All Creatures BIG and small at Hardin Ridge...don't be squimish :)

This is just a fun post I have been wanting to do. There are SO many creatures here in the forest, some cute and cuddly and some well lets just say only a mother could love.  I know I am probably not going to get all their names correct but like I said it is just for fun.  I'll start out with something that I was always fascinated with as a child. When we would go mushroom hunting in the woods I always ended up taking a couple of these home for pets. They loved Morel Mushrooms and back then we found so many my mom and dad didn't fuss about me feeding them to these little guys.

 

This is the tiniest little snail I have ever seen in the wild. His little house was smaller than a pea. He was so friendly when I found him he was sitting on one of our chairs, (don't know how he got there) and so I picked him up and he didn't retract into his shell. I put him on the plant to be more natural looking. What a cutie!!!

This beautiful Luna Moth was resting on a bathroom wall in Southern Point after a night out on the town.  Just look at those beautiful colors!


My next little creature is so unusual. I don't know if many people even see them without walking over them or unfortunately on them. One day I was swinging and looked up and he was walking on our picnic table. Now most people call them Walking Sticks, this guy was so big I called him a Walking Limb  LOL   The pine cones are just for added decorations.

He eventually fell off the table and ambled across our site and climbed way up high in a tree. Now talk about being camouflaged there was no way to see him in that environment.


We were working the gate one day this week and I happened to turn around and there sat this huge horse fly.  I though to myself hmmm wonder what they look like close up.....

No I'm not sure I'm glad I took the picture either. Those huge blue eyes......yikes scare the daylights out of you. And bite when they do a trickle of blood comes running out.  They have been horrible in the park this year. That and mosquitoes too.


If you don't like spiders just scroll on over this next picture.....

This is a Black Widow.  You can barely see the red hour glass on her back. She had the biggest egg sac I have ever seen. She had built this web in the door frame of the ladies bathroom.  Freaky!!!

This little guy was sunny himself in the pond in Blue Gill. As I walked around the pond they were jumping for cover and he thought I couldn't see him. Fooled him didn't I? 


Now to the cute critters......

These are my two little vacuum cleaners. They go around every morning sweeping up the bird seed. And in the far right corner is my little Chipping Sparrow. They all get along great and share their food very nicely. 

See how sad this little guy looks.  He wants a little blue chair to sit in the tree so he can eat his nuts and seeds from..... hint hint Barbara!   What a cute little face.  He was sitting on our wood pile waiting to see what the ground squirrels had left for him.

And what would this blog be without our gorgeous deer here in the park.  We have a mom with a set of triplet fawns but I haven't been able to catch her out with them yet. And we have at least two moms with twins. This is one of them but her babies were on the move and I couldn't get a photo of them but I will.

Would you look at what I finally got a picture of??? I couldn't get one last year when we were here.  He may just be the proud papa of some of those fawns I was talking about.

And the cutest of all the animals in Hardin Ridge.......

"I've been working on my tan what do you think? And no bikini line."

Being so patient waiting for mom and dad to finish working up at the gate. What a face :)

Uh wait what's this....oh ya I took this from the sample pictures there are no penguins in the forest! Fooled ya! :)  I sure hope you enjoyed frolicking through the forest with me and seeing all of the creatures that live here with us. They sure make it an adventure everyday not knowing what you are going to see.  I much prefer to see most of them first before they see me though.
From creep crawly Hardin Ridge take care everyone!

WHOOPEE.....It's here!

So did you hear the hoots and hollers in Indiana?  My computer is back.  The guy that put the new hard drive in installed the wrong driver for the touch pad and that is why I couldn't type on it. How frustrating. When I got it back there was so many things I wanted to do I wasn't happy doing any of them. I jumped all over the place. Then it happened.  The scream did you hear the scream??!!
Oh my gosh having to download everything again, learning new ways of doing this and that. Our old email address was gone and so now I had to learn the new one. My daughter when she set the blogging account up for me did it under the gmail act so that was good. It didn't change the emails and comments I received from readers. I just had to learn how to maneuver through it all.  I have come a loooong way on doing things on a computer, I was pretty dumb on it before all this blogging took place, now I am pretty proud of myself how I get in there and just "do it." Knowing if I mess it up I have a daughter and son n law to bail me out.  Thanks guys!

OK enough of that gibberish, I'll bet you wonder what we have been up to. Well lets see, camp hosting.  I'm done LOL  I still don't have wedding pictures to share they are on their way on a disc from Colorado so as soon as I can I will share them. I didn't take any with my camera. Now calm down I was too busy pinning on corsages, boutonnieres, and making sure this and that were going ok I didn't want to worry about photography. Besides there were three cameras going I was sure to get good pictures.

After the wedding was over we finished up at Turkey Run and headed back down to here, Hardin Ridge. That was such a huge relief to have full hook ups again.  Dumping tanks with a 'blue boy' is not fun. Just ask Art  hee hee....

We came back to more hummingbirds that I could ever dream of.  We have 8-9 females and one male. I have to fill the feeders at least two of the three once a day.

I 

I know this is not a great shot but I wanted you to see the feeder we have on our window.  The little male and one female seem to dominate it. They can sure drink the syrup water. l  still have to try and get a video of them swarming the feeders as you can't get a good picture of that.

The kids came down on the first Tuesday that we were back and we rented a Pontoon boat and went out on Lake Monroe.  Holy Molly it was hot!!!

Our newlyweds with Effie watching the water. (wanting to jump in I'm sure) and Miss Meredith. Look at her pink water shoes aren't they adorable? :)

She loves Effie and Cooper as they are smaller than her dogs at home. And Effie is so gentle with her.

