north florida - wild florida
06:40, 47F, calm, a mist. stars fading. woke up rooster. oatmeal for breakfast. birds vocal.
the starter was bad on the truck. so it got hit with a hammer, the truck started, and I got to CK. had a new starter put in. expensive.
tides lowish at 10:00. ducks. breezy. worked on the trawl. breeze died down. mosquitos showed up around 15:00 and drove me upstairs. those little mosquitos that sneak up on you.
16:00 picked up truck, paid bill, headed home. pleasant ride through a "winter" forest - gray, bare trees, flaming maples, hollys still loaded with berries.
17:30, 70F, overcast to mostly cloudy. got 2 eggs. fed everybody.
19:05, 63F, mostly cloudy, waxing half moon being covered and uncovered.. ring around the moon when it appears. still.
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Updated: 02:30 AM GMT del 01 Febbraio 2012
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north florida - wild florida
07:40, 35F, clear, calm. no frost that I see. robins all over. the usual cardinals.. going out to check the sheep.
11:20, 53F, sunny, wind from the north - 8-10. sheep fine. new mom and lamb loafing in the barn.
truck wouldn't start and everyone who could give me a jump is at work. decided to stay home, work in the yard, and get more firewood.
6 deer in the cactus field earlier when I walked the dogs. they were in the dog fennel and excellantly camoflaged but I spotted them when they moved. then, 4 came running right up to me. I stood very still. one yearling had a ragged ear. the yellow dogs had already gone back to the house. I watched them for several minutes then the little dog finished perusing the bushes, moved, and they scattered like quail.
the house is cold - 45-50 - so I'm building a small fire to take the chill off. just sawed some wood from the pear tree that fell over last spring. that should catch good.
had a small fire going all day. worked in the yard clearing up an accumulated pile of trash that included boards, old boots, and a crab trap.
sunny, 70's, north breeze.
friends visited and took me with them to cow town where I got feed and a liter of pepsi. we shared a good pizza - mushrooms, blk. olives, onions, peppers. got home at sundown and had help doing chores. got 2 eggs.
the mechanic is going to make a house call tomorrow and bring me a battery to get me to CK.
20:10, 53F, clear except for a fan of cirrus being blown out from the west. waxing half moon and jupiter, with venus approaching the horizon. this past week these three heavenly bodies have been slowly dancing across the arc of heaven in riveting fashion. most lovely.
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Updated: 02:24 AM GMT del 31 Gennaio 2012
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north florida - wild florida
06:40, 41F, clear, slight breeze from north. cardinal singing, rooster carrying on. oatmeal.
08:40, low tide at CK, ducks in the channel. went to the jiffy store to get a paper and when I got back in the truck it wouldn't start.. it just clicked. 5 minutes until church so I left the truck and walked to church.. windy! NW, it seemed.
after church one of the clammers drove me back to the jiffy and checked the battery. loose cable. he fixed that and jumped the battery 'cause it wouldn't start on its own. headed back to the farm.
tide still low, ducks still there.
12:20, 69F, sunny, breeze from the north, stew for lunch, let sheep in the yard.
I heard a commotion. got out the back door just in time to see reba chase the cat, then stomp her foot at the dog. she was calling for a lamb, but she hadn't had a lamb yet. I checked her rear and she was going to have a lamb. put the dog up. 10 minutes later she had the lamb on the lawn between the smoke house and the farm house. she's cleaning him up now. the lamb is on his feet and tottery.
within an hour reba had him cleaned up and he was looking around for lunch. I moved them to the lamb stall in the barn. while I was preoccupied with reba and the new lamb, the rams crashed a fence and got into the loquats - ate the leaves off them. the dog and I herded everyone down to the barn. north breeze, 5-8. sat out in the yard and watched buzzards circle the moon.
19:50, 56F, north breeze. got 3 eggs. moved some plants inside. frost predicted. probably not but didn't want to take a chance.
waxing horned moon and jupiter crossing the arc of heaven together tonight. venus brilliant in the WSW. hope the truck starts tomorrow. don't worry -be happy..
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Updated: 02:30 AM GMT del 30 Gennaio 2012
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north florida - rocky hammock
07:30, 43F, foggy. everyone up but me. blueberry muffin for breakfast.
buzzards out in the cactus field. after 13 years of plodding back and forth to the pasture with a lamb following behind, tuna will fly the skies.
15:10, 66F on open south porch, 72F on west facing thermometer by the back door. BLUE sky, sunny, breeze from NE. robins still around. lots of buzzards circling up there with the crescent moon, pale in that blue sky, plus one red-tailed hawk who joined the buzzards' circle for awhile.
fixed 2 fences, made a stew, did 2 washes, mopped half of the kitchen floor. taking a break.
18:00, 61F, calm. got 2 eggs. stew for supper. finished the chores. took wash in.
20:20, 53F, waxing crescent moon, venus, and jupiter putting on a show. lovely evening. fire going. just started b. cornwell's new novel, death of kings, part 6 of the saxon tales series. slow starting but I'm sure it will heat up.
