Houston, the Bugman has landed!

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??

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy