Sanibel Dreaming

Zoe and I have been in Sanibel since the middle of December and can't understand how time can go by so quickly.  I intended to write several times but Zoe always had to make me do something with her.  You know, when the folks leave us alone for days at a time, I have to entertain her.

Well, maybe they don't leave us alone for days at a time.  In fact, they always make sure that we aren't alone too much.  It's just that when they leave, they say, "Guard the house.  Listen to what your sister says.  Don't do anything you shouldn't."  What do they think we are going to do - start the truck and go for a joy ride?  Really! I guess they figure since we are herding dogs we need a job to keep us out of mischief.  Well, it worked, most of the time anyway.

I did figure that since this is out third season on Sanibel, you might be full up of island stories.  That's the truth about why I haven't written.  Plus, I couldn't trust Zoe to not go on and on, so I didn't let her write either.

We decided to show you pictures of things that we have seen or done.  Don't they say (and who is they anyway?) a picture is worth a thousand words? I can't imagine using a thousand words so pictures will have to do.

Highlights of this season:  Coming across the causway bridge onto Sanibel - coming "home" again; family joining us in December; walking the trails with Papa and Parker; going to the beach; renewing friendships; seeing the birds; not being left alone too much - we put up a big enough stink so that Papa and Mama don't stay away too long; having all these people who think we are amazing (they are right, of course); visiting the Bean with the folks; so many friends!

Troubles: Zoe seemed to have difficulties with her tug.  Everyone loved to throw it for her, but Mama had a "slice" when she threw it that landed it on top of Mr. Woody's way high roof over the RV.  Then, Lynda put 2 tugs up there.  Papa only put one in a palm tree, but Mr. Woody got it back down.  I never cause troubles like that Zoe!  I guess those three tugs will either blow down if there is a bad storm or next year Mr. Woody will get the cherry-picker and get them down for her.  Papa won't let mama use the two new ones in the cupboard now because he thinks she'll lose another one.

Zoe and I hope you like our photo journey. To know more, just ask us.

Anne and Parker in COLD water.

Nothing like a kid to bring out the kid in all of us!

"I'm not sure about this, Parker," says Phaedra.

 

"All right, who trampled on my castle?" asks Dov.

Strolling on Sanibel at Bowman's Beach

Pat Shane visits from Chapel Hill via Naples

Rookery island in the middle of Tarpon Bay - how many Brown Pellicans can you see?

Sunset over Tarpon Bay from the boat.

Ranger Becky turns 31and wears the "traditional Sea Grape garb of the islands"!  

Birthday party for Becky, good bye to Ana.

Dinner time at the camper

Biking Bailey Tract

Geocaching with Karen and Herb.  They found the ammo box treasure without us!

Roseates and Willets plus friends.

Bowman's Beach paddle

Eagle at Island Inn

Saralee and Ralph at Island Inn checking out the eagle and osprey

Osprey with fish as long as he is!

Phaedra loves happy hour!

Peace comes in a kayak.

Pileated Woodpecker

Red-bellied Woodpecker

What do you think it's going to do?  Is it a snake?

Woodstorks and buddies

Florida Banded Water Snake

Snowys at Blind Pass

What, another Happy Hour?

Lynda and Charlie

Pelican Island at sunset

In search of monofilament off Wildlife Drive on Friday

Wedding Party Trashers:  We won a case of wine for being the "worst dressed" with our costumes made of trash bags!

Peace

Young raccoon dining in palm tree in front of the education center at Ding Darling.

Cormorant fishing

White Pelicans hanging out

Anhinga thermoregulating (warming and drying)

Sunset on the causeway

Susie and Doug, Karen and Gordon, and the four of us.  Cousins from Vermont visiting here.

Hard at work!

Roseate by Indigo Trail

Vicki's Olympic Sunglasses (Australia, 2000).  These aren't your run of the mill sunglasses, either!  

Breakfast at the Bean

Shabbat

Now you see why he's called a "Yellow-Crowned Night Heron"

Beautiful Woodstork with pink feet

Just milling around...

Pellis and friends

Here's that damn thing again.  What are we going to do with it?

Great Egret in breeding plumage.  Check out the green eye lore.  That and the fancy plumes are lures to attract a mate.

Great Egrets courting - see the stick one gives to another?  Close by, see the male Anhinga and the chick.

Great Blue Herons begging for food.  Mom is trying to ignore for one more minute

Young Black-crowned Night Heron.  Notice the very red eye - one of the ways to identify this bird.

Hungry again?

Sweet little Black-bellied Whistling Duck

Anhinga chicks begging from dad.

Tri-color and Snowy.  Notice Snowy's yellow slippers!

Burrowing Owl of Cape Coral

Eggs should soon hatch and these parents are always vigilant for predators.

