Good Day and Super Moon

Today was the last day that Chris and Milt were in our area, so we all went to Silver Springs State Park and took a tour on the Glass Bottom Boat. Our tour guide this time was a little difficult to understand and he seemed to hurry through a bit, but it's still a lovely tour. We followed that up with dinner at Mojo Grill in Belleview - still good!

I have been studying how to take night pictures - and tonight the moon cooperated by being extra big and bright!

A little wine...

Lakeridge Winery is having another "buy one, get one" case sale! We twisted Gary and Erin's arms to go with us. The winery was so busy that their parking lot was completely full and they were parking cars on the grass. 

Because of the crowd, Lakeridge was doing their wine tasting different. Instead of lining up customer at the big counter downstairs, they had tasting stations spread around upstairs. We went through those, then settle at a table for a few minutes for a little snack. Then we went downstairs to figure out what to buy. We figured it out without too much trouble.

Road to Recovery

As Shorty's bite wound heals, we need to make sure he doesn't lick or bite his stitches. He's pretty good about it so we decided to skip the big "collar of shame" and put him in a snug t-shirt. It keeps him away from his stitches without having a big collar to bump into things. So far he's doing fine.

Osaka Steak House

Wednesday Chris and I had a girls day out, so naturally we went to Goodwill in The Villages. That, and a stop at I-Hop, took several hours. Later in the evening Chris and Milt took us out for dinner at the Osaka Steak House. Our waitress was a charm-school dropout named Britteny, and our chef was a Mexican named Mario. Not exactly Japanese, but Mario knew his way around that grill! He served fried rice first, which was so good that I ate it all and didn't have room for the vegetables, meat, and noodles that followed. Leftovers for lunch!

Tomorrow morning they will drive further south, towards the Miami area. They will be staying at a campsite without hookups so they are leaving their 2 little dogs with us for a few days. Pita used to be Shorty's good friend but they haven't seen each other for a while, so they will need to get reaquainted. Poco is totally a mama's girl but we will try to make sure she has a good time here. 

The Manatees of Three Sisters

It's cool weather in Florida, which means the manatees are swimming up the creeks to find warmer water. Three Sisters Springs in Crystal River has a lot of them now, so we drove Chris and Milt over there. Along the way we stopped at a roadside stand that looked good. They had Honeybells, which is my favorite citrus. These were full of juice and fairly sweet; they could be better but they were good enough that I got some. Randy liked the Red Oranges and Chris went for the Plant City strawberries. 

Then we drove onto see the manatees. Today they estimated there were 200 in the springs! I actually think there were more than that; in some places they were packed in like sardines. 

When we arrived, there were between 40 and 50 manatees in the large, shallow pool that connected to the river by a small canal. Here they lay almost motionless on the bottom. When manatees are at rest, they tuck their head down, so they look just like big underwater rocks. Manatees can hold their breath up to 20 minutes, although they generally come up for a breath every 3 to 5 minutes. When they want to take a breath, they just slowly rise from the lake bed with no discernible effort, like a slow-moving balloon, and break the surface with their nose. And they almost immediately sink back down; it doesn't take them long at all to get a deep breath.  These critter have amazing buoyancy control!

They look like they have a big layer of fat, but the docents said they don't. Their internal organs are large enough to fill those fat-looking bodies. 

There were a lot of calves here today. Calves stay with their mom for 2 years, and everyone we saw stayed right next to its mama.

While we were there the tide was going out, which caused the manatees in the large pool to head towards the rivers edge. They didn't rush over, of course; I don't know what it would take to make a manatee rush. But as they felt the water's pull, a few at a time moved along the small canal to reach the big group in the river.

This whole area is so peaceful. In a field nearby were a pair of Sandhill Cranes. These birds mate for life, so we usually see two of them together. 

Eventually we had to leave, but before we went home we went to Crackers Bar and Grill for a light lunch. To our delight, they had oysters! 

One of the perks of eating here is watching the show when the fishing boats come in. When they show up, the pelicans come flying in from all around! They know the fishing guides dress the fish they caught and throw the scraps out to the birds. 

One bird gets to stand on the nearest pier, and the guide shows off his aim by tossing scraps directly at it. This is where I leaned how flexible those webby feet are.

Finally, another day on the boat

Sunday Chris and her friend Milt arrived for a visit. They came in Chris's RV and had planned to stay at the Lake Griffin State Park, where we parked our RV while we were moving into our house back in 2016. But the park didn't have a site open that would fit their rig. So they parked it by the Clubhouse in Lake Griffin Isle and we drove them around to find another park. Eventually they found one about 10 miles from us and moved their RV there.

The next day they came over to our place for a boat ride. Their two little dogs stayed home because Randy likes everyone on the boat to have a life vest, and naturally Chris doesn't have life vests for her Illinois dogs. But Shorty has one, so we suited him up and we all took off. It turned out to be a nice day; Shorty and Milt took turns napping in the sun. 

