Friday March 23rd 2018

It was cool again this morning. The inside temperature was 44 when I turned on the heat. With the help of the sun it didn’t take long to become comfortable in my RV home. The rest of the day was a little better than yesterday. The temperature got into the low seventies and the wind wasn’t as strong and persistent.

Ground crew getting the field ready for play.

I attended my last spring training game of the year today. This game was in Sarasota between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Baltimore Orioles. It was a quick game with a lot of sloppy play. The O’s won the game 6 to 1, but where the offense came from is a mystery.

Orioles star Manny Machado at bat.

I’ve enjoyed all the games I’ve seen this year. Watching baseball at the stadium is so much more interesting than on TV. In addition to the atmosphere in the ballpark, you get to see so much more of the game. At the ballpark you can see the alignment of the defense. On TV you find out about the coverage in the field when the ball falls in for a multi-base hit. Between pitches at home in front of the TV you get distracted. At the stadium you can watch the work of the Ball Boys, the antics of the coaches, the weird signals between players or bizarre people in the crowds. Going to the game is a much more fulfilling experience.

Alligators in the Myakka River

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After today’s game I started getting ready to move tomorrow. This included another check of the alligators in the river as well as doing some packing. The gators were back on the river bank taking the sun today. The bird population wasn’t as well represented this afternoon. I only saw one great blue heron standing in the river to the north of the bridge.

Great Blue Heron standing in the Myakka River.

Checkout time tomorrow is 1PM. I only have a short distance up Interstate 75 to travel, so I’ll checkout around 12:30. This will give me time to visit the alligators one more time in between packing and getting ready to hit the road.

Thursday March 22nd 2018

The inside temperature was in the low fifties when I got up this morning. I turned on the heat pump for a little while to make it comfortable to sit and eat breakfast. It was windy and cool all day. If you weren’t in the sun you really needed warm clothing.

This bunny came to visit while I was having breakfast. I took a quick picture through the front window.

During breakfast this morning some of the local wildlife “entertained” me. One of the local bunny rabbits spent some time hopping around my campsite. He was fun to watch, but the return of the “Crazy Cardinal” was more annoying than entertaining. This cardinal keeps attacking the windows and side of my RV. He charges head first into the side, bounces back and repeats until he falls to the ground. A little while later he’s back in the bushes preparing to try again. I don’t think it’s his reflection that get’s him excited. I’ve used a bright flashlight to shine into his path with no impact. My head has been within six inches of the glass as I watch him. He heads right for my head. This behavior has me mystified.

Red Sox taking batting practice an hour and a half before the game.

Today’s spring training baseball game was in Sarasota. The Boston Red Sox were playing the Baltimore Orioles at the Orioles spring home. Unlike yesterday in Port Charlotte, the Red Sox showed up in time to take batting practice. Watching BP from left field made it impossible to identify the players, but the fly balls landing all around made it interesting. The kids big and little scrambled to get the balls. I scrambled to stay out of the way of the ball and the people.

The Red Sox were in the lead until the sixth inning. The Boston relief pictures allowed six runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. The prospects for both teams took over in the seventh and neither team scored again. The final score was Orioles 10, Red Sox 7 each team had two errors. The score keepers could easily have called several other botched plays errors.

Hibiscus picture of the day. 

Tomorrow I’m going to attend my last spring training game for this year. It will be back in Sarasota. The Tampa Bay Rays are playing the Baltimore Orioles. I hope it’s a little warmer weather.

Wednesday March 21st 2018

After yesterday’s cold front today was a much cooler and windy day. The temperature only reached the high sixties to low seventies. It very much depended on where you were located. The wind was out of the north all day.

Empty field and batting cage at Charlotte Sports Complex waiting for the Red Sox to take batting practice.

Today I was back in spring training baseball game watching mode. The game between the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays was at the Charlotte Sports complex about forty miles south in Port Charlotte FL. I arrived in plenty of time to watch the Red Sox take batting practice, but they had other ideas. The Red Sox completed their pregame preparations at their home park in Fort Meyers before boarding the bus to Port Charlotte. The grounds crew had already removed the batting cage from the field by the time the Red Sox’s bus arrived.

