February started off with a busy weekend -- Friday Fest followed by the Farmer's Market followed by the SuperBowl!  For some reason, the nights turned cold and this brought the manatees into the marina for sunbathing during the day.  Although only five are visible above, the record we counted one day was 17 in this same fairway behind Palmetto Moon.

Once again, we spent a lot of time socializing as several friends stopped into the marina on their way north  including two friends who came by car from New York.  Naturally, they were here for the coldest weekend we have had with very strong northwest winds making it extremely difficult to get on and off the boat.

While Su was in St. Louis visiting her parents, Jim watched the horses arrive as part of "Keeping History Alive", by educating through demonstration the Old Florida Cracker Pioneer ways.  We have a picture on last February's blog of the horses lined up just like the people in the picture above.  We didn't realize the significance of this last year.  This the Annual Cross State Ride that begins in Bradenton, FL and ends in Fort Pierce a week later after riding approximately 110 miles across the state!  The Cracker Trail travels through the northern portion on Okeechobee County where there are more cattle commercially produced than anywhere in the US.  Who would have thought that!!

Where does time go -- we will start our trek northward next week.