A Day of Firsts

 

Blairsville, GA, (high 82, low 68)

 

Rain was predicted yesterday, but all we got was a lovely nice cool day with some cloudiness. 

We puttered around home yesterday, planting some flowers, blowing the deck and doing laundry.  I’m doing a LOT of laundry lately trying to wash off the poison ivy from Al’s clothing. Every time he wears something,  if I don’t wash the clothing several times, it seems to cause him more problems the next time he wears those clothes. According to the research we’ve done on the internet, poison ivy doesn’t spread from touching or clothing, but we don’t believe it.  Maybe you have to be hyper-sensitive to it like Al is but it sure seems to spread on him.  The patch on his leg is growing despite all the care he has given it.  Last night, I thought he was getting better, but now I’m not so sure.    I’m sure glad we have our big washing machine in the cabin. It would take forever to double and triple wash everything with my little machine in the motorhome.

Our new renters arrived from Maggie Valley, NC yesterday.   I knew they had a Toy Hauler, and I knew it was a large one, but I never knew exactly how large.

We advertise our Rv site to be big rig friendly, but when I saw the size of their rig, I was a tad worried.

It’s a 46 foot 5th wheel toy hauler!   I never knew they made them that big.

Here they are unloading the motorcycle.

Ready to back in.

The only casualty was the new 911 lot signs that the county insisted on putting up for the police and fire departments. 

 

 

Dan did an amazing job backing that monster into the site.  It’s a beauty, isn’t it?

Welcome to Rivers Edge Janice and Dan!  This was the first time we’ve had a rig that large and now we know if they can fit, than no one else should have any problems!  We’ve done well renting the extra site out this year. It’s been booked solid since June and we only have a few weeks vacant in September. 

 

I started my new thru-hiker book yesterday and sat outside under the awning reading.  This true story was written about a hike in 2008 which was the same year the guy in my last book did the AT.  I was sure surprised when I recognized one of the characters (hikers) from the last book! Everybody who hikes these trails gets “trail names” and I remembered hiker “Padre” from the last book.  It was like meeting an old friend!

 

After hanging around home all day, we decided to take our usual evening golf cart ride searching for the elusive bear.  We didn’t see a bear, but we found something almost as good.

Last week we took our other renters Mike and Lisa out on the golf cart.  When we went over this rickety bridge over the stream, she noticed this wood and said it looked like a beaver had chewed it. 

 

After we rounded the corner, inside the farmers garden which was surrounded by an electric fence, sat this handsome guy.

Our first Beaver sighting.   We have never seen a beaver in Florida. Al Googled them and found there are some beaver in Florida, but we sure have never seen one before.

We noticed where he had been making his dam.

We were thrilled, but evidently they are seen around here often, so no one else was too impressed.  :)

 

We continued our ride until it was pitch black outside, but never saw that darn bear.

Heed the Warning

 

Blairsville, GA –Rivers Edge Rv Park  (high 80, low 68)

 

Our friends Terry and Ralph have settled nicely into life here in Rivers Edge and we think they actually know more people here than we do. I think it’s partly because they have dogs to walk, and partly because they are more outgoing than we are. 

Ralph volunteered to help Al fix the lights on our deck that quit working while we were gone for the winter.  They spent a few hours and with the help from another new neighbor, we have lights again.  Today we’re going to take down the old rope lights and install the new led lights that we bought from e-Bay.

Our new neighbors behind us have a cute little girl that they call their “late life joy”.  She’s probably about three years old and she is a live wire.   Yesterday, he (Russ) went to dump his black tank and when he opened the bay, there was a sleeping water moccasin (he thinks) coiled up in the bay.  He grabbed a stick and flung it out onto the ground.

Al and Ralph went running to see what was going on. I was able to get a quick photo before the snake disappeared into a drainage ditch.  (remember I have a big strong zoom lens and I wasn’t very close) 

Apparently, the snake entered the wet bay by crawling up the water hose.  Russ and Erica are only here on the week-ends, so the snake has been left undisturbed until now.  It’s a good lesson for us to remember there is a lot of water around here and we all need to be more vigilant. Thank goodness the snake didn’t hurt that little girl.     Al has decided we’re going to get something to wrap around the water and sewer hose to block entry for any wildlife.  We have been careless by not blocking entry to the bays.  That will change now.   How about you?   Could a snake enter your bays from the sewer, water or electrical cords?   Be careful when you open your bays.

