Sour Orange Festival

Down here in Lakeport, Florida they have trees growing, they are Sour Orange Trees, they been here forever, theres not many left as they were replaced by the sweeter Orange Trees, so every year they have their "Sour Orange Festival"

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There were a lot of people here today, there were vendors, booths for food, displays and also interesting things to see and "SOUR ORANGE PIE" !!!

I  enjoyed this ole girl that came down from Kentucky on all 4 cylinders !!!

There was Bluegrass, Gospel and we got to watch some very good cloggers !

There were also the younger youth that were learning to clog and they were delightful to watch and cheer on.

We could have had chicken on a stick, or sausage, french fries, or other foods but we went for the main event, we had the special "Bar-B-Q " Ribs, coleslaw, fried potatoes and hush puppies and sweet tea,  all very good.

We were a well fed happy Couple !!

After eating we went and got our slice of "Sour Orange Pie",  I had never had it before and was expecting something sour, wrong, this was a very delicious, smooth, creamy texture p[ie and if they had not sold out I would have bought a pie to take home.  All in all it was a great day !!

Sugar Cane

Well, we decided to attend the Ortona Sugar Cane Festival,  it is a demonstration of the sugar Cane Harvest and Processing, it was well worth attending. There was Bluegrass, clogging, food and crafts.

The sugar cane grown in fields and gets very tall, the outside leaves are brown and dry,  to remove this surplus they burn the sugar cane field and remove it so that it does not clog the machines that process it/

I am standing in front of a 1904 Golden Crusher they used to squeeze the liquid out of the sugar cane, when this liquid come out it is very reddish brown and sweet.

This site is an Indian Burial Site, there are mounds that were built where the ortona indians were buried but people dug up the sites, removed the pottery, jewlery and items of value before fences were installed and it was protected, Anna Mae and I are standing on a wooden walk way that goes over the top of a burial mound.

Anna Mae is standing at the base of a burial mound, directly behind her behind the trees and scrub brush there was a BlueGrass Band, Cloggers, and the served either Chicken or Pork Lunches which were delicious.    These are the sugar canes after they are burnt and cut, the white color is not ripe but the red color is ready and had liquid in it and tastes sweet.   All in all it was a great time, we were near the Caloosahatchee River in Ortona.   The place does not look like much but you drive back into near the river and you will see hugh Boats, Sail Boats, Scooners, Beautiful Houses and a Yacht Basin on the River, there is some Big, Big Bucks in this area hidden from view back in the woods.

Never forget our Veterans!!

Cooking fish and Burgers

Well, we have stayed busy traveling around this place, finding things we have missed, fishing and mostly eating,  the other night I cooked us some "Salmon"  I bought a Cedar Plank at Wally World, soaked it overnight in some salty water, got a nice piece of Salmon at the fish store and came home and prepared to cook salmon for the first time.

I washed the salmon, dried it off, rubbed it with brown sugar, sprinkled it with Onion and Garlic Powder, some bay seasoning and some Creole Seasoning and then rubbed the cedar plank with Olive Oil and placed the salmon skin side down on the board, ***You have to cut a piece of aluminum foil just a little smaller than the cedar board so that when the cedar plank starts to burn and smoke you lift it up and sit it on the aluminum foil.  The heat actually goes thru the cedar plank into the fish cooking it.

Sounds like a lot of work but when the Salmon was done it was served on a bed of long grain brown rice and greem beans and it was delicious .

The next meal was down at Oakie-Tanie Park on the Kissimmee River, we went down early and fished for Catfish, thantook a break and cooked our lunch,  we had some nice fresh hamburg, made burgers, I built a nice charcoal fire, opened a can of Bush Beans, and set the burgers and beans on the grill when it got hot.

We added Lays Potatoe chips and enjoyed a nice meal !!



• The only thing biting were Catfish, we didn't get any bass or Specs, fishing has been poorly along the river, hopefully after the next full moon it will get better.

Wild Hogs

We took a ride out of the city and came upon this site, someone had just hit a couple of wild hogs, I stopped and snapped a few pictures,  The first hog by the road was a young one.

This is the little one in the road.

This is the big one down in the ditch, it will not be there long as the alligators and vultures will take care of rather quickly.   This hog was a couple hundred pounds.

One has to watch for these porkers while traveling around down here.

Well, the weather has been great, almost 80 and hot and sunny, the fishing has not been great, Bass and Specs are not that interested in grabbing onto thye hook.

Anna Mae is sitting on the Indian Parrie Canal, in the back ground you can see the smoke from the bruning of the sugar cane field, right behind the smoke is the Seminole Indian Casino and reservation.  No luck on any fish.

