Higher Prices for Passengers

Higher Prices for Passengers. If heavier planes mean higher fuel costs for airlines—and as a result, higher prices for passengers—why not charge people according to how much weight they add to the flight? In other words, those who weigh more would pay more, and those who weigh less would pay less.

Dr. Bharat P. Bhatta of Norway's Sogn og Fjordane University College covered this topic in a recent edition of the Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, noting that both weight and space should be factored in when airlines are figuring out ticket prices. It makes sense—each additional pound translates to more expensive jet fuel, higher amounts of CO2 being released, and ultimately, higher costs for both the airline and the consumer. In the article, Dr. Bhatta suggests setting a series of fixed prices so people weighing over a certain amount would pay one price, while people weighing less would pay less. Other proposals include discounts for slimmer passengers, or a standard fare for everyone but with extra fees for those who are over a certain weight. Dr. Bhatta even goes so far as to suggest people weigh themselves as part of the check-in process.

I can see where he's coming from, but yikes! Aren't we paying enough already for everything we carry onto the plane (baggage fees, even carry-on fees sometimes) without having to worry about our own weight at the gate? I'm also wondering what happens if a person loses or gains weight between the day the ticket is booked (at one price) and the day of the trip (possibly another price according to weight fluctuations?). On the other hand this could be an interesting new incentive to stay in shape if there really is that much of a price difference involved.

Tips About Travel and blogging Anywhere

Tips About Travel and blogging Anywhere. There are many things I wish I knew about travel blogging before I started. I knew a lot about blogging, but not so much about blogging within the travel niche. Here are nine simple tips I think you need to know about being a travel blogger before you start.

The tech stuff you can  work out, the mindset obstacles are a little harder to gain victory over.

1. Take lots of photos whilst travelling

Don’t just be a tourist photographer. Look for unusual photo opportunities and for simple photos like signs, transport, someone carrying a backpack or eating food. All of these photos can be used to fill all manner of posts.

After recently writing our budget travel in Africa post, I was kicking myself for not taking photos of food and transport options while we were travelling in Africa. I so needed them to highlight what I was talking about in my post about getting around Africa.

Solution: Always have your eyes open for unusual shots. Think about the type of blog posts you might be writing and make a list of photos that would work well with them.

Make an effort to find these shots. Read our tips on how to improve your travel photography and tips for photographing people.

2. Be Vigilant with your Note Taking and Journal Writing when Travelling

Hindsight is such a wonderful thing. If I had it as foresight, I would have been more vigilant with my journal writing while I was travelling the world.

I often would go days at a time without recording anything, and then I would feel lazy and think what is the point anyway?

Now I struggle to recall details from some of my most amazing travel stories. For those adventures I do have a journal account of, they have helped me tremendously in recreating the story for our travel blog.

Solution: Carry a notebook and pencil around with you every where. Record details of every place you visit, stay at and transport you take. Keep receipts in your book so you have a record of costs.

Record contact details of any person you meet and may wish to quote or write about. Take every spare opportunity to write especially in down moments on trains and buses.

3. Get your Permalink Structure right

This is one of my biggest regrets and my only technical must-be-aware of advice. I set up my permalink structure as category/postname, not really thinking about the fact that I would have quite a complex category structure for my blog.

What this means is that my URL’s are extremely long. But worse, I now have limited control over my categories. I can’t move them around as my blog evolves as it will change my URL’s of already published posts. This really sucks.

Solution: Although this category permalink structure has SEO benefits, I think you are far better to go for a date/post name structure instead.

Having a neatly set out category structure (that you can change if need be) is best for your readers so they may quickly find what they are looking for.

NB: I have now changed my permalink structure and we lost all of our social proof on our articles form the past year. Boo hoo. At least now it is set up for the next X years.

4. Travel Blogging is going to Consume a Lot of your Time

Travel blogging is not easy. It is going to take up a lot of your time, and I mean every spare minute.

While I could go on and on here about many principles of success, I’ll cut it short by basically saying, don’t even think about travel blogging if you aren’t passionate and prepared to spend many hours of the day and night committed to working this in order to rise to the top.

It doesn’t matter what your field or industry, it will always be 20% of the people that will have 80% of the success. It is called the Pareto Principle. Why is this so? Because those that fall in the 20% are prepared to do what the remaining 80%  aren’t.

Which side are you going to fall on? Decide and then commit.

I am still amazed by the amount of travel bloggers who say they aren’t in it for the money and accuse those who are of being dishonest and sell outs. Unless you are just keeping a record of your travel experiences for your family and friends, then you have chosen a hobby that will consume your life.

Why would you put in all the time and effort that is required to make it work if you don’t want to be rewarded from it?

Don’t you think you deserve it? Or maybe you think you can’t do it?

We intend to make money from this travel blog. At the same time, we do this because it is our passion and we want to inspire others. If we don’t make any money from this then we have to quit, and then I stop helping others.

As all successful entrepreneurs know “The more money I have, the more I can do to help myself and to help others.”

Solution: Blog about your passion, love what you do. If you don’t then you will find the time commitment a struggle. Believe that you deserve to be rewarded for your time and effort, and for the value you bring to others.

5. Go outside your Niche for Traffic

This is so vital. While I love having a lot of my readers come from the travel blogging community, I also love that I have a lot of readers who don’t. There will be a limit to your success when your only readers are those who are swimming in the same niche pool as you.

Travel bloggers are busy, they don’t get a chance to read and promote everyone’s work, and besides they already know a lot about travel.  We came into this field intent on being part of the 20%, this means getting creative to find ways to welcome in traffic from other areas.

Solution: Look outside your niche for those who aren’t travelling yet, but are looking for ways to get inspired and informed to be able to do it. They are waiting to hear from you.

6. Be Open to Finding all Sorts of Angles in your Stories while Travelling on the Road.

A story idea can often come from the words someone says, such as my post 80% of travellers are running away from something. They can come from thoughts you have while on a moonwalk through the bush like my friendships on the travelling road post.

Don’t just look for the normal angles such as “Best places to visit when in Bangkok.” Try new things. Try to be different. Be diligent in your recording of everything you come across while travelling.

You never know how the smallest of details can colour a potential blog post. Aim to be, not just a source of information, but inspiration as well.

7. Speed and SEO are important

We have been having huge problems with the speed of our site lately. We thought getting a new blog design would fix this issue, but it only seemed to get worse. We have been pulling our hair out trying to fix it.

Slow loading time for your site can kill your traffic numbers. We live in a want-it-now society. People don’t have time to waste waiting for pages to load. They will click away a lot faster.

For me SEO is like pulling out my teeth one by one. I detest writing for it and worrying about it. I like to inspire, provide information and socialize, which is why we have always been big on the social media side of marketing.

