December 15, 2015
It feels like a long time since I've been here.  That's mostly because it has been.  The tortoise move finally happened on 11/25/15. 
On that same day, a crew cleared 0.85 acres which should be enough space.   I do want to keep some of the woods natural.

Bottlebrush Road is still in a bit of trouble from the torrential rains from late 11/15.  Driving around Pine Island, I've seen more paved roads than I had been led to expect.  I expect it will be decades before this one is paved.	...and here it is.  The site now has a 0.85 acre clearing where I can build a house and still have some room to walk around.	It's cleared!	Across the street, my neighbor uses Areca palms for privacy.  I may do something similar though may want a bit more interest.
Planting this pineapple was my ceremonious way of saying that I now live here (at least sort of)	I planted this  Euphorpbia just north of the cleared area.  I don't think I'll have to move it.  It will make an interesting view from the lanai.	Just to the northeast of the cleared area is where nearly all of my bromeliads now reside.  Only a few remain on Long Island.  The rest will come soon.	I was surprised to see that Schefflera can turn into trees.  Until this one, I had only seen them being tortured in dark living rooms.  This wasn't planted here.  Some critter (bird or rodent) must have dropped a seed.  Regardless, I'm grateful to that critter.
Here's that same Schefflera with me claiming it as mine.   After all those years of seeing these tortured in living rooms, it's interesting to see what they can do out in the wild.	If any of my plant friends can identify this tree, I'd appreciate it.  It's near the NE corner of what will be the guest apartment.  I don't know if it's in a bit of trouble or if this is just a seasonal leaf loss.  If it's in trouble, please tell me what I can do.	I had great hopes that leaving Long Islasnd would leave raccoons behind.  It appears I'm wrong.  I now see poison ivy and raccoons are following me to Pine Island.	This isn't a tortoise but rather is a Florida turtle.  This is an "Eastern Chicken Turtle", Deirochelys reticularia.  This wasn't inside the tortoise fence but rather out on the road next to my house.  It's probably a resident of one of my neighbor's ponds.