Another lesson from Grandma

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

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?

                                                                                   THE END!!

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

The Indiana tribe arrives

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

It was 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. 

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

It’s been chilly around here

Brr!  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.

                                                                              THE END!

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

SNAFU

Yep, situation normal…all fuzzed* up!  Remember last week when we had the man bleeding all over the place from his head?  Well today as I pulled into the VC, our brown shirt leader was leaving to go home ill.  That meant I would not be able to get onto the computer to write up my Woodpecker program outline.  I was supposed to do that yesterday, but things came up and I ended up working the VC all day with 244 visitors. 

Then after Barb and I opened up, we found out there was no water supply.  That meant having to lock the bathrooms so we wouldn’t have backed up toilets.  Did anyone tell us this was going to happen?  No.  Eventually after having to investigate, we found out that there was nothing we could do about it.  The folks installing the new docks had shut off the water.  It would have been nice to know that ahead of time.  There was one very desperate man looking for a bathroom.  I hope everything came out all right for him.

Last night as I tried to watch the Netflix classic movie “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, I couldn’t… bad disk.  Then when I got my mail this afternoon, the post office only delivered the front cover to my next Netflix.  No disk, no pocket, just the front part with my name and address. 

After lunch and working on my program outline at the rig, I returned to the VC to find a hubbub going on about a woman who had lost her purse.  She was from Ontario and had left just before I got there to head for the rest area near Savannah, about two and a half hours away to see if she left it there.  Then I escorted some folks into the auditorium to view our excellent video.  The mother of that family found a purse when she went to sit down in the theater.  Turned out it belonged to the woman from Canada.  Then ensued a wild hour or so of trying to get in contact with the woman.  (She had her driver’s license, charge cards, cash, and medications in that purse and had been understandably upset before she left.  Her husband, in the meantime, couldn’t be bothered with her purse.  He was too busy taking photos. The three of us kind of agreed that we’d deep six him!)   We found a phone number in the purse and left a message, but who knows if it was a cell phone or their home phone in Ontario?  We did all we could which included calling the rest area and the state park where we thought they might be staying. 

Thankfully, there was a highlight to the day.  Just before I left for lunch and to let Emma out, a woman approached the desk for the second time in as many weeks and asked if I was Judy Bell.  I guess I just can’t deny that. 

It turned out to be Peggy Hayward, a reader of my blog from Connecticut.  It always amazes me when perfect strangers walk up to introduce themselves as readers.  She is going to come along on my bird tour tomorrow, so I’m hoping to get to know her better. 

I’ve heard that when life is never dull it keeps you young at heart.  I sure hope that’s true.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

Expanding my horizon

I was off fairly early this morning to drive in to visit the Folkston Funnel.  The Funnel is a very busy place for trains.  All the trains headed from Savannah to Florida, or coming from Florida to Savannah and points beyond have to funnel through Folkston, GA.

Folkston is a mecca for train lovers.  70 trains a day funnel through this small Georgia town.  I was hoping to understand why people watch trains by talking to them at this train viewing platform complete with picnic tables, a bathroom, a charcoal grill, and internet access.

Yesterday I visited the Chamber of Commerce and was given a train schedule.  I chose to come this morning before nine so I could be prepared to see the Tropicana Express from Florida bringing oranges north from Florida.  I was hoping to see the white cars which I assumed would have oranges painted on them.  I was also told a local train enthusiast named Cricket would be there on his cart.

Well folks, no one was at the platform.  It was chilly and the wind was blowing hard.  I waited for about 45 minutes, but the orange juice special never appeared.  Nor did Cricket.  I did see one train, though.

                                                                                   It came…

                                                                It went… with horns blasting.

                        Sorry SAM, I’m still at a loss as to what the draw is to see and hear noisy trains.

Across the tracks from the platform is a red caboose in the woods.  Whatever happened to cabooses?  I never see them at the end of trains anymore.

                 There’s also a nice mural across the tracks depicting the trains and a fierce alligator.

I did a little grocery shopping in town before heading back to the rig to gather my thoughts before a telephone interview.  The National Elk Refuge in Wyoming is a very popular Nat’l Wildlife Refuge for RVers that are into the volunteer lifestyle.  For every open position, there are many applicants, so it is rather competitive.

I made it through the first cut and had my interview this afternoon.  I think it went well, but then you never know.  I was on a speaker phone with several brown shirts in the room at the refuge.  However, only the volunteer coordinator did any speaking.  I find phone interviews harder than face to face interviews.  You just can’t read facial reactions over the phone.  I was honest when she asked me how I felt about 32 hours/week.  I’m not crazy about it, but knew it going into this application process.  I told her that once you do your four days, then do your laundry, cleaning, and grocery shopping, it doesn’t leave you much time to visit and enjoy the area.  I’ll find out whether or not I’ll be offered a position a week from Friday.  This was the first day of interviews, so there are lots more people for her to speak to.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy