north florida - rocky hammock
07:30, 49F, very foggy, even in the yard which is unusual. let rams out, jack got in. spent some time securing the corral. then a ram got into my garden. spent more time securing garden. picked some bok choi for lunch.
10:00, fog cleared. moved firewood from woodlot to barn. lambs climbing the downed oak.
12:15, 74F, partly cloudy, partly sunny. hawk hunting in wood lot. red-bellied woodpecker pounding on oaks in sheep yard. lots of songbirds around - cardinals, catbirds, mockingbirds, blue jays, carolina wrens, blue titmice, warblers too swift to i.d., and crows, always crows.. not exactly songbirds but always present.
13:20, 75F, partly sunny. hung out wash. sat in yard by citrus trees and watched the clouds and birds. lovely. ate a tangerine. guard dog sat with me. winds flukey. calm on ground but tree tops moving with small gusts from north to east to south. clouds moving from the west, generally. cardinals acting like it's spring.
donkey knocked down garden fence and a ram got in and savaged most of my brocoli.. mended fence and put the sprinkler on. need to re=fence it tomorrow. can save the bok choi, turnips, and onions, I hope. damn varmints!
19:30, 58F, clearing. waxing half moon and jupiter overhead with venus setting in the west. orion in the east with a red planet (mars?) nearby.
hoppin' john and italian sausage for dinner with biscuits. fire going, reading a thriller..
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Updated: 2:47 AM GMT on January 01, 2012
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north florida - wild florida
07:00, 48F, cloudy, calm. weather-guessers predicted frost for the past 2 nights. glad they were wrong. hope they're wrong on the 20's they're predicting for monday and tues. rooster subdued. let rams out. grits for breakfast.
will be all over my neck of the woods today - work and the cow town..
10:00, 61F, mostly cloudy. clouds moving slowly across from the SW. got 2 eggs. heading out.
low tide at CK. shifty wind, ESE-S, 3-5 knts. a damp, gray, overcast day with sprinkles in CK, fowler's bluff, and chiefland..
13:00, 59F, tide coming in. took scenic route, 347, to cow town. eagle flying above the road, red-shouldered hawk on fence post, sprinkles. pastures all short with lots of cow paddies.
got feed, hay, a haircut. very gray and cloudy.
16:30, 65F at farm. overcast. unloaded truck. boiled up some shrimp I got from the shrimp guy in CK, did chores. damn rams trying to get into my garden. have to work on this tomorrow.
19:30, 59F, clearing. waxing half moon with little horns.. stars coming out. building a fire.
get this: fellow who bought a little ram from me last summer calls in mid-dec.. complains that the ram's not big enough yet to breed his "big ewes." hmmm, I say. tonight he calls back. both big ewes had lambs on Christmas Eve. :) them cracker sheep is wily..
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Updated: 2:10 AM GMT on December 31, 2011
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north florida - wild florida
06:30, 40F, hot pink sunrise that morphed into orange. calm. rooster up. oatmeal for breakfast.
08:15, 42F, partly cloudy. gave out hay. rooster went back to sleep. hens singing.. got 3 eggs.
low tide at CK. lots of birders and photographers on the causeway looking at pelicans, cormorants and sea gulls.
50's, wind E-SE, 5-8 knts. town full of tourists. hard to find a place to park for the weekly poetry group. they suggested one change for my poem, Ice Age Cave.
sat in on fish i.d. session. got the anchovies correct. need new glasses.
high tide when going back over #4 bridge. ducks out on the backwaters being photographed.
18:00, 53F and calm at the farm. young rams in the routine now. came in when I got back and I locked them up and gave them some sweet feed and corn.
need to go on a hay/feed run tomorrow.
20:00, 50F, venus setting, waxing crescent moon over the sheep barn. lambs and moms bedded down next to each other for the night. guard dog on task. yard dogs quarreling.
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Updated: 1:56 AM GMT on December 30, 2011
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north florida - wild florida
07:00, 39F, calm and clear. song birds carrying on. rooster crowing. guard dog prowling the yard. cheese eggs for breakfast. (got 5 eggs yesterday!)
10:00, 53F, sunny. let little rams out. one got left behind and is complaining. damn donkey jack got into the corral. had to fix that. guess the ram will eventually figure it out. other 2 scarfing up the acorns..
made a turkey chili. off to work.
very low tide at CK. shore birds and waders all busy on the exposed mud/sand/oyster bars. mid-50s,
NW wind, 5-10 knts. partly sunny. all nets clean and mended and ready for january sampling.
mid-high tide leaving the island. mix of sea gulls and pelicans riding the tide. ducks in the backwaters.. scaups, again.