We have not put a lot of attention into SEO, and we understand now that we are paying slightly for it. Google gives us little love, which means little new and free traffic coming from this source. We are now doing more to learn and improve on this.

So come on Google help us out, I just might decide to be your friend again.

Solution: Have your blogs designed with speed in mind. Reduce the number of plug ins you use, smush your images, or host them on places like Smug Mug (enter code: mecBO5dC4Y0AU for a $5 discount).

Research what are the best optimization strategies and plug ins to reduce your loading time.

For SEO purposes, work really hard on making your on page SEO as tight as possible, link within your own content and work on getting the backlinks you need naturally through guest posting, interviews and track backs. Yoast is a great plug in to use for on page SEO.

Market Samaruai is an excellent tool (paid) to reduce your time and increase your efficiency with SEO research.

8. The travel blogging community is helpful

There are so many wonderful people that we have met within the travel blogging community since we started who have provided their own great travel blogging tips.

It is just like being on the road again and meeting all these happy, friendly beings who have so many inspiring stories to share and helpful encouraging words and tips to get you going on your own adventures.

The travel blogging community is mostly helpful, fun, positive, and friendly. It is so uplifting. I don’t know how many times I have felt like quitting, or felt really inferior to open my inbox to a positive and encouraging comment, tweet, or email from another traveller.

They help me to believe in myself and to keep moving forward. We would never have had the success we have without them and we are eternally grateful for it. We are like elephants; we never forget.

Solution: Reach out to others in the travel blogging community. Connect with them via facebook, twitter and their blogs. They will help you along the way. Be grateful for this and help out in return.

NB: I originally had a section about the bad aspects of the community. There are some negatives, cat-fighting, and school-yard name calling antics in an effort to be better than others.

It used to annoy me, but now I have a simple solution. Worry about what I am doing, help others as much as I can and stay away from the BS.

9. You’ll feel like Quitting

Know this before you start so you know what you need to do to kill this monster. You can only fail if you quit. Travel blogging is hard, and as I have mentioned, if you want to be successful, you have got to do a lot of hard work.

Not only this, but you have demons such as your own doubts and insecurities to overcome. You’ll get tired and frustrated many times, and feel as if you are spinning around in a vortex rather than moving forward.

It always seems as if everyone else is getting more comments than you, more traffic, more social love, making more money, or making more best of the blog lists.

You’ll get so overwhelmed by your inferiority with all this comparing that you want to throw your hands up and say “Stuff this. I’m just not good enough. Why am I existing on four hours of sleep a night to go nowhere fast?  I’m going back to the comfy couch to watch reruns of Friends.”

time on the refuge

Time on the refuge. I’ve got a little over two weeks left at Okefenokee, and I’m getting short timer’s attitude.  Some people call it hitch itch, but I have noticed that as the time for me to move on nears, I become less tolerant of minor irritations.  Same thing happened just before I retired almost seven years ago.  The excitement of new horizons builds, and the attitude turns to “What can they do?  Fire me?”  I’ve been at this volunteer assignment longer than any other I’ve had, and I guess I’m ready to move on.  It seems to happen every time as the departure date nears. 

I’ve spent the last two days between roving and working the VC.  This is the busy season here, and work in the VC is non-stop as hundreds of visitors come in.  Roving and observing the wildlife is a welcome break from all the harried activity.

I got a call on the radio this morning that fellow fulltimers and bloggers, Randy and Pam, had arrived at the VC.  I headed in, picked them up, and gave them a tour of the refuge on a couple of the back roads and out to the Chesser Homestead.  Little did I know at that time, that they had already been out there a couple of days ago.   It’s always nice to spend some time with people of similar interests.  The last time I saw them, they visited me at Mississippi Sandhill Crane NWR in Mississippi when I was pretty much under the weather.  This was a much more pleasant experience.

Before heading in to pick them up, I had made a stop at the secret pond.  Love is still in the air, and the tom turkeys were gobbling away and showing their finery.

I had thought that this flock only had two toms, but today I’m thinking there may be four.  At this point, most of the females had headed for the woods, but one was left.  I think all four birds on the right are males.  Two of them just couldn’t help themselves from displaying to the fullest every couple of seconds.  They seem to be helpless to the effects of spring fever!  

It’s always nice to spot one of our endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers along the way.  Notice the two yellow and one blue bands on its left leg?  I believe this bird hatched here on the refuge. 

Nearby was one of the much more numerous red-bellied woodpeckers working the longleaf pine branches for tasty morsels.  I had a minor accomplishment today, as I had decided to not rely on using my cane all day at work.  I felt I needed to push myself a little to get past the recuperation plateau that I seemed to have reached.  Things went well, so I will concentrate on not using the cane.  I think it became too easy to use it.  I want to move on to more normalcy. 

                                                                         

Ten Thousand Lakes’!

Ten Thousand Lakes’!. We had 400 high school forestry students at the refuge today, so it was “all hands on deck” to handle a crowd like that.  They were here to compete in some practicum forest tests this morning, and then they were free to participate in four venues that we offered for their education and enjoyment on the refuge.  I was stationed at the beginning of the Cane Pole Trail to direct them where they needed to go for an alligator presentation.  It was a busy day with that many young people descending on us, but lots of fun besides.  All of us senior volunteers are pretty well worn out tonight.

When I staggered back to the rig late this afternoon, I turned on the computer to check my email just in case there was a message from Tamarac NWR in northwest Minnesota.  I had that interview yesterday, but wasn’t expecting to hear anything until tomorrow.  Lo and behold, there was an email, and I crossed my fingers before opening it. 

Judith-- I would like to offer you the position here at Tamarac. I think you are a great fit for our needs - you have the  skills and experience we are looking for. Let me know if you would like to spend the summer with us and the loons, wolves, trumpeters and eagles etc... and then we'll go from there.

thanks so much!

Hmm… should I think about this??  Ha Ha!  I was doing a happy dance!  My response:

You Betcha!!  I'll try to be there a little before the bird festival with "Bells" on!  (pun intended)  :)  Let me know what I need to do next...

Ya-Hoo!  Besides the fact that I love the north woods, and haven’t been there in seven years, I also have two sons and three grandchildren that live in Minnesota.  They’re not exactly next door to where I’ll be (Minnesota is a big state), but I’ll only be working three days/week so some trips down to Rochester will be occurring.  I’m a happy camper tonight, and that’s about all that was important to me today…

                                                                           

The rest of the story…

The rest of the story…. Tonight I’m continuing the rest of the day we spent on the western side of the refuge yesterday.  After visiting Billy’s Island, we back tracked a bit to find the passage to Minnie Lake.

Along the way, we noticed the first blooms of the water irises.  In a week or so, the swamp on this side will be blessed with their vibrant blue/purple color all along the canoe trails.  There never seems to be a month that goes by that doesn’t have some flowers blooming.

