DEDICATION

we are so glad that we came back for the dedication of the new house..it was very special because we had worked on the house and also along with the new home owner..her children were with her today as the other days they were in school and they sure seemed excited about being able to have a new house...there were some special words about habitat and what it means to each and every one of us the volunteers, the home owners and everyone involved in the building of a house..along with the ones for seek donations.....it is like we have never left --there have been several people ask us about working this next week but we aren't so sure...tomorrow we are going to go to church with IRMA then bike with lou..right now our plan is to leave on monday...

RETURN

we have returned back to dade city...we decided that there was to be a dedication of one of the houses we worked on and also got to know the new home owner and thought it would be special for us to attend...which we are glad we did..a rather touching ceremony..more later...we had a great time after leaving here ..as you know we spent several days in the sarasota area then we went on to the "SWAMP"...we are so very glad we did that...spent a couple of night in the BIG CYPRESS national park and did about 16 miles on the bike on a tram trail..it is shared by the tram and also bikes...also the way we saw lots of "GATORS" in different sizes and also lots and lots of birds..mostly water birds of some sort....we stayed at the national park and only had electric so we kinda dry camped...then on to the"GLADES" at the far end of the main land of the good old usa....again we stayed in the national park (that's the only place to camp) for several days and spent our time enjoying the sights and sounds of the glades...we biked/hiked/attend ranger talks/relax/biked/hiked/watched birds...it is a very interesting place and would we return ---yes some one of these days when we sure in the area....there is alot to do and we only did a very small bit of it...we did think about renting a canoe but didn't have time to do so...just a different part of florida that yu have to go to to enjoy and we are glad we did...we saw lots of nesting ospreys ...from here we aren't sure what we might do or go..we have thought about hanging around for the march 12 launch of the shuttle and tonight we are going to the hounsell's for dinner and it will be one of the things we will talk about with them...it sure is great to be retired and enjoy all and everything we have been able to do....

OUR DAY AT THE BEACH

we have not been to a real beach since arriving in florida and today was the day to do so...first we went to the desoto national park and saw where he landed and started his quest for gold...then on to the beach it is on the coooooooooool side today and very windy so all we did was walk the beach and watch the crazy surfers enjoying the surf but of course they were all in wet suits.....it sure is a different way of living her in florida with the beaches on both sides of the road and some very expensive homes all along the way...sure hope they can pay for them and we aren't going to half too with the new relief.....not much to report today..oh this campground has a nice feature outside the laundry are 2 sets of clothes lines and you can just hang your clothes rather then use the dryer and some of the residents even wash their clothes in their homes./rigs then come to the line the hang them..so today i did a load of wash and hung them out just like home...more campgrounds ought to have this feature...no one seems to bother the clothes and we have even noticed clothes hanging out all night...so i guess by having to have a secret code to get in you we are safer then some places that have an opened door policy..tomorrow last minute stuff to do then we are really going to head for the everglades on sunday...we may not have any available wi-fi there so don't be alarmed if you don't see anything written here...after tomorrow

HORSES

today we did go see the lipinzers horses do their training..we weren't sure if the show would go on as rain was in the forecast but we went anyway...bill and judy also got the e-mail that we were going so lucky we happen to check the e-mail before we left to see that they were coming and colleen and pat were in the middle of a project and going to go tomorrow....bill and judy arrived just in time as they had been at desota park checking it out and that is where we may go tomorrow...back to the show in the middle of the show it started to sprinkle and by the time the last act was going on it started to pour like a florida rain storm...didn't last long but long enough for everyone to leave the bleachers..so we went into the stables to met the riders and pet the horses..then after we stopped for a bite to eat and conservation..and good day was had by all....

MYAKKA RIVER STATE PARK

first off we had planned on leaving tomorrow and heading for the everglades but guess what we have changed our minds...there is way too much to see and do around here we decided to wait till after the weekend and hopefully those who are camped in the national park will leave this weekend and there will be room for us...not sure how many campers had this past week off to celebrate presidents day we just rethought our plans..(i guess being retired and NO reservations we can do such a thing)...so today we headed to the state park for some biking only did 12...alot of stop and go biking as there were sights to see like 60 plus wild pigs/a few gators/shore birds/at least 3 ospreys----we have not had time to go to any of the beaches in the area--and there are several more museums we could go to and we also found out about more biking that we may do....so needless to say we aren't bored yet haha...tomorrow we plan on goingto the LIPIZZERS HORSES winter training camp where they do there show for a donation from the public...guess they can't charge because they would loose there non profit status so i guess it is a deal..and we like deals....in one of the pictures you have to look close and mayber even enlarge it but there are wild pigs in it...honest!!!!

CIRCUS

today was spent at the ringling museum...wewere surprised on how big it was and also that most of if was art...there weremulti buildings around and only 2 devoted to circus stuff...on building had a great display of a minature circus that one man had devoted his life to create...if you didn't know better you"d have thought you were at the circus--he had created almost everything...then on to the other circus building...we were kinda disappointed in that building expecting to sere more circus stuff.. we both think we saw more this past fall in wisconsin...more colorful circus wagons and thing that went along with the circus..the other building were their home and mansion..and a large art museum..over all we had a good day...long but good...

WALK

at the campground we are at now has a nice nature walk...so of course we took a little stroll...along the way we saw an osprey sitting in a dead tree so if you look close you might see it in one of the inclosed pictures....thre are signs all over along the walk way mentioning about manatees so i appears that they come up into the water around the park...we did not see any tonight..hopefully we may see some before we move on.....