April Catch-Up!

Information About Mom:  Thank you for all the requests about my mothers surgery in December. Let me answer the inquiries before I go on. Her December surgery was successful and it stopped the progression of glaucoma in her right eye. If all stays as it is now, she will retain the partial vision she has in that eye and will NOT go blind. This was great news for her since her other eye is almost completely blind. We had a shorter but happy visit in March and our return is planned for next fall.

We had also visited friends Pat and Jean in March as well, and captured photos of these bird friends when we visited a special Veterans Memorial Park near their home.

White Ibis

Limpkin

Our next stop was a planned camping trip with Joan and Lucille in a state park/preserve near Gainesville.  It was fun to think about our visit to Paynes Prairie SP and seeing our friends after many months of missing them.

They had visited the area the year before and planned several hikes to places where we could observe the Prairie and see some of the unique wildlife of the area. From the side of the preserve where we camped, we walked to this observation tower and had our first glimpse of wild horses, white tails and part of the herd of American Bison laying in the tail grass of the prairie.  We also spotted several Whooping Cranes and two Roseate Spoonbills too far away for pictures.

                                     

We saw at least 20 animals on this particular day, but again from quite a distance for our little camera.

Joan is quite a naturalist and doesn't miss much along any path. Latona is always looking for new things as well so they make any hike quite an adventure. From another direction, on another day hike, we revisited the Prairie and had an amazing chance to see a lot more wildlife.

                                     

     

Boardwalk approach to large wet land area filled with alligators, herons and American Bitterns.

Wolf Spider and Lunch

Alligator hiding...

And moving toward the Great Blue.  These herons had a rookery in the area and we spotted three nests.

Common Gallinule

Immature Glossy Ibis that was feeding in this small pond with a Wood Stork.

                                    

Pied Grebe

Spiderwort

Two of the wild horses

The camping trip came to an end two quickly. Joan and Lucille were planning to head north and return early April to Maine, we planned to head west for a slower route back to New England through the Midwestern states.  After chasing dragonflies and damsel flies, avoiding bellowing alligators, and birdwatching all along the way with our friends we said goodbye and headed west.  We planned to camp on the Gulf Shores area of Mississippi at Buccaneer State Park for five days.

During this time, we were in contact with Latona's daughter and wondered if we should return home to support her as she continued to heal from her surgery in January.  We had flown home for several weeks after she returned home, but wondered each day after we left if we could be of more help to her. We talked with her on the phone on March 26 and decided we wanted to return to Maine right away.  So we headed north the next day.  It is great to have your home with you at all times so the first night we stayed in Fort Paynes, Alabama at the Walmart. 

We realized that we had friends along the route home that we would like to visit, so we called and sure enough they graciously said "Come On".  So the second night, we visited with Andre and Ruthie, and the following night we made it to Charlottesville, VA to stay with Cathryn and Patti.  From there, we had two convenient northbound stops - Pennsylvania with my brother, and then the final stop before Maine was with Carrie and family in New Hampshire. It worked so well to see our friends and family as we traveled north.  We enjoyed the Redbud in the south, but soon the trees looked like this in northern PA.

Always some fun things to find as you travel and at a rest stop, we met a lady walking her two dogs and her cat. She told us the cat thought it was a dog and in fact was the alpha of the group!

On April 3, we arrived in Clifton Maine and happily reunited with Katrina and Mike, and Torrey and her friend Cammi, and of course, Baby and Louie.

We shared a wonderful Easter dinner prepared by Mike and Katrina. We have also gone back and forth to Bangor since that is where Torrey goes to school.

Still big snow banks and a frozen Chemo Pond in background. Katrina is regaining her strength. She will go on the road with Mike as he drives long-distance truck loads.  This will give her extra time to rest and recover.

On a walk, we found the evidence of a Pileated Woodpeckers labours.

We have also seen Hairy Woodpeckers, Juncos, and Robins working any patches of bare ground they can find.  We really believe Spring is coming but right now it is all a matter of faith.

We hope to visit Phillip and his family as well before we start our spring trip.  Latona is taking me to the Warbler Festival near Toledo, Ohio for my birthday! What a Sweetie! But you all know that already!