Happy Birthday To Me!

Today was a beautiful day.  Even though I didn't get my wish of a clear spring for my birthday, it was still a great day.  The water only came up a tiny bit over night and it was sunny with no clouds to be seen.  After my morning drive around the park and my paperwork, my coworkers and I set out with the trailer load of wood chips and filled some holes on the service road.  They did all of the shoveling and I drove from spot to spot and raked a bit.  We filled the biggest holes and now we will wait to see how well they work out.  If it helps to alleviate the puddling on the road when it rains, we will pick up some more to fill the rest of the low spots.  Lime rock would be a better solution, but the wood chips are free!


Once the trailer was unloaded, we headed over to Ichetucknee to pick up a piece of equipment for Adams Tract.  My coworkers there had a very tasty, rich, chocolaty cake waiting for me.  We all enjoyed the chocolate cake and then went back to work with a sugar rush.  We loaded up an old mower and headed to Adams Tract next.


The old mower that we delivered to Adams Tract is the same make and model as the old mower that they use there to pull a cart when they are moving garbage or firewood or whatever.  Their current old mower's ignition switch went bad and the part would cost $80 to replace.  Instead of spending the money, one mower will be used for parts so that we can keep the other going.  We pinch pennies wherever we can.  We unloaded the tractor and chatted with the volunteers.  I collected their time sheet and visitor count for the month as well.
When we made it back to Troy, its was nearly quitting time.  A package arrived while we were gone.  It was full of new Disc Golf discs that my boyfriend ordered for us.  It was so nice of them to come on my birthday!  I sat and talked with my coworkers for a little while before heading home.  I saw a Red-shouldered Hawk land on a branch while we were there.  I was surprised that the hawk had stayed there for such a long time.  I decided to try to sneak up on it for a photo.  I walked far off to the side and then towards it once I had a building in between us.  I leaned around the corner of the building, snapped a photo, and was surprised that the bird didn't seem at all nervous.  I crept a little closer behind a tree and took another one.  It still didn't care.  I ended up walking right under its perch and it just calmly watched me taking its picture.  Later, two of my coworkers went by it at different times to accomplish various tasks.  It didn't budge.  They started joking with me that it wasn't even a real bird.  It was, I promise.