Horse Fever II Road Rally

My one true sweetheart wasn’t around for Valentine’s Day, so he made it up to me big time Saturday.  He said he earned thousands of husband points that maybe managed to get him even.  I think I’ll keep him. 

We started the day in Ocala with an old-fashioned cattle drive through the streets by the railroad downtown.  Hadn’t been one since the 40’s.  Twelve cowboys with some cow dogs, all for 27 head.  They ended up at the Livestock fairgrounds for the youth rodeo.  Here’s the only three pics I managed to take with my phone.  Yep, I forgot my camera.

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The Marion Cultural Alliance has sponsored Horse Fever since 2002 and for this 10th Anniversary, a new herd of 27 horses has been painted and spread all over Ocala and surrounding places.  You can find out more about each horse at  www.MCAOcala.com or www.Ocala.com/horsefever.  MCA had a Road Rally Saturday with a map to all the horses and a chart to fill in with numbers off of each horse.  That number was a real pain to find and then read as they stuck them up under the horses’ legs so rain wouldn’t wash the numbers away.  The rain held off all day, though it was mostly cloudy.  Good thing.  I wouldn’t have lasted so long on a hot sunny day.  It was an adventure finding all the horses with an imprecise map not to scale, but we managed to finish up just before the drawing at the finishing point.  Didn’t win anything, but still had fun finding them all.  We would’ve finished sooner if we hadn’t had to back track a few times.  Here, in no particular order, are my phone pics of the entire herd.  Most are parked out in front of their sponsor.  Double click on any pic for details, then back to return.

Brick City.  Ocala’s nickname after a fire burned it down long ago.

 

Broken Beauty.  Embellished with bits of old costume jewelry.  Hope he’s not defaced before he finds new home.

World Champ.

Celebration.  And a bit of Russel, only pic he is in all day!

Clockwork Fancy.  Only horse not done on the fiberglass frame.  Welded metal and clock parts.

Cuddly.

Event Full.

Forest King.

Freedom Isn’t Free.  Both sides.

Horse Feathers, both sides.  Great Blue Heron, flamingo and Ibis.

Sandhill Crane, Anhinga and Snowy Egret.

Horse Play.

Hubble Horse.  A galaxy far, far away.

Inspiration and me.  Note the guy crouching to look for the darn number.

Iris.

Luce DePinto.  Oh, for some snow.

Mask “Herd” Ade.  Appropriate for Mardi Gras. Nice display, too.

Mistaken Identity.  Dam bright!

Ocala Luna.  Hid this one in the lobby of the Hilton, its sponsor.

Parrot-dise and me.

 

Passing Through.  Hidden in a park by a pond.  Mostly found him by accident.

Quarter Horse.  Sad story about how most of his quarters have been popped off and stolen.  Some have been replaced with plastic faux quarters.  Dam shame.

Sunny. 

Ten Years From Above.  Thought I spotted a familiar shape.  The dark blue bit on his middle shows the Pentagon.  His maps also show bits of Iraq, DC, Penn. and Ocala.

Urban Art.  Graffiti, indeed.

Wild Abandon.  Bright!

Wildfire.  He was the hardest of all to find and the furthest out of town.  He was worth it, though.  Another nice display.

Looking at the box of completed entry forms for those who finished up, there were only about 30 people that managed to find them all.  Tired and dirty, but worth it for the long day.  All of the herd will be rounded up, then auctioned to highest bidders to find new homes.

Thanks for stopping by. Comments always welcome.

(-: ¸.·´* .·´*¨¨)) –:¦:- *** ((¸¸.·´*~Kathy~.·´*)****¨¨)) -:¦:- ·· ((¸¸.·´* .·´*((¸¸.·.·´ *-:¦:- ... :-)

Steve’s Everglades’ Pics

Here’s what my sister sent me of pics her husband Steve took with his SLR digital camera with fancy lenses.  They’re better than the ones I took with my digital Kodak.  Betsy’s e-mail said:  “Steve took these pictures off a boardwalk through the SW part of the Everglades.  The camera wanted to focus on the close objects, not on the baby 'gators...but good enough.   Mama's only job is security..50+ eggs to start, the head count that morning was 10, and we only saw 7 that afternoon  The others may have been hunting minnows or tadpoles.  The bird is an Anhinga...sunning after fishing, which is swimming under water...he spreads his wings to dry them out.