55F at the farm and sunny. all 3 little rams in donkey woodlot looking for acorns. corral empty.
got 1 egg. red-shouldered hawk at the top of the pines by the chicken coop.
at sundown, young rams came back to corral for dinner. caught the other two when I fed the flock and with the help of bruiser, a yard dog, I got them into the corral with the other young rams. now I just have to catch the whether.
53F at sundown. got the fireplace going.
20:00, 46F, misty. stars hazy, jupiter bright, waxing crescent moon above the sheep barn. too late to see venus, although it was cloudy to the west. slight breeze from NW.
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Updated: 2:15 AM GMT on December 29, 2011
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north florida - wild florida
06:20, 65F, raining!! we do need it. dark outside. everything's quiet. oatmeal for breakfast.
08:40, 64F, raining. wind SW 10-12. got an hour lull in the rain so did most of the chores and walked the inside dogs. there's a front coming in. looking forward to a fire in the fireplace tonight. most of the wood that was cut last week is stacked in the horse barn. little rams doing o.k. will let them into the donkey woodlot when I come home if the weather clears.
only got 0.3" of rain, but better than none at all.
medium low tide at CK. lots of fishing birds - herons, egrets, wood storks in the feeder creeks.
avocets and willets poking around on the flooding mud flats. mid-60's, wind NW - W, shifty, 8-16 knts. white caps at the sand spit. partly cloudy to partly sunny after the rain in the a.m.
high tide when I left at 16:00. ducks along the
causeways, scaups..
too late to let the little rams out when I got home but they seem to have settled down. 60F, windy from west. collected firewood from the barns. did chores. walked out into the pasture again to view the waxing crescent moon and venus.. quite a sight. if I had a chair that the sheep wouldn't trash, I'd leave it out there so I could sit and star gaze. hash for dinner.
19:00, 57F, calm. crackling fire in the fireplace. found a piece of cedar log to put in. smoked for awhile but sure smells good now.
reading karen arstrong's "a short history of myth."
totally disagree with her first chapter. there's no way we can draw any conclusions about paleo-culture beyond the totally obvious and that esp. applies to their story telling..
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Updated: 2:12 AM GMT on December 28, 2011
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north florida - rocky hammock
07:07, 63F, foggy, NE breeze. pileated woodpeck in the donkey wood lot. rams mobbing an old ewe. I broke it up long enough for her to reach the barn.
damn rams.. still have a few to sell.
someone from the trailer-hood is burning garbage. phew. don't folks know better than to burn plastics?
11:00, 72F, air's cleared, a few stratus clouds, NE wind, 5 knts. blue skies, sunny day! buzzards flying by on the wind.
let the sheep in the yard. I was actually wily enough to separate the 3 largest rams (still lambs but just barely.) from the flock and lock them in the falling-down-horse barn corral, where they will remain until they get sold but with occasional excursions into the donkey domain, which they should like so long as they don't piss off the donkeys, ie. eat their hay.. the rams will have their own hay, water, and grain trough in the corral which the donkeys, theoretically, can't enter. after my leg heals, I can grab the last 2 smaller rams and wrestle them over to the corral with the dogs helping. the big rams will remain with the flock unless they piss me off ...
got 3 eggs. hash with mushrooms for lunch.
18:45, 65F, partly cloudy, pink and purple sunset!
venus and the waxing crescent moon in the WSW right after sunset were stunning. a diamond in the sky with a silver crescent nearby. wow! me and the guard dog were out in the south pasture checking it out. ate a tangerine out there and left the peel for the sheep to find tomorrow. they spent the day in the yard and cleaned things up really well.
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Updated: 12:04 AM GMT on December 27, 2011
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northflorida - rocky hammock
Christmas day - a time to relax and eat and give thanks.. and go to church if you haven't been the night before.
07:15, 62F, foggy. all birds up and singing.
12:00, 77F, partly cloudy, calm. nice morning for walking around the farm with my family. the son's cooking so I'm smiling.. :)
watered sand pines and planted some live oak acorns. pot roast for dinner. hawk carrying on outside. found part of a squirrel tail under the dead live oak by the sheep barn.
20:05, 68F, overcast, no stars showing, calm.
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Updated: 1:41 AM GMT on December 26, 2011
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north florida - Christmas day
01:00, 61F, clear, stars out, slight fog in pasture.
met 3 deer on my way to church, 3 cars.. (20 miles)
met 1 deer and 1 o'possum on the way home, 1 car.
high tide at CK, enough breeze to blow out the candles when we stood outside at midnight. clear, stars bright. upper 60's.
merry Christmas, y'all..
north florida - Christmas eve
Christmas eve day. one of my favorite days of the year - a day of comtemplation, joy, and pulling things together..
07:00, 64F, foggy. orange sunrise. all the birds are awake and singing! guard dog by the back door.
