Precious Bundle

Madison Blue Springs

Recently the family made a visit to Madison Blue Springs and had a great time. The spring is one of 33 "first magnitude" springs in Florida. To be classified as first magnitude, the spring has to pump out at least 64 million gallons of water per day. I would add that an unofficial requirement is that the water be cold! At 72 degrees, getting in the water required some determination. The swimming and platform jumping were a blast. It was also interesting to talk to the cave divers. The spring has a cave that extends back over 4,000 feet! What an entertaining place!

Chromedomia

We visited Dr. Seinfeld this week. He said that Elle has a condition called Chromedomia. It has advanced to a stage occasionally referred to as baldheadia. If things do not improve the doctor will have to perform a cueballectomy. Poor thing!

Too Fast

There was this old boy out at the track the other day laying it down. Didn't catch his name, too fast. He sure could air it out though.

Evel Knievel Reincarnate?

You're Welcome!

Gently, from behind, floated a faint plea for help. "Excuse me, could you help me?"

Turning to offer our services, we saw a middle aged woman stretching to reach her fishing tackle without letting go of her fishing pole. Happy to help we walked over and extracted from the tackle a pair of pliers.

"You have a snag?" we asked.

"I think I caught a turtle," she said with some reluctance.

She pulled on the line until at the surface appeared a turtle. The woman reached for the fishing line with the pliers ready to cut the turtle loose complete with hook in mouth, 3 feet of line, and bobber. Before she had the chance, I grabbed the line below her hand and lifted the turtle out of the water. The woman froze, unexpectedly, as if death itself were being pulled slowly closer. I reached my left hand over my right, grabbed another armful of line, and lifted the turtle over the hand rail and onto the dock. Dashing in what appeared to be a search for safety, the woman disappeared behind a cypress tree.

"Careful," she said in a voice craggy with fear, "it could be a snapper."

Cautiously, I held the turtle in place with one hand while handling the pliers in the other to work the hook loose. Ben, noticing that four hands in that situation were better than two, approached the turtle and took over surgical procedures while I held our green patient in place. Despite the turtle's thrashing, Ben's experienced hands worked deftly to extract the hook.

Feeling good for having done the daily good turn, we prepared to return to the turtle the cypress filled black water of home. What happened next can only be described by the miracle of digital video. Enjoy...and...You're Welcome!