Sunset Thunderstorm

Yesterday evening we got a few sprnkles, but I saw this cloud as the sun had set. At that time I couldn't see any activity. Just a pretty sunset cloud.

But after dark, it turned into a thunderstorm. This was about 80 miles away at St. Petersburg. I called a friend there & she said they were getting the thunderstorm. She said she was gonna go swimming when she got off work, but heard thunder just as she got home.

With the blog here now, videos can be done. I tried shooting some videos of the lightning, but with it being so far off in the distance, they didn't show much, just as this still doesn't show much either. Have a good day..................................................Ron

Snapping Turtle & more

I'm pretty sure this is a SNAPPING TURTLE. This morning as I was waiting on Gregg to show up, Rosa, an employee here at the campground showed to me. She almost reached down to pick it up, but I warned her I didn't think she should. The turtle did hiss or make some noise at Rosa.
So after I left, Rosa took these pictures of the turtle. Hard to see, but the tail has spikes like an alligator. Some are misnomered to be called alligator turtles. You can go look at more at this website: http://museum.gov.ns.ca/mnh/nature/turtles/snap.htm

Look at the spikes on the top of the tail if you can see them. Also look at the sharp claws. Their head can stretch out quite aways & reach around almost half way back to their tail. My dad once made turtle soup out of one he caught on a fishing line.

This is Rosa's grandson. She was giving him a bath in the camper kitchen sink.
Daisy this pup was 4 weeks old in this picture & is Rosa's granddaughter's puppy. It is a full bred Boxer. Her granddaughter went roller skating 2 days after school got out & fell, so all summer she had a cast.

Full Moon & Lunar Eclipse

Time for the August full moon. It was bright last night. Wish I had gotten a picture just as it rose over the horizon.
Then on the news last night I heard there was gonna be a solar eclipse, so I got up at 5:30 AM this morning to take pictures. Not a very good picture, as there wasn't very much light for the camera to focus on & I COULDN'T REMEMBER HOW TO SET THE CAMERA ON MANUAL FOCUS!!! I did go get the tripod, but never got a good picture. But at least it is a picture.

Been still hot here, but some afternoon rains have cooled it off in the evening. Saturday we got over 2" of rain.

Wish all well. Have a good week,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Ron

THAT !?!?

People can sure come up with some eye catching titles to sell books. I haven't read any of the book yet, but know it is trying to sell software for you to learn how to do various things with a computer. DON'T YOU WANT TO LEARN HOW TO MANAGE A STINKY HOG FARM FOR A LIVING? LOL!

Actually, I'm not into reading books. Most of my reading is off of the internet or spend time watching TV & let them verbally tell me. The same lady who showed me this book also saw some cassette books on mysteries, so she borrowed them.

Staying at the "SALVAGE YARD" now. Just came in to do internet & get into the air conditioning.

This morning I did a little, (DID I SAY LITTLE?), PROJECT! Maybe you've seen a headliner that drooped down in a car? Well, I took it out. Then scrapped the crumbling sponge off the inside. Then had a mess to clean up with the sweeper, BUT THE CAR LOOKS MUCH BETTER. It belongs to my friend Gregg. It is a 1983 Olds 98 Regency, which has the diesel engine in it.

Well it is in upper 80's here today, but we haven't had any rain for several days.

Much better though than the people north of here that had temperatures above 100 degrees.

Until next time,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Ron

Hello & Goodbye

This is Jasmine. He is a Blue & Gold Macaw. He is owned by John & Rosa here in the campground. Sometimes he rides around on the owner's 3 wheel golf cart. Rosa is a security guard here. While I was taking his picture he said Hello & Goodbye to me, so I asked Rosa if he said anything else & she said he says other things, WHEN HE WANTS TO. So as I went to leave, I heard something, so I turned around thinking I had missed something Rosa had said to me, but found out it was Jasmine saying Hello to me AS I WAS LEAVING, lol. So then he did say Goodbye to me before I did leave that time.

It was terribly hot here today, but about 6 PM we got a hard storm & it has cooled the temperature from 95 or so to in the 70's & feels very good. I had to shut off the air conditioners in the bus.

Hello & Goodbye

This is Jasmine, a Blue & Gold McCaw. His owner is Rosa who works here at the campground. Jasmine says more words, but all I heard him say was Hello & Goodbye. LOL, as I was leaving Jasmine said Hello to me, so I turned around thinking it was Rosa & asked her what she said, only to find out it was Jasmine. But then Jasmine did say Goodbye to me before I left that time.

