Exploring

These are some pics from my new little honeyhole. One of the things I was most looking forward to about moving down here was having hundreds of thousands of acres and two new rivers to learn and explore. After living near Redlands WMA and the Oconee National Forest for so many years, I knew most every river bend, ridge, beaver pond, and pine thicket on the place. Well...here I don't, and learning new country is a blast. While known woods are a comfort, like an old friend, sometimes meeting new woods is pretty entertaining in its own right. It's really just getting to explore and run around wild-eyed like I did as a kid. Like I guess I never really quit doing. The only thing missing is a BB-gun, belt hatchet, and a little white dog named Sugar.

These are pics of the island I've been hunting. So far I haven't seen a soul, and really don't expect to. It's a river island....accessible only by boat, and maybe 300 acres in size. Though its fresh water, its still influenced by the tide which can make for an easy paddle if you time it right. Because I could find no name for the island on any map, I'm calling it Turtle Shell Island for a yellowbelly slider shell I found at the base of a big Tupelo. And also just because I can.

Paddling in.....

The view from the kayak

A water oak and palmetto flat. The majority of the island is wet and covered with Tupelo, Ogeechee lime, and cypress. However, a slight one or two foot increase in elevation completely changes the species assemblage and you get oaks, a few hickories, palmetto, and switch cane. Every critter in the area uses these areas heavily.

In search of deer and pigs

Several creek channels cut their way through...this is one near an area I frequently hunt. The wood ducks pile in here.....

This cypress is hollow and inhabited by some lucky critter, probably a coon. The inside base of the tree was worn down to bare dirt. The pictures don't help with scale, but that opening is over 4 feet tall!

I was slip-hunting along the ground one morning and eased up on these pigs. I stopped at 25 yards to keep from spooking them. I didn't want to kill one, because I had just taken a nice one a few days earlier and really wanted a deer. And also because dragging a pig out is, well...a drag. They kept feeding my way so I eased the phone out for a pic at 10 yards or so. Then another pic at 3 feet or so....then I forgot about pics. The porker was just about sniffing my boot when he finally decided I wasn't a tree. Pigs aren't known for graceful exits, and he was certainly not fluid in taking his leave. There were two cypress knees growing about a foot apart and about three feet tall. In his "haste" he ran between them and got stuck. So I'm standing there in shock while a 50 lb. wild hog is stuck between two roots 3 feet from my boot. The other hogs were a wee bit confused as well. Kilgo wrote that dragging a pig is good therapy. Watching them act the fool is pretty good, too. :-)

This ones a wee bit fuzzier. And closer.

Fever

Levi developed a case of pink eye while in Athens & thus, we've spent the last days battling this ailment (and the accompanying fever). Although I know fever is beneficial in aiding the body to fight infections, and that children can weather high temps much better than adults, I always seem to seek out 'fever literature' to reassure myself during times of illness (and our recent 104+ temps). Some of the facts:

• The elevation in body temperature makes it difficult for viruses and bacteria to grow.
• Fever stimulates the body to produce infection-fighting white blood cells.
• Many health care providers recommend using medication only to make the child more comfortable. How sick your child looks and acts is much more important than the level of the fever.
• A fever above 107 is considered harmful.
• The goal for using medications should not be to bring the temp down to normal ranges.
• The body has built in safeguards that prevent most fevers from getting dangerously high.
  

Why today rocks...

It is a lovely morning because:

• My child slept thru the night! we all got around 7 hours continuous sleep! (we are night weening and have had 16 nights of tantrums - we are still nursing during the day, and probably will for awhile...)
• The elections are over! = no more commercials/signs. Plus I think the results are fabulous!
• We are traveling back to Athens this weekend for the first time since moving in August. I get to visit Nicole & Carrie! Plus, I'll be back at the old house to empty our storage building (all the stuff I had to abandon at the end because we were out of room, this has been a nagging thought in the back of my mind for weeks).
• The ignition issue is being fixed on the Pathfinder - it's at the shop today!
• Angie will be back stateside on Saturday (after nearly 3 years in Tasmania)!
• Levi is making great progress in potty training - now consistently letting us know when he's gotta go.
• Thanksgiving is just around the corner, which means I get to go home to Wildwood!
  
• I'm finally settled into this new life on the coast, making an array of new friends, & feel happy again :)
  

Go Vote!!

We actually waited till the day of & were in & out in about 15 minutes. Our polling place is just a walk around the corner from our home - the rec center gym.

I really wanted Clinton for prez = universal health care is very important to me + how could staunchly feminist me not want a woman to lead this country?

The writer Andre Gide relates this experience of a trip he took into the Belgian Congo:

My party had been pushing ahead at a fast pace for a number of days, and one morning when we were ready to set out, our native bearers, who carried the food and equipment, were found sitting about without any preparations made for starting the day.
Upon being questioned, they said, quite simply, that they had been traveling so fast in these last days that they had gotten ahead of their souls and were going to stay quietly in camp for the day in order for their souls to catch up with them.
So they came to a complete stop.

Boo!

Happy Halloween!!

Pandora

Check out www.pandora.com

Joe turned me on to it - it's the result of 'The Music Genome Project' - you can create different 'stations' according to a song or band you like - in short, it's legal free music - I've been listening to the Be Good Tanyas station for days (Angie, you will love this one) - Pandora will randomly play music stylistically related to the song/band you pick - a great way to hear new music you'll like - I've found that I love Sean Hayes (listening to him now) - here's Pandora's write up:

"On January 6, 2000 a group of musicians and music-loving technologists came together with the idea of creating the most comprehensive analysis of music ever. Together we set out to capture the essence of music at the most fundamental level. We ended up assembling literally hundreds of musical attributes or "genes" into a very large Music Genome. Taken together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song - everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony. It's not about what a band looks like, or what genre they supposedly belong to, or about who buys their records - it's about what each individual song sounds like."

Mei Tai

I'm working on making my first mei tai (pronounced "May Tie") - it's a Chinese style child carrier that's super popular these days (and also $$$) - with some fabric I had on hand and $8 in purchased supplies, I'm attempting to copy a top end handmade model I've been eyeing... I'll put some finished pics up in a few days - I'm about 2/3rds finished, and happy with the results thus far (I'm super picky about perfect seams) - Levi's been peering over my shoulder all day (literally), trying to figure out what I'm up to (and also occasionally snatching a pin and making a run for it)...