Thanks for your patience!

It's been several days now since I last posted, and everything is fine. I'm still finding it difficult to fit everything into the day! I had planned on daily postings, but I do see that while we are working, there is still a time problem. I will my best however :-).

Saturday and Sunday we continued our new positions, Al going solo as a ranger now, and I am still working on getting the store ready to open. It will be officially open this coming Friday, but with limited hours until memorial Day weekend. In the meantime, I am still working on updating the inventory and getting supply orders ready to go in. I want to start with an accurate inventory count. Its kind of interesting, going through the orders from the last two years, seeing what sold (what we don't have any of in the store right now) and what apparently didn't sell, as there is plenty of inventory still on the shelves ;-). I'm definitely getting an education in candy though. My tastes are pretty old-fashioned; Hershey bars, peanut butter cups, M&M's. Do you know kids want stuff with names like Ooze Tubes, warheads, and Toxic Waste, of all things! I had a discussion with the activities director about what candy kids like, and he told me that if it was gross, disgusting, or turned their mouths blue, they want it! Well, all righty then :-).

I had some new visitors to the bird feeders as well on Sunday..only the one day, but I was thrilled to see them.

These are rose-breasted grosbeaks. We had one at our bird feeder at home on Long Island last yea, but again, it was only there the one day. They must be just migrating through.

We have been taking the dogs for a walk around the lake each morning, and have found a few spots where they can jump in and go for a swim. It's far away from the campground that we can let them off-leash, and throw tennis balls out into the lake for them to go fetch. It's good exercise for them, and gets some of their energy out ;-). I keep forgetting to grab my camera, though, and was so disappointed when we saw a pair of sandhill cranes on Monday. I wasn't sure that's what we saw, because their bodies were brownish rather than the gray I've seen in Florida, but they had the distinctive red forehead. When I looked it up, however, i found that here in Michigan, because of the high iron content in the water that they preen in, their feathers become stained brownish. Interesting. I hope to see them again, when I have my camera.

Monday was a day off for both of us, and we had a few things to get done. I needed blood work done, and sent back to my doctor so I can get my cholesterol meds renewed. I found a Quest Labs about ten miles from here, in the town of Fenton. There's a state park near there, Seven Lakes State Park, so we planned to go there after my appointment. A quick breakfast at Tim Horton's ( very nice place with excellent breakfast pastries wraps and donuts ) and we went to explore the park. It's very nice, seven lakes, several hiking trails, a nature trail, and a nice beach/picnic area.

The beach/picnic area on Big Seven Lake. There's a nice playground right at the beachfront for the kids, and dozens of picnic tables with BBQ grills at each on. There's also large shelters for group picnics that can be reserved in advance.

The boat launch area at Big Seven lake. It looks like a really nice lake for fishing and boating.

It's springtime, and the geese are raising their babies, We saw several families swimming around.

We drove back to the Dickinson shelter area, and picked up the beginning of the green loop hiking trail. This is the beginning of the trail, along Dickinson Lake. I found a really nice web site that lists many of the trails in the state parks, with detailed maps and descriptions. Very helpful!

The fishing pier at Dickinson Lake. This is an easy and short walk to get to, and is suppose to be popular with the kids for fishing. We did see several small pan fish swimming around.

Down at the Dickinson Lake boat launch I caught sight of this Baltimore Oriole flying around us. It was pretty far away, so this was as good a picture as I could capture.

Wildflowers blooming along the trail.

You can't keep the pups away from the water; as soon as they get near any stream, they immediately want to get in it!

Big Seven Lake from the other side, looking across at the beach area and boat launch, where we were earlier.

These white flowering trees are all starting to bloom right now, it looks really pretty.

Casey looking over Little Seven lake, waiting for the three of us to finish taking a break before finishing he hike.

The turtles were quite enjoying sunning themselves; I took this picture just before they all jumped off into the water because Casey came crashing down there :-)!

