Florida!

A magic place with 26 native turtle species, over one million alligators, little anoles everywhere and Cuban tree frogs in the toilets. A lifelong northerner, I am trying to recreate myself as an eccentric old southern woman.

Monday, April 11, 2011

www.incorporatemyuterus.com

file:///Users/susankeady/Desktop/incorporate-cert99-1.pdf

Friday, April 8, 2011

incorporate your uterus

I love Florida. Last week State Rep Scott Randolph said, "If my wife incorporated her uterus, you would all say hands off". Meaning that Florida Republicans do not want to regulate any business but have all sorts of plans for regulating uteri.

So Rep Scott was reprimanded for this statement and told not to mention body parts on the floor of the house. Children might be listening. Democrats are wearing these buttons.

My uterus is long gone, but I am going straight to the ACLU page, www.incorporatemyueterus.com to incorporate it anyway.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

wild parrots of St Petersburg

One of the many nice features of my new neighborhood is a huge flock of wild quaker parrots. They hang out at the Publix and sometimes fill the sky with green and noise as the whole flock soars at once. Often a bird or two is on the telephone wire, checking out the view and commenting on stuff.

These little guys are so common here that the logo for the annual First Night party features one of the quakers instead of the official city bird the pelican. (I love pelicans too).

But of course the finest companion animal in the world is a captive bred hand fed quaker parrot. Like my baby here Nikki Two, or as she prefers to call herself NikkiBIRD (her accent on bird).

I worry about the ethics of keeping pets anyway. Unlike dogs and cats, parrots are wild animals. That is part of their considerable charm. Is it right to live with one of these opinionated, talkative darlings and let them bond with a human? I'm not really sure.

But this is NikkiBird responding to the call of her feral counterpart. Her cage is open but she is not going out.

Berry tells great stories about the escaped pet quaker who found him on the Pinellas Trail one day. Landed on his shoulder murmering "hello" and refused to be chased away.Berry had to take him home and buy him a cage and food and toys and another quaker and so on. Captured by a bird.


Friday, March 4, 2011

All Alaska television


Just about the time I traveled 5,000 miles to Florida, Alaska hit television. All the time. Loggers, fishers, cops, wildlife cops, gold miners, and bush pilots. Sarah Palin's reality show. I confess I've watched most of them. A surreal experience.

I watch these amazing scenes. People I know, places I've been. Almost too lovely to be real, but I have been there.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

I like living in Florida

I've spent all my life in cold climates. Now every afternoon I sit in a wicker rocker on my patio and study the weather page of the St Petersburg Times. Check the weekly forecast first. Mostly sunny most days. And the tide table. High at 7:02 pm today.

Then I go through the US forecast for hight and low temps at cities I have lived in.
Concord NH 26/6
Anchorage 22/-1
Fairbanks 4/-38
New York 38/32

They don't list Rochester so I look at Buffalo (28/24) and Syracuse (24/21). Seasonal.

A quick look at the national weather map - which does not include Alaska - then over to the seawall to watch the pelicans.