It was tremendously hot again today, but we got a storm this evening & it must be in the 7o's here now at around 8PM. YAHOO!!!

Sunset Clouds

Even though we haven't received any rain this evening, we've had some strange clouds. This one in this picture looked like 2 fingers stuck up, but before I could get to the bus & get the camera to take the picture, it looked like this. So then I put the camera away, which was an unfortunate thing also as on the left it had a piece come out that looked like a tail.
Then as I was on my cell phone, Bob hollered at me to come take this picture. Yes, I think it is pretty with the sun shining on both sides of it & it is pretty much vertical.
This picture is just to the left of the picture above.
This cloud is the same as the 2nd one above, but 5-10 minutes later. Had lightning in it & I was thinking BIG TORNADO? But I never did see it twirling, plus it was a long way away.

I noticed these trees clumped together about 1/8th mile away, so I zoomed in on it. I thought it looked like a 4 legged animal with horns & IT EVEN HAS A TAIL!!!

All for tonight.

Sweet dreams,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Ron

Lawn Service

This morning I saw this trailer with advertising on the side of it for lawn service. No reason to take a picture of it, UNTIL I SAW THE BACK OF THE TRAILER.......................
Then I saw Philippians 4:13 & below that, "CUT GRASS, DON'T SMOKE IT!", so I thought it had something to do with don't abuse your body, but that isn't it. Had to get the bible to see, Philippians 4:13 says, "I can do all things through Christ who strenghtens me." Reminds me of Sunday morning when I said "Good Morning" to a guy here & he said, "What's good about it?"
I told him, "God gave us another day of life".

This last weekend I just lazied around, some in the pool, but mostly on the computer. Played several games of Pinochle & lost more than I won. Cards I had weren't good. We didn't get the cold front to cool us down to the lower 90's as promised. In fact some places in Florida tied or broke record heat temperatures. Also the air conditioner here in the lounge was down a couple of days, but fixed now.

Oh well, guess I'll just have to go have a bowl of ice cream with butterscotch topping on it, LOL. Have a good day..............................................Ron

This morning........

I was just ready to leave the campground this morning when Kathy in the golf cart asked me if I had time to go see something. I told her I had 5 minutes, so she said she could have me back in 5 minutes. Then after I got on the cart, she told me what it was, so I went & got the camera. This cart is new to her & her husband Bob. They had a "LIFT KIT" & a new radio put on it.

So these 2 young pigs is what we saw when we got there. They sure worked hard trying to push through the wire cage. Notice the black pig has a bloody mouth. Also they had really rooted up the ground over beside the cage. They used a pumpkin as bait to catch them.

Still near 100 here with heat index above 100. Lows at night in upper 70's.

Have a nice weekend & keep cool. Ron

Golfing or Goofing around

This last Saturday I went to the golf course just north of Wachula for the Elk's tournament. Inside the clubhouse I found the used golf balls & liked the name they applied to them. The pretty gal is Jill. She was there handing out water, soft drinks, & beer to the golfers, working for tips. I know she got some nice tips. I first met Jill when she was waitressing at the Elk's & we sang, "Summer Nights" at Karaoke together. Also took pictures of her there & sent them to her.
Now, to flip things around, I asked her if she'd take my picture on the golf cart I was on out taking pictures of golfers on the course. She did a great job & then she told me she enjoyed taking pictures. I had a choice of about 20 different golf carts to pick from, so went through all of them looking for #44, but since it had already been checked out, I took #24 for Jeff Gordon in Nascar racing. If you are a golfer, you've heard that some good business deals are made on the golf course. Well, Jill told me she is the cook in a new restaurant opening & needed to have their used frenchfry oil picked up. So I went there today & got around 30 gallons, plus set a barrell to where they will save it for me to have for fuel. I also get the used frenchfry oil from the Elk's Lodge & 3 other places here at Wachula, plus 1 at Busnell.
One of the gals I took a picture of out on the course & she hit the ball good said she didn't care about a picture of her hitting the ball. She just wanted me to get a picture of her baseball cap. These golf teams were from all over the Elk's district here including Winter Haven, Lakeland, & more. Now, SHE won the prize for "CLOSEST TO THE PIN" on a Par 3. Another woman won for "LONG DRIVE". I saw another woman who was hitting the ball better than any of the men she was with. As I was posing them to take a picture of them with the flag, I asked her which one was her husband, so I could line them up. "ALL THREE I HEARD", well, really none of them. She was widowed. Yes, the women did "KICK ASS" over the men golfers, LOL.

