9-9-18 - 9-15-18 (Week 28 )

Sunday
A few weeks ago, we told Pat and Jeff that we usually go on the Crane Whisperer Tour on Sunday morning and they have an open invitation to join us.  We didn't hear anything from them and headed out about 7 am this morning.  We took a few steps down the road, headed to headquarters to get the van, and heard Jeff calling.  He had his backpack and ice chest packed and was ready to roll.

We entered Brown's Trail, and looked down the fire lane toward the feeder and saw a couple of Mississippi Sandhill Cranes.  The tone was set.  After a loop from Brown's Trail to Firetower Road, we had 21 crane sightings.  We broke our previous record of 20 Mississippi Sandhill Crane sightings in one tour and found some beautiful plants and birds. What a day!

Pat stocked us up on veggies from the Farmer's Market yesterday.  It was time for a good ole Sunday dinner.  We had grilled chicken, potatoes and white sauce over rice, (momma's secret recipe with modified calories, and not nearly as good),  sauteed squash and onions, tomatoes, and cucumbers.  A late afternoon Sunday feast.

We took a stroll on the CL Dees Trail late afternoon, then bird watched at Camp Refuge.  We had a fabulous day of plant and bird admiration and a great meal.  We even had a Gray Catbird come for a visit.  We are beginning to see a few more species of birds around than in the last few weeks.

Monday
We started our day off with a walk on the CL Dees Trail and relocation of plant signs.  We made at least 2 rounds of the trail getting them set up like we wanted.

The Swallowtail Butterflies were loving the freshly bloomed Le Conte's Thistle.  There was at least 5 fluttering around in one small section enjoying the nectar.  There were numerous species of beautiful butterflies on different plants along the trail.

We took a ride to Pascagoula, saw a few birds and a few plants that were of interest to us, including one of our favorite birds, Snowy Egrets.

We had a Cottonmouth visit on the road entering Camp Refuge this afternoon.  He was not fond of the attention he was getting, when Lauren was taking his picture.

We did our usual sit around camp and watch the birds this afternoon.  Ferny Kat had to get in on the fun.  She laid at the base of the pole of the Hummingbird feeder aggravating the hungry birds.

Tuesday
We worked with Charley and Carol today at the VC.  Lauren and I took a ride to Oak Grove Trail at Grand Bay to take pictures and start working on a self guided tour pamphlet.

The trail has a lot of tree canopy that allows very little sunlight in.  It has lots of Golden Silk Orb-weaver spiders in their strong, silk webs.  We carried a stick to block them from us.  The mosquitoes were horrendous. Luckily, it is only a 1/2 mile loop.

After work, we took a walk to the fire center and saw the new blind being delivered that will be used at the VC for a viewing stand.  The plan is to release captive reared cranes in a pen in the savanna for our visitor's to view.  There is a lot of work to be done to get ready for this, including setting up the covered pen for their release in November.

Wednesday
Lauren did a little bit of mowing.  It was too wet to do most of it.  I worked the VC.  Visitation seems to be picking up just a little bit.

A late afternoon bird watching with slow participation from the birds.  We did get a neat guest right at dark.  A Great Horned Owl flew nearby in the tree.  It was too dark to get a clear picture.

Thursday
We worked with the Hall's today.  Lauren got the rest of the mowing done.   Sally and I went on the plant tour on the CL Dees Trail.  She has been the one in the past that kept up the plant signs on the trail.  It was a hot morning.  All for that cool front they said was coming by the weekend.

The fire crew has been working on Fountainebleu Trail doing mechanical clearing and placing rocks on the path.  We took a ride after work, to check it out.  As we were waiting for them to finish for the day, we took a short crane tour and saw 4 Mississippi Sandhill Cranes.  A good way to spend our wait time.

The fire crew has done a great job of clearing, even going around the pretty American Beauty-berry plants.  It is so much more open than before except for the forest trail loop.  it is still a very woodsy trail.  If they do not go any further with the clearing, it will have 2 very unique loops, one that is open and one that is really woodsy.

Friday
We watched Hummingbird fights today.  This morning, a couple of them were on the ground fighting.  After the fight, the winner sat on the top of the feeder pole.  He was so bad, he looked me straight in the eye when I was taking pictures of him through the window.  The fights continued throughout the day.  There were at least 4, probably more, partaking in the battle of the feeder.

We did a little bit of shopping to stock up today.  We took a nice stroll around the CL Dees Trail.  A late afternoon thunderstorm dampened our bird watching afternoon.