This Geeko better find a new place to call home because when I get ready to use the Gas Grill it is going to get very warm in his "house" !

We changed locations and this is the overpass from Okeechobee County into Glades County on the Kissimmee River, we were lucky as we saw 3 great big "Otters" frolic and play right in front of us which is probably why there were no fish here either!!

Well, sooner or later a fish had to come by and I was half asleep sitting on the dock when this little scrappy largemouth bass came by and put up a good fight,  after his picture and a notch in his tail so if I catch him again I know we were friends I put him back in the canal, they hyave to be 18 inches to keep down here.

Hope everyone is doing OK, I am gonna catch some fish because Jimmy from Jimmy's Journal gave me the location of a very secret spot that should prove interesting .

Let us not forget our Veterans !

Frog Legs and Gator Tail

Breakfast was 2 large Honey Bell Oranges and 1 Ruby Red Grapefruit fresh squeezed for Breakfast and it is delicious, I cannot have Grapefruit Juice the Doctors say because of some of my medications so only have it now and then for a treat and man oh man was iot good.



We took a ride up north and went to an Alligator Tail and Frog Leg festival, it was in Fellsmere.

When we got there the place was packed, they were 5 police cars blocking and directing traffic into and around areas and parking was limited so they had a shuttle service, also they were about 200 biker's there and they were having a Carnival also with Rides, games of chance and they had a stage set up with bands playing and a huge tent for eating.

Thehe was all types of food from chicken to corn dogs to tacos but we drove up for the main feast which is a Frog Leg and Alligator Tail meal, it is $14 dollars a piece for this meal which as you can see below was,  Frog Legs, Gator Meat, Grits with butter, Cabbage Salad, Hush Puppies, it was a lot of dam good food and well worth the price.

When they handed you your styrofoam container they told you to hold it with 2 hands because it was not only hot but it was heavy !!

This meal was great.

On the way home we stopped at the Fort Drum Wild Life area and got a picture of this old Gator, Anna Mae and i both agreed this old timer was at least 10 and maybe 12 feet long.

You have to look to the left of the post and the Gator in almost in the center of the photo.

DON'T FORGET, REMEMBER THE VET!

Cattle Drive

I hope every one is staying warm, it's kind of cool down here in Florida but still warmer than New York,  we went to for a drive yesterday and were very lucky to come upon a real life "Cattle Drive"',  I grew up on a farm and rode horses, "Plow Horses" and during my Police career I did have a chance to ride in a mounted patrol in Rochester, have been to a few rodeos and always want4ed to be a "Cowboy".   Yesterday we say real cowboys and a cowgirl!!

We came upon 3 Sheriff's cars stopping traffic on the 2 lane just outside the village of Okeechobee and there was one Deputy on a Horse.  This area is between a residential area.

While the other riders wer moving and rounding up the cattle, about 100 to 150 of them the one cowboy rode up fast and opened a gate without getting off the horse.

With the Cowboys behind and beside them these critters were moving fast to head for the opening following the one being led in front by a cowboy who had roped one to lead the others.

The last of the "Herd" crosses the highway into the other pasture.  What a nice show.

The "Cowboys" and "Cowgirl" gather to discuss the drive afterwards.  This was really something to see in real life and not on television.  I did notice most of the cowboys didn't use their reins to guide the horses but either leaned the way they wanted to go or the horse just automatically went after one of the cattle when it broke away from the group.

Let us not forget and remember our Vets!!

Enjoying Ourselves

I have to put this picture on that was sent to me in regards to being in the Navy and learning to "March"  I was on a Frigate and there was not much room for "Marching" !!! 

  Thanks for the Picture "Chief" !!

It does bring back "Memories" !!

Things are going fairly well here for us Sno-Birds, 2 visitors that showed up this morning were 2 Sand Hill Cranes,  they stopped by and I got the chance to feed them some snacks as they wandered thru the driveway heading out back to the canal.

The other birds we get daily are what I refer to as Florida Chickens,  they come thru every morning, noon and night pecking away at the ground, fun to watch !!

The other interesting bird we have is we have an Osprey that likes the tree right next the house, he sits there with his fish snack he either scooped up out of the canal or sits on the ground and pulls apart one of the large doves he snatches.  He has an awsome cry and is neither afraid of me as I walk out under thye brfanch he claimed and just looks down at me and screams and goes on eating or just sitting there sunning himself.

Well, its 9:30pm and almost time for bed, I called up to New York and they still do not have much snow, just a couple of inches but the frost is in the ground about 10 to 12 inches, this is because there is no snow cover to insulate the ground, this could be bad later as this is an easy way to have your water lines freeze and bust.



Dont Forget, Rember our Vets!