USMB Coffee Shop IV

[Foxfyre]

My worry about the Baja gulf area (Sea of Cortez) is the giant squid are dangerous.
They don't all wash up on the shore every day, either.
View attachment 673757

Is that for real?

 

[Foxfyre]

I went snorkelling in the Red Sea once. The most beautiful coral reef, stretching down to Africa I think, and exquisite fish.

I've sadly never been to the ocean when it was warm enough to get into the water. Beaver Lake near Eureka Springs AR was the most fascinating place to observe aquatic life though. An amazing array of aquatic bird were there. The water is crystal clear and when you're wading in it you can easily see the lakebed even in chest high water. Little fish come right up to you, some were pulling at the hairs on Hombre's legs.

I was so focused on other stuff I never did answer your question of whether I would prefer Arizona or Florida. I think I would love northern Arizona in the Mountains. It is 99f right now in Albuquerque. It is 79f in Flagstaff AZ. But you do cope with dangers of dehydration,

For sure in Arizona there are magnificent views, interesting paleontological and human history, and if you love hiking, photography, hunting, fishing, it is great. The big cities have all the amenities of big cities including lots to do. Dangerous weather is rare there. Low risk of earthquake damage.

But much of Arizona stays over 100 degrees in the summertime, is host to 13 varieties of plentiful rattlesnakes, black widow and brown recluse spiders, tarantula wasps--not deadly but their sting is more painful than pretty much any other stinging insect, scorpions, and other assorted unpleasant critters. Terrain is all either high or low desert or alpine, but while southern Arizona is hot summer or not quite hot summer yet, the northern half of Arizona does have all four seasons.

So then there's Florida that pretty much all of it skips winter. The plusses are lots and lots of things to do, gleaming white beaches, and you're within fairly easy driving distance to the ocean from anywhere. Though it is hot in the summer there, the temperatures are generally more moderate than those of the hot west. It is 87 in Miami this afternoon.

But elevations are low and seem to have targets painted on them for both Atlantic and Gulf hurricanes, it has water spouts, severe thunder storms with high winds and hail and some tornadoes. Florida has alligators, not only rattlesnakes but all four poisonous snakes in the USA, all the poisonous spiders and other unpleasant critters. And I can sympathize with Gipper's wife being afraid of perhaps unfounded dangers, but when you're afraid, you're afraid. I am a good swimmer, but I have an unreasonable fear of sharks and Florida waters have a plethora of them, some can be dangerous including a great white that has been feeding off its coast this summer. It also has jelly fish that are not pleasant to encounter. For that reason swimming in the ocean is not appealing to me.

So all things considered both states have their plusses and minuses. Cost of living is fairly similar in both--Florida might be a wee bit higher--I would probably choose Arizona if I had to make the choice at this stage of my life.

 

[beautress]

I went snorkelling in the Red Sea once. The most beautiful coral reef, stretching down to Africa I think, and exquisite fish.

Fascinating! I'll have to load the Red Sea fish just for the fun of it, one of these days.

 

[beautress]

Is that for real?

Yes, and in the past, there have been worse. I used to watch underwater videos of the huge monstrous creatures in the Sea of Cortez. You couldn't pay me to snorkel anywhere close to there! I'm not gonna be some leviathan's snack, not ever!
Hawaii and Japan outer islands have seen some extra large squid also, but for now, here's some pictures from where I loaded the words "biggest squid ever seen in the Sea of Cortez, color":

There seem to be squid in all of the 7 seas, I just found a video of squid eggs, squids the Norwegian area. Brrrr!

​

This one's from NZ.

 

[beautress]

I went snorkelling in the Red Sea once. The most beautiful coral reef, stretching down to Africa I think, and exquisite fish.

That is so enchanting, Mindful, that I decided to search, and found images of Red Sea corals and creatures. Not sure if you will recognize anything you saw, but here's an inkling of what my browser found in images:

Have a blessed Sunday. The Lord gave us diversity around the world. And it's all good. Thanks be to God.

 

[Mindful]

That is so enchanting, Mindful, that I decided to search, and found images of Red Sea corals and creatures. Not sure if you will recognize anything you saw, but here's an inkling of what my browser found in images:
View attachment 674082View attachment 674083View attachment 674084View attachment 674085
View attachment 674086View attachment 674088View attachment 674087View attachment 674090
View attachment 674093View attachment 674094View attachment 674099View attachment 674102

Have a blessed Sunday. The Lord gave us diversity around the world. And it's all good. Thanks be to God.

