Five Towers

 Three towers are completed and occupied.  The fourth is nearing completion and the fifth will begin as soon as the fourth is finished.  Units start at $3 million.  Do the math.

Eco-Tour

 On Saturday I took an eco-tour at Babcock Ranch in Charlotte County, twenty miles north of Ft. Myers.  Acquired in 1914 for logging and agriculture, the Babcock Ranch once comprised 91,000 acres.  It was the biggest single open space in south Florida, maybe the entire state.  

The state bought about a quarter of the property in the 1940s and the Babcock family donated more.  Today a big chunk of the land is now being developed as a huge new town, but the adjoining state-owned preserve is farmed and logged under contract with private companies and is available for eco-tours.

We were loaded onto an ancient bus with the windows removed and taken around the property.  It is still actively farmed, with horses and beef cattle in the first areas we saw.

The preserve is full of feral pigs, which raced to see us as we passed, because the guides toss corn kernels out of the bus for feed.  (They do most of their feeding on their own, but they like the corn as a treat.)

 Pigs were brought from Europe with the original Spanish explorers to feed the crews on the voyages, but when they reached Florida, many pigs got loose and have populated the wild areas for centuries.

Slash pines, cypress, sabal palms and palmettos are the most common trees and plants.  The terrain needs fire to stimulate new growth, sometimes from lightning strikes, and sometimes from controlled burns.

Everywhere there was water, there were alligators.  Many alligators.

White-tailed deer are there, though I saw only a couple.

Several shy raccoons said hello.  Only one came out of the underbrush enough for a portrait.

Sandhill cranes and their colts wandered in the open spaces. 

"Cracker cattle" with their long horns were in an area different from the domestic beef cattle.  Their predecessors came over from Spain with the conquistadors, as early as 1565.  They are grown for meat, milk and for draft work.  

Morgen

Morgen is from Indianapolis and now spends the winters in my Naples community.  She is a sculptor and painter.  In her working years, she was a merchandising and design consultant.  

Recently Morgen and a friend started an organization for artists in our community.  It has been a happy discovery that there are so many artists -- and such good ones -- in a relatively small community of just over 400 homes.  

Holding up the Turtles

Two naked gentlemen hold up the turtles.  There are many things I don't understand.

The Rec Center

 The sixth mural on the wall of Punta Gorda's Baker Center School is called "Community."  Before desegregation took hold in the late 1960s, black children wanted a place to play and the community wanted a place for meetings.  An old Army barracks was turned into the recreation center.  

The Rec Center became the hub of activities for the black community.  This 2023 mural by Keith Goodson  depicts the Rec Center and its playground.  Hurricane Donna leveled the Rec Center in 1960.  The current Rec Center was built a few years later.

Linked to Monday Mural.

Clubhouse

 Some want to tear this down and replace it with a fancy new $50 million clubhouse.

I don't get it.

Sequoia

Yesterday was a very sad one.  Daughter Susie called to say that 11-year old Sequoia had to be put down.  Sequoia declined very fast over just a couple of days.  She was anaemic and had a big mass in her belly.  

  Susie and her husband Wessel brought Sequoia and Lola over when they came back to the States from South Africa in 2016.  

Sequoia is the bigger and darker one with a dark nose, behind Lola.  

Willa (b. 2015) and Hazel (b. 2017) have not known life without Sequoia.  

Lola and the whole family will miss her.  I sure will!