Florida Xmas Wildlife

While the last few days have been rather laid back due to 50 & 60F weather, the wildlife still cooperated. The highlights were gators and sandhill cranes at Paines Prairie and today, Xmas Eve at Manatee Springs, consisted of:

Ten horses a braying, nine buzzards roosting, eight squirrels scampering, seven Brahma cows  resting, six campers camping, five rednecks spitting, four Pileated woodpeckers pecking, three manatees floating, two turtles swimming, and an armadillo in a prairie. The special treat was the four Pileated woodpeckers in a group which put on quite a show, pecking, flying, and squawking. We have never seen more than one at a time.

Florida Xmas

We made it back to Florida after skirting a Knoxville ice storm.  It has been dry down here and several hard frosts have browned the grass.  Paines Prairie water levels are half of what they were last year so the birds and gators have changed favorite spots.  We walked the prairie yesterday ( about 2 miles) and 20 mile in the distance we could see smoke from a 1,000 acre fire. It had jumped a four lane road so we certainly don't want to be in it if Paines has a fire. This 25 sq. mile of brush would make quite a blaze.  The highlight so far has been the lunar eclipse on the winter solstice. Missed the last time in 1638 and will likely miss the next one in 2094.

White Christmas

There is one thing you can get in an Ohio winter that is hard to come by in Florida.

Happy Holidays!

Frigid North

While visiting Ohio, the temperature has remained in the 20s and 30s.  A break between the late Thanksgiving dinner and an early Christmas presented the opportunity to take in some local events.

The first event was the annual Tiffin University Holiday Concert held at the Ritz Theater in Tiffin.  This business college has an extraordinary amount of talented students with musical skills. Their abilities provide a very entertaining concert ranging from stage band and choir to rock, a Capella choir, and gospel.

The second event was a three hour tour of the  Hayes family home, Spiegel Grove, and presidential museum in Fremont (formally Lower Sandusky).  The museum has many interesting items as well as many unique items. These include several western post civil war elk horn chairs, a sizable Chinese military arms museum (weapons stolen from China during the Boxer Rebellion),  and the usual political and well to do family rhetoric.