Whooo let you in?

Elizabeth was startled the other day, when she opened the back door to the garage and this little guy flew off a shelf in front of her. It flew from one side to a perch on the other side, and after composing herself, I was called to see our unexpected guest. Quickly grabbing my trusty Sony DSC-HX1 camera, I shot these pictures. This is the stuff made for rainy (or sunny) day blog entries.

Leaving the mystery as to how Woodsy the Owl got into our garage, the immediate object was to shoo him (or her, as I'm not sure if this was Woodsy or Woodamina) away from the garage and back out into the wild. I opened the double garage door, but he simply moved from his second perch to a low table (where I took a better picture). Not really sure just how this raptor would react, I got a yardstick length piece of wood to urge him away. After about four close pokes without touching, he finally took the hint and flew under the open garage door and off to a more natural surrounding. Probably the live oak trees in the woods behind our condo, or perhaps to share the cormorant roosts in the Aussie Pines by the golf course. Wherever, as long as it wasn't my garage.

We later consulted the trusty Audubon guide and determined he was an Eastern Screech Owl, whose height (8-10 inches) matched, as well as the coloration. We have added him to the list of strange birds who have visited recently - Ripley was not introduced to this story, as he has his paws full with barking at squirrels, ducks, Canada geese, and of course the swans. Owls for now shall remain a topic for mice and men, but not little beagle boys.

Ripley has a girlfriend

Ripley is in love...........puppy love. He's been seeing a young (one year old) West Highland Terrier named Bonnie, and they've been having play dates at our house and at hers too. Bonnie lives at the other end of our street and, like Ripley, is a full time Florida resident. So many of his canine friends are snow bird dogs, and have to go north to another home when the "season" is over on our island.

Bonnie is very active, and I took perhaps two dozen shots in order to catch this fine portrait. She had been to her groomer today, and was looking very attractive. Ripley today had his walk on the golf course, went swimming in the lake, and his own groomer (yours truly) is now drying off as is Ripley. He got a bath in the laundry room wash tub. Boy beagles don't go to the groomer, they go to the tub. Ripley is a very patient dog, however, and does not object to being bathed by a non-professional.

Ripley is shown sharing his newest toy, a black ferret-like fabric toy complete with two squeakers. I've captured a rare moment of detente between Rip and Bon-bon, where the toy is between them, and the question is "who will grab it and run first"? The toy had two squeakers, but by day two Ripley had managed to tear one end sufficiently loose that we had to remove one (he'd already bitten through and "killed" the squeaker anyway). Ripley is hard on his toys, but treats Bonnie with a bit more respect. He's a true beagle gentleman.

Both dogs will chase after each other, alternately giving up the toy to the other. It's quite funny to watch them on the hardwood floor - sort of like watching quarter-midget race cars "drifting" through turns and much skittering on the straightaways as they grab occasional traction on several rugs at both ends of the living area. On the screened lanai, they're also quite active, but with much more traction and the horseplay gets a bit more active.

One dog just "being a dog" is fun to watch - two of them having fun is a joy to behold.

Sneak Peek Inside Church

Probably the third time I'm writing on this subject, the new Presbyterian Church being built on Longboat Key, and probably not the last time either. It's a work in progress, but progress is occurring and I had my camera at the ready.

Today we filled three busloads of parishioners and traveled from our current location in an office building to have a before Easter sneak peek inside. The building is not done, of course, but so many members are snow-birds, and will leave after Easter Sunday, so now was the best time to show people where their money and their prayers were going.

Perhaps a little history is in order - I mentioned the office building, which is the current location of our congregation, which broke off from a non-denominational church located perhaps a quarter-mile from where our new building is rising on two acres of land. The office building has been our home for the better part of three years, and before that was a smaller facility rented from the town. The church was growing from the initial twenty or so families, and they knew they'd need to find a bigger place to worship. So they sought out land, and planned their own church building upon it. That land was purchased outright with the cash contribution of about half a dozen families, and the church itself is being self financed over a five year period from pledges and investment securities issued by a corporation created to issue debt. In essence, the church members buying the debt will be paying themselves a four percent dividend over the period their dollars ($25,000 minimum investment) are in use. This is an island of very smart people, who've found a way to avoid giving mortgage banks a profit, and putting their money into the hands of the Lord to do his work.