14:00, 72F, calm, sky very blue, sunny. thermometer in the sun, 90F. clothes dry. got 2 eggs. great breakfast with a good friend - bacon, eggs, cinnamon buns, grits, gingerbread for dessert.. listened to the lessons and carols from oxford university. thinking of a nap since I'm going to midnight mass.
nap never happened. all of a sudden there were hundreds of things to do, outside and inside. watered the cypress. got 2 more eggs. gingerbread for dinner.. son and wife coming in later tonight. 20:00, 68F, overcast. no stars, planets, or meteors to be seen. pretty quiet out here. guard dog on duty. merry Christmas.
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Updated: 1:48 AM GMT on December 25, 2011
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north florida - rocky hammock
07:10, 68F, very foggy. rooster's outdoing himself. new moon. calm. need to do some mowing.
steamed clams for breakfast and fried grits with jelly. clams were a trifle gritty since I didn't purge them but they sure were tasty. I've found pre-columbian native american jaw bones on the out islands with the teeth all worn down from the grit in their diet. the gulf coast natives ate a lot of clams and oysters and built up huge shell middens and rings. it must have been a paradise back then.
10:20, 75F, occasional gusty breeze from SW, overcast. misty.
red-shouldered hawk in the mulberry tree,
hunting for varmints in the cactus field..
old one eye snuck by me when I was going into the sheep yard with a load of hay. she took off for the yard rye but the yard dogs spotted her and brought her back asap.. guess I won't mow. there's green stuff in the yard for the sheep so I will let them in the yard some time this holiday.
16:00, 72F and overcast in chiefland. right as I was driving home with hay, it started to sprinkle.
unloaded hay and feed and fed sheep in a drizzle.
didn't last very long. got 3 eggs.
19:15, 69F and misty. stars appear and disappear but jupiter is bright and visible.
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Updated: 12:49 AM GMT on December 24, 2011
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north florida - wild florida
07:10, 59F, mostly clear, few clouds slowly moving from SE. very thin crescent moon in the SE. lovely in the pale sky. fog in the pasture.
crows busy, a lot of flying around and calling. rooster subduded. let yard dogs out. got 2 eggs.
oatmeal for breakfast with strawberry/rhubarb jam.
high tide all day at CK. South wind, 5 knts., sunny. a few ducks paddling around in the back waters. wish I could get close enough to i.d. them.
everybody's getting ready for the big week-end. a lot of traffic and bustling around downtown. if you knew CK you would laugh. there's no stoplights. and the big traffic of the day is at the p.o. around 11:00 a.m.
19:30 at the farm. 67F. wind's died down. (there was a brisk wind from the south when I got back around 16:00. it blew all the dried love grass against the fence in big tumbleweeds.) watered cypress.
venus was brilliant this evening in the SW sky.
jupiter is now directly above the farm right after sunset. misty but stars are out.
all state buildings are closed until tuesday. the holiday has begun - although we won't be paid for the days we miss.. but what the heck. I can sleep 'til 7 now.
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Updated: 1:38 AM GMT on December 23, 2011
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north florida - wild florida - solstice
the winter solstice has arrived and I can attest to the fact that these are the shortest days of the year. it's almost impossible to get everything done during the daylight hours..
the guard dog and I went out into the south pasture to watch the sun rise out of a gap in the treeline, way to the south. pink clouds obscured what is left of the moon.. tides will be extreme today.
07:30, 61F, clear and calm. a few clouds to the east. crows calling. rooster subdued. gave sheep some loose minerals. wormed tuna-hedy. donkeys griping over a lack of hay.
bacon, one green egg, and toast with strawberry-rhubarb jam for breakfast.
09:40, 68F, mostly cloudy. 3 yearling deer resting under the cedars back by the donkey's mineral block.
high tide at CK all day, wind So. at 5 knts. mostly cloudy. 70's.. lots of ducks checking out the inundated mud flats.
finished mending the trawl. mocking bird scolding from the red bay. pleasant sitting in the boat yard, mending nets. nice breeze.
friends came to the farm in the late afternoon to cut up a downed oak. sheep scattered at the first buzz from the chain saw but returned when I appeared with their feed bucket.
70F at 19:00. cloudy. only jupiter showing.
daughter called from seoul,korea. said it was 17F. Christmas greetings! she and husband will spend the holidays in spain.. wishing them a safe trip and fun!
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Updated: 3:56 AM GMT on December 22, 2011
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north florida - wild florida
0633, 53F, clouds moving slowly from SE. waning crescent moon in pecan tree. rooster up. birds singing. let one yard dog out. sheep heading for the tired pasture. got 2 eggs yesterday. new lamb sticking with mom.
