12 days until Christmas 2012!

Greetings from cloudy but 77 Fort Myers Florida! Since going back to work last September after being home for 11 years with the kids I never take the time to write on my blog. But.... Since I'm home for a few days because I had an allergic reaction to a medicine & I'm as red as a tourist, here I am. Fun to be back.

It's such a busy time of year with work, shopping & preparing for Christmas. I haven't even gotten my shopping completed! Yikes!
Amazing how it feels like I was just dressed up in my 80's costume for Halloween.

My in laws were just here for a visit from Texas. Always lots of fun! Funny thing though- they're not beach people! I know, it's hard to imagine such a thing!!

My husband has an interest in bonsai trees- come to find out in north Ft Myers there is an unbelievable bonsai store/garden. Here's a few pictures. Truly amazing!

I just found this funny- swimsuits & coats side by side. Hahaha. I'll stick with swimsuits.

Talk to you soon & happy shelling!
Stephanie

Little Hickory Island

Alot of you on my fb page have questions about Little Hickory Island beach. It is a wonderful place to spend the day & I hope you get a chance to go!  Here's the link to Lee Parks & Rec.
http://www.leeparks.org/facility-info/facility-details.cfm?Project_Num=0021

There are 2 parking lots- 1 is free and the other is $1 an hour. Restrooms & showers are available as well.

When I get on the beach, I take a right and head all the way to the end. No particular reason really, I just like it! Since Isaac had just come by the waves were bigger than normal & combined with high tide it was really cool. Look how close to these condos the water is.

Although I do normally have really good shelling days- the 2 days I was there last week were crazy good!

The water was so churned up but it's normally clear & blue/green

My best find! A JUNONIA!!

 

                                 Here's a look at my 2 days worth of shelling.

I love worm shells!

5 cones, but my mom found 12!

I hope you are able to check out this little piece of paradise!
Happy Shelling!
Stephanie

After Tropical Storm Isaac-Barefoot Beach Preserve

As I write this I have seen the destruction that was caused by what became Hurricane Isaac. Here in SW Florida we were ready for what we were being told was coming. Luckily for us, it moved west. We bought all the water, gas, food, and  had the generator ready to go. I moved all the plants in & took care of stuff on the lanai. It was a good reminder of what you need to do to be prepared for hurricanes.

 

After everything settled down and the weather cleared up I went to Barefoot Beach.

The waves were unbelievable! It's normally so calm here in SW Florida so it was really cool to have such a different experience at the beach.

If you've ever taken the trail, which is a mile and a half to the end, you know how cool it it is. I wasn't exactly ready for it to be flooded though. Luckily hubby was with me so he could carry me through it! haha but it had lots of 'wildlife' swimming & the what-not and it was a little gross for me.

Once you get to the end you are rewarded with gorgeous views!

Turtle nests

Although I didn't find many shells here that day, it was still so fun. I'm looking forward to my next time!

 

 

 

Super Low Tide: Little Hickory Island

My mom, daughter & I had a great beach day on Monday! We got to Little Hickory at 2 waiting for the tide to go out with low tide at 7:30 pm. I never get to go to the beach so late in the day during the school year so this was really cool.  With the tide so high when we got there it was so different at the point. My "shell-shelf" I'm always on was completely covered in water. Once the tide started really going out the shells & other sealife were really visible.

Would've liked to keep this one!

Horseshoe Crab

Baby Stingray

Blue Crab

Mom found this. It looks like the whelk has drilled into the other one for dinner?

