2023 May 26-27, Lawrenceburg, TN. and Decatur, AL. Adventures

Friday, May 26,  we rode Lawrenceburg to Goodwill, where we bought 2 pairs of Niki Shorts.

We rode to the Amish in Etheridge, where we bought a carton of fresh eggs, homemade butter, Homemade chocolate candy with peanuts, and a bag of peanuts. We bought a head of cabbage, some green onions, and two gallons of strawberries.

We stopped at Krogers for 8 cases of diet Mountain Dews, 4 cases of Sprite Zeroes, and a couple frozen pizzas.

We stopped at Long John Silvers for fish and shrimp, which we took home. 

Ate our dinner and put all the veggies in the refrigerator.

Then, I made 17 jars of strawberry Jam.

Strawberries

17 Jars of Strawberry Jam 

Saturday, May 27, we rode to Point Mallard to the Hot Air Balloon Festival. We didn't see any balloons but saw lots of tractors, food vendors, and vendors. It was cool this morning, and it rained a little, but it sure warmed up fast. We talked to a man from Cullman there enjoying the festival. The festival sure was spread out, so lots of walking. We missed the car show. 

The only hot Air Balloons we saw

Tractors 

We rode to Hartselle for lunch at O'Bryan's.

Where I ordered grilled black chicken with a baked sweet potato.

After lunch, we rode back to Decatur, where they were having a scavenger hunt for 10 very small turtles located along Second Avenue.

Hubby parked the car but stayed inside while I searched for the turtles.

I Met a group of six also doing the scavenger hunt and asked if I could join them.

Turtle 2 Loyd 

Scavenger hunt for 10 turtles

Our Group 

Our group had so much fun searching for the turtles and then taking turns getting our picture taken with the tiny turtles. 

We needed a few items from Rural King in Muscle Shoals, so we took Highway 20 to hwy 72 into Muscle Shoals.

Our first stop was to get a vanilla Ice cream in a cone at Jack's.

At Rural King, we bought cat food, bird seeds, Sure-Jell, a Top, and a hose nozzle.

We rode to the Rock Pile with lots of people there, so no birds.

We stopped at River Heritage Park, and the splash pad was running full blast. 

Splash Pad at the Marriott

Home at Last!

2019 May 15, Day Trip Decatur's Historic & Parks Gardens 💐 🌷

Hubby and I had a great day. I was not sure if we were going anywhere because by 10AM, it looked like rain, but we decided to go anyway. 
We rode to Decatur, stopping at Old Bank Park Garden took pictures of the garden.

Old Bank Street Park Garden 

Next, we rode to Frazier Park. (Never been to this park) I was surprised at how beautiful and serene. It had blooming Hydrangeas, and Magnolia trees were in bloom, as other shrubs, trees, and flowers along a running stream with a cross bridge. 

Frazier Park 

We rode over to Albany to Delano Rose Walk and the Children's Riverwild Playground, splash pad, and Garden. We had taken the grandkids to play in the park when they were small. The River Wild Garden Walkway was new to us. 

DragonFly 

River wild Park 

Toad Frog 

Swamp Rabbit 

Tortoise 

Delano Park Rose Garden

We loved the Frogs, Toads, Beavers, Fireflies, Turtles, butterflies, signs, and statues throughout the Garden. By the time we reached the Rose Garden, it had begun to sprinkle. A landscaper working in the garden, I said a little rain cannot hurt but he said I cannot get my work done in the rain. I kept on taking pictures, but the rain got harder. I looked around, and the gardener had disappeared, he had gone back to his truck to keep from getting wet. I started back to the car, and the rain began to come down hard, but I made it to the car before I got too wet. We rode to Huntsville to get the oil changed in our car by the time they finished, the sun had come out, so we rode back to Decatur so I could finish taking pictures.

Pink Rose 

Entrance Way lined with Snow Queen Hydrangeas

We were getting hungry, and we did not eat lunch because we had stopped at the Shell Gas Station, where they sell hot food, and bought some corn fritters. Hubby had been wanting some. We also stopped at McDonald's for hot apple pie.
We ended up eating at Jack's on hwy 31 because we could not decide where to stop in Decatur. But that was okay because we both liked Jack's

2019 May 8, 💐 🌷Visiting the Memphis Botanical Gardens Memphis, Tennessee

Hubby and I had a great time at the Memphis Botanical Gardens.
We did not see a lot of blooming plants, but we saw a lot of interesting plants and animals.
In the Japanese Garden, we walked across the half-moon bridge, where we saw turtles and goldfish swimming in Lake Biwa and  Canadian Geese strolling along the banks.