Even though it was a Tuesday morning, we did pass a few folks out enjoying the solitude in their canoes and kayaks.  Though chilly and windy, it was a great day for being out and about on the swamp.

Shortly before the cutoff for Minnie Lake, Kathy noticed an American bittern skulking in the dried grasses and reeds along the edge of the trail.  I’m sure glad she spotted this secretive bird so we could turn around to get some pictures of it.

As we approached, it apparently noticed us and went into it’s defensive mode.  The idea behind this behavior is that no one will see it if it stretches its neck out skyward to look like the dried reeds.  “Now you can’t see me!”  We cruised back and forth for a bit, and I was thrilled to get quite a few pictures.  I’ll sprinkle them out in future posts.

We stopped at the Minnie Lake shelter for lunch and a much needed potty break.  Interestingly, it was much colder up on the shelter than it was in the boat on the water.  Even so, what a magnificent place to savor a picnic lunch!  A red-shouldered hawk went screaming overhead, and the shrubs along the trail were bubbling with warblers. 

I looked for the turtle we had freed from the fish hook a few weeks ago, but it was nowhere to be seen.  It may have been cold, but the yellow-bellied sliders were out catching rays where ever they could.  Our return trip to the dock was slow and easy going.

We chuckled at all the alligators that were draped along fallen trees.  I think these survivors from the dinosaur age must have not become extinct because of their laid back lifestyle.  Just flop yourself out in the sun somewhere and meditate, and occasionally grab a bite to eat.  Reminds me of some retired RVers I know.

Today, Jack and I headed for Kingsland so he could gas up his one ton dually truck, and I could do my grocery shopping.  He will depart for Indiana in the morning, and plans to be there by Sunday.  Safe travels my friend!  Upon my return to the rig, I dashed to the VC to do the phone interview for Tamarac NWR.  I thought it went well, but then I always do.  I should know by Friday if I’m heading for a summer in the north woods of Minnesota.  If I get that position, Jack will probably visit again sometime in May for our next episode of adventures.

Adventure in the Swamp

Adventure in the Swamp. After driving the 75 miles over to the west entrance of Okefenokee NWR in 30 something degree temperatures, we rented a small motorboat at the Stephen Foster State Park to start our adventure in the swamp this morning.  After explaining that we were all volunteers for the refuge on the east side (yes, Jack qualifies after helping with the canoe trail maintenance last week), I was charged a price for a two hour rental even though I said we might be out for six hours.  Sweet!!  I would have been willing to pay the full price for this outing, but I’m not one to pass up a bargain either.

It wasn’t long before we were all bundled up and made our way out onto Billy’s Lake.  The west entrance is really my favorite as that area has the big cypress trees draped in Spanish moss.  That’s what a southern swamp means to me.

I had invited intern Kathy to go with us as she enjoys getting out into the swamp as much as I do.  Between the cold temps and the hat that Jack was wearing, I felt like I was a voyageur working for the Hudson’s Bay Company plying the waters looking for beaver back in the day.

Our first destination after making it through Billy’s Lake was to arrive at Billy’s Island.  There’s a nice docking area there, and I wanted to do a little exploring since I’d never been there before.

Back in the early 1900’s, there was a town with 800 inhabitants on this third largest island in the swamp.  They were all there to harvest the old growth cypress trees.  After harvesting just about all of the old trees, they had to leave once the area became a National Wildlife Refuge in 1937.  Some old rusty machine things remain along with the Lee Family Cemetery.  The Lee’s were early homesteaders on the island.  Mother Nature has done a good job reclaiming this area.  Most of the island is off limits to visitors except for the half mile trail.

Before we reached Billy’s Island, we were in for a few great sightings.  Because of the cold temperatures, all of the tree swallows in the area were flying low in massive formations.  You’ll have to enlarge the above pics, but on the left there are at least 15 tree swallows in that one frame coursing over the lily pads.  The pic on the right shows just a little snapshot of them resting in the short trees and hunting over the water.  I’ve never seen so many of these swallows in such masses.  There were literally thousands of them wheeling around.  Their iridescent blue bodies were just glistening in the cold rays of the sun.

Then, we were able to get pretty close up and personal with a little blue heron.  I like that little ‘pony tail’ it develops for the breeding season.  I sure wish I could have shown this side of the swamp to my brother, Nurse Ratchet (Kurt), while he was here in January.

After Billy’s Island, we began to make our way deeper into the cypress swamp towards Minnie Lake.  I’ll post about that tomorrow, but I wanted to point out that the boat driving was more challenging down this trail.  Sometimes you really have to weave the boat slowly through closely spaced cypress trees.  This is where Jack proved to be a Navy man at heart.  He guided our little boat through a particularly tricky maneuver through the closely growing cypress.  I was impressed, and told him so.  Then, in a rather wide open area, he whacked us into a cypress tree.  What’s up with that?  Hmm… I wonder what rank he reached in the Navy? 

                                                                           

Enough is NOT enough!

Enough is NOT enough!. Sorry to say, I’ve had to ban anonymous comments to the blog.  I have been getting 20-30 of those disgusting comments each day, and the Blogger filter wasn’t up to the deluge.  As other bloggers have said, it’s too bad for people that want to comment that aren’t scuzzballs, but enough is truly enough!  I turned off anonymous comments last night, and it was an unbelievable relief to not have to deal with them today.  I suppose they’ll find some other way to gain access, but for now, that’s the way it is.

Even though it was my day off today, I had to attend a staff meeting this morning because of a special event occurring on Thursday.  After that, I just decided to spend the day relaxing.  I’ve been dealing with a messy head cold the last ten days that I hope is abating.  Simply said, between still recuperating from surgery, the cold, and working the last five days, I was worn out.

I also wanted to gather strength for my adventure tomorrow.  My friend Jack, intern Kathy, and I will drive to the west entrance to rent a boat and enjoy that side of the swamp at our own speed.  The skies will be sunny, but the polar air from the north that is gripping the east will be a challenge to bundle up enough for.  Besides several layers of clothes including gloves, I’m bringing my rain pants and poncho to wear over everything to help combat the forecasted winds.  It’s always colder out on the water.  We’ll pack a lunch to take with us.  I’m excited about the prospects of what me might see, but I’m a little apprehensive about Jack’s boat driving abilities.  I believe he was in the Navy at some point, so that should make me feel better, right?  

Planning Travel for this summer

Planning Travel for this summer. The rain continued to pour down this morning as I was assigned to rove.  I must say that unlike yesterday afternoon, there weren’t any people on Swamp Island Drive this morning in the rain.  We’ve had enough rain in the last two days that I was reluctant to drive down any of the sandy unpaved roads.  There were deep puddles everywhere. 

You can tell by these two pictures of a turkey vulture just how dark and overcast it was.  This bird was trying to dry off its feathers, but wasn’t having much success.  I figured my rove time would be pretty much a flop as far as seeing any wildlife at all, but I was wrong.

