Our Last Week in Florida

Last Saturday the other volunteer couple, Bob and Pam, left for the season. The station had a nice pizza lunch for all of us on Thursday in appreciation of our help. They were great neighbors and I really enjoyed working with Bob. We hated to see them leave but hope to see them again someday.

I got a few pictures or us on Easter Sunday when we got home from Mass.

One of our favorite things to do here was to just drive around the station and enjoy the peacefulness.
Janice liked finding gopher tortoises and making them pose for the camera

One of the scenic lakes here on the property. We spotted a couple of alligators in this one.

There are a lot of flowers blooming around town here also. I'm not sure what these are but I liked them.

These bushes have an interesting flower like a bottle brush.

I found this bright copper colored bug on the back of my neck the other day.

Yesterday was my last day of work here. One of my tasks was to drive a Polaris Ranger fire unit out to where they were cleaning up after a prescribed burn and bring back a four wheeler to the maintenance shed. Tough job out riding the trails in this nice weather!

We had a great winter here, working with great people outdoors in a beautiful area. We hate to leave and will miss it but we hope to return someday. On Tuesday we stopped in to say goodbye to this couple. Truman took care of the property that the station is on plus another fifteen thousand acres that all belonged to Mr. Swisher before it became the research station. I first met him the when we were here three years ago when he was still working part time for the station. We would always stop to visit when we ran into each other. I treasured these visits as I always learned something. He gave me the opportunity to come down here in November and stay on some of his property near the station and work on removing trees with a backhoe while we were there. I truly enjoyed the work, but more importantly I was able to resume my visits with him each day. We were invited into their family for Thanksgiving day, a day of thanks to God, and family and food. I look forward to returning to see them again.

We left this morning and are headed north. Stopped for the night in the Albany RV Park in Albany, GA.