Half Moon Bridge in Japanese Gardens 

One of my favorite places was the Prehistoric Plant trail, where we saw a couple of stone dinosaurs in a sandpit where children could climb atop them.
Dotted along the path were signs about Primitive plants, Prehistoric Memphis, Stories in Stone, Flying giants, and Some things change, and some things stay the same.

Dinosaur in Sandpit 

In the Urban Garden, we saw the chicken coop that housed the Blue Buff Columbian Brahmas hens and a rooster.
Also in the Urban Garden were vegetables, blackberries on a trellis, grapevines, and Espalier Fruit Trees (the technique of controlling the growth of trees and shrubs.

Urban Garden

There were booths set up for school children to make things from the countries of  India, China, and Africa.
We saw a mother bird feeding her babies.

Mother birds and babies 

There were many fragrant plants to attract butterflies in the Butterfly Garden, with not a butterfly in sight.

Butterfly Garden 

There were orange and red azaleas, blooming Camelias, and purple hydrangeas.
The daffodils were sleeping, waiting for next spring.

Dogwood trees in full bloom, huge giant trees reaching for the sky, and small trees where birds could nest.

Bird hiding among leaves.

There were water fountains and air-conditioned restrooms throughout the Garden.
We stopped several times just to cool off, but hubby was still dripping wet when we arrived at the car.

2019 Feb 25-26, 🚌 Adventures at Reelfoot Lake, & Paris, Tennessee

After being cooped indoors for weeks because of the rainy weather, Hubby and I decided to take a trip.
The Tennessee and Mississippi Rivers overflowed into nearby fields, roadways, and people's homes, causing people as well as animals to look for higher ground.
You could see the flooding for miles in Alabama and Tennessee.

It was the last week to take the bus tour to see Eagles nesting at the nearby Levee along the Mississippi River, so I booked two tickets for the trip.
It takes over three hours to drive to Tiptonville from our home, so I booked a cabin along the Reelfoot Lake at Sportsman Resort for one night.
The south area cabins of Reelfoot were flooded, so we stayed in the north area cabins.

We arrived in Paris around 11:30AM, stopped at Dinkins Mobile Homes, and walked through several homes.
One of the mobile homes was a woman busy cleaning, so we began talking. I think she was a widow with three grown sons and several grandchildren. She told us a story about taking three of her grandchildren on a trip to Fort Myers to visit family.
She said,  the grandkids kept saying, are we there yet, I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown.
She showed us where all the electrical lights were along the walkway.
We asked her about things to do in Paris, and she said Paris Landing, Tennessee Wildlife Refuge, and the Eiffel Tower.

First, we stopped at Effiel Tower Park to take a few pictures and use the restroom at about 12:45PM.
At 1:15PM, we ate lunch at a local restaurant, Southside Cafe, where hubby and I both ordered a catfish plate, which consisted of a baked potato, white beans, fillet catfish, cornbread, and a salad.

Catfish plate 

We traveled US Highway 79 to Paris Landing Park and saw the Big Sandy River, a man fishing, and flooded roads. 2:20PM
We backtracked to Paris Landing Visitor Center, where we saw four barn owls, & two bald eagles in cages outside.

While we were at Paris Landing Visitor Center, two park rangers from Reelfoot Lake put a recused Bald Eagle into one of the cages outside because the eagle's cage at Reelfoot Lake was flooded.

Bald Eagle at Paris Landing Visitor Center

Inside the Visitor Center, we saw turtle shells, coyotes, big cats, raccoons, and information pamphlets.
2:30PM-3:08PM.

We arrived at Tennessee National Wildlife Refuge at 3:35PM, and they closed at 4:00PM, so we did not have long to visit.
We walked through the museum and walked outside but did not see any animals or birds.

The sunset we saw while traveling from Paris to Tiptonville

We arrived at Sportsman Lodge after 6 p.m.
We stayed in a one-room Fishman cabin that was just enough room for a small table, futon, countertop stove, microwave, bed(with bed springs), satellite TV, and bathroom. If you want to ruff it, this is the way to go.

The neighborhood dog slept on the front porch in a chair. I'm not sure what kind of guard dog he was, for I never heard him bark. He sure was friendly.

We did not get much sleep because we could feel every movement the other person made, and the bedsprings made this screeching sound.