The church will seat 279 in the sanctuary, have 144 seats in the fellowship hall, and 10 in the kitchen, so the Fire Marshall is giving us an occupancy load of 433 people. This past several weeks, we've had approximately 250 in services, but of course Easter is coming and that brings Presbyterians back to church in large numbers - they are called C&E worshipers (Christmas & Easter), but they do tend to plump the offering dish. At the high point of the church, the tower over the chancel (where the pastor stands) is 41.6 feet, and the first floor has 15,000 square feet. There is a second floor, where the sound booth is located, as well as other rooms, and adds another 2,000 square feet.

Ultimately, a building on the adjacent lot which was part of the original 2.6 million dollar purchase price for the four lots (one improved, three vacant) will become church offices and a second floor 3 bedroom parsonage. It will be repainted to match the new church and will have a replacement roof of hurricane resistant cement tiles, and the new church will be able to withstand winds in excess of 140 MPH. It will be one of the safest buildings on the island. And that's only fitting, to find shelter in a storm in the house of the Lord.

In 2005, I was forced to leave the island due to the threat of Hurricane Charley. I stayed on the island through Hurricanes Frances, Jean, and Ivan. Next big storm, I'm going to church.

Our front orchid garden

When we moved into our new garden villa (one story) condominium, we inherited what might best be described as a neglected courtyard, with several diseased and dying trees, and bushes that had clearly passed their prime. Over the past six months, we removed several trees and shrubs, and my wife has hung several varieties of orchids in those trees remaining.

We're now contemplating a double or triple trunk palm tree, and when the weather turns cooler in the fall, some additional plantings alongside the garage. My wife is very good with laying out ideas, just look at some of my blog entries about the new house. Today, we're listening to the contractor install some new "hurricane standard" sliding glass doors along the window wall in our bedroom. They are really heavy duty, and tinted for keeping out sun and holding in cool air-conditioning. It's said that Florida only became popular with the advent of air conditioning, and that's probably a fair statement. There are several really nice months here, without need for any air conditioning, but those would not be the upcoming months I fear.

This garden attracts all sorts of flora and fauna, and behind the storm door rests the guardian of 3402 - Ripley the Beagle. Our friend the heron, who feasts on small gecko lizards, is another frequent visitor. All this transpires outside my office/den window, where I can see all of the happenings in our neighborhood. Life in Winding Oaks is good, and perhaps, like Lake Woebegone, even "better than average".

Ripley goes on vacation too

This past weekend, we all went on a vacation, with my wife and I taking a cruise to Cozumel, and Ripley visiting his foster mom and dad in Riverview, Florida. Ripley was her first foster, and she loves him as much as we do. She has two other beagles, both female, and I'm sure Ripley was the perfect gentleman. At least, that was the report, however Lori may be willing to fib so we bring him back again when we go for our next cruise.

Now, while he was visiting, Katie and Mollie taught Ripley some new tricks, including climbing trees. Ripley loves squirrels, and he chases them along with birds of all feathers (up to significantly larger Swans). In a prior blog, we watched Ripley find his inner swimmer, and now he's perfecting his inner beagle tree climber. When we came to pick him up after the weekend, he showed us this new trick. All I had to do to encourage him to show me his new skill as to say "get that squirrel, Rip, Mr. Squirrel is up the tree".

Lori has a wonderfully large back yard, and Ripley looks forward to visiting her two girls again this Fall. The large picture was taken through the back sliding glass door, showing three tired dogs asking to come in. Ripley is so photogenic, or maybe I'm just so much enamored with him that I take far too many pictures of the boy. Next to the Ripper, my digital camera probably is my favorite toy...........I'd say my Corvette, but I'm not allowed to think of a new one until our condo sells. So, lots of Ripley stories, and picture essays for a while. Mexico was nice, and we figured this was our 6th trip to Cozumel. Pancho's Backyard was, as always, very good and the margaritas this time around had us stumbling back aboard and straight to nap time. I'm told Ripley got less sleep, but then he only was served water.

And you thought $400,000 was expensive

This is the worlds fastest production car, and the most expensive, at $2.6 million. It's a Bugatti Veyron and has a top speed of 267 mph. And, it's street legal to drive.

