Travels with Gunther and Kara

Well, the post title pretty much says it all. The highlight of the week excitement-wise was the move from site 29 over to the waterfront site 1 that I posted a photo of last time.

Tuesday Connie worked in the morning and Neil went on a bike ride around the base and nearby waterfront areas. After that we lazed around in the recliners outside under the awning and watched the world go by. We didn’t see many Navy ships go in or out this week but did catch a cruise liner going out , a bunch of car carriers and container carriers, and the continual coming and going of the dredge barge. The basin at the base here is getting dredged to go along with a new pier being constructed on the northwest side of the basin…the new pier is carrier sized but I don’t know whether it’s just a new pier or whether there’s a plan to homeport a carrier here. I would have thought the basin was deep enough for a carrier but perhaps not…in any case the dredge barge keeps getting pumped full of sand then they move it down to the mouth of the river and pump out the sand onto the beach south of the river entrance to replenish where it’s been eroded over the years. The barge makes the round trip of maybe 2 miles 3 or 4 times per 24 hour period and the dredging operation looks to be going on around the clock.

Wednesday we again sat outside and watched the world go by…looks like that’s starting to become a pattern. Thursday we had a planned hike over at the Guana Rive Wildlife Management Area where we had hoped to see some wildlife. Well…the good news is that we had a nice walk in the woods of about 4.6 miles. The bad news is that had gotten into the middle of the day and we saw pretty much nuttin. The worse news is that we chose poorly and failed to either bring our lunch along on the hike or any emergency food and by the time we turned around out at the lake overview we had pretty much bonked…out…of…gas…I’m tellin’ ya. It was pretty much a struggle all the way back…it had gotten hot by that time so we were walking a couple of hundred yards, stopping in the intermittent shady spots for 30 seconds or so then going another couple of hundred yards. 

Other than the heat and lack of energy the hike itself was pretty nice…mostly along a graded road once we gave up on the shortcut. Our original plan was to take this shortcut path over to the lake and we failed to see the sign at the branch that said “Trail may be wet in high water conditions”…we made it a quarter mile or so down the trail and around the first two lakes before getting completely shut out and surrounded by water. None of it was deep but we couldn’t see a way that the path continued along the other side so we backtracked and said…”Now we see the sign about high water” and took the long way around on the mostly graded road. Here are a few shots from the hike…Neil forgot to get one while we were on the swamp march portion of the hike so unfortunately you don’t get to see the lakes we tromped through.

Although this isn’t the wet path we originally tried…it isn’t much wetter than it was where we changed our mind and turned back to the main path.

This was literally the only wildlife we saw…we did hear a couple of taunty birds up in the trees and a hawk of some sort off in the distance. We also saw a coot or moorhen or some small dark duck like bird out in the lake…but it was 3 or 4 hundred yards away and even with binoculars was pretty much a little black dot so we didn’t bother with a photo.

Our original plan was to ride down another 15 miles or so to the dam for another shorter hike but we were done in and decided that we had done enough exercise for the day…so we headed home instead with a couple of stops to get some fuses and a cold drink for the ride home.

Friday we did laundry…the machines here at Pelican Roost are free so we did sheets and also the 2 new sets of towels we bought as our old ones are pretty worn out after almost 3 years on the road. Over the weekend we again didn’t do much…Connie fished some and we went up to the 75 cents a scoop ice cream social in the evening after dinner.

