Various experiences, but always geocaching!

 

Friday, we spent a quiet and lazy day around the condo.

 

Cordell took a walk by himself around the neighborhood.

 

 

Saturday, we spent some time at the Flamingo Island Flea Market. This market is much smaller than the huge one in Fort Myers, but in some ways I like it better. It is not as over whelming to me as the larger one.

 

 

This is the first time that I have seen anything about selling emu oil. Two nights later, I saw an advertisement for it on television.

 

 

Naturally, we could not resist an opportunity to stop and hunt for some geocaches.

 

At one site, the young palm leaves appeared to be as sharp as spikes.

 

 

Nearly each day, just before sunset, birds fly in and perch around the lake for a short while. Then, at the almost exact same time each night, they fly off somewhere else before dark. I don’t understand the reason for that because we never see them eat anything. Could it be that they enjoy watching the humans who are watching them?

 

 

Sunday, we were back at Hope Lutheran Church for worship. Pastor Browning often uses humor during his messages.

 

 

A Dementia Care Ministry that began at Hope two weeks ago was explained. At this program, volunteers and Certified Nurse Assistants provide free care from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. for individuals with dementia so that their care givers can attend worship service. It sounds like a wonderful outreach and I wonder if such a program could be started at more churches.

 

Monday was not a Florida sunshine day. Sunday’s high winds brought rain overnight which continued off and on during the day. The winds were strong and blew all day.

 

 

While shopping in a drug store, I had a big decision to make about purchasing candy. The huge 40 oz. box was very tempting compared to the 10 oz. sugar free one I “settled” for. But this is one of the life changes we have made since we developed diabetes.

 

 

We ate chicken stir-fry for dinner—one of our favorite meals that is very quick and easy to prepare.

 

 

Even with strong, sustaining wind, we still had a pretty sunset.

 

 

Tuesday, we drove to Ave Maria, a planned college town in Collier County, near Immokalee and Naples. We found it interesting to learn that this development was founded in 2005 by a partnership which included Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza and the leader of Ave Maria University at the time.

 

 

At the center of the town sits, the large Ave Maria Oratory church which serves as the parish for the university and the local residents. One of the oratory's most distinctive characteristics is its steel structure, much of which is exposed internally and externally.

 

 

I saw many, many bricks which were inscribed in memory of loved ones or in honor of someone or some event.

 

 

We learned later that Ave Maria has a severe mosquito problem and was sprayed more than 30 times via airplane with pesticides in 2015, making it the most sprayed area in Southwest Florida. Houses continue to be built in this development and it is advertised as the perfect community for active adults and families, but it doesn’t appeal to me to be a place I’d like to live.

 

It was geocaching which brought us to Ave Maria and we found two caches while walking around the town.

 

 

On our way home, we stopped by what we knew was going to be a very difficult geocache, but that’s what makes this activity so much fun. We were able to determine that the cache (a white first aid kit) was going to be in a hole in a cypress tree. A few previous cachers indicated that while they were able to find the container, they could not retrieve it. It took us quite a bit of time to find it because there were lots of trees at the site with holes in them. It wasn’t until Cordell used a flashlight that he spotted the box way down under a tree and well out of arm’s reach.

 

 

 

But, we, being experienced geocachers, had brought our hiking sticks with us which have proven to be very useful in the past. However, Cordell just could not move that box up close enough to grab it with his hands.

 

Then, I got an idea and we fashioned a MacGyver tool by taping a bungee cord with a hook onto the end of a hiking stick. Cordell still had to use both sticks and it took him some more time, but he finally got that box out of that tree!! That cache’s difficulty was rated 3 out of 5 and it definitely lived up to it.

 

 

Another cache is placed along State Road 29 which is notorious for road killed Florida Panthers. The situation with the endangered cats has been so perilous, that state and federal biologists recommended creating wildlife underpasses to help the nocturnal panthers (and other animals) cross the road. They work, but where there is no fence or bridge, animals still have been getting clipped at an alarming rate. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see a panther use the underpass, but since it was daytime when we were there, the chance of such an occurrence was slim.

 

 

Yesterday, Wednesday, we awoke to a foggy morning which is not uncommon. It doesn’t take long for the Florida sunshine to burn it off, though.

 

 

We decided to stay closer to our condo. We did venture out about 5 miles away to look for a geocache which was placed along a boardwalk in a mangrove preserve. We would never have known about this place were it not for geocaching. And what a delightful place it was!! We entered this small preserve from a restaurant and marina parking lot.

 

 

About 100 feet in we were surprised with an uncountable number of birds on the ground, in the trees, in the water and on the boardwalk.

 

 

 

We saw ibises, white egrets, and snowy white egrets.

 

 

 

In all the preserves and sanctuaries we have visited during the past 5 winters in Florida, we have never been so close to these birds.

 

 

 

 

There was not another person on the boardwalk during the time we spent there and I found it especially peaceful and refreshing. This is a gem of a place where we will be sure to take some of our visitors.