Our youngest, The Boy, graduated from college on Saturday. He’s somehow managed to graduate with honors, all while holding down two jobs.
We can’t imagine having that much energy. As parents, we couldn’t be prouder.
In addition to the pride we feel for our son’s accomplishments, we have found other reasons to celebrate. This is the last year we’ll ever make a tuition payment, have an offspring on our medical insurance, or get to claim a dependent on our taxes. I guess we had better break out the 2022 W4 calculator to see what changes to expect.
Stick a fork in us, we’re done.
This doesn’t mean we’re finished being parents, not by any means. But it’s different now, we are the parents of three adults. We will no longer have day-to-day responsibility in their lives.
We haven’t with our two oldest, The Piglet and Decibel, for years, they are adults, and as such are responsible for themselves. With the exception of a few heavy learning experiences along the way, our girls are doing well in the big, bad world.
Now it’s time for The Boy to take flight and follow his sisters’ path. Hopefully we have provided the tools to make that possible, but only he can make it happen for himself.
We helped our kids make college affordable, but all of our kids had to have jobs while in college to pay for their books, bills and living expenses. In high school, if they wanted spending cash they had to find a way to earn it themselves.
All three worked in restaurants during college, and the girls worked at eateries as second jobs while slaving at entry level wages in their chosen fields. Restaurant work is hard, but they quickly learned people skills, something that will benefit them greatly in any workplace.
Nothing is harder to deal with than hungry people before they get their food.
We feel strongly that having a strong work ethic has greatly benefited each of them in this tough economy. Recent studies show that about half of this year’s graduates are unemployed or “under-employed, a daunting statisic for our young adults.
So far our offspring’s solution to the toxic job market has been to find any work they can get. If it sucks, all the more motivation to look harder for a job they like.
Is there really any question as to which job applicant has the better chance scoring one of the rare available positions if an employer is choosing between one who is currently employed, even if it is “under-employed,” or one that is unemployed back at home in his old bedroom with the luxury to whine about the economy?
That’s why we’re not worried about our college educated, certified commercial pilot son who went back to his job at the pizza place the day after he graduated.
He won’t be there long.
David & Veronica, GypsyNester.com
Update: I now have something new to worry about. Look what The Boy is up to now. UGH.
YOUR TURN: You’ve heard our opinion, what’s yours? Do you have any tips for The Boy as he heads out into the rough job market?
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Everglades Airboat Tour
Gator Park had something that we’d been wanting to try for years, airboats. We, like most folks I suppose, were more interested in careening through the swamp at insanely… CONTINUE READING >>
Gator Park had something that we’d been wanting to try for years, airboats. Here’s a fun fact: Back in 1905, nearly twenty years after his “Watson come here” moment, Alexander Graham Bell, that’s right, the inventor of the telephone, led a team up in Nova Scotia that built the world’s first airboat, the Ugly Duckling.
As incredibly groovy as that little tidbit of information might be, we, like most folks I suppose, were more interested in careening through the swamp at insanely high speeds. We got our fill of that, but the ride included much more.
As the boat proceeded into Everglades National Park, we got to see an amazing array of wildlife up close, while we drifted slowly and quietly through the glades. We were within a few feet of all sorts of water fowl and reptiles, including little baby gators. This got us wanting to go exploring in the non-tourist areas of the glades, so we headed off to see what we could find. Oh, and by the way, even alligators are cute when they’re babies.
For more of our Florida Everglades antics: https://www.gypsynester.com/everglades.htm
Visit our GypsyNester YouTube Channel!
Boy, Are We Everglade We Came Here!
Your GypsyNesters take on the Everglades – all good fun until a very uncomfortable Veronica gets her hands on an alligator!
We encountered gator wrestling, did some (really fast!) airboat riding and visited the smallest post office in the US.
And that’s just the beginning… CONTINUE READING >>
Skunked in our efforts to spot a Skunk Ape, Florida’s Bigfoot cousin, we chose to make the most of our location and take in some of the more tangible attractions that the Everglades had to offer.
Amazing wildlife can be found in the state and national parks, or in captivity at any of the many tourist traps that dot the highway.
These roadside shows have a long history down here, so we figured we’d start with some of them. They usually feature all sorts of snakes, mostly of the unbelievably huge variety, talking birds, and always the star attraction, alligators.
Often the opportunity to touch, or even hold, an alligator is included. Making tourists heft a gator seems to be a kind of comedy bit in these parts, as we learned when we took in the show at the aptly named Gator Park.
