Distal Lingual Cusp Number 31 03/23/19

Jonathan Dickinson State Park, Hobe Sound, Florida (Jupiter)

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. ~ I Thessalonians 5:16-18

I was originally going to title this post “The Wild Life”, but something happened today that made me change my mind. You’ll hear about it later. 😊

When we woke up this morning, I just knew that Blaine was gonna force me to try to make up for at least some of the relatively sedentary lifestyle we’ve been enjoying these past two weeks. Sure enough, the first thing he mentioned was taking a hike here in JD before we went to Sandy and Eric’s for the rest of the day. Blaine’s enjoyed their company as well, but I imagine he’s so tired of hearing me talk, he’ll most likely issue a gag order after today for at least a couple of days. That’s okay. I’ve used a lot of words the past two weeks! 😊

For me, this was the most melancholic day I’ve had since we left Ohio in December. We had a wonderful day, but always in the back of my mind was the fact that we’re leaving tomorrow and most likely won’t see our Florida family for at least two years. Heavy, heavy sigh . . . . . ☹

On top of that, add in a drop of depression that’s hit me recently because being around them has made me miss my kids and grandkids enormously! I was fighting internal battles off and on all day, but joy always won out! It always does! And I know. I know that it comes from the Holy Spirit within me! (Oh. Look at that. A ‘coincidental’ scripture verse for today! I’ll have you know, I put this verse on this day well over two weeks ago with no thought whatsoever! We could also add Galatians 5:22-23 – the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.)

So our hike this morning on the 1.25 mile Kitching Creek Nature Trail wasn’t long – despite what the sign says. And it was a perfect weather morning!

Some of the pictures we took go along with the numbered points of interest on the brochure we picked up, and a few of the comments on it were pretty funny.

An hour for a 1.25 mile loop is pretty darn leisurely! We generally go 2 1/2 – 3 mph depending on the terrain and how much scenery there is to photograph. : )

“The fruits of the saw palmetto (that’s the green palm-looking stuff on the ground) are edible and were an important food for Native Americans. In 1696, Jonathan Dickinson was shipwrecked on Jupiter Island, less than five miles from here. He reported that the Jaegas, a local Indian tribe, ate the berries of the palmetto. After tasting these fruits, he commented ‘they tasted like rotten cheese steeped in tobacco juice.’ Hungry anyone?”

We believe this is the St. John’s Wort they mentioned in the brochure.

This is what we found beyond the caution sign. We turned around and got back on track.

“The Florida slash pine is found nowhere else in the world except the southern part of Florida. In the days before this was a park, the early settlers sought out the hard, termite-resistant wood for their homes. As you walk the trails, give yourself time to imagine their view of a continuous forest of century-old virgin pines over two feet in diameter and over 90 feet tall.”

And we thought this was tarflower because it was the only white flower around. However, the internet would beg to differ, so I don’t know what it is.

Wire Grass “The most abundant grass in the flatwoods area. It was named for its blades which look and feel like fine wire. (Blaine concurred). When flowering, the see head of the plant has a wheat-like appearance (we concurred). The plant is fire-dependent, flowering best if burned during the we season (April-September). It’s a common food of the gopher tortoise.”

Dead Tree Yep. It’s in the brochure. Called ‘snags’, and they don’t clear them out because they’re useful to all the critters around. Plus, once they fall over and decay, they return nutrients to the ground.

Kitching Creek (Wilson Creek wasn’t picture-worthy) “About 1886, the Kitching family bought land around this creek from the State of Florida for $1.25 an acre. Born in England, Walter Kitching was the first of the family to visit the area in 1882. He later set up a trade boat business between Titusville and Jupiter. At the time, travel in south Florida was generally restricted tot he water. Kitching would travel by boat to the riverfront homes of settlers and his merchandise of clothing, shoes, groceries, medicine and kerosene. Ironically, it was probably his sister living in England who bought the land without ever having seen Florida.”

Don’t know what this is, but it was plentiful and pretty.

This is the beginning of some type of pine. Maybe a long-leaf pine?

“When young, a cabbage palm and saw palmetto are often confused. The palm’s name is derived from the cabbage-like heart which was used to make a tasty “swamp cabbage.” While a delicacy for humans, this practice is fatal tot he tree. Even after a raging forest fire, palms will usually survive because their buds are protected by the base of the fronds.

Gallberry It’s a member of the holly family, but instead of red berries, it has black ones. “Like most holly plants, its fruits are not edible. The shrub is abundant in the pine woods since its underground roots are not damaged by fire and the plant quickly recovers. Settlers used the bushes to make yard brooms. It was also used in a “sweeping motion” when applied to the rear end of disobedient children!” (haha!)

This is the closest we found to a two-foot diameter slash pine. Blaine says it’s probably close to a foot and a half.

Fetterbush Can you imagine trying to walk through such a tangle of vegetation? Maybe that was why early settlers called many of these plants “fetter bushes.” (Fetter means to restrain.) Over the years, however, this name has come to denote just one type of plant.” It’s that tangly one you can sort of see. Wonder if it’s the same stuff we saw at the Hobe Observation Tower growing all over the vegetation?

A group ahead of us spotted this “little guy” and pointed him out to us. He was kinda under a bridge, so without their comment, we might not have noticed him. : )

Ferns at Wilson Creek “More kinds of ferns are found in Florida than in any other state.”

The result of a prescribed burn, which obviously took place a while ago, since many saw palmettos have grown up and thriving.

We had already made arrangements with Eric and Sandy to bike to Adam’s home (but not his home for long!) to pick him up along with Eliana, and then head over to the Busch Wildlife Sanctuary that’s close to their home.

Over the sidewalk and down the lane to Adam’s house we go . . . : )

Doesn’t she look cute in her bike helmet? She was excited to put it on, too!

The Sanctuary is a donation-based, non-profit organization. Here’s what they have to say about themselves:

…dedicated to the protection and conservation of Florida’s wildlife and natural resources. To accomplish this mission, the Sanctuary is open to the public and offers environmental education opportunities and provides wildlife rescue and rehabilitative services.

The Sanctuary provides free comprehensive medical and rehabilitative care to almost 5,000 injured wild animals each year. Nearly 90% of the injuries treated at our wildlife hospital are directly related to man-made causes, which include collisions with automobiles, fishing line entanglement, electrocutions, illegal gunshots, poisonings, and attacks by dogs and cats. The ultimate goal of our wildlife rescue program is returning recovered animals to their natural habitats to once again become an integral part of our fragile environment.

In addition to our organization’s wildlife rehabilitation efforts, the Busch Wildlife Sanctuary annually offers community outreach programs to over 125,000 children and adults. The Sanctuary is open to the public for only a donation with regularly scheduled programs to educate young and old alike about nature, wildlife, and issues that affect our environment.

Live, non-releasable wild animals play an important role in the Sanctuary’s educational efforts. Former patients of our wildlife hospital that have suffered injuries too severe to allow them to return to the wild are provided with a refuge in which to live, where they now serve as ambassadors to the animal kingdom. These animals offer the public a rare opportunity to learn from nature up-close, while creating a memorable message of respect for all living creatures and their habitats. The concept of this facility was not to simply build a “zoo” exhibiting caged animals, but to create a unique sanctuary that combines a community nature and learning center with a wildlife hospital.

Nature trails lead visitors through pine flatwoods, oak hammocks, and cypress wetlands. Along the trails are wildlife habitats exhibiting a variety of native animals from bald eagles to Florida panthers, deer, otters, foxes, alligators, bears and much more.

To compliment the Sanctuary’s outdoor exhibits, a hands-on “Discovery Center” is currently under construction. Once it is completed, visitors can enjoy their learning experience as they explore nature through a variety of interactive displays. The Discovery Center will also include a classroom and wet lab.

Busch Wildlife Sanctuary’s unique facility offers a one-of-a-kind opportunity for the public to learn about nature while providing a sanctuary for both wildlife and people. Truly, it is the perfect place to bring the whole family for a real wild Florida Experience!

Eliana wanted on that cat, so I helped her out.

This is a Swallow-tailed Kite. Remember those from the other day? Bet this one wishes he could soar!

Any ideas on why God made this bird with that long flap of skin hanging over his mouth? Or why Benjamin Franklin thought this should be our National Bird???

Now that’s a much better choice for a National Bird!

Blaine leaned over the outer fence and pressed his phone close to get this unobstructed view. I’m not tall enough.

There she goes . . . touching stuff again! I don’t blame her. I can often be caught doing the same thing. : )

We thoroughly enjoyed this Sanctuary! It was obvious the staff we encountered did as well. They could be seen talking or playing with the animals, much like Dr. Doolittle, and the animals we saw responded well to them.

They were just about finished with a live animal presentation/education. Opposums are very soft.
Yes, I pet it. It’s just that no one took a picture of that. : )

A black crowned night heron.
Doesn’t seem to be anything amiss with him, so I’m wondering if he’s just a visitor . . .
Beautiful bird!

Those growths on the white pelicans’ beaks appear during mating season and then fall off when the season is over. The staff member there said, “Apparently, pelicans like it.” haha!

They had a Caracara!
We last saw this beautiful bird a year ago on a fence post in Florida as we passed by in the Jeep.

A party! Yeah! I think we missed the cake and ice cream, though. Bummer!

These are the bob cats, but without a party hat, I can’t tell which one’s having the birthday.
Neither seemed to be in a party mood.

