A day in Old Kissimmee - March 7/14

Today we drove to the old town of Kissimmee to go biking, but it was so cold and windy that we decided to just walk.  It was supposed to rain, and although it looked like it would at times, it didn't.

 

 
Welcome to Kissimmee.  Kissimmee covers a huge area now, but it actually started in this old town in 1883, and it's quite a long way east of Disney. 

 
We saw a lot of these "snails" or whatever they were.  They were about 3 inches across, and this one even had the "tab"  that  that covered the snail when it was still in there.

 
 
One of the many statues around town.  Kathy, does this look like you, or is it  my imagination? 

 

This was the neatest thing.  The post was a place where you could prop up your bike.  It had a pump below to pump up tires, and lots of tools hanging on cables.  Notice the fountains even have one for your dog. 

 
 
This egret had an itch! 

 
 
This American Coot is having a little something to say! 

 

 
 
This Limpkin is having a nap. 
 
 

 
 
The Snowy Egret is quite a bit smaller than the American Egret. 

 
 
 
My only sight of Royal Palms this year.  They are normally only found much further south than we are or will be. 

 
 
 
Great Blue Heron. 

 
 
This rather ugly monument was donated by Disney - I think I would have said "No thanks"! 

 
 
 
This is one of the things mounted on the "Monument to the States".

 
 
I can't find a picture of this little bird in any of my bird books."  Anyone? 

I think this is the "Yellow-rumped Warbler". 

 
Mostly I have pictures of Anhingas drying their wings.  They have long straight bills for spearing fish.  This is the Cormorant, which has a hook on the end of it's bill. 

 
The little diving duck in the front is a Pie-billed Grebe. 

 
This  little Snowy Egret was having great success in his fishing endeavors.
 
 
 
 
Note the feet on this Common Gallinule.  He has very long toes for running on top of the water plants.  I'm not sure how how he swims, but he does.

Another great day with the Goudies - Mar 5/14

Another day of threatening rain that turned out to be lovely.  We spent a good bit of it outdoors.

Eileen and I took a walk around the lake in Celebration, saw several birds. 
 
This is the immature ibis....
 
 
....and the mature ibis. 

 

 
 
And then there is the Tri-coloured (Louisiana) Heron....
 
 
 
....the Little Blue Heron.... 

 

 
 
....and of course the Great Blue Heron. 

 
 
 
This fellow is a Limpkin. 

 
I have finally discovered that the various flowers we see around Celebration near the water are called "water irises" .  I always thought they LOOKED like irises, but expected some exotic variety.

 

 
I'm confused.  I thought these were banana plants with blossoms on them.  Now I think they're bird of paradise flowers.  Anyone know? 

A picnic lunch on a beautiful day! 

 
 
And then on to wander around Downtown Disney.....and of course get our Ghiradelli fix!  :-) 

Mu favorite lego statue. 

 
 
No wind today, so the balloon was flying.
 
 
 
And of course a wander through the T-Rex restaurant. 
And then home for one last game of Rook before crock-pot supper and farewell to the Goudies.

Day 2 with the Goudies - Mar. 4/14

We had a fun day again today with our friends, the Goudies, who are visiting us from their winter home in Clearwater, FL. 

 
Got my "Rook" fix - we've been playing quite a lot! 

 
Tonight we went to a "Sleuths Mystery Dinner Theater", the kind with lots of audience participation in finding out "who-dunnit".   I guessed that it was the sister with the tire-iron, and was right.  I got a "badge" for my brilliance!

 

 
 
These were the main players and the suspects.  And no, the butler didn't do it. 

 
 
Let the bee-chasing begin!  We are finally starting to see some bumble bees. 

 

 
 
I like these bluey-green bushes - so pretty! 

 
It was promising to rain all day - finally did tonight. 

 
As we walked around waiting to get in to the dinner show, we found this Ripley's museum.  The sign said that there was a sink-hole just when this building was built in 1990.  "Believe it or not".                                    Eileen Goudie with Robert Ripley.

Biking at Star Island - March 2/14

This afternoon, we went to investigate an area that we have just discovered this year.  It's called Star Island, and is actually a gated Wyndham Resort.  We boldly cruised by on our bikes, calling greetings to the gate-keeper, and investigated the area.  It's on a small lake called Lake Cecile.  We were fortunate to see a Florida Sandhill Crane, which I guess must be different to the ones we see in Ontario in the summer, because apparently these do not migrate.  She was sitting on a nest.

 
I have to assume that there are no alligators in this lake, because I'm sure if there were they would have got these eggs.  She certainly would not have been able to defend them from an alligator. 

 

As we watched, 3 other cranes flew in, making quite a racket!  It soon became obvious that this was her mate.  Sandhill Cranes are monogamous, and mate for life.  The 2 of them soon put the run on the other two. 

 
 
 
They make a dreadful noise!   

 
 
Mama just checking to see if her eggs were still okay. 

 
 
The proud papa. 

This is a very pretty parasite.  They are a vine that covers trees and sometimes kills them - but really pretty when you sometimes see a whole tree covered with them. 

This cute little bit of fence didn't appear to have any real purpose, but I couldn't resist. 

Cyprus "knees" fascinate me!  They are so strong, they were even poking up through the asphalt path we were biking on.

These colourful houses (9 of them) are actually on the other side of Lake Cecile, on Highway 192, and have been sitting empty for years.  Someone has now begun to do work on 2 of them - don't know what's going to happen now.  Such a shame! 

 We brought thermoses of coffee and books with us this afternoon, enjoyed relaxing on this deck by the lake.