The Itsy Bitsy Spider

This is going on outside my dining room window...

It hasn't been disturbed for about a week and I hope it remains there.
This is in the center of the web...

Here's a somewhat fuzzy close-up...

Is it my imagination, or does it look like a smiley face on the back of the spider?
It's called a  Spiny orb-weaver, Gasteracantha cancriformis

I'll keep you updated on the happy little spider! 
UPDATE: I just got home from the Garden Show and discovered that someone has destroyed the spider web. I'm sad.

Bear With Me

We live in an area with Black Bears. Every now and then we hear a story of a bear in someone's yard. One lady found one swimming in her pool. Mr Sunshine has seen them on the golf course in the early morning and the elementary school, in that same neighborhood, where Sorority Girl is interning had a Bear Drill! 2 weeks ago.

Last year there was a story about a local nutcase who was leaving rotisserie chickens in his back yard for the bears. One night he forgot to leave the chicken and a bear banged on the door. When he opened the door, the bear smacked him in the face! If I'm lyin', I'm dyin'.

Most of these sightings were at least 2 miles from our large apartment complex. We take our trash to a community dumpster in the center of the complex. Imagine my surprise last week when I saw this sign at the dumpster area...

This is NOT a little black bear, but I don't really need an excuse to show you a little black kitten (who thinks I'm her mama)

Interview With A NEW Cat!

January 22 is National Answer Your Cat's Questions Day! Back in 2009 I answered Tigger's questions.
This year I'm answering questions posed by our new kitten Lily.

She's only 8 weeks old and has only been living here for 18 hours, so I don't think she has too many questions yet.

LILY:  How cute am I?
LMSS: You are ADORABLE!!! Very affectionate with all of us. You are curious, a little bit of a Diva, pretty vocal.

LILY: Is it true that I'm adopted?
LMSS: Yes, you are. You are the first kitty we've ever adopted from a shelter and the Humane Society staff did a great job with you. They said you were very skittish when you arrived there last week. They spent a lot of time handling you and snuggling you and now you're very comfortable with people. You had to leave your former home because your owner's landlord said "no pets".

LILY: Why did you name me Lily?
LMSS: Sorority Girl named you. She LOVES Modern Family. The little girl in that show is adopted and her name is Lily. When we first met you we decided you looked like the name Lily would fit. Speaking of  Sorority Girl, the two of you bonded instantly. I fell in love with you when I picked you up and cuddled you.

LILY: What's up with THIS ANNOYING THING??

LMSS: Sorry baby girl. You were spayed Sat. morning and we don't want you to lick or scratch until your incision heals. I know eating and playing and snuggling is hard right now, but hang in there for a few more days.

LILY: When will you guys let me sleep in a bed with a warm person?
LMSS: I think we need to wait until the plastic collar comes off. Also you aren't allowed to roam in that end of the apartment until you learn to stop jumping onto the bathroom counter. Embrace the soft coziness of the pillow on the living room floor.

LILY: Can I really have that stuffed Monkey Baby?
LMSS: Yes. She is soft and cuddly and you like to chew on her tail and legs. I saw you flip her halfway across the living room, so you obviously enjoy playing with her. I'll take your picture next time you get in the mood to wrestle with her.

LILY: Thanks for adopting me.
LMSS: You're welcome, sweetie. We already love you.

Annual Stare At Manatees Day!

Yesterday we wanted Cape Cod Girlfriend to see the Manatees at Blue Springs State Park. We knew there would be a lot of them because our night temps have been falling into the low 30's. This usually happens around this time every year. The most I had ever seen was maybe 150-200. Yesterday there were  
293!!!

 Manatees spend most of their time eating plants and huddling together for warmth.

 Hundreds of people stand around and watch and wonder.

 I love seeing cars in the parking lot from Maine, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa. It's such a rare Florida experience.

The Florida subspecies can live to be 60 years old. They have one baby at a time, are pregnant for 12 months and baby stays with Mama for 12-18 months.

 Here is proof that we don't spend the ENTIRE winter in flip-flops. Sorority Girl enjoys pulling on the boots every now and then.

 Oh look. A loner!

