 I’m still 46 until tomorrow ;o) Finally I get to be younger than you! Hahaha! Farewell Mike! Note the snazzy Gator colours there? On Wednesday we attended a special luncheon for Mike. Mike also has Pompe and he has been in Florida receiving a diaphragmatic pacemaker to help him breathe on his own. This should enable him to get off his ventilator and go back to live with his family in his own home. Mike is from New Jersey. He has only been able to go home to his house twice in over 4 years, and that was just for brief visits of a few hours. The rest of the time he has been hooked up to a ventilator in a palliative care hospital. Mike has a great sense of humour, to have been through what he’s been through and still be laughing, I gotta take my hat off to him! The lunch was a send off for Mike as he heads back to New Jersey to a rehabilitation centre to get his breathing and muscles stronger before he goes home. Bless you Mike, I know you’re going to make it back home soon!  Mike was trying to hide his "murse" - man purse!  On Thursday afternoon the OZ and I headed out to Paynes Prairie. This park became Florida´s first state preserve in 1971 and is now designated as a National Natural Landmark. Over 20 distinct biological communities provide a rich array of habitats for wildlife and livestock, including alligators, bison, horses and over 270 species of birds. The park is open until sunset each day. I guess it depends on what time of the day and also what season you go in, as to what you are most likely to see. It is a beautiful place. We saw alligators (ok 1), lots of different beautiful birds including an Eagle, an armadillo just wandering along minding its own business on the side of the track, loads of squirrels and some very large spiders! I HATE spiders! I was looking at an extremely large one on my way past on Road Runner, it was eating something in its web, I think it was an elephant. When I pointed it out to the OZ he acknowledged he had seen it, but he was seeing a different one, and pointed even closer to my face! I hadn’t noticed the one a LOT closer to me! This one was only slightly smaller; its dinner of choice was a wildebeest I think. We saw wild deer with babies, and wild horses too. This is a breed which belongs in this area called the Florida Cracker Horse. These horses were first brought to Florida by the Spanish in the early 1500s. It’s so lovely to see horses in the wild. The Florida Gators play Tennessee down at “The Swamp” tonight. There have been big RVs rolling into town, cars covered in Gators emblems and flags everywhere. It’s great how people really get into game day over here! I had to buy a Gators T-shirt so I didn’t look like such a foreigner! Now I fit right in until I say something.
Note: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (popularly known as "The Swamp") is the American football stadium for the University of Florida and the home field of the university's Florida Gators football team. It is located on the university's Gainesville, Florida campus. Attendance for the Gators' home football games regularly exceeds 90,000 persons. That's A LOT of persons!!
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AuthorAllyson Lock. Archives
February 2012
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