Sunday, December 9, 2018

Busman's Holiday

I don't have as much to do as I did last year, so am spending most of my time blowing leaves..  The rest of my time involves managing the Aquarium - opening, closing, feeding, cleaning. I"m also gathering information on local butterflies and the host plants they need. And we are having an early wet winter.  It has been cold enough for long johns.

All these factors are keeping me from experiencing new adventures and leaving me with a lot of time to be bored. So I leaped at a chance to take part in a workday at Callaway Gardens, a private garden only fourteen miles away.  While there, I was recruited to come back at times of my choosing so have spent a few more days working there.  I started by helping to pick up fallen branches, then moved on to planting pansies and bulbs. I found I can take my bike and ride, or enjoy a walk while I'm there. I also found that the fee for the annual pass has jumped to seventy-nine dollars, a price out of my range.  But this way. I can volunteer for several hours and then enjoy the rest of the day there.


The Butterfly Center - were were planting in beds around it

Some of the pansies we planted - we added several kinds of bulbs behind them

A leftover bloom from a summer plant



Ornamental grasses add fall interest

The fall colors were still magnificant - until our last two storms

I was taking these pictures on the way to work

They have lots of huge American hollies
The log cabin - they have a vegetable/herb garden in front of it in raised beds 

I think these are collard greens

The garden is in raised beds, which, while not traditional, ARE the best way to grow vegetables

The next batch of pictures are from my second visit to  Callaway Gardens. I can get there two ways, so this time, I went through Roosevelt State Park on the top of Pine Mountain. I got a bit of sunrise on a mostly cloudy day. When I got there, I couldn't find anyone at the meeting place, so took a walk while waiting for the rest of the crew to arrive.


Sunrise

This was the site of today's planting - beds on either side of the walkway.

The trail just past the entrance

What a stunning place to sit and enjoy the view

I spent a lot of time watching a pileated woodpecker work this hole


The leaves were the stars here

These were backlight, making the glow

More fall color

Even the leaves underfoot were fascinating

More beauty

I came past the chapel and then found this vantage point for a great view of it

I thought this was a native plant - but can't find it in my Georgia Wildflower app

I found the skeleton of this weeping tree striking

There are lots of streams and lakes to enjoy


This is one of their Japanese maples in stunning bloom

Camellias are blooming but many are bedraggled from rain storms

On my third visit, I took a little time to visit the Butterfly Center. There were not a lot of butterflies out and it was way to hot to be wearing long Johns and a fleece shirt, so I didn't stay long. 








I'm still blowing leaves and should be blowing now, except it has been raining all day.  I'll have to work tomorrow to make it up, provided the rain stops in time.


Sunday, November 25, 2018

The Gopher Tortoise Project

The gopher tortoise is in decline throughout its range.  Especially in the western half of the range, it is subject to be listed as endangered. It is a keystone species of the longleaf pine forest with three hundred and sixty species dependent on the burrows it digs. So to lose this species would destroy the ecosystem. Georgia Department of Natural Resources is working with several other agencies, both to buy land suitable for gopher tortoise habitat, and to run a head start program to raise tortoises two years, to get them bigger than two year old wild tortoises and to have harder shells, which will  make them more able to survive predation.

One of those partners working to save the gopher tortoise is the Fish and Wildlife Service.  Warm Springs Fish Hatchery just received both one year old tortoises and tortoises that hatched this past September/October. Our job is to keep them warm and feed them a diet of tortoise food, minerals, and three kinds of greens - spring mix, collards, and turnip greens. The plan is to keep them so warm all winter that, they will eat instead of hibernating,  thus growing much faster than tortoises living in the wild.

We have to finely chop their greens up, then mix them with moistened tortoise food and the added minerals. We clean their water bowls and give them fresh water daily, plus we water the rye grass we have to keep planting in their bins. The rye grass is to help them learn to forage. We have to clean each food bowl before giving about a tablespoon of fresh food per each pair.  And once a week, they have to have a soaking bath in warm water.

