WILDLIFE, FRUITS AND PLANTS

Another beautiful day here at P2. These photos were taken Sunday, November 19th.

Look at all that fluffiness

Two boys wandering our farm

A mallard going into breeding colors

flowers in the Fall

Pip, Pop and Peep the papayas

Date palm continues to get more healthy

Mary reveals a freshly emerged banana flower

The trunk of the banana plant must be big enough to pass the flower out full size

the flower bends over due to weight

Note how the bananas start out red when the flower petal peels back but then they turn green

A Home Depot banana making bananas, now that's a good deal

Big Mike, stands sentry duty by entry gate to our property

We also planted three banana plants and two bamboo plants today. The bamboo were propagated from our "original recipe" bamboo that came with our property. We had forgotten them and they were lost in some tall grass. In spite of no water and being in pots these two plants survived so we gave them a wonderful new home. Photos to follow.

Mary's Update Monday, November 20th:  One the way home today, coming up the driveway, I glanced over at Home Depot 2 (lovingly called Ho2) and was stunned to see that the very upright flower shown in the above picture emerging very high out of the plant (where I had to reach up and pull a leaf aside to see it) is now hanging over, ready to start making bananas.  This is one day of change!  You seriously have to look every day or you miss the magical evolution of the flower turning into bananas.  Love it!

IGGY THE BIG GREEN WILD IGUANA VISITS P2

BIG GREEN WILD IGUANA VISITS P2

We were swimming when I first spotted Iggy prowling across the yard in front of the bamboo. He was over near the pond and I was fearful it was a small alligator coming to make our pond his home. We raced out of the pool and while Mary scanned with binoculars I mounted up the Sigma 650 zoom lens on my Canon camera.

Meet Iggy our first Wild Iguana

From tip to tip Mark estimates Iggy is 4-5 feet in length

That's a damn good looking Iguana!

He slowly made his way down to the Paradise end of the pond and then eventually climbed up into the Traveller palm where he disappeared into the green-ness. 

We're contemplating a whole new garden area just for him to feast (and maybe hang out with us more in the future). 

And you MUST see Iggy run LOL...

STILL GOING...........DOWN!!!!

First there was this teaser when I first used the scale. Off I went to make coffee and after a couple of very small sips, um, lets just say I got rid of some more weight :-)

There you have it, another new low weight, 171, I own you. 170, I'm com'in for ya!

Banana Art

My iPhone plus these stunning banana trees, together, are creating some of the most beautiful art I've ever seen.

Ho3 (Home Depot banana #3) is just opening his petals to reveal the first TINY little bananas.

Behold!

FINALLY, ANOTHER NUMBER DOWN

Soon, I'll be exiting the 170's on the low end and it's gonna be SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!

Bamboo Food 11/4/2017

I fed the bamboo today, with the usual timed release fertilizer.  All of the bamboo looks amazing, but wanted to get some growing boost in now that it's back up to 80+F every day again.

Two New Banana Flowers! October 29, 2017

Two more banana trees have made flowers, and one of them is proudly kicking out lots of bananas!  The other is in the flower stage still but will soon have bananas.  And... I have no idea what types of bananas they are!

When I bought each tiny tissue cultured banana plant starting in 2016, I carefully labelled them with a tiny plastic label stuck into the ground.  Little did I know at the time that the mat of each banana plant would be 2-3 feet across and that the plastic plant label would be lost in the mat.  So although I remembered my favorite bananas, I've forgotten a few of their names.  These guys could be Goldfinger, Gran Nain, Cavendish, or Mona Lisa... who knows?  But they're gorgeous.

Here's the one that flowered a couple of weeks ago and is now covered in bananas, very similar to the size and magnitude of Ice Cream's bananas.

The close up of the hands is beautiful, so perfect and aligned.

And the EXTREME close up is pure art.

The trunk of this banana plant is a foot across, hard to tell from the picture but he's a meaty banana plant/tree considering he started about 6" tall and 1/2" thick.

And of course, the magnificent flower with it's strong fragrance is so stunning.

The 2nd banana plant is about 12 feet tall, so it's really hard to get close enough to see the flower right now before it turns up and over.  It's still sticking straight up over the banana plant, ready to turn over soon.

This view shows the beautiful red/purple color of the flower.

And here's the whole mat, with pups ready to take over when the flowering banana is done.

Remember Mona?  Here she is today, pups well on their way to make fruit.

I love this picture, as it shows the original Mona truck chopped off about 6" off the ground.  Once the trunk has flowered and fruited, it's done!  Pups, your turn to make fruit.

And finally, I have found plant tags on Amazon that last forever.  I read a review about them by a scientist in Alaska who tags plants with these aluminum write-on tags stapled to wood stakes, and when he comes back year after year they're still there and still legible.  I was sold!  So I'll never forget my bananas' (or any of the other fruit trees soon to be planted!) names again.

DUCKS FALL 2017
We love the Brown Florida Ducks, I've been putting out fresh cracked corn for them every morning or two depending on how many visit. We had 30 here a couple of days ago, today it's just 15-20 which is fine. They add another unique and beautiful animal personality to study at P2

They are swarming to get to that corn laying on the shore

What are We Going to Do With All These Tilapia?