As I made my way around the loop and back to where I had started, a bunch of little birds flew across the road.  One stuck around, so I lowered the passenger’s window and got my camera into my hands.  Low and behold, it was a brown-headed nuthatch sitting on the branch of a dead tree.  If you look carefully, you can see an old woodpecker hole to the left of the nuthatch.  I noticed this hole early on in my time here, and wondered if a chickadee or titmouse might use it to nest in once spring arrived.

I never expected a brown-headed nuthatch might use it.  They are usually so high up in the pine trees.  As I sat there, this little bird hopped in and out of the hole and was giving me a vocal thrashing for not moving on. 

I know the pics are a little dark, but that’s the best I can do under low light circumstances.  I have to use a shutter setting of 1/1000 of a second to be able to hold the camera still enough to get a shot.  I have tremors in my hands, and holding the camera still is a real challenge.  That means I generally need sunny days in order to use the telephoto lens.  It made my day to make this discovery!  I moved on quickly, and won’t bother this bird very often, as I don’t want it to abandon the nest.

The rain stopped for a bit, and I noticed a short shrub beginning to bloom.  I haven’t figured out what it is yet, but I sure was wishing I had Jack’s macro lens to capture the raindrops on the blossoms.

The candy roots are also beginning to bloom.  The color of the flower is determined by the acidity of the soil, I believe.  These blooms look like they’ll be yellow, while I’ve found others that are orange.  The orange ones were next to those sundews that I posted on a previous post.

Since I turned down the opportunity to volunteer at the National Elk Refuge in Wyoming for the summer because they were looking for someone to work four days a week in the visitors center, I did send out my resume and letter of interest to another refuge.  That was plan B for the summer.  I will have a phone interview for this position this coming week.  It is at Tamarac NWR in northwest Minnesota.  Quite a change from the mountains, but I do love the northern woods and haven’t been there in seven years.  It’s the land of lakes and loons.  I miss hearing the eerie call of the loons.

I’ll let you know how that goes.  If I get the position, I’ll fill in the pluses of this location.  If I don’t get it, I’m just going to be a bum for the summer.  One way or the other, I’m going to enjoy myself.

                                                                         

Chesser Island Homestead

Chesser Island Homestead. I had enough work and fun yesterday that the result was I was too pooped to post. 

I was assigned to man the Chesser Island Homestead all day, and give tours to visitors.  The day started off with a bang as I had three visitors in the first ten minutes.  Then it calmed down to the usual trickle through here on a week day.  It’s been several months since I’ve had the rocking chair assignment on the porch of the homestead, so I relaxed and enjoyed myself.

As I rocked away waiting for the next visitor, my ears just couldn’t ignore the songs and chips of the little warblers in the surrounding trees.  It wasn’t long before I grabbed my camera to see if I could get some pictures of these beauties that were working the trees for insects. 

A whole bunch of one of my favorite warblers was moving through…the Northern Parula.  I think it is one of the prettiest warblers with its blue/grey wings, yellow upper breast, throat and back, and the reddish necklace around its throat.  They nest here at Okefenokee, but for a girl from the north, they are a real treat to see.

This isn’t the best shot, but if you look closely you can see that this little guy has gleaned a spider to eat from among the branches.  I love that they almost continually sing their rising buzzing song as they constantly hop from here to there to thwart the lowly photographer. 

Once I closed up the homestead, I had to buzz my way back to the rig, at a whopping 15 mph, to get ready for the cookout we were having at the Volunteer Village to honor Jack’s visit.  It was not without drama, however, as we kept our radios near to listen for news from the group out on the water.  Besides the RV volunteers, occasionally we have other volunteers that stay a few days at the village in the double-wide trailer to do work on the canoe trails out in the swamp.  The group that was here yesterday went out in two boats on the orange trail to do some trimming. The motor on one of the boats died while they were out, and the other engine was having problems towing the broken boat.  We lost radio contact with them, and began to worry for their safety.  Being that it was a Friday evening, there was no staff around.  You sure don’t want to be stranded overnight out on the swamp if you are not near a shelter! 

None of us are certified to drive the refuge boats to go out and find them, so we had a dilemma.  Eventually, we notified the staff Law Enforcement Officer, and called Russell, who drove the boat for Wednesday’s adventure, to come help.  Just as the troops gathered, the group limped in with both boats.  That was a close call.  They were wet and tired, and we shared whatever we had left from our cookout with them.  Thankfully, everything turned out well.

Today, a couple of people showed up for my morning bird tour.  We went out, but there wasn’t much birdlife to be seen as it was overcast and beginning to rain.  After the tour, the skies opened up and a deluge began that hasn’t ended yet.  It is supposed to continue through tomorrow.

I went out to rove for about an hour this afternoon, and was able to document the first lily pad bloom of the season through the rain.  As you can tell, it was pretty dark and dreary out, but that didn’t seem to stop folks from driving the Swamp Island Drive.  I spoke with more people in one hour along the drive in the rain than any other time I’ve been roving.  Go figure!

                                                                             

Adventure out in the swamp

Adventure out in the swamp. After our adventure out in the swamp yesterday, it was back to reality for me as I headed into work this morning.  I was scheduled to rove this morning, and then work the VC this afternoon.  Jack came along for the roving part of my day.  It was a little chilly, so not much was out and moving about this morning.  After an hour or so, we headed for the secret pond.  I often see something good in this secluded area, and today was not a disappointment.

As we rounded the corner that leads to the field surrounding the pond, there was a group of wild turkeys there.  Spring is definitely in the air, as a couple of tom turkeys were displaying for the hens.  Cool beans!  It seems I always find something of interest when I visit the pond.  I shut off the engine, and we made our way by foot to see if we could a little closer without spooking them.

They only let us approach so far before they ‘headed for the woods’.  Only us turkeys out here this morning.    This was the first time I’ve been witness to the mating ritual of this species, so I was thrilled.  There was a whole lot of gobbling going on, and the males fanned out their feathers in an effort to show their best sides and bright blue heads to the ladies.  It seemed to me that the hens were rather ambivalent to all this show casing.  I thought that was rather wise on their account.  All that bluster and chest puffing out doesn’t mean they’ll be a good mate…

Remember those sundew plants that I’ve been wanting to get a good picture of?  Well, Jack brought along his macro lens today, and I asked him to take some pictures for me using that lens.  I’ve never had or used one, so I wanted to see what it could do. 

Those sundews are across a watery ditch on the way out from the secret pond, and I am not allowed to go into these kind of contortions yet to get a good picture of them.  He was up for the challenge, and put his macro lens on my camera.

