By the Sea » Nature

Walt Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Blueyes™ — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 21:12:51 +0000

I’m in Orlando for a vacation. All the times I have been coming to Florida I have never made it to Disney. This trips going to remedy that and fast. Today I went to Animal Kingdom. Rode a couple rides, saw a few things. This was the Safari tour I did. I saw

More to come later

Tags: Animals, Nature, Personal, Walt Disney Animal Kingdom

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© Blueyes™ for By the Sea, 2011. | Permalink | 2 comments |
Post tags: Animals, Nature, Personal, Walt Disney Animal Kingdom

Shake, Rattle, and Rinse

Blueyes™ — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 12:28:00 +0000

My oh my what a week so far for mother nature. Virginia had a 5.8 earthquake but we feel those things all up and down the east coast because we have solid rock on this end of the country. I actually live about a mile from a major fault line. The big one hit here back in 1896 on August 31st. It demolished Charleston.

Now at the beginning of the week we were thinking that Hurricane Irene was going to nail us right smack dab on the temple but the track keeps pushing further and further away which is okay by me either way. I’ve lived through Hugo. I know what to expect. My immediate concerns right now are that the compact fridge I bought for my office went out yesterday. I have no where to put my lunch. To pay for food here is waaayyyy expensive. I expect normal operating hours for the rest of the week and next. Might have a couple hours without power if we get strong enough winds but that is it.

So let’s recap in washing machine terms. We’ve already been through the shake and rattle. We are now heading towards the rinse cycle. One of my good friends via Twitter made that post and it was so right on. Check him out at @lowcountrywolf

Tags: earthquake, hurricane irene, Nature

Hurricane Irene is a Coming

Blueyes™ — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 16:49:01 +0000

Check it peoples, we gots us a hurricane coming and we already got the hurricane party set up lol There’s dedication for you

Maybe that black water chestnut tree will take a dive away from my place because the bottom half is hollow from the termites eating it all.

Tags: hurricane irene, Nature

Dying Tree

Blueyes™ — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 15:00:36 +0000

Sometimes technology sucks donkey balls. I had this entire post typed out on my phone using WordPress for Blackberry, saved it and it never showed up anywhere.

I have a black water chestnut tree in my backyard. I’m not that big a fan of chestnuts to say the least and black water chestnuts are hard to crack open. The dogs have fun playing with them when they fall off the tree and the squirrels try to open them up to get the nuts. The squirrels manage to the get the outer layer off and that’s it. I think that is the easier part because I’ve tried cracking one open one day.

Anywhoo, as you can see the bottom hole has been there ever since I’ve moved into this place over 10 years ago. Many large tree limbs have come down be it from dying or the severe weather we get. This other one I’m worried about. I’ve been hearing a woodpecker out back and I think this is his damage. It actually looks almost rotted at some points and it is very deep. I’m wondering if the entire tree could die from this at this point and because of how tall it is, it could potentially fall and nail my upstairs if it falls that way. There already is a pretty big limb hanging down right now that I can’t get down yet. I keep pulling and twisting the limb so it will let loose but some of it is still alive. Of course the limb is just out of my reach to cut it down too. I just don’t want it to crash down in a fit of wind with one of the dogs underneath it. I wonder if homeowners insurance would cover the removal of it since it could be potentially harmful to the home itself.

Tags: black water chestnut, Nature

Crazy Weather

Blueyes™ — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 22:01:11 +0000

So the weatherman this morning said we’d get thunderstorms this afternoon. Sure okay, no problem. What he didn’t mention was all the havoc that came with these ones.

I get in the car and hope I get to hear a traffic report because I know it is going to be bad, the sky was already turning black. What luck, I get a traffic report until I heard it. Apparently all hell broke loose in Summerville with pouring rain and flying debris. Lightening struck some of our marshes and that was on fire. Then at the end they said this just in the water at the beach was on fire too!! Tons of accidents and now we have a tornado watch going on with hail here and there.

