September 03rd, 2024

The above photo has nothing to do with what I'm about to say but everything to do with what I will eventually say today.  Did you follow that?  

How was your Labour Day Long Weekend Holiday?  Hope it was absolutely grand ;)  Ours certainly was and there was so much involved in it!  Our holiday had a little bit of almost everything good.    We had a fabulous Minock Day (you already know how I feel about those - the best days ever!), an amazing hike and a field trip (which I will write about another day).  We attended a surprise birthday party (which was wonderful!) and even managed to have a little bit of very mellow downtime.  Whew!  We should be exhausted!  LOLOL

Today I will write first about the hike!  So obviously this will be a photo safari report.  And since the place we hiked was flooded, yupppers, I'm going with the obvious.  This will be the Flood Waters Hike.

We have had so much rain lately. I mean even for the rainy season, it's been a lot of rain. And then you add in Tropical Storm Debby that brought something like 6 inches of rain to our area on top of it and it is not beyond comprehension to learn that most of our favourite hiking spots are largely underwater or at least majorly mucky.  Originally Joy and I were just going to walk around Venice Island taking photos (and there's nothing wrong with that!) but at the last minute, Joy learned the Myakka State Park had reopened so hurrah, that's where we headed.

As we drove in, the Ranger at the entrance reminded us to Stay In The Car due to the flooding.  It's not because they necessarily worry about us getting wet or dirty or yucky wading through flooded areas, it's because the flooding brings wildlife much closer than usual to the road through the park.  Especially dangerous wildlife such as:

Yup, gators.  And they be sneaky and quiet too soooo yes, we stayed in the car 99% of the time.  On the few occasions when we got out of the car, one of us took the photo, the other one was on lookout.  You know Joy's philosophy..."Always know where your alligators are" .  It's good advice.  Oh and did you notice the dragonfly over the snout of the first alligator?  Brave soul.

Although we knew the place was flooded, I mean in our heads, we mentally were aware, it's still kind of Whoa to see it in person.  Picnic tables and bicycle racks that you would have to wade or swim to and water right up to the edge of the road were common sights.  Whole areas were roped off, "Danger, Will Robinson!"  And still we saw one man walking out into the water. What the heck man...alligators and water snakes mean nothing to you?

On the other hand, we did see birds. Lots of birds.   A lovely variety of birds AND my very first owl!  So exciting!  Up until this particular hike, whenever someone else saw an owl and tried to point it out to me, I just couldn't see it.  Sort of like those art pieces from twenty or so years ago where if you unfocused your eyes while starring you were supposed to eventually see the hidden image.  Remember those?  I could NEVER see it.  The hidden image remained hidden for me, forever.  That's how I always was with Owls.  WAS being the operative word.  

To be fair, Joy spotted it. Stopped and backed up the car and pointed,  "Oh my gosh, "  She said, "Look at the owl!"  and she snapped away through the window.   I saw nothing and said so.  "For heavens' sakes, Sam, it's right there"  She pointed again and moved the car into another position.  "Nope, nothing' I said while squinting, peering, starring and not finding it.  Finally I told her to not worry about, she got the photo and that was fine with me.  And we started to very slowly pull away and suddenly, there it was.  The Owl in question!  Holy Cats!  Joy slammed on the brakes and I got the shot.  Wow! My first owl photo!  (oh and other birds too)

We did of course see a few other critters of one sort of another and I got a couple of botanicals as well

And I guess that about wraps it up.  The Flood Waters Hike was a little bit unusual but a whole lot great.  Hope you enjoyed it.

I'll be writing up at least one other part of the long weekend another day later this week.

​Hope you had a wonderful Labor Day Holiday!!