This was the result.  These carnivorous plants are only about an inch or two across, and the macro lens captured the dewy sticky globs that bugs get stuck on very well I thought.  Once the bugs are stuck, the pads fold up to digest them.  Holy cow!  I’m thinking a macro lens might be in my future as soon as I’m able to fold down and get up close and personal with little things.  Thanks, Jack.

This afternoon, I had a brainstorm while working the VC, and asked Jack if he would like to extend his visit for a few days so we could do a boat trip into the swamp from the west entrance.  I just found out he is up for that adventure, so we’ll rent a motorboat out of Stephen Foster State Park and slowly investigate the dark cypress part of the refuge next Monday.  I’m really excited about that, and hope we have wonderful weather.

National Wildlife Refuges

National Wildlife Refuges. When I found out what days Jack would be visiting, I asked Gracie, the volunteer coordinator, if anyone would be going out to work on the canoe trails in the swamp.  She arranged for the two of us to go out with local volunteer Russell out of the Kingfisher Landing to help install new canoe trails signs.  Yahoo!  We spent the day out in the swamp in a boat.  The only thing better would be spending the day exploring the swamp in a canoe or kayak, but that would involve some bending and folding that I’m not allowed to do yet, so this was the next best thing.

We headed out under overcast and threatening skies, but the reflections were as enjoyable as ever.

After only a mile down the trail, we worked on our first sign assignment.  There are two canoe trails out of Kingfisher; the red and the green.  Apparently a school group got lost along here, so an improvement in signs was ordered from the powers above.

This chore is not as daunting as it may seem.  I remember trying to put a post into the soil in upstate New York, and it was almost an insurmountable task with all of the rocks in the soil.  Out in the swamp, all you have to do is plunge an eight foot wood stake into the peat.  You can do it without any digging at all!  You just push it down to the level you want.  The peat is up to 20’ deep, holds the stake in place, and has no rocks.  Easy peasy, really…  (easy for me to say since I was mostly supervising )

As we made our way to our next mile post, we encountered two kayakers along the way.  Lo and behold, it was C and Shawn, the two Workampers from Okefenokee Pastimes that helped me out so much while I was recuperating there after my hip surgery.  You just never know who you’re going to meet in the swamp!   Kingfisher Landing is 20 miles from the east entrance of the refuge, and they normally work on Wednesdays.  I particularly liked the pic of C and her reflection in the water.  You can click on it, I hope, to get the full effect.

One of the most interesting features to me of this area of the Okefenokee Swamp, is the size and abundance of the carnivorous pitcher plants.  The canoe trail is lined with massive bunches of these plants for several miles.  Many are dried out since they’re last year’s plants, but all will be in bloom next month.  I hope I can get out here again in April to see all the blooms and new stalks emerging.

As we stopped to install or replace damaged trail signs, intern Kathy was at the front of the boat to pole us into each site or get us out.  She reminded me of Mike Fink from the Davy Crockett show when I was a kid.  She got us out of some sticky situations, and did it barefoot besides.Okay, here it is folks… my favorite pic of Jack that I caught today.  When Kathy wasn’t manning the pole, he was to keep us in place for the sign replacements.   When people come to visit me, I guess they have to expect to be put to work.   And what’s with that earing?  I suppose I just never took note of it before.  I really did have a picture of him wrestling with an alligator, but due to circumstances beyond my control, I’m not able to publish that…

Shortly after noon, we came to this shallow lake covered in lily pads.  I was sure glad Russell knew where he was going and driving the boat.

After installing some more signs we arrived at this hummock canoe shelter for lunch.  Out in the middle of nowhere is a shelter for lunch and a porta-potty.  It was a welcome time to stretch our legs, take relief, and chow down on a picnic lunch.  We had traveled 12 miles through the swamp to get here.  I’m not sure I could do that in a canoe any more.  We had some rain along the way to get here, but were dry for the trip back.

At one point on the return trip, we had to bank the boat in order for Russell to climb through the swamp to retrieve an old hidden mile marker.  The problem was getting off where we were stuck.  It took some work, and if you look closely, you can see Russell had to put down one of our folding chairs on top of the peat so he wouldn’t sink into oblivion.  We eventually got unstuck and headed back to the landing.We covered about 30 miles in our trail maintenance today, and because of that we had to boogey.  Not much time to stop for bird pictures, but I was able to get one shot of this American bittern.  We had flushed it as we motored along, and it flew off a bit and went into its defensive stance.  When standing in dried reeds, you can hardly pick out this bird with its head raised as it looks like the foliage. 

So, I sort of helped with canoe trail maintenance today, but I’d consider it more of an adventure that work.  I think Jack had a good time too.  Days like today are one of the reasons I so enjoy volunteering at our National Wildlife Refuges.

Working and adventure

Working and adventure. Woohoo!  About 2:30 this afternoon, I headed over to Okefenokee Pastimes to see if my friend Jack and his fiver had arrived yet.  He had.  After I supervised his set-up, we headed into the refuge to show him the Volunteer Village.  Then it was time to head out for dinner.  That’s one thing I can count on when Jack comes to visit… meals out!  No Waffle House tonight!  We checked out some places in Folkston, and then headed to Hilliard, FL, for some seafood.  It was maybe 20 miles away.  We chose a family run establishment called The Hilliard House.

I ordered shrimp, and Jack ordered the catfish dinner.  As we began to eat the ‘Grandfather’ of the restaurant came to our table to ask if we were enjoying our dinner.  Then he asked if we lived in the area.  I told him I was volunteering at the refuge, and he thought that was wonderful.  He then asked if I had tried their fried chicken.  Tonight’s buffet included the chicken, pork chops, and something else.  I told him no, I’d ordered the shrimp.  Then he went to the buffet table and got us a bowl of fried chicken, and told us to enjoy!  It was very good.  Then the waitress stopped by with a bowl of apple fritters sprinkled with powdered sugar.  They were delicious.  I came home with half my meal in a box as the servings were that large.  Other local folks came in, and we bantered a little with them.  What a great friendly place this was.  I think when my sister comes to visit next month, we will have to return here.

As we headed back to the refuge, I told Jack to slam on the brakes.  I had seen another gopher tortoise on the side of the refuge entrance road.  Sorry to say, as we backed up, the tortoise high tailed it to the forest and dove down its hole.  Shucks!

A short time later, a Sherman’s fox squirrel made an appearance, but once again he was gone before Jack could get out his new camera.  Just last week he bought a Cannon D-60 (I think).  It’s got a lot of bells and whistles on it.  He remarked that he really liked the pictures of the cute owl on my blog the other day, so I asked if he wanted to try to find it.  That’s another good thing about Jack; he’s up for trying an impromptu adventure.

                                                                  “Oh no, not you again!”

Even though this owl has been MIA for the last few days, we were lucky enough to find it.  What a little cutey it is!

                                                                        “Buzz off, sister!”

It was getting towards 7:00, so Jack dropped me off at my rig and headed out for Okefenokee Pastimes before the gate at the refuge closes for the night.

