Pioneer Ho

    Oh dear!  We celebrated the pioneers of Northwest Florida  this past November at Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou State Park.  It was freezing that day and the soap sisters were all about staying warm.  Here are some of the things we did that day.

Very Very Cold

Fire good

George

 

wagon ho

 

 bottom of ash hopper

making candles with Miss Nancy

where is room service?  I need a coke!

Where is the faucet?

Corn Husk floor scrubber

making shingles with my pal Joey

Ok my little darlins, turn to page 29

13 little Caterpillars Now there is 1

 About 3 weeks ago  I went shopping with my friend to purchase some Milkweed plants for her yard. About a week later as she went to plant it she noticed small caterpillars crawling all over the plant,  she decided not to plant it that day as she didn't want to disturb them.  When she told me about this we took pictures and decided that they were Monarch caterpillars and we counted at least 13 of them. Well another week went by and they were eating so fast that I suggested she at least place the new plant near the existing one, which they promptly started devouring.

Well in true, WTH mode she went and bought 2 more plants and placed them near the other two which they devoured all the leaves, flowers and stems off  in less than a day. HC! Hungry little things.  Each day she would go out and count them.  At the beginning of the week there were 10 as of thursday there were 5 and today there is only one.  Panic has set in but I told her stop and look for the Chrysalis. So now she is off in her back yard looking under leaves and branches for the little buggers while muttering under her breath that she should have taken a few and put them in a bug cage to document their growth.

Verifying type of caterpillar

 about 7 days

HUNGRY!

All grown up?

At the Beach

 Well they have been waking me up pretty early to go out and poke at things.  Here are some things that we have found.

Yawn, Where is my Coca cola

by-the-wind sailor and blue button

Old  hollow tree

Close up of  by-the-wind sailor and Blue Button

Green Tree Snake

Gree Tree Snake

New Gopher Tortoise burrow

Magnolia Blossom

Goose barnacles

Sanderling

Willet's

Shorebirds resting

Ghost Crab

Portuguese Man-o-War washed up on beach

Let Me Introduce You to the most spectacular walk at Henderson

I  walked the Campers boardwalk the other day.  It has some of the  most spectacular views of the park and the Gulf of Mexico.  Hope you enjoy!

Looking at one of the Sand Pines

This is known as Coastal Scrub

Florida Rosemary

Gulf Coast Lupine 

Description of Lupine considered a threatened  plant due to loss of habitat

Kiosk on Sea turtles

This shows the spot that Old highway 98 use to run through the dunes along the gulf .

Spectacular water shot Its a Noodle Day

Out from under the Command Chair

 Don't say anything but I decided to take the Command Chair for a Spin, really a real spin I was spinning in circles when I got busted for playing around.  The next thing I knew I was given a list of things to accomplish. So off I went.

Spinning around

 Walking the parking lot  picking up trash

Toys left on the beach

Clarke picked me up to go the Campground 

A girls work is never done

Hanging out with the intern

 Where is the Hammer?  That will fix it!

Tale of a Roaming Gnomes

The tale of the roaming gnomes

Bet you thought you were seeing double.   Actually this is Donald Forgione,  The Director of Florida Park Service.  He has been traveling to different parks and he heard that I was hanging  out at Henderson so he decided to "mail" himself over and let me take him on a personal tour of the park for a day.  We had a really great time, but alas, he had to "mail" on to another park.  Before he left I did get to do a brief Interpretive  on Sea Turtles and protecting their nesting area.  See ya around the parks Donald!

Here I am explaining the importance of Sea turtle nesting habitat