10:00, 69F. partly sunny. got 5 eggs! watered sand pines. tentatively identified a red-cockaded woodpecker in my old slash pines! replacement ram nudged me when my back was turned. picked up an oak limb and knocked him side the head. if he does that again, he's out of here.
still soaking my leg. short work day.
high tide at CK. 70's. southerly winds blowing tide in plus the solstice tomorrow. the chickens must know, somehow, that after tomorrow the days will get imperceptably longer, to us anyway.. for them, it's time to lay again. and for the sheep, it's no more fooling around ... donkeys just want hay.
tide was still medium high at 16:00.
almost done with mending the trawl. found more holes, though. of all of our nets, the trawl gets the most abuse, dragging along the sea and river bottom. I have rebuilt many trawls.
back at the farm. watered cypress. fed stock.
68F at sundown. clouds very slowly moving from SW.
mostly cloudy with the occasional stars.. 65F at 19:00. need to get a tree together or something. thinking of an oyster roast. well, it's an idea.
or at least some fried oysters.
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Updated: 2:10 AM GMT on December 21, 2011
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north florida - wild florida
06:50, 42F, foggy in pasture, calm. birds singing.
rooster answering. donkeys calling to neighbor donkey. dogs howling. waning crescent moon over the house. let yard dog out..
fried grits and an egg with ham gravy for breakfast.
09:35, 56F. sheep in pasture. went to barn with a wheelbarrow load of hay and heard the "new lamb wicker" that ewes make. old brownie had a lovely spotted lamb.. rooster still at it.
high tide at CK at 11:00. sunny, lt. breeze from SE. watched an osprey fishing from my office window. began mending the trawl. tide going out at 3:30 but still med. high. hundreds of little shorebirds and several ibis poking around the mud flats.
had to go to chiefland for feed and fuel. except for the fields with rye grass, the pastures look low. we need rain bad. made it back to the farm just before sundown. watered the cypress, retrieved the new lamb and mom from pasture and locked them up for the night, unloaded truck.
65F at sundown. cumulus clouds moving very slowly from the SE. at 20:00, 58F and clear. stars out! neighbor's cow bawling from the woods..
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Updated: 2:25 AM GMT on December 20, 2011
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north florida - wild florida
06:10, 41F, clear, waning crescent moon over house.
woke up rooster, let yard dogs out.
07:30 clear sunrise gilding pines and palmettos. mist on pasture. broke up fight between yard dog and guard dog. muffins and hot chocolate for breakfast. going to church to read the lessons.
high tide going out at CK. sunny with a chilly north breeze. medium low tide leaving CK. flock of ducks dabbbling in the tide.
16:00, 62F, sunny, light north breeze. planted 6 bald cypress seedlings and 7 sand pines in the cactus field as a memorial to vaclav havel, dissident playwright and heroic czech leader, who died today.
red-shouldered hawk in the dead oak by the sheep barn. made a fire in the fireplace. almost time for the chores.
20:10, 44F, clear, stars bright. all quiet in the barn. guard dog on duty. good night.
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Updated: 1:12 AM GMT on December 19, 2011
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north florida - rocky hammock
06:00 49F, clear. waning half moon directly over the house, reflecting in the 5 gal. buckets I keep under the drip line of the tin roof. woke the rooster up. lamb complaining in the barn.
getting ready for my annual Christmas breakfast for lab women. sausage, yellow grits, a crab claw quiche, blueberry muffins, coffee, mimosas - then a walk around the farm.
(0730, 50F, orange sunrise. rams fighting but dog broke them up.. good dog.)
great breakfast! lasted until noon. low 70's, partly sunny, calm. watched lambs, took pictures at the huge grape vine, and picked tangerines.
19:00, 65F, calm with cumulus clouds slowly moving across from the NW. misty, stars dim. supposed to get into the lower 40's so I made a fire. house was chilly, anyway. left-over quiche for supper.
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Updated: 12:55 AM GMT on December 18, 2011
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north florida - wild florida
07:00, 52F, clear, waning gibbous moon hanging above the farm. rooster up. toast and cheese for breakfast. by 08:30, 55F, fog in pasture. one eye stole the pear I had left on the fence when I went to check the lambs.. red-tailed hawk in the old goat yard. probably snacking on the squirrels.
pizza Christmas party today at the lab.. (the CA guy's idea since everyone was played out from the retirement party a few weeks ago..) so long as there's a veggie pizza, it's o.k. with me.
low tide at CK with hundreds of very small shorebirds fooling around in the shallows.
escaped mending the net by helping out with the party. mushroom and black olive pizza for lunch!left early and the tide was coming in. partly sunny. breeze from the south. bugs out.
stopped by the roadside to cut some holly and wax myrtle, with berries, for my barb-wire wreath but the foliage was so pretty, I put it in a bucket with some magnolia branches. it will last longer.