Saturday
We were off on this Saturday.  We went to to the Pascagoula River Audubon Center.  They were having their estuaries day.  There were plenty of exhibits and plenty of kids.  It was not a good day for bird watching, but it was fun checking out the grounds.

We took a ride along the beach at Pascagoula, then went to Bozo's for lunch.  We decided to go home and eat when we saw the crowd of people there.  We heard it is good seafood.  We will check back on a less busy day.

We decided to go late afternoon on the Refuge and critter watch.  We entered Brown's Trail around 5 pm.  We saw a couple of very small Black Swallowtail caterpillars on the water cowbane plants as we entered.  We will keep a watch on them in the hopes of seeing the different stages from caterpillar to butterfly.

We had been in the refuge about 15 minutes and saw 5 Ms. Sandhill Cranes.  After 25 minutes, we had 9 sightings.  That was it for the crane sightings.

We saw a neat Bullfrog in the water, a juvenile Little Blue Heron, a Red-Tailed Hawk, and a Belted Kingfisher.

We stopped and watched about 30 minutes before dark and did not see any critter movement.

On the way home, we saw a doe and her fawn in front of the Bunkhouse.  We sat outside and watched the fireflies dancing in the trees then called it a night.

Weeks worth of pictures are here:

9-2-18 - 9-8-18 (Week 27)

September 2nd is the 6 month anniversary of our Volunteer gig.  Time flies when your having fun!

We stayed in Crossroads until Thursday.  Billy passed away on Monday and his funeral was Thursday.
                                                      Some crossroads critters

Tuesday (on this beautiful day), we prepared for Tropical Storm Gordon that luckily missed us.  He did enter at the Mississippi/Alabama line and gave Camp Refuge a lot of rain and 50 mile an hour wind.  We had no damage at camp.

We went to Bogue Chitto Wildlife Refuge and Crosby Arboretum on Wednesday.  We made sure we had our memory card in the camera.  We saw a few critters and a few interesting plants.  It was nothing like a few weeks ago when we took pictures of all kinds of stuff with no memory card in the camera.  It was nice to get outside and get our walk in.

After the funeral Thursday, we made it back to Camp Refuge. We filled up the bird feeders with seed and nectar.  The cardinals were watching and waiting and started eating as soon as we got the feeders up.

The hummingbird's were very impatient waiting for the nectar to cool before refilling their feeder.  They kept flying to the pole rushing me to get their nectar up.

Friday and Saturday, we worked with our new neighbors/volunteers in the VC, Sally and Tom.  They are 9 year veterans at this refuge.  Tom took Lauren and I on his crane tour on Friday.  We saw 6 Ms. Sandhill Cranes.

Lauren got a little bit of mowing done on Saturday.  The ground is too wet to mow in most places. Visitation is still slow at the VC but has picked up a little bit.

The week of pics:

8-26-18 -9-1-18 - (Week 26)

Sunday
Jeff, Dorie, and Pat went with us on the Crane Whisperer's Tour this morning.  We first toured the Ocean Springs Unit. The crane sightings were pretty few and far between.  It probably had something to do with all the laughing and talking we were doing.

We finally found 3 way off in a field.  Then, we found a fledgling and his parents.  The parents were watching us, but did not seem too concerned.  Junior was almost as tall as his parents.  He is about 60 days old.  It won't be long until he's able to fly away with his parents.

We drove through Brown's Trail and Valentine Road.  We did not see the first Mississippi Sandhill Crane.  This was the first time we rode in this area and did not see any.

We dropped Jeff and Dorie off at Camp Refuge.  Pat, Lauren and I continued the tour on Firetower Road where we saw 2 more cranes.

We did not see as many cranes as we usually do.  We did see lots of butterflies, birds, and new blooms, which makes for an enjoyable day.

Monday
It came heavy thunderstorms this morning.  We sat around until after lunch waiting for the weather to clear.

After the rain stopped, we walked the Fountainbleu Trail.  It is a much more woodsy trail than the CL Dees.  We found some new blooms and saw an Osprey.  A stop at Wally World and back to Camp Refuge we went.

We walked the CL Dees Trail late afternoon.  We saw a beautiful Eastern Giant Swallowtail.   The butterflies and bees are sure busy today with all the blooming flowers.

Tuesday
We washed clothes on this rainy morning.  Again, the afternoon cleared, so we went shore bird watching at Ocean Springs and Biloxi.  There were quite a variety of birds to see.

