4-15-18 - 4/21/18 - (Week 7)

Sunday
It was a cold, windy, sunny day. A good day to go to Crossroads.  I spent the afternoon giving some much needed TLC to the house.  Lauren and Ferny Kat spent the afternoon getting some much needed rest.  They were wore out from last week's festivities.

Monday
I had an early morning doctor appointment. This afternoon, Lauren mowed the yard and I raked up leaves.  The place sure does look nice all cleaned up.  Anita came over and spent the night.  We had a lot of catching up to do.  Another fun time together.

Tuesday
It was a beautiful day.  We could stay home and rest, or we could go back to the Refuge. A no brainer. We didn't want to sit around Crossroads and watch the grass grow.

We got a lot of walking in and rearranged a couple of plant signs on the C.L. Dees trail.   We watched an Osprey perched on a dead tree trunk until dark.

Wednesday
The chirping of the birds woke me up this morning.  The slamming of the window I closed, woke up Lauren.  Not quite the way to ease into the day.

Lauren wasn't his usual chipper self this morning.   It was time for some wind therapy.  After wiping off the dust and spider webs, we took off on Amber to Dauphin Island.

We had a nice, relaxing ride to Dauphin Island.  As we crossed the bridge, we saw two dolphins splashing in the water.   Hence, the name Dauphin Island.

We rode to both ends of the island.  We hiked the Audubon Birding Trail and saw alligators, turtles, pelicans, seagulls, ospreys, and a lot more birds.  It was a very humid, but a  nice walk.

We made it back to Pascagoula in time for the shipyard traffic and to Gautier in time for the school traffic.  We need to work on that timing thing.

                                                           Back at Camp Refuge

A grilled hamburger and a couple of beers, and we are calling it a night.

Pictures are here:

Thursday
Our work week begins.  This morning, Lauren and Charley worked on the Escatawpa  Trail, Carol had her Colt Capers, and I manned the Visitor Center.  It was a pretty good day.

Friday
We had a slow Friday at the Visitor's Center.  We walked the C.L. Dees Trail after work then lounged around the rest of the evening.

Saturday
A great end to the work week.  Anita came over for the Native American presentation at the Visitor's Center.  The family of four, from the Lumbee/Choctaw Tribes, had a beautiful presentation of their dance and dress.  Anita enjoyed it so much, she watched both shows.  It was a gorgeous day to be outside.

After work, we walked the C.L. Dees Trail and sat by the campfire until after dark.  Another fabulous get together.

Click for pics:

4-8-18 - 4-14-18 (Week 6)

Sunday
Happy Birthday Lauren and Erica!!  It was a cold birthday day.  We went the long way to Wally World killing time waiting for warmer weather.  That didn't happen.

Lauren had a free birthday buffet at Sicily's that was very good.  You can't beat a free buffet, especially at Sicily's.

We went to Island View to play our free play and play in the slot tournament.   Lauren had a score above 490,000.  Based on yesterday's winners, this should win him something.  We will see tomorrow.  I won enough off my free play to pay for my buffet.  Definitely worth the trip.

We walked the C.L. Dees Trail, then sat by the campfire until after dark.  It wasn't a bad start to the birthday week celebration.

                                                               Snakemouth Orchid

                                                                   Blue Grosbeak

Monday
Lauren won $75 of free play in the slot tournament at Island View.  A great birthday present.  We lounged around today resting up before a couple of busy days ahead.

Tuesday
We picked up Carol and Charley and rode 5 hours to Natchez today.  We will deliver the Jr. Duck Stamp awards to Cathedral High School tomorrow.  We did a little sight seeing, then ate dinner at the Day's Inn.  Pretty good accommodations for the price.

                                                                   Made it to Natchez

                                                              Old hangout in Natchez

                                                                  Mississippi River

                                                                 

Wednesday
We spent the morning looking around at the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians then went to the river.  We didn't see any tug boats today, which was very unusual.  We shopped Under the Hill then made our way to Cathedral High School for 12 pm.

                                                 Overlooking Magnolia Bluffs Casino

                                                                 Jr. Duck Stamp Winners

The kids seemed very happy with their prizes, especially the candy.  We got to meet the student that won Best of Show.  We sure are pulling for her to win the nationals.  We made the long 5 hour ride back.  Two days of driving was exhausting for the Birthday Boy.

                                                                 Best of Show Winner

                                                                     The Painting (Gadwall)

While we were gone, they started clearing some of the brush at the campground.  Lauren walked out to the water's edge and saw 2 beautiful wood ducks paddling around.  We appreciate the better view of the bayou.  And maybe this is an omen for the Mississippi Girl to win the National Duck Stamp Contest. Fingers crossed.

We sat outside and watched on Osprey perched on a limb across the bayou until it was too dark to see him.

Thursday
We were sitting around drinking our coffee this morning, looking at the better view we have since they started cutting the brush and saw a Doe and her two yearlings.  We certainly appreciate the better view.