My favorite interaction was at the Florida Panther enclosure when one of the two women working there was “hunted” by one of the two panthers. She was walking around outside the enclosure and the big cat hunkered down and watched while remaining very still, before bounding a few yards across the way. The worker responded by darting around so the cat could “chase” her. It was obviously a game and not an attack. I can’t remember which family member told us, but these two cats were rescues from a domestic pet situation, so they’re used to being around people.

We had several pictures of this guy sitting here, and if you scrolled fast, you could see him swishing his tail. This was following the “chase”. : )

I took this picture from the Sanctuary’s website. Sooo cute!

And just in case you’re looking at these pictures and wondering (as I did), Florida Panther, Puma, Mountain Lion, Cougar . . . . they’re all the same cat. After some on-line reading, my understanding is that Puma is the species’ scientific name (Puma concolor). The other names form a subspecies based mostly on their location. They have the widest range of any large wild earthbound mammal in the Western Hemisphere going from Canada’s Yukon (which boarders the east side of Alaska) to the southern Andes of South America (the Andes Mountains run the entire west coast of SA), which if you would take the Pan American highway, is a distance of about 19,000 miles! And that’s just the north-south range.

Although they’re closely related to and share many physical traits with small cats, pumas are more similar to the big cats — species in the genus Panthera — in size and ecology. Large males may weigh up to 113 kilograms (250 pounds) or more. Long, muscular hindlegs give pumas superb jumping ability: They’ve been documented making horizontal leaps of 14 meters (45 feet), and one cat was seen springing 3.6 meters (12 feet) into a tree while hoisting a deer carcass. They’re at home in a staggering variety of settings, from desert scrub to tropical rainforest to rugged subalpine forest. They favor as prey medium- to large-sized mammals such as deer, elk and guanacos, but across their range pumas have a very broad diet: They’ll also eat raccoons, hares, birds, snakes and other small creatures. ~ scienceing.com

Have you heard enough about the big cats yet? Because I’m finished now.

Eliana’s favorite seemed to be the large snakes. She was fascinated with the ones that were slithering about in their enclosures. 😊

Time to head back home. Adam and Eliana left us to return to their home and we continued to Sandy and Eric’s via a different route, part of which found us sitting in traffic. And I do mean sitting in traffic! Right in the car lane at a busy intersection waiting for the light to change so we could ride the car lane just like a car. Never did that before! But we trusted Eric, so that eased things a bit. However, just as the light changed, a woman with long, flowing silver hair and perfect posture, peddled right past us on her old, very rusty touring bike, toting WalMart bags. She looked pretty serene with a faint smile on her lips as she just rode right out into traffic without a care in the world. Made us look pretty silly for feeling even a smidge anxious about crossing the street. 😊

Between the hours of 4:15pm and 6:45pm, the guys (including Adam who returned with his Jeep) took the boat out of the water, cleaned it up and changed clothes for dinner, while Sandy and I indulged in crack and played with Eliana. It was just the four oldest adults tonight for dinner.

They took us to a fairly new Mexican place just down the street called Papi Chulo. Literal translation? Pimp Daddy. Hmmmm . . . I thought there certainly must be some other usage. It’s also used in the form of “ladies man” or referring to a man as “hot stuff”. Still not sure what that has to do with a restaurant . . . unless maybe that’s the nickname of the man who owns it?

That kiosk cart is where you give them your name.

Regardless, the food – and the company – was great! And we ended up ordering the same items – the girls had the tostones al pastor (Tostones are fried plantains, so literal translation? Fried plantains to the shepherd). The boys ordered smoked brisket nachos. And we shared a little, but we filled up quickly since we’d had orders of chips and salsa while we waited our half hour or so for dinner.

With a little more pineapple, these would have been practically perfect!

It was during that snack time that I noticed I had a chip on one of my teeth! Sandy’s worked in the dental field for many years, so she took a look at it when we got home. It’s the distal lingual cusp #31. It’s not sensitive, so no worries for the time being and I already have a dental appointment scheduled for May, so I’ll just call them ahead of time and give them a ‘heads up’.

After the tooth discovery. See the empty plate and salsa pot?

Back track to dinner. It’s good Eric eventually went to check on our seating because the girl had forgotten all about us. She seated us immediately. 😊

After dinner, we returned our bloated bodies to the tiki hut (following the dental exam) and talked for a couple more hours while Sandy and I vied for Lex’s warm body on our laps. The poor dog was obviously conflicted. She won, but only because she cheated and lied to him.

It was a sad parting of the ways knowing we wouldn’t be returning. ☹

But what a spectacularly, wonderfully blessed time we had these past two weeks!!

Thank you, Sandy and Eric for aaallll your marvelous hospitality, friendship and love!

Distal Lingual Cusp Number 31 03/23/19

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