We were seated in a theater-like grandstand overlooking a sand pit where a giant alligator was waiting for showtime. Little did we know we were about to be treated to some good old fashioned gator wrestlin’.
Salvator, the human challenger for the day, explained the proper technique for sneak attacking huge carnivorous reptiles, then leaped on the monster’s back and clamped shut its jaws with his bare hands.
Even though there are a couple tricks that give the human an advantage, don’t try this at home kids!
First, it is very important that the alligator is approached from behind, where it can’t see.
Second, gators can bite with incredible force, but they have very little jaw strength for opening their mouths, so it is imperative that the jaw be clamped shut before it ever gets opened.
See how simple that is? Other than the pesky problem that one slight slip may cost an arm or a leg, there’s really nothing to it.
After successfully winning his match, Salvator asked for volunteers to give it a try. With no takers, he chose Veronica to be the next challenger.
He gave her just enough instructions to have us all questioning how crazy this guy really was, before relenting and handing her a smaller specimen to hold.
After contemplating crawling into the ring with an eight foot long monster, this little four footer seemed rather harmless. Oh, and the park had the good sense to tape the little guy’s mouth shut.
Gator Park also had something that we’d been wanting to try for years, airboats.
Here’s a fun fact: Back in 1905, nearly twenty years after his “Watson come here” moment, Alexander Graham Bell, that’s right, the inventor of the telephone, led a team up in Nova Scotia that built the world’s first airboat, the Ugly Duckling.
As incredibly groovy as that little tidbit of information might be, we, like most folks I suppose, were more interested in careening through the swamp at insanely high speeds. We got our fill of that, but the ride included much more.
As the boat proceeded into Everglades National Park, we got to see an amazing array of wildlife up close, while we drifted slowly and quietly through the glades.
We were within a few feet of all sorts of water fowl and reptiles, including little baby gators. This got us wanting to go exploring in the non-tourist areas of the glades, so we headed off to see what we could find. Oh, and by the way, even alligators are cute when they’re babies.
Undeniably less adorable are the full grown variety, especially when encountered in the wild. We had one such run in while riding our bikes along a dirt road in The Big Cyprus National Preserve.
The ridiculously large lizard was sunning himself right on the edge of the road and by the time we noticed him we were right up on him. What followed was a study in just how fast a bicycle can change course.
We stumbled upon some more alligator action when walking the Big Cypress Bend Boardwalk at Fakahatchee Preserve State Park.
After an easy walk of just over half a mile, the trail ends at an algae filled pond patrolled by several big gators.
We happened to be just in time to see the rarely observed sight of a gator chowing down his prey. If that doesn’t keep people from straying off the boardwalk, nothing will.
But this walkway into the everglades is about a lot more than just alligators. Markers along the way pointed out all kinds of plant life and we even got to see baby bald eagles.
They were several hundred yards away from the trail, but a ranger had set up a telescope for an amazing view every time the eaglets popped their heads up over the side of their nest.
Caught photographically unprepared for such a Wild Kingdom situation, we had to improvise and managed to get a shot of the birds through the telescope eyepiece.
While the pictures won’t be winning any wildlife photography awards, it did capture the moment.
Just a few miles east of the boardwalk on the Tamiami Trail we stopped off at the smallest post office in the United States, Ochopee, Florida 34141.
The tiny structure was a farm shed until 1953 when a fire destroyed the town’s previous Post Office. With only a few dozen folks to serve, the little building seemed to do the job, so it has remained in service ever since.
It didn’t strike us as even remotely out of place in this sparsely inhabited area. The people of the everglades have a long history of getting by on the basics.
First the Calusa and the Tequesta peoples lived off of this secluded marsh land, later the Seminole came to escape being forced onto reservations in Oklahoma.
The first road wasn’t built until 1928. Unfortunately that Tampa to Miami (hence the name Tamiami Trail) highway contributed greatly to the destruction of this fragile ecosystem.
While the glades may look like a stagnant swamp, it is actually a running river.
Fresh water from Lake Okeechobee flows slowly southward to the sea, and the highway acted as a dam.
Culverts and bridges were placed to help resume the flow but, between the road and the many intentional drainage projects around Miami as the city grew, the glades have been badly damaged and water levels severely lowered.
Projects to reverse the destruction began in the 1980s, and in 2000 congress passed The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, but the outcome of the clash between environmental concerns with the politics of development and economic expansion is far from settled.
While politicians perform that delicate balancing act, the fate of the Everglades hangs in the balance.
