5.11.10

We spotted the sailboat that was in Silver Glen springs…the dingy was gone so we weren't able to stop and say Hi.

We watched these men with their trap…interesting…and looks like hard work.  These have to be hauled aboard..cleaned out and then dropped back in the water.

Not many gators sunning today….most are in the water, but we did see this duck with her 3 babies sunning on an old boiler that has been submerged.

Jim, aboard “Sailbad the Sinner” was anchored at G3 so we tucked in behind him and anchored. 

We gathered up some firewood and roasted hotdogs for supper.  A trip around the area with the detector and we had a quarter and several pull tabs….Jim’s trying to adjust it to skip over them. Still learning. Heading to Silver Glen tomorrow.

5.10.10

We only saw one gator on the way to our anchorage behind Drigger Island. Is he smiling at me?

How about this for a unique craft?

I know…doesn’t look like much from this view…but check this out…

He’s using a jet ski or sea do to power the Shuttle Craft…Not sure how useful it is..but different. My Dad saw a houseboat down here, many years ago, that had the fishing boat set up in the same manor for power. 

We did need to put up the sunshade to keep cool.

We heard the Sand Hill Cranes in the evening and early morning…but never was able to spot them.

We’ll head for Lungun Island, G3, in the morning…another try with the detector.

On the water again!!!! 5.9.10

We spent a few days scrubbing and putting several coats of Poliglow on the boat. She’s nice and shiny. Sunday was such a pretty day we decided to launch.  10 am to 11 am isn’t very busy. Most of the fishing boats are already in the water and the family boaters don’t get going till after lunch so we didn’t hold anyone up. We don’t take very long at the ramp since we do all the prep work before backing in.

We only cruised to the island at Butcher’s Bend, marker G109. There is a popular spot on the river just N of there and we decided to test our new metal detector on it. So we were up early Monday and anchored nearby…we are in a learning mode…found a penny and a lot of pull tabs..Jim works the detector and I dig..LOL

We headed to Drigger Island for the night. I am hopeing to get pictures of the Sand Hill Cranes. The pair with the 2 little ones.

Beautiful weather…warm days and cool enough for a light blanket at night.  What more could anyone ask for.

Honey Bees 4.26.10

Has anyone else noticed that Honey Bees seem to like our boats? I’ve even had them land on or follow us when on the water…usually only one or two but they are there.

Yesterday I had 3 Honey Bees trying to get behind the teak on the side of the boat. They didn’t bother me as I went in and out but they always returned to the same spot. No hole there that I can see……this morning there were 4…I do believe they think that big white boat is a giant beehive….

So…..I have set up a hive. My sister, JoAnne, gave me most of the parts…but I had to borrow the “porch”  and the cover from my neighbor, George, who has 4 hives of his own. He gave me instructions on what to do to get it ready….and will help me when, and if, I am able to attract a swarm.

Bees send out scouts for new homes when a hive gets too large and wants to split…I am hoping that’s what looking at my boat…scouts…now….I can’t say that Jim is thrilled with this idea…but he is going along with it for now…

This is what the bees make their honeycomb on…

I think this hive has 11 …once that one is dropped into the slot on top…the panel lying on it’s side with the hole goes on top of them..it leaves a small space so they can get from one panel to the other.

Then the top covers the whole thing.

So….after I get this all together…sitting on a wheel barrow so I can move it once they decide they like it….I sit in the boat and watch the bees….they don’t show any interest at all…I couldn’t even get them to look at a plate with a bit of honey on it.  So I washed the area on the boat that they were so interested in with soap and water…then put a piece of wet paper towel over the spot to discourage them…

The next thing I knew…I had 7 Honey Bees flying in an out and landing on the wet paper towel…so I sat and watched for awhile longer. I finally realized they were after the water in the towel. Each bee would drink …then fly away…..

I made up a bee water bowl… the paper towel in the tray is so they don’t drown…and they seemed to like having it to sit on. I placed it on the stepladder and removed the wet one from the boat…it only took a few minutes for one to find it and then they just kept coming back to it. At first I moved it when no bees were there and they wasted a lot of time trying to find it…you could almost tell where it had been sitting when a bee came back…..I kept moving it until I had it on a small step ladder and then I moved it a few feet at a time until I had it near the birdbath… the next step was to put a piece of paper towel on the bird bath…

I’ve had bees coming to the bird bath in the past…but these were happy with what they found on the boat…we get a lot of condensation in the snaps..perhaps that was it…I figured the thunderstorms we had last night would create better places for them but they were working on the paper towel at the bird bath early this morning….and none on the boat…..so I guess these are the “water” bees.  Every bee has a job and honey was not in their job description…may be “union” bees.

