Kendalyn's 9th Birthday Party

Kendalyn's birthday party was held at the YMCA which has a great game room for kids.  Kendalyn is trying out the Skee-Ball before her guests arrive.  The play area in the background was a popular place for them to gather and have fun.

Later as the others began to explore they figured out they could get high scores at Skee Ball if they stood beside the targets and tossed balls from there. 

Ping Pong is harder than it looks!  Rory, Laura's friend, is attempting instruction.

Below it looks like he has the girls' attention, though.

More Skee-Ball with Mom looking on.

Then there are the BFFs 4 ever!  Claire and Kendie have been friends since Kendie's first day at Tiny Treasures. Even though they attend different schools, they still get together and have "play dates" as often as possible. 

Mom forgot to bring fire for the candle, so Kendie is showing her disapproval. Oh well, she remembered everything else!

Kendie wanted a cupcake theme so Rory made cupcakes for the party, Kendalyn chose Cotton Candy, Strawberry Shortcake and her favorite Mint Chocolate for the icing flavors. YUM!

Kendalyn invited her whole class, she had a pretty good turn out. This was the Silly Face picture, Evan had the best silly face according to Kendalyn.

The climbing wall was a huge hit, the kids started asking to climb as soon as they walked in the door. Kayla made it to the top of the climbing wall at least 3 times. 

Up, up, up goes Kendalyn, ok so maybe not up, up, up, how about just up.

Creative camera shot makes it look like Kendie climbed up the wall much farther than she really did. She had fun trying though. Look at that concentration!  Below, back on terra firma!  Whew!

Population Explosion

The Canadian Goose population at Thousand Trails Hershey is exploding and seems to be in good shape for the future!  Here is our latest discovery, a new nest with 4 eggs and an attentive Mom on guard.  Alas a few days later the nest was broken up and the eggs were in the pond.  Whether predators or an angry goose were responsible is not known.

Above we see a family with two young ones and at left are two larger babies getting swimming lessons.

A slightly larger family of 4 goslings gets swimming and dining instruction on the campground pond.

Above are six babies heading to the pond for early training in being self sufficient geese.  While to the right we have the largest family we have noted consisting of 7 offspring.  One can only imagine the noise and droppings later in the year when flight training begins and land-based browsing is included!

Ahh!  Keeping warm by huddling together after a swim while Mom and Pop keep a close lookout.

Andersonville GA Civil War National Historic Site

The Andersonville prison, officially known as Camp Sumter, served as a Confederate Prisoner of War camp during the American Civil War. The site of the prison is now Andersonville National Historic Site in Andersonville Georgia.  This is the entrance to the Visitor Center and Museum which documents stories of prisoners of war from all wars.

The site was chosen, in part, by the fact that this stream passed through the property and was deemed adequate as a fresh water source for the camp designed to hold 10,000 prisoners.


However, The water supply from Stockade Creek became polluted when too many Union prisoners were housed by the Confederate authorities within the prison walls. Part of the creek was used as a sink and the men were forced to wash themselves in the creek.

Initially the enclosure was about 16.5 acres and enlarged in 1864 to 26.5 acres (keep in mind a football field is about an acre) and at its peak held about 35,000 prisoners.  In all nearly 13,000 died there as the direct result of crowding, malnutrition, and illness.
This image from the internet shows a birds-eye view of the double walled prison.  Trees were cut and installed 5 feet deep and 15 feet above ground in two rows forming the inner and outer walls.  The area between was known as the "dead zone" and any prisoner seen in there would be shot by sentries.


This monument to Providence Spring momorializes an event recorded by survivors.  During a storm a lightning strike near this spot opened an abundant spring which the prisoners were able to access to supplement the tainted water from Stockade Creek.

 A section of the double fence and entry gate has been recreated to show what the reality was.  Sentries were posted in the towers on either side of the entry.  The towers were known as "Pigeon Roosts".

A pass-through in the door had a heavy lock and hinges for security and afforded easy access to pass small items in or out without opening the entire gate.

Today a paved road encircles the original location of the prison.  If you look carefully you can see a series of white posts which demark the locations of the inner and outer fences.

Shelter for the prisoners was non-existent and they made their own from whatever materials they could find or had with them.  Called Shebangs, the minimal shelters were typically lean-tos, fashioned from tent material or ponchos.  Examples are recreated on the site where Cathy examines one.

Escape tunnels were attempted, though none succeeded.  The sites of the tunnels are marked, as this one with modern fences.  Others are denoted by concrete markers.

The dead from the prison were buried in trenches with the only record being kept by a young Union soldier, Dorrance Atwater, who was chosen by the camp commanding officer to do the record keeping.  Fearing the Confederates would never release the record, Atwater kept his own list which is the basis of identification of the 13,000 prisoners who died there.  Grave markers were installed after the prison closed in May 1865.  Clara Barton, founder of the Red Cross, with the help of Atwater, completed the installation of markers in July and August 1865. 


Today the cemetery contains nearly 20,000 interments. Administered by the National Park Service, Andersonville National Cemetery uses the same eligibility criteria as cemeteries administered by the National Cemetery Administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).  And, as with all Civil War sites there are State monuments erected to honor those who fought and died here.  This is the Pennsylvania monument honoring 1,849 dead at Andersonville.