Red Sox at bat.

My seat for the game was high in the stands on the first base side. This is a good location. It would have been terrific if it wasn’t windy and cool. With the wind swirling under the roof in the seating area it felt like it was in the low sixties. Most of the people around me were in jackets and sweatshirts. I was in a short sleeve shirt. I really should have paid more attention to the weather forecast. There was a lot of action in the game that kept my attention off the weather. The Red Sox got off to a quick start and lead all the way. The final score was Red Sox 8, Rays 3.

My friendly neighborhood bunny rabbit stopped by for another visit this evening.

I warmed up in the car on the drive back to my RV home. It was comfortable in the sun, but not in the shade. Once the sun set the wind calmed down considerable. The temperature also dropped. It is forecast to be in the forties once again tonight.

Sky to the south just before sunset tonight.

Tomorrow I will see the Red Sox again. They will be playing the Orioles in Sarasota. Hopefully they will take batting practice at Ed Smith stadium rather than two hours away at Jet Blue Park in Fort Myers.

Tuesday March 20th 2018

The temperature went up quickly this morning. It was a hot and humid day in the low 80s by noon. The wind was blowing from sunrise, but got very strong shortly after noon. A squall line was approaching the area from the northwest. The TV started announcing sever weather and tornado warnings north of here. The sky got darker as the line of thunderstorms approached. As the line passed through this area, it was largely anticlimactic. We got a few brief showers that barely wet the ground. Less that an hour later the wind died down and the sun started to break through the clouds.

Crazy Cardinal after making the first of several attacks on the side of my RV (picture taken through window glass).

This morning during breakfast I finally got a picture of the cardinal that has been taking out his aggression on the side of my RV home for the last few days. For some reason the bird has been trying to fly through the glass in the windows. It doesn’t make a difference if the shades are up or down. The bird attacks the side of the RV three or four times then sits on a branch and gives it the evil eye. This gets repeated several times before he goes away for the rest of the day.

Today was an off day in my marathon of spring training baseball game watching. Instead I did some shopping, some cooking and more exploring in the park. The cooking was the result of the shopping. I found a piece of corned beef that was on sale after the holiday. It was about a third of the pre St. Patrick’s day price. I put it in the slow cooker along with onions and carrots to cook as soon as I got home from grocery shopping. The potatoes were cooked separately. In addition to today’s meal, I’ll get a few sandwiches and some hash out of the brisket.

Great Blue Heron taking flight in the strong wind.

Before the storm font arrived I got in a short bicycle ride to the river. The alligators were all at the bottom of the river to stay out of the wind and approaching storm. All I saw was a couple of birds. For the added effort of riding the bike in the wind, I didn’t get much reward. I got a better animal sighting right at my campsite later in the day. A bunny rabbit stopped by to visit.

This rabbit came to visit this evening.

Overall, I didn’t get as much accomplished as I wanted. The decision to cook the corned beef brisket and the weather got in the way of running additional errands. Tomorrow, I’m back in spring training game watching mode.

Monday March 19th 2018

It was foggy and warm overnight. The day started very cloudy and was slow to clear. It was mostly sunny with high temperatures in the low eighties by late afternoon. Tomorrow a front is due to pass through the area with the possibility of thunderstorms and wind.

LEMCO Park from left field during batting practice.

Twins taking batting practice,

I went to Bradenton FL for a spring training game between the Minnesota Twins and the Pittsburg Pirates. A historic old park now called LEMCO park is the spring training home to the Pirates. The park has been significantly updated with a boardwalk around the outfield. Watching the kids young and old scramble for balls during batting practice on the boardwalk is a lot of fun. I just duck when I see a ball coming.

Twins at bat late in the game.

The fans saw the Pirates come from behind in the eight inning to beat the Twins 11 to 8. The game had a mix of long balls and grind it out baseball. I was seated in an area with a tour group from Minnesota cheering for their team. They were riding a high until the eighth inning. The Twins scored first and remained ahead until the Pirates rallied in the bottom of the eight. The tour group left very disappointed in the outcome.

Terns hydrating before the game. They circled the field most of the game.

Tomorrow I’m taking a day off from spring baseball. I need to stock up on some groceries and run a few errands. If the weather cooperates I’ll explore a few more areas of the Myakka River State Park.

Sunday March 18th 2018

Today’s weather was another incremental improvement from the day before. It was a sunny day with a gentle breeze. The temperature topped out around eighty from a start in the fifties.

Mets taking batting practice at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota Fl.

Today I went to another spring training baseball game in Sarasota. The New York Mets were in town to play the Baltimore Orioles. More players from the major league roster started this game. The prospects weren’t brought into the game until the late innings. To the delight of the New York fans sitting around me, the Mets won the game five to four. The Orioles had the tying run on third base in the bottom of the ninth, but that’s where the player was at the end of the game. This was one of the better baseball games I’ve seen this spring training. It wasn’t the most entertaining though. Home runs, errors and strange plays make a more entertaining game.

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This evening I caught up on some of the chores around my RV home. I got lucky and the washer and drier here at the state park weren’t being used. I managed to get a load of wash done. I have clean clothes to wear again. The laundry hamper was getting full to over flowing.

Great Blue Heron eating lunch.

Tomorrow I’m going back to Bradenton FL for another game. The Minnesota Twins will be playing the Pirates.

Mr. Gator swimming in the Myakka river.

Saturday March 17th 2018

Happy St Patrick’s Day

The warming trend continued today. The day began a few degrees warmer than yesterday and ended with a similar increase in temperature. The high for the day was around seventy five degrees with barely a cloud in the sky.

Batting practice before the game at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota FL.

My spring training baseball watching marathon continued. Today was a game in Sarasota between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Baltimore Orioles. For St. Patrick’s Day the Orioles wore green hats in place of their regular orange or navy hats. They also painted a shamrock behind home plate.

There was a good amount of action in the game. Most innings had runners on base to keep things interesting. The most unusual play was a balk by one of the Orioles pitchers. Without instant replay, I can’t tell you what happened. All I know is that the runners on first and second advanced after the home plate umpire called the balk. I continue to see lots of interesting baseball play. The Blue Jays won the game 5 to 2.

The theme for the day in the stands was sunscreen. Without any clouds in the sky and limited cover from the stadium, direct sunlight poured in. I had plenty of sunscreen on and I’m somewhat hardened to the sun having been living in short sleeve shirts and short pants for several weeks. Some of the Toronto Blue Jay fans fresh from the frozen north were passing the sunscreen around like a cherished elixir. Sunscreen sales at the stadium seemed to be brisk. Last March, in Arizona, they had free sunscreen dispensers at the spring training games. Florida parks and teams should look for a sunscreen sponsor.

Tomorrow is another spring training game. This one will have the New York Mets traveling across Florida to play the Orioles in Sarasota.

Friday March 16th 2018

It was a few degrees warmer by the end of the day today. The temperature peaked in the low seventies, but the day started in the low forties inside my RV. Once again it was necessary to turn on the heat to comfortably eat breakfast. Considering that the sun will bring the temperature inside up into the eighties or nineties, it seems like a wast of energy to turn on the heat.

LEMCO park in Bradenton FL. The Braves are taking batting practice.

Today’s spring training game was in Bradenton FL. While technically only the next town north of Sarasota, it is still a long way with many traffic signals, or a longer way away using the highway still with traffic lights. It took almost as much time to get to LEMCO park in Bradenton as it did getting to the Charlotte Sports Complex in Port Charlotte yesterday. Coming home had the added complication of Friday end of the work week traffic.

LMCO park in Bradenton is the spring training home of the Pittsburgh Pirates. They are celebrating fifty years of spring training in Bradenton. Today they were playing the Atlanta Braves. The game was a home run hitting exposition by both teams. There was also a triple and a couple of doubles. The final score was 12 to 9 in favor of the home team.

The parrot mascot of the Pittsburgh Pirates waking in front of the visiting dugout before the game.

The park was last updated in 2013 with the addition of a boardwalk around the outfield. Fans can sit or stand along the boardwalk to watch the game or enjoy a drink and some food from one of the many vendors. The biggest problem with the park is its location in downtown Bradenton. Most of the available parking is in the parking lots of businesses in the surrounding area.

