Thursday February 18th 2021

Yesterday’s high temperature was more than ten degrees below normal. Today, the high temperature was more than ten degrees above normal. Tomorrow the temperature is forecast to be below the average. This temperature roller coaster is normal this winter in Florida. Storm fronts move south bringing cold weather, then return north bringing warm temperatures. Meanwhile the areas to the north get hit with cold miserable weather.

It was a very nice day. Bright sun with very few clouds dominated the day. The only wrinkle was a very strong southwest wind during the afternoon. Walking along the paths in the woods was a little dangerous. Dead branches and Spanish moss were falling all over.

This was a three short hike day. First up was a walk out onto the prairie via the Cones Dike Trail after I stopped at the Observation Tower. I wasn’t prepared for a long hike in the hot sun so I only went a little ways to check the creek for alligators. All I found was a lot of green pond scum. That was the way my whole day went with respect to finding wildlife.

I took two walks to the day use area on Lake Wauburg. The first was early in the afternoon and the second was at sunset. The lake was getting a lot of use today. There were two sailboats, a peddle boat and one speed boat pulling a water skier. They all came from a venue across the lake that seems to be some sort of club or camp facility. They have many sailboats, and other water craft lined up along the lake front in front of a building with a long porch towering above the shore.

Between my walks to the lake I watched NASA’s coverage of the mars landing. The tension in the control room as the landing approached was evident as was the happiness once landing was confirmed. I was expecting to see more than a couple of pictures from the lander once it landed, but they ended the coverage before more pictures were downloaded from the distant planet. I’ll be searching the internet over the next couple of days to see if more pictures are published.