A Snowbird in Paradise

It was another cool evening by the lake, after a day of work. There is so much to do when we first get down here. The plants grow non-stop for 8 months, a phenomenon when you are used to plants dying back in winter, or disappearing altogether. Three truckloads of prunings and weeds have gone to the dump already with one more area still to be cut back.

Then there is the deck! That was a new task for us; removing black mold or mildew from the textured beige cement of the pool deck/patio. For the last 6 years I have painstakingly power-washed the whole area complaining that I can't do that much longer. It takes two days of inch-by-inch work. This year I talked to someone at Home Depot and discovered Chlorox Outdoor Deck and Patio cleaner. So much better!!! Pour it on, scrub it in with a long handled patio brush, hose it off, and VOILA! Clean! We need to get the third gallon of the stuff and I will be done working only about an hour or two a day. Funny thing, is back home we would probably hire this done.


The Osprey we have been watching (or two or four) treated us to a fly-by last evening. He/She circled overhead so close!!! I need my tripod, though. It is hard in the evening to get sharp photos at a distance.


We have been concerned about the health of the lake since the algae-bloom killed most of the fish two summers ago. The active ripples of fish and turtles in the evening tell us the lake has come back. Still no sight of the small alligators we KNOW are there, but that will come with patience. Meanwhile, a fisherman in a boat near our seawall yesterday said he has been taking two-pound bass from the lake this year. I texted the news to my son-in-law who would fish every minute of their 10 days here at Easter. He has taken fish from the lake...NICE ones, but not since the hurricanes and the fish-kill. Maybe this year!