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Updated: 02:59 AM GMT del 29 Gennaio 2012
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north florida - wild florida
07:40, 63F, wet, calm, overcast. rained last night, 0.3". must have been in the mid-early a.m. 'cause nothing's dripping. plants are singing along with the birds. oatmeal for breakfast.
medium-low tide at CK, NW winds, 10-15 knts., sunny, air temps low 60's. whitecaps on the tide. chilly mending the trawl out in the boatyard. ducks out on all the small bayous. seagulls in the back creeks by the mangroves. very high tide at 15:40.
was opening the farm gate when I remembered I was supposed to pick-up hay for the donkeys at the hay guy's just down the road. windy. got the hay, back to the farm, unloaded the hay, fed the herbivores, walked dogs. got 2 eggs.
18:15, 59F, calm. soup for supper. fed dogs.
waxing crescent moon above venus. treked out in the pasture to see the night skies. whew.
20:00, 53F. nice fire going in fireplace. had to hollar at the dogs for barking. reading a good alaskan mystery by marcia simpson, crow in stolen colors..
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Updated: 03:15 AM GMT del 28 Gennaio 2012
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north florida - wild florida
07:30, 63F, calm, clear. slept late. everyone's up. dead sheep in the barn. dogs fighting in the yard. can't find anyone to help load the sheep into my truck.. oh well. raisin muffin for breakfast.
blustery day. white caps in CK. wind SW, 10-14. high tide at 15:00. scaups.
so windy (SW) when I came home I had to prop the gate open so I could drive through. robins frolicking in the cabbage palms (Sabel palmetto), eating the fruit.
got 4 eggs.
friend came and helped put tuna in the back of the truck. we drove her out into the north side of the cactus field and left her for sky burial.
waxing crescent moon, venus, and jupiter formed a triangle in the SW sky at first dark. big bank of clouds moved in from the SW at 19:00 and covered the west. windy.
20:15, 71F, wind slacking. orion to the east.
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Updated: 01:20 PM GMT del 27 Gennaio 2012
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north florida - wild florida
06:50, 57F, foggy. rooster being lazy this morning. crows and cardinals taking up the slack. raisin muffin for breakfast. just might finish mending that trawl today.. NOT.
did just about everything else..
10:00, low tide at CK, 70's, sunny, a slight breeze from the west as far as I could tell.
cleaned off and set up february's sampling map of our universe. brought the trawl back down into the boat yard since it was a nice day. mended a little. attended a long monthly meeting, with pizza as an incentive to show up. mended a little on the trawl. took a difficult fish i.d. test with 20 frozen, thawed, re-frozen, and re-thawed fish from the last 3 months of sampling. misidentified 3 fish - one of which I'd never seen before, just heard about. mended some more on the net. attended the fish i.d. critique with explanation and descriptions, etc.
16:10, high tide. scaups. sunny. headed for cow town, (79F at 16:45,) to see if I could use my new insurance card to get my cancer medication. it worked! got $1400 worth of generic pills for $2.60. (something's rotten in denmark.) then went to winn dixie and saved $7 on 40 lbs of purina dog food. got back to the farm just in time to see a sun dog to the north of the setting sun as I drove down the limerock road that dead-ends at the farm gate. a lamb was loose in the yard. guard dog was watching it. put lamb back in the fold and discovered tuna-hedy down, struggling, and unable to get up. rolled her onto a tarp and managed to move all 80 lbs. of her into the horse barn for the night. by then it was almost dark. fed sheep. went to feed donkeys. heard a big owl hoooo to the north.
waxing, smiling crescent moon with venus peering through the oaks. the big owl hoo-hoo-hoo'ed from the pines. thought on the gullah saying that the owl calls when someone's dying - tuna-hedy.
although I've lived in cracker country for 35 years, I was born and reared on a salt marsh in the low country of s.c. - gullah country. we had a gullah nurse who took care of us and I'm old enough to remember when whites as well as blacks spoke gullah. and yes, I went to a segregated school. thought it was a shame, but that's how it was way back then in the 50's.
19:15, 66F, fog rising, calm. moon's set. got no eggs, but sold 3 dozen. I'm tired, good night.
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Updated: 01:45 PM GMT del 26 Gennaio 2012
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north florida - wild florida
06:40, 58F, ground fog, wolf light, partly cloudy. birds up and singing. guard dog with sheep. donkeys want hay. pastel dawn.
10:00, 72F, overcast. got 1 egg. 6 does in the sheep pasture watching me warily.. was glad to see them. did I malign the rednecks? nah..
coyote coming out of the scrub on the way to CK.
med. low tide, coming in. 70's, SE breeze, 3-5. mended bait seine. warm in the sun. annie's for lunch - fried oysters and lima beans.. worked on trawl after lunch.
15:40, high tide, SW breeze, 5 knts. osprey working on nest in the pine by the lab.
3-4 ft. alligator dead on the shoulder by sweet water curve. probably looking for water and didn't make it. this drought is the pits. florida always has droughts and floods but lately, the past 10 yrs., the droughts have gotten a lot worse.
16:10, got home just as the sheep forced the gate and ran into the yard. dog and I put them back in the fold. naughty sheep.. acting like goats.
got 2 eggs. tuna ate some and drank water. wish I could move her back to the horse barn. live and laurel oaks turning yellow and loosing their leaves.
next week they will be sporting bright green ones.
pink and mauve sunset. venus bright.. all stars and planets bright tonight. no moon..
