Such a cutie

I really don't want to bore people with my family pictures, but this is really just a dang cute baby picture. She has four teeth and such a cutie she just makes me smile. Sweet Samantha. She's my second great-granddaughter.

Oh my!!!!!!!!!!!

This "little" guy/girl was occupying site 16 this morning without paying. I decided it could do whatever it wanted and just took the picture from my cart at a great distance and quietly drove away.

We've had a great deal of rain for 6 days with the resultant flooding moving snakes to higher ground. The rangers said to expect some snake issues. Oh goody! I guess the skinny ones - like my snake are harmless. The shorter, fatter ones are the bad ones. We have 3 kinds of poisonous snakes in this area. Oh goody!!!!

Said left at 3 am for his 5:45 flight. Nasty weather - rain and 70-80 mph winds - forced an 8am flight & a new itinerary. The special joys of weather and flying.

Easy Life?

Looks like it doesn't it? Well, at the moment, it was. However, Said's five days were composed of rain, moping the campground bathroom, rain, shoveling ashes from campfires, rain, picking up litter, rain, raking campsites into orderly spots, rain, rain, etc. However, he loved it. You know the man, he loves to keep busy. We had some down time and cooked hotdogs over the fire a couple of times, ate some great seafood dinners in great restaurants, enjoyed some rainy days at the beach, walked the dog a hundred twenty times, etc. It's been great. His flight leaves at 5:47 tomorrow morning and he arrives in chilly Muskegon at 12:30 or so.

I have no idea what I'll be doing after the 28th. I may stay and work at the park for a bit or I may go to pretty places. I'll know when it happens. That's why I enjoy myself so much. I'm always full of surprises - especially for me.

I've not done my blog for a week because I've been busy with Said. Take that comment any way you want to!!!! Even then, you won't be close to how great it was to have him here sharing my weird way of life.

Valentine's Day without my Valentine

Well, he'll be here with Sulty and I a week from today.

Great dinner with the other Valentine couples. Jason, a park ranger, his wife Tiffany, who is a ranger at st George sp, and Dana and Brenda, a volunteer couple here at ochlochnee. Dana took us all to dinner as a gift to his wife. That was such a really nice gift for her. Very original thinking on Dana' s part. I just loved my time with them. We laughed a lot. My kind of fun.

I'm beginning to think of Said and our home. I love our house and my Muskegon family and friends. However, Sulty and I really need warmth for our bodies. I really don't want to deal with snow and ice. I want to sit on my deck with a beverage in the sunshine and a book and look at the lake between pages. I want to go sailing in the warm sun with a comfortable breeze. I want my shower and my kiln and my little car and my bed and my comfy chair by the fireplace and my Dish tv channels and . . . . Guess I'm getting homesick. One can have the simple life for just so long - then I want my luxurious life back.

Happy news

Yes, I have been literally working my butt off. My brand new jeans are a comfortable size smaller. All that physical work is a lot more fun than just exercising. Who would have thought it of me - even I'm shocked at myself. However, I haven't made a serious career change to cleaning bathrooms and campsites. I'll find something different. Maybe digging ditches or building bridges or . . . .

I keep getting adopted by other campers because I'm by myself and am so cute and charming (chuckle). Last week it was a great steak dinner with some charming and entertaining folks. The steak was awesome until I asked them where they found such great meat around here. Walmart was their answer. Hey it was good. (Yuck) Tonight I was brought a Spanish dinner with some kind of cooked plantains. The mixture contained ground beef, peppers of some kind, capers, green olives, raisins, tomatoes, and some other stuff. They are emailing me the recipe. It was out of this world. Who would have thought, out in redneck wilderness in the FL panhandle, I would be eating Spanish food - not Mexican - Spanish. Sulty loved the plantains. Funny boy.

Pictures: Fog on the Ochlocknee
Spring is here - white violet

Weird birds - guess I'm the weird one

I have peterson's bird ap on my iPhone. I was playing the towhee call and a towhe kept flying real close. I felt like he was a bit aggressive. I stopped the towhee song. I played the cardinal song cuz there are a zillion cardinals here. The towhee kept flying too close. I quit - dang bird won.

I feel real tired after finishing my work today. Guess ill just sit in the sun a while and do nothing.

Heres a picture of my dream boat. Way cute little thing.

Interesting day

Two of the rangers have beehives for honey. One of the hive's bees were "swarming". That means they left the hive and are flying around in a small black cloud. Grrrrrross! The have settled on a tree and the guys have suited up and are going to either shake them out or smoke them out. Pretty scary either way. I left - just couldn't watch!!! Here is a picture is the swarm in the tree.

Somehow they got the queen to go into the box - set the box at the foot of the tree and the bees are all flying to the box. Now Jason has two hives.

How interesting.

a day in my life hosting! (boring).

I am obligated to work 20 hours a week - at my leisure = my hosting activities count toward that.

Breakfast about 8:30 or 9:00 am Sometimes earlier - depending on whatever.

Drive my little Gem hot rod to the rangers' office to pick up the list of reservations and departures. Take Sulty with me to change the little signs by sites that have something happening. There are 30 sites. Sulty waits outside for me while I check toilet paper and the immediate need of bathrooms.

Drive my cart around to the departure sites and check for litter - maybe shovel ashes out of the fire pit - rake around the firepit.

Go back to campsite and have a Diet Coke and maybe a little lunch.

12 noon - clean bathrooms (I know, I know, my friends and family will find this extremely hard to believe, but, remember, I get free camping for 20 hours a week's work). Wipe down all areas with a soapy sanitizer concoction, showers, sinks, toilets. Mop floors with a bleach/soap mixture. Hey - don't laugh - I do a heck of a job and get tons of compliments.

There are other jobs to do if I have leftover time. Mostly I like to ride my little Gem-mobile along the river and on the scenic drive and assorted trails looking for litter. I can work at my own pace and rest when I get tired.

Actually - I love it!!! I have Tues and Wed off. Tues I just vegetate and Wed I drive to Crawfordville and get supples and go someplace pretty for a hike with Sulty. There are great beaches and trails all over the place.

Not a bad life!!!!

New friend lost

My new dear friends, Ella and JB, left for another park today. I have only known Ella for a month but it seems like forever. Some of you remember my friend Ellen - well, Ella was very similar to Ellen in many ways. I miss both of them. It's not often that I find people that I connect to with such depth. Sad.

It's my moms birthday today. I miss her so much.

Okay, enough sad stuff. How about a pretty spring flower or two. It is spring in the panhandle.