Last Leg

We lost our last White Leghorn yesterday. At just over three years old, she was our longest-lived chicken, and the last hen from the original flock. She never came back to roost at night, and was presumably a meal for a predator with babies to feed.
I looked up every synonym for sad, but couldn't find a word to explain the feeling I had when I opened an egg carton and saw her white eggs still in there.

Catbox stuffing, in better days.

Now I Am Four!

Hi Pals. Please visit Miley's sister, Maggie, who has been dealt a bad blow at 8 months old. We're also sending out a bazillion golden vibes to Phantom and Clive. It's my very belated 4th Birthday! And Happy 4-month Barkday to Avalon too! We had a little celebration recently, even though (ahem... cough, cough) my Vet pronounced my official day of birth as July 1st. So... Mom is embarrassingly late in putting together a little celebration... We had a grrreat time anyway though, as you will see. (Note from Mom: We promised a Splashdogs post, but there were no photographers there this year and I just couldn't snap any pix or take movies while working with Sam and Avalon - but both had a ball there and so did Shanti! We really wanted to do our Sammie birthday post today! Have included a couple of splash pix at the end of this post - from last year!) Now... back to the important things! The first thing we did was play out on the patio, which was fun enough, except Mom totally insulted me! I certainly had an answer for her! Watch this little movie!
Then we did some wrastling before dinner - I always win - like my fighting stance from the floor?

Then I got to go to McInnis Park for a pre-party kong fest - that was pawesome! Avalon's starting to return her mini-kongball too! Then we left to get supper; well... one of my fave parts of the day! Finally, the party got going! Here are a bunch of pix that will show you all about it!

And finally... that heavenly, yummy Yoghund - Avalon and I just lapped and lapped at our bowls - seemed like it disappeared in seconds. Did you see the flavors? Apple with Cheddar, and Papaya with Peanut Butter. Oh that was tasty all right!

And to cool off those of you who are sizzling in various parts of the globe, here's a couple of pictures of me jumping from last year! Have a great weekend and see ya at the Hop!

Big Bend Day 1 - Hike 2 - Ernst Tinaja Trail

Our 2nd Hike is 1 mile round trip but we must travel 4.5 miles down a primitiveback road 4WD only

the trail starts through a dried creek bed

then goes into the Canyon

There are fascinating layers of buff, yellow, gray and reddish-brown limestone and shale about 450 feet thick.





The Tinaja is spanish for Jug. The water level in the Tinaja fluctuates. Local faulting ha produced a spring at this spot. Deer, javelina and a mountain lion have been found drowned at this spot.





Can you find Gary in this picture?Holes have been created by the faulting



Again, another good hike comes to an end. Off to find the next adventure!

Meanwhile, we keep on Trek'n

More Later,

Melissa and Gary

Moving to Hunting Island State Park

Sunday, 9 DECEMBER
Hunting Island State Park — SOUTH CAROLINA
TEMPS: LO 57F / HI 75F (14C / 24C)

No unorthodox wake up calls today. I guess even the recruits get a breather on Sunday morning :-D

We were up around 6:00a, which might seem early to most of our readers. We’re used to getting up between 4:00-5:00a, so we consider this sleeping in ;-) Knowing that our move to Hunting Island State Park (HISP) was going to be short drive of 24 miles (38 km), we took it easy and didn’t get going until the official check out time of 11:00a. We set out under blue skies and plenty of sunshine, keeping fingers crossed that the weather would hold for the rest of the day so that we could enjoy a little beach-sitting in the afternoon.

An easy drive takes us from Parris Island MCRD to HISP.

On the way here, I decided to play around with the Microsoft Streets and Trips software we purchased before we got on the road. We bought the version that comes with an antenna and a thumb-drive GPS device that plugs into a USB port. What fun! With tracking turned on, I was able to watch the coach make its way to our new temporary home at HISP. Now I have my very own 17” GPS to double check what the Garmin trucker’s GPS tells Mui to do; and I can even monitor his speed ;-)

Very useful … and fun too!

We arrived at HISP shortly after noon (about two hours before the official check-in time). Seeing as how the campground is pretty empty this time of the year, no one blinked an eye at our early arrival. The volunteer at the gate simply checked us off the list on her clipboard and welcomed us to the park.

After unhooking the toad, we left the Phaeton in the holding area and drove over to our reserved site for another look-see. The roads at the park are fairly narrow and the grounds are heavily treed, so we wanted to figure out the best approach before taking the Phaeton to the site. Smart move on our part — but for a different reason.