The park also has an avian family living at the top of one of the light poles. I couldn’t get a good picture, or a close enough view to be sure, but I think a family of bald eagles is living in a nest at the top of the center field lights. A family of big birds are definitely living there and I think I could see a white head and dark body at one point during the game. I never caught a bird entering or leaving the nest. I was there to see a ball game after all.

Tomorrow’s game is back in Sarasota. The Blue Jays are in town to play the Orioles.

Thursday March 15th 2018

It was cooler than normal again last night. It was in the forties when I got up this morning. Once again I was forced to turn on some heat to be comfortable while I ate breakfast. The temperature peaked around 70, but if you were in the direct sun out of the wind it felt a lot warmer.

Minnesota Twins taking batting practice

Charlotte Sports Park from right field.

I drove about forty miles to the Charlotte Sports Park in Port Charlotte. The Minnesota Twins were playing the Tampa Bay Rays. The sports park is the spring training home for the Rays. I attended a game between the Red Sox and the Rays at the sports park last week. There wasn’t a sellout crowd today, so the parking situation was a little better. It still was a challenge getting out of the parking lot after the game. I ended up cutting across the parking field on the diagonal to bypass a few lines of cars. This was the very behavior I muttered a few choice words about last week watching others.

The Twins won the game. They took advantage of some sloppy play by the Rays. There were only a few errors, but poor execution, lack of hustle and a few times that the fielders were in the wrong position made the for the overall outcome in the Twins favor. It was an enjoyable game, but really can’t be called a good game.

Twins at bat. The Rays are in light blue and the Twins are in dark blue uniforms.

At spring training games there is a mix of fans for both teams along with people like me that don’t have a team of preference. Listening to the cheers and commentary in the stands around you is fun. You can hear the “experts” on each team describing the situation with a very biased position. Some people sound like coaches or parents of little league players. The good thing is that the outcome of the game doesn’t matter, so most people don’t get overly excited about the play on the field.

When I got back to my campsite at Myakka River State Park, I checked in on the resident alligators in the river. The group on the bank near the bridge had a more menacing appearance tonight. Two of them had their mouths open showing their teeth. I wonder if that means their bellies were full?

The alligators in the Myakka River late in the day.

Close up of the alligators with their teeth showing.

Wednesday March 14th 2018

Weather wise today was a clone of yesterday. The temperature topped out around seventy with lots of breeze. Activity wise today was a complete opposite of yesterday. I spent the day out of the State Park at a baseball spring training game.

Yankees taking batting practice before the game.

Today was the first of a series of days that will be filled with baseball. I went to a New York Yankees vs. Baltimore Orioles game at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota. The Orioles have called Sarasota home since 2010. They seem to have a strong local following. There were also more than a few Yankee fans in attendance at the sold out game.

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The game lasted three hours. There was a lot of action on the base pads. I think only one half inning was a 1-2-3 out inning. The Orioles won 7 to 4. Both teams used a lot of prospects along with a few veteran players. The Orioles prospects, particularly the pitchers, had better results.

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Getting to and from the stadium required dealing with Sarasota traffic. It is not for the faint of heart. The city streets are pretty much a grid of long straight roads in a checkerboard pattern. Every two or three blocks has a traffic light that always seems to be red. Four major east west roads bring traffic in from Interstate 75 about five miles to the Tamiami trail (US41) which is the main north south route along the Florida gulf coast south of St. Petersburg. Gross level navigation is easy once you know these roads, but the devil is in the details. The stadium isn’t on any of those major roads.

It was a full house.

My biggest problem is that I don’t drive in traffic as much as I used to. It takes patience and attention that I need to turn on. Driving in open country particularly out west is such a different experience. The traffic I experienced today was not as bad as Las Vegas was earlier this winter. I didn’t see as many aggressive, impatient acts by other drivers. It just takes a mindset change that I need to make.

Tomorrow is another spring training game. This one is back in Port Charlotte at the spring home of the Tampa Bay Rays. It will be about a forty mile drive.