Why is it still raining?!

     I know I should be grateful for a less-than-arid winter in Central Florida but...

      Enough already!

     We've been having quite a bit of rain in the Orlando area and every time it rains here, I can see it reflected in the rising river level on the waterdata.usgs.gov gage.

     Even though this measurement is taken at a location almost 3 hours away, you can see the correlation.  It makes it hard to revisit some of the places I went to last season as they are still in deep water.

     High water levels don't stop me from going, of course.  I spent my Christmas money (thanks, Daddy!) on new tires for the old Ranger.

     They're not the best on the market but they are new and have TREAD and I get excited every time I see them.  I might even try to avoid hitting curbs for awhile so they can stay new-looking a little longer.

     I had my bicycle loaded, as well, for a few days and it got so much good-natured attention, I considered making it a permanent fixture in the bed of my truck.  Apparently, having a kayak AND a bicycle on my truck gives me an air of being "ready for anything."

     Friday we went to a location that was new to me.  It was very close to where we parked, which was nice, but it was hard digging.  I tweaked my back right off the bat and am still nursing it back to health but it didn't stop me from digging on Friday (even though it probably should have).  I kept poking around until I found a shallow trough of gravel and rock laying on top of thick white clay.  I scraped up  a small selection of fossils but the coolest things I found were 4 crystalized shells.

     These are the first whole ones I found and they are so pretty!

     I've included my first river marble in the above photo for scale.  Being a lifetime gardener, I've found many marbles buried in the dirt over the years but this is the first one that's turned up in my fossil screen.

I thought this tiger shark tooth had a nice color; a little different from most of the teeth I find in the Peace River.

     Mastodon and mammoth enamel, turtle scute, bird bone, deer tooth, ray mouth plate tortoise foot pad, etc., but excited to find 2 snake vertebra (middle of photo) in fairly decent condition.

     This weekend is shaping up to be cold and rainy so I'll have to play it by ear.  I can layer more wool and fleece under the waders but at some point, my hands and arms are going to get wet.  Can't dig with numb hands!