Nose of a manatee

Manatee in Shell Point lagoon

Mom and baby

Roseates are back!

Love the little Cuban Brown Anole - even if they are invasive!

This Ibis is wearing his fancy dress - ready for breeding!

Walked out the Ed Center door and was greeted by this Great Egret!

Reddish Egret wearing "fancy clothes" along side of the Tri-Color.

Alligator right next to Impoundment 1 on Wildlife Drive.

Gopher Tortoise right outside our gated community

Another Reddish Egret in breeding colors - notice the bright pink and black bill and the blue legs.  First time we ever saw this coloring - lucky us!

Last Roseate of season hiding from us

Taking time to smell the flowers

Up close and personal

Zoe's new ball - after losing 3 tugs this is all that's left!

    

Take care everyone - we'll keep you posted on our next adventures.

Ta Ta,

Phaedra (the phantastic) and Zoe (the wonderful)

Home At Last - 'til the next adventure!

Phaedra here from good ole Chapel Hill via Rocky Mountain National Park: Zoe and I wanted to finish up our journey "tails" and say our final adieu until our next adventure.

It seemed like “coming home” when we got back up here from Colorado Springs.  Rocky Mountain National Park is such a great place for us.  There are elk that roam all over the place and we really love to smell the scat that they leave.  Every night at about the same time - around midnight - we all wake up and listen to the coyotes.  There must be hundreds of them howling.  If you’ve never heard them then you can’t imagine how eerie they sound.  They go on and on - first from one area then answered from another area.  One of our friends, Zach the dog,  even saw a coyote on the dog trail around the campground. The coyote just went on about his own business.  Wish I’d been there, too.

We stayed in the same spot as we did before and you should have seen how happy Zoe was to be back. The campground has open spaces between sites plus we weren’t full so Dad would throw the Kong.  Run, run, run until she drops.  One silly dog.  Elk also come into our campground.  Lucky for Papa and Mama, I’m on guard at all times.  they were reading peacefully one afternoon and wouldn’t have even noticed if I hadn’t barked at two elk who were right next to us - I kept those elk away!

First day, we all drove into the park to look for animals. We saw nothing.  So we went back to the camper   and saw 49 elk within our grounds. Amazing!  Zoe wanted to chase them. See, silly dog, I am so much smarter.

We were lucky to have friends visit us in Rocky Mountain.  Zach’s and his family, Linda and Dave, from California/Taos and Carla from Florida came to see Zoe and me.  We were left home alone when they went adventuring.  I don’t know what it is about Zoe, but people can’t seem to resist her pleading looks and her subtle ball handling. 

This last week, though, we had the folks to ourselves. They took us looking for sheep almost everyday, but we never saw any. We missed them a couple of times by a half hour.   But we had fun trying. We all went over Trail Ridge Road, which is the highest road in the country at over 12,000 feet.  We were looking for moose on the west side of the mountains.  We never saw any on that trip, only a marmot. We went back to the top a few days later and saw bull elks next to the road. They were not even scared when I started barking.  We did get to picnic at the Continental Divide at Milner Pass.  Zoe almost jumped in the lake when Mama took us down for a little jaunt while Papa got out the food.  I loved all the smells.

One day after scoping out Sheep Lakes to no avail, Papa and Mama saw their first moose on the eastern side of the mountains. I guess there are only about 5 on this side so seeing one was really lucky. Also, all of the elk are coming down from the high country, now, getting ready for the yearly rut. The males are gathering their herds and trying to see who’s the strongest.  We drove out nightly to watch and listen to them.  The bulls start to bugle if other bulls come near their herds. We even saw two start to bump heads.  It was not a real fight because one was a younger bull and he left after a little pushing and shoving.  I bet I could get all of those elk to go wherever I wanted them to go.  You know, I am half Sheltie and half Border Collie.  Those breeds are known to be the smartest breeds of dogs, so I could have nipped and yapped them into shape without having to butt heads with anyone!  I wasn’t allowed out of the car!

It’s a real shame that the parks don’t allow dogs on trails.  We missed out on a hike around Sprague Lake.  Mama and Papa were surprised how different it is this year because of the loss of so many trees due to Pine Bark Beetle.  The last time we were here, there weren’t but a handful of trees affected on this side of the summit.  Now, everywhere you look you can see dead trees.

Coffee on the Rocks has been a fun hang-out for us this time too.  All of the people who work there think we are locals.  We even get a discount on our coffee and bagels.  Well, Mama and Papa do anyway.  Zoe and I don’t drink coffee.  We do love all the ducks on the pond, though.
It’s been a great way to end our trip even though we still have about 1800 miles to go home. Mama will do a lot of the driving which helps Papa a lot. Hope you have enjoyed our journey. We are looking forward to our next one.

Happy Trails to one and all.




Phaedra and Zoe