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Kayaking with the Manatees

In February Jason and I took a wonderfully relaxing two-week vacation. We got to do many exciting things between our week in South Carolina and our week in Florida, but kayaking with the manatees was one of the highlights of the trip.  (I'll post more about the rest of the trip later).

We went to Crystal River with my mom and our Florida friend, Beth.  We each rented single kayaks from Crystal River Kayak Company.  Mom and Beth rented sit in kayaks and Jason and I opted for sit on top kayaks.  We've been wanting to try out the sit on tops anyway and we ended up loving them so will be purchasing two of the in the near future.

We kayaked through the springs and up to King's Bay. It was a very windy day so we didn't venture too far into the actual bay though you can paddle up to the restaurants on the bay and stop in for lunch before continuing paddling around. The wind made the water very choppy, so staying in the spring areas gave us more chances to see the manatees.

There were a  lot of them there and it was very cool to see them swimming right underneath the kayaks at random intervals.  Once in a while, a big manatee nose would surface right next to us! Most of them were resting in the roped off areas but we still were able to get a good look at them.

We also saw a ton of pipefish, an osprey flying overhead, an eagle and lots of other native birds and fish.  It was a wonderful experience and I'd love to go back on a less windy day and do the 4-hour outing to include lunch in the bay and take my good camera for some better photos.

All photos can be seen here, but my favorites I'll post below.

Mongrel Snowflakes!

Mongrel snowflakes! #winter #snow #kentucky #giantsnowflakes #henrycounty #backyard

A video posted by Christy Mesker (@christymesker) on Feb 8, 2016 at 7:31am PST

Solo Fall Kayaking

Tuesday late afternoon I took my first solo kayak outing at Lake Jericho. There was only one other kayaker on the lake and he was fishing. I think it was the most peaceful trip I've ever taken out there. It was nice to paddle around leisurely and watch the wildlife. I found that slow paddling and waiting and watching yields animals that don't even know or care that you are there.

A video posted by Christy Mesker (@christymesker) on Nov 3, 2015 at 2:28pm PST

Before I even got to the lake I ran into a minor detour. This little guy got out of the farm fencing and was just hanging out in the road. He finally moooooooved on and I could pass by. I was sure to tell the park worker that he was out and she informed me they were trying to contact the farm owner, so apparently he'd been hanging out for a while.

I was surprised to see turtles still out and about with how cool it was, but I suppose they try to absorb as much sun as possible while they have the chance.

And then I came upon this small hawk. I couldn't get a great photo of him, but it's clear enough to see what he is.  I came across another very large bird in a tree but it hopped onto the ground and out of the tree before I could tell if it was an eagle or a vulture.

I'm hoping to get back out again before I have to shelve the kayak for the winter.

Kayaking Shelby Lake

Yesterday was a gorgeous fall day in the mid 70's with the sun shining bright and a nice breeze blowing all day.  Christina and I decided to try out a new kayaking spot in Shelbyville, Ky called Shelby Lake.  It's a small 20 acre fishing lake in a Clear Creek Park with a tiny campground, volleyball nets, hiking trails and lots of wooded areas with picnic tables to hike or boat to and pull out to relax and have a bite to eat.

Once you get to the end of the lake you can continue on for quite a while on Clear Creek, which feeds Shelby Lake. We went as far as the highway overpass and then turned around and we paddled for about two hours.  We will go back earlier in the day where we can paddle further and pull out at one of the picnic areas and have lunch.

Here are a few photos of our expeditions. The rest can be seen on my Kayaking Lake Shelby Flickr album - more will be added with upcoming visits.

Casey County Apple Festival

Saturday I traveled with my Mom and Aunt Cindy to Liberty, Kentucky to pick up my Mama Rosie and go to the Casey County Apple Festival.  I had never been to this one before, I do love festivals, and it did not disappoint!  It was small, but had a lot of different vendors, tons of food, and the main attraction - the biggest apple pie I have ever seen in my entire life!  

Pie Ingredient Amount, excluding the pie crust:

• 50 Bushels Granny Smith Apples
• 175 lb Sugar
• 50 lb Corn Starch
• 30 lb Butter
• 2 lb Salt
• 3 lb Cinnamon

I couldn't get through the crowd for a photo before it was served out to the crowd, but this gives a good picture of the shear size of it. I didn't eat any because I'm on a strict diet and sugar is no part of it, but it smelled delicious!

We walked around, purchased some vendor goodies, and ate lunch.

Main Festival Strip

Mom

Me & Mama Rosie

My New Shirt - Couldn't pass it up!

Once we got back to the house we set Mama Rosie up with her early Christmas gift - a keyboard so she can play like she used to on her organ.  We also broke out the selfie stick for a group shot.  ;)  (I need to get a mirror attached to the stick so I can use the good rear camera instead of the blurry, front facing camera with no flash).

Mama Rosie trying out her new keyboard

Group Shot!
Aunt Cindy, Mama Rosie, Mom, Me

Pantry Door Updates

I continued the rubbed oil bronze updates with our mirrored pantry doors that are off to the side of our living area of the main floor. We removed the doors and the top trim piece so we could take them outside to paint. I then taped newspaper over the mirrors. Since these doors get used multiple times on a daily basis we primed and sealed them as well.  

Before painting the doors, I cleaned them up really well and lightly sanded the edges.  I put a coat of Rust-Oleum White Clean Metal Primer first.  After about 10 minutes it was completely dry.  Next I did one good coat of Rust-Oleum Rubbed Oil Bronze Metallic to match our light fixtures, vent covers, outlet covers and switch plate covers. I let that coat dry for about an hour and then sealed with Rust-Oleum Matte Clear Enamel.  I let the sealer dry for an hour, even though it was ready well before that.  It's a small change, but makes a big difference for an eye sore in the room.

Before

After

I had initially also frosted the mirrors with this design using Rust-Oleum Frosted Glass, but since I frosted while the mirrors were laying flat it turned out blotchy and I ended up scraping it all off.  ( Disclaimer: This was user error - this product works really well when done correctly and I'm very pleased with the frosting of our bathroom window. ) I may give it another shot now that the doors are hanging back up. I really want to tone down the mirrored look, but for now the edging helps enough to make me content. If I end up redoing the frost I'll update with a link.