One Last Hoorah

Rob and I went canoeing a few days ago. It's been a while, since he is always working these days. We both took a day off to go down the Santa Fe one last time before I leave town.

Unfortunately, it had been so long since we used the canoe that some large ants had moved in. A lot of them. Into both the front and the back of the boat, or as Rob insists I call them, the "bow" and "stern." I want to mention here that since I am not a pirate, I don't feel the need to use this fancy boat talk.

Anyway, we had to submerge the canoe for at least ten minutes to get rid of them all. 

But they were invincible! They floated toward shore in hordes and simply got out and began marching.

All those white dots in the above photo are ants. Here they are up close.

We didn't canoe very far -- just down to Blue Springs, where we canoed up a side spring run, and then back out and down to Ginnie Springs for some R & R. 

See the turtle (also known as a cooter)?

Rob demanded I take a photo of him.

A snake swam up to our canoe at Ginnie Springs and glared at me. It was kinda freaky, but I don't think the snake was a poisonous one. Still, who wants to be that close to any snake? It literally came up to the side of the canoe. Too close for me.

I'm in Europe right now, but wanted to finish this entry before I got back and became concerned with moving to D.C. (five days after my return). 

So this was my last Florida outing for the forseeable future.

Goodbye, river.

Goodbye, springs.

Goodbye, Florida.

Tree Giveaway

A bunch of friends and I went to the GRU Tree-mendous event a couple weeks ago. GRU is our local, community-owned utility, and once a year they give away two shrubs and trees away to anyone with a recent utility bill. People go nuts over this event. I'm not even kidding, you have to get there before dawn to ensure a good place in the line that forms before the gates open.

When I got up it was still dark out (shocking for anyone who knows me). I drank a lot of strong tea that morning. We got to the giveaway location a little after 7, and were still 1/4 mile back in line!!!!!!


I got two gingers for Kim, since I don't need any plants. I mean, I'm trying to unload any plants I haven't killed yet, since I am moving in three weeks. Afterwards, we got breakfast at a new joint. It was actually really fun, despite my lack of sleep.