19:00 68F. getting foggy.
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Updated: 03:14 AM GMT del 25 Gennaio 2012
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north florida - wild florida
06:40, 58F, foggy. all birds up. dogs prowling yard. took boniva. back still sore. have to wait an hour for breakfast.. probably oatmeal.
10:00, 68F, fog lifting. no eggs. tuna-hedy worse. made her as confortable as I could and went to work.
medium-high tide at CK. lots of pelicans, brown and white. warm. low 70's. some breeze. continued mending the trawl. feel like I am creating a new trawl there's so much damage.
high tide with ducks, scaups, when I left CK at 15:40. took the scenic route, 347, to the cow town. needed feed and my cancer medication. the scenic route winds through lower suwannee wildlife refuge and I saw nary a piece of wildlife. 35 miles with hardly any dwellings, passed 3 vehicles. ended up in farm country with brown pastures and lots of cows.
had a problem at walgreens - suddenly, my medication, generic, cost $1400.00. passed on that.
came home with feed and hay, unloaded all, back ache and all.. looked through my mail and found that my drug insurance was passed on to yet another company, and they had sent me a card, so will try to get my medication again tomorrow, or the next day. not liking to go into the cow town more than I have to but only have 2 pills left. $1400, indeed. and for generic! have we all lost our minds?
20:15, 60F, fog returning, but stars out. tuna-hedy resting with hay. tomorrow is another day.
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Updated: 03:09 AM GMT del 24 Gennaio 2012
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north florida - wild florida
06:30, 54F, foggy but can see stars. no moon, must be a new moon. woke rooster up. crows calling.
09:00, low tide and sunny at CK. slight chilly breeze. after church, walked down to the sandspit to release a blue crab that a friend had been sketching. tide was coming in.
medium high tide on my way out of town. all week long the tides have been neap tides. ducks in the back flats along the causeway. a half dozen lovely stilts poking around tidal fingers creeping into a mud flat.
the swamp, or red, maples, Acer rubrum, have started putting out their scarlet samaras already.
12:00, 72, calm, warmer than CK. chili for lunch and read the paper. ended up sitting out in my chair with the dogs, watching a multitude of birds feeding off of the berries in the big cabbage palm behind the house.. cardinals, robins, mourning doves, blue jays, and unidentified woodpecker and warblers..they were all flying in and out of the palmetto, into the pines and the pecan and back again. skies overcast. took a brief nap.
19:25, 62F, ground fog. stars bright above the fog.
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Updated: 02:18 AM GMT del 23 Gennaio 2012
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north florida - rocky hammock
07:15, 55F, fog out on pasture. pink sunrise. no moon that I could see. pink azaleas blooming. red bud blooming. yellow jasmine blooming. red bud is early.
shots from north of the farm. I worry about the does. those rednecks will shoot anything.
08:10, 57F, sunny. bacon, egg, and toast for breakfast. all dogs in yard. rooster still hooting.
13:10, 70F, overcast, stiff breeze from the south, 10-15, gusty. clothes on the line, sheep in the yard. dogs locked up. tuna-hedy is not well - weak and unsteady on her feet and locked in a stall. she is eating. she was born on Christmas Eve, ~1999, which makes her an old girl. might give her some antibiotics. got 2 eggs. need to work on the fences but my back is really sore today. damn.
16:10, 68F, partly cloudy, sunny, wind died down some. got another egg. pileated woodpecker in cabbage palm by house eating berries. guard dog and I put sheep back in the fold. I took in the wash.
19:30, 60F, clear. stars out, venus blazing. wondering if the coronal ejection has reached the earth yet?
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Updated: 12:56 AM GMT del 22 Gennaio 2012
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north florida - suwannee sound
05:50, 40F, waning crescent moon low in the ESE. dogs barking. rooster snoozing. oatmeal. heading out to finish the last of the month's sampling behind deer island. we'll be using the big haul seine and the bait seine..
on the way out the lane, 6 does jumped the fence in front of me. 2 were pregnant and there was a yearling with them. they came out of the sheep field. 2 more does crossed the road in front of the truck on the way to CK.
08:00, low tide coming in. breeze from the south, sunny, 60's, a light chop. had to wait for the tide so launched at 09:00. what a day! catches were light, even with the bait seine. the big haul seine only took some big blue crabs, one juvenile trout, and a few shad of unknown species that we brought back to i.d. but what a day for birds!!
ducks everywhere, flying off the water in front of the boat. herons and egrets fishing from spartina banks, white and brown pelicans on sandbars, cormorants on shell bars, seagulls floating in the tide with white pelicans, oystercatchers and willets on oyster bars, everywhere in the back creeks by preacher's hole and north of shell mound the birds were either fishing, resting, or floating in the tide. when we pulled up to set the 600' seine at preacher's hole, a bald eagle was perched on a nearby oak. on our way back, there were loons in the channel. high tide when we finished. just a magnificent day! the water was even clear..
water temps were 14C, 57F, but felt warmer. must be getting used to it.