The local ABC news was there filming and asked us if we could be interviewed. Mr Sunshine was shown on the 5pm newscast. Under his name it said "Tourist". They were fooled by the New England Patriots sweatshirt!

They asked us about seeing so many Manatees. They were just downgraded from Endangered to Threatened Species. Their biggest threat is from speeding motorboats. Without the protection of the Endangered listing their number could drop as much as 50% in the next 45-50 years.

My husband has a lovely car lot/golf course Winter tan. I'm glad they cut me out of the shot. I'm as pale as Frostina The Snow Woman. That's my grey, pasty head in the lower left.

It's Like Panda Bear Weed

Conversation in my living room:

%... "You know, in the Casey Anthony case, her Mom said she was the one who searched for Chloroform because she thought her bamboo plants were making her dogs sleepy. She thought they might be getting poisoned. If bamboo were poison, there would be no Panda bears."

&..."I think it's like Eucalyptus making Koalas chill. I heard if they don't eat Eucalytpus, they're really violent animals. It might be the same with Pandas and bamboo."

%..."Like Panda Bear Xanax?"

&..."More like Panda Bear Weed"

And this is where I almost peed my pants.

Butterflies Are (Not) Free in Key West

I don't really have a Bucket List, but I have always wanted to go to a Butterfly Conservatory.
I discovered one at the southern end of Duval Street in Key West. We got in for $11 each with some discount passes I picked up at our hotel.

The conservatory has hundreds of butterflies of 50 to 60 different species. Various species will be active, depending on which time of the day you visit. I don't have labels for the butterfly photos. I didn't take time to find out what they were named. Some of the photos are a little blurry because their wings are constantly in motion.

Enjoy!

Meet The Love Bugs

They are called Love Bugs. Can you guess what the little critters are doing?

Yes, they are. This is the whole reason for their existence. Twice a year, they fly around in hoardes and mate while flying around. It's a semi-annual f%#@fest.

The leading cause of death is cars. If you don't scrape their deceased bodies off your car within about 48 hours, it pits the paint on your car.

Every time someone opens the door of the store another 5 or 6 amorous couples fly in. I spent all day yesterday squishing them with a tissue.
I somberly explained to my co-workers, "See, casual sex kills".

It could be worse. I could be neighbors with Jen On The Edge and have stinkbugs

Blog Action Day 2009. CLIMATE CHANGE

I'm really excited that Jen On The Edge has invited me to be a part of this year's Blog Action Day.

Little Miss Sunshine State is the name I've given myself and my blog because there is so much I love about living in Florida. I have always enjoyed seeing wildlife and sea life up close. In Massachusetts, I saw coyotes and foxes up close. I've been on whale watches where I've seen dozens of whales in a single day.

Since we moved to Florida three years ago I've been excited and awed by animals I've never seen before. The blog topic this year has made me think about how these beautiful animals could be affected by a climate change.

I saw almost 100 manatees in one day at Blue Springs State Park in January of 2008. When the winter temperatures in Florida go down to the 40's, manatees swim from the shore, up through rivers to warm water springs. Manatees have the ability to adjust to changes in salinity. Because they like to be in warm water, people mistakenly think an increase in temperatures due to climate change wouldn't affect manatees.

Seagrass is the primary food for manatees. If the sea level and sea temperature change, it could cause a decrease in the amount of seagrass available. If sea levels rise, people living along the coast would want to build seawalls to keep their property from eroding. The seawalls could block the normal channels that the manatees use to get to riverways in cold winter temperatures. These new routes that manatees would have to use may not have "Manatee Safety Speed Zones" and there is an increased risk of injury and death caused by motorboat propellors.

For more information on preservation of the manatees, you can visit Save The Manatee or the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Sirenia Project.

There are about 9,000 alligators living in Lake Jessup in Sanford Florida. Lake Jessup is 10,000 acres of lake that is only 5 feet deep in the winter. The water levels in the lake get so much lower in the summer now, that the boats that go out to observe the alligators can't get to them. The day in January 2009 that I took this picture we saw dozens of alligators. They are cold-blooded creatures that can't control their body temperatures in extreme heat.