Eats for the week:

Wings and brews at the Chief’s Club on Tuesday and went there again on Thursday for tacos. Friday night we went just outside the base and had grilled shrimp and scallops at Singleton’s Seafood Shack…a little dive sorta place over on the water. It was a little overpriced we thought…but I guess it’s location, location, location. Good food and cold beers. The only days we cooked in were Wednesday when Neil made some cream soup out of leftover wings from Tuesday night and Saturday night. Wednesday he added an onion and some half and half along with a can of green chilis and some habanero hot sauce and it made mighty good soup. Saturday we had a roasted pork tenderloin along with what Neil calls Gumbolaya…it’s sort of like Jambalaya as a rice dish made with Andouille sausage, onions, green chilis and V8 but he adds some file powder. File powder is finely ground sassafras leaves and is the spice that gives gumbo the distinctive gumbo flavor…it goes really good with this combination. Jambalaya is essentially the same as gumbo except the rice is mixed into the sauce and it’s got less protein in it than gumbo does…the latter has chicken or shrimp or whatever in addition to the Andouille. It was mighty good and we’ve got leftover pork and leftover rice for dinner after our travel day tomorrow.

Tonight we’re headed off to Culhane’s Irish Pub for some Guinness or Murphy’s stout and whatever seems interesting to eat.

We also upgraded all of our iOS devices to the latest software as it came out this week and we had pretty decent wifi in the campground building. Neil also got the latest laptop OS update but has only installed it on his laptop so far…it worked fine so he’ll do the file server and Connie’s laptop this week.

We got word that the next New Horizons Owners Group (NHOG) rally will be held next May in Chattanooga TN in mid May. We originally thought that it would be both later and further south in FL and were planning on skipping it as we are planning on a trip to the Canadian Maritimes in summer of 2016 and it leaves from Saint Andrews, New Brunswick right over the border from the end of I-95 in Maine on June 20. However…with the location and schedule we think it will work out just fine for us. We’ll just tool around the southeast from when we leave on April 1 for arrival up in TN in early May. After the rally we’ll stop by Midlothian to see the human kids and grandkid then head up through the middle of PA so as to bypass the traffic in NJ and NYC and I think we’ll likely stop by Boston for another week as well in that area before heading up to Saint Andrews.    

We head out from here in Jacksonville tomorrow…next stop is about 190 miles up the road at the USMC Recruit Training Center at Parris Island SC. It’s located in Beaufort which is in between Charleston and Hilton head with Savannah also being within 40 miles or so. Connie again has a hike or two planned I think and we’ll check out the saloons in Beaufort before deciding whether to head off to one of those 3 larger cities. Connie wants to go over to Robert Irvine’s restaurant here (he’s the British guy on Food Network that does Restaurant Impossible)…but Neil isn’t much interested in paying inflated Hilton Head prices for a mediocre meal that won’t even be cooked by the guy whose name’s over the door…so I’m guessing we’ll pass on that unless there’s nothing at all in Beaufort. We likely will not be making another trip to one of our former best places to eat…Bowens Island Restaurant. As I recounted last spring the original small place had burned down and was rebuilt into a tourist monstrosity. The food wasn’t as good, neither was the service, and all of the dive ambiance that gave the place it’s charm is just gone in the new building. I guess the owners are making a bunch more money with more tables to turn…but it ruined what used to be a really quaint place to eat.

Cyas.

Today (Easter) marks our last day in sunny and hot southwest Florida for this year…we head out from Seminole Campground tomorrow morning.

Yesterday he figured out the problem with our solar (it hasn’t been working the past couple of weeks) installation and added a ground wire to our solar controller and reconfigured it to disable the ground fault circuit…this particular controller is designed for household installations first which have a real ground and hence you need to have the ground fault circuit. An RV doesn’t have a real ground except for through the power cable…as far as the power company is concerned the whole RV is essentially a single extension cord…so you have to disable the circuit to clear the fault indication and restore charging. We’re not sure why it ever worked since the circuit is enabled by default but something must have changed in the campground electrical system recently. no worries…it’s fixed now. 

After Mass this morning we came home and had a ham and egg sandwich for brunch then changed clothes and started our day before moving routine. Connie put away all the inside stuff and vacuumed the floor to make sure we don’t have any gravel that got tracked in as that would scratch the floor when the slides come in. Meanwhile…Neil put away the rope lights, our sign, the flag, and all the other basement stuff and checked the oil and such in the Mazda for the trip. After that he dumped and flushed our black and gray tanks…our sensor in the gray isn’t operating correctly right now. The grease and soap that you put into the tank from the dishes causes this Crisco looking white gunk to build up on the sides and hose up the indicator. The solution is to put some vinegar and grease dissolving dish liquid in along with a few gallons of water while you move and let the agitation wash it off. We’ll travel tomorrow with just 20 gallons or so in the tank to clean the lower sides and with 50 or so gallons next week to get the upper sides.

Once we were done with our chores Neil had a shower then a discussion about campground wifi and submarines with Doug who does the wifi here in Seminole Campground…Doug finally figured out the problem with the slowdown of the wifi…it was a DNS issue with the router but I won’t bore you with any more of the details.

While that was happening…our dinner was cooking. We browned a pork roast after brunch and put it in the crock pot with some German spices and wine…it’s done now and tastes mighty good. We’re making roasted potato with onion, bacon, and Parmesan cheese to go along with them and Neil made one of his famous Blueberry Crisps for dessert. That…along with the rest of the wine and maybe some corn (Connie and Neil are still negotiating on that one) will make a mighty tasty Easter dinner.

Neil ran across this photo the other day on his Twitter feed from EarthPics…it’s the paw of an 8 foot long black bear…notice the size of it compared to the hands of the guy who’s holding it. Connie is 100% sure that she doesn’t want to see anything like that on our upcoming trip. Neil keeps telling her that by and large the bears aren’t really interested in humans unless you scare them or get between a sow and her cubs…we make lots of noise talking to the bears when we’re hiking in the woods so neither of those is very likely. Still…they’re big and wild so it pays to keep yer wits about ye when in the bush. Neil’s guess is that we aren’t going to be nearly far enough out in the bush to really have much of a bear problem…that’s his story and he’s sticking to it he says.

Here’s a shot  of Alex…he’s getting bigger and we will be glad to see him again in a month or so. Holding his head up quite nicely for being just 3 months old.

Connie says he’s cute and adorable.

I’ll post some more probably Tuesday after our move…unless something blog-worthy happens across our path tomorrow.

Cyas.

Well, it’s the start of our final week here at the “Winter Home of Neil and Connie Laubenthal”. After 2 weeks of really brutally hot weather…almost like mid summer…it’s cooled off a bit with nights in the 50s and days in the 70s to lower 80s. At least until Wednesday when the highs are going to start to get into the 80s to near 90 by the weekend.

We’ve about finished up our maintenance and other stuff we needed to get done…it’s been  reduced to a checklist of things to do this week day by day so we don’t forget anything. Filed our taxes and coordinated with our financial folks up in Virginia on some of that stuff and Neil at least is starting to get hitch itch after 5 months of sitting still.

We happened across a note on the web earlier in the weekend and figured out what our problem has been all of these years. We’ve got Chionophobia…you can read all about it here. Chionophobia is the fear of snow. Speaking of snow…the snowbird migration north is in full force now…the park is clearing out with 5-10 rigs leaving daily…this is good because it definitely improves the wifi speed. Neil went down to Costco on Friday to get some more meat as we were out and in the 9 miles south on I-75 to the store and the 9 miles back saw at least a dozen fully loaded RVs heading north with plates from places like Ohio, Wisconsin, and Canada. Our friend Jeff headed back to Tennessee on Saturday and tweeted Connie Saturday evening that he had to disconnect his water supply when he stopped overnight in southern Georgia because the forecast was for an overnight freeze while we were still pretty warm down here…although it has cooled off some from the upper 80s to 90s the past couple of weeks and for the weekend and the next couple of days it’s lows in the 50s and highs in the 70s to lower 80s. It’s back to hot by Thursday though…although the long range forecast for next week in Jacksonville (our first stop when we leave on Monday after Easter) is for highs in the 70s.

Here’s a few images Neil borrowed from the web…no decent photos to be published today as we’ve been pretty busy on chores and such.

Saw this gold Mercedes over in Miami when we were visiting our friend Pad a few weeks back.

This is a photo of a Wild African Duwalley…he’s the meanest animal in the jungle except this one has been domesticated What makes him so mean you ask? Well, as the old description of the species goes…he’s got a head on one end and a head on the other end. To the inevitable question of “If he’s got a head on one end and a head on the other end, how does it poop?” the answer is “He don’t…that what makes him so mean.”

Here’s an Ibex out for lunch…it’s about a thousand feet down where he’s standing.

And some bad parking karma.

Cyas.

After his first flight the other day…note, I’m going to start calling it as a he rather than an it even though at this point we have no idea whether it’s really a he or she. Based on size, Neil thinks E6 is more likely female than male as he’s just about the same size as Harriet is…but that’s just an educated guess.

After his first flight earlier in the week E6 continues to flex, stretch, and increase his flying capability…Harriet is spending most of the day away from the nest eating for herself and bringing a meal to E6 usually daily. E6 has been continuing to fly around the nest site pasture, over to the trees by the church and pond and back as well as flying to different locations around the nest tree.

The intruder eagles are still hanging around although Neil didn’t see any of them this morning. There is a total of 4 hanging around…two adults, one sub adult and on😊e juvenile. I’m pretty sure you don’t know the difference between those various definitions so here they are:

Juvenile is when the bird has developed the first plumage (feathers) that allow flight…as differentiated from nestlings which still have the downy birth feathers and fledglings which are growing flight plumage…the fledgling turns into a juvenile when the flight feathers are complete.

Sub adult is a bird that has some or all of the adult plumage (e.g., the white head feathers on a bald eagle) but is sexually mature. 

Adult has both complete adult plumage and is sexually mature although not necessarily sexually active.

Immature is a broader category that covers everything from just fledged juveniles through sub adults…any bird that is not sexually mature with complete adult plumage is immature. Adult plumage happens before sexual maturity.

So now ya’ll are what we call experts😊

Anyway…Neil ran down this morning and got a few shots of E6 hanging around…he’s 89 days old today. Neil saw neither Harriet or any of the intruders but had a short discussion with his fellow eagle watcher who seems the most knowledgeable…at this point E6 should remain at the nest with his parents for another 5-6 weeks which means that Ozzie may be released a week or 10 days before E6 leaves. Harriet will be teaching him the rudiments of scavenging for food over the next weeks and perhaps a little hunting training but fishing is mostly learned on the job and usually takes until the juvenile is about 2 years old before it’s fully competent at fishing. Until then he’ll subsist mostly on road kill and slow small mammals or snakes. In addition to E6 he got a nice shot of a small brownish bird which we haven’t been able to identify with Peterson’s yet. 

Ozzie was on the news again lat night…he’s eating fine and has his broken clavicle wrapped. At this point the folks at CROW who are treating him think he will fully recover with about 3 weeks with the splint and another 2 or 3 weeks in their enclosed flight rehab aviary. Here’s a link to the SW Florida Eagle Cam Facebook page where ya’ll can get some more photos and info on his recovery.

After that he came home and we had leftover stir fry (yum) for lunch and we’re off to the Elks for Tacos for dinner.

Cyas.

Good news today!!

Although Ozzie is still recovering from his broken clavicle we are happy to report that E6, the remaining eaglet from this year’s hatching…fledged the nest (i.e., took his first flight) yesterday at 9:17AM at 86 days old which is just about average.

Here’s a link to a video of the first flight…E6 flew a hundred yards or so to another tree and came back to the nest about 20 minutes later. BTW, the name E6 comes from it being the 6th egg that hatched…there have been 2 in each year since 2012

E6 Fledge First Flight

Once it gets a little more confidence in it’s ability to maneuver and land successfully Harriet and E6 will likely leave the nest for a few days to start E6’s hunting lessons. Given the distance to the river and hunting grounds they’ll likely roost near them for a couple of days while it watched momma hunt and once it can easily fly to the river and back they’ll return to the nest for another 5 or 6 weeks before E6 departs the nest permanently. Hopefully Ozzie will be healed, rehab complete, and released before that happens.

