kissalostsoul

I got a phone call last night that some friends of mine would be passing through the area on their way to Florida.  We made a plan to meet and have lunch today. Paul and Peggy I volunteered a couple of years at Balcones Canyonlands NWR with Paul and Peggy.  They’re from Vermont, and we had a good time working together.  We’ve kept in touch, and I was happy to see them again today. Paul is an internal medicine doctor and surgeon (I hope I got that title right), and had a few suggestions for me concerning my upcoming surgery. Most importantly, he wrote down several important questions that I should ask my surgeon before having the procedure.  I will take those questions with me the next time I meet with Dr. Brodersen.   He also suggested that I take these pictures of the entrance to my rig to show the physical therapists at the hospital.  He said it would help them understand my circumstances, upon release from the hospital, so they could

Today was the second of my three days in a row off this week.  Yesterday was cold, dark, and dreary and my scheduled boat ride into the swamp got cancelled due to inclement weather.  So I just hunkered down inside, did laundry, and watched some daytime TV.  It has been years since I’ve had the TV on during the afternoon on a weekday.  Can’t say that I’ve missed anything. Today, the sun was shining and I had a long list of errands to run about 35 miles away in Kingsland, GA.  First up on the list was to get a much needed haircut.  I really only go to Wal-mart when I have to.  The bigger stores usually have a beauty parlor, so that’s all I did there.  Then it was on to the Publix grocery store.  I’m really liking this store.  What a selection they have! I can’t even guess the last time I had B&M Brown Bread.  When I was growing up, my mother would occasionally buy a can of this tasty bread, and we would slice it and slather cream cheese on it.  I haven’t even seen it in many years

Count Albert of Rechberg zu Rothenlowen and Hohenrechberg celebrates his 100th birthday today on 29.11.2012. He was born in 1912 as son of Count Albert and his wife Theresia, nee Freiin von Schorlemer. In 1951 he married Count Monika zu Köngsegg-Aulendorf who died in 2002. They had 5 children together. In 1967 Count Albert succeeded his unmarried and childless uncle, Count Joseph as head of the countly House. Until 1986he administrated the family posessions but at the End of 1986 he gave the administration over to his son, Hereditary Count Bernhard who is still in charge of it. During they time he adminstrated the Family posessions several of the Family Castles where sold among the the Castles and Ruins Rechberg, Weissenstein, Ramsberg and Scharfenschloss. In 1987 the Family sold their principal Residend the Castle in Donzdorf to the City Donzdorf.It was taken over by the City in 1992 and since 1995 the adminstration of the City has their place there. The Family moved into a new build

My assignment for today was to be the docent at the Chesser Island Homestead.  This homestead was built in 1927 by Tom and Iva Chesser.  They were third generation ‘swampers’ farming in the Okefenokee.  There is a whole lot of history here that would take pages to go into, so my suggestion is you just come to visit me here to hear the whole story.  I’ll give you a few interesting facts, but there is so much more. Tom and Iva raised seven children in this house without any electricity.  They were basically subsistence farmers that raised their own food and hunted the land for deer, bear, alligators and otters.  They had chickens, pigs, and bee hives constructed from hollow cypress logs.  They raised sugar cane to make syrup and harvested sap from the pine trees to produce turpentine to sell for things like flour and cloth that they needed to buy.  I could go on and on… My job is to sit on the porch in one of the two rockers, and wait for visit

After the fun of working the Chesser Homestead with all of those visitors on Friday, I spent the last two days roving in the morning and working the VC in the afternoon.  There were not near as many visitors as there were on Friday. Remember when I tried to find a wild turkey to take a picture of on Thanksgiving morning?  Not a bird was to be found anywhere. This morning, there were turkeys around almost every bend!  Who said turkeys are dumb?  I thought I could hear them chuckling at me as they went about their business.  An uncommon bird on this refuge is the house wren, but I found one that couldn’t help scolding me for  passing by.  As I drove next to the borrow ditch that used to have a bridge that led to Chesser Island, a great blue heron was looking for it’s breakfast.  It was in the 30’s when I woke up this morning, so I opted out of taking the open air electric cart for my roving.  Call me chicken, but an enclosed vehicle with heat

Normally my work assignment days on the refuge include a half day in the Visitors Center (VC), and a half day roving.  Today my assignment was for a full day in the VC.  While I normally don’t mind a full day now and then in the VC, I wasn’t looking forward to today.  The flooring here is uneven bumpy chunks of slate.  It plays havoc with my current malady, and I have to do a lot of walking on that surface. After opening up this morning, a call came in that Kathy would not be able to make it in this morning to man the Chesser Homestead.  She was hoping to get here for the afternoon.  I immediately volunteered to take her place for the morning since we had three people manning the VC.  (Overkill in my opinion since the mornings at this time of the year are very slow.) Sarah, the Brown Shirt on duty, agreed and let me leave to rove and open the Homestead if needed.  Yahoo!!  I was out of there in a flash.  I had the electric cart, so I slowly made my way down the Swamp Island Drive. 

Although chilly, it was a beautiful sunny day as Emma and I emerged from the rig for her first outs.  Since wild turkeys are so abundant on the refuge, I decided we should go for a ride so I could get a picture of this bird on its most prominent day on the calendar.  I’ve seen turkeys everyday I’ve been out on the refuge, so I figured it would be a piece of cake to find them. You know what they say about the best laid plans…  Not a turkey was to be found this morning.  So, I’m including this stunning photo that I posted last year from the Texas Parks and Wildlife site.  Since the refuge was closed for the holiday, we were able to drive about knowing we were the only ones on the wildlife drive today.  We took an hour and a half to do the eight miles, and lingered at favorite spots enjoying the peace and quiet. The deep blue skies, reddish orange of the cypress trees, greens of the pines, and yellows from the deciduous trees presented a beautiful palette  of color to apprec

Nothing much that is exciting is happening in my world right now, so tonight’s blog is just a mix about the ordinary things of the last two days.                                                                              Juvenile white ibis Tonight’s photos are some I’ve taken around the refuge since I arrived.  I actually took no pictures yesterday or today.  Like I said, it’s pretty lack luster around here right now.  I worked yesterday at the VC, and spent some time roving.  I did check things out at the Chesser Homestead since I’m assigned there for a couple of days next week.                                                              Little blue heron in the swamp. I did stop in to the VC in the morning to give another call to the Mayo hospital in Waycross to see if a surgery schedule has been set up yet for my doctor in December since they said last week that a calendar should be set up by today.  No luck there.  They said to call back next week.  I ignored that s