I saved this picture for last; isn't it creepy how the snake seems to be holographic??!! Luckily, we did not see any, or hear any rattling, while we were walking. This is an endangered species, the eastern massasauga rattlesnake. It is Michigan's only venomous snake, and this state park is one of it's habitats. Its supposedly a very timid snake, preferring to remain out of sight and moving away from any disturbance to it's location, and that's fine with me! The hiking trails in this park are nicely maintained, wide, cleared of debris, and the grassy areas mowed with wide paths allowing plenty of visibility while walking. Dogs are required to be on leash, and we also kept them quite close to us as well. So it was a nice walk :-).

Tuesday I needed to go back to the lab, as there had been a problem with the prescription, and until they received clarification from the doctor's office, I had elected to wait so as to have no problem with insurance. It wasn't as nice a day, and I had a ton of laundry to do, so we came back to the campground. I also had a meeting with my boss in the afternoon to go over the orders and inventory. We were also a bit tired, as there had been a truly wicked thunderstorm early Tuesday morning, lasting about 2 1/2 hours, that had started around 3am and Chelsea was NOT happy about it at all! So it was pretty much a hang around the campsite, dreary laundry afternoon.

Today, Wednesday, we took a field trip :-). It was a nice day, overcast but warm, and we had seen the Tulip Time Festival was taking place this week in Holland Michigan, about two hours from here. But that story will come tomorrow, after I have time to get the pictures sorted and filed and ready to post :-). So until then, have a great day tomorrow!

Back to Work

Wednesday and Thursday we were both back to work. I know there's many of you out there probably thinking that she's crazy for being happy to be working again, but it does feel good :-). We've never in our working lives have a month off, and we did have a good time exploring the few areas we were in, and visiting family and friends, I think it would have been even more enjoyable if the weather during the month of April had been a little bit better. But that is something we can't control, and just have to make the best of it, which I tried to do :-). When life gave us rain, it also gave us better waterfalls to look at, right?

As I told you earlier in the week, I will be managing the Park Store this summer. It's a bit more than I expected, as it's more of a basic goods store, and a small convenience food cafe. There's all your 7-11 type of foods ( hot dogs, frozen pizza, nachos, slushies ) and a scoopable ice cream parlor. Ice cream is the biggest selling product for the entire season, so I better get pretty good at scooping :-). Yesterday Vicky and I spent the afternoon cleaning the store, as it hasn't been used since last fall, and was a bit musty and cob-webby. They also have a ton of box-elder bugs here, and they seemed to be everywhere! I figured cleaning everything first was the place to start, and today I will start going through the boxed left-over inventory, sorting out and re-stocking the shelves. The store is not officially open this weekend, but David is giving me cash to keep in the till, and if anyone wants ice/firewood they can get it from me while I'm working in there. Otherwise, we officially open on the weekends next week, and everyday starting June 15. I have to figure out what needs to be ordered in for inventory, so if anyone has ideas on what they would like to see in a camp store, as a convenience, let me know :-). I told David my goal for the summer was to be a profitable store for him; he told me I have lofty goals :-).

Al also started his Rangering duties, and is liking it very much. Of course, its not too busy right now either :-). being a membership campground, there's a lot of regulations to be followed, and every campsite is checked at least three times a day by the ranger staff, making sure everything is in compliance ( mostly that they are registered in the log correctly) and if anyone has questions or needs help, the rangers are there. Rangers will also be at the Park Store upon closing so that I don't have to close up at night alone, and they transport the daily receipts to the office. They also assist with special functions on the weekends, checking guests at the gate and clearing them through to the convention center.

All in all, we both have a lot of things to learn and remember, but I think once the learning curve is over it won't be too bad. I just have to get the ordering under control, and it should be pretty evident once the store gets going how fast stuff needs to be restocked, and once Al gets the regulations book down pat, he'll be good to go as well.

We both work all weekend, and then we'll have the beginning of the week off. I hope the weather is better and lends itself to some exploring of the local parks. Until next time, I hope everyone has a wonderful Mother's Day on Sunday!

What is That??

As I awoke this morning, there was a strange, yellowish glow coming through the window. I dashed out and opened the shades, and there's an odd yellow ball in the sky...can it really be the sun???

It's also supposed to be a bit warmer. Yesterday's chill drizzle had me back in my hat and gloves! I didn't like it :-(.

Just some odds and ends today, as we haven't done too much except wait to get started working again...which is today! Monday we located a Home Depot 9 miles from here, in Brighton. Very nice area to go for shopping, if we can't find it here by us, we'll find it in Brighton! We bought our piece of plywood to make our deck, and then went across the street to PetSmart. They have dry food for both Chelsea and Casey there, so that's good, and we picked up a few cans of Purina ProChoice to try out. There's a weight-control series to try Chelsea on as well, although the extra walking she's getting should help take a few pounds off. There's also a Panera Bread in the shopping complex, making me very happy :-), and we picked up some soup for lunch and some Asiago Cheese bread to go with dinner for a few nights...yum!

The afternoon was devoted to building the deck. leveling it off took some work, but luckily Al thought ahead and bought a piece of 2x4 to cut up for shims. Guess I can't give him a hard time about bringing the saw now :-). Then we fastened the patio rug down on it, and we have a nice entryway! It's easier for Chelsea to get up the stairs now as well. The first step was pretty far off the ground. They also cut the grass here yesterday, so we moved our table and lounge chairs off to the side and now the grass is nice and short out front. Now I just have to clean out the fire ring, get some wood, and get some pots of flowers, and I'll be all set for the summer :-). Let it come, please!

We've had quite a few birds showing up at the feeders. This is a pair of goldfinches who have been regulars. I was also told that we get a lot of hummingbirds here in the summer, so I'm going to put out a hummingbird feeder for sure! I have to watch and make sure that the birds don't become too messy, though, if you know what I mean :-).

Lastly, we finally found out what's been driving the pups crazy around here. I thought it was chipmunks, but didn't get a really close look until Monday. There's holes in the ground all over the place, and the pups go nuts when we go for a walk, sticking their snouts into every one they come across. Of course, I keep telling them to be careful where they stick their noses, one day its going to get nipped, but they don't care :-). So anyway, as I was sitting at the table on Monday, I saw what I thought was a chipmunk, but it's very strange looking! Turns out that they are not chipmunks, they are thirteen-lined ground squirrels. I never heard of them before!

The thirteen-lined ground squirrel is from 4 1/2 to 6 1/2 inches long, with a tail that is 2 1/2 to 5 inches long. The body is light to dark brown, with 13 stripes down its back. The stripes alternate between solid white and ark with white dots. Thirteen-lined ground squirrels live in short grasslands and weedy areas. This squirrel needs to see over the top of the grass when it stands on its hind legs. Golf courses, cemeteries, parks, roadsides , and airport land are ideal because they are occasionally mowed. The squirrels dig burrows without a mound of soil at the entrance. They spread the soil around and pat it down with their feet and the top of their head. Breeding takes place once a year about mid-April and the babies are born about 28 days later. The babies come out of the burrows about a month after birth. That should be interesting when that happens!!

So I have a new species to add to my animal sightings list, No new birds yet, but I'm hoping. I took the time yesterday afternoon, since it was cold and wet out, to research the parks in the area for hiking and wildlife observation. There's about six state parks an 3 metro parks within a 30 minute drive of the campground, and most are centered around lake areas...did I mention there's alot of lakes in the area? So there's plenty of hiking and boating available within a short distance, which is good, given the price of fuel :-(.

At 10am today, I meet with David at the Park Store to start my training along with another girl Vicky. It'll be good to get my brain working again at something :-). Then at 1pm Al starts his rangering training. Another workamper couple arrived last night, and pulled in behind us, so we have backside neighbors now. They were here last year, and Cathy is rangering with Al, while Dave is working maintenance. The campground is starting to fill it's workamper sites, another one pulled in and set up in the block down the road from us, so we haven't met them yet. I'll let you know tomorrow how things went, and until then, have a great day!

PS: For everyone who has trouble posting comments, this blog entry has a good explanation...far better than I can do! take a look, it's about halfway through Rick's post. It should help you figure it out.
http://rickpaulettervjournal.blogspot.com/2011/05/blue-heron-and-options-for-comment-ids.html