Rural Life...Lake Okeechobee, Florida

Hello Everyone, 

It is so beautiful here this time of year! Not hot yet, but very lovely and sunny....sort of cool at night and perfect during the day! The photo above is of Lake Okeechobee, which is the 2nd largest lake in Florida, after Lake Michigan. It is 730 square miles and the shoreline is 135 miles. It is fresh water, but one can travel from Lake Okeechobee to the ocean! In winter we get many fishermen enjoying catching Speckled Perch  and fine big Bass and other fish. 

We are also noted for our cattle industry, both diary cows and beef cows. There are thousands of acres of cows and REAL cowboys live and work here. Above is a photo of a sort of friendly bull (I was in my car when photographing this bull!)

The wildlife is plentiful here including birds of all kinds as well as animals from opossum to wildcats! This photo is of the regal Blue Heron. I have painted many paintings of this bird. Click on it and any of these photos for a closer view.

We have lots of Sea Gulls around and I like to take my grandsons down to the lake shore to throw out bread crumbs to the birds. Once we were there and a fellow from out of state, known to locals as a "Snow Bird", began scolding my grandson for throwing "rocks" at the birds, when in fact he was throwing bread crumbs to them and of course, I was right there with him.  I thought how people are often so quick to judge others , especially children.  He drove off before I could tell him what we were doing. I suppose then he told everyone about that bad child throwing rocks.  Before accusing, we need to make sure something bad is happening. Austin was upset about it because he really loves the birds.

The above rooster happens to be fenced in, but believe me I have seen a whole family of chickens roaming around the bank drive-through and then traffic would have to stop while they crossed the street! Only in Okeechobee! By the way, Okeechobee means "Big Water" in the Seminole Indian language. We have a big Seminole reservation here.

We have very beautiful sunsets here and if you drive to the lake to watch, which is very close to my home, there are always several cars of people watching. We don't applaud when the sun goes down, like they do in Key West, but  we all sigh and say that it was another beautiful day in Sunny Florida!