Tag Archives: alligators

Bee-utiful Florida

We have some pretty interesting neighbors here in our January neighborhood! I’ve already introduced you to our local alligator –
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Now, I’ve seen him sunning in different spots, but to be honest, I have never actually seen him move. So I just check to see where he’s lounging each morning, and then go on with my day! No harm, no foul.
These guys are also frequent visitors-
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and I always enjoy watching those long-legged Sandhill Cranes walking regally through the yard!
Also in the pond are two otters – which have been fun to watch – though they’re a little tricky to photograph. Maybe one day…
But there is another close-by neighbor that has sparked some interest.
See that little red flag circled in this picture?
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Right above that, hanging from a limb and protected from view
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is this –
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?
Honeybees!!
Now they haven’t bothered us (we don’t walk back there often), but the school folks thought it was a good idea to re-home them to a less populated area!
So this past week a local “Bee Guy” came, assessed the situation, and took down the hive!
First, he waited for more of them to come home for the evening
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then he set up his ladder
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and got to work!
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(I’ll be honest, this isn’t the most exciting video out there, (and I shortened it from its original 10 minutes!) but I found it very interesting to watch  as the bees were buzzing all around him!)
After he scraped the bees off of each section into the box, he would drop the sections to the ground. After all the hive sections were down, he took any of the sections that still had ‘baby bees’ on them and put them into frames in a second box. And then he gave me a little piece of the honeycomb that actually had honey in it!

(again – dark, grainy video – sorry!)
He also gave me several other pieces of the honeycomb that I was able to pass on to the school for their science classes!
Bees

Since not everyone was home when the condo was taken down, there are still some pretty confused bees buzzing around, wondering what happened to their home. Thankfully they are confused but not aggressive – especially helpful when Gary was taking care of the tanks yesterday! And hopefully, they’ll find their way to their new location soon (instead of rebuilding!).

Guess I better get buzzing on some weekend chores around here! Thanks for stopping by!
Steph
PS – if you find bees as fascinating as I do, there are lots of bee videos over on YouTube. I checked out a few and found this one (geared for kids, but still very well done!).

The New Neighborhood

This month we’re serving at Community Baptist Church and Christian Academy  in Stuart, Florida.

Although this is a new-to-us project, it’s been in the SOWER project family for many years! We’ll be working with some “seasoned SOWERs” like us and with some newer ones (but who have worked here before). As you can see by the map, we’re a little farther south this month and the traffic we’ve experienced so far has reminded us how popular this area of Florida is! Thankfully we got our Lizzie all tucked in at her new neighborhood, and we’re looking forward to a good month!

On an interesting note – we back up to a small pond
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and currently residing on that little patch of green just offshore is this little fellow –
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He’s just a young’un – about three ft. long – and as long as he stays right there on that little floating grass island, we’ll all be just fine!

But I do kinda wonder where his (her?) momma is.

Thanks for stopping by, friends! Happy January!
Steph

Sisters’ Winter Getaway – Part IV

Yes, we slept late(ish) and lingered over our coffee.
Yes, we worked on the puzzles and played more games of Rummikub than we could count.
But we knew there was more to Florida that beautifully landscaped properties, white sand beaches and snowbird traffic. In an effort to experience Florida in its more “au naturale” state, we took one of our last days to check out the Florida Everglades.
What an excellent day!! While the weather looked a little dismal as we started out our tour
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the weather eventually warmed up which invited all kinds of critters out into the sun!
With Elna and her trusty scooter secured in the tram, we set off on a 90 minute tour of the Shark Valley section of the Everglades!
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Roseate Spoonbills!! We were so excited to see these beauties.
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But there were so many ‘mixed flocks’ that every corner seemed to reveal more amazing creatures.
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Wood Storks, Egrets, Alligators, Oh My!
Being able to climb up to the observatory was such a treat –
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and by the time we reached the top, the clouds had parted and the blue sky was brilliant! The view was spectacular!
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The ride back to the visitor center took us past more alligators, turtles, and beautiful birds.
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What a creative God we serve!!
Our days together might’ve been winding down, but we were making every moment count!!