Reed Bingham State Park

 I'm linking this post to Friday Fences.  Two fence pictures... over the river and through the woods :-)  I am also linking to Skywatch Friday.  Please visit this two sites and enjoy wonderful photos.

Last month we went to Reed Bingham State Park which is near Adel Georgia and not far from Valdosta where our son and his family live.

The Little River runs by part of the walking trail.  We took our fishing gear down to a pier and played with the tiny fish for a bit.  Bait snatchers is what they were.

All the photos should open in a new window in Flickr.

Reed Bingham State Park strives to preserve the wildlife that lives within its boundaries.  This is a nesting box, I think for ducks.   There are also turkey vultures that nest along the river and a pair of eagles.  I have not seen the eagles yet. 

It was quiet and peaceful here.  I just wanted to cloud watch.

 With Halloween looming  the moss looked spooky, but beautiful.

 It was beautiful along the boardwalk too.  

There were many orchard spider webs amongst the rails.

But unfortunately the webs do not show in the photos.

 Fungi was abundant.
I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not.  

It is pretty though.

 These leaves were lying on the rail... just looking pretty to me.

The park grows long-leaf pine trees too.  

At one time they were abundant in Georgia.  

They were severely harvested and almost totally lost for all time. 

 

 Here is a planted stand about halfway 

between the walking trails and the campground.  

It took the trees many years to get this tall.

 

This fungi was in the campground area.  

I have never seen any quite like this before.  

 

I can almost see a face within it :-)  

Where the blue blob is in the photo on the right 

just above my name is where our campsite was.

Pleasant Weather and Partridge-Pea Plant

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The past couple of days our weather has been a bit cooler... this morning we tied a record low of 62°. The high was around 90° and the humidity was almost non-existent. We did not turn on the air conditioner until we got back from my physical therapy session in the late afternoon. So it was a pleasant weather day.

It was a joy to open the windows and hear the birds chirping and singing. It was even a pleasure to hear the cicadas.

I am told I am doing well with my physical therapy. I asked Chris if the surgery could be causing these awful headaches I'm having (awful enough for the computer screen to become a blur and make me nauseous). So I haven't made my rounds to all the blogs I read.

Chris said only if I was holding my arm close in... in protective mode... would I get headaches. Unless I'm doing it in my sleep I'm not doing the "protective mode" thingy.

I think it is my neck problems acting up. I'll talk with my orthopaedist on Friday and my family doctor on Monday. Chris did do a few stretches with my neck.. so far no help, but maybe it will be better tomorrow.

Yesterday morning was pleasant too. I took a mile walk while Frank mopped the floors. I had not taken this walk in a few months. Of late I get to the cut-off path and decide I'm just too tired for the last leg of the walk. I did almost do the same thing yesterday.

While on my walk I came upon some Partridge-Peas. They are also known as Showy Partridge Pea. I did not carry a camera... but I checked my archives :-)

The leaves are fern-like and they have a pretty yellow flower that measures about an inch across. In our area it blooms from June on into November.

Partridge-Pea seeds are a valuable food for bobwhite quail in the Southeastern USA. Here in SW Georgia bobwhite quail are raised on some plantations and are hunted by big names such as former Vice President Dick Cheney (he did not shoot anyone while hunting here), Bobby Cox (manager of the Atlanta Braves) and many sports figures, movie stars and businessmen.

The bobwhite quail is gaining presence in the real wild. I often hear them at my parent's old homestead. One time I actually saw a pair. I did not get great photos of them. They are fast birds even when they are not flying!

Seeds of the Partridge-Pea are also eaten by the greater and lesser prairie-chicken, ring-necked pheasant, mallard, brown thrasher, cotton rat, and field mouse.

Rabbit and deer like the foliage.

Partridge-Pea flowers attract bees, butterflies, flies,and many other insects. It is host plant to the Little Yellow, Sleepy Orange, and Cloudless Sulphur butterfly species.

Little Yellow

Cloudless Sulphur

In Georgia and Florida the Partridge-Pea is considered an important honey plant, often occurring where few other honey plants are found. It produces nectar only when growing in heavy red clay soil. Nectar is not gathered from the flower. A reddish-brown nectary (honey gland) is present near the base of each compound leaf.

Not a honey bee... I don't think, but a bee :-)

Thank y'all so much for your kind comments. I appreciate them so very much. I hope to have something for the shoot out on Friday.

Puzzles - Walking - Pictures - Phbtt!