During our recon trip to HISP on Friday, we had checked out the sites and made a list of the ones that looked good to us. We then made reservations for #110 on the 50A loop, because it had a great privacy factor. Well, it turns out that this site has a slight grade towards the rear that had gone unnoticed during our recon. If our levelers were functioning, it would not have been a problem. Since they aren’t, we decided to switch to one of the other sites on our list — #36 in the 30A loop. Luckily, we figured all of this out before we took the Phaeton to the first site, so the switch required just a simple conversation with the attendant at the camp store.

In the campground map above, the site marked with a thumbs down is #110; the site circled in red
(in the green loop) is #36. [map courtesy of the Hunting Island State Park website.]

The sites at this campground are water and electric only, and many of them are simply huge. Our site is $27/night + tax — and oh so worth it! The area on the driver’s side of #36 is non-camping space and we have palm trees on that side that provide a natural privacy screen. While our site is a back-in, the neighboring one on the passenger side is parallel to the road. Should someone come into that site, they would be facing us, but there is so much space between us that we don’t see that as an issue.

#36 is a grand site; we are looking forward to enjoying our stay here.

The one possible downside to this site is that the entrance road into the campground and the camp store are behind us. That could make the site unattractive during the busy season, but we don’t think it will be a problem for our 9-day stay this time around. The advantage to being near the camp store is that we have blazing fast wi-fi; and it’s free. From what we were told, the signal does not reach far, so the load on it is limited to a few campsites and the picnic tables placed next to the building for anyone who wants to bring their laptops there. Our mi-fi shows 3G service, but the trees create enough interference so as to make it unusable. That means we won’t have VOIP phone service, but we can stay in touch with family via email, so that’s not a real problem for us.

Our rooftop satellite could not lock on to a signal, but that is not unusual for such a highly treed area. We’re getting plenty of channels with the antenna, though, so we’re good to go. At some point, Mui will test his tripod satellite gear, but we had better things to do than to mess with that this afternoon.

Top left photo shows the empty space on the driver’s side; no camping there.
top right photo is a view of our site from the neighboring one (#34).

By the time we were settled in the site, which proved to be level enough that we didn’t need to resort to leveling blocks under the tires, it was past 1:00p. After taking time out for a quick bite to eat, we set up our screen shelter for maximum privacy. Then it was time to check out the beach.

Looking down the beach to the left; looking down the beach to the right.

The sun was mostly hidden behind clouds by the time we went out there around 3:00p, but that did not deter us from enjoying the mostly deserted beach. I think there were three people fishing, and a family of four at the far end; that was it. I took a book to read, but as usually happens, I was caught in a trance as the waves gently crashed ashore and the reading went by the wayside. That’s OK; the pelicans diving into the water a short distance from shore were plenty entertaining … when I was able to pull my gaze away from the waves.

This ring-billed gull is also mesmerized by the gentle waves.

Left: a ring-billed gull coming in for a landing adds interest to the pale rainbow in the distance.
Right: Mui tests the temperature of the Atlantic Ocean; too cold to swim today!

What a great way to wrap up our afternoon! So far, we’re loving HISP and look forward to exploring the beach and the trails in the upcoming days.

Smokies: A Teaser

Had a great day for our visit to the Cades Cove area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Alas, I took too many photos and didn’t have nearly enough time to cull through them for the blog after we returned home.  Actually, truth be told, I had plenty of time, but sitting in a comfy chair overlooking a mesmerizing river was less-than conducive to getting any work done :-)

So for now … just a teaser …

Just inside the Townsend Entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Tomato Garden Follies

At
the end of year 6 of the Transplantable Rose blog, what better way to start
year 7 than with tomatoes? We like peppers and tomatoes. We like growing them
and we like eating them. I even wrote lyrics about the end of Tomato season for
a music video called Farewell, Tomato.
After
Philo made our small vegetable plot in .. we tried different ways to support
& protect the plants.
For
a few years we just staked them
Our
next phase lasted a few years - a large, strong, painted wooden framework that
could support plants, bird netting & shade cloth. We hoped the net could
slow down attacks by squirrels & birds.
It’s
been fun trying new varieties every year, cramming in 9 or 10 tomato plants and
7 or 8 peppers, watering them by hand while knocking leaf-footed stink bugs
into soapy water every day, with the reward of some salad tomatoes and frying
peppers.
A
post on GardenWeb suggested tying net gift bags over the tomatoes to protect
them from the stinkbugs. I was too cheap to buy more than 2 – a good thing
since the squirrels chewed off the whole tomato stem & ran away with the
bags.
On
Tom Spencer’s radio program we heard him mention one gardener who painted
wooden balls red & hung them in the garden while the tomatoes were green.
The idea was that any critter attacking the fake tomatoes would be convinced
that hard, bad tomatoes grew in that garden. We tried it and saw no effect, but
at least they’re decorative!