16:00, 59F at the farm. washed the kitchen floor. almost dry now. chore time.
20:00 62F, clear, stars out. dog on guard.
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Updated: 2:13 AM GMT on December 17, 2011
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north florida - wild florida
52F at 06:50, foggy. lambs playing around fallen oak from last summer's rain event. rooster's up.
waning gibbous moon over the falling down horse barn. oatmeal for breakfast.
low tide at CK. light breeze from the south. upper 60's - low 70's. repaired the mouth chain on the trawl and discovered a dozen fist-sized holes. no wonder catches were low.
attended CK poets' meeting in the afternoon. read "fog." discussed faulkner.
high tide at # 4 bridge at 16:00. one ruddy duck diving. white pelicans in distance.
at sweetwater curve a turkey flew over the truck and landed in a pine. on dirt road on the way to the hay guy's farm, a red-shouldered hawk sitting on a tractor. on the return trip it moved to a fence post. got 10 bales of hay. talked about peanuts, cows, and hunting.
got back to the farm at sundown. 70F, mostly cloudy. everyone was waiting for dinner when I drove up to the barn.
20:00, 65F, and mostly cloudy. occasional stars showing overhead. mild, dry. got 2 eggs, one blue one. the auraucanas are beginning to lay again!
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Updated: 1:36 AM GMT on December 16, 2011
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north florida - wild florida
07:00, 47F, foggy. waning gibbous moon shining over the sheep barn. sheep and dog out in the pasture. rooster up. fried rice for breakfast.
09:45, 65F, sunny, fog disapating from pastures.
lots of carolina wren activity around the bird feeder.. babies first outing?.. stock's stuffing on hay. all's right with the world, so far.
very low tide at CK at 10:00. stilts and snowy egrets poking around in the mud flats. shifty winds from NE to SE, 5-10 knts. sunny, 60's. good day for drying nets. the bait net from yesterday was filthy. took over an hour to get it even vaguely clean from suwannee detritus. crew reported seeing a yearling deer swimming the river to an island, which reminded me of the huge wild hog we saw swim a salt creek up north by bumblebee. got net dry and mended. tide coming in at 15:30. ducks in the channel. white pelicans off to the east.
70F at the farm at 17:00. dropped to 65 by 19:00. went out in the pasture to see if I could spot some meteors but was too early. orion was barely above the treeline to the east. venus setting in the SW. saw one meteor. might go out again before the moon rises.
9 meteors in 40 minutes! (geminid meteor shower)..
directly overhead. different colors, too. wow!
21:40, 60F, clear. orion up in the SE.
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Updated: 2:42 AM GMT on December 15, 2011
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north florida - wild florida
56F at 08:00 and foggy. breeze from NE. strange weather we're having. haven't seen the sun in days. the weather-guessers keep saying that it will return, every day it's in the forecast, but nooo. anyway, it would be pleasant but the NE wind makes it chilly.
the crew's on the suwannee now.. (although they might not have gone. since we're short-handed.) last week they brought in redfish caught around east pass. fishermen are reporting more redfish then they've ever seen around the lower suwannee which is interesting because the redfish population seems normal to sparse around CK.
sheep in the barn, loafing and chewing their cud.
rooster's vocal. donkeys nagging for hay.
the sun appeared half way to CK. it was sunny all day, upper 50's-lower 60's - NE wind, 10-12 knts. low tide at 10:30. nice flock of ducks in the main channel by #4 bridge.
going on high at 16:00. still sunny, wind clocked to east.
sunny at the farm. 65F. with a NE breeze. clothes dry. no fire tonight. 58F at 19:00. stars out. coyotes howling to the north. big dogs responding with vigor. at 22:00, a waning gibbous moon shining over the workshop.
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Updated: 3:10 AM GMT on December 14, 2011
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north florida - rocky hammock
06:55 EST, gray dawn, windy, 58F. overcast - haven't seen the moon in days. sheep already out in the wood lot. dog keeping an eye on them. songbirds cheerful. rooster played out.
slept better than I thought I would. leg stiff. son and friends pressing me to have it looked at. dont think I can go in the field tomorrow.. too risky with jumping in and out of the boat.
62F in chiefland at noon. dr. says wound is ugly but clean.. and no field work for several days.
misty-drizzly all morning. a lot of the local farms have big fields of bright green rye grass coming up. pretty. NE wind, 5 knts. raw.
cardinals, cat bird, and wrens flitting back and forth to the bird feeders. and squirrels.
got 1 egg. 59F at 19:00. stars dimly visible! nice to see jupiter again. little fire going. cat's claimed the chair. good night.