16:00, 68F at the farm. got 2 eggs. got some shrimp from the shrimp guy at Ck, so had boiled shrimp and chili for supper! started a fire.
19:00, 56F, clear. owl hooting from the pines. sat outside for a bit after the chores and star-gazed.
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Updated: 02:14 AM GMT del 21 Gennaio 2012
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north florida - wild florida
07:00, 40F, fog, waning thin crescent moon in the SE. hawk out already - noticed that the squirrel population is getting thin.. rooster up. guard dog at back door. making turkey chili. oatmeal for breakfast..
lost lamb. mom frantic. dog and I found her in the middle of the pasture, sunning herself. dog took her home. meanwhile one of the yard dogs busted a rotten fence and tried to help. I pieced the fence together with cable ties. another thing to do this weekend. yard dog got chastised by me and the guard dog who does not allow any other dog near her sheep.
in a hurry to get to work with 3 doz. eggs, I dropped them and broke a dozen and had to wash the other 2 dozen so no one at work got eggs today. the whole day was like this - little annoyances.
med. high tide at 11:00, sunny, variable winds, 5 knts. upper 50's. the usual birds. continued mending the trawl. left at 15:00 to go to the cow town to bmy dog food which I should have gotten on tues. all the pastures are burned from frost. rye fields eaten down. cows wandering around in groups. price of hay going up at tractor supply. have to get more this weekend. it's only january and already the hay farmers say their hay won't last until spring. a lot of hay's being shipped to texas. grr..
16:15, 58F, at the farm. got more 3 eggs. :)
18:30, 52F. fog starting. fed the dogs and gave them the broken eggs. some were happy, some not. found some more dry cedar so got another fire going. this is the last of the cedar from the huge cedar that grew in front of the house and died of fungus before the hurricanes of 2004. my sister's husband cut it down in 2007 and it gave me almost 2 years of firewood. smells great!
19:20, 48F, clear enough to see the stars. venus blazing out in the west.
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Updated: 02:21 AM GMT del 20 Gennaio 2012
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north florida - suwannee sound
05:50, 54F, totally cloudy. one quickly fading bright spot to the east. no moon. rooster sleeping.
yellow yard dog on the prowl. another field day!
06:25, pouring out..
well, that lasted for about 8 minutes. hoping we get more.
we did. it drizzled and rained most of the day. 1.3"
08:30, med. high tide at CK. a few oyster bars exposed with woodstorks and spoonbills poking around on them. was surprised to see the spoobills.
lots of ducks in the channel. raining. low 60's all day. we did not go out on the water. wind SW, 6-15 knts. spent the day working on the trawl. kinda low tide when I left at 15:00. lots of scaups.
17:00, 62F at the farm and drizzling. fog forming.
found some dry cedar in the hay barn and with the help of a stick of fat lighter I got a fire going in the fireplace to dry the house out. heading out to do the chores. got 1 egg.
19:00, 62F, calm, totally overcast with fog. no stars or planets except for a faint light - jupiter.
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Updated: 12:28 AM GMT del 19 Gennaio 2012
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north florida - upper suwannee
06:10, 44F, clear, waning crescent moon over the farm house. dogs making a racket. odor of skunk in the yard.
07:30, 46F, fog layers above pasture. got 2 eggs.
there were 2 sundogs on either side of the sun on the trip to suwannee.. changing weather?
09:20, high tide on the Suwannee, tide going out. water temp. 15C, 59F. loon diving on the river. never saw a loon on the river before. lots of ducks and cormorants. white pelicans and cormorants at west pass. catching black mullet, mug. cephalus, in the big net. that's all. lots of YOY spots and pinfish in the bait net. small flocks of ducks all over. oyster catchers on the oyster bars in the back creeks. tripped on a sawgrass root and almost fell in but the crew caught me. water temp. by coon island, 14C, 57F.
wind from the south, 5-8 knts., sunny, partly cloudy. chilly when we were running so guessing the air temp was in the mid-60's. a super day.
16:30, 70F at the farm. unloaded hay and feed and did chores. got 3 more eggs. while I was filling the sheep water, the hawk screeched over and I heard a whimpering noise from the oak above me. it was a squirrel, lying flat on a branch with its tail spread out over it like a blanket. good camoflage! hawk didn't se it..
19:20, 56F, clear, stars and planets out. tired.. another field day tomorrow!
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Updated: 11:30 AM GMT del 20 Gennaio 2012
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north florida - wild florida
06:30, 33F, clear. waning half moon over the house. guard dog at back door. woke up to some strange noises. sounded like the chickens but I just checked them and they seem alright. hawk hunting woodlot. must have a nest nearby. stoked up the fire, ham and egg for breakfast.
10:30, 60F, clear with a slight breeze. warming up fast. took the old reddog for a long walk. this cold weather has got him creaky but we walked slowly and stopped in the sunny places. hate to see him slowly whithering away. he has bad arthritis. he looks good though with a thick red winter coat. got 2 eggs. downy woodpecker excavating a dead pine limb.
17:20, 66F. startled 6 does and yearlings in the donkey wood lot. they faded into the brush to the north. lovely creatures. glad to see them coming back to the farm.
