Boom Boom and she's back!

We heard the sonic boom and knew we had exactly 3 minutes to get the camera pointed up to try a catch Discovery's return.
We were lucky to get these 2 shots - she comes in really fast!
Welcome home Discovery

Twins

We were happy to see that another family of sand cranes moved into our area with twin chicks.
We were also happy to notice this turtle on the side of the water which looks like the same burned turtle Olivier 'rescued' a few days ago - what do you think?

Fun Fair and Merry Christmas

Yesterday was the TGO's annual Fun Fair - yeah that's right- bringing out the county's bomb squad, kids holding boa constrictors and men cuddling gator's is the TGO's idea of 'fun'.
Actually, I'm kidding- there was a lot of other stuff going on but we were having so much fun doing that stuff I forgot to take pictures!
Later we went to the next town over from Titusville called Christmas for their annual Bluegrass Festival and BBQ- that was fun too - and delicious!

Mating season

I know I have a lot of gator pictures on this Blog but it is mating season now and they are everywhere.
The two little guys in the first picture keeping getting closer to each other everytime we pass by but this big guy with his teeth showing is apparently still searching for his soulmate (we were told that a gator's mouth open like that is a mating call - who knows). I'll drive by later and let you know how he made out (no pun intended!).

Lazy hazy days of...........March!

It seems the heat and lack of rain is getting to everyone around here!

Rubber duckies!

Olivier just reminded me there is actually some wildlife around here I like- somebody with a pretty good sense of humour placed these duck decoys in the lake at the front of the TGO and then someone else with a better sense of humour added the rubber duckies. These days that water is actually warm enough to bathe in!!!!

Now what!

Okay, so I'm getting used to the aligators, and maybe even the geckos, but now look what Olivier found on the road near our house. We were 'happy' to learn from the guys collecting the trash that not only was he not poisonous, he was 'probably' dead.

Finally!

After months of problems and delays, the shuttle finally was launched last night. For us it was a 3rd chance to see this spectacular sight. Last year we were lucky enough to experience a daytime launch of Atlantis, then a month later a nighttime launch of Endeavour and then last night a launch at dusk of Discovery(7:43 pm).
Godspeed Discovery and we will see you in 11 days!
P.S. to Sylvain - it only took us 1 1/2 hours to get home - Del found another shortcut!!

Geico (or gecko)

Obviously I love being in Florida for the winter months but one of the things I can live without is these darn little geckos which are everywhere in this scorching heat.
This one seems to have made a home in our screened in porch and won't leave. Olivier thinks if we buy some insurance from him he might go away! I think he's been watching too many TV commercials but I'm willing to give it a try.

A few updates

Just wanted to update everyone on a couple of things.
As you can see, even though we haven't had any rain the underbrush seems to be growing back already- I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.
We found this poor little turtle on the trail and even though he looks severely burned and injured he is definitely alive and moving around. Olivier helped ease him into the water a few minutes after we took this picture.
Our baby sandcrane is doing well. Check out my Feb 25 post and you can see how much s(he)'s grown!

Just for Guy!

See Guy - Joanne didn't forget you!

Good news, bad news

The good news is that it has been sunny and very hot for the past 2 weeks, the bad news is that it has been sunny and very hot for the last 2 weeks!
That is bad news because as a result of this extremely hot, dry weather brush fires have been breaking out all over central Florida. This picture shows the smoke 3 days after a fire that destroyed over 250 acres about 10 to 15 miles from here. No rain in the forecast for the next 5 days either.
Another sad, but unrelated bit of news-tonight's scheduled launch of Discovery has been scrubbed because of some kind of leak. Hopefully they will try again tomorrow.

Shopping in Cocoa Beach

Cocoa Beach has some great shopping with lots of quaint little artisan shops.
Joanne and I will be pleased to model the jewellery we bought ( for ourselves!) when we get home.

Is there life out there?

Last night there was a launch of a satelite on a mission to determine if there is life beyond Earth. NASA tells us it will take 3 to 6 years. Stand by everyone!

Separated at birth???

So, is it just me - or does anyone else see the resemblance?

Relax Joanne!

Joanne is finding it very easy to relax during her 2 weeks with us.
First, a nice leisurely game of golf, then off to happy hour at Applebee's and then, to top off the evening, just a little Irish cream in her coffee.

Let sleeping gators lie

We saw this gator lying close to our house and he seemed to be asleep but when Olivier got a little closer around the other side he woke up fast enough. There are no more pictures after this one!

Our IHOP friends

The first day we were in Florida 3 years ago we went to IHOP for breakfast and by chance we sat next to a couple from Kitchener, ON. We started talking and discovered we had many things in common and even though they were on there way to Miami and we weren't going to see each other again in Florida we managed to stay in touch over the 3 years and even got together a couple of times.
So when Ron and Maureen told us they were passing through Cocoa this morning we knew we had to meet at IHOP for breakfast. Maureen and I had a good laugh when we realized we still had a lot in common - we seem to have the same taste in purses!
Have a great time in Florida Ron and Maureen - we'll see you at the end of the month!

After the burn

Personally, I was not going to bore my Blog fans with a bunch a pictures of burned out palm trees but Sylvain, since you wanted to see them - here they are!
There are still spots that are hot as you can see by the second picture and we can certainly smell the smoke everywhere but it is raining a bit today so that should help.