Paynes Prairie

We had our morning beverages and did our language lessons before going downstairs for a breakfast of scrambled eggs and maple bacon. We gathered binoculars, cameras and lunch snacks for a trip to Payne’s Prairie and perhaps the Kanapaha Botanical Gardens near Gainesville.

It was about a 90-minute drive north to the Ecopassage Observation Boardwalk at Paynes Prairie State Park. Mark’s Florida state park pass got us admission without cost. We drove by the visitor center for a bathroom stop then on to a boardwalk area over a large wetland area where we saw a huge variety of birds including bald eagles, ospreys, sharp shinned hawks, harriers, red shouldered hawks, snail kites, limpkins and many types of waterfowl and wading birds. Near a large flock of whistling ducks we saw two alligators, one of which was especially large. Since the day was cool, in the low 60s, we didn’t expect to see alligators out basking in the sun. As we walked, we were certain that we heard a SpaceX launch going up. Although we scanned the sky for the several minutes that we heard the roar, we never spotted the rocket. After we got back to Homosassa, Mary looked up recent launches and confirmed that we had heard a rocket launch. The boardwalk passed over an area that appeared to be frequently inundated with water. There were many snail snail shells of all size scattered along the top of the damp soil.

We had a snack lunch of Ritz crackers, stale peanut butter, corn nuts and chips as we drove to the Bolens Bluff area of Paines Prairie. We walked about a mile through a wooded area with a lot of damage from wild hogs. When the trail opened into the prairie we could see wild horses in the distance near an observation tower. These small horses are descended from horses brought to Florida by Spanish explorers in the 1500s. As we walked toward the tower, we saw a variety of birds including several sandhill cranes and several species of predatory birds.

At the tower we counted 10 wild horses including one with a cattle egret on its back. We watched the horses grazing in the damp prairie grass and looked for birds and Mary spotted a bison herd in the distance. Using binoculars, we could see about 20 bison grazing.

As we walked back to the parking area, we chatted with several groups walking out to see the horses and bison. Mary read to us about the nearby Kanapaha Botanical Gardens. It sounds like the garden would be a good visit in warmer months, but we knew that most of the featured tropical plants wouldn’t be growing at this time of year. We drove through the parking lot then headed toward Homosassa.

Mark grilled some outstanding steaks from the beef that they bought from a neighbor in Idaho. The steaks were tender and flavorful. Mark grilled them to a perfect medium.

Mark and I installed the soundbar bracket and Sonos Beam soundbar on the living room television. The sound quality is quite good.

We watched an episode of Astrid season four and rewatched an episode of season one of Vienna Blood with Mark and Cindy.