20:20, 55F, calm and clear. stars and planets bright tonight. the laurel and live oak leaves are beginning to turn and drop so that more stars show through the trees.
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Updated: 01:39 AM GMT del 17 Gennaio 2012
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north florida - wild florida
06:30, 31F, clear and calm. frost. waning half moon over the farm house. rooster just woke up. dogs howling. oatmeal for breakfast. out to do chores, then off to church. reading the lessons.
when I was warming up the truck, both hawks were flying around the farm yard, calling to each other.
bald eagle crossed the road on the way into CK. robins still along the shoulders.
medium low tide, going out. very low tide leaving. sunny, 60's with a N breeze. eagle crossed the road in front of me again, heading towards the scrub. there's a nest back there in some big pines.
69F when I got back to the farm at noon. one of the red-shouldered hawks was sitting on the top bar of the swing set in the back yard. it sat there for about 20 minutes, looking all around. upset the rooster, who clucked the whole time.
16:00, 63F, slight breeze, sunny. got 2 eggs. found another dead coon back in the brushy part of the yard. suspect the guard dog - just doing her job. protecting the chickens, too.
19:30, 46F, clear. sky is amazing.. stars and planets everywhere and so bright! there's not any light interference around here so on clear nights you can see forever.
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Updated: 04:00 PM GMT del 16 Gennaio 2012
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north florida - rocky hammock
07:10, 33F by the west thermometer, 28F by the east.. go figure.. slept late but not so late that I didn't see the waning gibbous moon sinking over the lone pear tree. some clouds, calm. guard dog eating the outside cat's food. rooster tired already. chilly out. oatmeal! and coffee. getting the fire going again.
the moon is down, its cold pale light extinguished.
dry leaves beneath my boots, a familiar sound.
the north wind bites my face, I shiver.
the horses stumble on the cold hard ground... H.H.
10:00, 44F, sunny, chill breeze from north. had to scramble to get everything done this a.m. and still have to finish up. fire's not cooperating. the old jack russell is feeling puny. no one but the donkeys like their hay.. thinking to let the sheep in the yard so they can pick up all the leaves under the cold-stressed citrus. watering the citrus and loquats now.
kept a fire going all day but it was smoky and reluctant most of the day. wondering if it's the laurel oak.. or the wind direction?
temps got up to 58F by 13:00, sunny with a light north breeze. sheep in the yard most of the day until around mid-afternoon when the guard dog, for reasons unknown, moved them back into the sheep yard. the two old ewes in the horse barn corral begged to go with the others in the yard and so they are back with the flock.
pileated woodpeckers called back and forth from the pines. cardinals busy around the herb garden. got 5 eggs.
19:00, 42F and clear. all the stars brilliant. venus like a beacon. orion dominant in the east, thinking that red star north of orion is rigal.
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Updated: 12:52 AM GMT del 15 Gennaio 2012
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north florida - wild florida
06:30, 47F, waning gibbous moon over palmettos. clouds moving from WSW. woke rooster up. guard dog at back door. biscuits for breakfast.
09:40, 44F, sunny, northerly breeze. found brownie on her side in the barn, alive.. there's an incline and probably someone knocked her out of the way of the hay and she couldn't get back up. her lamb hollaring clued me in on the situation. she's up and walking around with her lamb and the flock after an unsteady half hour..
got 3 eggs.
crows mobbing a red-winged hawk by the horse barn. heard a hawk screaming and the mate dove into the crows and both hawks flew away. incredible! years ago I caught an injured red-tailed hawk on the farm and took it to a vet where it resided for about a
week.. its mate flew over the farm constantly looking for it and calling. they had a happy reunion! we humans could take a lesson from those hawks.
cold day in CK. 43F when I got there (low tide) and never got above 47 with a wind chill of 41.. wind N, veering to NW, 5-12 knts. chilly enough so after noon time I loaded the trawl on a cart and brought it inside to continue mending it. that wind chill was getting to me and there was no place to get out of the wind except inside. still not finished. it's another 2 days work. high tide when I left.
have no idea what the temps were when I got back to the farm since I was running to get a fire going, plants brought in, and everyone fed, including me.
supposed to get into the 20's so I dripped the water again. at 19:30 it was 44F and misty with stars appearing and disappearing. venus was bright for awhile. calm and chilly. hoping I have enough
wood in front. thinking it might not get as cold as predicted but can't take a chance.
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Updated: 01:23 AM GMT del 14 Gennaio 2012
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north florida - wild florida
06:40, 49F, foggy. big moon peering through the donkey lot oaks. carolina wren belting out a tune,
rooster doing backup. yellow dog at back door.
10:00, 65F, clear. moved 2 oldest ewes, old one- eye and tuna hedy, to the corral by the horse barn so I could give them extra feed and some tlc. one eye's lamb came along. one eye is unhappy. tuna is apathetic..
yellow jasmine blooming in the lane! going to mend the trawl we tore up on tuesday when we trawled over oysters on limerock in east pass.
low tide going into CK, high tide on the way out.
a pleasant day, low 70's, partly cloudy, just enough breeze to keep the bugs down. it's going to take me several days to mend that trawl - many ragged holes and the chain on the mouth pulled loose in several places.