David & Veronica, GypsyNester.com
Veronica Finds Herself in the Middle of a Gator Wrestling Show!
Our guide asked for volunteers to give it a try. With no takers, he chose Veronica to be the next challenger. He gave her just enough instructions to have us all questioning how crazy… CONTINUE READING >>
Talk about fear conquering!
We were seated in a theater-like grandstand overlooking a sand pit where a giant alligator was waiting for showtime. Little did we know we were about to be treated to some good old fashioned gator wrestlin’. Salvator, the human challenger for the day, explained the proper technique for sneak attacking huge carnivorous reptiles, then leaped on the monster’s back and clamped shut its jaws with his bare hands.
Even though there are a couple tricks that give the human an advantage, don’t try this at home kids! First, it is very important that the alligator is approached from behind, where it can’t see. Second, gators can bite with incredible force, but they have very little jaw strength for opening their mouths, so it is imperative that the jaw be clamped shut before it ever gets opened. See how simple that is? Other than the pesky problem that one slight slip may cost an arm or a leg, there’s really nothing to it.
After successfully winning his match, Salvator asked for volunteers to give it a try. With no takers, he chose Veronica to be the next challenger. He gave her just enough instructions to have us all questioning how crazy this guy really was, before relenting and handing her a smaller specimen to hold. After contemplating crawling into the ring with an eight foot long monster, this little four footer seemed rather harmless. Oh, and the park had the good sense to tape the little guy’s mouth shut.
For more of our Florida Everglades antics: https://www.gypsynester.com/everglades.htm
Visit our GypsyNester YouTube Channel!
Video – In Search of Skunk Ape
Your GypsyNesters go deep into the Florida Everglades, miles from any signs of civilization, in search of the elusive Skunk Ape and found some … CONTINUE READING >>
The Skunk Ape Research Headquarters, deep in the Florida Everglades, was not the kind of place that we could possibly drive on by, we had to go inside and investigate. What we discovered was the ultimate source for all things Skunk Ape, the Florida cousin in the Bigfoot/ Sasquatch/
Yeti family.
After gathering knowledge from the Headquarters, we set out across several hundred yards of mushy grassland to one of the ladder stands that the headquarters has erected. Climbing up to the platform allowed us a much better view of the surrounding area. We scanned the horizon with our binoculars, but once again we saw no sign of a Skunk Ape. We were treated to one of the most spectacular sunsets we’d ever seen, so we felt our first evening’s efforts were not in vain.
The next day we discussed other possible sighting sites and strategies headed out to an area across the highway a mile or two into the glades. Since the trip would cover several miles total we decided to head out on our bicycles, at least as far as we could. After a few miles the trail became too muddy for our bikes and we continued on foot.
For more on the Skunk Ape, interviews with the leading researcher in the field and our experience: https://www.gypsynester.com/skunk-ape.htm
Visit our GypsyNester YouTube Channel!
Life’s a Beach
Life’s a beach. In Florida that little pun takes on some real meaning. Of The Sunshine State’s twelve hundred miles of coastline, over half is covered by beautiful sandy beaches… CONTINUE READING >>
Life’s a beach. In Florida that little pun takes on some real meaning.
Of The Sunshine State’s twelve hundred miles of coastline, over half is covered by beautiful sandy beaches.
We are big fans of the seashore, so much so that we spent almost a decade on a secluded Caribbean island, so we were beside ourselves with excitement to get back to the beach.
Our usual beach activity consists of walking along for miles right where the surf meets the sand, but we discovered something new and different along Florida’s east coast, biking on the beach. Makes it a lot easier to bring our favorite Snack for Beaches too.
In many places the sand is packed down hard enough so that not just bicycles, but cars, and even RVs can cruise along the beach.
Cars used to race along these sandy strips, that’s how auto racing in Daytona got its start.
We weren’t ready for any five hundred mile speed competitions, but we were pretty jazzed about riding our trusty bikes right along the ocean.
We rode several miles until we came upon one of many common inhabitants of the Florida beaches, a beach bar.
It didn’t take us long to figure out that we were never very far from the nearest Sand Bar, Pirate’s Cove, Sand Dollar, Barnacle Bill’s, Down The Hatch, Hurricane Hole, or this particular day’s pitstop, Beachcomber.
One thing about beach bars, they are not really night spots. A good beach bar gets crackin’ in the afternoon and peaks right at sunset, so our timing was good.
