Ok ok playtime's over...actually not really, it's just bad weather

This was the first New Year that I didn't have an illness looming over me and all kinds of anxiety over upcoming appointments and it's been such a good feeling. I guess I've been celebrating my freedom a little too much. I do have bloodwork a few times a year that I'll have to stay on top for the rest of my life and routine body scans(luckily no body scan this year yay!) but that's the wonderful thing---it's just routine. I'm so thankful that I was able to start the year out that way. It truly felt like a new start. Especially since we're in a new house that we love and feel comfortable in.

It's storming outside and any minute now I might have to grab the Peanut, and run to the downstairs bathroom because there's a tornado watch. I found a really big tiger shark tooth the other day as well as other things that I wish I could be on the beach looking for....sigh. I feel like a little kid whose mom is forcing to stay indoors. I didn't even wish anyone a Happy Holiday, I was having so much damn fun. I've been gallivanting and frolicking on my now, just across the street beach. And I've been so effing exhausted from this move. I do have a peace offering. Take a look at this peeps:

See? I found this last week. ON THE BEACH! This is why I'm always gone. There's always something new to discover. I've never found a spearhead(I did some research, an arrowhead would be smaller so this is a spearhead. Likely used for hunting deer) or any man made artifact before. On the beach or anywhere. I was just walking my dog, not even really paying attention to the ground. The sea and sky were way more interesting and I can't look for shark teeth if Peanut is with me. My eye just sort of fell on it and I thought to myself,"wow that looks like a.....omigosh it is!" Someone made this. A person. Who had a life and a family and skills enough to make something that a little shark tooth huntress would find hundreds, possibly thousands of years later. I would love to know the story behind it. I find myself holding it in my palm often thinking all kinds of happy thoughts. Isn't it beautiful? I won't fool myself into thinking I'll find more. I've never heard of arrow and spear heads being found around here. It's highly likely this one fell in the river north of here and washed out to sea only to be washed back in by the tide. I'm still the Queen of shark teeth so even if I never find anything more than this precious piece of history, the happiness of this one will last a life time. Of course I'll share if I ever do. So we're still friends right?

There's a reddish Hawk that perches on the highest dead palmetto behind my house at least two or three mornings a week. He's wonderful and I'll get a picture of him for you guys. I can identify him as soon as I get a good bird book. I've been referring to him as Eric the Red. I'm scared to go back there because of the marsh and there's all kinds of snakes and varmints lurking about. MrPea bought some really strong binoculars that will come in handy for my birdwatching.

I can't wait til spring.

I live on my secret beach now and I'm still in bliss so just get used to these posts for a while

I didn't dare walk on the beach for Peanut's morning walk this morning. The fog was too thick and scary even for me. Usually I like a scary ScoobyDoo episode kind of fog. Today was the scariest I've ever seen and I wasn't in brave mood. But yesterday on my walk I came upon the biggest effin Portuguese Man O'War I've ever seen in my life. MrPea says he's seen and been stung by ones this big but it was a first for me so I took a pic. I used my foot as a size guide. I wear a 5 and a half and the thing was almost as big as my damn foot. I didn't touch it. Their stingers are still venomous even after it's dead.

So I finally figured out how to upload pix from my new camera

Sorry I've been away so long. It took me a while to readjust after coming home. Peanut had an eye infection so I had to take him to the doctor. I was also trying to learn how to use my camera a bit more. Anyway, here are a few pix:


This was the view from our balcony. Not bad huh? See how there was a waterway between us and the beach? The coolest thing about it was this was all protected so you have to walk through all that via a half mile long walk way. Or you could take the golf cart shuttle the hotel provided but I prefered to walk...more on that later.

This is what it looks like when you actually get there. What I like best about this beach is that there were only a few people there! If you look closely you'll see where sea turtle nests have been marked for protection and you know I was happy about that. This was the view looking north.

Just cuz I like things nicely balanced, this was the view looking to the south. And again my favorite thing about this beach was that it was empty. Some people don't mind crowds and noise on the beach but I like the quiet.

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This is the walkway I mentioned. It was aproximatly 3/5ths of a mile or .6mile through a mangrove forest and over a bridge but I'll have to show you that later. The bottom is made of recycled material. It was slippery that day because there was a storm the night we arrived.

Mr.Pea prefered the golf cart shuttle but I made him walk that time because I wanted to take it all in. Does he look sad and pitiful to have such a bossy wife? Actually in the mornings, he slept in and I would wake up early and go walking. There were more than a few people jogging and power walking. To me this is even better than jogging on the beach. I find it absolutely impossible to jog on the beach. I just can't. I can't imagine walking around on a beach without looking for shark teeth, it would be a complete waste of time. Ok honestly, it would be torture.

I spotted this White Heron fishing when we got to the bridge so it was a good oppurtunity to practice my 'skills' with my new camera. I just realised I probably should taken a picture of the bridge to give ya'll a better idea but I wasn't thinking about this blog at the time....

This was the view(north) as we crossed the bridge and you can see someone had a good idea and brought a kayak. I would be too scared since I am absolutely certain there are sharks in that waterway and very possibly alligators. This is usually where young sharks live since it's safe. Actually we called waterways like this "shark nurseries" in my Marine Biology class. And if there are baby sharks in there, it mean Momma sharks are in there birthing them or whatever they call it. You know what I mean. I don't remember what time of year they do this but still, I know they're there. Waiting for my leg. I imagine I'm missing out on a lot of good teeth but I'll stay alive a little while longer thank you very much.

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Oh! And I almost forgot. If you click on this pic and look really close at the pink thing on the right, it's a flamingo! It was the only one I saw. I have more pix but I'll post them tomorow.

Random Pix I forgot to show ya'll

Actually I did already post my cellcam version of this one a while back ago but I'm thinking about making a drawing of it to go with my shell in the hand drawing.

It was alive so of course I put it back in the water that day. I even stayed watching it for a long to time to make sure it didn't get pushed back onto the sand by the tide. I couldn't let it go without pausing to snap a picture of it's blue and peach side. I'm sure I've looked up the name in my field guide and forgot it's name but my field guide happens to be in the other room and I happen to be too lazy to get it.

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Look close.

Closer....see him now.

Yes it's a him, I checked. Unfortunately for him something had already made a meal out of his belly. His color pattern is really pretty and this will definitely make for a good drawing. I haven't decided to use pencils or watercolors for this one.

This is a Southern Toad that Peanut got into a fight with. I freaked out because he's ended up in the animal emergency hospital for getting into a fight with a poisonous toad in the past. So I took a picture of this one so I could identify it and make sure Peanut was not in any danger. He must have tasted really badly because Peanut spit him out right away and started shaking his mouth. Luckily for Peanut that was the only discomfort. MrPea was to blame since he was the one holding the leash(for both times.) His pattern is really pretty too but I'm not a big fan of bumps.

And, as promised here are the baby birds I have been admiring. As you can see the mother bird made a safe nest on a shell "welcome" wreathe. She was there all the time when the eggs were not hatched yet but now I never see her. I was beginning to worry but the chicks are getting bigger everyday so she must just be busy. Click for a closer look.

They are even bigger than this now- I checked on them this morning. I only counted 2 but I'm never close enough to really see because I don't want to scare them.

Last week while using a restaurant bathroom I noticed a very important communication. Take note of it peeps, you might need this information some day:"James is hot." "I agree." I'm not quite sure who this James is but if I find out, I'll let you guys know.

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And last but not least this was taken last night at 8:30. This is not my beach, it's been too HOTDAMN for me because the wind is still coming from the west. I wanted to look for shark teeth over here but for some reason, there aren't really any here. If the wind doesn't change before I leave on Saturday then I won't be able to look for any shark teeth until next week when low tide is in the evening so it won't be any fun. But the midsummer evening sky is pretty don't you think?

Earth Day(and Thursday)

High tide has been in the afternoon this week so I've been trying to get there as early as I can. I can find shark teeth no matter what but when the tide is low, obviously there is more beach to work with. And I've always liked exploring the tidal pools. There are always some kind of fish or other animal that gets stuck and has to wait for the tide come back in to return to it's home in the waves. Wednesday I expected to run into all kinds of varmints since last weekend's shoreline was full of really deep tidal pools. For some reason the beach was flat that day. But I did find a few live things.

Since it was Earth Day, I have to bring attention to this plastic bag that was washed in. Apparently some anemones had attached themselves to it and were now stuck. I would have detached them from the plastic and given them a good throw back into the waves but unfortunately for them, they were all dead except for one.

This one. So I gave him a good throw and put the plastic full of dead anemones in the garbage. Hopefully this guy didn't get washed back in. I have to preach a sermon here so bear with me. People please do NOT bring plastic bags or plastic ANYTHING to the beach. Sea turtles, that are highly endangered mind you, mistake them for jellyfish and suffocate. So I get livid when I see plastic floating around. Or just plain throw your trash in the garbage. It can't be that hard, probably an extra few steps. I don't go to your yard/neighborhood and throw my trash there so kindly don't do it on the beach please..... or anywhere for that matter. How lazy does one need to be who can't clean up after themselves? This is disgusting. When I see people doing that, I can only imagine what their home looks like and whether or not they keep themselves clean. This really shouldn't be an issue. This is the only planet we have to live on. Remember that.

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Ahem, ok moving on I found this shark egg case. And you know it made me really happy. It was empty so hopefully that means it hatched and will grow into a big shark whose teeth I will someday find...

