Finally Reached my goal of biking around Cape Ann

a little over a month ago I bought a bike. Amazingly enough after close to 10 years of not biking, I could still stay balanced.....sorta. Granted I crashed a few times and I really need to get my biked tuned, but I was stubborn in my efforts to bike around Cape Ann. Todaymy goal was to bike down to Charle's over by Good Harbor Beach which is a little over 9 miles away for lunch. After reaching my destination I concluded that a hamburger for lunch may make the bike ride back troublesome. So I thought i'd bike a bit father and see if I could find something lighter. I eventually stopped at the Pleasant street cafe and had some Ice Tea. Realizing that I wasn't far from home I continued my way to the 127a and on to home. Oddly enough I stopped usually stopped around 9-10 miles and turned around where 14/15 miles would take me home. Who knew reaching my goal would be easier than training for it.

Diving the Oriskany.....I mean Florida Spring Diving

I came down to Pensacola Florida to dive the Oriskany. Unfortunately, due to weather, that did not happen. Twenty foot waves are good for surfers, but not for divers. With that in mind Luis, Marc, and myself jumped in a car and drove 106 miles to Morison springs to do some Cavern Diving. On the way to the dive site I learned two important facts about my rental car. The first is that SUVs and high wind do not mix well and lastly that not all SUVs are four wheel drive including the one I rented.

I learned this while looking for a place to park near Morrison Springs when I realized that the SUV stopped moving forwards, and curiously enough backwards either. No matter how much I stomped on the gas pedal, I had no luck. To put things into perspective, The entrance area to Morison Springs is a beach, and as indicated by the laughter from Marc and Luis, I was deep in the sand digging my way to China. Thanks to Marc and the other drivers in the area, we were soon out of the sand and parked next to the water.

Once you are in the water, Morison Springs looks like a swamp. Its muggy green swamp water, but the interesting thing is the spring is under the river. So after 50/55 feet of green muck, it suddenly becomes clear. It becomes so clear, that you see the warning sign with the Grim Reaper saying come Hither!

Once you enter the spring, you get a rush of fresh water and then you see the cavern. The Cavern is about forty feet tall and maybe sixty feet across, The bottom was dynamited to prevent divers from going into the cave which existed below. The water is absolutely clear. Life in the cavern is mostly made up of eels, a few catfish, and the Travelocity Gnome.

Leaving the Cavern, you can see the River up above.



Right after that we went to Vortex Springs, which is essentially a "Divers Playground." You can stay at one of the many lodges or the camp ground surrounding the spring. Within the spring are many man made swim throughs and other objects that divers can use to improve their skill.











The next day, we went to cave in a lake called "Hole in the Wall" and it was literally a hole in the wall. In the video below you can see that the entrance in and out was little bit bigger than me. Cave Diving is less tolerable to mistakes.

Just in case you were wondering...

Smoke on the water.

It is starting to get cold in January, you can see from the video clip here that the ocean is warmer than the air.

I went to Florida for a Jewish wedding and I found Jesus

I am here in Florida for my cousin's Wedding. I wonder how my family can expect me to be in the vicinity of a large body of water and not expect me to jump in (with lots of gear). Nevertheless I was swimming along and minding my own business when I met Jesus.

Jesus under water in Florida

Man Vs. Squirrel!

After the birds flew off, I decided to get a bird feeder. However less of the food was going to the birds and more to my new furry nemesis. Normally I wouldn't mind feeding an extra creature. However when the squirrel discovered he could get more seed by eating through the feeder (splitting it in half), I was not amused at the squirrel's $13.98 lunch.

So I am now onto Plan B. $39.45 later with a guarantee from Home Depot of a squirrel proof feeder. Again Squirrel Armstrong finds a way of getting into the feeder by jumping from a rail 7 feet away.

So I am now onto Plan C. Moving the feeder father away on a poll and placing a $8.99 squirrel guard (again guaranteed by Home Depot) prevents the squirrel from jumping on the feeder. However the little bastard can climb a slippery aluminum pole.

Plan D..... After applying $0.25 of oil to the pole. I received a good 18 minutes of entertainment as my determined furry friend jumps on the pole and after half a second realizes he isn't going father up.

I have determined I have spent close to 50 bucks not to feed birds but to place my wits against a creature 1/10th my size with an IQ of 20.......

The Culprit

Bird Feeder Version 1

Bird Feeder Version 2

Bird Feeder Version 3

They don't seem as cute now...

The baby birds are now grown up and started flying. Soon after they took off and left me with a empty nest full of bird droppings. They don't seem as cute now.