More from Crane Point
These are the last of the pictures from Crane Point Nature Center. The first few pictures are of that mystery cactus. We had a couple of fans write in and say that they needed more pictures before they could be certain what it was, so, here they are, all the cactus pics we have. 
This is a picture from lands end, literally as far as we could walk without swimming. The sailboat seemed both beautiful and lonely out there on the water.
Crane Point has the oldest continuously existing house in the Keys. It’s the Adderly House, and here are some pictures from it. The first one is Jon and my favorite, an interior shot that turned out even more atmospheric than we’d planned. 
Here’s a close up of the plaque inside explaining who George Adderly was. 
Me striding into a shot of the bedroom. I don’t often get to see me walking alone like that. I always walk like I’ve got a purpose. I’ve had people remark on that since college, that I always seemed to be going somewhere, and always in a hurry. Put me with someone and I change my pace for the person, but on my own, well, it’s a stride.
An exterior shot showing the house and the kitchen. Without air conditioning you didn’t cook in the main house in the tropics. Here in St. Louis some of the older houses still have summer kitchens sepearte from the main house. It gets hot here, too.
This is a picture of the ocean and the far shore, but those black dots are more of the spiny orb weavers.
Turkey vulture
Here are some of the pics from the wild bird rescue. A brown pelican grooming itself. More brown pelicans and some cormorants. There was a pen of gulls, and one of song birds, and even some birds of prey. The Kestrel seemed at peace with it’s one winged status, but the female Peregrine was not a happy bird. I watched her on the floor of her cage, hunching down, spreading her wings in preparation for launching skyward, then when there was only one wing, she would stop. She seemed puzzled, then she’d fold her wings back, then unfurl them, start to launch, and stop. Puzzled again. The Osprey in the cage with her had been there long enough that he’s used in programs around at the local schools. 
The birds ranged in injuries from cars, to boats, to swallowed fishing hooks. In fact, we saw a cormorant in the wild that had a huge hook in it’s mouth, and the people that were running the boat called these guys to come and help. Without this group the nearest rescue is about two hours or more away. A lot can happen to a wounded bird in two hours, so it’s good that the middle Keys has their own rescue.
Well, that’s it for Crane Point and the bird rescue. Next vacation pics will be dolphins.