FLORIDA's Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park

We have been watching neighbors leave almost every day now. I guess they are anxious to go back north to their house and family. I can't imagine that it is warm enough up there yet to entice me!! We will wait a few weeks before we start that way. Our next door neighbor pulled out at 6 am Sunday which leaves us wide open for sun ALL day and evening. But we will not miss the fumes from something that they ran day and night! We did hear that they are home already! We have had a lot of wind and rain a couple different days this week and are anxious for the temperatures to go back up. Actually, I suppose if he winds would die down and the water on the ground dried up, it would be much warmer. So to wait for the heat we decided to work around home and make our own heat! Gary waxed one side of the coach and started the other side before he stopped today. And I got up and cleaned a bathroom and kitchen, rearranging one of the cupboards. Then we went to Walmart across the road and stocked up on groceries. It didn't take long to kill a hundred dollars. But at least we are prepared for our Ohio friends to visit on their trip back north after their winter in Florida. We are expecting them tomorrow. Last week we had a Western theme musical at our Boots Hall here in the park. We could tell that many of the residents have been having fun singing, playing instruments and dancing through their winter here, as they showed in their program. This 91 year young gentleman played and sang a good number that he had written about our life style. He was good for his age and has been living here more than twenty years. We also attended a Resident Appreciation dinner at Boots Hall with eleven other friends from our area in the park . We had to start early to get a good place in line! It was a good spaghetti dinner and great visiting! We filled one side of the table all the way to the end on one side . There had to have been at least 250 in the hall, and they still had another dinner time after ours. Yesterday we went to Bartow FL to visit with Diane, our friend from Ohio, to see that she is doing okay. She was looking good, but is not too anxious to leave the clear air here for what we have in Ohio. The change makes her breathing problems escalate. It makes her wish that she could stay here year around. I also want to show you the pictures I promised from the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park near the Gulf where we went last week. It was so beautiful there and so much to see that we wish we had heard of this before we spent the money on the Manatee Boat Tour that we went on first. That $60 down the drain still sticks in Gary's craw. I keep telling him to get over it!! We do tell everyone that we see how nice the Park was though! I just wish that we still had the brochure that we gave our grandson when in Ohio, as it had names for many of the birds that you will see here. Oh well, you win some and you loose some! You will have to name them. Enjoy!!

Pappa watching over Momma and ducklings.

They told us that this big guy does move all six thousand pounds, when it is feeding time!

These guys must be digesting!! We were told that they lie in the sun after eating as they need to be a body temp of 80 degrees for digestion to take place.

They also said that they have three different kinds of turtles, but these gopher tortoise were all that we saw.

The black bears seemed oblivious to us as well as the black birds. They sure had a nice pen!

This red fox is watching all of the people on the walkways.

And then the birds!!! I know that we saw some of these in the Everglades, but not as close to us as they are here.

There were ponds for many of the birds.

And nests and natural habitat built for others.

There were the Great Horned Owl, the Barred Owl and the Barn Owl.

They had a talk given by park employees about the Great Horned Owl and the Hawk, comparing the two and their method of hunting and getting their prey.

Many of the inhabitants of the park have been injured and are being cared for to nurse them back to health. Then they can be released into their natural habitat. A few will never fully recover and will remain in the Parks care.

The flamingos were very orange and it is my understanding that their color is the result of the diet they feed on.

The Roseate Spoonbill.

Notice the metal wrapping around the trees to keep the panther from climbing.

He really was interested in the Bobcat next door and walked the same track along the fence so much that it sure is bare ground!

The Bobcat.

And now on down the path to the Manatees.

We could view them from above the pools.

Note the white markings, which are injuries. This is why they end up in this park until they heal.

Often they are injured by boats.

And then we were able to go below the water and look through glass to watch them swim by and roll over, as well as seeing other fish.

As I said before, I do feel that this park was much more interesting than the Boat Tour. I would recommend it to anyone! Hope you enjoyed them as much as we did!