19:00, 65F, overcast, no stars showing. breeze from the SW. guard dog disliked her dinner and covered it in leaves and sand. but tomorrow the yard dogs will probably eat it. they eat anything almost. I found half of a pumpkin cheesecake slice from thanksgiving in the back of the fridge, threw it into the compost pile, and 5 minutes later bruiser was lying in the back yard, daintily demolishing it..
one-eye is unhappy in the horse barn. I might have to move her back with the flock. tuna doesn't seem to care and is eating the extra rations. so is one-eye, but she stands at the fence and baaas and is grumpy with her lamb. and that's the long and short of it..
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Updated: 01:07 AM GMT del 13 Gennaio 2012
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north florida - wild florida
06:25, 66F, overcast, dark, windy.. dry as a bone although the radar shows rain just to the west..
hmmm. rooster quiet. bacon for breakfast. maybe an egg, too. and toast.
07:10, it's raining - kinda, sorta.. a drizzle, anyway. crows calling, rooster's up.
09:15, 68F, mostly cloudy, wind SSW, 5-10.. rain didn't last long but hoping to get more. got 4 eggs. 6 does in the cactus field under the oaks that border it to the west. beautiful, graceful creatures. time to wind it up.
ran into a heavy rainstorm on the way to CK. it must have skirted the farm. got 0.2" on the rain gauge but the wind probably dried it up.
medium low tide at CK with black skies to the SW.
just got a drizzle, but winds, 12-18 knts. overcast and blustery. clearing in the afternoon. the west wind drove the tide in. very high tide at 16:00 when I left.
65F at the farm at 16:30. sunny and breezy. all the love grass from the pasture was piled up on the east fence when I got back.
58F at 18:30. got 2 more eggs. venus brilliant in the west. jupiter up above, stars bright until a mist rolled in.
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Updated: 01:19 AM GMT del 12 Gennaio 2012
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north florida - suwannee river
07:00, 53F, cloudy, red sky in the morning..
rooster's up, guard dog prowling pasture. oatmeal for breakfast. happy birthday to my dear son.
was supposed to go sample the suwannee river but the trip was postponed due to very low moon tides which affect the delta as well as the islands. and there's a front coming in with heavy winds so probably won't go tomorrow or friday either.
oh boy! oh joy! got a call that the schedule was back on track and we were going to the Suwannee after all.
10:00 low tide and breezy with partly cloudy skies.
the cypress around the boat ramp were full of black buzzards which is common in the winter.
water temp in the river, 59F, offshore, 54F. it's warmed up some but the river is always warmer since it's spring fed. did 5 trawls and 5 boat sets with the bait seine. catches mostly consisted of YOY spots, pinfish, and a few redfish. but - back in little dead boy creek, we got 3 large-mouth bass, a sunfish, a hog choker (tri. maculatus,) and 3 medium size short-nose gar. that's when the wind died and we were descended upon by hoards of no-see-ums, which stayed with us for the rest of the afternoon. by 15:00 the tide was high and it was totally overcast with just a little breeze from the west.
19:00, 65F at the farm. overcast, and very dark.
there's a big green, with some yellow, rain event off the gulf coast that I'm hoping will give us some much needed moisture tonight.
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Updated: 01:03 AM GMT del 11 Gennaio 2012
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north florida - wild florida
06:35, 48F, clear with a few clouds, yellow star up above.. rooster crowing, guard dog at back door. stew for breakfast.
low moon tide at CK in a.m., calm, cloudy with some sun, 70's. 15:30, high tide and mostly overcast with cirrus clouds coming in from the west.
16:00, 70F at the farm. partly cloudy. calm. put guard dog back with the sheep. walked house dogs.
18:00, 63F, red sunset! (at sundown, 27 years ago, I felt the first twinges of labor pains and did double the chores because I didn't know if they would get done the next day. it was cold with a thick smokey fog from the pine plantations burning and an inversion keeping it all on the ground. you could barely see the road. didn't even know that we were crossing SR19 until we saw the blinking light above us.. there was no traffic. my son was born 10 minutes after we got to the hospital.)
18:40, 62F, orange full moon rising thru a purple cloud bank! venus high in the western sky.
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Updated: 11:54 PM GMT del 09 Gennaio 2012
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north florida - wild florida
06:30, 45F, clear. stars out, big yellow planet overhead. probably foggy but can't see that far. rooster quiet. guard dog at back door. oatmeal..
misty, not foggy.. big doe running across the south field. she jumped the fence into the donkey field and disappeared into the dog fennel.
09:00, very low tide at CK. birds out fishing. ducks in leads.. sunny, but chilly in church.
a pleasant afternoon at the farm even though I had to clean out the dog kennel. sunny, low 70's.
afterwards I sat in the back yard with some of the dogs and watched the birds. got a cushion for my adirondack chair and I think we all ended up taking a brief nap out there. there were warblers all over the place and two pileated woodpeckers in the cabbage palm eating left-over berries. then they flew to the pecan trees and made a racket. crows were making a racket, too but didn't see any hawks or owls around. most of my life is a mystery..
