Chicken Yard

Pam had Laverne and Shirley in a dog crate for the past couple of days.  Today we hied ourselves to Lowes in Silver Springs and bought some fence posts and landscape timbers to build a chicken yard.   This is the finished product.

We cut the 8' landscape timber in half as posts for the gate.  For the record, Lowes has 4x4 pressure treated lumber for $8, and we paid $4 for 4x4 pressure treated  landscape posts.   We then put the metal fence posts around the chicken yard, strung  the green plastic fencing, and put metal roofing along the bottom  to keep things from getting in.

Laverne and Shirley seemed to like being out of the crate and ran around scratching for bugs, chattering happily.

Their happy chatter attracted our cats.  Leo Pard actually jumped in there to check things out, but didn't hurt the chickens.  But little Sassy is another matter.  She's the one who not only catches mice in our cabin, but caught a rabbit and brought it inside.   Her, we have to watch.

Sassy could be trouble.

And Now We Have Chickens

Pamela went took Jeremiah the Horse down by the Ocklawaha River this afternoon where she's seen a foot print and hair about seven  feet up in a tree.  She came back with Sasquatch's chickens.   He's going to be very angry.

Judi and Pam named them Laverne and Shirley.

So now, between Judi and us, we have nine dogs, three cats, a horse, and two chickens.  That should make the trip back to Bleecker even more interesting.

St. Augustine

Pam and I traveled to St. Augustine yesterday to visit with friends Debbie (of Cheers Horse Ranch) and Steve.  It was a simply glorious Florida day, sunny and in the upper 60s.  As you can see.

Yes, we laughed that hard and had that much fun.  For all of you young folks reading this, when you retire, it is a law that you have to spend winters in Florida and party and laugh.

And, for all of you Drift Away blog followers, here are some friggin' pelicans...

and some odd looking bird sitting on a flagpole.  I don't know how many fish he can fit in that little beak.

We'll be returning to St. Augustine soon to catch up with an old internet acquaintance (hi Tim!) who moved there from Annapolis recently.   I'm torn about contacting the new owners of Drift Away (now Happy Ours) who are docked in St. Augustine.   Pam and I miss that boat, and that life, too much yet.

Florida Skunk Ape

Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows of our findings of sasquatch evidence.  Most that I tell in person look at me with curiosity, as if Pam and I have lost our minds.  I think part of the problem is that there are simply too many hoaxes floating around so its hard to discern what's real and what's not.

Take this Ohio sighting, for example, posted today on Facebook.

An Ohio nurse was reported to have taken the photo above of an eight foot tall sasquatch.  Looks real, doesn't it?  The only problem is that there is only one photo.   As someone correctly pointed out, if you saw something like that walking along a fence, wouldn't you take as many photos as your could?  Someone else then discovered that there is a website called Zazzle that sells cardboard cutouts exactly like that.

They also sell these on Zazzle.  I need to get me one.

From all the reading I've done on this subject, I've found that there are literally thousands of reported sightings of sasquatch.   Certainly, they can't all be hoaxes.  

Here in Florida, there is the Skunk Ape.  It is an ape found only in southern states and different from our northern sasquatch.  Skunk Apes resemble orangutans but with a flatter face.   Whereas an adult male sasquatch can be anywhere from seven to ten feet tall, skunk apes are five to six feet tall.  They've been widely reported here, including by a woman in 2000 that took this photo of one that stole apples from her porch.  She sent it to the police complaining that someone lost an orangutan and the policed needed to capture or shoot it because she was afraid for her grandchildren.

The Florida Skunk Ape is more ape-like than a sasquatch.  A sasquatch has a human looking footprint  while the Skunk Ape has an oppose-able big toe, like our thumbs, to aid in climbing.  

This next pic is from the famous Patterson-Gimlin film of "Patty", taken in 1967.

Most people (including me until this past August) thought this was a hoax, a man in a monkey suit, faked for fame and fortune.  Most experts (primatologists, anthropologists) that have examined this photo, especially now using modern technology, believe it to be genuine.

As you can tell, I am fascinated that sasquatch and skunk apes can be living among us, yet be so elusive.   I have no intention of "hunting sasquatch", which is what sasquatch researchers do when they go stand in the woods all night, whooping and hollering, trying to attract an eight foot tall, 800 pound animal.  I only want to understand what they are, and to leave them be.  Although they seem to enjoy watching people, especially kids, they don't seem to be aggressive.   That's a good thing.

A Funny Thing Happened Last Night

Pam and I were relaxing last night, watching an incredibly stupid but entertaining movie called Life After Beth.   Pam was on the sofa and I was in one of the swivel chairs by RV the Boat's door.  Suddenly there was smoke everywhere, and I thought I heard a whooshing sound.

I had relaxed and dropped my arm on a dry chemical fire extinguisher, discharging it all over the wall, floor, and my chair.

Silver Springs Car Show

We're not too far from Silver Springs here in Florida.  The state recently took possession of it, from who I'm not sure.  But what I know so far is that many movies were shot here, including many Tarzan flicks.  The waters are warm and clear.

Unlike Bleecker, NY.  This is the five day forecast.

5-Day Forecast for Bleecker, New York

Today: Snow, High: 31 F, Low: 3 F

Tomorrow: Sunny, High: 13 F, Low: -6 F

Wednesday: Sunny, High: 20 F, Low: 2 F

Thursday: Mostly Sunny, High: 25 F, Low: 10 F

Friday: Mostly Sunny, High: 25 F, Low: 13 F

This weekend was a Ford only car show.  It is difficult to get good photos at a car show because the cars are packed in and there are many people milling about.  But it is a challenge that I love to try to get a few good shots.

This park ranger was showing folks a couple of corn snakes.   They're constrictors, and very cool.

'57 Thunderbird

This was a HUGE show, with hundreds of cars.  Yes, we brought Olivia the German Shorthaired Pointer.  She needs something to do, everyday.  

Yep.  That would be a Ford Maverick.  Remember those?  As you can see, Olivia is laughing at it.

If you look closely, you can see the photographer in the reflection.

A Model A, complete with a tool kit and owner's manual.

This was when a trunk was really a trunk.

The car below is actually a fiberglass kit car.  Just add motor and transmission.  The kit is about $20k.

Ford Sunliner.  The original moon roof.

There are glass bottom boat rides here.  Pam and I plan on coming back to take a 30 minute tour.

A Sunbeam Tiger, made by Rootes of England.  I had a '63 Alpine with a 4 banger.  The Tiger had a Ford V8.  Can you imagine how fast these things were?

A Cobra eating a Camaro...

My dream car was a '69 Mustang Mach I with a 351 Cleveland V8 and a 4 speed.  But at $3,500, which was one and a half times my annual income then, it was totally unaffordable.

This is how clear the water is here.

And to finish off on a silly note, a Florida snowflake for you.