The sex of baby alligators is determined by the temperature in the nests where the eggs are laid. If marsh temperatures become too high, it will tip the balance of male to female alligators in the population. This will affect birth rates.

There is more information at EcoFlorida Magazine.

I love these little lizards (anoles) that run around the sidewalks and sun themselves on the side of our porches and houses. They regulate their body temperature by the exchange of heat with their surroundings. If the air temperature were to be increased by 20-25 degrees, this would impair the ability of the anoles to adapt to their surroundings. Scientists have already noticed changes in small lizards in Costa Rica.

Anoles in increased temperature have a decreased ability to sprint away from the birds that prey on them. The US Global Change Research Program is collecting data and federal research concerning global climate change. Changes now being seen in South America can be predictors of future changes in Tropical and Sub-tropical Florida.

I saw this owl on the campus of the University of Central Florida about 10 days ago. He was MAGNIFICENT! I was about 12 feet away from him and thought he was easily 20 to 24 inches tall. Owls are not as endangered by the climate changes we can expect in the coming years.

Florida is a winter breeding ground for Great Horned Owls. If the winter temperatures in Central Florida were to be significantly increased, the owls would not come as far south to have their offspring.

The American Bird Conservancy is a charitable organization with a mission to conserve wild birds and their habitats.

I will continue to care about the future of wildlife and sealife in Florida. I want to keep seeing them when I go to parks and the beach. It's part of what makes me so happy to live here. I want to be able to show these animals to my grandchildren.

Leapin Lizards!

See this little guy peeking out from behind my trash valet?
Iguania Polychrotidae.
Anole, probably of the Cuban Brown variety, judging by the brownish color and the black markings on his back.

He has a little, sadistic game he's playing with me. The first time was Sunday night. I bent down to pop a pebble out of my shoe and he jumped out and ran between my legs.
I jumped up and let out a little yelp. I see these things every day, but they are usually about 3 inches long and very shy.
Not this dude. He's about 6 inches long. He thought it was hysterical that I was startled.
Now every time I approach my front door, he jumps out at me. This morning I put out the trash and he jumped out from behind the trash valet and zoomed past my nose.
I heard him giggle as I caught my breath and went in for the camera.

I'm trying to come up with an appropriate name.
Any suggestions?

Good Gator!

Today was the last day we could all spend together before Cape Cod Kid heads back up north Wed night.

We wanted to do something we've never done before. That eliminated all the theme parks.There are so many other things to do in the Orlando area. So we went here.....

We needed food so we went into the restaurant. Guess what we ate?

Yes, it's Gator Tail. It's very tasty, mild like chicken, with a consistency less chewy than calamari.

Then we did this.....

The kids and I.

We were given earphones to block out the sound of the airboat engine. It's very loud.

Lake Jessup is a 10,000 acre lake that is only 5 feet deep. It is 45 minutes north of the Disney area.

And we saw GATORS. The boat takes you to the coves along the shore.

The only house we saw was the one owned by the family that runs the business.

Disclaimer: Mr SS knows the family, but we still paid for our tickets.

Clicking on the photos will make them bigger.

This guy is about 15 years old

This is a "nursery" area. These 3 little guys are toddlers. They're about 2 years old. They stick by Mama Gator until about 2 nesting cycles after they are born.

They appeared to be around 3 feet long.

The vegetation is flattened from the gators crawling out of the water.To the left of this area we saw one trail that went for a long distance that was 2 feet wide. Our captain told us it had been made by one gator.

Another medium-sized gator.

Including the babies I spotted about 18 gators. They move very fast and as soon as the boat gets too close, they go under water.

We all took turns holding a baby gator. His mouth is taped shut.

This is the website for the company http://www.blackhammockairboatrides.com/location.html

Fun way to spend the day.

A Little Larry Love

IGNORE the sleep-deprived woman with no makeup and LOOK AT THE DOG!!
Can you stand the CUTENESS?!!

Auntie Sunshine loves Larry.
Larry is my brother's 10 year old cockerpoo. He got Larry as a 6 week old ball of fluff. Larry is a total snugglebug and this was his preferred position on last week's roadtrip.

He only barked twice in 5 days on the road, when I knocked on my brother's hotel room door.
He still loved me after he got wet in the rain and I insisted that he have a bath that night.
If anything happens to my brother, I'm getting custody of Larry.

