Nobody asked me, but … (#15)
Wildlife encounters and wild life encounters. Which would you be more interested in hearing about? I have a little on each topic floating around my mind. After a 3-day weekend (don’t we need MORE of those?), it can be a little hard to focus, so how about if we touch on both of them?
We spent the weekend with my folks in West Palm Beach. I must say that rising gas prices must be having an effect, because there was no holiday traffic at all on I-95. That’s a good thing. One of the things we did with them was to spend a few hours visiting the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. This is a park on the tip of the Everglades, and one of the more interesting things we saw there was at their fishing pier. There were probably 15 or 20 people fishing there, most having pretty good luck reeling in small perch or some similar fish, but the attention-getting aspect of the scene was the half dozen or so alligators that were hanging around in the water. Most were small, maybe 4-6 feet, but there was one about twice as large. They would watch the activity in the area - the fishing lines going in and out, the boats being lowered down the ramp - and occasionally move to a new location. They seemed to have no interest in the little fish being caught and thrown back. But when one of the fisherman caught a slightly larger fish, well, he didn’t have to worry about removing it from the hook, because the gator decided that lunch was being served. Apparently, the fishing line that was attached would serve as dental floss.
This morning, we had a few deer visit our backyard. It’s not that rare an occurrence, but as housing developments encroach on more and more property, it’s satisfying to know that there is still enough woodland in our piece of suburbia for the deer. They do seem to enjoy munching on the various things that Sue has growing in our yard.
As for wild life, I have nothing to report on a first-person basis. Disappointing, I know. But our daughter is finishing up her month in Brazil today, and from all indications it has pretty much been a continuous party for her there, including a going-away bash last night with many of the new friends she’s made. I do know from personal experience how much Brazilians like to party, and if that’s true for someone my age, I’m sure it’s even truer and wilder for 20-somethings. The only part that doesn’t sound very appealing to me is 20 hours of flights with the potential after-effects of those parties still in the system. I hope there’s no turbulence!
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