Sad Ending

As I've commented in many other posts, we absolutely love the wildlife down here. From the gators and snakes to the bears and racoons.

We have come into contact with bear on many occassions lately as the bears are being pushed from their homes (housing is tearing down acres of land to build new homes) and getting ready to fatten up for thier hibernation. Our neighborhood is such an easy "target" for food since our garbages are out in the open and not "bear-proof" at all. This is why the bears continue to feast on our leftovers.

Unfortunately, our neighbor - who is a new resident relocated from Alaska - is deathy (and I mean that literally) afraid of the bears. She is so paranoid that the bears will try to hunt down her children and her and eat them alive. I kid you not....this is the absolute truth. Tyler and her son are best friends and so we talk quite often. Anyhow, she had contacted everyone from housing to the Wildlife Conservation people about the bear and how much of liability he is to all. From what I hear, these bears have been living no Tyndall's property for many, many years.

Again, a terrible ending for an animal that has been humanized.

Here are some of the pictures I've taken over the last two weeks.....

I have to admit it would be frightening to see this guy if you opened your door! But the pigmy rattlers are often found between your front door and screen door....those things are more dangerous b/c of how aggressive they are.....






This guy is just 5-8' from my fence.















The email tells it all......





"From: 325 MSG Command Section


Sent: Monday, August 11, 2008 11:23 AM


To: Tyndall All


Subject: Bear Captured





Yesterday, our Natural Resources team, in cooperation with the FloridaFish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, trapped the approx 250lb male bear that has been eating his way through Felix Lake housing the past couple of weeks. Residents are reminded to secure their garbage to prevent uninvited animal guests from snacking close to residentialareas. Attached is a picture of the bear.





DAVID E. ZEH, Col, USAF


325 MSG/CCDSN 523-3226


Checkertails...Locate & Liquidate"


Apparently this guy was tagged by Natural Resources in the past for being a "nusence" - he was being fed by a resident. But don't we all feed them just by leaving our trash outside of our garages? It's an arguable issue; but my opinion still lies in the fact that the snakes are more dangerous than the bears.

photography

The Canterbury's Family Pics

pics of our summer fun

A bit out of order, but you'll get the jist........

Jayce dries off, ready for more sunblock













My 6th catfish of the day (that was ALL that was biting!)

Black Tipped Shark......

We saw him swimming frequently into the shallow water as we were fishing. This was a bit scary b/c we would walk out waste deep when we would cast out, and we were right where this guy was swimming. At one point, when I wasn't sure what kind of fish it was that was swimming around, he swam towards me and I kicked my leg at him to get him to swim away - then our friend tells me that "it's a shark." As I was reeling my hook back in I saw the shark and reeled slowly right next to him...next thing I know he BITES and starts flailing in the water - as soon as I reeled him (a whole 6 feet) onto shore, the line breaks! Thank goodness Justin was fast enough to grab him before he made his way back into the water. SO COOL!!

This is the first black tipped

shark we've caught - the other sharks we normally get are sand sharks.

When the kids get hold of the camera.........

Jim and Kris.......and Kammie with her catfish

You don't want to touch saltwater catfish...apparently they exert some sort of grossness from their skin.....that's all I needed to hear....no touching for me!

Some of our baitfish that didn't make it. We saw lots of dolphin (turned out to be large tarpon) and I thought I'd try to feed them - the dolphin. Didn't work so well.

Tyler's self portrait

Cindy and I enjoy the party float in waters deep enough that the kids can't get us! It's a little bit of heaven.

Addison lost her tooth!! She was eating pringles at the shorline and the next thing I know she's yelling at me & telling me that her tooth fell out. When I asked where it was, she just had this look on her face that was so disappointing - it fell INTO the water! So we all got on our hands and knees in the water and searched for her tooth until (5 minutes or so later) Addison says, "it's okay mom, I don't need my tooth." That was so sweet of her, but I'm thinking that we HAVE to find the tooth! So I keep looking....Tyler helps sift through the wet, water covered sand (as the waves slowly crash against the shore). Then Tyler tells me that "we could just put some money under her pillow, mom." AWE! He's a good big brother.....at times :) After we gave up, Kris says (as if nothing ever happened, or no time has passed) "here it is." HA! She found the tooth! I have no clue how, with the tiny shells amongst the tooth.....

View from the boat.......

Ok, this was flippin cute! The kids were so hot and b/c we couldn't take them to the pool they decided to have fun with the firehose. Notice how they didn't want to get wet, though.........lol













Payten, Wes, Kammie, Addison, and Tyler

4th of July in the Bay

A day in Bay:

• Up at 7:30 a.m.
• Pack the boat
• Bruce and Jim move the vehicles to a strategic spot so we can drop Susie off by 4:00 p.m. for work
• Wait for the rest of the Kings to arrive (8:58 a.m. arrival and Susie says, "I told you I'd be here before 9:00 a.m.!" lol)
• Try to leave once...Daisy runs outside of the fence into the front yard - we have to rig the fence so she stays put
• Try to leave twice....I forgot my id
• Try to leave a third time....SUCCESS
• Get to the marina, unload and head out by 10:15 p.m. (ish)
• Arrive at one of our favorite spots by 10:45 a.m.
• Party!

