Blogger in Paradise

Monkeys - actually Gibbons on their island.

My wife and I took a day and went to the Naples Zoo at the Caribbean Gardens (click for website)to see the new exhibit of giraffes. It just opened and their permanent home won’t be ready for a few months. The animals are well cared for here. The giraffes where very curious and interesting. We watched the alligator feeding which you can see in the video below. Sorry about the wind noise that comes up sometimes, but you can hear the information being given out during the feeding most of the time and it’s interesting. I shot it with my Droid X. First time doing that and I’m sure I’ll improve. We, also, took the cruise that goes out by the monkey islands and saw a lot of different animals as well as plants. It’s fun – go. Click on the pics for full size versions.

Polly who?

The new arrivals.

Feeder or Food?

Sleeping little kitties.

Where the antelopes roam.

Over the lily pond and to the zoo

People keep asking where I am on Facebook or other similar places. With over 11,000 compromised pages, Facebook and many social networking sites are prime targets for Hackers. Some of them are kids playing with technology, but many are serious criminals and I’m not interested in having to deal with them. Please, Read More.

For those interested, you can go to my RE news site, SwFlRealEstateNews.com and get the latest numbers on our market. Click here to go directly there.

The good news is that even though there were fewer sales this August than in 2009, it was still the second highest number of sales for the month in the ten years for which we have data.

Just to let all know, my company is making little videos which I am putting up on my other website – SwFlRealEstateNews.com. They’re about different areas in Collier County. Take a look. Here’s one about the zoo for you.

The Big Green Egg

A friend didn’t read his Condo docs and found out too late that the association did not allow BBQ’s that were wood fired. He had this thing called the Big Green Egg which is a great smoker/grill that is fired by chunks of hardwood charcoal – no briquettes, please. Having to get rid of it, he gave it to me. Moral to the story – read your Condo/HOA docs. Also, good to have a friend that doesn’t. I’ve been doing a little cooking on it and it works great. I’ve been trying to video or at least take pictures of the results, but when the food comes off the grill, there is a rush to eat it. Pictures are put on the back burner and there is a feeding frenzy. I managed to get a couple of pictures, but missed most. Will try harder to get a video for you. Here’s a couple of pics that I managed to get. Missed the salmon pic and the rib pic. Here’s a link to the Egg’s website. I, also, have a Webber grill which is great, but the Egg does some things differently and better. Nice to have a choice to experiment with.
Click on pics for full pic. I’ll get better ones next time.

Roasted with Applewood chips. Gone fast.

Pizza Cooked at 550. Egg can cook at over 700.

Waterfront dining in Bonita Springs is limited. Getting something to eat while you’re still on the water is even more challenging. This adds another dimension to a day on the water.  Read More.

Thank goodness our county leaders listened and managed to keep from raising our taxes. I expected at least a small raise, but they did their job and kept it down during these tough times.  Read More.