So, after that excitement, it was time to go to church.  Some other neighbors invited us all to a picnic at their church.  We got to feast on some good southern style home cooking.  Al and I particularly liked a wonderful home made peach and raspberry pie. 

The other night we saw this huge moth on the outside wall of the cabin. It was 3-4 inches wide.

Baxter has gotten to go on a few golf cart rides.  The other night ne met three dogs and a bunch of people. 

The hot tub has been feeling pretty good.  Here he is afterwards parading around in his robe.

 

Otters Before Breakfast

 

Wesley Chapel, Florida

When we got up this morning, I noticed the otters were right behind the coach, so we went outside cameras in hand.

They are a little curious and will often swim right over your way and check you out for a minute or two.

Then, pretty soon, it’s back to the business of grooming.

It was a beautiful morning with dew on the bald cypress trees.

Pretty soon, along came a family of Red Wing Blackbirds.  These appear to be juveniles.  They are a little clumsy still.

A blue jay posed nicely.

Little Blue Heron

I snapped this picture last night.  I thought it was interesting with doves in the feeder and the deer in the background.

Mom had a bad day yesterday.  It was day three after her fall and I think it finally caught up with her.  She seems to be feeling better this morning (so far), so hopefully she’s on the mend.  She has finally started using the cane I got her.

Deer Turf War

 

Wesley Chapel, Florida (high 94, low 73)

It was a strange day weather-wise yesterday.  We took a drive to look at a small outboard motor that Al had found on a Craig's List posting.  He wants a “kicker” for our boat, so that if the main motor won’t start, we can get in without having to call Sea Tow.  On the way to east Tampa, to look at the motor, we kept running into really hard rain, with bright sunny skies.  No thunder and lightning, just rain and sunshine.  Sunny skies and hard rain was common when we lived on Guam, but rare here. 

 

We ended up buying the motor, so Al can quit “whining”  :)

Weather permitting, we try to sit outside every night for happy hour.  We have so much wildlife here, we can always count on seeing something interesting.

Our campground is very close to I-75,  and in fact our site is less than a quarter of a mile away from the interstate.

Despite the close proximity to civilization, it’s amazing the amount of wildlife that lives in the greenbelt area right behind our site. Unfortunately, it’s probably because they don’t have anywhere else to live.

So last night, we sat there armed with adult beverages and my little Canon camera.  I ended up regretting not having my big Canon with the faster shutter!

When we first got to this site, we occasionally saw a group of 4 deer.  Unfortunately, we’ve seen a few deer along the sides of the road that had been hit by a vehicle. 

Lately, we’ve seen only one deer and we thought that was all that was left.

Two nights ago, right before dark, the female brought her baby. We were sure glad to see that.  Unfortunately, it was getting dark and I didn’t have the shutter speed set right, and it was running, so I couldn’t get a good picture. 

Last night, we sat out again, hoping to see the fawn and get a better picture.   We never did see him, but we saw something even better.

The deer we think is the Mama, was there for a while, but the baby never came out.  Mama will come out into the open, but it seems she doesn’t want the baby in plain site.

A few minutes later, I noticed a deer coming from my left, towards Mama deer.  She looked up and it appeared she was getting upset.

Before I knew it, the two deer were charging at each other and ended up rearing up in what appeared to be a short fight.

That’s when I wished I had my BC (big Canon) that doesn’t have a delay when you press the shutter!

It was an amazing site, but unfortunately, not such an amazing picture.

A few minutes later, several more deer ran by and into the woods.  It appeared there was a new group trying to invade the territory of the old group. 

We think we saw 8 different deer last night.

We had to figure out what caused this type of behavior.  We always see groups of deer hanging out together and have never seen any  disputes.  This little tiff appeared to be a dispute over territory.

My theory is that the groups that hang out together are family.  Mothers with babies from previous years and their offspring.  Never any fights.

I’m now thinking that the other group was another family and the first family was trying to run them off. 

I can’t wait to see what happens tonight.  You can be sure I’ll have my big Canon Rebel with my big zoom lens!