Then there’s this place. It’s actually in the sea,

https://www.expedia.com/Coral-World-Underwater-Observatory-Aquarium-Eilat.d6103604.Vacation-Attraction

 

[beautress]

Thank you, mindful.
Your colors of coral are similar to the majority of the ones I saw in my search, and I didn't choose a focus on stationary animals/plants, but swimmers.
However, as a fiber artist who has dealt with the rainbow in over a thousand quilted and crocheted items, I have this little penchant for finding rainbow colors in nature. The pictures I used were searched as "red sea, red fish," "red sea," +orange, +yellow, +green, +lime green, +turquoise, +royal blue,
+ purple...." And I did them in rainbow order. That probably accounts for why my search picked up different fish than you saw, and occasionally a search engine picks up something that doesn't fit in with my agenda, which is "red sea,....++++" So as careful as I tried to be, it's possible that one of two things made my findings different than yours--search engines pick up errors of the general public, people who put things in the wrong box, and the other variable is my searches pick up things not normally seen unless you look under a few hundred coral branches to find just one rare fish, plus out there in the wild country, people have been known to favor one specie half a world away amd so much so, they want to start a colony elsewhere, and tell a few photographers where to look for a "find" in a place where "that specie" has never been known to be there before, or it died out centuries ago before history was written and men didn't remove a specie from its habitat and placed it elsewhere. As well, our written history only goes back so many centuries, and who knows if before then travelling men with a boat actually made it to the other side of the world where they left whatever survived the trip in a fishbowl where babies or even fish eggs of species were planted in waters a world away. We're limited by our own boundaries. Earlier civilizations weren't.
/philosophical rant.

 

[Baron Von Murderpaws]

 

[Foxfyre]

I won't bring politics into the Coffee Shop, but lately I've spent a bit of time out there on the forums both here at USMG and other places.

I think I'm within the rules here when I say LONG LIVE THE COFFEE SHOP!!!

 

[Foxfyre]

 

[beautress]

I won't bring politics into the Coffee Shop, but lately I've spent a bit of time out there on the forums both here at USMG and other places.
I think I'm within the rules here when I say LONG LIVE THE COFFEE SHOP!!!

Hear, hear! I need a break too. Back to the love of nature's beautiful places...

May your lives be filled with the beauty of the earth and all God's many blessings today and always.

 

[Foxfyre]

What do you think? Is the C-130 Hercules reproducing?

 

[Hossfly]

What do you think? Is the C-130 Hercules reproducing?

View attachment 675770

I think the C-5 Galaxy is molting.

 

[Dragonlady]

Beautress, you would LOVE Northern Ontario. My father-in-law called it God's Country.

This is NOT our actual dock, but it looks enough like it that I could probably fool family members with this photograph. It's on Lake Vernon, just outside of Huntsville, about 50 miles from Algonquin Park.

\\


The property on the other side of the bay was a small Marina, and there was no house to the left of the marina. The kids would start running at this end of the dock, and throw themselves off the end of the dock, swim back to this end of the dock and do it again.

The bay is very sheltered and the water is calm, most of the time. But if you went out past the point, into open water, it got real rough, real fast. Too rough for the canoe.

We don't get enough snow in Southern Ontario, to go out and play in the winter any more. I don't think my youngest has ever been sledding or toboganning. There's not enough snow to make it worthwhile to buy sleds where we live. The cottage is far enough north that we still got snow and lots of it. We kept our skiis and sleds at the cottage, which was winterized.

My grandkids were here for an overnight last night. We walked over to the Catholic schoolyard. The playground is a bit far for me to walk just yet, but the schoolyard is just two blocks away, and they have a playground and a soccer pitch. The back gate was locked. We started walking around to the "car gate", hoping to find it unlocked, but a guy with a nice dog tried to get in but couldn't. He said somebody had spray painted graffitti all over the school and the paved area behind it, and made a complete mess of the place. So now no one can use it after hours.

Thanks asshole!!!

 

[Baron Von Murderpaws]

Texas Bluebonnets

 

[Dragonlady]

Beautress, you would LOVE Northern Ontario. My father-in-law called it God's Country.

This is NOT our actual dock, but it looks enough like it that I could probably fool family members with this photograph. It's on Lake Vernon, just outside of Huntsville, about 50 miles from Algonquin Park.

View attachment 675747\\


The property on the other side of the bay was a small Marina, and there was no house to the left of the marina. The kids would start running at this end of the dock, and throw themselves off the end of the dock, swim back to this end of the dock and do it again.

The bay is very sheltered and the water is calm, most of the time. But if you went out past the point, into open water, it got real rough, real fast. Too rough for the canoe.

We don't get enough snow in Southern Ontario, to go out and play in the winter any more. I don't think my youngest has ever been sledding or toboganning. There's not enough snow to make it worthwhile to buy sleds where we live. The cottage is far enough north that we still got snow and lots of it. We kept our skiis and sleds at the cottage, which was winterized.

My grandkids were here for an overnight last night. We walked over to the Catholic schoolyard. The playground is a bit far for me to walk just yet, but the schoolyard is just two blocks away, and they have a playground and a soccer pitch. The back gate was locked. We started walking around to the "car gate", hoping to find it unlocked, but a guy with a nice dog tried to get in but couldn't. He said somebody had spray painted graffitti all over the school and the paved area behind it, and made a complete mess of the place. So now no one can use it after hours.

Thanks asshole!!!

 

[Baron Von Murderpaws]

I wonder, does anyone on this site have their own private lake they live on?

 

[SFC Ollie]

I wonder, does anyone on this site have their own private lake they live on?

Close, the river is less than 200 yards from the front door.

 

[Foxfyre]

I wonder, does anyone on this site have their own private lake they live on?

We have a rock pond in the back yard that serves as a sort of "French drain" to keep rain water off our enclosed back porch. It is usually dry but in heavy rains can fill up. Does that count?

 

[Dragonlady]

I wonder, does anyone on this site have their own private lake they live on?

I have a friend who has their own private island up north. My uncle used to own a cottage on a private island but he sold it after his wife died.

In Northern Ontario, there are hundreds of small lakes amongst the mountains, with islands which are big enough for one two cabins, and not much more. These lakes are fairly shallow and freeze over in winter, warming quickly in summer so they make for ideal summer vacation homes. These are only accessible by boat, and its really risky to try to there in the winter.

There are no poisonous snakes, spiders or scorpions in Northern Ontario. There are bears, moose, and mosquitoes and black flies. People who have gotten lost in the bush, have been driven mad by the black flies, within 3 days. Their bites hurt, bleed, and there are clouds of them May to July 1st. I wouldn't go there during black fly season.

I refused go to our cottage during black fly season (after Mother's Day to the end of June). We spent every weekend up north that we could get out of the city. There would be traffic jams on Highway 400 out of the city, between Toronto and Barrie. At Barrie, the traffic branched off - with one group heading west on Hwy. 26 Georgian Bay/Wasaga Beach, and the rest continuing up Hwy. 400/11 to the Muskoka Mountains. 2 1/2 hours door to door.

There's Northern Lights in the winter, and sometimes in the Summer too. And no light pollution. The air is sweet and clean. A weekend at the cottage was like a weekend in heaven. My first husband's family had a cottage on Lake Erie, not far from where I live now. But Lake Erie was dirty and pollution was worse back in the 70's, when they owned it. It was also quite literally a shack by the lake. The Huntsville cottage was proper house - fully insulated, and winterized.

The night sky is unbelievable. Some of our happiest times and most memorable moments were spent there. We spent every summer vacation there, and celebrated Christmases, birthdays, and school vacations there. I still remember the time my father-in-law and my husband chopped down a tree in the front yard, which got away from them, and nearly went through the picture windows on the lake side of the cottage.

My toddler daughter was standing at the window watching her Daddy and her Grandpa chopping down the tree. I saw my husband with the chain saw, and my FIL throw his weight desperately against the tree that was leaning TOWARDS the cottage windows, as it started to fall, and I heard him yell at my husband to help him, and I RAN across the room to grab my baby away from the window, while they fought with the tree, and then got the hell away as the tree fell - missing the corner of the cottage by less than 6 inches.

There was also the time my FIL nearly burned the cottage down, using gasoline as charcoal lighter. The flame was climbing the stream of gasoline back to the can. Good times!!! "Arsonist Leo" was NOT allowed to light the BBQ ever again.