7-12-20 - 7-18-20 - Camp Host Week 5

Sunday was our first back to the old grind day.  We got our 31 campsites tidied up along with the restrooms by 1 pm.

We took a stroll around the campground this morning and found some pretty Slender Vervain blooms.

Monday, we found a couple of cool moths, and some pretty bees and butterflies.

We saw a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk as we were going to get supplies on Tuesday.

Two Swallow-tailed Kites were circling above us catching bugs to eat as we were picking up litter.

We also found A Delta Flower Scarab chomping on a plant.

We took a walk on the Gorge Trail Wednesday.  It was a little bit cooler under the canopy of trees walking along the creek. The birds seemed to enjoy being under the canopy of trees as well.

Thursday, we had a lot of rain that cooled us off.  It also cooled off a Cottonmouth that was in the middle of the road when we were headed back to camp from the beach.  Needless to say, he was not as cool when Lauren was coaxing him out of the road with a mop.

We saw Spotted Sandpipers and Eastern Kingbirds when picking up trash on the beach Friday morning.   We were Crossroads bound after we wrapped up our work week.  We will get a few things done at home and return to the park when it is not so busy.

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7-5-20 - 7-11-20 - Camp Host Week 4

We finished our 11 straight days of working around 2 pm Sunday, then headed to Crossroads for a few days.   Of course, we stopped to take a few pictures as we were getting our work done.

After Lauren spent a few days fixing things at home we went back to Camp on Wednesday.  We are off until Sunday, which gives us a few days to enjoy the fruits of our labor. 

We enjoyed our time sitting outside and taking pictures of stuff Wednesday afternoon.  A couple of Wood Peewees were singing on a branch nearby.

Hummy seems to enjoy her fresh nectar I put in her feeder.

We found a mating pair of White-sand Tiger Beetles on the beach, along with turtles on a log when we rode around late afternoon.

Thursday was hiking day.  We strolled around the Gorge Trail taking pictures of critters and stuff.  We found several pretty Small Green Wood Orchids blooming in the wet area below the boardwalk.

We came across several spiders, a Rat Snake, butterflies, pretty plants, moths, birds, bees and other critters on our 2 mile hike.

We had a couple of Common Ground Doves visit at camp this afternoon.

Friday was another day of strolling around taking pictures of plants and stuff.  We found some beautiful Pigeonwings and Butterfly Peas blooming.

We walked with the Gills late morning and checked out another beach area.  We found a nice, cool, area in the creek that we plan to come back and do some more bird watching. 

The Purple Passion Flower at Camp that was closed this morning was opened this afternoon.

Saturday, Ferny Kat started waking us up at 2 am this morning.  She bailed out of the camper this morning and laid inside the fire pit.  She sure had a lot of vocal personality today.

We enjoyed Anita's visit and sitting around taking pictures of critters this afternoon.


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6-28-20 - 7-4-20 - Camp Host Week 3

This was our first full week working as Camp Host.  As we rode around doing our chores we were frequently distracted by nature.  We stopped and moved an Eastern Musk Turtle off the road Sunday as we were heading to the beach.

The campers poured out on Sunday morning, leaving us about 24 campsite to clean.  We had them done in about an hour.  On the other hand, the beach goers were after 7 pm before they cleared out which gave us time to sit on the bank and enjoy the river flowing by.

Ferny Kat was very vocal wanting us to get up way too early on Monday morning.  Before taking off for our chores, Lauren had to work on the Gator.  It was definitely a Monday kind of day.

We got our work done, then took Ferny Kat for a ride to Crossroads with the hopes we could keep her awake during the day.  She enjoyed her ride home, but was cat napping by the time we got there.  She slept in the closet until we drove back.  All for keeping her awake during the day.

The Northern Cardinals continue feeding their young from the feeder and a Cat Bird was hanging out in the trees.

We were greeted by a Fowler's Toad and a Green Heron at the Interpretive Area.

We had a steamy road after the rain on Tuesday afternoon when we made our rounds.

When we got back to Camp, Ferny Kat came out to explore and drink and play in her bowl of rain water.

There was a Green Heron hanging around in the branches on the river at the Beach area and some pretty Trailing Fuzzy Beans blooming on the bank of the river.

Our chores at the beach were delayed Wednesday morning when we got distracted by an Eastern Lubber Grasshopper, a Blue Grosbeak, an Eastern Kingbird, and a Red Spotted Admiral.

We spent the afternoon drilling holes in each of the campsite post for flags to be placed in for this holiday weekend.

We are the gate keepers, in our gated community tonight.

Thursday we continued to enjoy nature as we did our work.  We had our first armadillo sighting for this area on our way back to camp Thursday night.

There were 2 Green Herons at the Interpretive Area on Friday morning.  One of them strutted around the pier with his cool tufted head feathers.

When we got back to Camp, a Swallow-tailed Kite circled above us allowing us good closeup pics.

Saturday was a Happy 4th of July!  It was another nature chasing kind of day as we got our work done.

We were entertained by a pair of dancing Mockingbirds at Camp this afternoon.

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