Cyas.

Well, as promised Neil went down on Wednesday AM and got some pictures of the eagles (well, one of the adults and the eaglet E6 at least) but there’s good news and bad news about that.

The good news is that E6 is 83 days old or so as of today and is getting pretty close to fledging the nest…i.e., taking his first flight. As you can see from the photos below…he’s doing lots of hover flying over the nest and is able to jump/fly/hover short distances to get to different perches on and around the nest area.

The bad news is that Ozzie has been injured and is currently at a rehab facility on Sanibel Island about 30 miles away with a broken left clavicle.

When Neil arrived early yesterday morning he could see Harriet sitting above the nest looking around pretty regularly rather than just roosting. E6 was in the nest sitting up and also looking around but Ozzie was nowhere in sight. At first he thought that Ozzie was out hunting but one of the other watchers at the nesting site said that Ozzie hadn’t been at the nest since around noontime the previous day and that Harriet hadn’t left the nest since the previous day…which means that E6 hadn’t eaten since the previous day. A little later on another watcher showed up and reported that an injured eagle had been picked up from a back yard near the railroad about a mile away rom the nest on the other side of the river. This sounded sort of ominous but there was no real news beyond that.

Neil took some more shots of Harriet and E6 and then headed home as our friends Tom and Pam Hanneke from back in the navy days were visiting southern Florida for baseball training camps and knew we were down here…so we got together and went to the Ragged Ass Saloon for lunch. After lunch we went off to Bingo at the Elks and in between Neil checked out the various web sites…the eagle cam site, the Florida Wildlife site and by this morning the reports were pretty conclusive that the injured bird was Ozzie as it has a missing left talon like he does and the photos matched  up. Combine that, the relative closeness to the nest of the injury pickup and Ozzie’s lack of presence at the nest and things seem pretty conclusive. By this evening the news had confirmed that it is Ozzie and he’s currently undergoing treatment at CROW (Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife) on Sanibel.

Ozzie’s current status is that he has a broken left clavicle that is wrapped and set. He’s eating reasonably well and is alert so it appears that other than the broken wing he’s alright. The prognosis is that he’ll spend 3 weeks or so healing up and then a little more time for rehab to strengthen his flight muscles before being released. While it’s possible that his injury might prevent release if he can no longer fly…that doesn’t appear likely at this point so it looks like he was lucky.

What happened is anybody’s guess…he was found near the railroad tracks across the river and almost in someone’s back yard. It’s unlikely he collided with a train as that would have been likely fatal but there are several other possibilities. He was near one of their hunting areas near the river…so he could have collided with an Osprey if he was trying to steal it’s fish…or he could have been stooping on some small furry creature on the ground and hit a tree branch or wire…there’s no way to really tell other than from the injury…which appears to be just a blunt trauma to the forward edge of the shoulder/wing. There’s no open wound so it looks like he just ran into something.

Anyway…here’s some shots we took yesterday…Harriet looking around worriedly and a bunch of them of E6 hover flying over the nest. We’ll keep an eye out and hopefully get some shots of E6 in flight before we leave.

E6 is able to spend 15-20 seconds at a time hovering over the nest so he’s working hard on strengthening his flight muscles. Looking forward to him fledging…and we’ll keep our fingers crossed that Ozzie makes a complete recovery from his injury. I suppose Harriet is wondering where he’s gotten to…as you know eagles mate for life but I have no idea what they do if their mate just disappears. I suppose eventually she would mate with another male as she’s still of breeding age but she and E6 will be around the nest area until at least the middle of May by the time she finishes teaching him how to hunt and such. Hopefully Ozzie will be released by then and I’m sure they’ll bring him back near the nest for release so he can find his way home.

Cyas.