First Randy steered us down Haines Creek, which was full of fishermen searching for Crappie. Next he headed to Pirat's Oasis (it's spelled that way) at the north end of the lake for some gas and food. Randy and I split a grilled fish lunch while Chris and Milt shared cheese sticks. 

Afterwords we split up to do our own thing for a while, before getting back together for dinner at La Palmas.

A close call for Shorty

Saturday morning Randy put Shorty into his harness and leash and took him for a walk. A few houses down from us there was a truck parked in the street with an open door. Suddenly a large, unleashed dog jumped out of the truck and grabbed Shorty in it’s mouth. Shorty yelped hysterically, while Randy grabbed him up and held him against his chest, to keep him away from the other dog. The dog then lunged at Randy, biting through his jacket.

Randy carried Shorty home where we found a bloody puncture wound on his side where the dog had grabbed him. Since our vet is closed on the weekend, a neighbor suggested we take him to Buffalo Ridge Animal Hospital in The Villages. They were able to get us in, although we had a bit of a wait. Shorty was sedated and treated, and it required 3 staples to close the wound.

Shorty seems to be OK, although he's pretty drugged up on pain meds now. Randy is another story; he gets the horrors thinking of how bad it might have been. I think Randy needs some Scotch.

Avatar!

Today we went to the Animal Kingdom and finally got to ride the Avatar ride! It's impossible to get a Fast Pass (hotel guests get to make Fast Passes a month earlier than we do) and the wait is at least 2 hours. But Pete was able to get us in because he occasionally uses a scooter to handle the aftereffects of a major surgery he had years ago. We loved the ride - it's Disney's best so far! Pete is The Man!

We were able to get Fast Passes to the Pandora river ride. It's nothing like Avatar but it's still enjoyable.

The other great thing about Animal Kingdom is, of course, the animals. The great lowland Gorillas move easily around their large area, sometimes in view and sometimes not - it's up to them. But on a sunny day they seem to like sitting in the wide open, soaking up the sun and watching people who are watching them.

The Lion King show is always good. It's on 6 times a day with rotating actors and they all are very good. They have fire dancers, aerialists, singers, stilt-walkers, and lots of singing.  And the "monkeys" are wonderful acrobats.

Harrods royal badges and warrants

When we visited Harrods in 1997, the corner of the store boasted 4 large heraldic badges, evidence of warrants from the Royal Family households of the Queen, Prince Philip, the Queen Mother, and the Prince of Wales. 

A royal warrant is an advertising ploy that can be given to merchants who sell goods or services to the Royal Family (basically they say that someone royal shops here). They are reviewed every 5 years, and Harrods has had royal warrants since 1910. As a tourist, I was interested in these things, especially the second one - what is an almost-naked guy doing there?

I recently found out these are no longer on Harrods. When Prince Philip's warrant to Harrods came up for review in 2000, it was decided that his household doesn’t do business there anymore, and Harrods was informed that the warrant would not be renewed. It’s possible that Queen’s and Prince of Wales’ warrant may have followed suit when their review came up (the Queen Mother’s warrant was not subject to review). However, after the death of Princess Diana and Mr. Fayed’s son Dodi, Harrods owner Mr. Fayed was very angry at the royal family. Knowing he lost one warrant and anticipating losing more, Mr. Fayed took them all down. Then, in a 2011 TV documentary, just to show how mad he was, he hauled them out of storage and burned them. He also banned Prince Philip from Harrods, although I don't imagine Prince Philip cares very much. But I hate it that he burned these things -  I really liked them! To satisfy an old curiosity, I looked them up:

1. The Queen's shield has 3 lions for England in 2 quarters, another lion for Scotland, and a harp for Ireland, all surrounded by a garter (the Order of the Garter is an ultra-prestigious, ultra-exclusive order of chivalry that dates back to 1348). The “supporters” on either side of the shield are a crowned lion and a unicorn. The French motto "Dieu et mon Droit” translates to “God and my right” (King Henry V added the “my right” part when he claimed the French crown).  

2. Prince Philip's shield has three lions for Denmark, a cross for Greece, two bars for Battenberg/ Mountbatten, and a castle for Edinburgh, all surrounded by a garter. It's topped with a plume of five ostrich feathers, and the supporters are Hercules (so that's the  almost-naked guy!) and a crowned lion. The motto is ’God Is My Help’.

3. The Queen Mother has a busy shield, combining UK's coat of arms with her father’s, the Earl of Strathmore. It includes 9 lions, 6 bows, and a harp. It's topped with a crown and supported by a crowned lion and a half-red lion.

4. The Prince of Wales' badge is the simplest one, with three large white ostrich feathers and a gold coronet. A ribbon below the coronet bears the motto "Ich dien", which is German for ”I serve”.