Love and Drama in the Cardinal World

I spent a bit of this morning watching a sweet pair of cardinals outside my living room window. She was sitting on my Rubbermaid Trash Valet. He was working really hard to impress her by flitting and flying over her head.
Around in circles he would go, way up to the corner of the patio overhang, then back down to sit by her side and make courting conversation.

She decided to play hard-to-get and flew across the sidewalk to the 2nd floor ledge of the next apartment building. He followed and sat on a tree limb and started chirping his sweet nothings again. He didn't notice that I was watching. Or that SOMETHING ELSE was also watching.

It was one of the more agressive squirrels that live in the biggest tree on that side of the sidewalk. I've had a close encounter with this guy before. Once he jumped on the wall near my front door and stared me down as I was unlocking the door.

He was quietly sneaking up on Mr Cardinal and then startled him into jumping out of the tree and onto the ground. He jumped to the ground and backed the bird into the corner of the building and then jumped on him! Miss Cardinal started frantically pacing on the second floor ledge while Mr Cardinal frantically screeched for help.

I opened my front door and crossed the sidewalk. I snapped my fingers and the big, scary squirrel turned to look at me. He took a couple of steps closer to me and gave me the big, scary stare. It distracted him long enough for the Cardinals to chirp a message to each other. Miss Cardinal took off down the long sidewalk between the buildings, with Mr Cardinal following.

They have found another, quieter, safer place to continue their morning date and the big, scary squirrel is sitting in a tree outside my living room window. He's glaring at me. I know he's mad that I ended his morning fun and games.

I know he's just waiting for me to leave the apartment so he can jump on my face.

DEVIL DOG is STILL BARKING

Remember last week when I wrote about Devil Dog, that is my new upstairs neighbor?
Will that damn dog ever get laryngitis? He is still barking about 9 hours a day.
Yesterday I woke up with a headache because I had spent the last hour of trying to sleep with a pillow pressed over my head to drown out the noise.

I typed up the following letter, in which I completely downplayed the nuisance that was their beloved pet. I taped it to their doorknob and I'm pretty sure they got it because when I got home last night, the note was gone.


YOU MAY NOT BE AWARE OF THIS, BUT YOUR DOG HAS SEVERE SEPARATION ANXIETY.
EVERY MORNING AT 6:15 IT STARTS TO CRY, HOWL, BARK AND SCRATCH AT THE DOOR.
MOST DAYS THIS IS CONTINOUS UNTIL AT LEAST NOON. SOME DAYS IT CONTINUES UNTIL MID-AFTERNOON.
WE NEVER HEAR IT WHEN YOU ARE HOME, ONLY ON WEEK DAYS.
WE WORK MANY MIDDLE SHIFTS AND NEED TO SLEEP IN THE MORNING.
PLEASE TAKE THIS WEEKEND TO FIND A ROOM OTHER THAN THE MASTER SUITE TO CONFINE YOUR DOG OR PLEASE MAKE OTHER ARRANGEMENTS FOR YOUR DOG’S CARE DURING YOUR ABSENCE.
THANK YOU
YOUR NEIGHBORS IN APT 104

I thought for sure they'd feel a little bad and do something different this morning.
So, this morning, they left for work and once again left Devil Dog locked in their master suite. He has been howling for 5 hours.
THIS IS WAR. I filed a complaint with the property managers. If this continues beyond Monday, I'm going to file a 2nd complaint and start calling the police every morning to file a noise complaint.

It ain't gonna be pretty.

More Devil Dog....and a FLOOD

Devil Dog upstairs continues to bark whenever his owners go away and leave him locked in the bedroom. He has NEVER barked when they are home. Until tonight.

I was reading the comments in Miss Britt's blog www.miss-britt.com
She is some kind of funny girl and she wears FABULOUS shoes (I saw the pink ones in person at the Bossy Lovefest.)
And I laughed so LOUD and BOISTEROUS that I made Devil Dog bark!!!!!!!
Hahahahahahaha

Oh, and Devil Dog's owners had some type of plumbing issue last night and called Rotorooters and whatever they did to the pressure in the pipes, made some pipe in our Laundry Room start leaking like Niagara Falls. It took every bath towel and beach towel and paper towel in our apartment to sop up the mess.