What he left behind though, was a collection of huge longleaf pine cones.  Why??  He remembered how much Emma likes to play with them.

And it surely didn’t take her long to discover them.  She doesn’t eat them, she just plays with them and rips them apart.

I hope Jack brought a large supply of them, as Emma has already demolished about four of them as we sat outside this evening.  As you may have noticed, there aren’t any pictures of Jack tonight.  He’s a bit camera shy, especially without a striking pose. 

I’ve got an exciting adventure planned for us tomorrow, so I’m sure I’ll get a good shot of him.  Perhaps wrestling alligators??

Guess I’d better juice up the battery on the shaver

Guess I’d better juice up the battery on the shaver. I’ve pretty much spent the last four or five months ensconced in blue jeans.  Today was warm enough that I felt the need to put on shorts this afternoon.  That’s when I noticed the HLS once again.  Every spring for the last several years, I’ve been stricken with the Hairy Leg Syndrome!  It seems I don’t often pick locations for the winter where I’m wearing shorts everyday, so why bother? 

I have to admit that I did shave my legs before going into surgery in January.  Didn’t want to gross out the surgeon, don’t-cha know. 

                                                     (Pics tonight are from my roving yesterday.)

I spent most of the day today just relaxing and recuperating from my four days of work.  I did make a trip into Kingsland for groceries which is about 80 miles round trip. 

Then as Emma and I were sitting outside this evening, I finally decided to do something about the toad.  With all the dust and pine pollen from the last few months it was really disgustingly dirty.  At our volunteer meeting on Thursday, I found out where the vehicle washing station is on the refuge.  We can use it for our vehicles on off hours, so since it was warm out and I’ve improved enough to manage it, I zipped over there to clean it up.  Glad I had shorts and old shoes on, as I ended up about as wet as the car. 

Tomorrow is laundry day, and my friend Jack arrives in the afternoon.  That will certainly add a little excitement to the day.

Not much else is new here from the swamp.  Guess I’d better juice up the battery on the shaver… it’s that time of the year again.

How To Check off another one

How To Check off another one. Since I arrived at the Okefenokee NWR, I’ve wanted to see a gopher tortoise.  They are an endangered land tortoise that digs a ten foot deep and 30-40 foot long tunnel under the ground as its home.  It’s a ‘keystone’ species, as more than 300 other insects, animals and reptiles use its home as well.  Today was the day!

While roving this afternoon, I chose to drive down one of the sandy back roads of the refuge and low and behold saw a tortoise crossing the road.  By the time I could get out of the car with my camera, it had made its way into the woods at the side of the road.  All I was able to get was a going away shot or two.  I was amazed at the speed with which this tortoise could move.  Now I wonder about that story about the tortoise and the hare.   See the way those back feet are flying?

It stopped briefly, and I tried to creep up on it to get a better shot.  Looking ahead, I stepped on a branch on the forest floor that snapped and the tortoise literally flew down its hole.  Nuts!  I advanced and looked down the hole, but it had gone way below being spotted.  With the warming weather, I’m hoping I’ll be able to get a better shot before I leave.

As I returned to the vehicle, I was able to find its tracks as it had made its way across the road.  I found the indentations in the sand from its shell and clawed feet most interesting.  Two parallel lines and scratches leading from one side of the road to the other.  This tortoise sure knew where it was going.  And what a hiding place it is!  No way I’d reach down that tunnel.  One of the other species that uses tortoise tunnels for safety from fires and cold is the rattlesnake.  Best to look at these tunnels from afar…

Also with the warming weather, more and more alligators are coming out of their holes.  A couple of us here have been wondering what has happened to a young alligator on one of the borrow ditches since two large gators have appeared there.  Today I found the 3-4’ youngster way down at the other end of the quarter mile ditch.  You can still see its yellow stripes.  That yellow will fade as it matures.  Nice to find out it wasn’t eaten by one of the bigger fellows.

The yellow-bellied sliders reflectively posed today as well.  It was kind of a turtle/tortoise afternoon for me today.

After four days of work, my hip/leg is pretty tired tonight.  Happily, I’ve got the next three days off, and my good friend Jack the Bugman will be arriving for a visit.  Long time readers know he thinks I’m a cheap date, so I’m trying to dream up a place to go for dinner that’s a couple of steps above Waffle House.  That could be a real challenge here in Folkston, GA! 

                                                                           

What u see

What u see. Want to see an Eastern screech owl?  Of course you do…

                                                

                                                        “I’m so tired after hunting all night!”

                                                       “Okay, so what do you want, anyway?”

                                    “Sorry, I have to rest up for tonight’s hunt.  See you later…”

The real beauty of this owl is that it was roosting for the day in a red-cockaded woodpecker hole.  Yep, in one of those white ringed longleaf pines along the Upland Discovery Trail on the refuge.  A visitor excitedly reported it to us in the VC this afternoon, and Kathy and I wasted no time getting out there to see it.  The red-cockaded woodpecker is not only an endangered species, but also a ‘keystone’ species.  That means that its homes are used by more than just their species.  This was a great example of how important they are to the entire ecosystem.  Cool beans!  (Sorry, sometimes I just have to add subtitles even though I know it’s anthropomorphism.) 

                                                                           

Had to call for help today

Had to call for help today. My morning was spent in a staffing meeting and helping to run the VC, but this afternoon I got to rove.  Roving is probably my favorite assignment at this refuge.  I like to get one of the electric carts and patrol Swamp Island Drive. 

It seems to me that people are more willing to chat with me when I’m driving around in this as opposed to a truck.  It’s not very intimidating.  It also helps that I plug along at much less than 10 mph.  The openness of this vehicle allows me to hear any bird songs to investigate, and I can easily reach out to pick up any litter along the way.

As I got about half way to the Chesser Homestead, I had to stop dead in the road.

It seems some staff members were cutting down a large dead tree along the drive that could fall across the road. I was asked to halt traffic just in case the tree fell the wrong way.  Guess I can add traffic director to my resume.    It wasn’t long before that big old dead pine tree was…

                                                       Going… Going… Going…

                                                                                  Gone!

It was pretty windy and chilly out there today, so I was driving with my gloves on.  I talked with several folks and directed one couple as to where to find the pitcher plants.

Found an Eastern phoebe along the off-road trail to the secret pond along with a mother load of sun dew plants.  Sun dews are one of my favorites, but I wasn’t too satisfied with my pics of them so I’ll go back again when I have my rubber boots with me.  I just couldn’t get close enough today.  There were also some candyroot plants blooming, so I guess spring really is here even though it doesn’t feel like it.

As I made my way around the loop heading back to the VC, I noticed that the cart seemed to be going slower and slower.  I went from a speed of 7 mph down to 4 mph down to 2 mph down to 0 mph with the gas (electric) pedal to the floor!  Uh oh. 

