I watched this young lady training her puppy along the Tampa Riverwalk. She was very patient and I noticed she alternated between treating the dog and praising her dog while training him to retrieve. I have always thought that is the best way to train your dog so the dog doesn’t expect a treat each time they perform a desired action.
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Praise Your Dog
Outside it was night, it was dark and very moist. Like being inside a chocolate layer cake. After you have been outside for a while in a sea fog, you can taste it even if you have been smoking a Cuban cigar and drinking coffee.
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Foggy Night
Last week we went to see Itzhak Perlman at the Straz Center in Tampa Florida. It was wonderful to see a true master that is so accessible and funny. Before the show we walked along the Tampa Riverwalk and plan to return to visit the Museums. Nice job Tampa!
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Tampa Riverwalk
The Florida Gulf is haven to thousands of migratory birds. Some stop over on their way further south and some winter in the gulf before heading north. The gulls however are full time residents and they are nasty.
In our short time here we have seen them attack a little girl holding a cookie and swoop in and steal an ice cream cone from a man walking on a pier.
This “patrol” is standing watch on Pier 60 in Clearwater Beach looking for unsuspecting people carrying food items.
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Attack Gulls
If you live where I live there are some birds you never get to see like Pelicans and Penguins. Another is the Roseate Spoonbill. They are found mostly in South America and in the USA can only be found in central and south Florida.
They are large birds with wingspans up to 55 inches and don’t look like they should be able to fly at all. These were seen in the Ding Darling sanctuary on Captiva Island Florida.
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Flock of Spoonbills
Clearwater Beach is probably one of the best beaches in the USA. Broad expanses of white sand manicured daily by an attentive staff. Beautiful sunsets complete with pirate ships, strolling families and flocks of sea birds.
However as large high rise condos are built the views of the small mom and pop motels that have been there for years are destroyed. This makes it hard for them to survive and some have fallen in to disrepair creating scenes like this.
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The Soft Underbelly of Clearwater Beach
“Little Blue Heron”sounds like a song title or a rock band name. We were in the Florida Botantical Gardens stalking Osprey and Aligators and this little blue guy started to follow us. I think he works for the NSA or something.
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Little Blue Heron
Clearwater Beach is known for fantastic sunsets. It is also probably one of the few places in the world where you can see a pirate galleon in front of the setting sun.
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Pirate Sunset
The Florida Botantical Garden in Largo Florida is a very large garden and nature preserve complete with a heritage village. It has beautiful walkways, plants, animals and best of all it is free. They don’t even charge for parking.
I don’t remember the name of this bromeliad but was struck by the variety of color in the leaves.
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Bromeliad
As we travel along the Gulf coast of Florida we have seen a lot of Osprey. However, I still have not seen one in flight. I think they might be a big fraud and just sit there all the time. A woman at a nature center showed me pictures of Osprey and they were all sitting.
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Osprey