Betsy”

  

Thanks for stopping by. Comments always welcome.

(-: ¸.·´* .·´*¨¨)) –:¦:- *** ((¸¸.·´*~Kathy~.·´*)****¨¨)) -:¦:- ·· ((¸¸.·´* .·´*((¸¸.·.·´ *-:¦:- ... :-)

Fort Myers and Everglades

Late last month, Russel and I drove down to Ft. Myers to spend the weekend with my sister and her hubby.  We were lucky enough to also get to see Dee and Bob for a day trip into the Everglades.  We took Dee and Bob’s little doxy Greta along as bait for alligators.  Lucky for her, the gators were uninterested!  

At a great walkway off of US 41, we saw lots of cool birds, gators, etc.  At another walkway, we saw more gators, including babies, and an eagles’ nest.  The ranger said eggs had been laid in the nest a week or so before we got there.  Be sure to click on the pics for details, especially the baby gators and eagle.  In no particular order . . .

Here’s an anhinga drying his wings.  They don’t repel water like a duck.

An anhinga swimming underwater hunting for fishies.

  

Gator babies sunning on a log.

Good mama with a baby on her back.  Ranger said babies feed themselves from day one, but mama watches over them to keep greedy dad from eating the babies.

Gators sunning in river next to US 41.

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Sunning turtle.  Laying around in the sun seems to be popular.

Smack in the middle is a bald eagle sitting on a bare branch.  He or she is able to overlook the nest from there.

 

Eagles’ nest.  It was huge!

Snowy egret with very last of his breeding plumage left.

Only pic I have that shows Greta, our bait.  Brother-in-law Steve in back with Dee, Bob and Russel sitting with Greta.

In the BBQ restaurant in Everglades City, was this stuffed gator.  First is Dee’s dismount, brave Steve, ladylike me, and sister Betsy hanging on for dear life.

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Here’s me, Steve, Betsy and Russel in front of the Bubble Room, a cool Christmas-themed restaurant on Captiva Island.

We did a lot of driving for a week, what with going to and from Sarasota and Ft. Myers and the Everglades, but a good time was had by all, even the bait!

Thanks for stopping by. Comments always welcome.

(-: ¸.·´* .·´*¨¨)) –:¦:- *** ((¸¸.·´*~Kathy~.·´*)****¨¨)) -:¦:- ·· ((¸¸.·´* .·´*((¸¸.·.·´ *-:¦:- ... :-)

Creative Images Feb. Meeting

Due to illnesses and conflicts, only seven members made it to the Feb. meeting last Wed., but we got a lot done anyway.  I took pictures of the five exchange cards, but my picture of Patty’s owl zentangle card didn’t turn out.  Sorry.  Whomever got that in the exchange might send me a pic or bring it to the next meeting and I will try again.  The theme this month, per the calendar, was “Joy Ride.”  Most everyone did the “Touch of Whimsy” theme that was postponed from last month.  Click on any pic for details, then click back to return.

First off is Ella’s card with a sense of humor about being forgetful.  Fussy cutting!  My fave.

 

Here’s Jeannie’s embossed fairy.  I took the pic standing on its side.  With the miracle of modern science and a little photoshopping, I tilted it the right way.

I’m the only one who did the “Joy Ride” theme.  I already had this cute little image colored and cut out.  Just had to slap it together.  I got my own card in the exchange, so you’ll see him again!

  

Therese made this gorgeous jeweled peacock for his whimsical card.

Helen did the project for this month, a scratch and sniff cherry made by combining sugar free cherry Kool-Aid with embossing powder.  Fun!  Would also work with oranges, lemons, limes, etc.  Any fruity stamp or Kool-Aid.

Hope to see more of you at the next meeting.  Thanks for stopping by. Comments always welcome.

(-: ¸.·´* .·´*¨¨)) –:¦:- *** ((¸¸.·´*~Kathy~.·´*)****¨¨)) -:¦:- ·· ((¸¸.·´* .·´*((¸¸.·.·´ *-:¦:- ... :-)