                                                                 Deer in the camp

We had a busy morning at the Visitor's Center.  Head Start Parent's came to check us out.   I took 16 people on the C.L. Dees and talked to them about Carnivorous Plants that are on the trail.  My first guided trail walk was a success.

We walked  the trail after we closed and moved around signs and found more mysterious plants we will attempt to identify.

Friday
Another group from Head Start come to check us out.  I had 12 people on the guided trail tour.  Again the focus was on the Carnivorous Plants. The Plant eat Bug World is quite fascinating.

This afternoon, Charley and Carol manned the center while we went to mark some more plants on the trail.  Almost every day we find a new bloom or plant, which keeps our brains busy trying to figure out what it is.  Other than the Head Start parent's, it was a slow day.

                                                           eastern lubber

Saturday
We had people waiting on us to open up the Visitor's Center.  Four of them were from the Master's Gardens group.  They were here to give input on landscaping around the visitor center.

We had 10 people before 10, then only had 2 more people for the rest of the day.  Talk about a slow day.

By the time we got off, the weather was too bad North for us to make the trip home.  We sat outside in the breeze, with no rain until about 7 pm.  At least 7.5 inches of rain fell in Gulfport, tornadoes were north and west of us.  We were lucky to only have rain.

More pictures are here:

                                                               Great Crested Flycatcher

4-1-18 - 4-7-18 (Week 5)

Sunday
We spent this beautiful Easter morning looking for Sandhill Cranes.  This is the first time in 2 weeks we could go behind the locked gates.  We watched a pair for about 45 minutes, dancing, eating, and strutting around on Ben Williams Road.  We would have pictures, but they blurred because we took them through the windshield.  Oh well, we got our memories. We had 11 Crane sightings, 2 eagles, and a lot of geese.

We had a late lunch/early supper of grilled baby back ribs.  We took a walk along the trail, then relaxed by the campfire until after dark.  The quietness of the night was broken by someone shouting at each other.  It sounded as if it was coming from headquarters.  No one was there, so it must have been an echo from a nearby neighborhood.  It sure did mess up our tranquil evening.
More Pictures:

Monday
Our one month anniversary of being here. Where did the time go?  It is amazing the things we have learned in a month.

We made a stock up run to Walmart after my eye exam.  I love shopping with the seagulls.

We have been slackers to exercise except for exercising our minds to learn about the Refuge. Today was the day.  We decided to go to the weight room at the Fire Center to work out.  We were done in about 15 minutes, but hey, gotta start somewhere.

Tuesday
We checked out Grand Bay Wildlife Refuge, another refuge in the Gulf Coast Complex.  We watched Ospreys from the nice boardwalk at the Visitor's Center.  We only saw a few birds on the 1/2 mile thickly wooded birding trail.  We drove to the boat lunch, there was not much going on there.

We went to Ruby Tuesday for our free birthday salad bars and made a stop at Scarlet Pearl for our free Pancake rings. A small donation later and we were out of there.

We met up with Jim and Cindy at The Blind Tiger.  We sat out on the deck overlooking the gulf, catching up.  It was another fabulous get together.

Wednesday
We had a great lunch at Huck's Cove with Jim and Cindy.  Unfortunately, the weather turned cold.  This is our second trip to Huck's Cove where we had to eat inside due to inclement weather.  Maybe one day we will pick a day that is pretty enough to sit outside and dine.

Thursday
Our first full day to work by ourselves. We had our sheets pulled off the bed and ready to wash in our down time today. Melissa had a chore she wanted us to do while we weren't busy today.  That didn't happen.  We had one car after another arrive for a total of 60 visitors.  Lauren went to the Bunkhouse and started our wash around  2 pm so our clothes would be washed before the Interns got off.  All for that slow day.

Friday
Today was the direct opposite of yesterday.  We had very few people visiting before noon, they were closer to 3 pm.  We stayed over about 45 minutes to allow some late comers to look around and watch the video.  We later found out, that Melissa took a College group of 30 out on the trail while we were accommodating the late comers.

We have been studying identification of plants and flowers.  After closing, we went to the trail and placed markers out to identify the wildflowers.  Hopefully, we got them right.  Botanist We Not!

Saturday
It was Audubon Bug Day at the Visitor's Center.  It was cold and rainy.  What better way to spend the day than inside with Bugs. 

Stephanie from the Audubon Bug Center was very good, very patient, and very brave.  She had the audience interacting with cockroaches, a big ole roach, some other bugs/animals, and a tarantula aka Penelope.

We were surprised that Carol, (also known in our minds as Snake Charmer), would not have anything to do with these bugs.  She will let Clem wrap around her arm, but she will not touch bugs.  I guess everyone has their limits.

This event was not as exciting as The Raptor presentation a few weeks ago, but when you take it all in prospective, bugs are pretty amazing.  And Lauren was brave enough to let Penelope walk across his hand.  I think he may just warm up to Clem before long.

After a nice relaxing day at work, we took a stroll around the trail and placed a few more plant identification markers. We grilled some sausage before being run inside by the rain.  It was another great week at the refuge.
Pictures here: