After lunch Mike took us on a tour around the Sarasota area. We sure saw some beautiful sites. We drove from the mainland over to a long narrow island. We could see the Gulf on both sides. As we drove we saw a place where they are having a sand castle building contest. These sand castle displays were huge and very intricate. Unfortunately we couldn't find any place to pull over so I could take a picture but it really was spectacular.
Further down the road we found numerous beach access parking areas. So we thought the dogs would love being on the beach in this weather. But as it turns out, dogs aren't allowed on the beach even on leash. So Mike walked around the parking lot while I went to take a few pictures on the beach. I felt so out of place. I had jeans and a t-shirt on and felt so overdressed. People weren't just wearing shorts they were all wearing bathing suits. They were listening to their music, laying on their cots, and drinking their cool drinks.
We continued on our drive and found a very small little park where dogs were allowed. It really wasn't even so much as a park but just a small little grassy area in front of a parking lot. But it was right on the beach. Little did we know that this would be Wazzu's favorite place on earth.
There were probably 30-40 squirrels in this little grassy area. In addition, people must come here to feed the squirrels as they were extremely tame and would come toward you and sit up waiting to be fed.
Well, what could be better than tame squirrels. All three dogs were very excited. The problem was that two of them went ballistic. So Mike had to take Sparkie and Slugger over to the water. Wazzu however just wanted to make friends with the squirrels. Wazzu can be a statue and move slower than a snail when trying to befriend an animal. Of course, at this speed things take a LONG time. So we spent a long time stalking squirrels.
Unfortunately, ever since I got my compact camera it has times when the lens only opens about 1/3 of the way. But on those cameras you don't actually look through the lens so you don't know it didn't open all the way until you look at your pictures later. So I thought I got a perfect picture of Wazzu touching noses with a squirrel. But the camera did cooperate. So here is the best one I got.
Since I wanted to see the rest of the scenery Wazzu had to stop playing with the squirrels, much to her dismay. When I turned to join the others I found them peacefully enjoying their day.
The view from there really was beautiful.
There must have been a lot of fish in the waters here as there were many pelicans hanging around. And every 20 seconds or so they would dive into the water to catch a fish.
It was non-stop action and really fun to watch. I could have watched that for hours. Now I guess I understand how Wazzu could do the squirrel thing for hours.
As we continued our drive we came across a touristy part of town. It was kind of like a "build it and they will come" place, as suddenly there were lots of people. We hadn't planned on stopping but I noticed a unique pet gifts store so needless to say we stopped.
The shop owner welcomed the dogs with open arms....or to be more exact, hands full of treats and a nice big bowl of fresh water. The dogs had a great time in there. Slugger was so cute. Since it was so hot he had his big smile face on. He would stretch as tall as he could to put his front feet up on the counter and look over to ask for a treat. I tried to take a picture as he was so adorable. But the camera did its darn lens trick again so I didn't get the shot. That did it. The camera got returned and now I'm searching for a new camera!
The dogs were now tired so we could relax and watch TV a bit. Suddenly I unconsciously felt something on the top of my head. I went to scratch it and noticed it wasn't just an itch, I could actually feel something. I had Mike look and sure enough it was a TICK!! We got it out and noticed it didn't look like the ticks the dogs get.
So we got on the internet to do some research and found a picture of one that looked like the one on me. Interestingly enough it is called a female American Dog Tick. We've never seen one of those on the dogs...just on me. We did research and found that it is very uncommon for those to have Lyme Disease. Phew. Gosh, do they make Frontline for people?
I told the dogs thanks for bringing me a gift from their hike but if that's what they are going to bring me then NO THANKS. I normally wash my hair pretty thoroughly but tonight I washed my hair for probably 30 minutes! Boy, it really hurts. Now I really feel for Wazzu! She gets ticks often. In fact, we found one on her this evening too. But hers was a Brown Dog Tick - the same kind we've always found on her.
Well, I guess Wazzu and I are going to have to start eating lots of garlic!
Debbie
11/28/06
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