Living in the Woods, Florida Style

The old Naval Live Oaks in our front yard.

Not too long ago my grandson told some of  his school friends, "My Nana lives in the woods." I don't really live in the woods, but then from a child's point of view, well, maybe I do live in the woods.

This got me to thinking, so I took several photos of my yard. Then when I was looking at those photos tonight I went, "Whoa, it does look like the woods." Of course, this is Florida, so it's kind of a tropical version of the woods.

Gazing up at the branches of the old Naval Live Oaks.

In the front yard are two old majestic Naval Live Oaks. They must be well over a hundred years of age. At one time I'm sure they were adorned with Spanish Moss, but Hurricanes Ivan and Dennis blew the moss out of the trees. They lost a few limbs in those hurricanes too, but nothing to cause any damage to the house.

The Date Palm the squirrels love.

There's a huge Date Palm in the front yard too. According to neighbors, the palm was planted in the yard some forty-two years ago by the original owners of our house. When the dates are ripe the squirrels go crazy gathering them up. Apparently the dates are very tasty.

The rest of the yard, front and back, has an assortment of White Oaks, Pin Oaks, Scrub Oaks, tropical palms and other trees, shrubs and vines I can't even begin to identify. When the mosquitos aren't feasting I love sitting out in the yard and just watching the world go by.






An assortment of palms, vines and oaks in the backyard.

The yard is a haven for Cardinals, Blue Jays, Mockingbirds, Doves and a variety of songbirds. Now and then a Great Blue Heron flies overhead on his or her way to and from the sound or the bay. Some days a Red Tailed Hawk swoops through the yard hoping to catch an unwarry bird or squirrel.

Did I say squirrels? Our oak trees are actually giant squirrel condos. The trees are festooned with squirrel nests. If I could peek inside the nests I'd see the downy fluffs of my dogs' fur. I frequently see the squirrels carrying those tufts of fur up to their nests.

Across the back of our yard is a thicket of oaks, palms and lots of vines.  This is my dogs' favorite part of the yard, a wooded jungle of sorts. They can go back there and hide if and when they want.

Hmm! I guess my grandson is right. I do live in the woods. And best of all, I love it.