A crimp in the travel plan

Two days before we're supposed to leave on a trip to Spain, and look what Mother Nature has in store for us. The house will be buttoned up tight so I'm not worried about it, but do you think we can get out of here before Tropical Storm (Hurricane?) Erika arrives?

Just my luck!

Well, it wasn't raining when I started to wash the car. In fact, I checked the sky just before I started and it was very sunny. Ten minutes later.... That's Florida for you! The rain we have been needing for weeks finally arrived!

Save our lagoon!

So glad to find two queen conches while snorkeling this weekend in the Indian River Lagoon. It's a sign of good health! Our poor lagoon. It's healthy now, but we're just entering the rainy season. When there's too much water in Lake Okeechobee, they'll start dumping it into the Caloosahatchee (on the west) and St. Lucie (on the east) rivers. The Lake O water is fresh water, which lowers the salinity of the IRL, the most biodiverse estuary in North America, and is not hospitable to local wildlife. And it's also polluted. It's wonderful to see healthy queen conches, but they won't be here for long if they start dumping out of Lake O. We want the Lake O waters to flow south out of the lake to be filtered through the Everglades again, like they originally did. And we also want agricultural land north of the lake to stop polluting the lake waters. It's not too much to ask. It's the way nature designed it.

Come rain or come shine

Buying a beach umbrella comes in very handy when you have to leave the store in a monsoon!

It wasn't doing the backstroke!

This morning, bleary-eyed, I was filling the electric kettle to make coffee in the French press. Just about to snap the lid shut when I noticed something floating on the surface. A twig? No, it was a dead, emaciated lizard!

I feel so bad. He got in the house a week ago, just before we left to spend a week in Austin, Texas. We tried to rescue him, but we couldn't get him out from under the bookcase. I worried the whole week we were gone. Florida exterminating being what it is nowadays, there wouldn't be any bug life for him to eat in the house. And how was he going to get water?

Must have been one last-ditch effort that sent him into that kettle. Poor thing!

I had to boil three pots of water before I could use the kettle for my coffee.