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Puzzles -

One of my things to do to relax are puzzles. It can be the Sunday Crossword which I usually need the assistance of the dictionary. When the dictionary is of no help then I use One Across Crossword Help. Sometimes I just use the Google search engine.

I also like the variety puzzle books. My favorites are the cryptograms, alphabet soup, quote falls and anagram squares. I like words :-) The diagramless crosswords are okay too... and a couple of others that I can't remember the name of. I'm not fond of number puzzles or logic problems.

Every morning I go to AARP Magazine and do the jigsaw puzzle . There are games at AARP.org too. There I like Spellbound, Mahjongg Toy Chest and Metro Match. They have jigsaw puzzles there too, but I prefer the one at the magazine. The site also has card games and arcade games.

Walking - Pictures

I love to walk, but don't do enough of it. I love to look at the trees, the insects, the birds... everything that God made. I like to combine my walks with my love of the camera. The camera magnifies the flora and fauna and I can see beauty that I had never experienced before.... awe moments :-)

I was going to try and get some bee pictures today, but it is windy and the flowers are swaying too much.

Here is a Carpenter Bee picture from last year... click on it for a larger view. Did you know that they had beaks :-)



Phbbt! -



The past few months I have tried not to worry about things.... nothing I can do to prevent them, just when something happens cope with it. I know worry and stress don't cause ulcers, but they can aggravate them. My stomach has been acting up off and on since before my back surgery in November... just a gnawing irritated feeling. Now it is hurting in the pit of my stomach. A sip of water during the night can flare the pain. It may be just gastritis and not an ulcer... I'm hoping so. I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday... originally to talk about my shoulder pain again, but I think my stomach is more important.

.... such a bad child I am for sticking my tongue out :-p .... I need to do a few more puzzles :-)

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I will catch up on reading your blogs soon. It will be a bit at a time... but I'll get there.

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Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must. -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Doctor -- Walking -- Other Stuff

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Doctor --

Yesterday was my visit with the surgeon who did my back surgery. First thing was wait for a few minutes in the waiting room. Then a few more minutes in an exam room before being taken to get x-rays. Then back to the exam room to wait more minutes to see the doctor. The doctor said everything looked good on the x-rays. I saw the x-rays and the screws in my back look at least eight inches long! Looking at them I'm thinking: those things are really in me... I hope they never come loose... no wonder I hurt so bad. The pain is gradually getting less and less.

I'm still restricted on things I can do. I can do more but avoid things such as these....

This lady's fun is restricted :-( I know... you think I've never ever done any of those things. I've done them all but the bowling... I don't think I could bowl the way the girl in the picture is doing : The closest I've come to bowling is at the AARP GAME site playing Disco Bowling. I'm a lousy Disco bowler... my high score -- 158.

I used to be very athletic. I played volley ball and soft ball.... on up into my late 30s. That is when I started to fall apart :-) My back problem started when was I was about 10 years old, so I was fortunate that it didn't get worse until I was in my late 30s.

Hopefully I will be at least up to walking a 3 mile mile hike when I'm healed from this surgery. I go back to the surgeon in six weeks.

Walking --

My walking is improving and my gait is almost back to normal. Frank is so glad of that... he says it is hard to walk with me when I'm a slow-poke. He used to say he had to jog to keep up with my walk. Maybe I'll get back to there. Right now it takes me about 25 minutes to walk the mile walk. I used to walk it in 15 minutes.

Today I walked alone. Frank was off with his Dad... his Dad just wanted someone to ride with him. My walk was good and I tried my best to shave off minutes from the walk... 23 minutes, so I didn't shave much off.

After my walk I had coffee and the last piece of carrot cake. Should I have eaten the cake before I walked... mmm.. maybe I could have cut another minute off the walk with a bit of sugar in my system :-)

I've tried to redo my blog background. I came across Dawn's Quilting Clip Art . Take a look and you will see the most beautiful quilt clip art blocks. The bird above is the Bluejay pattern and this one is called Music Maker.

She has so many quilt square clips that you will want to download them all and find a project to use them in. When you are through looking at the quilt clip art visit her quilt page. Dawn is a very talented quilter.

I have made quilted hangings, pillows and tie quilts. I never got into the piece quilting. I do admire those that do this fabulous art.

Frank has been going through the file cabinet. That chore has not been done since before we moved into this house in 1991. The file cabinet holds papers that go with tools and household furnishings among other things. Some of the tools, air conditioners, stereo equipment , and furniture have long been gone and no need to keep the paper work.

Movement is a medicine for creating change in a person's physical, emotional, and mental states. -- Carol Welch