18:15, 62F, mostly clear but some cirrus in the east. full moon coming up over the cactus field. was looking for it when I fed the donkeys earlier but missed it rising. think there must have been a cloud bank because all of a sudden - there it was - low through the pines and beautiful.. jupiter up above. missed venus.
built a little fire when the temps dropped to 58..
but there's not much firewood out front. oh well..
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Updated: 01:07 AM GMT del 09 Gennaio 2012
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north florida - wild florida
07:20, 53F, foggy. a golden sunrise. crows calling, donkeys hooting for hay. last night, I made them clean up their hay. they did and they were hungry this a.m.
gave the new mom, halvah, and tuna-hedy some extra grain since they were the only sheep hanging in the barn.
fried red fish for breakfast. from some fishermen friends. they said red fish are still plentiful and biting out at corrigan's reef.
15:00, 72F, partly cloudy to mostly cloudy to partly cloudy all day. sometimes it looked like it was going to rain but it didn't. watered all the trees. sand pines look alright. not sure about
the cypress. I have to admit that it's a difficult place for a cypress to take hold. checked out 4 gopher tortoise burrows in the cactus field. 1 was abandoned but the other looked like they were in use. tortoises make several burrows. no telling who else is living in there.. lots of different critters find shelter in the burrows.
went to the hay guy's and got 10 bales. brought him a bag of tangerines. his bales are light and cheaper and easier to unload than the feedstore bales. but they're drier too. it's donkey hay.
boiled shrimp for lunch. they were good. a lazy day.
19:30, 57F, mist rising in the pasture. did the chores early. got 3 eggs. big moon coming up over the pines. venus bright in the west.
got a little fire going and reading leslie silko's "ceremony." started it in the summer and only got a few chapters read. picked it up again and suddenly it reads different - about a native american come back from WWII with shell-shock.
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Updated: 01:03 AM GMT del 08 Gennaio 2012
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north florida - epiphany
06:40, 44F, dense fog. songbirds singing. rooster crowing. guard dog not at back door..
yesterday in a shallow cove there were several dead cow-nose rays (rhi. bonansis). probably the cold killed them. these large rays usually migrate in large schools to warmer waters in the fall .
time for chores..
10:30, 64F, clearing. sold all the rams plus the wether. the good news is that they have a job - clearing land.. so they're not heading straight for the butcher's. didn't ask about their job security, though. but, seems like this fellow rents rams out to live with cattle and eat the weeds in the pasture. works for me!
this past week I've been seeing small flocks of robins along the road to CK. they usually show up this time of the year, linger briefly, then are gone. I rarely see them in the yard.
beautiful, warm, low 70's, and sunny at CK today with nary a breeze and the bugs were laying low. high tide flooding in. went to kona joe's for lunch and had a really good crab quiche while sitting out on the back porch and watching the scaups float by and 2 ospreys fishing from the mangroves..
06:15, 58F with a big moon coming up over the oaks.
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Updated: 11:34 PM GMT del 06 Gennaio 2012
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north florida - wild florida
06:30, 30F, calm. rooster's crowing, dogs howling. oatmeal for breakfast. going out on the water, CK.
09:00, 50F, NW wind, 2 knts., med. low tide coming in. lots of small flocks of ducks, saw 2 loons. cormorants, willets, brown and white pelicans on oyster bars. water temp. 10C (50F.) did 4 sets with the 600 ft. seine and 4 sets with the bait seine. catches low. could feel the water's chill through the waders. cold on my hands and my sleeves stayed wet all day. sunny. got a few red fish, some small trout, some small flounder (par. albigutta), and some big needlefish. the young-of-the-year (YOY) (15-20 mm.) spot and pinfish have just started showing up in the bait seine. last year, in 2 weeks, we counted over 200,00 YOY spot (lei. xanthurus). all of us are hoping that the recruitment will not be so robust this year. we beat all the other labs last year but generally the year following a hefty recruitment is more mellow.
14:00, 60F, wind NW, 6-8 knts., high tide.
16:00, 62F at the farm. light NW breeze, sunny.
locked young rams in the horse barn at sundown and added the wether with bruiser's help. got a call last night from a buyer interested in them all, maybe even the ram with the injured eye.. supposed to show up around 09:00. sounded sincere.
19:00, 52F, calm. waxing gibbous moon following jupiter. venus bright in the west. saw 5 deer at sundown gleaning acorns in the brushy part of the donkey's woodlot. might build a fire but I'm kinda tired. between pulling the 600 ft. seine and wrangling that wether my back isn't happy.
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Updated: 01:21 AM GMT del 06 Gennaio 2012
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north florida - wild florida
05:40, 24F, calm. woke up shivering beneath 3 blankets and a comforter with a cat at my feet. realized the electric was off.. the electric heater was cold. got up, made a fire, and was thankful that I have a gas cooking stove. oatmeal..
electric came on at 6:50. still 24F. pump's working! going out to see about the water pipes..
house seems to be o.k. crows calling..
08:00, 28F, calm. heavy frost. out of 10 outside spigots, 8 are frozen. called work said I wouldn't be in. let rams out. broke ice on all buckets. got 2 eggs. hay to everyone.
