Fly-bys...

Give Tom a pair of pruning shears, and he turns into
Edward Scissorhands at warp speed.
In our front yard there are two palm trees and one
live oak--or what’s left of them.

Tom gets antsy thinking about tropical waves and
possible hurricanes.
He has visions of the tree branches taking flight
through our windows, or damaging the roof tiles.

With intense determination, despite my pleas to
“Please leave something resembling a tree,” Tom
mercilessly attacks the branches.
There’s barely a branch left for a bird to land on…

There’s one tree left to massacre--a live oak,
which has been standing naked for 7 years,
imitating at being a tree.
I warn him that there’s a nest of birds
living in it--leave it alone.

Tom proceeds to nip a few branches around the nest.
Mama bird is hysterical, swooping and flapping
her wings at Tom.
She’s made it clear that he’s trespassing.
I ask him if he’d like to hose off his head…?

Daisy Who?

My daughter, Jenny, took her adorable peach-faced
lovebird, Daisy, to the avian vet today.
The bird's been bothered with a bad
irritation under her wing.

Daisy loves to fly around the pool enclosure.
Jennifer took her outside the enclosure
one day to sit.
Daisy decided to visit the lofty pine trees,
and found herself a branch to perch upon.

After 2 hours of bird-smoozing, she flew back to Jenny.
Since her excursion that day, she's been pecking away
underneath her wing. Apparently birdy had significantly
scratched herself and has since been making it worse.

The cream prescription was called in by the vet,
and Jenny picked it up, using her own name.
"What name, again? We don't have a prescription
for Jennifer. There's one here for Daisy Fowl..."
Say again ?

Green Thumb 101...

The availability of tropical fruit is delicious: mangoes, starfruit, papayas.
Florida oranges and grapefruit are bountiful.
Many Floridians are successful at growing these delicious fruits.
My neighbor, Jim, has an abundant grapefruit tree.
One neighbor grows bananas and oranges.
I've never had a green thumb—only a hammered black and blue one.

I went to the nursery and bought an orange tree. It looked healthy with blossoms and buds, promising a nice crop of oranges.
It smelled divine.
I loosened it from the huge bucket that encapsulated the tree, dug a pretty decent hole, adding nutrients to the soil.
As the weeks went by, the tree began withering and dropping it's leaves.
I'd watered it and fed it—what more could I do?
My neighbor's fruit tree weathered Hurricane Wilma, and mine up and died on me without provocation or neglect.

Not one to give up, I went back to the nursery and was captivated by the fragrance of the beautiful Asian Lilies and orchids.
I bought one of each.
The lilies looked great in the garden.
The orchid had a protected and humid location in the house.

Need I say more? Despite all the TLC I gave the flowers, both were definitely DOA in two weeks time.
I give up!

As I cruise down the produce aisle, I pick up my favorite Cali oranges[the best, sorry Florida], and some mangoes and papayas that I'm using as salsa for coconut shrimp.
Seven dollars of delicious, juicy fruit...Yum!

Ashes, Ashes..

The wildfire in the Big Cypress Preserve in the Everglades continues to burn, shutting down Alligator Alley for the second consecutive day,and possibly,through to Monday. Containment is about 30%.
Tuesday morning's thunderstorm over the 'Glades triggered a lightning strike.

My first thought when hearing of this disaster was to think that someone's careless cigarette had been flipped out of a car window.
Unfortunately, that action is a common sight, and wasn't beyond the realm of possibility.

The Everglades span the entire southern half of Florida. Over a million and a half acres, with a maximum elevation of no more than ten feet above sea level, the Everglades is the largest subtropical wetland in North America. This massive watershed provides a subtropical refuge for unique wildlife and endangered species.

I've taken Loop Road 29 which draws you through a corridor of hardwood trees.
On one side, the vast prairies stretch out almost endlessly.
Great White Herons and other bird species share the saw grass marshlands with their neighbor, the alligator. It's also reported that some 30,000 Burmese python now inhabit areas of the Everglades.
On the opposite side of the loop road, Blue Night Herons, Egrets and Ibis roam the deep forest sanctuaries.

The Big Cypress Preserve has always been a favorite photographic junket of mine. There's an amazing solitude that prevails, a wonderful peace, with only the chants of wildlife breaking the silence.

When something as devastating as fire engulfs and threatens people's lives
and homes, or rages through a precious ecosystem such as the Everglades, it saddens me.