2010 Feb. 22 Monday
Relaxing morning, lunch here, then we went to Wal-Mart. I wanted to get some bobbers and bait for fishing, and Linda wanted to get some groceries. Diane and her daughters are coming Friday through Monday, so we stocked up. We now have located our ‘necessary’ stores - Publix, Walgreens, and Wal-Mart - all a short drive away. The highway 192 (also Irlo Bronson Hwy) is at the end of the ¼ miles entrance to the resort, and it has all kinds of restaurants, motels, and other businesses along it. The TGIFriday’s restaurant is at the end of the entrance drive before you get on Hwy 192. But the resort itself is isolated, and we like that. Along the ¼ mile entrance is a pond that connects to Lake Cecile. I don’t know if there are fish in it or not, and I don’t know if I need a license to fish from the bank. We usually see a great blue heron and ibis there. Also, there is a small driving range and practice putting green along the entrance road.
Home for supper. Early to bed.

WEATHER: High 76, low 58. There were thunderstorms in the area, but we didn’t get one. I don’t think it rained in the night, but I slept very soundly and could have missed it.

FL NEWS: “PYTHON NIGHTMARE: NEW GIANT SPECIES INVADING FLORIDA”
State wildlife officials have created a special python hunting season to try to stop the spread of the nonnative snakes throughout the Everglades. The season is open for Burmese and Indian pythons, African rock pythons, green anacondas and Nile monitor lizards. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says anyone with a hunting license who pays a $26 permit fee can kill the reptiles from March 8 to April 17 on state-managed lands around the Everglades in South Florida. Thousands of the nonnative Burmese pythons are believed to be in the region, upsetting the natural balance of the ecosystem. They have already eaten thousands of native animals, including alligators. "Dozens of species of native wildlife, from white-tailed deer to 6-foot alligators to birds, have been found in the digestive tracts of Burmese pythons in Florida," said wildlife biologist Robert Reed.
Africa’s largest snake—the ill-tempered, 20-foot-long African rock python—is colonizing Florida, new discoveries suggest. Six African rock pythons have been found in Florida since 2002. More troubling, a pregnant female and two hatchlings have been found, which means the aggressive reptiles have set up house. More dangerous than even Burmese pythons, the African pythons are "so mean, they come out of the egg striking," said Kenneth Krysko, senior herpetologist at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville. Like the Burmese python, the African snake is a constrictor. Lacking poison, it kills animals by encircling and literally squeezing the life out of them. Florida wildlife may not be the only creatures at risk. In Africa, rock pythons are known to have attacked humans, Krysko said. Hidden in a Florida swamp, he added, the African python "could strike you and you wouldn't even know it was there."
If the two python species mate [Burmese and Rock], they may spawn a hybrid species, as has happened in captivity. And because of a biological phenomenon called hybrid vigor, there's an off chance the resulting snakes could be hardier, more powerful predators—assuming they're not sterile, as many hybrids are— Reed said. "We can't rule out the possibility that the introduction of genes from a different species might do something that would allow [the rock pythons] to be even more effective at persisting in Florida and perhaps expanding," Reed said.