10:00, 34F. north breeze. all but 2 spigots are working. watering camellias and bromeliads. all tender plants - bananas, elephant ears, salvia - are toast. too late to go to work. they're trawling out on the Sound.. I'm reading the NYTimes book reviews in front of the fireplace. they're getting paid. I'm not. hoping the other 2 spigots will cut on soon. thankful that no pipes are broken, so far..
all spigots working by noon with no broken pipes.
afternoon temps got up to 46F with a north breeze and sun. and cold. went to the cow town for feed and groceries and gas. cows all the way to town were loafing in the sun and chewing their cud. the rye fields are getting low. not much else to eat now except hay.
16:00 43F, unloaded feed and fed stock. got another egg. songbirds were busy all day around the feeders. put more fire wood in front.
20:00, 34F, cold and clear. waxing gibbous moon tracking behind jupiter now and venus is high enough in the sky by dark so that I can see her through the trees. going out on the water tomorrow so going to bed early. upper 20's is tonight's prediction. did not drip spigots so hoping it's on track. tomorrow I get to see more ducks! they remind me of the ducks that used to come into the salt creek behind our house in the low country when I was a child.
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Updated: 02:01 AM GMT del 05 Gennaio 2012
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north florida - wild florida
06:15, 34F, calm. wind woke me up around 4. not sure what that was about. clear sunrise. so glad it's not in the 20's. want to run out and turn all the water off. everyone carrying on outside. got a little fire going. oatmeal for breakfast.
09:40, 39f, north wind, 5-10 knts, sunny. got 2 eggs. the smallest of the young rams managed to get a length of barb-wire stuck in his eyelid and he twisted it about 5 times. I untwisted it, got the barb out and had to cut, with my kitchen shears, the injured part of the eyelid off. it was hanging down over his eye. he was remarkedly calm the whole time. otherwise, a usual morning, except for the large, furry dead male coon I found in the back yard. threw it over the boundary fence into the north pasture for the buzzards.
got all the spigots turned off. watered what's left of the garden and stacked another wheel barrow load of firewood in front.
10:30, blow-out tide at CK. everything exposed. birds gleaning the flats. upper 30's. wind N-NW, 10-15 knts. with gusts to 18. stayed inside and worked in library. temps rose to 41F.
15:30, tide coming in. looks like normal low tide. ducks all over the place, diving and floating. brr.
16:10, 45F, breeze from north. sunny and cold. got fire going. chili for supper. got another egg. injured lamb has scabs around his eye but is acting normal and eating.
19:00, 34F, clear, venus brilliant in the west. waxing gibbous moon and jupiter are parting again.
chores done, yard dogs tucked in, light on for the lone parrot, water dripping in all 10 spigots, hope I have enough firewood under the porch. I'm tired. the weather-guessers predict teens for tonight. hope they are wrong, I'm scheduled to go out on the water tomorrow .. cold in here, back to the fire and my book.
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Updated: 01:42 AM GMT del 04 Gennaio 2012
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north florida - wild florida
01:00, a rain event woke me up. gusty winds, hard rain. only last for a little while. 0.15"
07:05, 51F, north wind in gusts, 5knts. partly cloudy, sunny. guard dog in yard. pancakes for breakfast!
noon, 58F, wind from north less than 10 knts. moved some plants inside. added wheelbarrow of wood to pile in front. covered camillias, gave kiko a quilt, built a fire, picked as many tangerines as I could reach for friends..
16:30, 54F, wind's died down. fried oysters for supper. chore time.
19:00, 45F, calm. venus brilliant in the west. waxing gibbous moon and jupiter traversing the heavens together tonight. got it all done - hay, feed, dripping 10 outdoor spigots since the forecast is for the mid-20's and the dogs stripped the insulation from the spigots years ago.. fireplace's going at a simmer, cat's asleep on the couch, and I'm ready to relax with a book on mythology..
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Updated: 12:21 AM GMT del 03 Gennaio 2012
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north florida - wild florida
06:40, 47F, very foggy again. some stars showing. rooster quiet. dogs barking. oatmeal for
breakfast.
low tide at CK, low 60's, slight breeze from SE, partly cloudy. usual birds. bought oysters. got card from daughter! tide coming in when I left at 10:40. buffle-heads swimming by causeway.
back at the farm, fried up a bunch of oysters for lunch. tasty! then went out and put a new fence around the garden that the rams got back into this a.m. hoping to salvage the turnips and the bok choi. cleaned up the debris and gave it to the chickens. got 8 eggs. found a hidden nest. put new hay in the laying boxes.
a hard freeze is predicted for the beginning of the week so I have work to do - clean out fireplace, bring some plants inside, put wool bags in dog pen ... and continue moving fire wood from wood lot into the barn. was hoping for a mild winter. oh well - it is january. and I did enjoy autumn.
15:30, mostly cloudy, 69F, calm. new garden fence seems to be working. stole it from the bananas but they'll be toast by tuesday.. got email from daughter! she's in barcelona eating grapes.
20:00, 61F, clear, calm. hoppin' john for supper.
stars out. jupiter tagging after waxing gibbous moon by a hand's breadth. venus lovely in the west.
glad to have tomorrow off!
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Updated: 02:29 AM GMT del 02 Gennaio 2012
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