I put the hive in the only spot that doesn’t get a lot of mowing. I will have to keep the plants cut back so the ants can’t get to it…the legs of the stand have engine grease on them to prevent them climbing…If no one moves in…I’ll store it until next year…

It’s really amazing what you can learn if you just take the time to observe something.

We are home… 4.17.10

We had no problems loading the boat on the trailer…it was a beautiful day and we headed home.

While I was on the water…I tried to publish a couple of videos and was unable to…here they are.

This gator made such a slow slide into the water it gives you a chance to see just how big it is.

In this video we were trying to get through this narrow section of one loops off the river. Jim thought I could get a better shot of the Sand Hill Cranes from the foredeck, but they had already left. There was a bar at the entrance that we had to go over. Depth gauge showed 2.7 for a quick blink and then we were over…must have been skidding the keel as we crossed it.

This is the best video of the Sand Hill Cranes and the 2 chicks. I was standing in an 8’ inflatable dingy. Not really stable…if you’ve tried it you will appreciate this.

We are going to spend the week doing some cleaning on the boat….a good scrub and several coats of Poliglow…then we’ll be heading for the river again. Maybe we’ll get luck enough to see the Sand Hill Cranes with there little ones again.

4.11.10 Sand Hill Cranes and 2 little ones!!

When we dropped the hook (anchor)  last night we couldn’t find the Sand Hill Cranes. We decided to stay here anyways and it was a good decision….when I was on deck with Raisin and her “magic carpet” this morning……there they were!

Once we had our coffee cups full…we took the dingy up near the floating mat of water plants and I started taking pictures.

A few days ago my pictures only showed one…now there are two…

They look about the same size so perhaps there were hatched at same  time and I just didn’t see the other one…..I wouldn’t have known there was a little one if it weren’t for the pictures.

They aren't the best pictures but I was standing in an inflatable dingy while taking them

Jim thought I would get some better shots from the deck of the Albin…..so we got the dingy loaded on the swim platform for travel and headed up this narrow channel. Kind of made me think of the African Queen….unfortunately they had already moved to another area farther away.

It is only a bit wider than the boat and there is a shallow bar at the entrance but Jim wanted to give it a try…

We made it over the bar…the depth gauge read 2.7 for a quick flash and then we were over…..must have been scrubbing the bottom with the keel.

Lots of boats again today…..

We made a slow cruise to G109 Butchers Bend.  A couple of gators kept us company…but the real surprise was this Immature Little Blue Heron. I have been trying to get pictures of one but they always fly away…..this one let us drift right up to it.  It’s mostly white but you can see patches of blue where it is molting to it mature color.

It was really much prettier than these pictures show it.

We are anchored for the night. Weather was again perfect. We’ll be up early…and heading home….What a great week….

4.10.10 Saturday on the river

Last night a pontoon boat beached at G3 (Lungun Island). They arrived with a big stack of firewood to last the weekend. We really enjoyed the bonfire from our boat…this was our view…

It was another pretty day….warm sunshine…cool breeze. We saw a few very nice gators.

You are probably getting tired of them…but i never do…You don’t often see the whole gator…nose to tail tip..and you don’t here…but you can see that the distance from behind it’s rear legs to nose is not as long as the tail..there is at least another ft below water. Such a pretty one….

This one has some color pattern to it….and isn’t nearly as handsome as the one above.

This one is in the video below…

It has been such beautiful weather…Gators, Osprey, Bald Eagles, Sand Hill Cranes and Turtles aren't the only life on the river. ..this group consisted of 5 pontoon boats and 3 jet skis…all in a hurry…

“go fast” boats…

lots of fishing boats…and even one that travels about our speed.

We only had about 20 miles to run today so did it at a slooooow 4.5 mph…needed to charge the batteries and it was to beautiful to hurry.  No pretty bonfire tonight….just a couple of resident gators cruising around us to keep us company. We are anchored where we saw the Sand Hill Cranes with the little one…but they are gone.