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Updated: 2:17 AM GMT on December 13, 2011
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north florida - wild florida
06:20, 54F, wolf light. overcast, northeast breeze.
back light woke up donkeys, dogs, and rooster who proceeded to be vocal.. oatmeal for breakfast.
crossing #4 bridge this a.m., a blow-out tide exposed all the bars. there was a small flock of ducks in the channel and the usual shorebirds poking around plus a bald eagle on a sand bar worrying a dead fish. upper 50's with NE wind, 10-12 knts. partly cloudy and chilly.
65F at the farm at noon, overcast, chilly. 60 in the house. time for a fire.. letting the sheep in the yard before the rain gets here from the gulf. windy. (wishful thinking.)
62F at sundown, damp. no rain. overcast, windy.
sheep were happy in the yard and stayed out of trouble. not so with me. while working in the front yard I gouged my leg on a stump - too ugly for stitches. hoping to just keep it clean and healing with no infection.
a lot of birds singing this afternoon.. cardinals to pileated woodpeckers. hawk in the oaks. none seemed to mind the wind. got 3 eggs. put the sheep back in the fold in the late afternoon. they did a good job on the weeds and never got a single tangerine.. love the rye grass. they keep it short in the fold.
59F at 20:00. small fire going. cat in my lap. foot up. another good kreuger read. hoping my injury won't keep me out of the field on tuesday when we go to sample the suwannee river.
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Updated: 1:13 AM GMT on December 12, 2011
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north florida - rocky hammock
57F at 07:15. overcast, damp. brief shower in the early a.m. sheep very vocal since I made them clean up their hay last night. gave them hay.
65F at 10:30. mostly cloudy, wind ENE 5-8 knts. some sun so I took a chance and hung out a load of clothes. baaad sheep snuck down to the neighbor's oak again but came back on their own. guard dog prowling the yard. wrens singing back and forth by the clothes line. mended a hole in the fence. thinking of getting a load of firewood from a neighbor down the road.
63F at 16:00. chilly breeze from ENE. overcast.
my camellias are blooming! just in time for the Christmas season. reminds me of the low country.
the clothes actually got dry - even the socks.
got most of the firewood and it's stacked in the hay barn. still need to go back for a half-load. dreary inside so trying out the new firewood. works pretty good. crackles a lot, though, and smells like oak. like pecan or hickory better..
almost time to start the chores.
58F at 19:40. overcast - no chance of seeing the full moon. sheep tucked into the barn. dogs in an uproar, and the unmistakable odor of skunk drifts over the back yard. hmm.
52F at 22:10 and raining.
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Updated: 3:33 AM GMT on December 11, 2011
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north florida - wild florida
at 07:00, 50F.. up to 52F now just before 08:00. partly cloudy, breeze from ENE. rooster woke me up.
all calm in the barn. lambs frisky. cinnamon rolls and colombian coffee au lait for breakfast.
got 2 eggs when I fed the chickens. the sheep were baaad this a.m.- took their lambs down to the road to glean acorns from the neighbor's oaks. I brought them back, gave them hay, and charged their dog with keeping them around the barn. too much temptation for dogs so close to the road with all them babies! there is a fence but a determined dog can climb a fence.
low tide at CK in the a.m.. 50's all day with NW wind, 5-10 knts. overcast and chilly. perfect day to go to Annie's for lunch and order a bowl of oyster stew! it was delicious. almost as good as my daddy used to make.
spent the afternoon writing up the fish work-up - otoliths, mercury samples, length, weight, sex, gonad weights .. red fish, sheepshead, lady fish.. life history studies. the otoliths are used for ageing the fish.
high tide on my way over #4 bridge. mostly herons in the marsh.
warmer at the farm, mid-60's, over cast, NW breeze.
despite the cloud cover, the big moon and jupiter kept peeking through this evening. put new batteries in my head-light so I could actually see in the shadows. wind dropped. 61F at 19:30. pretty out there with that moon.
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Updated: 1:18 AM GMT on December 10, 2011
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north florida - wild florida
06:40, 36F, clear, calm, cold. orange sunrise. crows carrying on. ham and eggs for breakfast.
08:20, 38F, breeze from the north. lambs all hungry and tracking their moms down. ewes eating hay. rooster's finally up. sunny.
chilly all day at CK, upper 40's to low 50's. NE wind, 10-15 knts. blow out tide. all the bars exposed. pelicans hanging out on the oyster bars. herons fishing in the tide.
red-shouldered hawk in the pines when I drove down the farm lane. low 50's with a NE breeze. let all the dogs out. sheep and donkeys wanted hay. lambs frolicking around the oak roots.
big moon after sunset. dimmed all the stars. heard a great horned owl. 49F at 19:00. log rolled in the fireplace and smoked up the living room. reading Faulkner again..