We hit right when the local beach bums were hitting their strides, so we ordered up some fish and a cold one, and got the full scoop on all the ins and outs of life at The Beachcomber. The old salts and fisherfolk always seem ready to spin a yarn, or maybe even sing a shanty.
Ears and bellies filled, we put our tires to the sand again and pedaled back to town. Town at this point of our journey meant St. Augustine. It was there that we were introduced to a game that we had never come across before, but would many times again in our travels down the coast, Pétanque.
Noticing some men playing the game in the sandy parking lot of a little cafe, we thought it might be Bacci Ball, a pastime we had seen quite often in our travels in Italy.
While Pétanque, pronounced pay-tonk, is similar, it has the advantage of being playable almost anywhere. Any reasonably smooth open area will suffice.
Intrigued, we dismounted and stopped to watch a while. When the players noticed that they had spectators, the members of the Boules de León Pétanque Club were very gracious in explaining the game to us.
A small ball called a cochonnet (French for piglet) is thrown out and becomes the target. Larger, and heavy, metal balls are tossed at the piglet and the score depends on who gets the closest. If a player is skilled enough to actually touch the cochonnet, he has “kissed the pig.”
After our lesson, we were invited to have a go. We jumped right in and, though our happily competitive selves had a new way to pit our talents against each other, our skills were erratic at best.
Sometimes the poor little piglet was in danger of being crushed, while others there wasn’t a steel ball anywhere near the baby porker. Pétanque, it seems, is one of those games that is easy to learn but difficult to master.
Pétanque is an offshoot of lawn bowling, or boules in French, that became popular along the Riviera about one hundred years ago.
That popularity seems to have spread to Quebec, and then down to Florida with the snowbirds. Once we were aware of it, we began to notice it everywhere.
This wasn’t the only surprise we were in for. A little way down the coast we had several close encounters, but not of the third kind, of the bird kind. (ba-da-ching).
The first couple, while not technically on the beach, were right by the ocean.
Riding along the trails in Chain of Lakes Park, between the towns of Mims and Titusville, we saw several Anhinga.
These skilled fish finders majestically dry their wings in the sun by almost every body of water. When they dive they go completely under water to chase their prey, so afterward their feathers must be dried before any flying can be done.
Farther up the trail we came upon a massive flock of giant black birds.
At first it was hard to tell what sort of birds they were, but as we got a closer look it became clear that they were vultures. Hundreds of buzzards!
They were in the trees, in the air, and all over the ground, just waiting for something, or someone, to kick the bucket so they could chow down.
Maybe we’ve seen too many cartoons and old Westerns, but it was seriously disturbing to be constantly eyed by these hunched over, winged scavengers.
Another encounter came when we heard rustling in the brush while we were walking from the parking lot to the beach at Cocoa Beach.
Next thing we knew a bunch of furry little masked bandits burst out of the bushes like The Great Train Robbery.
This struck us as odd since we weren’t carrying any valuables and were right in the middle of town.
These guys were not the least bit disturbed with the presence of people. Uncomfortably so.
Raccoons are one of the few animals that have not only adapted to living among humans, but actually thrive on it. People seem to inadvertently provide a great deal of food for these resourceful little critters.
We were completely taken in by their ridiculous cuteness and hung around for quite a while watching and taking pictures. But the quest for an encounter with another Florida creature was on our minds.
We had heard tell of a legend that a great beast has been making his home in the everglades, no, not a giant gator (although there are plenty of them down there), the skunk ape. How can we possibly resist searching for this elusive cousin of bigfoot?
The answer is – we can’t. Stay tuned…we’ll be posting soon, if we make it out alive.
David & Veronica, GypsyNester.com
This post may contain sponsored links.
Florida Biking, Beaching, Birding & Beasting
The sand in Florida is packed down hard enough that we rode our bikes on the beach! Wow, Florida has a lot of wildlife… CONTINUE READING >>
In many places the sand in Florida is packed down hard enough so that not just bicycles, but cars, and even RVs can cruise along the beach. Cars used to race along these sandy strips, that’s how auto racing in Daytona got its start.
We weren’t ready for any five hundred mile speed competitions, but we were pretty jazzed about riding our trusty bikes right along the ocean. We rode several miles and came upon the many common inhabitants of the Florida beaches.
Check out amazing birds (including anhinga and vultures), raccoons, manatees, jellyfish and more!
For more Florida-on-our-bikes antics: https://www.gypsynester.com/floridabeach.htm
Visit our GypsyNester YouTube Channel!