THE BIRD IS THE WORD

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This ceramic pelican is Kathy's latest rescue bird

After restoration

Before I rescued the seawall from years of hurricane beatings

After restoration. Fingers crossed for 2009 hurricanes.

The new seawall and beach, with Kathy's pelican and seagulls looking on in the distance

After a tough weekend of work, I wet a line while running the boat engine to charge the battery

Home in Port Charlotte

High of 77*

The weather has been perfect this weekend; cool mornings in the mid 50's, warm days in the upper 70's. After 5 tons of rip rap, 2 tons of sand and 3 weekends of back breaking labor, the seawall/beach restoration is complete.

Kathy followed up her seagull project with restoring a pelican and birdbath, which sits near the dock. She has done a wonderful job on these birds and wants to do more. We will keep an eye out for worn ceramics and statues in our area and help her continue to use this previously untapped gift of artistry.

Speaking of birds (real, living, breathing birds), today our backyard was visited by the first cardinal of 2009. He was joined by several bluebirds and a red headed woodpecker. It's quite amusing to sit in our lanai (screened in porch) and watch the variety of wildlife that visit us.

I started the boat today, to run the motor for a while and charge the battery. I was pleased that it fired right up, given that we haven't been out since December. After running the engine for 20 minutes in the brackish water of the canal, I raised the lift and flushed fresh water through the motor for an additional 15 minutes. While running the motor I fished for a little while with no bites. In a few weeks, the Gulf waters will be back in the 70 degree range and fishing will pick up nicely.

Today is one week since we dropped seed in the front yard and I was pleasantly surprised to find some baby grass blades pushing up through the soil. My research indicated that Bahiagrass seed normally takes 14-28 days to pop. The fact that we are way ahead of that estimate is very encouraging. We received our soil sample analysis report from the University of Florida. All nutrients were in the very high range. The report indicated no need for soil amendments to grow Bahiagrass here. That's great news. The other surprise was that we've had no problems with birds stealing the grass seed. The package indicated the seed was processed with Penecote, which makes it undesirable to birds. It obviously works just as they claimed.