A unique wedding gift, A Wedding Map!

Interestingly, more folks are having their wedding on lakes and beaches. It makes for some great memories and picturesque wedding photos. In fact, I'm having more folks order lake or bay maps as wedding gifts. Uniquely, they place a heart and date with the couples name near the location of the wedding.  

Not long ago, I was asked to add two hearts to one of my lake decor maps. The first heart was placed near the location that the couple first met and labeled, "The Day We Met" with the date. A second heart was added to the location that they were wed, labeled "Our Wedding Date." with the date. This makes a great family heirloom! If you know someone who is getting married on or near a lake or bay, then why not give them a unique wedding gift, "A wedding map." Check-out my maps at LeoLakes.com

Venice Rookery Photos

Last week I traveled to Florida and got a chance to visit the Venice Rookery, which is located in Venice Florida. The rookery is a great place to photograph and view many birds nesting during February, March and April. Waterfowl nest on the island in the middle of the small lake. There's a gravel path that faces the island were folks set-up to take pictures and view the birds.

I arrived at 6:00 am and there was a fine mist in the air, great for photography. The island was not loaded with birds as I've seen before, but still a number of birds were nesting. 

This Great Blue Heron with the spiked hair just returned from the gulf on a fishing trip. The adults take turns fishing, feeding and protecting the chicks.

Nesting Egrets with a small chick. The birds nest on the island for security. Believe it or not here's the security guard, alligator.

  

The resident gator cruises the waters in hopes of a meal. Without the gator, raccoon's could possibly raid the island. 

If you enjoy nature, birds, and the outdoors, then you should take a trip to the Venice Rookery located in Venice Florida. Sometimes it's more fun photographing the bird watchers, watching the birds. Be careful while photographing and watch for gators.

Beautiful Lemon Bay Florida

Last week I was in Florida and got to do a little fishing in Lemon Bay, which is located between Sarasota and Ft Myers, Florida. Our first stop was the bait shop to get live shrimp, 3 dozen for $12 bucks. Talking with the bait shop worker, we found that the recent pattern has the fish biting in the morning and they stop by noon. Soooo, we were out on the water in the morning and the weather couldn't have been better.

The bay was as calm as glass and the temp was about 75 degrees. Perfect for a day of fishing.

You can see our target fishing spot just ahead in this photo, the bridge. We have found that fish like to stay near the bridge supports. We should catch red snapper, snook, and sheepshead.

Here, Pop is preparing to wet a hook in the bay! Right at the start, we were catching fish. They were small at first, red snapper and snook, but started to become larger as the day moved on.

Just as we started fishing, the wind kicked up and the water started to get choppy. Also, other fishermen had the same idea as we did, fish near the bridge. Lucky for us, the bridge proved to be successful.  

SHARK!!! SHARK!!!................Nope, it's a bottle nose dolphin. Pop told me that last week a dolphin swam under a fishermen's boat and grabbed his catch of the day. This dolphin did move near our boat, but didn't attempt to steal our fish. Anyway, just like clockwork, as noon neared, the fish stopped biting.

The reward of the day, fresh fish (sheepshead to be exact and dressed up in an old convict outfit, black and white stripped). Oh yeah, checkout these teeth below. 

This fellow looks like a hockey player. I took this picture of a sheepshead to show you their teeth. I think they look like human teeth? You don't want to put a finger in there. Sheepshead use their teeth to crush the shells of their prey and grind them up like a garbage disposal. Anyway, sheepshead smell like fish, but taste chicken sort up? I think we have a few fat shrimp left over from fishing. Perfect to put on the barbie with these sheepshead, yum...... 

Hey, Checkout My Maps at LeoMaps.com

Fishing With Emotions!

Okay, sometimes I draw humorous cartoons. Some folks say the humorous part is debatable, but I think they're funny. Soooo.......check these out.  You may have had a few of these, "Fishing Emotions".

Well, what do you think? Oh yeah, check-out my Lake Decor Maps.

Is a pencil becoming old school?

It's true, pencil and paper have now become obsolete. Here's my new 24HD Cintiq graphic monitor. I can draw directly on the screen and it's great for photo retouch, cartoons, and my custom maps. A little pricey, but worth it. It's almost the same as using an actual pencil and paper, which is now becoming old school. Technology is good, but I still enjoy a good old pencil and piece of fresh paper, sometimes!

Check-out my maps at LeoLake.com. Also "Life is short, get away from the big screen and get on a big stream."

Grumpy Wife?

I woke up this morning with a GRUMPY WIFE! Yep, it all started at 3 am last night. Why? Because we live near the woods and place sticky pads around the house to catch spiders etc... Last night, the cat got caught in three, yes three sticky pads and somehow a plant was attached to one, a PLANT. We awoke thinking it was a HOME INVASION, only to find the cat bound up. 

Fun is not ripping sticky pads off a cat at 3 am and this is the 2nd time for the cat, stupid cat! That's why I have a GRUMPY WIFE and kids at school, it's not going to be a good day. (she's a teacher)

Beach Maps

Just completed this map of Manasota Kay (Lemon Bay) Florida. It's 24"wide x 60" long and framed in solid mahogany.  Manasota Key is located about 30 miles south of Sarasota Fl. I've been to Manasota Key many times and it is a beautiful area. While walking on the beach, you will find many sharks teeth that have washed up.

This Great Blue Heron seems to be floating over the bay. Check out that shadow, the sun is beginning to set over the beach. 

I added these two sea gulls to add interest to the map.

Finally, I just had to add a Pelican to the Map. 

Check out my website, LeoMaps.com to find out other interesting facts. We have beach maps, lake maps, and bay maps that will look great hanging in your vacation home.

Winter Woodpecker

Between the hardwood trees in our ten acre woods, I spotted a pilated woodpecker searching for bugs in tree holes and under bark. I took these photos with my new Nikon d810, 28-300mm lens.

Knock, knock, anybody home. All of these photos were taken, handheld from about 70 feet away. Some photos have been cropped to show additional detail.

Peek-a-boo, is there a nice juicy beetle at home that wants to become take out food? 

The pilated woodpecker is one of my favorite birds. I often see them in the ten acre woods flying from tree to tree. When they become serious, they can make the wood chips fly. 

These birds are very shy. Normally, when I see them, they see me and fly away. I was lucky and was able to take these photos without the woodpecker detecting me. 

I have often seen the woodpecker turn its head from side to side. I think the woodpecker is turning its head to better hear for bugs under the tree bark. I was able to watch this beautiful bird for about 10 minutes and took 20 photos before the pilated decided to fly away.

Checkout my maps: LeoMaps.com

"Life is short, reduce screen time and increase stream time, get on a big stream."