Wednesday
Work day.  The rainy morning had Lauren and I both sitting in the VC.  We had 3 people stop by this morning and no other visitors.  This afternoon, Lauren and Janet went out to the CL Dees Trail for further investigation of a plant that was in dispute on iNaturalist.  The dispute has been solved.

                                                                     White Tassels

Thursday
Another slow day at the VC.  We walked the CL Dees Trail after closing, then sat around camp and bird watched.  We saw our first robin since last spring.  Maybe it's a sign that cooler weather is near.

Friday
Carol and Charley worked with us on this very slow day of visitation.  We closed the book store today so we could reprice everything and start collecting sales tax.  (Sales tax had been included in the price.)  Lauren and I stayed over an hour to get this done.  Afterwards, we headed to Crossroads.  As usual, Ferny Kat was ready for a road trip.

Saturday
Anita and Lucy came over to spend the night.  Lucy has such a great personality.  Ferny Kat on the other hand, was her usual personality.  She has no desire to be any where around Lucy.

We took a drive to Poplarville and checked out the new Ramey's and purchased a few groceries.  Lauren took the back roads home and stopped and took pictures of flowers and butterflies alongside the road.

We put up bird feeders at home, in the hopes of attracting more birds.  The only thing it attracted today was Lucy.

The rest of the pictures:

8-19-18 - 8-25-18 - (Week 25)

Sunday
Jeff joined us for our early morning Crane Whisperer Tour.  We saw 7 Ms. Sandhill Cranes and a least a dozen deer.  The few cranes we saw today were more photogenic than usual.

On our way out of Brown's Trail, we found newly emerged Black Swallowtail Butterflies.  Last week we saw the caterpillar and chrysalis  It is pretty neat to see their life cycle in their natural elements.

This afternoon, we took a ride to Gulfport for a quick stop at Sam's.  With the rainy weather, we did not take the camera or binoculars.  We wish we would have on the ride back on Highway 90.  There were plenty of shore birds enjoying the low tide and very few people.

Monday
We hung around Camp Refuge on this rainy day.  We got our clothes washed and I got my walk in.  Even though I was soaked when I got finished.  I love walking in a light rain in the summer time.

Tuesday
We washed the camper and the motorcycle today.  We are hoping that fall weather will be here soon so we can take Amber out for a spin.

Wednesday
A very quiet day at the VC.  Lauren went off site and cut grass.  We observed an Osprey with his afternoon snack in the savanna right before closing. He was sitting on a limb of a dead tree eating a good size fish.

Thursday
I only had 2 really great visitors walk in the VC today.  After 4 pm there were 6 people walking the trail. More people came after we were closed than when we were open.

Friday
Business picked up a little today, we had 12 people visit.  Lauren spent the day mowing at headquarters.

Saturday
Judy and Terry came for a visit before closing.  We continued our visit at Camp Refuge after we got off.  Needless to say, we had a great time.

There are not many pictures for this week due to a malfunction of Lauren's lap top.   The only pictures we have are a few that Lauren had on his phone and Facebook post, and a few I took with our old Nikon.

Here they are:

8-12-18 - 8-18-18 (Week 24)

Sunday
We do not go back to work at the VC until Friday.  We are slowly getting to feel like our old selves and decided to go back to Camp Refuge.  After all, Ferny Kat was bored staying in Crossroads for over a week and was ready to ride.

We took the much needed Crane Whisperer Tour in the heat of the afternoon.  All 7 of the Ms. Sandhill Cranes we saw were flying long before we got near them.  We took our time and took lots of pictures, (with the camera card in place), of lots of birds and all kinds of new blooms.  We also found the Black Swallowtail caterpillar eating on a water cowbane plant.  We will keep an eye out for the butterfly emerging.

It rained at Camp Refuge while we were gone, which cooled things off considerably.  We sat outside past dark enjoying the critters and the lower temperatures.  Nice temperatures like this in August, are a rarity.

Monday
We haven't walked the  CL Dees Trail for about a week and a half until today.  We saw plenty of butterflies and dragonflies that were enjoying the fresh new blooms.  We will go back tomorrow and rearrange plant signs.  Today was all about enjoying the trail.

I decided today was the day, I start exercising more than my brain.  I did some strength training and went for a walk on Crane Lane.  Lauren joined me on my walk, after about 15 minutes, (and after much coaching from me).  As he stopped to take pictures, I would walk circles until he got the shot he wanted.

On our way back, 2 Mississippi Sandhill Cranes, started calling and flew from the savanna.  They were about a couple hundred yards from us. Having a crane sighting while exercising is one of the perks of this gig.  Plus,an inspiration to get our walk in.