Yep, it crapped out on me with several miles to go.  I decided to give it a rest for a while before turning on the ignition again. 

As I was waiting, this fellow perched nearby.  Hmm… turkey vultures only eat dead stuff.  What did he know that I didn’t??  Thankfully, I had my radio with me and notified the VC that I was stranded.  Some one would be sent to rescue me.

The vulture must have been listening, as it soon took off for greener pastures.  I did get the cart to move about another 1/2 mile down the road, but then it died again.  I took out the key, and hopped into the intern’s vehicle back to the VC.  I’ll try to get the cart back to the barn tomorrow morning to get fixed.  The battery was almost fully charged so that was not the problem today.  Who knows what the cause was.

I’ve had the sniffles for the last day or so, and am liberally applying Mentholatum to my nose tonight.  Hope that is short lived.  I’m thinking that major surgery has kicked my immune system in the kiester for a bit. 

The Lesson from MyGrandma

The Lesson from MyGrandma. Every time I spend some good time with the grandgirls, I like to teach them about something that their parents might not.  When I spent the summer with them in 2011, I taught them how to use those noodles in their pool to squirt other people with water.  Not a harmful spray, but one to get someone’s attention.    I’m not sure their parents were thrilled with that, but that was the beauty of it.  I had another chance this weekend, but I’m going to save that for the end of this post.

While Avery spent her sleepover with me on Saturday night, I still had to do my physical therapy exercises.  Of course I invited her to work out with me.  Emma had to get her two cents in as well, but she cheated on the squats by just sitting down.  I’m really trying to work on the abduction exercises which involves moving my right leg to the side as far as I can.  (middle and top right pics)  As you can see, Avery is bit more flexible than I am at this point.  She can lift her leg to a 90* angle.  I don’t think I’ll ever get that limber.  (take note of the bit of the Euro recliner that is visible in the bottom left pic)

On Sunday we only had visiting planned so it was a pretty laid back day.  In the afternoon, I could tell that Robyn and Dennis were wearing down, so I took the grandgirls for a hike with me and Emma while their parents rested a bit.  What a time that was!  We chatted along the way about why Emma had to sniff everything and how her nose was better than her eyes.  She sniffed out the first of three Gopher Tortoise holes that we found along the way through the woods.  Gopher Tortoises are an endangered species I believe.  I sure wish we had actually gotten to see one but we didn’t.  I told the girls that their tunnels went ten feet underground and could be about 40 feet long.  We were gone almost an hour, and covered more than a mile I am sure.  No camera for that jaunt as I had my hands full with Emma’s leash, my cane, and keeping track of the girls.  They were much faster than I, and at one point just laid down on the trail to wait for me.

Once back at the rig, Robyn and Dennis removed the Euro recliner for me.  No one ever sits in it, and about all I use it for is dumping my grocery bags into it.  So thanks to them, out it went.

Instead, I moved the three drawer thing I bought for when Kurt was here to the spot the chair was in.  Now I can actually see out the window (as can Emma), and it opens up the room quite a bit.  Some day I might have a nice wooden cabinet made to put in there, but in the meantime this will do.  I’ve got a month to decide if I’m happy with this alteration.

While we were busy with the removal of the chair, the girls continued helping Emma dig to China!  So much for my thought that they would maybe fill the holes in. 

We had the wiener roast with all the other volunteers and interns, but I was enjoying everything too much to take any pictures.  Let’s just say that lots of ‘dogs’ and marshmallows were consumed.

And now for the new thing that I got to introduce the grandgirls to this weekend:

Yep, it’s a whoopee cushion!  Ha!  Little kids love bodily functions, and what could be more fun than this cushion?  We had a wonderfully gross time with it, and Avery voted her father the best gas passer of all time.  I just can’t wait until they are old enough for me to teach them how to spit correctly…

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

How To Catching up

How To Catching up. With the grandgirls and their parents here for the weekend, I didn’t have the time or the inclination to blog.  I felt it was just better to enjoy!  So, tonight I’ll cover our boat trip out into the swamp that we all did on Saturday.

It was a 90 minute boat ride that truthfully didn’t hold much interest for either Avery or Phoebe; just too young I guess.  It was a beautiful sunny day, and I always see something new each time I take this tour.

The season has progressed enough that the red-shouldered hawks have begun to nest.  We floated past two active nests, but these tour guides aren’t photographers so you don’t get much of a chance to get a good shot off.  About all I can tell you is that if you look carefully in just about the middle of the picture, you might be able to find the tail of the female as she was sitting on the eggs.  Sure wish I could fold myself into a canoe and spend some time working on a great photo.  That’s not going to happen this spring.

The resident sandhill cranes have also lain eggs.  I asked the guide to show me the nest that I had heard was out on the prairie.  He did that, but of course stayed far enough away not to disturb momma on the nest.  I took this pic with my 300mm lens, cropped it, and got this result.  It was a long way off.  I have to say that identifying this bird is about the only bird this particular guide got right.  Had to hold my tongue during this tour.   I get a free ride as long as I don’t wear my refuge uniform and keep my mouth shut.

The thing that I enjoyed most about this tour was seeing the golden club blooms of the never wet plant.  They were blooming all over the wet prairie mixed in with the lily pads.

The never wet plant was used to help develop Gortex.  It sheds all water on its leaves.  The golden club blooms can be eaten, and when ripe, I’ve been told they taste similar to a radish.  There’s a dragonfly there on one of the clubs, so I guess the insects find them useful as well.

Even though we saw several alligators, the tour really wasn’t interesting enough for a three and a five year old.  In the afternoon, we went back to the rig and more construction was done on Emma’s holes by the girls.  They sure got filthy, but I’m happy to report they didn’t care about that.

Friday night, Robyn and Phoebe stayed at the rig for an over night.  Saturday, it was Avery’s turn.  Robyn stayed over each night because we put each girl to bed in my bed around 8:00.  When we are ready for bed, Robyn would carry them out to the couch in front.  They are too heavy for me to lift with my present restrictions.  So, we had two pajama parties with special treats this weekend.  I was the first to rise each morning, and as soon as I was up Emma felt it was her duty to arouse the girls by licking their legs!    Emma thought it was wonderful, but I’m not so sure the girls thought so…

Tomorrow night I’ll talk about what we did on Sunday.  In the meantime, I got another call from the Elk Refuge today, and I will not be going there this summer.  Their needs this year are for someone to work the visitors center four days a week, and I just can’t agree to do that.  I really wasn’t surprised to hear that.  I also didn’t feel any sense of disappointment.  I figure it’s their loss, and where one door closes another will open.  A couple of folks have asked if I’ve got a plan B, and I have a couple of them.  I’m going to not mention those until things are more firmly in place.  Oddly, I felt a bit of a sense of relief for some reason.  Maybe it’s the thrill of trying to make some new plans?

