Kathleen's Window: Prairie Days and Prairie Nights

March 17, 2017

Once again, I have allowed too much time to slip by without posting. Greg's Dad peacefully passed away at 96 years of age on February 13^th. We spent a weekend in Naples with Greg's siblings remembering their Dad and planning a service to commemorate his life.

Back on the prairie we have fallen into the easy rhythm of the days here. It allows for healing and contemplation, but it is also easy to become lazy, and fall into a daily and weekly routine. Very much like life in a stationary home. In some ways that has been a blessing. We can observe the changing prairie. The last of the oak leaves are falling off the trees in the days of continuous strong winds, and the new green leaves are bursting forth rapidly in this warm climate.

Our campsite at the end of the road and the rainbow!

We have the daily animal visitors that pass through our campsite at the end of the road. Early morning and again at dusk the turkeys move through en masse, looking like small dinosaurs. The lone male has been appearing with them recently. The ladies ignore him as he tries to impress them with his marvelous tail feathers. The crows and squirrels line up at the “Crow Bar”to drink from the dripping hose sprayer. One day we found a raccoon partaking. Calls from red-shouldered hawks, warblers, and other native birds resound through the hammock, as the tree-covered areas of the prairie are called. A deer or two wanders along the edges of our hammock. Any snakes or alligators nearby stay well hidden.

Barred Owl guarding the wild, heirloom oranges

Female turkey in a hurry!

Crested Caracara gatekeeper at the park entrance

The Crow Bar is open!

Gopher Tortoise about 18 inches long

When the weather is this dry, everyone needs a drink!

Box turtle leaping off the road.

5-Lined Skink

Can you find the very large spider?

The weather blows in and out across the prairie vista. The clouds scuttle by like a fast motion film. Last year was an El Nino year. Every part of the park was flooded. This year we are having drought and above average temperatures. The gators and wading birds are concentrated in the few remaining wet areas. The easiest for our visitors to see has a concentration of almost two dozen gators resting on the edges of Seven Mile Slough. The herons, ibises, and wood storks stalk the remaining fish and try to avoid becoming some gator's dinner!

The hot, dry, windy weather is ideal for prescribed burns and the fire crews have been able to systematically burn areas that have never been burned in the 20 years of the park's existence. Ordinarily, sections are burned every two years to maintain the health of the ecosystems. The current conditions are ideal for the hot, fast moving fires that burn the grasses and low palmettos without burning long over areas of oak trees and palms. They can be controlled by the wind direction and the prepared plowed up firebreaks. We are getting an education in prescribed burning, as well as spectacular smoke plumes and two fires that glowed while burning into the night.

Over 100 miles of firebreaks divide the burn zones

This area hasn't been burned yet. Lush stand of palmettos. Storm rolling in!

A new burn being started

Big burn 2 miles north of camp. Watched it burn all night.

The day after a big burn. Right side of road burned. Left side not burned.

Recently burned palmettos and Sabal palms.

Huge old Live Oak scarred by many fires and storms.

Greg has lead a few swamp buggy tours, but had more canceled due to a flat tire and mechanical problems. He has a few more coming up before we leave in two weeks. The last two weekends we were treated to the use of the ATV Kabotas and the two of us spent long days exploring the 54,000 acre preserve. We haven't covered the whole park. The rest will have to wait until next winter. I also got to accompany Greg in a park pickup to do weed and underbrush cleanup around a hiker bridge. The three trips were amazing! We saw lots of different ecosystems, wildlife, birds, flowers, and butterflies. After a long search we found a hammock with heirloom “wild” oranges that we brought back with us. The second Kabota ride we got drenched in blowing rain. The Kabota has a small roof to block the sun, but no windshield or sides. We were drenched! But, since the temps were fine we enjoyed the adventure.

The tour buggy

The Kubotas are great for exploring

Greg's demonstration of where not to drive. Stuck in mud!

Kathleen does NOT get stuck!

The trail was obliterated by wild hog rooting!

A photogenic gopher tortoise

Checking one of the hiker bridges in the rain!

Gathering oranges from an old cowboy camp

Greg spent lots of time searching for the orange trees!

Pink tropical lichen

Lots of Spanish Moss on the big old Live Oak branches

We found grass filled trails that rarely get ridden upon.

7-Mile Slough is still too deep to cross here

Checking the primitive campsites

Clearing the little hiker bridge

Here are lots and lots of photos! Hope you enjoy them. Unfortunately, the majority of the photos I took with my new phone were lost when we transferred them to the laptop. A few had been posted on Facebook, but the rest are gone. Trying to figure out how to make lemonade... I'll post again after we leave. We'll be heading back to Maryland for ten days, and then will make a bee line for the Southwest US and hope to wander for 5-6 weeks. Late May we'll be back in Maryland and then up to New Hampshire to Geneva Point Center for our summer workcamping. I'm ready to move on!