“BEHIND THE PAW” – WEEK #1 2013

Hi Everyone..It’s time for our first weekly roundup of the New Year where I take you “behind the paw”  for some extra fun stuff on this week’s stories…

Sunday I posted a photo of Sandhill Cranes taken at the Teneroc Trailhead in Saddle Creek Park here in Lakeland. Teneroc is one of the gateways to the Great Florida Birding Trail , a 2,000-mile, self-guided highway trail that connects nearly 500 birding and wildlife viewing sites throughout Florida.  The GFBT website provides tons of great resources for serious birders and novices alike including a downloadable Checklist of Florida Birds. The Checklist of Florida’s Birds contains 513 bird species including 496 native Florida birds, 13 established nonnatives and 4 native species now considered extinct in Florida.  One perk offered visiting birders is the free loaner optics program at each of the nine gateway sites, and eighteen additional sites. Sites with the loaner optics program feature a staffed visitor center or office where birders can stop in and borrow a pair of binoculars for free in exchange for a driver’s license or credit card.

On Monday our great pal The Kirbster from Kirby’s Dawg Blog did the funnest thing…He “comic booked” Gizmo, sitting in a tree of course, and even included Gizmo’s geodog GPS…What a super gift for the new year…

Also on Monday Gizmo & I took you on a hike of the Lost Lake Loop of the Teneroc Trail . That trail connects to the main section of the Teneroc tract to the north. I’ve found a great video taken on a hike from that northern trailhead that I want to share. The video was shot by Kevin Mims, the “Outdoor & Nature Guy” for  Visit Florida.  Kevin has posted videos of his hikes all over the state .  On this hike at Teneroc he’s come across a feral hog, an armadillo and at 2:54 in that most celebrated critter the Florida gator.

WahooHiker at Teneroc

Tuesday we wished everyone a very Happy New Year and shared a video from the early 1970’s of the Divine Miss Bette Midler.  Embarrassing personal history time –  there’s a  “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” link here…During that era I “was in a relationship” (or the “old lady” as they used to say back then) with a guy who was a roadie for rock bands in and around New York City, including the Buzzy Linhart Band and one called Moogy & the Rhythm Kings. Buzzy & Moogy together wrote the song “Friends” that went on to become Bette Midler’s theme song.  Because of that I actually got to work at some of Bette’s early shows around Greenwich Village.

This annotated video has the songwriters reunited decades later to once again sing their biggest hit. Buzzy sings lead and Moogy is behind him on drums.

Buzzy Linhart at the Bottom Line, NYC. 2002 “(You Got To Have) Friends” also known as “Friends”

Yesterday we gave thanks for two lovely awards, and I’ve just learned that the beautiful Princess Zena of The Princess Tales has chosen us to receive a Very Inspiring Blogger Award.  It’s been quite a week! There are some rules of acceptance of course and in order to do it justice we’ll be posting more about it later this week…but today I just had to share

Here’s today’s ticker  update for the 30/30 Challenge…the Challenge link is over in the sidebar…Gizmo & I are doing well so far…

Thanks to Two Little Cavaliers for co-hosting The Saturday Pet Blogger Hop