So in an adjacent blog post, I wrote about the $400,000 Ford Mustang Cobra Jet, and it was designed for a specific purpose (which by the way it succeeded in taking the 2009 January drag championships). I don't know what the Bugatti was designed for, other than to separate a fool from his money. Who needs 1,000 horses, from sixteen cylinders, and a total of ten radiators. Oh, yes, the car gets 8 miles to the gallon under normal driving conditions.

At 140 mph, hydraulics lower the car to 3.5 inches of ground clearance, simultaneously deploying the wing and spoiler to create down force and keep this behemoth glued to the road. Then, if the driver really has a death wish, he can toggle another switch in the cockpit and he's off to 253 mph at 2.6 inches off the ground.

Meanwhile, the Chevrolet ZR1 costs only $114,000, generates 638 horses (bhp) out of only 8 cylinders, and can get Joe Sixpack up over 200 mph for 1/25th the cost of the Bugatti. So, you tell me - what makes more sense, and costs far fewer dollars. I'm sticking with my Chevy - let the Eurotrash have their supercars and champagne.

Weekend car $hows

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to help a buddy deliver a Ford Mustang Cobra Jet drag racing car to two car shows in central Florida. We started in Polk County, at Fantasy of Flight for a Mustang show which included various other Ford engined products like the AC Cobra (and various replicars based on Cobras), and the Ford GT 40's, and the Pantera's. The owner of the Cobra Jet drove his Pantera to both events, we brought the Cobra on the trailer.

Now, you'd think a twin turbo Pantera would be a star attraction (the gentleman owns two of them, and several other exotics including a Ford GT-40), but you'd be wrong. The Cobra Jet started life as a regular Mustang, but was pulled off the assembly line to have a specially built drag racing engine installed. Actually, there were exactly 50 of these 2008 models made exclusively to win the 2009 drag racing championships, and sold only to drag racing teams. Rules say you have to have 50 to be considered a production model. The car does not have basic amenities, like mirrors, turn signals, AM/FM, etc. It does go fast, very fast. The owner got his from a team that needed three, but ordered four. It pumps out over 1,000 horses, and sounds like a banshee out of hell when the throttle is advanced. When we took it off the trailer on Saturday, it had 2.6 miles on the odometer.

By Sunday, when we took it to an Exotic Cars show in St. Petersburg, it had 3.6 miles. At Fantasy of Flight there was a bit of distance between exhibition parking and the trailer. I didn't stay all day on Sunday, so I'm guessing the odometer probably is now pushing maybe 5 or 6 miles. Low miles of course are important when it comes time to sell the car. A year ago, one of the really low numbers (ours was #27) sold at Barrett-Jackson Auto Auction for $400,000. This particular car has never been on a drag strip, by the way.

Oh, I also learned some fun trivia facts - did you know the GT-40 got its name from the fact it stands 40 inches? At that Carroll Shelby named the Shelby Mustangs GT-350 and GT-500 based on the fact there was a 350 foot walk from his house to his shop front door, and a 500 foot walk from the back door of the shop. Sounds logical to me, considering the 350 had a 289 engine and the 500 had a 428 cubic inch. Rich guys and car designers, especially rich car designers, can make their own rules.

Ripley the water dog

Who knew? Ripley is a swimmer, as well as a walker, sniffer, and wet kisser.

Today, I witnessed something he did for the first time yesterday, while I was gone. And, that first time swimming was more by accident than intent, as he was wading in the grass alongside our pond, and stepped off the "ledge" into the original pond. We've had so much rain lately in Florida that the pond has increased in circumference. My wife told me about his short swim, where he all of a sudden found the ground had dropped out from under him, and he did what comes naturally.

Fast forward 24 hours and we're both walking Ripley, this time around the golf course. We're walking the fairways over on the lake side, and Ripley decides "hey, I think I'll jump in and cool off", and he did. Elizabeth captured this on her phone's camera. Had I not seen it with my own eyes, I probably wouldn't have believed it since almost every beagle I'd owned and loved in the past were not fond of water. Heck, some of them would even resist taking a bath, but not this boy. Maybe that's it - five female beagles, all more concerned with their hair and makeup. But Ripley is all boy, and it's like when he discovered his "inner beagle" at the dog park, where before he hardly ever barked and howled like breed standard. But even when dog paddling, he held his white tail straight up, like a flag.

This dog is full of surprises, and willing to try anything it would appear. You'll note the leash in each picture - that's because he probably would try everything, and having run from his original home, we're not taking chances.