We are currently jammed into a tiny room, while waiting for our new fish holding building to get finished. Then we will move the sturgeon project to the new fish building and will take over that building. It is at least four times bigger. Meanwhile, two of us have to learn to move together and learn how to contort ourselves past the lights to get into the corners, where we grow rye grass.


The view from the door. There is a sink  to my right
and the other side forms a U-shape with the rest.

There are two tortoises per bin. They each have their own burrow,
although sometimes they share one of the borrows. 
Food, water, and burrow make up a tortoise's needs

Yum!

This tortoise is very interested in what we are doing. It is waiting for its breakfast.

Another eager eater.  Many tortoises are not this eager. 

He is either getting a drink or just dirtying his water

Each tortoise came to us with a unique, three digit number on its carapace. Numbers are also
on a card attached to the bin, so we can sort them to the correct bins after their group bath. 



Bath time - they get to soak in warm water once a week 

These are hatchlings from this year

On a personal note, I actually ran out of blog material. I was chased from Colorado by a storm, that when it got to Texas, caused major flooding in eighteen counties. Every river in the Texas Hill Country was in flood. Then I had car problems over several days, and also had to help my friend, Natalie, get her house and yard ready to sell her house. Then I followed another storm to Louisiana and on over to Georgia. Most days have been cloudy and cold since I've been here. I have volunteered once at Calloway Gardens and will volunteer again on Monday.  So there just hasn't been time to do many blogs. I'm back where I lived last year, so you can catch up on my living arrangements, and a little about the hatchery here.



Sunday, October 28, 2018

Capitol Reef: My Favorite Hike



September 22, 2018

I wanted to do the Hickman Bridge Hike in the early morning after the trail was sunlit, but before it got too hot to want to be out on rocks in the sun.   I was slow to get out of camp, so it was about eight before I got going. 

The trail starts between the Freemont River, east of where I was camping, and a rock mountain. Almost immediately it switchbacks up a mountain with a view into a side canyon. Volcanic rock has been rounded into black balls by floods and tumble down the mountain from the black band of volcanic rock. The Civilian Conservation Corp built the trail  so it has a lot of steps, making it easier to climb..  After you get to the top, you soon have to climb down again before gradually climbing to the loop part of the trail.  You get to walk through the natural bridge before heading back. 

The trail gives long view from the loop past the bridge and  goes through sandy areas with lots of fairly close views of  of the formations. 

The trailhead for this hike is just past the petroglyphs and just after the Freemont River  crosses the road. 




View of the Freemont River at the trailhead




View as trail turns and climbs up and behind the parking lot

There are volcanic "balls" dotting the landscape  made by action of floods over millennium 

A sharp turn in the trail

This formation reminded me of a building

There was a lot of diversity in the views

The beautiful work of the CCC

I was interested to see the range of the cochineal beetle  - this scale insect lives on prickly pear and 
is used to make carmine dye

Could only find three fingers of this "hand"


The landscape ranges from close to further


This was a mini bridge about half way along the trail



More cliff detail


This area was very sandy


Struggle to survive

The next pictures are from the part of the trail that loops through the bridge


The trail turns right and goes through another canyon

I never got tired of looking closer at the formations

These people are going under the bridge

Here is a longer view of it

And a view from the far side looking back at the rock formations

Another visitor and I traded pictures

One last look back

The trail continued

I got longer and longer views as I looped  back to the straight part of the trail 

All this beauty happened in less than two miles on a trail described as moderate. If you like to hike longer, you can connect to the Rim Overlook and Bald Knob trails for a total of 9.5 miles and reportedly stupendous views looking down on the orchards. Those trails range from moderate to strenuous.


This is the last blog on the adventures I had over the last month as I migrated to Texas. I'm finally in Galveston for about a week.  Today I voted, took my bike to be fixed, and started to get my car legal for next year. I'll try to remember to take my camera on a paddle this week. Otherwise, it may be a while before I'm blogging again.