Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia. How you doing this 6th week of 2024? It's 51 degrees out this Saturday morning with a 60 percent chance of rain this evening about suppertime. We went on a good camping trip this week. We watched several beautiful sunrises & several beautiful sunsets. We saw lots of wildlife especially armadillos. Kevin enjoys being the camp cook therefore that makes my enjoyment of camping a lot greater. We camped in an area where cotton grows & spanish moss thrives. There were lots of pine trees that produce huge pinecones. We saw several things we'd not ever seen before while out exploring. Kevin did a little squirrel hunting, we both did some fishing. We didn't get any meat for the frying pan as we had hoped & kinda planned for. The fish had size limits that we didn't reach. We gave it several good attempts at catching a trophy size largemouth bass over 24 inches. The squirrels stayed hid while hunting but we saw several while out riding around site seeing. Today I'm working on putting away the camping stuff, but 1st, grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll tell you about a few more of the things we did & saw while out camping, walk with me. 

We set up camp in the designated campground overlooking the lake. The camp
area was dispersed, if you need it you had to bring it. We brought wood along to
have a campfire or 2. We were too busy & ended up never even building up a fire
in the firepit, the little pile of rocks you see there.  It rained the 1st day, so the 
awning we added came in handy.

There were firebreaks all
over the place that made good
 walking trails.

 

We were surprised to discover that
there were flowers in bloom. I 
asked Siri & this is sweet smelling
Carolina Jessamine. It's vine stays
leafed out green all year long. These
pretty little yellow flowers were
everywhere out in the woods.

This is a place where paper comes from. It was interesting to see these 
longleaf pine trees in their different stages of growth.

The biggest bed of palmettos
we saw while out walking.

 

Kevin spied this lion's mane
mushroom. According to Siri,
it's edible. 

This sign was posted at all
the boat ramps & fishing docks.
We sited 5 gators sunning &
swimming out in the water while
fishing. We watched the gators
through binoculars & wasn't ever
close enough to get a picture, thank
goodness. Siri said gators
are not aggressive unless provoked.

  

Spanish moss hanging
in the trees. According to
Siri, the moss lives
off the air for it's food &
moisture not the trees.

This memorial was marked on the map, but it wasn't pinpointed to it's exact location. We wondered what it was all about. We came across the memorial one day while walking one of the firebreak trails. We saw several woodpeckers in the area during our visit & assumed they were the red-cockaded woodpeckers that this memorial tells about providing the habitat management for.

I spied this upside down carrot.
According to Siri, its 
called stinkhorn mushroom.
It's hollow on the inside.

  

I spied this different shape of 
stinkhorn mushroom. I didn't
attempt to smell these to see if
they stunk. I usually don't go around
smelling mushrooms anyways. I'm
always afraid I'll ingest some of
their poisonous spores if they were to
 have any.

Rose soaking up some sun
during a picnic.

 

Exploring the cypress knees.
According to Siri, the knee's 
purpose is to perhaps help the roots
get air due to their swampy habitat &
might help with erosion among
several other possible things. Seems it's 
really unknown what the knees purpose
really is for. 

Mickey & Mini hanging out
at camp in a tree that has
ferns going on it.

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how has your week been?