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Updated: 12:54 AM GMT on December 09, 2011
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north florida - suwannee sound
05:50, 59F, misty. big dipper pointing to dog pen. think the red "star" right above me is mars.. not really good on celestial bodies. woke rooster up. dogs out. oatmeal for breakfast.
6:45, 57F, pale sunrise. misty out, damp. quiet in the barn. sheep in the pasture looking for acorns. time for hay.
got my lunch packed.. going out on the water!
started out with enough sun so we put sunscreen on. wind from SSW, 10-12 knts. a light chop. water temp, 18F (64F). birds were everywhere - white and brown pelicans,ducks, cormorants, oyster catchers, gulls, herons, willets ... tide was coming in and all the little islands were crowded with birds. there was a gray bank of clouds to the west - a cold front. the wind increased and veered to W at 20 knts. with a heavy chop and white caps. lots of spray and wind-blown rain. our last set was tricky.
caught hundreds of pinfish, also small trout, several black drum of varying size, a red fish, a flounder, a few bally-hoo (Hyp. meeki). at the end of our sampling, the islands had disappeared and we went for a sleigh ride back to the marina. despite waders and foul weather jackets, we got wet. air temps remained in the lower 60's. the birds all disappeared.
very high tide by 15:00 with sustained winds close to 20 knts.
back at the farm, wind from the SW, 10-15 knts. with cirrus clouds blowing out of the SW. low 60's, light rain. sheep in the barn.
at sundown, 63F. by 20:20, 49F. fireplace going. soup for dinner. reading J.L.Burke's latest.
great day! 5 sets with the 600 ft. seine, 3 of them on sea horse key, plus several sets with the bait net.
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Updated: 12:02 PM GMT on December 08, 2011
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north florida - wild florida
07:20, 58F, very foggy. rooster woke me up..
quiet in the barn. let old one-eye out with her lamb. hope she sticks around the barn. gave the sheep the last pumpkin. she was on it like a bull-dog on a chicken.
high tide at CK seems like most of the day. it's called a neap tide - the lows aren't very low. low 70's, water temps in the low 60's. sunny. wind SE, 3-5 knts.
the ducks are coming into the back creeks. saw a pair of redheads by #4 bridge. oyster bars were starting to show when I left town.
at sundown, I walked out to the south pasture to see venus in the SW against a pink sky.
19:45, 63F, calm. waxing gibbous moon and jupiter escorting each other across the sky. very bright out. stars dim. lambs are frisky, running around in the moon light but the guard dog convinced them to go into the barn. good dog ...
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Updated: 1:46 AM GMT on December 07, 2011
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north florida - wild florida
5:40, 55F, calm. hazy with stars. foggy in the pasture. woke rooster up. oatmeal for breakfast. going out on the water.
new lamb in the barn when I went to put out hay. locked them up. mom only has one good eye. figured she needed a little help in bonding.
after a slow start, got on the water by 10:00. air temp upper 60's gradually warming to low 70's. water temp ranged from upper 50's offshore to mid-60's in the river. sunny, wind SE 3-5 knts.
did 9 trawls. not much by-catch and low catches. several trawls brought in flounder, Par. albigutta. but the best trawl was offshore near a school of bait fish. all the birds were out there -brown pelicans diving, cormorants, seagulls, ducks, and a raft of loons - 25-30 of them. never seen so many loons together. usually they are solitary offshore until they band together in spring to fly back north. the loons were loafing on the water; some were bathing, others diving. they might have just flown in. an osprey flew by the boat with a fish in its talons, pursued by an immature eagle. the eagle dove on the osprey, the osprey dropped the fish, and the eagle missed it.. mullet were jumping out by the oyster bars. an amazing array of sea life.
20:00 at the farm. 67F, calm. sky clear. waxing gibbous moon and jupiter less than a hand's breadth away from each other. enough light to do the chores by if I didn't know that you can't see a diamond-back in the shadows. so I wear a head-lamp.
dog on guard. sheep in the barn. great day on the water! smile..
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Updated: 1:47 AM GMT on December 06, 2011
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north florida - wild florida
06:05, 56F, foggy, dark as the inside of a cow..
all quiet in the barn except for the guard dog shuffling the sheep around. donkeys are restless.
foggy almost the whole way to CK. pass a dead gray fox on the side of the road on 345. figure it would be gone by the time I came back from church. sure enough.. someone in rosewood has a fox skin now. fog thins out at the sandhills. medium tide at CK. a small flock of wood storks perch on an oyster bar by #4 bridge. looks like they are balancing on the back of an alligator.
in church, one of the ladies commented that 2 otters crossed the road in front of her on her way into town. last july, I came across 5 otters crossing the road just before the big curve into town. from down the road, they looked like a wavy line going across.
at 15:00, 73F, mostly cloudy, crows carrying on, sheep aggravated because I won't let them back in the yard. guard dog's watching the fence.