This is Marty who had part of the management of the golf tournament & is an officer at the Elk's Lodge. I was determined to get a picture of the ball in the picture AFTER HE HIT IT, but I didn't. Once the club hits the ball, it flies very fast. I got pictures of all his team mates with a ball in the picture & others with the ball in the picture. He did have a terrific shot though that I took this picture. He sunk a putt from maybe 20-30'. "HEY TIGER!!!". I heard several people refer to Tiger Woods through the tournament.

Also I asked & a guy let me hit a 3 iron after they had hit from a spot. I hit the ball good & was only about 10 yards short of "BEST SHOT". Sort of makes me want to get my golf clubs out of the bus & play some now. I talked to the owner & looks like I'm gonna get some free golf.

A friend of mine sent this link. She now works at night & so she said she enjoyed watching the moon. VERY INTERESTING! moonphase.com

Time to go get into the swimming pool to cool off. Have a nice day,,,,,,,,,,Ron

My Halo?

I set the alarm for 4:30 AM this morning as I was supposed to be at the Elk's Lodge at 6 AM. I rode my electric scooter, about 3 miles from campground to Elk's. As I was riding, I saw this mystery cloud in the east before sunrise. Looked like a halo. My halo? I remember other strange cloud formations & once thought I saw an UFO when I was delivering newspapers in the 1960's. I never told anybody though, LOL.
So when I got to the Elk's, daylight was starting to come & I noticed the halo loop was gone. Well to me, now it looked like maybe somebody let the Jeanie out of the bottle, LOL.
Daylight here & there is a "R", SO IT MUST HAVE BEEN FOR ME, LOL. Well, if you back up to the previous picture & look at it closer, MAYBE you'll see the truth. About 25 miles east of here is an Air Force bombing range, so there must have been some military jets in the sky leaving vapor trails. The guy telling me about the bombing range, which if I remember right was 10,000 acres or more, but because it is so big & a lot of grass, they lease the ground to cattlemen to pasture cattle. He said he was there once when they came in on a bomb run & he said, "YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN THOSE COWS RUN!!!"
Well, finally it was time for the BBQ to be set up, which they do the 1st Saturday of each month & is open to the public. So I took pictures of them setting up. They used 10-20# bags of charcoal. There were 3 cases of pork ribs & several cases of chicken. I got a free chicken dinner after getting back from taking 147 pictures of their golf tournament, but that is another blog story. Besides taking pictures, I did take the trash to the dumpster, so I tried to help, LOL.
Here's 3 of the guys helping putting seasoning on the pork ribs. Sure did look good!!!!

Well, it was time for me to leave them & head for the golf course.

Time for me to end this blog also, EXCEPT, it was hot out there on the golf course today. A golfer came up to me & said he had the "GOLF TIP OF THE DAY" "IT IS 20 DEGREES COOLER IN THE SHADE", so after that I started looking for a place to park the golf cart in the shade. I hear it is hot up north also, so stay cool,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Ron

Poisonous Brown Recluse Spider

Not sure, but may have gotten bitten night before last. I was walking through the dark & walked right into this round spider web as I was on my cell phone in the dark. So last night, Gregg where I am staying at the junkyard, said he had some thing to show me. This was it. I think it is the same spider that I ran into it's round web the night before. I have a spot on my wrist, but it could just be an ant bite also as I have gotten ants in the bus. Gregg gave me a powder to get rid of them. Yesterday I took a shirt out of the closet to put on & all of a sudden I felt something crawling all over me. I hurriedly took it off & the shirt had 20 or so ants on it, so I shook them off before I put the shirt back on.
Here is a link for the Brown Recluse Spider. There are other links there you can look at also. http://www.emedicinehealth.com/spider_bite_brown_recluse_spider_bite/page2_em.htm

This is a picture I took 2-3 years ago of spider webs along the road. This went on & on for maybe 5 miles early one morning.

P.S. Gregg killed the Brown Recluse Spiders after I took the pictures. He also found another one & killed it after I went back to the bus.

I am back to the campground today for 2 weeks. Supposed to be 97 both Saturday & Sunday. At least I will be on the PC more in the air conditioning or in the pool. Have a nice weekend. Ron