Recent
years broke the weather rules and what worked before no longer held up. Last summer after every pepper plant in the
vegetable garden died, I found a few new plants at a local nursery, put them into containers and those
survived. The bird netting kept the birds from taking the tomatoes, but it
allowed them to poke their beaks through the spaces to puncture the tomatoes.
The
tomato frame filled the entire center of our little plot, making it difficult
to get in to weed, prune & tie the plants and even harder to reach the
stinkbugs. The stakes & frames gave the birds a good place to perch while
they attacked the fruit. But we gardeners had no place to perch - the seat made
from a slice of tree trunk had rotted.
So
we tweaked the vegetable plot, moving the compost enclosure and changing the
layout. A central path looks better and gives us better access. There are fewer
plants this year. Five pepper plants grow in containers and we’re getting a
small, steady supply. We bought only 5 tomato plants and we’re getting a few of
those each day, too.
The
tomato vines are sort of draped over wire cages to hold the fruit off the
ground but they’re not staked. In place of the garden netting I bought a few
yards of inexpensive nylon net to sort of pouf over the top, using recycled bricks to keep it from blowing away. With a tighter weave and no convenient
sticks for birdie feet to grasp, they have to work harder to punch holes in the
tomatoes.
They
can still do it… our Blue Jays boldly cling to the kitchen windows and tap on
the panes! The squirrels will chew through anything and possums and raccoons
lurk at night. We know we can’t beat any of them but we're trying to stay in the
game.
If
a stinkbug lands on the outside of the net it can’t fit through the small mesh.
If the little monster is already inside clinging to the net I use the net to
enfold & squish it.

A
central path now leads to the concrete bench, relocated from the Secret Garden
to the Vegetable Patch. Last June we turned two old compost bins upside down,
painted them, added handles and called them tomato guards. This June they cover
two tubs bought at some long ago garage sale, painted white. The tub on one
side of the path has a pepper plant and a ‘San Marzano’ tomato grows on the
opposite side. There’s something going on here but it doesn’t fit the usual
categories… it’s not Potager and it’s not Austintatious and it’s not Garden
Junk. Maybe it’s Transplanted Frugal Midwesterner?

Two
of the tomatoes were supposed to be our favorite ‘Black Krim’. At planting time
I noticed a ‘Better Boy’ tag down the side of the pot. And that one ‘Black
Krim’ has now turned to None. Look at these tomatoes! They all came from the
same mislabled plant – not ‘Black Krim’ but it might take a tomato-genealogist
to figure out what they are.


On the other hand, when that heirloom-lumpy
tomato at far right finally ripened, it weighed in at over 13 ounces. Folly it
may be, but what a delicious folly it was.

Tour Divide

We'll start with the few pictures I did take. Yea, I'm a littleembarrassed by the lack of pictures in general. To undertake such a massively epic and beautiful endeavor and not really document it, is kinda silly. Though any extra bits of effort kinda went out the window. Generalhygiene, picture taking and bikemaintenancekinda slowed to a crawl. Eating and riding took over as the primary functions. Its all still like foie gras in my brain and the regurgitation of brain film to decipherable thought is still taking place. That's 2 of the big 3. Stay riveted to your bar stools, church pews and inflatable furniture, I'll have a semi-legible report together soon.

Journey to Indian Valley Open Space...

Sammie here - I LOVE this place and wanted to bring Avalon to see it, cause I only get to go here after a big rain! There's a creek here that fills up then and I knew we'd have a pawesome time! The adventure began the moment we got out of the Sammie-mobile - a big, huge horse/doggeh clip-clopped by and it was suure interesting!

The moment we passed by the gate, Avalon found a stick and lay down in the creek to gnaw on it for a bit!
Then she got up all alert from her stickie reveries and checked out the scene!
I was watchin' closely, fur I had so much more to show her! She just loved that stickie!
A cool bridge! I showed her what was up the trail a bit and then we crossed back over it to Mom and Dad.
Then a ways up the road, we found a cool trail that wound up and up through a thick forest, where we ran and ran.
We finally got to a beautiful meadow, where we just had to take some time to have some pawesome zoomies!
Wild Zoomies! Bitey face zoomies!
Then, all of a sudden, we heard some sounds we knew we should investigate...
Sure enough... some cuzzies... maybe! We hung out with them for a while and had lots of fun in the creek!
The sun began to go down and we headed back for the car. What a bootiful day on Indian Valley Trail!
Thanks for all your wonderful comments about Ozzie! She continues to do wonderfully well and as mentioned in our last post, gets her stitches out Tuesday morning!