                                                                               

Guess it hit the spot

Guess it hit the spot. I was off fairly early this morning to head for Kingsland to stock up the larder to feed four extra people each day this weekend.  It was like grocery shopping in the old days for me.  Robyn called to let me know that they would be arriving mid afternoon.  So, along about 2:30, I headed for Okefenokee Pastimes where I had made a reservation for them for a cabin.  They arrived shortly afterward, and I took the grandgirls for a little walk around the campground while Robyn and Dennis took care of the paper work.  It was one of my better ideas as the girls had been cooped up in the car for two days as they made their way from northwestern Indiana.  How much energy do a three and a five year old have?  About the same amount as Emma does.

Eventually we came back to the rig, and the girls were very excited to see Emma the ‘Gog’.  As usual, she went berserk at first, but then calmed down.

Hard to believe, I know, but the wild child calms down more easily with the grandgirls than anyone else on earth.  Here Avery has Emma sitting to get a raisin.  Avery thought Emma looked hungry and wanted to eat one. 

Emma wasn’t the only hungry one.  “I’m hungry, Gramma Belt!”  Hmm… I’m cooking dinner.  Okay, how about a strawberry?

                                                                  I guess it hit the spot!

Of course, I thought the grandgirls could help fill up the holes in the sand that Emma is digging to China.  Ha!

Seems to me, they may be making the hole bigger!  Guess the child labor law people won’t be after me after all. 

It’s great having family around for a change, and I thank Robyn for capturing these shots with my camera while Grandma was getting supper ready.  It gave me a chance to have the itsy bitsy spider crawl up Phoebe’s (Buckles’) back.  (For long time readers, you know that I am Belt and Phoebe is Buckle.)

I did get a call from the National Elk Refuge today.  I thought I’d find out if I’ll be going there or not this summer.  It was not to be today.  The call was to further verify whether or not we are a good match.  As before, I was honest and said I was not interested in working four days a week in the visitors center.  It’s a wonderful location, but I just know I’d be frustrated if that was my only duty.  The volunteer coordinator will get back to me next week after she checks with her supervisor to see if a more varied work assignment might be possible.  After almost seven years volunteering with the  US Fish and Wildlife Service, I know what I’m willing to do and what I’m not.  After all is said and done, I am retired and don’t want to spend all my volunteer time indoors.  That’s just the way it is.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

Back to School Today for me

Back to School Today for me. Even though most of the volunteers had a scheduled day off today, we all went in for some training.  It was back to school for us to learn more about presenting excellent interpretive programs.  Over my lifetime, I’ve spent many many years in school in order to advance in my working career.  That included five plus years of college for my bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and then a couple of more years for my Work Experience License in Minnesota and my Principal’s License.  Had I ever taken the time to write a dissertation, I could have had a Doctorate Degree.  

So, I bet you think I loved going to school?  Wrong!  I did it because I had to.  I would have preferred doing almost anything else!  This day of schooling was different.  I was there because I wanted to learn more about the outside world that is so dear to my heart.  Don Berryhill was our instructor, and what a wealth of knowledge he is about the Okefenokee swamp.  Don has spent a lifetime studying everything about the swamp, and the most amazing thing to me is that he remembers it all including the official Latin names for most all of the plant and animal species that we encountered today. 

After some brief classroom time going over the principles of the best interpretive presentations, he took us on a walk along the Canal Diggers Trail for some hands on learning.  You may remember that Emma and I hiked this trail just a few days ago.  On our wanderings, I didn’t see half of the things that Don pointed out to us this morning.  This was my kind of learning!  I absorbed more in those 90 minutes than I would have in hours of reading books about it.

After lunch, he led us through a pond study program that we do for school groups that visit the refuge.  I wish I had 1/10 of this man’s knowledge about the circle of life in our various environments.  What a grand learning day it was.

As most of the class walked to the Canal Diggers Trail this morning, I chose to drive my car there.  I knew I’d be able to walk the trail, but I wasn’t sure about adding all of the steps from the VC to the trailhead and back.  I didn’t want to push it with my hip since there are no benches to rest on along this trail.  As I was waiting for the group to arrive at the starting point for me, I couldn’t help but enjoy all the birds bubbling around the woods in the morning sunshine.  There were brown thrashers, Eastern towhees, yellow-rumped warblers, a white-eyed vireo, and a family of red cockaded woodpeckers (RCW’s) that moved through.  Luckily, the RCW’s hung around long enough so everyone could see them.  Alligators and RCW’s are what people come to the refuge to see.  I was wishing I had one of my bird tour groups with me.

I have all day tomorrow off, so it’s time to clean the rig and do laundry.  Not exciting, but necessary. 

chilly around here

Chilly around here. Even the little birds agree with me.  It’s not easy roving when the temperature is only 34*.  Needless to say I didn’t take the electric cart yesterday morning.  I used an enclosed vehicle with the heater pumping out warm air.  One year ago, this area had record high temps.  Must be that global warming stuff that’s providing all the frost. 

Despite the cold, the azaleas are beginning to show all their finery around the maintenance buildings.  I, on the other hand, had to wear gloves as I gassed up the refuge vehicle around noon.

As I made my way down the entrance road checking for any trash that needed to be picked up, what is probably the refuge’s most photographed fox squirrel made an appearance.  This guy/girl is quite a ham.  It frequents the entrance road between the maintenance area and headquarters, and regularly poses for pictures.  I was able to get a sequence of five shots of this beautiful creature.  (It almost pains me to call a squirrel beautiful considering my battles with them, but it is what it is.)

I had today off, but didn’t accomplish much other than just lazing around and relaxing.  It’s only four more days until my daughter Robyn and family arrive for a short visit.  One needs to plan for the grandgirls arrival, so that’s what I did today.

I think we’ll have a wiener roast on Sunday evening over an open fire since daylight savings time begins that day.  That means it should be light until about 7:30.  I’m inviting everyone in volunteer village to join us around the campfire.  I’ll be providing the dogs, buns, and Chicago toppings along with marshmallows for roasting, of course.  Can’t have a visit to Grandma’s without marshmallows for heavens sake. 

Each of the girls may spend a night in the rig with me.  That should be interesting.  Since ‘Emma the gog’ has been digging a route to China in the sand in my front yard, I’ve got the beach buckets and little shovels ready for the grandgirls to pretend they’re at the beach.

We’ll also be taking a boat trip out into the swamp.  I sure hope the temperatures are warmer so the girls can see lots of alligators.  Coming from northern Indiana they are all hoping for warmer weather.  I’ve got my fingers crossed about that.  I’m also hoping that s-i-l Dennis will be able to spend a little time cleaning up my computer for me.  I could sure use his help resetting my backup system.  I’m excited about their coming visit.