July 31st, 2026

You may have noticed that I have not posted any Photo Safari Reports in a few weeks.  Generally speaking, Joy and I usually hike on Thursdays which means I have Photo Safari Report (PSR) ready for you on Fridays!  But, with one thing and another, it turns out that the last PSR I put up was an entire month ago! It was June 26th, I just looked it up! 

I don't know if you've missed reading them, but I've missed writing them and mostly I've missed doing them!  The hiking, the photographing, the spotting of opportunity and the time with my sister are all  things too good to not do!

But life happens.  There have been appointments, travels, and mostly, there has been rain. Lots and lots of rain. Well it is our rainy season, so it makes perfect sense but dang!  Joy and I were both very hopeful for yesterday. After many weeks of NOT, we were sure that finally we'd be getting back out there. And then on Monday we checked the weather prediction and it was wet. Very wet. And worse than wet, it was filled with lightning. We don't mess around with lightning.  But during our usual Monday phone call, we agreed to wait to make an absolute decision until Wednesday.  The plan was that when I got home from work on Wednesday. I would check all of the various weather reports (because they don't always agree) and text her.

As soon as I got back from the museum on Wednesday, as promised, I checked the weather predictions and for a change, they all agreed.  Thunder, lightning, and rain. Full Orchestration. For Thursday morning.  Dang.  Joy and I texted back and forth for a bit trying to decide. After all, things do change. And around here, they change often.  So we agreed to do a zero hour decision Thursday morning. Whoever got up first would look out the window and text the other one.  Reasonable thought process! So we both prepared as we always do, camera batteries were charged, hiking clothes laid out, equipment gathered, we were ready, just in case.

I woke at 5:30 am Thursday morning to what sounded like an unending line of giant dump trucks filled with boulders crossing a metal bridge.  That is to say, rolling thunder.  I slitted my eyes open long enough to read the nearest clock and saw the time and immediately thereafter I was nearly blinded by a lightning flash in the very dark wee hours.  Dang.  I groaned softly, swung out of bed and padded to the window.

It was just a gentle pitter patter of rain at that moment; more drizzle than rain.  I checked the weather app on my phone and it confirmed that it had not changed it's mind about the storm. And in fact, if anything, it was going to be longer and bigger than originally stated. The entire county was now under a flood watch.  Well, that is just craptastic.

I texted Joy, knowing that eventually she would see my report and suggestion that the hike be cancelled even though the rain was just drizzly.  She responded almost immediately and agreed.  At that point it was more about the lightning than the rain.  It's not like we would melt in the rain.  It's not fun to be soaking wet, feet squelching in our shoes (a sure way to invite blisters by the way), clothes plastered to our bodies and hair running with water but it's not a death knell, just miserable.  The problem with the rain is our cameras and my hearing aids.  If they get wet, it's not just a problem, it's an expensive problem. 

We could bring plastic bags, that's easy enough.  They fold up small, tuck them in a pocket and cameras and hearing aids are protected.   Absolutely, that could be done.  But in Florida, the issue is the lightning.  Not only do we get a lot of lightning, and wildfires often start from lightning strikes here abouts, but  - and this is the scary part - people get struck by lightning with alarming frequency and that is ALWAYS a bad thing.    So drizzle or no drizzle, lightning says no.   No Hike.  Ratz.  Yet another week of no hike, no pictures, no photo safari report and no time with my sister.

Wait a minute, no pictures?  I bet I have some pictures.  And it's true, I do!  Just a few, but they are pictures and so they count.  Between rain bands on this past Tuesday, I saw the kittyboys raptly starring out the family room windows in the afternoon. So I quietly crept up behind them to see what they were seeing.  It was a nice variety of birds at and near the feeder :) I watched with Brysco and Wyatt for a bit then, for a change actually thinking, I grabbed my camera and took some photos. I had particular reason in mind, it was strictly, just because. Which is an excellent reason all on it's own. And now, well it's not a photo safari report and these aren't exotic or unusual birds and they weren't in a preserve or state park, just our backyard.  Still counts!

So I leave you today with wishes for a great weekend and a few birdie photos.  I hope all the places around the country today that are desperate for rain, finally get some! I'd send you ours if I could, but stamps do not stick to it!

​