4H, Hayrides and Birds of Prey

Yesterday, was our second 4H meeting of this new year. We are covering First Aid this year, and unbeknownst to me, I am teaching it. I thought I was just consulting and assisting, not teaching. Needless to say I felt out of sorts. The last picture is me, unfortunately. Thank goodness it was only minor cuts and scrapes. Next month is choking. The kids got their group awards, different from county wide awards in August.


Some of you may remember that last year we volunteered at the Lower Suwannee Nature Refuge. This year we just don't really have the time to do it once a month, but am hoping to get some volunteer time in there. Well Ranger Pam has a nice new shiny classroom, and today she hosted her first class, and it was awesome! First we went on a hayride and nature search, kids had a journal type worksheet to write on, down to the Suwannee River. There the kids learned about how temperature, turbidity, diffused oxygen and PH of the water, effects the wildlife that lives in the water. It was an awesome little experiment. Then back to the classroom for a Birds of Prey class. The lady that does the class has a bird sanctuary, where they rescue and treat injured birds of prey, then release them to the wild when able. She was marvelous, and the kids had a ball getting pictures of all the birds. Ranger Pam even managed to get in a small pollinator class, before the end of the day. I only got nervous once. The classroom is quite small and the birds where quite large. But, the handlers had complete control, and I was put at ease very quickly. A tiring two days, but the weather was amazing too! Now back to more traditional school the next two days. I can not wait for the next class. I don't have to do any planning or thinking, LOL!

Dennis Creek Hiking Trail

We have been busy, busy, busy the last two days. Yesterday, was a playdate at the park. If you look down at the very last shot you will see how hot it got. I don't ever burn, mostly because I don't let myself burn, but you need to see the raccoon eyes on me. Last night you could the whole outline of my sunglasses.

Today was our volunteer day at the nature refuge. We haven't been since before Christmas and the photography class. Today it was just us, and one other family that volunteers with us. We were privelaged to be able to walk the Dennis Creek Trail, to look for garbage or damage. Gladly we didn't find a lot of garbage, which is nice because this trail is used quite frequently. This particular trail doesn't end up at the Suwanee River, like the others, it goes to the Gulf of Mexico. So after we hiked the trail and did our work, we headed down to the Gulf. It was low tide as you can probably tell from the pictures. We did see some small fish, crabs, and some birds along the trail. We found an area where there was an obvious wildfire at some point, that did not burn through the trees. Just the outside was burnt and new green could be seen growing from the tops. We will ask Ranger Pam about this the next time we see her. It might have been caused by lightning. There is a lovely little sitting dock on this trail, that I want to return to by myself to read or just enjoy the peace and quiet. I might take a friend, it is kind of remote, lol! After visiting the Gulf, there weren't any picnic tables, just fishing dock and boat ramp, we headed back to Chiefland for lunch at the park. I am tired now and have a ton of house work to catch up on. It appears we will finally get some much needed rain over night, but severe weather is possible because it has been so warm. I don't look forward to tornado warnings, and constant lightning. Tomorrow back to regular school, movie day, and grocery shopping.