The New Jersey Monument recognizes the sacrifices of its veterans.

Now, to something a little bit lighter and more enjoyable.  You know Georgia is the Peach State, right?  Well what is more peachy than Peach Cobbler?  How about Fried Peach Pie?  We had been told by our campground hostess to stop at Lane Packing Co. for lunch.  Located just outside of Ft. Valley, in the heart of Middle Georgia, Lane Southern Orchards has been growing peaches and pecans for more than 100 years. The farm now totals almost 5000 acres.  Our Peach Cobbler and Fried Peach Pie are shown shortly before they were devoured!

While Cathy was walking Dixie at one of our rest stops driving to Chattanooga, she found this four-leaf clover.  We hope it is a sign of coming good luck for us!

Dixie and Friends at Sumter Oaks

While we have stayed at the Escapees' Sumter Oaks RV Park in Bushnell many times over the years, this time when we returned from our sojourn to Orlando, we parked on the outer edge of the campground.  Directly in front of us was the newly installed (since we left in January) Dog Run.  It is an instant hit with the many dog owners staying here and it provided Dixie many opportunities to meet new playmates.  And she met them all, large and small, and generally got along well with most.  So this first group of pictures will be of some of the activity in the dog run.  Though it is hard to capture the frenetic energy of these animals in still photos, you will see them mostly at rest after a romp.

Mini Dachshunds, Fritz, the black and tan, and Dolly the brindle were lots of fun and about the same size as Dixie.  Here they are taking a breather.

If ever there were a case of puppy love it was evident between Dixie and Peanut!  Whenever, while on walks, we got near Peanut's site, she would start to pull that way, wimpering, hoping to see him.  And Peanut was the same way!  They really had connected.

When they played, they played roughly and Dixie loved his long furry ears.  I think they reminded her of the soft toys she likes to dismantle!

Dixie's ancestry is a mystery, but opinions have been rendered suggesting some combination of Dachshund, Welsh Corgie, maybe, and Jack Russell or rat terrier. Peanut is a mix of Lhasa Apso and Shih Tzu.  Happy, below is believed to be a mix of Golden Retriever and Standard Poodle.  He loves to play fetch and also to romp with the other dogs.  The day these were taken, Happy's master was enjoying some ice cream and Dixie was more interested in that than the playtime!  One would think we starve her.

Dixie is the champ hole digger and was glad for a place to dig where nobody would be angry with her.

Happy was happy to take a break!

Enough of Dogs for this time.  In my earlier travel posts I liked to share with you the "View From Here" with a picture of what we see out our front window as we are parked around the country.  Directly in front of our rig is a pasture, Florida style, with scattered Live Oak trees dripping with Spanish Moss, various scrub grasses and the occasional palm or cypress trees.  Nearly every evening the cattle wander through browsing.  We have seen wild turkeys, red-tailed hawks, a pileated woodpecker, bluebirds, house wrens, chickadees, the local family of sandhill cranes.  Last night the sky showed us the crescent moon, Venus and Saturn and after we went to bed an unknown number of Barred Owls serenaded with their familiar call, hoot, hoot, hoot, who cooks for you? 

Finally, I offer a view of the main drag through a little town, Floral City, FL.  Talk about your canopy trees!

    

Campground Art?

First some news, then I'll get to the pictures.


Cathy's tricycle, the brand new one, was stolen last Monday night about 9:15. We had moved from Orlando back to Bushnell on Sunday and were parked early in the afternoon.  After unpacking and getting something for supper, we were chillin' at home.  It was a pleasant evening so the windows were open and I heard some kids outside on the road talking.  It didn't concern me since it is Spring Break and there are youthful guests are not uncommon. But, about two minutes later I heard 2 or 3 sets of footsteps running away.  I immediately knew what had happened and opened the door to look where it had been parked, but no trike.  While I was calling the cops, Mom went out with Dixie and spotted one kid running down the highway.


A Deputy Sherrif came about 20 minutes later to get the story and he pretty much knew where the culprits likely lived.  There is a very low class neighborhood called Croom or Croom-a-Coochie just  a half mile or so south of the campground.  The cop told us many of the teens there have already been in and out of jail more than once.  I sensed he had low expectations of recovering the trike.  But he did say they would not have an easy time selling it - none of their neighbors would have money for such a luxury and if they offered it to another snowbird, they would be skeptical and question where it came from.


The officer explained to us that FL has a victim re-imbursement program in which money and profits from sales of recovered stolen goods is returned to compensate victims. It may take 3 months for a claim to work its way through the system though.   We reported the incident to our insurance company and a reimbursement check is already on the way to us.  In addition a new Trike is also on the way from Amazon and should be here this week.  So the matter will be resolved, but the experience was troubling! 


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Somebody in the Campground has been painting "faces" in scars on the trees around the park.  I admire the eye and imagination as well as the talent required to create these small folk art gems.  I hope you enjoy seeing them.  I will not attempt to describe them but choose to let your imagination run wild!

So much for the art.  Recently a storm system passed and left the sunset display below for us to enjoy. 

And the family of Sand Hill Cranes have reappeared after only a pair had been regular visitors.  I think the one in the center is the chick.

That's all until next time.