                           There are 2 sea turtle nests at Little Hickory right now.

enjoy your day!
stephanie

On Shore.....at home

Have you been hooked on Pinterest? I have!
You can find me on pinterest here: http://pinterest.com/khakifishsigns/

 If I ever thought I had even one creative bone in my body I realize now that I don't.  The things you can find on there are so great, so creative and so inspiring.  I'm trying to only pin things I'm actually going to cook or make.  That is a huge challenge.
  I've come across all the miniature gardens & have become quite fascinated/obsessed with them. Now I'm not saying I believe in all this fairy stuff  BUT maybe I can somehow get a little beach fairy around here.
 When I was little & living in TX. my granny told my sister & I that there were fairies living in the moss under a tree in her backyard. Sounded good to me. I've also let my daughter know that there are fairies living in the moss by our pool heater(it's pretty much always damp over there & the only place I have anything resembling moss)
  I also remember loving that part of Captain Kangaroo with the little people who lived behind the books on the shelf.
 So, who knows? Maybe if I build it, they'll come. So I gathered up some succulents from around my yard & a pot & some accessories. I wanted to create the obvious- blind pass beach. This is what I came up with complete with the shell pile. I used my mini's for the pile.

I'm certainly not going to win any awards with this, but it was fun & it'll look a little better when the plants grow some & maybe we add some more stuff. Here's a few examples of some from pinterest. And please, don't judge- I'm a sheller not a crafty girl! lol

My daughter is getting into this as well and wants to make some more so I'm sure we'll be checking out all the websites & pins on mini-gardening. Should be a fun thing to do together!

Enjoy your week!
stephanie

Barefoot Beach Preserve

I go to Little Hickory Island shelling alot. Every time I go, I pass up Barefoot Beach.There's no reason for it, just a habit. I felt like doing something different that day.

 We have had crazy weather the past week. The day I decided to go it was really chilly and wild winds. I packed light since I didn't think I would stay too long. I didn't bring my wheelie thing to haul all my stuff around. Well, I arrived at 9:30 to this beautiful view.

Yay for the weekend

If you are on my seashells & salty air fb page then you may have seen the picture I posted of my shelling the other day. Tomorrow I will take the time to blog about it. Let me just say- I'm so out of shape I was sore for 2 days! HAHAHA  Oh-well!

This was when I got home & dumped them on my lanai table- I had to use 2 beachmats.
 Happy Friday!
stephanie

Easter Shelling

We had a great Easter this year. We traded the Easter bonnets for visors & hit the beach. I took my husband, teenage son(Dustin) & almost 12 year old girl(Meredith) with me to Blind Pass. We got there around 9:30 and were happy to find the parking lot was almost empty! We started at the shell pile, although it was a little low, we still managed to find some keepers. Turns out 16 year old boys think this is really boring- hahaha. Meredith wanted to hang with Dustin so Jim & I headed over the bridge to the Sanibel side and did much better. It was a gorgeous day out.

looking over at Sanibel

When we got back this Blue Heron was hanging out by the kids.

I try and get to the beach as often as I can. Jim, on the other hand, goes every few months. So of course he's the one who finds a piece of a Junonia and a piece of a Scotch Bonnet! Which, by the way, he only knew what it was because he googled it the day before! augh!!

Scotch Bonnet
I've never found one, but I'm still looking!

I brought some peeps & props with me:

Next trip to the beach will be Barefoot Beach since I haven't been in a while-
Have a great weekend & Awesome Shelling!

Shelling Marathon

So mom & I headed to Little Hickory Island on Thursday. We had all day to be at the beach and planned on enjoying it until I had to pick up my daughter from school. We ended up staying for 7 hours! Which means we were non-stop shelling for 7 hours, with little breaks for snacks of course. We aren't those people who go to the beach to relax & read a book. (not that there's anything wrong with that :)

Mom hard at work :)

Beautiful as always

He sat here while I had lunch

Look at him! ewww

yep, they're all still here- hahaha

Gaudy Natica's

At the end of the day- this is what I had found

 The tide was coming in all day and bringing with it plenty of shells. I ended up finding 34 olive shells!

Lettered Olives

I got a really cool video of a fighting conch that I put on my facebook page- https://www.facebook.com/seashellsandsaltyair
so check that out if you have time.

We had a great day shelling but I have to tell you, I was exhausted! Shelling for 7 hours is rough on the back! However, I'm ready to do it again & can't wait to get back out there!

Hope you have a great 1st week of April!

stephanie