Roseate Spoonbills Feeding In A Tide Pool

Driving out of Cedar Key a few weeks ago, the Roseate Spoonbills (aka Pink Duckbilled Dinosaurs) were taking full advantage of a low tide that had created shallow pools in the mudflats.

The tide was thoughtful enough to stock these pools with tiny shrimps, snails, and other tasty Spoonbill Chow, much to the delight of the Roseates and a Snowy Egret.

There are some road sounds in the video, because all of this action was just a few yards from the road shoulder. I tried to soften the car sounds with a bit of Celtic tunes, which I think work very well with the graceful, yet very serious work of the Spoonbills.

Enjoy.





 

Post-Mudrun Road Food Post

After the SuperHero Scramble Intimidator 8 mile obstacle race on May 25th, I was, as you might guess, just a little hungry.

 

 

State Road 33 brought me back through the small town of Groveland as I journeyed north from Revolution Offroad (the venue for the Intimidator run).

 

I had passed through Groveland on the way to the race that morning, but at that time I hardly noticed the town as my mind was on the upcoming race and getting there on time.

 

Now, exhausted and battered from the run, I could take my time and scan for a bite to eat.

 

Running 8 miles on a breakfast of mostly lean protein washed down with high carb sports drinks seemed like an awesome excuse to feed my fried chicken addiction so I turned on my GFCPS device and waited.

 

In no time the GFCPS registered a hit and I turned into the well worn parking lot of "Krispy's".

 



 

I didn't come here for the landscaping...

...or the architecture.

The prominent "Livers and Gizzards" sign was a good sign.
I'm a gizzard man myself, but that is beside the point. Offering fried innards is usually a sign of a real fried chicken place.
Convinced by the fact that a place this tired looking in a small town, must be popular with the locals,(It's not likely to pull in too many franchise oriented tourists)  I decided to give Krispy's a try.  



For about 8 bucks I got 4 pieces of perfectly fried, hot, moist chicken, fries, slaw, and an apple fritter.

I got mine to go, because I had a half-baked plan to take a back road through the Green Swamp on my way home. That plan fell apart when the dirt track I was on forked. Traveling sans map as I often do ...(no, I didn't have a smart phone with me) ... the forking road caused me to backtrack and head home on asphalt.

I tell you that part of the story for this reason. The Swamp misadventure caused a torturous delay in the eating of the Krispy's fried chicken. When I say torture, I mean this ... the JEEP's tiny cab had filled with the awesome siren smell of hot fried chicken the moment I tossed the white bag on the passenger seat beside me.

For fifteen minutes of Swamp driving and back tracking, the smell had been taunting me.

When I finally dove into it, the chicken was still hot, crispy, and juicy.

Crumbs flew and soon my lap was covered with crunchy bits, but who cared? 

Not me, bro.

I did come to my senses and resist the fries and the fritter thing ... much to the later delight of my Labs.

But that chicken ... oh my ... that chicken.

Not a molecule remained when I was done.

Even the lap crumbs were gleaned.

I'm already signed up for next May's SuperHero Intimidator 8 mile race and I WILL be stopping at Krispy's on the way home from that one too.