Photos from the Airboat & Swamp Buggy Festival

I'm finally getting around to posting the pics of our booth at the PBC Airboat and Swamp Buggy Festival. Dave had been sick with flu-like symptoms during the week prior to the event. Then on the Friday evening, I started to get it. I managed to hang on through the weekend, but was under the weather for most of the following week. Even now, I'm only feeling like I'm at 80% of my "normal" self! In any case, the festival turned out to be a nice event...well, except for Saturday! The weather was atrocious on Saturday! It was cold, in the mid 40's and overcast...then the rain started. It wasn't so bad at first, but then it really started coming down. Rain showers in Florida are normal...they normally pass in 20-30 minutes, but this one decided to hang around. We tried to hold out, but the rain wasn't letting up, and it eventually started to leak through our pop-up tent (even though it was Scotch-guarded). That along with the cold weather, the fact we were both sick, and the small crowd led us to make the decision to pack up and leave. I hated to do it since it was only 3:30pm and the festival was scheduled to go on until 9:00pm (there was supposed to be a concert), but my table coverings and jewelry, not to mention the Str8 Jab shirts were wet. We went home, dried everything, got some dinner and watched the weather channel. There was no rain in the forecast for Sunday and it was expected to get into the mid 60's. We did decide to go back for Sunday, and I'm glad we did. The weather was as predicted and sunny. And, the band that was supposed to play Saturday night had decided to cancel due to the weather, but played all day Sunday instead. The crowd was great! We had a good response to the Str8 Jab shirts and concept, but not as many sales as we would have liked. The jewelry on the other hand did really well! All in all, it turned out to be a good day. We handed out a lot of business cards for both Shelly's Stuff and Str8 Jab and had lots of good feedback. That is helping us to make some decisions for the future and how we want to proceed with each. And now for the pics! I'm really happy with how we set up the booth. It needs a few minor adjustments, but I was very pleased. I was so happy to find the cow print material...I had been looking for real cowhides, but they were kind of pricey. When I found this material at Jo-ann's, I was so excited because it wasn't the normal black and white cow spots! The cow print may make the setup look a little busy in some of the photos and almost like the jewelry gets lost, but in person it was great. And, thanks to Dave for making my stands. I thought I was going to sand them and give them a coat of varnish, but he suggested I leave them "raw" for that rustic kind of look and I'm glad he did. I'd love to know what you think!!!

The banners...I am so pleased with how these turned out (thanks, Jeanette!)

And what would and airboat & swamp buggy festival be without some airboats...

and some swamp buggies...

Ocala National Forest - September ATV Trip

In a prior post I talked about our visit to Ocala National Forest and the ATV trails. We had such a good time, we decided to go back for our vacation in September. I was able to find a mobile home close to the trailheads that was available for rental for much less than a hotel would have cost us. Since it had a full kitchen, it made for a very practical and inexpensive vacation since we were able to buy groceries and make most of our meals instead of eating out (although we did splurge on Outback for dinner the first night and Bob Evan's for breakfast the last day...yummy!). The biggest plus about this rental, though, had to be that it was pet friendly, so Doom got to go on vacation with us! The first picture was taken the first day after we had been on the trail for all of 5 minutes. That black thing on the opposite side of the mud hole is a black bear (keep in mind, most Florida wildlife is much smaller in size as compared to other areas of the country...the only things that are larger in Florida are the mosquitoes!). The bear was already in the middle of the trail as we came around a bend so we were quite surprised (we hadn't seen any wildlife our previous trip). We expected the bear to take off into the woods when he saw us, but he actually got quite comfortable and laid down! Just as Dave and I were ready to put the ATVs in reverse and head down another trail, the bear got up and headed into the woods. These tracks in the mud were about 30 miles from where we saw the bear. This trip, we saw lots of tracks...mostly bear and deer.

It was much drier this trip and the trails were very dusty. What made the matter even worse was I had applied sunscreen that morning so the dust was really sticking to me. I knew I wasn't going to be able to ride like this all week, so we made a trip to Walmart so I could buy some T-shirts and bandanas.This is how I dressed for the remainder of the trip when we were riding. The bandana actually worked out really well (I could finally breathe!) because it also covered the bottom of my sunglasses and helped to keep the dirt out of my eyes. Notice the half grin on Dave's face... he called me the "masked marauder" for the rest of the trip. He did, however, give me credit for being such a trooper and finding a way to deal with the situation.

Even with the bandana, this is how I looked after a day on the trails. Dave wouldn't let me look at myself in the mirror before he took this picture. Funny guy! The really funny thing is I believe I made a comment like, "Wow...I didn't really get very dirty"!

A shot of one of the trails while we were taking a break in the shade.

See all the dust behind me? Dave's ATV throws up twice as much 'cause he's got these gnarly new tires that really dig in. Some may ask why I didn't ever get to lead...well, it was by choice. For one, lots of these trails (we covered about 130 miles during the trip) hadn't been ridden in quite some time so there was lots of overgrowth (low hanging branches, bushes, etc) and lots of banana spider webs. I decided I'd rather put up with the dust and dirt than getting smacked in the face with branches and spider webs!

The three of us on our way home!

Creepy Critters

Living in a rural area leads us to crossing paths with lots of critters. These are some of the more creepy ones we've come across recently!
This snake was "hiding" on the trap door to the pool filter. I had reached in to pull out the basket and out he came from the door. I didn't scream, but I must have jumped about 2 feet of the ground!!! We usually see a lot of black snakes around the yard, which are basically harmless, but this guy was pretty scary. The diamond shaped markings lead us to believe he was a pygmy rattler.

Dave just about met this banana spider face to face! We were riding our ATVs in northern Florida on a trail that apparently hadn't been ridden in a while. At the last second, Dave noticed the spider web and was able to stop. Dave knocked down the web with his "spider web stick" (the discarded piece of picket fence in the pic) but the spider wound up on the front of his ATV...so of course, we had to snap a picture!!!

Anyone that knows me knows I don't particularly care for frogs...ESPECIALLY tree frogs. For whatever reason, they always want to jump on me...and they're sticky...and they usually leave bodily fluids behind (are ya' getting the picture?). This one was hanging out on the light at the front of the house catching bugs. I didn't notice him until I had passed right by the light. They have the ability to take on the color of their environment so that freaks me out even more 'cause I never notice them until it's too late.

These turkey vultures were on the side of the road fighting over some roadkill. Pretty gross, but essential to the environment. I can't even imagine what the roads would be like and what the stench would be if these birds weren't so efficient. This was the bird I had mentioned in a previous post about almost hitting while we were on the motorcycles.

Wildlife

I think I've mentioned in a previous post that I love living in a rural area because of the variety of wildlife that makes its home here. After I pulled out of the driveway this morning, I noticed this wood stork over by the canal so I snapped a picture with my cell phone. There was a second one on the other side of the canal, but I didn't get it in the shot.

We've also had an abundance of snakes in the yard this year. They like hanging out in the landscaping we have around the pool. More than once I've been surprised by them when I've pushed the big leaves of the philodendron aside to pull weeds and found one curled up. Dave thinks its kind of funny...me not so much!!! Usually they are just black snakes which for the most part are harmless. I've also seen more rabbits this year then in all the past years combined. So far, we've only seen them at night, so I haven't been able to get any pictures. I just hope they stay away from the vegetables!

The picture of the hogs was snapped one day when I was going to have lunch with Dave. To me, the funniest thing about it wasn't that their was a family of hogs on the side of the road, but that its so normal, no one around me gave them a second look!

What a Surprise!

Dave (my long time boyfriend...if I could get around to writing a profile you would know that!) and I finally got around to taking down some rather large pine trees in our backyard. They had been struck by lightning during the 2004 hurricane season and died and were definitely becoming a hazard (falling branches, etc). Dave found that we didn't even have to use the chainsaw...they were so dried out and rotted we were able to throw a rope around the upper branches and pull them down. Imagine our surprise when seconds after the first one hits the ground, with a rather loud thud, something flies out of it and into our shed! Whatever it was hit the inside wall of the shed, and then didn't move. We went over to examine the tree, which now lay in several pieces, and found an eggshell inside of it. We had no idea anything had made a nest in it otherwise we wouldn't have taken it down. We were kind of upset at first thinking it was the mother that had flown out, and that the tree hitting the ground had cracked the egg. Dave decided to go into the shed and investigate. At this point we had no idea what it even was...hawk, woodpecker, owl, duck. When he finally located it, he realized it wasn't the mother...it was the baby!!! It had apparently hatched some time ago and the remnants of the egg were still in the nest. By the way, it turned out to be an owl! We told our neighbor about it and she came over with a pet carrier, welding gloves and a net, none of which she needed probably because the little guy was still in shock. We were going to take it to a wildlife sanctuary, but my neighbor has some experience with caring and rehabing animals, both wild and domestic, so she is going to care for him. I'll be sure to post more updates and pictures in the next few weeks and months.

This is one of the reasons I live in a somewhat rural area...you gotta' love the wildlife. People think I'm crazy because I commute approximately 2 1/2 hours a day (140 miles roundtrip), but i love where I live and love my job.