Bond Swamp

Debbie and I took a couple of hours at the Bond Swamp this Saturday morning. We even had breakfast at the water's edge. We saw a Pileated Woodpecker again! We now know their call and where to look.

This turned out to be a pretty nice walk for a couple of hours. No one else was on the trails. We went to the Long Leaf Trail the next day (Sunday) and again, no one. It feels like we have all these nice trails around Macon to ourselves without having to pay for them!
This is where we had breakfast.
Some parts of the trails are just beautiful like this tree covered alley.
We took a drive around the area and saw a wild pig on this road. A first for us. It seems that the more you go out, the more unusual things you see. You just never know what you'll run into on the next walk on the woods or the next camping trip. May be that's what keeps us going, the surprise around the bend.

Another camping trip.

Reed Bingham State Park is a beautiful park I've never heard of before. Have you? Now, I'd like to go back after camping there one week end.

At first, the camping sites did not seem as nice as Debbie and I were expecting simply because they didn't seem wooded enough. It's fine once you get set up. No problemo. But, the trails, my oh my! beautiful. You almost feel like you're somewhere in Costa Rica. (No, I've never been in Costa Rica. I just know it's a bird watchers paradise; like when bird watchers die, they go to Costa Rica).

These pictures will give you just a glimpse of what's there to enjoy. You can't hear the birds' calls, or the whisper of the winds, or the sounds of the woods from these pictures. Can you? Have you ever heard the unique call of a Pileated Woodpecker? These woodpeckers are the biggest you'll see around, with big bright red crest, huge wingspan, and a graceful fly. Birds, birds, birds, showing off. Just nice to enjoy the show.

Cost of the site for 3 days, 2 nights:$40.00. Cost of gas: $35.00. Food: we brought our own. View and nature to enjoy: PRICELESS!

Camping at General Coffee State Park

Setting up camp!
We're getting faster and faster.

This State Park has a very Southern Georgia Coastal vegetation and feel. Including the mosquitoes! Except that we were prepared for the mosquitoes and, this time, we won that battle. The enemies had no match for the "Repel 40% Deet Sportsman Max Formula weaponry!" I could even go shirtless and these mosquitoes stood at bay. Just one little drawback; I may have reduced my lifespan by 30 minutes or so with all that chemical on my body. I guess we'll walk the trails and eat good food to reverse the negative effect of the mosquito repellent. I'll find out when I die: 30 minutes earlier or later, I guess it doesn't really matter.

Did we enjoy ourselves or what?!
As always, Debbie brought good food, and we grilled a lot.

We did bird watching and found some new birds we've never seen before.
Debbie even saw a big owl while we went in a canoe on the lake. I only saw it when it took off, and yes, it was a big owl. Nature is beautiful, and FREE!

I have to confess, we are still newbies at camping, but we quickly became pros at enjoying ourselves.

It was a full campground on this Labor Day week-end and the trails were full of spider webs. Why? Hardly anyone else was using the trails! Can you believe that? All these folks showing up with their RVs and staying in them watching television. I call that "pretend camping". Well, let Debbie and I have the trails, the lake, the animals, all to ourselves. We won't complain.

After seeing so much bird activities, we've decided just to bring our chairs, sit out at various spots, and just watch. And we were rewarded. Of course, we saw more than birds. Want to know what else? Go camping, you'll love it.

Kelly is in College!

Kelly is in Weleyan College. The best college in Macon.
She is excited and happy, and we are just so proud of her.

Kelly got all these scholarships for doing so good in high school and that saved us a lot of money. We still had to come up with some real money though. Real American Dollars! After all, Wesleyan is a private college.

This school has its own horse stables, nature trails, a pond with ducks, gyms, and all the other things that you find in other colleges like places where the kids go party. Oh, they have libraries and those sorts of things too (dorms, cafeterias, ...). I forget to check if they had classrooms.
I guess after these "students" go to the gym, walk around the pond, go horseback riding, check the nature trails, I guess they will have a little bit of time left to learn something in class.
Hopefully, no one will tell them "kids, this is the best time of your life! You don't live with your parents anymore and you have no kids to worry about. Enjoy it now, because when get out you'll be working your butt off to pay bills!"

Gosh, I wish I could just go back to college.

Mushrooms in 24 hours!

I noticed these mushrooms in the flower pot yesterday morning. August 2nd.

They grew this big by early afternoon,

and this big by the end of the evening.

There they are, full blown mushrooms early morning the next day, August 3rd. They'll be dead in a day or two, may be three. They come fast, and they're gone fast.
What do you think of these pics? Interesting, silly, clever, cute or just a waste of time? Post your one word (or more) comment. Thanks!

Our quiet backyard.

Here is Deeeeebbie!
Big flowery lantennas!
A lizard showing off.
Guess what? We now have blue jays coming for visits.

Birds at the feeder, birds at the birdbath

A hummingbird!
A morning dove at the birdbath!
A thrasher!
More doves!