Crazy Caching in Weekend in Lakeland

This weekend, my BFF (OMG, did I just actually say "BFF"???), "Penny" aka Lj, came down from Pennsylvania for a caching run on Lakeland. Friday evening, she picked me up at work and we headed off for a "girl's only" weekend. We stopped at Sonny's in Clewiston for dinner and got up to my place in Lake Placid a couple hours later. Geesh, was it COLD that night!!! And there is no heat there, either! I barely slept all night, shaking and shivering while Lj slept in the bunkbed wearing shorts and a t-shirt. I guess if you live in PA, temps in the low 30's are quite comfortable???

Well, the next day, we drove into Sebring and picked up our good friend (and fellow blogger), Susan. The first stop was Spook Hill in Lake Wales. Neither of them had ever been there and since there is supposed to be a cache there...

That's Susan posing in front of the sign that tells the legend of Spook Hill. It's pretty cool eventhough I'm sure it's some kind of optical illusion or something...you pull your car up to a line in the road, put it in neutral and it rolls UPHILL all by itself. Honest, it does!

Leaving Lake Wales, we headed towards Lakeland, stopping in Bartow to grab a few caches along the Fraser Trail. This trail goes 7.5 miles from Bartow to Lakeland with lots of caches along the way. It was a beautiful cool day for walking!

The first grab was a cache in the woods behind this covered bridge.

This was a hunt for another cache further down the trail. We actually made it harder than it was, but that's something I think alot of cachers tend to do now and then...

We cached past 11pm that night...we were all so tired I don't think it mattered that the Imperial Swan hotel wasn't all it was cracked up to be. I know I could've slept on a cement bench and been confortable that night!

The next day it was off to the Circle B Bar Reserve for an event and alot more caching. The Reserve is a beautiful place and I'd like to go back and see it in the wet season when the marshes are more marshier.

I finally got to meet a couple of cachers I've wanted to meet for a long time...Yuzawa Kat and Burgi Dad. A fun couple and we tagged along with them to grab the caches around a big loop in the park that ended up going along a piece of the Lake Hancock shoreline.

I need to find out the story behind those earrings...

In the center, you can see a large gator swimming. There were quite a few gators trolling back and forth right off shore. We only saw a couple that were close. Pretty neat stuff!

And we spotted this osprey eating a small fish.

The hostess of the event at the reserve was the lovely, Jersey Girl (aka BeeDancer in Blogland). She is such a blast and I wish we could've hung out together longer. She was happy I brought her the famous "Spirit of Florida" hiking stick Travel Bug...Happy Birthday, Beth!!!!!!

After the event, a someone in the gang invited us to join them for dinner. We ended up at Sonny's (again!) since Jimbo's was closed. It was a great ending to a really fun day.

Monday we headed home, grabbing a few more caches here and there. We accomplished the infamous "Easy Series" in Lakeland, too...at night! Eventhough Lj was royally pissed that we conned her into going to an event, I think she had a good time. I'm pretty sure Sue did and I KNOW I did! I think we got darn near close to 100 caches that weekend. WooHoo!!!

Now to start logging them all.....ugh....

Fun Monday~ The embarrassment of my kitchen

This week's Fun Monday is hosted by Ari at "Beyond my Slab". Her assignment is....

"It's time for show and tell. What does your kitchen counter look like right now? (And no fair cleaning just for the picture!) Do you have any favorite or unusual items on your counter?"

Oh, why this?!?! Why would anyone want to see pictures of my awful, extremely outdated kitchen? UGH! But I am a good sport, so I whipped out my trusty Kodak and took these shots...

First, I want to show you my 4 yr. old son's kitchen. YES, my son has a play kitchen. He likes to cook, so why not? I figure if he continues to expand on his culinary knowledge, my future daughter-in-law will LOVE me! BTW, he took this picture, not me... and the heart stickers all over it were left over from Valentine's Day.

And...well, this is my kitchen. Built in 1968 and never remodelled.

You can't tell, but the FORMICA countertops are a swirly avocado green color. Aren't you getting envious?!? And what can be said about the lovely dark brown FORMICA of my cabinets? Timeless & classic, right?

Um...don't answer that...

I guess I could say my favorite things on my countertops are my canister set and that blue cat cookie jar on the windowsill. I've had both for a very long time. Oh, can you see my little expresso maker? The authentic Cuban kind? Can't live without it.

Note my fully stocked Baker's rack, complete with my reusable shopping bags!

Refrigerator decor compliments of the 4 yr. old...

I'm actually very curious to take a peek into everyone else's kitchen. I'm hoping someone out there will actually make me feel better about mine. Oh, that was a bad thing to say, wasn't it? Bad, but...yeah...I'm hoping someone out there in Fun Mondaydom has an older and more outdated kitchen than me! Time to check it out, catch ya later!!

Fun Monday~

I haven't signed up for Fun Monday in ages and decided to try to get back into it. This week's hostess is the very talented Gattina. Here mission, should we decide to accept it, is the following...

"As nobody wants to give us work for our Monday's Fun, I sacrificed myself to find a new challenge. After I racked my brain I found the following :Please show us what you wear on your feet inside your home ! Do you wear slippers, flip flops, shoes or nothing ? just take a picture and show us your feet !"

Well, this one is an easy way to get back into the swing of things! What do I wear on my feet around the house? Nothing. My feet go bucka$$ nekkid!

The barenakedness of my feet against the floor of my living room.

I do admit, though, that when the temps go below 60, I tend to wear either socks or these awesome slippers I have. And sometimes I wear my wonder Crocs. But most of the time...nada. I even like to drive barefoot. If I could go to work barefoot, I probably would. Maybe it's because my feet are the only part of my anatomy I can stand to look at naked!

So there you have it. Now go check out what everyone else is wearing these days and have a very Happy and FUN MONDAY!

Can someone please explain?

Ok, this has been bugging me for a long time...years actually...but my new neighbors have brought it to my attention again. It's nothing they have intentionally done to me. It's merely something they do, or rather "don't" do, that I just don't understand...

They never open their windows. Ever.

When the first cool days hit Miami, the very first thing I do is sing "Hallelujah!!!", turn off the A/C and open all the windows in the house. Hundreds of dollars are saved. my house gets aired out, and well...it's just NICE! Even when it starts to warm up again, as long as the nights are cool I leave the A/C off. For as long as I can stand it...it stays off.

Now, remember a couple weeks ago when it was COLD down here at night and really wonderful during the day? Well, my neighbors had their AIR CONDITIONER ON!!!!! I'd be outside feeding the cat and the damn thing would kick on...and yes, it was their A/C not the heater. Water would come spurting out of this weird little pipe they have. Correct me if 'm wrong, but I think the only time water (condensation?) comes out is when the air conditioner is on.

They are "those kind of people" that go from A/C to heat with nothing in between. I've known others like that. Say what you will, but it is just plain WEIRD!

Anybody out there one of "those people"? If so, can you explain it to me? I need to hear a valid reason for this because it has puzzled me for years!

Coming and Going

On my way to work in the morning, I saw this...



Guess the atmospheric conditions have been just right for ballooning lately!

The fruit trees in the picture are papayas.




On my way home from work in the evening, I passed this...

Made me think of SophieMae!

Got Volkswagons?

Yesterday, my kids and I met up with our friend, Jenn, and went to check out "Volksblast" in South Miami.




There were quite a few Bugs of all types to check out.

Our friends, Marc and Eliana, had just returned from an 8 month, cross country trip in their Westfalia. It was nice to see them again! They entered "Valentina" in the competition...I hope they won!

Check out their blog at the address in the sign above. It was a wonderful and exciting adventure!

Aidan spotted this John Deered up bus and HAD to inspect it!

That's not a real kid, but a doll...kinda creepy....

It was pretty neat to see so many Volkswagons on one place. It made me miss driving stick shift all over again.

And next on Animal Planet: How Not to Catch a Bull!

A couple day ago at work, my boss discovered a young bull on our property. It was elusive, though, and only made appearances at dusk. It took two days before I finally saw him, and I'd been making several stealthy treks down our trails in search of him.

To make a long story short, he left our property and entered an agricultural field behind us. Not wanting him to get hurt, we herded him back onto our land. Yay! My first try at cow herding and I did good!

However, after he was back "home" he disappeared again...a couple hours later, he was spotted in a small clearing in the woods. I positioned myself at one end of the opening, and a co-wroker at the other. My boss was going to get some fencing barricades while we kept him in the area. Twice the bull, let's call him "Brisket" tried to get past me, but I shouted and waved my arms and spooked him back into the clearing. He popped out for a third try, looked at me...then looked over at my co-worker...and...decided he'd just run past her. Which he did.

We never saw him again. How a bull can totally disappear just amazes me, but this one is the king of camo and blending in.

Animal Services finally decided to grace us with their presence after SEVERAL phone calls. They had a small film crew from Animal Planet with them. They very noisily went off in search of our bovine friend while my boss and I looked on in disbelief. If one or two stealthy people couldn't find him, how in the heck are 7 noisy people going to???

After a very small and discouraging search effort, they "regrouped" in front of our office...

They look like they really cared about catching that cow...

They informed us that at sundown they had to quit since Animal Planet couldn't film them at night. So, excuse me, but because a film crew is following you, you can't DO YOUR JOB?!?!!

For future reference: If you ever see a stray cow in Dade County, don't bother calling for help. Just use common sense and some friends and round the damn thing up yourself. I guarantee you'll be more successful.

And Brisket...wherever life has taken you... via con Dios, mi amigo...via con Dios!

Save those words!

Check out http://www.savethewords.org/ for more about how you can "save words"!

I'm off to make myself a prandicle right now!