And just for more shits and giggles, my nephew was snowboarding in NH yesterday and fell and shattered his right shoulder in 2 places and and also broke his collarbone. Last I heard, he was in a lot of pain and my sister was waiting to see if he will need surgery.

And Mom has some kind of inflamed artery feeding her right eye. It was causing her to have a non-stop headache. If this is untreated it can cause permanent blindness.

And Sorority Girl got a flat tire. The Frat Boys came to her rescue and put on the little donut tire. (but not Frat Boyfriend- he was on the golf course. He's going to make a damn fine husband, someday)
Bank of Mom and Dad had to make a $79 withdrawal to fix that puppy.

I'm just a tiny stressed-out. But it's OK. I'm medicating myself with a 2 Lb bag of Jellybeans.

RAW,RAW,rarara

RAW,RAW,rarara
I got new upstairs neighbors this past weekend. Man,wife,2 girls and DOG FROM HELL.

RAW,RAW,rarararara
Yesterday they all left for the day and locked the dog in the master suite, right over my master suite.

RAW,RAW,rarararara
He barked and howled and cried. Continuously. Started at 6:30am. He was still going when I left for work at 3pm. I thought maybe it was first day alone in a strange place.

RAW,RAW,rarararararararara
Today, I think he is locked in the master bathroom. Or trapped in the air conditioning vents. Since 6:30am.

RAWing,RAWing,rararing,rararaing.
The constant barking,howling and growling with a metallic sort of ring to it.

RAWing,RAWing,rararaing,rararaing
My first conversation with my new neighbors is not going to be "Welcome to the building. I hope we'll become BFF's"

RAWing,RAWing,RAWing,rarararaing.

It Was A Froggy Morning

I woke up this morning and stumbled bleary-eyed into the bathroom. This little guy was sitting on the handle of my hairbrush, staring at me with his big froggy eyes.First I screamed then I scooped him into my glass and covered it with a Family and Friends coupon from the G*P store and took his picture and then set him free out in the grass. He had those little suction cup feet that made him stick to the glass. I have no idea how Kermit got in. The only two possibilities are that he jumped out of the toilet or fell out of the A/C vent in the ceiling. Geez, now I have to look up and down every time I go in there and I will NEVER again go in at night without turning on the light.

Later Gator

When we moved to the Sunshine State, we heard jokes about watching out for the gators. We had seen the occasional picture of a gator standing at someone's back door. We didn't really think there would be gator stories on a daily basis.

About a week after we moved here there was a story on the news about a guy who got his leg chomped by a gator. He had fallen asleep by some local body of water. While taking a naked nighttime stroll. While smoking crack. Whaaaat?

The next week we went to a state park with a nature preserve that had park rangers talking about the critters. We stood at the edge of a pond with a wire fence around it. We asked the ranger how many gators were in the pond. He offered to give us a demonstration. He started making a low noise that sounded like ooowaaaa, oowaaaaaa. The water began to ripple and we saw about 14 sets of gator eyes come out of the water and swim toward us. The ranger was making a noise that sounded like a baby gator in distress. Gators don't have the brain power to realize who's baby is in distress so they all come when they hear the cry. I wanted to make a noise like a grown woman in distress. We're still a little creeped out by the thought of it.

The first time I visited my friend's apartment he pointed out the electric fence around the community pool. He said it was to keep out the gators. He also taught me how to tell if there were gators in the pond.....no ducks in the pond!
I saw a news report that said "Former Gator dies of Ecstacy intoxication". My first thought was that the local club kids were messing around and the gators were "rollin on the E". My brain didn't even register that the U of FL sports teams were the Gators.

The latest gator news was too close for comfort. A condo complex on our street had a gator in a breezeway. It was 8 feet long. And climbing up the stairs to the second floor apartments! The local police wrassled him and tied him up in perfect gator cowboy style. They also got a reprimand for not waiting for the local authorized Critter Control Officers to arrive on the scene. I would have given them an award and a big raise!

See ya later, alligator.