So I make it home through all of this to have to clean up the kitchen floor because one of the dogs had gotten sick :/ Nasty smell. I have the backdoor open right now to vent the place. Thank goodness for a covered back porch lol

Tags: Animals, Nature, weather

Brown Widow Spiders

Blueyes™ — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 18:35:42 +0000

You know I get tired of this state and all its inhabitants sometimes. I was reading a story on our local newspaper online when they had a picture of a brown widow spider as shown here, saying they are becoming more prominent in the area. For the love of all that is holy, why the hail do we have the unfortunate luck of having black and brown widow spiders? Can’t one species kill off the other and we just need to deal with one of them? I’m not sure what more mother nature can throw at me that I have to drum up courage to kill. These ones don’t have a poison as deadly as the black widow but still I don’t want to get bit by one. Do you? At least they aren’t as big as those banana spiders I had to kill in the back yard *shivers*

Just this morning I found mouse/rat turd on the kitchen floor again but that wasn’t the only place I found one on my couch too! That rat bastard has been migrating into the living room. This ones a brave sucker but soon to be dead sucker if I have my way. I put out some more rat poison just or him in the usual spot in between the cabinets and the fridge where the dogs cannot reach it. I’m hoping by tomorrow morning that green blob of poison will be moved into whatever area he seems to be hiding out in which is most likely underneath the cabinets like all the others and dies a fast death. I don’t care how much it stinks up the place so long as it dies. This will entail me having to remember to baby gate the kitchen for the night to make sure that if he pulls the poison blob out that it goes with him and he does not leave it in the middle of the floor so the dogs can eat it. That would be bad to say the least.

Tags: brown widow spider, mouse, Nature, rat

Florida Bound

Blueyes™ — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 12:08:41 +0000

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Kissimmee Tourism. All opinions are 100% mine.

Growing up we used to go to Florida on an almost yearly basis during the summer to visit my grandfather and great grandfather. I still go to Florida on my own vacations either by myself or with friends although I haven’t really had a vacation in almost 10 years and that will just have to change now that my car will be paid for next month. We never made it to any Disney attractions but I took myself to SeaWorld one year. I loved watching the penguins and even got a front row to see Shamu. I was drenched at the end of the show but luckily I was wearing my bathing suit at the time under my clothes.

The last time I was down there we stayed in Kissimmee for week on a spur of the moment kind of thing at the end of August. Each day we did only 1 major event. The first day food shopping of course. Then one day was a movie, another shopping at a pottery barn. Some of the things I cannot remember it has been so long but after that one event it was always pool time and then dinner and lounging. One day we were supposed to go to the Animal Kingdom but I left a couple days early and missed it. I wanted to walk through the Animal Park and see all the wildlife from Africa to Asia as well as take a tour through the jungle paths and the Cretaceous Trail which holds living plants and animals that have managed to survive since prehistoric times.

Next summer for sure I am going back whether with friends or by myself again. I plan on visiting the Animal Kingdom this time and hopefully get to play with some of the wildlife like the monkeys. At the very least maybe they will have a petting zoo. Staying at the Walt Disney World Animal Kingdom Lodge would be ideal since that is the place I am most excited to see and would most likely go near the end of August again because I think most families are heading home to get ready for school by then. I’d recommend every parent take their child to Walt Disney World because I feel like I’ve missed out on something even now since I have only seen SeaWorld.

Tags: Animals, Florida, General, Kissimmee, Nature, Walt Disney World Animal Kingdom

© Blueyes™ for By the Sea, 2010. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: Animals, Florida, General, Kissimmee, Nature, Walt Disney World Animal Kingdom

Hurricanes Galore

Blueyes™ — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 00:27:41 +0000

We’ve been rolling in hurricanes since the beginning of September. Now we have Igor out there with another system developing almost on top of it and wouldn’t it be our luck if they merged. Gaston is still swirling out there but it is just a rain maker.

