Shark Tooth Hunting on Manasota Beach!

Ken left Waldo a little before 7 to look for a roseate spoonbill and any other special birds he could find.  A lady here at the CG had told him of several "water areas" where she has photographed a roseate, so Ken was excited.  Unfortunately, he did not see one.  He also drove to the Rookery, where there are usually nesting egrets, herons, etc. and he enjoyed watching the Snowy Egrets feeding.  They drag their yellow feet in the water which scares the fish that are swimming nearby and makes it easier for them to grab them out of the water.  They were almost extinct before laws were enforced to protect them. 

Love these photos Ken took of the snowy egret "hunting" for fish!

What a technique!

He also photographed egrets, herons, and woodstorks.   

The rather "ugly" woodstork!

Egret

Blue Heron!

Great Blue Heron

Red shouldered hawk!

I had gotten up about 7:45, got ready, did some exercises, clean-up, and then started breakfast. He returned around 8:45.  We had a delicious cooked breakfast and then had a long phone call with my sister, Cindy.  We sang Happy Birthday to her and then had a great chat about so many subjects. 

Happy 61st Birthday, Sis!  Love you!

After the 51 minutes phone call, Ken and I took a walk around the CG.  It is an amazing place with so many permanent park mobiles in a separate area of the CG.  The amenities and location make this a special CG so much so that they have a 6 page waiting list to get in if you want to be here in Jan., Feb., or March.  It is crazy!  There is a protected area in the CG for the gopher tortoises. We saw several of them in that area while taking our walk!

The gopher tortoises in the CG

A lot of the CG looks like you could be in the islands!

We left the CG at 11:30 to go to Manasota Beach stopping first to see the house that Lloyd and Deb Eberly bought here in Venice in October.  What a nice place in a great location.  They are going to love it!

We were on Manasota Beach from noon to 6 and it was a perfect beach day - sunny, breezy and around 84 degrees.  Both of us spent most of the day searching for sharks teeth and it was a success time.  We found several hundred of them!  We stopped looking long enough to eat our packed lunches, but then it was time to search again.  Once you start and are finding a lot of them, it is so hard to stop!  We had a "ball"!

What a gorgeous beach day!

Not overly crowded!

We did sit in our chairs around 5 in preparation for watching the sunset.  What a gorgeous sight!  The sky was so orange and there weren't any clouds on the horizon.  Ken text Melissa and told her they better hurry up and get to the beach if they don't want to miss the beautiful sunset!  Ken used his good camera for the 1st 3 photos and I took the last 3 on my phone.  Thought I would include all of them!

We got back to Waldo at 6:15 and Ken grilled chicken and a pork chop and we also had salads and quinoa.  So good!  Then he went on a "mission" to clean sink drains, fan covers and screens, spigot filters, etc.  While he did that, I called my friend, Polly, and we had a very nice talk.  She is one of my Curvette friends back home who graciously allows us to keep our bikes, bike rack, and our craft canopy in her basement whenever we are home.  We are grateful!

We watched The Voice and I worked on our blog.  Cindy called and said she didn't want to alarm me, but they visited Mom and Dad today and he was very confused.  It appears that it may be the result of a new pain medication they started him on about 3 days ago (he tends to be very sensitive to medication), but the other concern could be a kidney infection.  Cindy talked to the nurses and they are stopping the medication, but it could take a day or 2 before we know if that is the "culprit".  We certainly hope so!  The good part is that Dad knew he was confused and mixed up.

This has been another Another Best Day!