21:05, 63F and hazy. waxing gibbbous moon with halo.
only a few bright stars showing. tomorrow, I will be out on the water again.
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Updated: 2:36 AM GMT on December 05, 2011
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north florida - rocky hammock
07:20, 49F, clear and calm. gun shots from the farm to the north. all quiet in the barn. yesterday's twins seem to have it together so I let everyone out of the lambing stall. rooster's up. cheese grits for breakfast. donkeys are nagging already, which sets the dogs off. well, they have to wait until I eat my grits..
68F at 11:00. NE breeze.sunny. new lamb in the barn, rest of the sheep in the yard eating the rye grass and the weeds, mostly Bidens sp. and Sida sp.
got 2 eggs. sat under the tangerine tree and watched the rams trying to pluck the low hanging fruit from the branches. they never suceeded.
temps rose into the low 70's in the p.m. but the wind kept it chilly, esp. when clouds covered the sun. at 14:30 I ran the sheep back to the barn and drove to bronson to buy hay for them. it's a 20 mi. drive through pine plantations punctuated by cypress heads. I saw no wildlife which is unusual but the drive was pleasant with little traffic and accompanied by bob dylan's Christmas album.
during chores, it took a while but I finally got all the lambs in the barn with their moms and the guard dog is insuring that it remains this way.
at 19:40 the temp dropped back down to 68F with a waxing gibbous moon and jupiter dominating the skies. the newest lambs and moms are locked in the lambing stall for the night. lambs are already asleep under the hay feeder. tomorrow I help with communion in church. hoping to be there on time..
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Updated: 2:06 AM GMT on December 04, 2011
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north florida - wild florida
43F at 06:30. clear and calm. new twins in the barn. guard dog cleaning up. got them locked in a stall with water and hay. 1 twin had a long cord so I cut it shorter. they're staggering around like two little drunks. seem to know where the dinner bar is, though.
carolina wren sounding through the wood lot. rooster, crows.. donkeys nagging for more hay.
spotted a doe and yearling white-tail on the drive to work this a.m. since it's hunting season, deer sightings are scarce. usually there are several does that live on the farm and I see them every day, but not this year since the ex- decided to allow hunting on his property next door.
tide at CK was low all day with temps in the 60's and a breeze from the NE to ENE. there was just enough wind to make it chilly if you weren't in the sun. the white pelicans are back but are hanging out by the out-islands since the tides have been so low. thinking that the tides will get more interesting with the solstice coming up.
bought some shrimp from capt. moe on the way home. boiled them up and ate them with a cranberry sauce.
pretty good! finished the chores late again. in the summer, I usually began the chores right about when I'm finishing them now.
a waxing half moon cast a bright light off the hay piles in the barn yard. pretty with the lambs sleeping in the hay and the older sheep standing in circles around the hay piles finishing up their evening meal.
there was a mist just at sundown but it cleared and the moon and stars and planets were sharp in the sky. it's a priviledge to be able to stand outside and gaze at all that beauty.
54F when I went inside at 19:30. fire going, book waiting. glad it's friday. maybe I'll get to sleep until 06:30 tomorrow. good night, moon..
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Updated: 2:12 AM GMT on December 03, 2011
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north florida - wild florida
05:20. 36F, calm and clear. big dipper bright over the dog pen. outside light woke the rooster up.
oatmeal for breakfast, then down to the barn.
going out on the water today to commence this month's sampling..
we were on the water a little after 09:15, setting up the trawl. temp, low 40's with a NE wind 10-12 knts. water temp 14C (~57F). I wore my foul weather jacket most of the day - with 4 shirts and sweat pants under my light waders. it warmed up into the 50's as the day progressed and the wind dropped and veered. low tide at noon, when we did some offshore sets with the bait seine. catches were very low. trawl-wise, catches were light except for our first trawl where I ended up with 25 entries on the data sheet. most of our catches consisted of stingrays, 95% males (Das. sabina), sea robins (Pri. scitulus), and small-mouthed flat fish (Etr. cresotus.) there were a dozen other species in our catches but the numbers were small. on the out side of the suwannee plume, the water was green and lovely with visibility almost down to 2 m. inshore it was turbid from the chop.
many flocks of ducks out there. (one of my favorite sights.) the large flocks look like smoke rising from the water when they take to flight.
on the way home over # 4 bridge there were ibis and stilts poking around in the incoming tide.
at 19:20 it was 53F, calm, with a waxing half moon, dimming the stars. all quiet in the barn.
fireplace going. tired, but reading by the fire in my favorite chair sounds good..
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Updated: 1:38 AM GMT on December 02, 2011
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