Today Truett and I took Boyce to St. Petersburg to meet up with the rest of his family. A surprising sight caught my eye while we were saying our good-byes in the parking lot. At a short distance, high in the sky, I saw a flock of birds circling over the wetlands next to condominiums. I instantly thought they were seagulls since we weren't far from the ocean; but surprise of all surprises, it was approximately 75-100 swallow-tailed kites. I've never seen that many in one sighting in my entire life. The most I've ever seen at once was written about in my blog , dated June 10 entitled "40 minutes".
We said our good-byes after a delicious seafood lunch at the Sandbar Grill and Restaurant and drove the hectic highways back to peaceful, Fort White. Company gone. Time to sit on the porch and relax and reflect and have a drink. Truett decided to forego his Lion's Club meeting because we were both exhausted. So we relaxed.
As I was sitting on the porch listening to the afternoon rainstorm and watching the bramble of trees and vines swaying in front of me, I noticed a few branches shivering. "That's odd," I thought. I only had one drink, so I know I wasn't loopy...yet. Then I noticed a shimmering in the same stand of fox grape vines. By then a gentle rain was falling, so I continued to stare at the fox grape vines and let my imagination go. I created monsters and sea animals out of the configuration of the trees and vines, just like I do with clouds.
I once again watched the vines and lo and behold, I saw a skinny black paw grab a vine and pull it inward toward the center of the stand of trees. "What's that? Oh, it must be a squirrel." So I kept watching and watching. Then I saw a fat brown body emerge from one of the branches. The body had a cute head with a black mask on it. "A raccoon!"
"Truett! Truett! Come see this!" I yelled. "Quick!" Jeeze. Now we've all seen raccoons before, even me. Why the big deal? Why do I always have to make a big deal about seeing a wild animal? I'll tell you why. Because they're in my yard, in my space, and that's darn special!
Well, Truett and I watched the raccoon maneuver around in the vines, and ever so often it showed its full body. We watched it eat the fox grapes. What a treat!
"Let's name it," I said. So we did. Here's some originality for you...'Rocky'. We now have a new animal to watch along with Edna and Ervin, our mourning doves, and of course all our various birds, and our freaky reptiles.