December 21, 2012

Coral Cove and Jupiter Inlet are two of my favorite beach outings. Coral Cove’s 14 acres of breathtaking beach are located on Jupiter Island. Coral Cove offers some of the best examples of natural limestone formations in Florida. This beach is fun to photograph with the waves crashing over and though the limestone rocks. The shore birds seem to love this area as well.

Jupiter Inlet is a beautiful waterway leading out to the Atlantic Ocean. The Inlet offers fishing, boating, picnicking and is a great spot for watching and photographing the birds.

Bird sighting on this day:

Sanderling can be seen chasing receding waves on ocean beaches, and running away from them when they return. They breed in the high Arctic and winter along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts from Canada to Argentina. They are fun to observe and photograph.

Ruddy Turnstones are stocky, brightly patterned shorebirds (non-breeding, not so much) that can be seen actively pecking, probing, and flipping over stones and other objects along rocky shores – as their name suggests they breed on rocky arctic coasts and tundra.

Other images of Coral Cove

December 21, 2012

Jonathan Dickinson State Park(JDSP) established in 1950 covers over 11,500 acres of beautiful habitat, which includes sand pine scrub, pine flat woods, mangroves, and river swamps. The Loxahatchee River, Florida’s first federally designated wild and scenic river runs through the park.

An interesting bit of history about JDSP is that during WWII the army established a top secret radar training school called Camp Murphy that was located on current park property. Land had been quickly and summarily purchased or condemned and taken from landowners in order to conduct this training. (I guess once taken it is never given back.)

More than 1,000 buildings quickly sprang up and more than 6,000 personnel were stationed at the camp, which had its own power plants, sewer system, church and theater. Camp Murphy was shut down after only two years of operation.

I now realize why there are so many old paved and unused roads throughout the park. They were built when the Army built Camp Murphy and are used today as biking, hiking and walking paths.

Everyday, we have the pleasure of experiencing the varied terrain that these park trails have to offer. In years past we have seen river otter, snakes, alligators, rabbits and numerous species of birds including the Florida Scrub Jay. We have heard, but have not seen coyotes and find evidence of wild pigs also never seen in the park, but have seen them along the highway.

Hopefully, through these photos you will get a feel for this unique and beautiful park.

 December 10, 2012

Bad news…..

We were sitting outside enjoying the afternoon and I just happened to look over at the coach – watering was running out of the bays!! Lots of water. Before going outside to relax, I had put some shorts and tops in the washing machine.

We both ran inside and sure enough water was running out of the filter trap door on the front side of the washer/dryer. I just kept thinking, as I rushed to grab towels to soak up the water,   “Oh my-gosh what is wrong with the washer/dryer?” I kept seeing $$$$ flash in front of my eyes!

Good news…..

Howard just so happened to have cleaned the trap a few days prior to today and we finally realized, after the initial shock, that he might not have tighten the trap door tight enough after cleaning. Possibly another cause, just the vibration of the machine,  going through the wash cycle could have loosened the trap door – who knows!! And, I certainly don’t blame him!!

It’s all okay now…..

So after…..

• a lot of wet towels hanging on a clothes line,
• water being emptied out of the drum,
• items from the bay lying on the camp-site picnic table,
• bay doors opened to dry the bay area,
• the dogs hopefully re-considering from their first impression when this episode started, that we just might be crazy,
•  and of course tightening the filter trap door,
• clothes being put back into the machine to spin and test with fingers crossed,
• a glass of wine to finally relax

….. we can be thankful that the machine seems to work okay. Whew!!

A helpful hint:

If you have a washer/dryer in your RV always check the filter trap, first to clean it out and second to make sure the door is always tighten.

Just another fun day RV’ing!!!