AHHH! Nature! It's all over me... GET IT OFF!!!

i like nature. it's all over the place so it's kinda hard to miss. i seem to attract it where ever i go so i am kinda used to it. when i was a kid, my dad would take me out to go fishing, hunting or just running around acting silly. i learned how to bait a hook, shoot a gun, gut a fish, shoot a bow and arrow, field dress a deer, and cook a squirrel. most of these talents have fallen by the wayside as i have grown up but the respect for and enjoyment of nature has retained.

as i have grown up, i tend to be a little more conscious of the world around me. while i was living in london, i found a den of foxes in my neighborhood. i probably shouldn't have done so, but i started buying them bacon wraps for them. there was a mom and her kits. and they were cute. i still love feeding the ducks at the pond at my apt complex and absolutely love going to the zoo. as you have previously read... i really like animals and have several of my own, so it comes as no surprise that i like nature.

as much as i complain about the part of florida that i live in, it is chock full of wildlife. here at my complex, we have a little pond that is home to lots of muscovy ducks (turkey ducks, as i like to call them), turtles, some fish and a couple of river otters. yes, folks, river otters. i had never seen wild otters before and thought that Himself was confused when he said that he had seen them. i figured that he had seen a couple of nutra rats or something. but damned if he was right. i watched one wrestle a big catfish out of the pond and eat it on the bank. then, when he noticed me watching, the otter took his fishy prize back in the water, swam into the drainage ditch and ate it there. i could hear the otter crunching on the fish from the drain cover. uuber cool. it was like being on wild kingdom. Himself was running about like freakin' jeff corwin. as for the water birds... i feed the ducks and geese. just this week a family of canada geese have moved in and made themselves at home. i feed them in the mornings. there is a mommy, daddy and 6 babby geese. the babies take the bread right out of my hand and the mom doesn't hiss at me so much now. love it.

there is life teaming in the trees that line the complex as well. now keep in mind that this apartment complex in one a major roadway in the middle of a city. i'm not living out in the boonies, i am living 5 minutes from downtown and next to an applebee's. anyway... there is an osprey and a hawk family that live in our trees. a copious amount of crows, quite a few bats and some possums. pearl (the greyhound) likes to find the possums and chase them trough the verge. unfortunately for both of us, i am still attached to her via the leash and i end up crashing through the brambles as well. it's not a pretty picture. just imagine this 65lb running machine tugging this screaming chunky girl behind her.

on a more elegant thought... i have taken up snorkeling again. when i first moved to fl, i would snorkel on my days off but those were few and far between so my hobby sort of died. but lately, i have been going to the beach every weekend (it's there, it's free, why not) and i have started strapping on the fins. the last time i went, i didn't see much... some fish and some pretty shells but there is a nice beach that has a big sandbar right around the corner, so i think that this weekend we'll there.

now. i have been lucky enough to have seen dolphins, pelicans, starfish and huge conchs, but until recently, i have never seen a wild manatee. i like manatees. i think that they are cute. so, at the dog park, i was bemoaning the fact that i had never seen a wild manatee and one of the other dog owners tipped me off to a small cove that is home to a pod (?) of manatees. it is only a few blocks away and it is fairly secluded. so, Himself and i went to check it out. we got out of the truck and right there in front of my eyes were 3 feeding manatees. well, all i could see was their noses but they were manatees and i was stoked! we sat for about an hour, just watching them swim about and eat. it was very calming. i plan on taking my mom out to see them when she visits next week.