Lake Mirror Part 1

Lake Mirror is the social hub of the artistic and free spirited folk here in Lakeland. Or so they say. Being that I don't do crowds I tend to not pay attention to any of the festivals they advertise, but they put a lot of effort into the area and it shows. I took quite a few pictures here so I am going to break this up into 2 separate posts.

First take a look at this place, it's really taken care of, unlike the other lakes we have been visiting. It was a really quiet Sunday, there was hardly anyone around when we got there.

We arrived just in time for the duck parade.:D

These ducks are called Indian Runners, and they look like walking bowling pins.

They also had some Ring Neck Ducks which allowed me to actually get a half way decent shot of this guy here. (Those eyes make me think his head is gonna start spinning around any moment now.)

His girlfriend was a bit more aloof.

This Great Blue Heron (GBH) flew over when he noticed us feeding the ducks. I would have had an awesome picture if it had not been for a pole getting in the way. Stupid pole!

GBH wading and snatching bread away from the ducks. This is the same GBH from the video I posted a few weeks ago.

One bonus for Lake Mirror is that the ducks and coots are acclimated to humans so we were mobbed by both. This allowed me to get pictures of some coots out of the water and show off those wild looking feet.

And now I will bring this picture post to it's feathery end.....

Get it? Get it? Feathery end....duck butt! Bwahahahahaha! I amuse me. ;)

Friday Picture Post

A few weekends ago we ventured out to a few different lakes in the area. We hit Lake Bonnie first. Lake bonnie is rather secluded, only one small area is for visitors with one small grill in dire need of maintenance and one rotting picnic table we didn't stay around for very long. While I was there though I did take a few pictures.

Lake Bonnie is bigger then most of the lakes around here, not the biggest of them but pretty darn big in it's own right.

A bird, possibly a coot, followed us at a distance. He seemed as curious about us as we were about him.

Then there was this guy, that looks kinda chicken like but swims and has a bright red beak, I have no clue what it is but I think it maybe coot related.

Ok, in the center of the picture there is a tiny bird. I have these guys all over my yard and have not a clue what they are. They make humming birds look like body builders, so I am guessing they are some sort of finch.

There were a bunch of trees bearing these pretty yellow flowers on them. I of course have no clue what kind of tree this is, so if anyone out there has an idea of what it is leave a note in the comments please.

Thats it for Lake Bonnie. I save the next lake for next week since there are a whole lot of pictures I'll probably break it up into multiple posts. Have a great weekend everyone!

Morning

I am not a morning person. I never have been. My body wakes up hours before my brain does so to say I am grouchy or cranky in the morning is an understatement. The good thing about this is I basically just sit and grumble until my brain catches up with the rest of me which tends to lead to some pretty quiet mornings.

Yesterday morning my normal grumpy mood was being bullied by a lot of back pain, lending me to be not quite my usual growly self, more of a whimpering state actually. I shuffled out of my room hunched over like I should be residing in a bell tower someplace, my bed head and half mast eyelids just giving the whole bell tower theory more credence. I made my way through the living room to a hail of greetings like every morning...but not quite.

Echo: "Hola!"
Me: "Hola Echo."
Duke: "Hello!"
Me: "Good Morning, Duke."
Kenya: "Go Lay Down!!"
Me: "I just got up."

Gotta love those morning conversations with the feathered ones. Kenya has never minced words and always seems to find just the right phrase for the moment. ;)