Out And About

Today was the day that I have been waiting for.  It was warm, not raining, and I could walk around the park without a coat on.  It was still cloudy and windy, but I'll take what I can get.  I was glad to be out of the office today.  I did my paperwork and researched a few things on the computer, but otherwise I was out and occupying myself with small tasks.  I picked up a lot of sticks, due to the nearly two inches of rain we had yesterday.  I was happy to see that the trail down to the river held up beautifully in the rain.  It did its job well, it stayed there.
I spent quite a bit of time at the Log Cabin Visitor Center today.  I did a water change and a little tank vacuuming with the aquarium.  I also scrubbed algae off of the glass and sewed up new foam for the filter.  I added water to the tank and then left it alone so that our poor little Catfish could settle down again.  While I was there, I started draining the rain barrels.  They were very full.  I only got through two of them today, I'll get the rest of them tomorrow.  I also installed a hose hanger on one of the barrels on the backside of the cabin.  I like having a hose nearby to drain the barrels, but it was an eyesore where I had it,coiled up in front of the cabin.


When I was done with my projects around the cabin, I went for a walk around the park.  I went to the river first.  Its still on its way down.  I disturbed so many turtles that were sunning themselves on the bank of the spring, that I didn't stay long.  I wanted them to be able to enjoy the warm weather as much as I was.  I walked out onto the dock and got a photo of our favorite tree.  Its roots are creeping back out of the water.


On my way through the picnic area, I picked up more sticks.  As I tossed them into the wooded area, I spotted a beautiful display of fungus.  I thought that I had blogged a photo of this same pile of fungus before.  It took some searching, but I found it.  It really hasn't changed much, I guess the cold weather didn't affect it at all.


When I made it to the spring dock, I disturbed some more turtles.  There were a couple of them piled on the rock in front of the dock.  Its finally poking out of the water again!!


It isn't the only rock that is out of the water.  The turtles found every single one.  The ones that were brave enough to stay on their perches were eyeing me carefully.  They were all anxious for me to walk away.  Its amazing how quickly they forget that people come here too.


I noticed today that I heard more frogs chirping than I did birds.  If the frogs were chirping, than surely I would see one today.  I watched the walls of the walkway to the spring carefully on my way back up.  I saw quite a few Anoles who were cautiously trying to get to some warm air.


I finally did find a frog.  I was about to take its picture when I realized that a fire ant was feasting on its eyelid.  I don't usually interfere with natural processes.  If you interrupt the food chain, someone goes hungry.  I really hate fire ants though and I really like frogs.  The fire ants are non-native, they shouldn't be dining here anyway.  I helped the frog by removing the ant from its eyelid.  I couldn't really convince the frog that I was helping though.  It hopped away from me so much that I had to catch it and hold the poor thing while I plucked off the ant.  When I was done tormenting helping the frog, I placed it back on the wall and snapped some photos and left it alone.


The weather was getting windier and I have a busy week ahead of me.  I decided to go to Lake City to run some errands in the afternoon.  I returned to my office for lunch and worked on a list before heading out.  My main goal for going to Lake City was to purchase vacuum breakers for all of the outdoor faucets around the park.  The well inspector wants them installed to prevent any back flow from a hose from entering the water supply.  Unfortunately, Lowe's was out of stock and the plumbing supply store was closed.  I did pick up a new hitch for my truck though.  Now I don't need to borrow any one else's if I need to tow something (like a log splitter) with a 1 7/8 hitch.  I also picked up a few more quick release hose attachments for the remaining rain barrels that don't have them yet and a quick release bit for the drill.  Our old one disappeared, I really missed it.  When I got back, it was about time to just head home.  I installed my new hitch before retiring though.