You could walk outside our cabin just a few feet, and there was Reelfoot Lake.
The sunrise was beautiful, overlooking the lake.

Sunrise over Reelfoot Lake 

We ate breakfast at Sonic in Tiptonville. I ordered Texas toast with sausage and cheese, and hubby ordered a hamburger and corndog.

We rode to historic downtown Tiptonville, where we saw the schools, cemetery, churches, and several historic markers,

Carl Perking boyhood cabin 

We stopped to take pictures of Carl Perkins's boyhood home.
We rode to Reelfoot Lake State Park Visitor Center, where we saw a live barn owl, rattlesnakes, copper head, and birds.  There were several displays and activities for children, and outside was a flooded walkway and owl cages.

Cypress Boardwalk and Scenic Crusie all flooded 

Barn Owl at Reelfoot Lake State Park

At 10AM, about 20 people loaded onto a school bus.
Our guide was a Park Ranger named Jerry Lewis, but I am not sure of his last name.
He said we are traveling along the Mississippi River levee to see bald eagles.
The levee road was above the water, with floodwaters on both sides.

The bus stopped one time, and we saw a couple of bald eagles nesting.
Almost everyone got off the bus to stretch their legs and view the eagles.

When the tour ended, we started at home.
We stopped at Cracker Barrel in Dyersburg for lunch.
Hubby ordered a roast beef plate. I ordered a kid's pinto beans, carrots, cornbread, and an onion plate.
We split a bowl of hot peach cobbler with Vanilla Ice Cream.

Scarlet Macaw 

We stopped at the five-mile drive-thru Safari Park Zoo in Alamo. We bought a bucket of food to feed the animals. You have to be careful feeding the animals, so I only feed the small deer.

When we finished the drive-thru, we parked and walked through the petting zoo.
We stopped at McDonald's in Savannah, Tennessee. Hubby ordered a hamburger and fries. I ate peanut butter crackers and a banana.

Flooding on the Tennessee River at Savannah, TN 

We arrived home around 8PM, both worn out from all the traveling and the sleepless night before.

Nature interpretive Trial at Dauphin Island

Water for Life

Life on Earth is dependent on clean water. Water quality is defined as the stability of water for a particular use. A definition of good water is different for drinking water than for a lake. Because water is so important for life, we monitor different chemicals and physical and biological characteristics and work to ensure good water quality. 

Water, Water Everywhere

Water in the ground, called groundwater, is an important source of water on Earth. The ground is different in different places, and some ground materials hold water better than others. An aquifer is an area of ground that holds water well/. Water moves into the ground from rain, snow melt, or other sources. Then it sins until it gets to a layer it can’t move through. This layer might be clay or certain kinds of rock.

Water can fill aquifers, where deep water might remain for hundreds of years, and shallow water can flow to places where it reaches the surface, like ponds, lakes, and springs. 

There is much more freshwater in the ground than on Earth’s surface, and groundwater is drawn out using wells. 

Water Quality=Quality of Life

To evaluate a pond’s ability to support life, we might measure characteristics like the following: dissolved oxygen(DO)-because fish and most other aquatic animals breathe DO: PH-if pHis too far from neutral, either acidic or basic, organisms may be unable to survive; water temperature-warmer water holds less oxygen, so animals might avoid areas of high temperature. In this pond, at certain times, we might also check salinity (the salt concentration).

Freshwater has a salinity of  0 ppt (parts salt per thousand parts water). When Dauphin Island is hit by a hurricane, saltwater may wash over parts of the island and enter the pond or the groundwater. This can affect the island’s human population, who use groundwater in their homes, and also the animals that live in the pond.

These are just a few examples of water qualities that might affect those using the water. 

At Gaillard Lake, you can see where the water table becomes a like surface. When you look at the lake, can you tell oxygen, pH, temperature, or salinity levels? Does the water look dirty?

You may not be able to determine levels by looking, but if you pay attention, you might notice hints bout a lake's water quality. Can you find a diversity of fish, turtles, alligators, frogs, or insects in the water? Are birds feeding from the lake? These signs suggest good water quality, but they are not definitive-sometimes animals are forced to use poor-quality lakes. Water cooler is not a definite marker either - this lake is often a brown color, like tea. This is natural. It is from tannins that leach out of soaking leaves or pine needles.

