Christmas at the Cave Dwellers

  Today is Christmas Day, and we had a big ol’ thunder boomer roll through here last night, switching the winds to the North and cooling us down here from 87 to a cool 67 degrees today…I sure hope Santa had his winter fur to throw on over his red tank top!!  I did spot him here in the park a couple days ago, getting his fishing pole presents and boat sleigh ready for the trip.

I never knew Santa had a camo hat he wore backwards as his “casual Santa” look.

 

  Today, to celebrate Christmas,  I have baby back ribs marinating in mustard and my rub, later to be grilled by Chef Dennis, A.K.A. Santa Clause/ retired.

  Our 3 kids and their families are spending Christmas in different places, and we called them all last night and probably will again today..

The Wolff cubs opened our gifts last night on Skype…The Heisers are at Walt Disney World for Xmas, and Kel and Cin are with her family in Arkansas…All is well, and we are blessed.

My quest while being here in Florida this year has been to get a good photo of a Manatee.  They are frequently seen here at Ortona, arriving from the cooler Central Florida waters into the warmer South Florida rivers…Unfortunately, I DID  get a photo, albeit not exactly what I expected.  Tuesday, Den and I took a walk across the dam to the locks and we spotted something large and dark floating in the water…We were pretty sure it was a dead Manatee.  Being the shy and bashful person I am, I figured the park knew about it and we went on our way…Apparently someone else had alerted the park people to the Manatee’s demise and pretty soon we had the Florida Game and Wildlife Law here in boats…WARNING..These photos could be distressing to some…they were to me…so sad.

 

He was definitely dead, and they hooked onto him and towed him up river to shore. One of the  Game and Wildlife people went to meet them there…I had no desire to see any further, and still hope to see one as I planned it…taking breathe and swimming free…boo hoo.

We have seen some really crazy birds here, and I’m pretty sure the Bird Lady of Blogland knows what all of them are…

This guy has a face ONLY a mother could love..but his plumaaaage is maaavolous dahling!

We have also met some great “furry friends” here at the park.. I LOVE German Shepherd's, but am always intimidated by their presence.  We met two beautiful ones belonging to “Santa Clause”…

  

Above left, I give you Diablo…and his sister is on the right..I cannot remember her name (mybad?), but she is what is called a “plush” German Shepherd. Notice how much fluffier her coat is than Diablos..and they came from the same litter!  Diablo was one of the best behaved dogs I have ever met and I found out why..His owner ( who WAS the Santa I took a photo of) said the dog had been trained as a police dog…He was such a beauty..made me think of our son’s Shepherd, Guinness, he rescued but had to give back when he nipped a grandchild..That’s the only thing about a rescue dog, you sometimes don’t know for sure if they have been abused or where they came from. At any rate…these two furry kids were very well behaved.

We will be here until New Year’s Day, when we go a little farther East to W.P. Franklin Army Corp park for 2 weeks.  These 2 parks are just great and W. P. is the last lock before the ocean…I hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed Christmas…Before I close, I want to welcome some new followers…I am very sorry I haven’t acknowledged them yet…I haven’t gotten new followers in “forever”…Thanks, Tom and Deb Duchaine for jumping in our GMC with us…By now, the back seat is cleared of the cases of Busch Lite and there is plenty of room for you two!..

As this year rolls to a close, we are feeling very blessed this year to be “on the road” and still in good health…always a PLUS at our extended  years! ;-) It wasn’t one of our better years, losing a loved one is never easy, as most of you also know that feeling that someone is missing during the holidays…We are very lucky to have the great family and friends that we love dearly..and in the words of our 91 year old Uncle Jr. “I get up every morning, look in the mirror..and say Hello Lucky!”..yes, we do!!