Jayce and Addison are in the party float...Kammie tries to pull herself in















Kammie and Kris.....or should I say mini-Kris?








Jim and Bruce, the happy couple


Jim and I, the married couple








Who's giving us bunny ears? Pretty good self portrait!

Candace and I

Party float and Will and Jean's boat





Getting ready to go see fireworks.....we are all getting the chills from too much sun and the LACKTHEREOF now that the sun has set

















What happens next:

• I get annoyed b/c the boat is a mess - it has been 9 hours out on the boat/water
• Kids pic up boat, much to their dismay
• Find out Will has passed out and Jean has to dock their pontoon and pull it out of the water
• Head to the marina - fireworks have not yet started
• Decided to heck with watching the fireworks, we saw them last night...we are all tired and sunburned (the big dummies we are)
• Kris gets a little sick, we think sun poisoning
• A series of events that lead to us KNOWING Kris has either sun poisoning or heat exhuastion - we wonder if stitches are needed to fix the gash on her forehead (part of the series of events)
• We make it home...shower the crying, sunburned children, kiss them and say good night

All in all, the first 9 hours were FABULOUS! I've never spent that much time in the water since we've been here. I'm a bit sore today from all of the swimming I did yesterday. The last two hours of the day were two hours I could have lived without. But dog-gone-it, this is one 4th of July that will go down in Eckert History!!

Happy Birthday America!

Thursday night the Navy Base through their annual 4th of July celebration complete with lots of FREE fun for the kiddos. There was face painting, which the girls wanted desperately to do, jumpy castles, slides, and even a carnival ride. And then the food.....you could get anything from hot dogs and fries, to steak on a stick and funnel cakes and shaved ice. My dinner....funnel cake and a pina colada shaved ice. Nutritionally lacking, but it's only once a year!

The fireworks were really good. Not as long as in previous years, but I can't complain. We spent the evening with the Kings and the Colo'n family. It was a great time. And then we came home to get ready for an entire day and night out on the boat on the 4th........














Kris, Jenn, Susie, and Danielle -














Tyler and Mark enjoy a funnel cake as they watch the fireworks.

The kids dug a hole in the sand to make a recliner so they would be more comfortable watching the fireworks. The things kids come up with, I tell ya!

we see the bear....FINALLY

As I have said many times before, we live with LOTS of wildlife. Just this past weekend I walked to the mailbox only to find 8 deer grazing in the backyards of neighboring homes. Many people have told us stories of the bears that frequent the trail between my home and my neighbor's home. And it didn't take but one morning of finding trash scattered across my lawn to believe it...



So here's how the story goes.....



Saturday night, after a long day of friendly gossip and eery psychic readings, I was cleaning up the house before getting ready for bed. I walk into the garage to put something into the recycling bin when I hear a rustling about 4 feet from me, on the other side of the garage door. I could clearly make out the sound of someone opening the garbage container and it slamming down. It was 9:30 p.m. and I couldn't figure out why the kids would be taking anything outside - heck, they never do any other day!



After coming back inside and counting 1..2.. 3...4 children all inside, I knew something was up. So, (as my friend Dawn would say) in "white girl in a scary movie" fashion I walk towards the noise. I walked slowly outside and peek around the front of the house. I see nothing...but I hear the rustling and see the trash tipped over. I continue to move closer, thinking it's just a racoon. And then I see this head, about 4 ft in diameter (I'm in the moment.....everything looked bigger than it really was!) chomping on my leftovers!



As quick as my heart dropped into my stomach, I was in the house running around like a chicken with its head cut off yelling "holy sh**, the bear's in our trash!" (I repeated this at least a dozen times as I ran through the house). Then I come to my senses and think WHERE'S THE CAMERA?? I grab my new Olympus point and shoot camera....Jim grabs the flashlight........and this is what we caught.......

We let the kids walk outside one by one to see the bear with their own two eyes - seriously, it's such a cool story to tell their friends, right!?



This guy just laid their eating away and looking up at us every so often.....it was so surreal. We were all thinking "this is the cub....he's not so big"........

Then he stood up!

And we all ran into the house! He was huge! And the only thing seperating myself from him was my car. But I couldn't help myself. I wanted to get closer - get that one good shot (yeah right, it was pitch black outside). I was shaking like crazy from adrenaline.

There was seriously ONE piece of cake on this plate that he's licking and he stayed in this position licking and chewing for at least 2 minutes. That's one slow eating bear.....

**for the record, there has not been a single black bear attack in the entire state of Florida, ever. And these are protected animals.

Happy 8th Birthday Jayce!

I am a horrible, horrible mother....posting Jayce's birthday pictures a whole month late!

Here's a quick re-cap of Jayce's birthday party:

• We rented the base pool for Jayce and all of his friends
• The kids would NOT get out of the pool for cake
• After telling (not asking) the kids to come get cake - at the picnic table just outside of the fenced pool area - the bugs ate everyone alive
• The Happy Birthday song was sang in record time
• The kids ate cake and were back in the pool in 5 mintues FLAT
• The kids would NOT get out of the pool for presents - again, until told to do so
• The parents mingled
• The kids swam
• The party ended.
  
  
•