We literally have hundreds of tilapia right now, swimming around in schools in the afternoon begging for Ol Panfeesh food (Ol Roy).  So as we watch them, we wonder what we're going to do with all of them.  We know they hibernate in the winter, but still, that's a LOT of fish.

As we ponder our recent visitors (anhinga, great blue heron, large white egret), we are gently reminded why they visit... it's the snacks!  Here's an anhinga (not ours) having a delicious fishy treat.

STILL GOING.............DOWN!

IT'S A BRAND NEW LOW WEIGHT!

OK, so it is only a tiny increment lower but it is lower and it shows I'm on the cusp of moving down another whole pound number.

This is the way weight loss goes, small little increments keep going away.

No wonder I feel lighter, I AM!

and then afternoon relief came and look.........

Mup is so jealous, lol

GO'IN DOWN, DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN

It's a slow race down, about a pound a week, sometimes slower, no worries so long as it keeps going down.

Protein shakes for breakfast and total veggie diet has really made the difference. 

Veggies are no longer what we eat with a meal, they are the meal! 

NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM

STUCK AT 177.2 for two weeks, then this morning, this....
What happened to 176? DENIED!

This is the way the weight goes, in little waves,
Tiki Say 🗿 good that it keeps going away

NEW LOW WEIGHT

Homing in on 176, almost there

Little did I know when this was published, I'd never see 176, it was like a phantom in the night, see next diet entry for details

Another beautiful view of Mona right before the hurricane

Blue ice cream bananas right before they got cut into hands. 100 beautiful delicious bananas in this bunch. Mona did great too.... She made about sixty bananas in her bunch... This pictures are coming soon. The taste of the ice cream bananas was creamy and sweet, while Mona Lisa bananas were firm, fresh, sweet, and very banana y. I can't wait for the next bunch next year, and I'm hoping that every mat makes a bunch.

BUNCH OF BANANAS - Mona September 2017

Mona and Blue Ice Cream were our two banana bunches in 2017, and Mona's huge bunch fell off during Hurricane Irma.  I hung the green banana bunch in the pole barn and forgot about them... until one day I noticed they were still there and were starting to turn yellow!  They were absolutely amazingly delicious.  Here's the bunch after I had only cut 2 or 3 hands off.... Between taking them for lunch at work and sharing with friends, it was amazing having delicious tiny bananas to enjoy.

Mona's Bananas - RIPE

here are Mona's bananas before the hurricane

A NEW DIET FIRST, TWO LOWS IN ONE DAY

I got a new low weight number this morning. I went and prepared coffee but before I had a chance to drink any I relieved myself and recorded yet another new low. Two new low weights in one day is a first in my diet journey experiences.

ANOTHER NEW LOW WEIGHT DAY

It seems like the losses come in small waves, I go for three to four days and then lose a pound. Here is the latest new low:

NEW LOW WEIGHT RECORDED

This diet quest began back at the beginning of July after my dental surgery. It was a great time to stop eating so much. It's working, only 1500 calories a day and I feel fantastic. 

Todays new recorded low means I've taken off 22 pounds since this latest drive started. I'm heading for 165, that should put my BMI right in the middle of acceptable range for long life.

NEW LOW WEIGHT

The diet marches on. Target - 1500 calories per day or less, 150 grams of carbs or less.

Todays new low blasted right past the 182 range, direct from 183 previous to todays astounding and surprising new low.

From September 3 until 18th we were in Hurricane mode. I stopped tracking my consumption because we were working feverishly putting plywood over the windows and preparing for Hurricane Irma to blast past us.

After the Hurricane passed we made a grocery store run and got back on track. Eating extra calories did slow the rate of weight decrease but my weight continued in an overall downward direction.

HURRICANE IRMA NHC PREDICTION MAPS LEADING TO LANDFALL 2017

HURRICANE IRMA NHC PREDICTION MAPS

I collected these as we waited for Irma to make her way up through Florida. From the first to the last it's easy to see why this was such a confusing hurricane for everyone including meteorologists and regular people trying to protect their possessions. 

HURRICANE IRMA SEPT 2017 LOG

HURRICANE IRMA LOG

PRELUDE - Getting ready for a hurricane is the worst part. After you've got the house all boarded up it's dark inside and you can't see out easily. First the rain, then the wind and the wondering about what's happening outside.

PEA FRIENDS AND THE HURRICANE

As the hurricane revved up peafowl used our carport as a haven to escape the punishing torrential rain.

Peafowl hiding in the carport

Peafowl hiding in the carport

GENERATOR TEST FOR HURRICANE IRMA
As the storm turned a little north today and potentially heads our direction I thought it would be good to test our Generator which we bought last year.

I've used ethanol-free gas and Stabil to try and keep it ready to run. It started on the second pull of the rope and ran great. We are ready.

Now will it work after the storm passes through????

Bought Last 3 Pieces of 1/4" Plywood - Preparing for Hurricane Irma

The current path of Hurricane Irma shows that we'll get some wind next week but no direct hit... BUT since we waited until the last minute to buy plywood last year, we wanted to get a jump on it this year.

But we just learned that...  Everyone else shopped for plywood 2 days ago!  Nothing left at Home Depot, so we went to Lowe's and bought the last 3 pieces of 1/4" plywood just now.

Ready for Hurricane Irma JIC...  Good luck St. Martin, we're thinking about you.

I'm go'in down
Down Down Down Down
a new low today