Author Event- Florence, Alabama

 
Here's Annette, all ready to take your money! Flowers by Marleen. Books by me.



Southern hospitality extends to all aspects of life. This group was not content to just come and chat with me and buy books. We had tablecloths and flowers and refreshments and gifts and a video. Isn't that a beautiful lounge area, too?



This thoughtful and cute pile of gifts picked up on the retirement/camper theme.


And they bought a ton of books. I think Loretta and a couple of other people did a lot of ground work to make it all happen.

Did you think we were done? Not yet! Then we all went out to dinner at a local restaurant.



As if that wasn't enough, then there was a birthday/retirement cake. Decor is the "Hollow Tree at Dead Mule Swamp."



It was all wonderful, but I'm "peopled out" for tonight. See you tomorrow.

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A Walk Along the Tennessee River

 
Loretta had to work today and the place I was planning to go is only open on weekends, so I hunted up some other trails. It turns out there is a fairly extensive trail network on the Tennessee Valley Authority land associated with Wilson Dam at Florence. The river here is wide and beautiful.



The Rockpile Trail is mostly at the top of the rocky bluffs along the river that I don't have a picture of yet. Of course, the hiker has to get up there!



There were a lot of ups and downs, but some sections were just a pleasant stroll (through the poison ivy).



The biggest trail surprise was a place where there is a deep bay at the edge of the river. The trail comes down to water level and crosses the mouth on a concrete bridge that is used as a fishing pier. There was a man there catching crappie. He said I should go back the way I came and there was a trail that stayed above the head of the bay. I asked him if the bridge connected with the trail on the other side. He said it did, but I'd have to go uphill to get back to the other trail. I told him I'd have to go uphill even if I turned around. I said I wanted to go to the dam, and asked if the trail went on that way. He said he thought it did, but he'd never walked to it. (By now, I was less than a mile from the dam!)



I went on, and got back up to the main trail with no problem, but thought perhaps I'd reached an alternate Oz. There were red brick steps and above them a red brick trail!



Finally, I made it to Wilson Dam. I showed you this four years ago, the last time I was here. This time, I want you to find the pile of rocks below the dam, just left of the center of the picture.



The rocks are always covered with white pelicans, cormorants, and great blue herons. Look at the relative sizes.



I really love the pelicans. This may be my best picture of them yet, even though they are so far away.



They have a nine-foot wingspan, much larger than the herons. And those black feathers only show when they fly.



I can't keep saving all the wildlife pictures to show you later, or there will be a huge backlog. Already, I have no idea how to share all the new and interesting plants without boring you to death. Anyway, I'll add some wildlife from today. This is a red-spotted purple butterfly. He was kind enough to land on my foot for his picture.



Best picture I've ever gotten of an indigo bunting. Not super great, but not terrible.



And most exciting for me, a new species to add to my list of animals. This is a five-lined skink. He was running right along that concrete bridge. I had no idea that a- they are so big, and b- skinks are lizards, not salamanders!



What an awesome day! I completed the hike loop via a paved trail, but there was a breeze so it wasn't too hot. That gave me time to hike the Native Plant Trail too. Total distance- maybe seven miles (the maps didn't indicated mileages).

Here's the trail joke of the day. I needed to use the Energy Trail to connect to the bike trail. I was quite perplexed as to what that name signified. The answer... trail under a powerline!

The poison ivy was crawling out of the trail throughout- coming for me. My first act after returning home was to shower and wash all the clothes. Hope I got everything I touched wiped down.

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Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge

 
We did go back today to the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge. It's a great place to visit, although this is the wrong time of year to see the birds they have become noted for.



By something of a fluke, they've become an additional wintering place for Whooping Cranes. Although there are now about 600 of these birds (up from the all time low of 16 birds, which led to the immense effort to save the species), they are still individually numbered and tracked.

Of course, right now, they've all headed north. But I came one step closer to seeing one other than on film. This is 12-02. That means he was the twelfth chick hatched in 2002. He was found dead in 2016, and it was determined that he died of an infection. He was mounted for display.


The visitors' center is filled with mounted wildlife of all kinds, in dioramas that place them in the correct ecosystems. Two of the best are things you might find on the forest floor/wetland. Salamanders, snakes, frogs, turtles, etc. Here's a small section of one with a gray lizard and a cottonmouth snake.



There's a separate large observation building with glass walls that overlook the marsh. In December and January, the water level is raised and this entire area is covered with cranes and pelicans and ducks.



Today, we saw a heron, a cormorant, some geese, a raccoon, a yellow butterfly that I couldn't catch with the camera, and an egret.



The egret caught two fish, and I got it swallowing one of them. See the lump going down its throat? Sorry these pictures aren't great, but I had the lens all the way out, handheld, through glass.



There were osprey nest platforms on several of the power line towers. Had to catch those shots at 50 mph on a bridge. But you can see the birds.



The evening was a great people experience with friends, but I think I'll save that post for another day rather than mix it with the wildlife refuge.

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Alabama Wildlife -1

 
Loretta and I spent the morning doing errands, but then we headed out to try to find a wildlife adventure. We had marginal success, but are going to try again tomorrow. My best picture of the day is a white egret soaring over the Tennessee River.



I can crop that so you'll see the bird better, but I liked the shot with the clouds too.



This is a crummy picture, but there's no (safe) way to get it better. This is white pelicans and cormorants sitting on the rocks in the Tennessee River below the bridge. Had to take it through the railing at 50 mph.



Just a mockingbird, but they are pretty, and I seldom see one in Michigan, although it's not unheard of.



While we're doing common birds, here's a cardinal. But I loved how he looked sitting in the white clover.



Funniest wildlife of the day- a stuffed fox in the lodge at Joe Wheeler State Park. The jaunty look for Christmas, I guess.



Now we've arrived at the location we were trying to find: Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge. Sadly, the visitor center is closed on Monday and we didn't know that. But we're planning to go back tomorrow. Nevertheless, it was not a wasted drive. We found a short trail along Flint Creek (which runs into the Tennessee River).



These turtles were pretty far away, so the picture is poor. I'll try harder to get good pictures if I see them tomorrow, because this is a new species for me! These are eastern river cooters, Pseudemys concinna concinna. Since it's new to me, it's obviously my favorite wildlife sighting of the day.



I also saw a red wasp that I couldn't get a picture of.

We had a great time! Got in the car to head home just as a downpour let loose. It didn't last too long, but the timing was good for us. Wonderful, wonderful day!

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Woodmont Worship

 
The only pictures from today were at the morning service, which opened with the Preschool Praise singers. Once the teachers actually got them all arranged and standing still they sang quite well.



Loretta is in the adult choir.



Hopefully, she won't hate me for this picture. The book cuts off the bottom of her face.



Randy and Annette are also in choir. I didn't get Randy in focus and Annette has a microphone bar across her face.





So, we started with Sunday School, then worship service, then a spaghetti dinner fundraiser for a mission trip. I bought a book at their auction called Medicine in Colonial America, which is written by another of the friends I've made down here, Dr. J. Patrick Dougherty. I spent the afternoon reading it. Then we went back to church for evening service, and a group of people went out to eat after that.

I have to say that the people I've come to know down here in the few times I've visited are really nice to me. I never feel like an outsider in any of Loretta's groups.

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