Most of us are figuring around about this time one of these storms this year is going to nail us since we had snow and usually in this area of the alphabet too.

Weather map from http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

Tags: hurricane, Nature

The Reenactment

Blueyes™ — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 00:58:54 +0000

So about a week or so ago I was letting the dogs out and before I could even do that I saw these humongous water bugs on the screen door. They were as big as my palm if not bigger! And of course I was out of Raid which I promptly remedied the next day and proceeded to spray the entire back porch as well as the door frame inside and out. Now it is supposed to last for 6 weeks before I need to spray again.

Well, then a few days ago I let them out again. I decided I wanted a glass of chocolate milk, yes I still drink it, and out of the corner of my eye I caught something moving behind the kitchen faucet. Holy mother of god, this water bug looked even bigger than the ones I saw the previous time. I grabbed the can of Raid and started spritzing. It went left, then right and I kept spritzing. Well, I happened to have an empty Cool Whip bowl on the counter. The bug moved past that and went behind my knife set on the counter . I grabbed the bowl and took the lid off and covered him up for the night with the can of Raid on top.

The next morning I was getting ready for work and decided I did not want that sucker left in the house and have a chance it would escape its prison. I decided to cap it with the lid but how to do it. I got the junk mail the day before so I grabbed a sheet and shoved it under the bowl. I then had to get some tape to tape the paper to the other side so I could get the lid on it and made a nice little package out of it. I then tossed it outside in the big trash can. It just so happened that that was the day it got picked up too so it wasn’t anywhere near my place anymore should it have escaped its prison.

And that boys and girls is how you deal with nasty water bugs.

Tags: Nature, Personal, Raid, water bugs

Hawaii was Exempt

Blueyes™ — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 22:50:10 +0000

Hows that for ya USA? Every single state has gotten snow this year now except for Hawaii. Lucky lil SOBs. People down south can’t drive in snow. Hell, they can’t drive in rain but tack on cold weather, freezing ice on the roads and snow? Wooo boy look out. I read the paper this morning and there were between 60-80 accidents in a 12 hour period.

At least I didn’t lose power for any length of time. It did cut off/on about 5-6 times though. There is still some 40,000 odd homes without power. Of course the trees couldn’t keep attached with the snow and came crashing down. Heck, even some of the power lines didn’t have enough strength to stay up. I did get a few pictures though. Enjoy.

This was the very beginning of the snow. I had just left the gym from a class and was welcomed to that. I knew I still had to get to the store to get some stuff for the weekend since it was a long weekend for me. I needed to get stuff for the crockpot so I could munch on that all weekend and not leave my house. So far so good. Haven’t left at all today lol

This was taken at night before I refused to go back outside and look at the damage. You can see some flakes float on down in front of the lens as I took the picture. I needed a comparison for when I took snapshots in the morning obviously. Can’t really get a good feel of the depth because of the darkness but that’s all I had. By then the dogs weren’t too thrilled about having to walk through it much less pee or poo on top of it.

These few I snagged this morning. Obviously there is much more snow on the car than there was last night. Just now watching the news and they said we had upwards to 8 inches of snow overnight. Lucky me. I know my yard didn’t get quite that much but somewhere in town did. The walkway was covered last night though and thawed pretty fast in the morning.

Snapshot of a side view of the front of the house with some bushes. At least they are still standing.

Here are some shots of the backyard with one of the dogs out there. She didn’t like it much when the wind was kicking up and spitting some of the snow off of the tree limbs onto her. She kept hopping around and freaking out sort of and then ran to the door to be let in lol

This is the view of my next door neighbors backyard. She looks like she got more snow in her backyard than mine and as of now, most of it is still there too. There is a huge tree limb down in my other neighbors yard from the pine tree. Other than that, just watching me some Olympic games.

Tags: Animals, Nature, snow