Tuesday
We spent this hot day hanging at Camp Refuge.  We rearranged the plant signs on the CL Dees Trail.  I have to say, it looks pretty good.

We attempted to get our walk in late afternoon but changed our minds when an officer advised us of a man hunt in the area, back to Camp Refuge we went.

Wednesday
We did a leisurely walk along the CL Dees Trail this morning.  We spent the afternoon riding to Biloxi, Ocean Springs, and St Andrews.  We made several stops to hike and bird watch.  One of our stops was Quakes.  We had heard their ice cream was really good and it was.

A quick stop for bargains at Belk, (quick is not the word Lauren uses for it),  and we made our way back.  We sat outside past dark enjoying Camp Refuge.

Thursday
It was thundering when I got up at 8 this morning.  The rumbling continued for most of the morning but no rain.

We checked out the photography exhibit at Pascagoula River Audubon Center this afternoon.  There were some really neat photos.  Maybe next year, Lauren will enter some of his.

Friday
Lauren must be ready to go back to work.  He got up before 6 am.  I on the other hand, slept until he woke me up at 7:30.

Lauren went off site to mow.  I manned the VC. It was another slow day of visitation.  Thank goodness that one person decided to stop by.

Saturday
A rainy day in South Mississippi.  Lauren and I had a very quiet day at the VC. We had a big increase of visitation as compared to yesterday.  A whopping 11 people. 

Week of pictures:

8-5-18- 8-11-18 (What were we thinking? / aka Week 23)

Sunday
Lauren lived through the golf tournament.  He and Terry didn't win, but they had a good time.  It is always great to spend time with Judy and Terry.

On our way home, we made a stop at Lynn's for Lieutenant Colonel Heath's celebration party.  A well deserved celebration for his return from his tour of duty and his promotion.  Thank you Heath for your service!!

Monday
Melissa approached us about a month ago and inquired if we would like to take the Certified Interpretive Guide training at Crosby Arboretum in Picayune, Ms.  This is only about a 30 minute drive from home.  We will get training that could make us better at what we do, a no brainer.  Yes we would love to go to this 4 day, 9 hours a day class, homework every day, everybody in the class has been doing these kind of things for years.  Again what were we thinking.

We were thinking, it will make us better at talking with the public, in a way that will be productive for everyone.  We weren't thinking, (obviously), that we are out of our league.

Our first day was today.  I have spent the last few weeks researching how to be successful at this.  Lauren on the other hand, has not gave it a thought until today.   I have to write, Lauren was as much prepared for this as I was.  We are brain dead.

We are in a class, with all these people that have been giving presentations for years.  Again, we are out of our league.

On a positive note, Philip Smartt, our instructor told us only one person has failed the presentation part of the class.  He needs to step up the game, unless he wants number 2 and 3 to talk about during his next class.

Tuesday
I thought I would be the one.  The one who would be so anal, I've got to do this.  Lauren and I went to bed late last night.  We tossed and turned.  And then, the clock alarmed.  We are retired, we are suppose to ease into the day, we are too old for this, but we got our old butts out of bed and returned.

Professor Smartt talked to a few of us early arrivers, about the second day being easier.  Lauren had a lot of words regarding the second day. Easier was not one of them.  I have to agree, the second day was a lot harder than the first.  At least yesterday, we had hope!!

Professor Smart, (and yes, that is his last name), stepped outside so we, or actually, Lauren could vent, (or as I call it, have a meltdown).   We realized that everyone in the room was pulling for us to succeed.  Hopefully we will meet their expectations!

And  no, we are not doing homework tonight.  Maybe we are too overwhelmed. or maybe we are being defiant!  Gotta set the theme of things.

Wednesday
I got out of bed around 3 am and worked on my homework and researched some of the history of the refuge .  I went back to bed after about an hour.  It was another sleepless night, We both tossed and turned all night long.

Today, we finally worked on our outlines for our presentations.  With a lot of help from Professor Smartt, we got this done.  We now know what we are going to talk about.  That kinda helps until we think about talking for 10 minutes. The presentation has to be at least 8 minutes and no more than 12 minutes.

After we got home, Lauren went out to the shop and  I went out in the garage to rehearse.  Dr Smartt told us he does not want us to use notes, so keeping this organized is extremely difficult. Every time I practice my speech, I say something different.

Luckily, Dr. Smartt said he doesn't grade us on perfection, he grades us on potential.

