2 WEEKS LEFT HERE!

                         LENNY AND THE BROWNHILL CRANE TALKING TO EACH OTHER

                                   BROWN HILL CRANE OUTSIDE MY WINDOW

                                      CRAIG SPRAYING AROUND TREE FROG CAMP

                                     CRAIG BY A TRAP WE PUT TO PUT TOGETHER

                                        WORKING WITH VOLUNTEER JOE

                                             CRAIG CHECKING OUT A HUGE SPIDE


We leave here on the 28th of Feb. and are truly going to miss this place, best gig we ever had, but it is time to move on and let the new volunteers start but we will be back next year for sure, already booked for Oct. 1st, 2013.  When we leave here we will be headed for Hammock State Park for 5 days and then to Lake Kissimee State Park for 3 days and then on to Homosassa Springs to our friends Annette and Barry's place until we start heading back to Michigan the first week of April, plan on stopping by and seeing our friends and former volunteers from here Brooks and Frieda at Swannee River State Campground. We have to be back to start our new gig May 1st at Sleeper State Park in Caseville Michigan, but mostly want to be back by April 11th for my son's birthday, my Grandson's birthday April 14th and my Granddaughter's birthday on April 14th..as you can see April is a busy month for birthday's! I can't wait to see everyone and hoping they can spend some time with us in Caseville and Port Austin, I also plan on spending more time at their places this summer and taking the grandkids for a few days with us while doing our gigs.  We have scheduled a couple of our summer gigs to make it easier for them to see us without driving a couple of hours. We will be in Caseville from May 1st to June 1st, which is about 45 min. from the kids and grandkids and a favorite place for them to hang out, plus my step-children are from this area and hoping to see them again, then we head up to Tawas Point State Park June 1st to July first, now this is at least an hour and a half for them to travel but our friends Annette and Barry have a huge cabin up there and I plan on having the kids and grandkids come and stay with us there and at the campground for a few days, then we are back to the thumb area at Port Crescent State Park, which is just down the road from Sleeper and not that far for them to travel and will be there the whole month of July, now we didn't plan on hosting anymore after Port Crescent but North Higgins Lake called and they want us back, it is a couple hour drive for the family but we love this place and realized that we have to stay someplace before we head back to Florida and with the cost of a campground site being $24-$28 a night we really can't afford that, we wanted to travel further up north and stay at a few campgrounds up there and see the Lake of the Clouds and the Sand dunes, but we figure we will take the car and take a couple days off while at Higgins and head up there for a mini vacation, also want go to Mackinaw Island again!  I also want to spend some time with my best bud Peggy, we may go on a couple of overnight stays to Mackinaw City, got lots of plans for this spring and summer.  It will be filled with quality and quantity but most of all memories. We still have our house rented out and can't really go there, planned on taking it back but got a good renter in there now and can't really afford to live this life and pay the cost of maintaining a home too without renting it out.  I have the hardest time during the holidays, I miss the family soo much at that time, so I plan on flying home for Christmas this year to be with them, after that I am fine, hate missing a couple birthdays but some things can't be avoided and I know they understand!
                                          Been weeding out a lot of clothes and unsellable ebay items! Gotta make more room once we hit the road again, I have clothes that I haven't worn since we left almost 2 years ago and plus waaaaay to many pairs of shoes, plus ebay items that I have relisted and relisted and am acturally losing money on them now, so took 3 bags to the thrift store yesterday! Been slowly taking wind chimes & twinkle lights down, rugs, coolers, grills, etc. and packing them away, been washing windows and plan on giving the old motorhome a bath before we leave, it has been sitting here for 4 months and is pretty dirty, Craig also plans on changing the oil too!
                                                       Time to move on, getting the old hitch-inch feeling again, time to hit the road! We want to take our time heading for Michigan, we had to rush down here last Oct. so want to take our time heading back, hope to see our nephew Brian in Alabama as we pass thru and also when we leave here next year we are going to Virginia to spend a week or so at my daughter Susan and son-in-law Russ home in Virginia...
                                                            Enjoy the day! God Bless!

I KNOW I KNOW IT'S BEEN AWHILE!!

                                          PINE CAMP..One of the rustic campsites

                                                   EAGLE!

                                                  A FULL MOON

                                                       CRAIG WORKING

                                                   CRAIG'S NEW SAFARI HAT

                                                   GOPHER TURTLE

                                                      OUR FIREPIT

                                                                HOME

                                                                 TREE FROG

                                                                   PRETTY FLOWERS

                                                    VULTURES FLARING

                                           NORMAL MORNING SITE

                       OUR RIG..SUNSHINE IS SO BRIGHT YOU CAN'T SEE OUR DOLPHINS

                                                     CRAIG AND MR.TURTLE

 I apologize for not blogging sooner but been busy with my e-bay business and just doing our everyday duties here! Craig now has the title of Exotic Species Animal Trapper which means he baits and helps trap invasive species here at the preserve, which are feral hogs, they are so very distructive here, they just tear up the preserve bad! Feral pigs can damage the landscape by eating or trampling them and also damage while rooting and wallowing which damages plant roots and creates holes and ruts that can damage equipment and endanger operators, they need to be brought under control!
           We have a new volunteer here from Michigan, Jo who is from Otter Lake which is about 20 miles from my home town of Vassar, she has been coming here for about 4 years and is a breath of fresh air and a book of knowledge about this place! We also have gone out to eat with the volunteers on the southeat side, Sam and Diane, hoping to get together soon again, we really enjoyed each others company! Then we have Larry and Sandy who are full timers too and have also been coming here for about 4 years, then there in Steve who is in a 5th wheel and this is his second year here. Different people with different personalities!
           We are already signed up to be here again in the fall of 2013 to the spring of 2014 and we have gigs in Michigan for May,June and July...We will be at Sleeper State Park for the month of May, Tawas Point State Park for the month of June and Port Crescent State Park for the month of July, then we are taking August off and do some traveling in the U.P. of Michigan since we have never seen the Porcupine Mountains or the Lake of the Clouds! We plan on leaving Michigan around the second week of Sept. so we can take our time heading back to Florida and enjoy some of the other states along the way! Hopefully my brother Butch and sister-in-law Norma will be able to follow us down here, working on getting them a volunteer gig! It would be awesome to have family here with us, they are perfect for this type of life, they love traveling and hate winter and cold weather, plus they have the sweetest personalities and love people and nature! It will help me get thru the holidays too since I had such a hard time at Christmas with missing the kids and grandkids so I plan on flying home next Christmas to be with them! What I would love to do is have them come down here and spend Christmas with us but the problem with that is we don't have any room here for them to stay, so I would have to get them a motel room which could be pretty expensive, so it will be easier to fly there for a few days! 
                             The weather has been perfect here, 70's-80's during the day and gets down to high 40's to 60's at night, we have had a little bit of rain but it mostly rains at night, they say that this is the best weather they have had in years!  We are going on an Airboat ride next Thurs. with another volunteer Steve and his brother who is visiting him, for around 3 hours with a lunch included. Can't wait, sounds so exciting, will be posting pictures for sure!
         We have a little over a month before we are done here and since it will be too cold to head back to Michigan we are going to go check out the Keys for a couple of weeks and then head to our friends Annette and Barry's in Homosassa Fl. on the west side of the state by the Gulf of Mexico, they are gracious enough to let us park in there yard and we really enjoy their company, then we plan on leaving there around the 1st of April and slowly start heading back to Michigan! Hoping that Michigan has an early spring, don't want to go home to cold! Will be getting hitch-itch by then and will be ready to hit the road again!
                          Love this place, it is different then any other volunteer gig we have ever done, kind of like taking care of a large farm,like mowing, mending fences, keeping trails cleared, making fire lanes, brush-hogging, sign repairs, opening and closing the gates at night, cleaning the offices and visitor center, etc. so much different then camphosting because we have no campers to host, the only time we have to deal with people is at the visitor center two days a month!
                       Well enjoy the pictures and I will try to keep this blog going by posting pictures and updates! Have a great day!