This. This is how much I despise mowing…I would rather spend the afternoon digging. The planting area is now ready, though I still have a lot of grass to deal with.

After living in my house for a little over two years, I realized that the southwest corner of my backyard could be put to much better use. My dad used to say that if you’re going plant something and care for it, it should give back to you.

Using his logic and the physical restraints of my space, I finally decided to plant a couple guava trees. Of the several varieties available, I settled on the Strawberry Guava (Psidium littoralei). It is a smaller tree that not only produces a delicious fruit but is generally carefree.

It will be a couple years before my first harvest but I’m looking forward to it!

Last night’s sunset entertainment was provided by this duo of feeding Brown Pelicans. The pair was working a large school of fish in the shallows along the jetty, so their flights were at a low angle. Regardless, their seemingly breakneck dives never cease to amaze me…

Playing around with the Slo-Mo feature at the beach last night when a pelican dropped in.

While sitting around my bonfire last night I decided to have some fun with the camera settings on my iPhone. I like the result of the Slo-Mo feature best (it takes a couple seconds for it to slow down for some reason).

We were waylaid by this scene on our way to watch the St. Pete Beach holiday boat parade. It warranted a brief stop so I could snap a couple photos. And yes, we still made it to the bridge in time to watch the decorated boats float by.

There are at least four more boat parades coming up in the next couple weeks, hopefully I’ll get a few shots of the festive vessels to share.

This is the weather forecast I woke up to this morning:

This is what I would’ve seen if I still lived in Lincoln City, Oregon:

I happily traded snow for sand a few years ago, it remains one of the best decisions I’ve ever made!

From the big events to the little moments, there’s just so much to be thankful for! ❤

Forget sand castles, someone created these cute sand critters today. There’s always something interesting to see when I walk my beach!

Autumn weather visited my area yesterday. To put it mildly, I am not a fan.

So, I did what any warm weather loving girl would do, I snuggled up and watched videos of wildlife napping:

Wilford definitely wins the gold in the napping category! This footage was gathered this past August from the Angeles National Forest near Los Angeles, California.

Mountain lions taking snuggling to the next level! According to the Swan Valley Connections page, this is a mom and her four dispersing-age kittens squeezing into a hollowed out larch log. This film was captured this past February in Montana.

I love trail cameras, there’s still so much we have to learn about our wild neighbors. Their social lives are far richer than previously documented.