Thursday
We both have mixed emotions about today.  We are glad it is finally here so we can get this over with.  On the other hand, we are very anxious.  Right before we left home, we practiced in the den using the ironing board for a podium.  Ironing will never be the same.

We had 15 people in our class and it was obvious, the ones that had done this before.  I was the 13th person and Lauren was the 14th person to give presentations.  We both passed and got "Great Job" wrote on our evaluations.  Whew!!!!

I was surprised and relieved when the time keeper held up the sign for 8 minutes.  Lauren said the relief was obvious in my expression.  I am very surprised that the time went so fast and I am more surprised that I actually enjoyed this.

A stop at Wally World for the Nattys, and a stop at Fortenberry's for a steak and the celebration begins!!!!

Friday
As we reflect on the past few days, we have to say it was a fantastic week.  We made a lot of new friends and learned a ton, the exact opposite of our feelings at the beginning of the week.

Lauren spent this morning getting the yard mowed.  I spent the morning cleaning house.  We are still tired, but are finally getting back to our old selves.

Saturday
We packed our lunch and headed to Picayune to get some much needed nature therapy.  Our first stop was Crosby Arboretum.  We leisurely took our time, looking at the plants, wildflowers, butterflies, dragonflies, etc.  It was a much more relaxing experience than the previous days that we were here.

We stopped for a picnic lunch after walking about half of the trails.  The chicken salad I made this morning had quite a different taste.  I put dill pickle relish instead of sweet pickle relish in it.  It was quite different, but edible.

We continued on with the rest of our walk then headed to Bogue Chitto National Wildlife area.  We saw 3 gators, an anhinga trying to get plastic off his beak, plenty of egrets, and some blue herons.

This is not the place for arachnophobia's to visit.  There were hundreds of golden silk spiders hanging between the branches on the trail.

We walked about 6 miles today.  Lauren took his time really focusing on his pictures and thought he had some really great shots.  When we got home, none of the pictures were on the camera.  The card had been left in his computer.

It was a disappointing lesson learned, but nothing that a good dose of nature therapy can't cure.

7-29-18 - 8-4-18 (Week 22)

Sunday
Mother Nature was very kind today.  She allowed Lauren to get the yard mowed before the rain started in the afternoon.

Monday
We had a couple of surprises to wake up to this morning.  An unwanted visitor in the garage around 4 am caught on our security cameras.  He opened the door to my jeep and was looking around when the camera got his first pic.  He ran, as Jeannie would say, "like a thief that stole something."  Luckily,  he got spooked before he stole anything.

The second surprise was a cute, sweet, little brown dog running down the stairs when I opened the door after watching the video to see if my jeep was still in the garage.  She has an amazing personality.  Unfortunately, we can't keep her because Ferny Kat does not want a sibling.  And everyone knows, Ferny Kat rules the roost.

Being we were in the surprised mood, Anita surprised us with a visit.  We reciprocated with her a belated birthday cobbler and a gift.  And as a bonus surprise, (not really), Anita and the cute, sweet, brown dog, fell in love with each other.  She now has a new home.

Tuesday
We made it back to Camp Refuge.  Pat wasn't feeling good, so we relieved her around lunch time.  Pat had 3 people today before we arrived, we had 3 more people that arrived after 2 pm. 

One of them was from the Santa Ynez Band of the Chumash Indian tribe.  He was so excited to stop by the refuge because he did Crane dances where he resides in California.  He did a short performance for me in the VC.  Another perk of volunteering!

Lauren missed out, he was mowing the grass.

Wednesday
Jeff and his wife, Dorie, arrived to Camp Refuge.  Jeff will be one of our co-volunteers at the Refuge.
As usual, it was another slow day at the VC.

Thursday
We finished this short week with another slow day of visitations.  Lauren and Jeff meandered around outside of headquarters doing maintenance stuff.  I was overly excited when the first visitors of the day walked in at 12 pm.  The family of 5 were a lot of fun to talk to.  One of the daughters left a unique donation, a dollar bill crane origami.  It don't take much to entertain me.

Thursday we went to Crossroads for a while.  We have school next week and don't go back to work for a couple of weeks.

Friday
We are spending the weekend with Judy and Terry.  It's been a long time since we stayed with them.  Lauren and Terry are playing in the member guest at Windance.

We went to happy hour and listened to Double Dee at Windance.  A very entertaining evening spent with our long time friends.  It's like the good ole days.

Saturday
Lauren and Terry played 27 holes of golf today.  A lot of golf for Lauren in a day, considering he has only played once this year.  Lauren and Terry had a good time, even though they only won one match.


Pics are here: