until 9:00 and Mike slept until 11:00! After lunch we drove to Paurotis Pond to check out the nesting birds. We could see the wood storks, but the roseate spoonbills were on the other side of an island and not visible to us. Saw a couple flying around, but that was it. Back in the day when they were hunted for their feathers, one roseate spoonbill feather was worth more than gold! All the birds were hunted to near extinction because of ladies hats…until people started making fun of ladies with these birds on their heads. Continued out of the park and made a fuel run and a Walgreens run. Tomorrow if we go see our Canadian friends, we’ll take the fifth wheel and stay in their overflow area. A beautiful day today but quite windy. 83 degrees and clear.

The guy across from us brought this huge telescope in that trailer. A clear night last night, so he must have been star gazing. He needed a ladder to reach the eye piece. Would have liked to take a peek.

Wood storks nesting at Pourotis Pond.

Wood stork taking a stick for his nest.

Looking for nesting materials.

This crow was hanging around Pourotis. He has a broken wing. I felt sorry for him and fed him. But he had a buddy who stayed with him all the time. So, I guess he was being taken care of.

Here he is with his buddy.

Mahogany Hammock

Sat, Mar 18, Everglades National Park:  Decided to take care of some maintenance chores today. So, after lunch we filled up our two six-gallon jugs and brought them back to the fifth wheel to pump into the water tank. This fifth wheel has a setting for that, but it didn’t work well at all. So, Mike got out his transfer pump thingy he put together and tried that which worked for a while and then quit. He thinks maybe he needs a new pump. At any rate, after much angst, a cut on his head and a cut on his hand later, the water tank is full. Sat outside reading for a while after slathering myself up. A nice day today. Low 80s probably. Think I’ll go fix a cocktail.

Our two, six-gallon jugs we use to fill the water tank.

Then we change the settings on the control panel.

Then we insert one end of the hose into the jug and the other into the water input in the fifth wheel. Should pump the water in lickety split. Takes forever, which it shouldn't. Another thing that needs to be fixed.

Fri, Mar 17, Everglades National Park:  Mike’s son, James, showed up around noon today and we went over to the little café here in Flamingo after checking out the resident crocodiles. After lunch we drove back to Mahogany Hammock. James followed in his car. The mosquitoes were horrendous there. We didn’t see any owlets, but we went through in a hurry. Then we drove on to Anhinga Trail and walked around that area for a while. At this point we’re only about 11 miles from the FL turnpike, so James didn’t have that far to go to get back home. He showed us pictures of his apartment in Miami—a beautiful space on the 25^th floor of a high rise condominium complex. What a view they have! Drove back to our site and relaxed the rest of the evening. Going to play rummy again tonight. I won both games last night—YES!  77 today and mostly sunny. Really cold this morning though. Didn’t want to get out of bed. We miss our daily visits from Ellie Mae and Bradon.

Mike and his son, James.

Florida Bay from Flamingo.

Gators basking in the sun--Anhinga Trail.
Everglades National Park

This beautiful bird was walking around on the lily pads.

Turtle

Anhinga drying his feathers.