Twas the week before Christmas....

It has been a pretty quiet week around here. We've been staying pretty close to home since I haven't been feeling great, and last weekend it was cool and rainy (what IS that stuff falling from the sky???).   We started to get a little stir crazy, so we decided to check out the local mall.  It's about the size of the Dayton Mall, and we enjoyed just walking around checking out the decorations and having lunch at the food court.  I enjoyed looking at the various "Florida" Christmas cards and tree décor -

We spent some time in the large bookstore, and I sat and caught up on all the jewelry and artsy magazines.

On another late afternoon, we drove to a nearby senior community called "Shell Point".  It has upscale homes and condos, as well as assisted living and skilled care medical facilities.  It's really nice, with beautiful landscaping and right on the bay.  We had heard from some locals that it was a good place to see manatee, so we went to check it out.  We not only saw a huge manatee and her baby, but six dolphin!

(Note: if you click on the bottom right button, you will see the video "full screen")

 

There was also a posing pelican, and a nesting pair of osprey.

The weather has been beautiful the last few days, and doing laundry is a pleasure since its right by the pool!  One afternoon we decided to go back out to Harne's Marsh and pick up some more apple snail shells, since several people have asked me to send them a few.  Noel was a trooper, complete with the "gator stick" and did most of the bending over while I pointed.  They were extra mucky and muddy this time, since the county mowed the grass around the lake/marsh and many of the shells were pushed down into the muck.

We saw several wood storks perched in an old tree

And this egret was curious to see what we were doing with his lunch leftovers...

I soaked them overnight, then scrubbed each one, rinsed with bleach water, and then laid out to dry.  Even after the overnight soak, a few spiders found air pockets up in the shells and survived to surprise the crap out of me as I washed the shells.  Then after the bleach, I found two more dead ones!  Oh the things I can get into for shells!

 

Yesterday and today (Thursday, December 19) the truck has been in the shop (it sprung an antifreeze hose leak), so its been spent reading, napping, checking out campgrounds on the internet as we plan our trek west, and a bike ride down to the fruit stand for some fresh fruits and veggies.  What have YOU been doing?