Summer Days

for my friends who are not fond of snakes...

*****WARNING***** THERE IS A PICTURE OF A SNAKE WITHIN THIS POST

I was worried how I was going to keep the little people from constantly being on a screen now that school is out for the summer. Oh, they ask, and I say no, a lot. Reading earns time on the computer, so that is helping and also leads to quiet moments in the house. Then they began an outdoor project on their own which has kept them busy more than anything I could have dreamed up.

It is called "The Treescapes" and is located under the giant magnolia tree in the yard. They have cleared out all the debris and have a nice dirt floor in there. A pulley system pulls back a branch for easy entry and exit from The Treescapes. While creating their clubhouse, they discovered a bird's nest with an egg in it. Now there are two and we hope to see baby birds. Whatever else is in there, I do not know, for they are working together, and that is all I need to know.

Hummingbird visiting one of the feeders.

They have their outside interests and I have mine. Hummingbirds are so amazing!

We have watched three separate goose families raise their young this spring, so we must be careful where we step in the yard. There have been 17 babies, and so far I know of only 3 that have not made it.

Lulu, our cat, loves that there are so many feathers being lost in the yard. She will attack a feather for an hour or more, mostly at night though. The first time I was worried she had a critter and was quite scared to go found out what she was chasing. Now we all know it is only a feather.

The Blue Heron mostly stays on the other side of the lake, but on one of the rare occasions he came this way I was able to photograph him without scaring him off.

I am so thankful for slow mornings with my reading and my coffee on the back porch.

Our second tent camping experience was at Lake Wateree State Park. The kids and I actually set up camp before Tony could join us later that evening. After dinner, the moon came out and it was beautiful! The only thing that topped it was the sunrise the following morning. We packed up after breakfast and drove to a tiny little church for Mass and then onto Andrew Jackson State Park for the afternoon. That makes two more parks checked off the list of 47 to become "Ultimate Outsiders".

The nest in "The Treescapes"

Yesterday, we visited Congaree National Park. There is a 2.5 mile boardwalk trail through the swampy forest. Thankfully we had insect repellant. I hope to go back when we have more time to try and photograph some birds.

Heading into the forest

He was about 10 feet away from the boardwalk. Thankfully I have a nice lens so I did not have to get close.

Found this little guy (he was only an inch or so long) on the railing of the boardwalk, just chilling. I got up right in his face and he never flinched.

Seen on the way out of the park

After we returned home, I started preparing dinner. I put the potatoes in the oven to roast and began patting out burgers. All of a sudden I heard a loud pop, something shot out from the stovetop and that was the end of the range. I finished cooking dinner on the burner of our gas grill. Thankfully, I had already had practice cooking outdoors earlier in the week when we lost power for several hours thanks to the storms that blew through our area. I made coffee this morning out there too. Dinner tonight should be interesting.