Aquatic invertebrates are used to assess water quality. Some, like those seen above  (larvae of left to right: caddisfly, stonefly, and mayfly), have a low tolerance for pollution. If they are found in a sample, the water quality is likely good. Others, like the pouch snail and mosquito larva at left, have a high tolerance for pollution. If a sample has mostly animals like these and very few of those from the first group, water quality is likely poor. 

In the U. S., for water intended for human use, there are established standards for acceptable levels of dissolved or suspended matter, like bacteria, heavy metals, and others that are potentially harmful. Our municipal water usually follows a path such as this one: water is withdrawn from a natural source, filtered and sterilized, piped into our homes; flushed down our drains; filtered, treated, and the solid waster is taken to one disposal site, while the water is released back to a natural location. Water used in homes on Dauphin Island is groundwater from the island (it is not piped in). Processed water is stored in the water tower seen at right. 

Nature Interpretive Trial at Dauphin Island

Nature Interpretive Trail 

Audubon Bird Sanctuary Trail

These yellow sections of the trail to the Gulf and around the lake include several signs to help the visitors better understand and appreciate the unique environment of the Audubon Bird Sanctuary.

Mike Henderson Project Supervisor. Additional identification by Ralph Havard, McCune Dudley, and John Porter 

Signs construction/installation-Greg Vesely, Candy Ladnier, Anthony Young

Please Help Protect your park

The Dauphin Island Park & Beach and Alabama State Lands 

Department of Conversation and Natural Resources

Funding for this project in part by the Coastal Zone Management Act 1972

As amended, administered by the Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

Foreign Invasion 

Organisms that arrive in an ecosystem where they did not evolve are called exotic, non-native, or alien. Of those, the ones that harm their new ecosystem are invasive. There are several species on Dauphin Island. A few of them are highlighted below. 

Infiltration 

Plants, animals, and other organisms are moved from their native lands in different ways. These pathways of introduction often involve humans who accidentally or intentionally move them.

A few examples include the release of exotic pets, escape from aquaculture operations, spread from garden plantings, transport in ships ballast water, and transport of fruits and vegetables. As humans move more people and goods around the world, there is more potential for moving organisms into places where they cause harm. 

Setting in: Once they are in a new place, some organisms settle in more successfully than others. Certain factors allow an introduced species to become invasive:

They are adaptable-they can survive in a range of climates, habitats, and soil types; they eat a wide variety.

They reproduce quickly and have lots of offspring. 

They spread out to new areas

Few animals will eat them in the new habitat. 

They competed aggressively for resources. 

How does this affect us?

Biodiversity is the variety of life. It can be defined at different levels, from diversity within a species to that in a particular forest to that of the entire Earth. The higher the biodiversity for a given area, the healthier the species or ecosystem because it is more resilient to disease or disturbance, such as fire or flood. 

Humans need healthy ecosystems for many reasons. We are healthier with a diversity of organisms for food and medicine. Functioning ecosystems provide important services such as water filtration, oxygen production, and nursery habitat. 

Invasive species threaten biodiversity either by directly killing native species or by taking resources from them so they die or stop breeding. 

Reptiles and Amphibians of the Dauphin Island Bird Sanctuary

Reptiles and Amphibians of Dauphin Island Bird Sanctuary

Galliard Lake and Tupelo Swamp

Cottonmouth 

2-4 feet

AKA water moccasin. This poisonous aquatic snake is thick-bodied and will gape to show its white mouth lining when threatened.

Common Snapping Turtle

6-15 inches. 

Often confused with the less-common alligator snapping turtle, these turtles are not aggressive unless removed from the water.

American alligator

4-8 feet 

Individuals of this large shy aquatic species periodically “raft” to the island from the rivers north of Mobile.

Florida Smooth Softshell 

6-15 inches

With its flat, leathery shell, this turtle is easy to dust from others. Its death includes crawfish, insects, fish, and frogs. 

Central Newt

2-4 inches

This reclusive salamander prefers quiet pools without fish. The left, a terrestrial intermediate stage, can be found under rotting wood. 

Pig Frog

2-6 inches

This large frog inhabits permanent bodies of water surrounded by vegetation. 

Their mating call is a distinct, loud, and resonant grunt.

Lists sixes are typical of Dauphin Island representatives

The project was led by Brian Jones, funded by Mobile Bay NEP, and made possible by Dauphin Island Park and Beach Board.

All photographs by Brian Young (“except the alligator photo by Boon Harada) 

Nature Interpretive Trial at Dauphin Island 

Nature Interpretive Trial at Dauphin Island 

Nature Interpretive Trial at Dauphin Island