Turning it over, I saw that it too had an anemone attached so, of course I threw it back into the water. Actually my day was full of that: finding stranded anemone and sea cucumbers, feeling sorry for them and throwing them into the ocean, hoping they they don't get washed back in before high tide. To do otherwise would have made me feel bad. What can I say, I'm a big softie for animals, even the ugly ones.

According to my field guide, this is Green Fleece algae which I had mistaken for Dead Man's Fingers. The latter name sounds more interesting doesn't it? But I like the shape even if it is a little slimy.


This looks like a pile of throw up. It is actually what's left of some kind of tube worms. That yellowish spiral shaped looking thing are egg cases-unhatched. It looks disgusting doesn't it? Yeah, I threw it back in the water too, gross. I had no choice. The tide was coming in at this hour but what if it didn't come in fast enough to keep the eggs alive? I would have felt responsible.

Another shark egg case or stingray egg case. And yes, I was happy about this one because it was empty too. I've heard them called Mermaid's Purse, which is a cute name. You can see dead tube worm remnants attached to it too. No anemone so I left this one alone.

These next few pics have an interesting story. As you can see in the first 2, this in an osprey that has caught himself a really big fish. He was having trouble holding on to it when I noticed and started taking pictures.

You can barely see in the one above but I used my computer to zoom. You can see how huge this fish it caught was.

Too bad, he dropped his big fish. Here he is looking for it. I love ospreys. The black stripe across their eyes make them look so badass. I imagine they work as sunglasses to help with the glare from the water while they are fishing. There's a pair who live in a pine tree across the lake from my building that I'm always watching. I wondered if this was one of them.

I was so busy admiring his beauty, as I always do, I almost didn't notice an even bigger fish or small dolphin jump out and I'm assuming grab MrOsprey's dropped fish.

I looked around to see if anyone was there so that I could say OMG!DID YOU SEE THAT!?? But, as always, there's never anyone there when stuff like that happens. I wrote later in my journal that every time I get a private glimpse of nature's beauty like the one I had Wednesday and I realize I am the only person on Earth who got to see that, how thankful and privileged I feel. Of course it would have been better had I been quick enough with my camera. dammit

< I stood there for a long time smiling, hoping that big fish, which was either a small shark or juvenile dolphin, would jump out and flip again but no luck. But the only ones who missed out were you guys because I left that beach with a huge smile on my face which lasted for hours.

These pics were taken Thursday. This is a juvenile Willet. My guide says they "probe for coquina clams and mole crabs" and there plenty of those around.

< It was as if she knew I was taking her picture because she turned around and stood up straight.

< Thursday's tide line was full of tide pools this time, which makes looking for shark teeth a bit less challenging because the water acts as a magnifying glass. I saw what would've been a really pretty snail shell(Lightning Whelk) to add to the collection on my window sill. But as you can see, it already had an owner.

< Another person would have simply detached this guy and took the shell home and I'm glad I didn't. Because I looked it up in my field guide and this is a hermit crab anemone. These 2 species live together in cooperation trading travel for sting protection. The hermit crabs they live with are known to take their anemones with them when they upgrade to bigger shells. They are total BFFs

< I didn't see any legs sticking out of this shell but it's highly likely there was a hermit crab in there so I'm glad I put them back in the tide pool. I took a pic in case no one believed me. It was a pretty shell but I'm not that selfish.

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As you can see my shark teeth finds were not wonderful but so what?

Put your ear here

Hear anything?

I found this big whelk shell the other day and it was like Christmas for me. Not so much because of how huge it was but because I happened upon it whilst thinking of a drawing I've been working on but hadn't quite been persistent enough to finish. There it was rolling in the waves when I saw it and ran towards it before someone else saw. The barnacles are dead by the way, otherwise I would have given it a good throw back into the ocean so as not to commit "barnacide." And lucky for me. It's now gracing the tile floor next to our fire place.

My drawing was based on this photo I took back in September when I found this whelk shell in very much the same way I found BigMama up there.

I was so inspired, I finally finished it last night.

As you can see I took some licence in aligning the horizon because I felt like if I drew it as it is in the photo it would look, well, badly aligned. I couldn't fill in the rest of my hand because I'm not good enough at doing hands thus that triangle of empty space but it's my drawing so I don't really care. I also need to get a frame that covers up my thumb because I was told that it would look too much like a male naughty part to those with dirty minds....do you like?

Here's the rest of my find from that day in case anyone was full of suspense. That diamond shaped thing is actually a bone from the head of a Sheep's Head fish-I think. I'll have to look it up. And as you can see I found a Great White tooth so double happiness for that day.

I couldn't end this post without showing you peeps the dead jellyfish which is, by now, the tradition over here so here you are.