Here they all are sitting on the edge of the boat soaking their feet.  Wonder what they are looking at???

This! Meredith is playing on Hannah's legs soaking too.  See Effie in Hannah's arms?  It was so hot we put her and Cooper in water too just to cool off.

                                  Then as I am watching them I had an idea pop in my head:

"Wave at me guys."  They are so funny. 

We were not the only hot ones that day. This huge bird landed in a dead tree as the kids were soaking. They told us this is the grove for the Eagles. Now I don't know if this is one or not? Judy help????
He didn't look like a hawk but he didn't look like a young Eagle with or at least the ones I goggled.

See how he is panting.

I think he looks like an Eagle here. But not sure. Anyway he was big and beautiful.  (update) thanks to Karen and Judy this is an Osprey.

I am almost positive this is a pie-billed Grebe.  He goes under water and comes up with fish.

As we were watching him and taking his picture some one was jealous and wanted his taken too....

He landed on the dock and walked back and forth like it was his runway.  And what gorgeous legs they have :)

"And now in first place for the great muscle ton of the upper legs is our Great Blue Heron."

Then at 76247 we have a new family that has moved in.  Anyone wanting to send a basket of worms for a house warming it would be greatly appreciated.


Off the feather friends and onto Miss Effie.  She has found a new place to ride on our golf cart and she did this all by herself.  We tossed her bed up there one day and she jumped up in it and now has declared the "rumble seat" as her own.  And the breeze just gently blows hers wire hair curls.  :)

I will leave you this evening with one of my favorite places in the park. The trails. They are so well maintained and they always leave you with that feeling of what is over the next rise or the next curve.
I hope you all stay safe and well and take care from us here at Hardin Ridge.

 

And in this case it was Sylvester the Squirrel.  

Effie Loves to go Boating~~Cooper Hates (Floating) Boat Docks...

Yesterday was one of our first gorgeous days here. We hit temps in the 80's hooray!  Art and I wanted to go do something fun and exciting.  We have ordered an inflatable kayak and so we wanted to see what the dogs would think of the water.  We went over to the marina and rented a pontoon boat. The water was so choppy due to the heavy winds, so we rocked and rolled.  At first the dogs were a little freaked out. They hid under my coat and then slowly they decided hey this is fun, well Effie did, Cooper finally just feel asleep. It wasn't long Effie was doing this.....  ( don't worry we have life jackets on order for them the ones with the handle so we can grab them)

The wind was still cool on the water for a while. She just stood up and wanted to see out I guess.  It was just adorable. I must have taken 20 pictures of her doing this. And most of them look the same :))))

                       Then the sun warmed things up alot and off came the sweater.

I couldn't believe she wasn't scared. Effie is the timid one, always unsure of things, scared to get far from your side.  So this really surprised me.  This is one of my favorites.....

Looks like she is watching the water swish out of the motor.  Or Art said she might be praying as there were a few times when the boat really rocked. :)   Here is what Cooper did while Effie was enjoying the scenery......

He was enjoying the sun rays.  It didn't take him long though in that black coat to get warm and move.

We pulled the boat into a cove to get out of the wind and dropped the anchor and ate our lunch I had packed of sandwiches and chips. It was so peaceful and serene.....ahhhh

This particular cove is Allen's Creek.  There were a few boats in there fishing. The water was so calm compared to the middle of the lake and warmer too.  I expected to see a deer come wondering down and take a drink.

We rented the boat for 4 hours and it went so fast. I could have spent 4 more out there. There is just something so relaxing about being on the water. We have been reading and studying up on the inflatable kayaks by Sea Eagle and we finally took the plunge and ordered it yesterday. It would be mainly for places like the above picture. There were people kayaking out in the middle and they were bobbling more that anything. It didn't look all that fun to me.

After we ate lunch we drove over to the boat ramp at Hardin Ridge to dock and go to the restroom.  They have a floating dock and there was no way Cooper was walking on it.  Art had to carry him. Effie jumped off onto it walked up pottied, and then ran back down and jumped on the boat herself.  She was ready for more sailing. I think she could have gone 4 more hours too.

After we turned the boat back in we drove around the campground that is in the State Recreational Area called Paynetown.  We were driving and then came to this road block...

"Cleo, would you hurry and pick out a site before we get run over by a car."

"Now Calvin, stopped that crooked neck posture it will not make me go any faster."

"Oh Cal, I think this is the spot. Close to the lake, no people around, plenty of green grass to eat."

"Cleo!!! Read the sign."  "OH no we have to start all over."  " Don't think I like that fire grate either, gives me the creeps."

Art suggested we take the dogs for a ride in the truck down to the boat ramp and get some sun set pictures. What with the Mini Cooper and the golf cart it doesn't get driven much.
The sun was so pretty and the more it went down the prettier the sky became.

                                        And then my favorite one of all tonight.....

Isn't it amazing how the sky just gets so dramatic as the sun sets. 

We were not the only ones watching the sun go down this family of geese were floating on the water near us and they had 2 little ones... And hopefully there was one sitting somewhere on a nest and that one wasn't a loner.  That is sad.  

 

Boy was she keeping an eye on us.

         Love this one's splash landing.  So graceful I would probably end butt up!

That is all tonight from Hardin Ridge. Hope you enjoyed our little boat adventure and Cooper has asked no one please make fun of him. Effie is doing enough of that!  :)

I Hope This Never Happens to YOU!!!

Hello, we're back! And so happy about that.  The RV is well and was an easy fix...how wonderful.  The problem was the elbow into the grey holding tank was at a bad angle and not glued, so when the tank was full the water ran out, which is what happened to us. That is where all that water came from.  Modern Trailer Sales in Anderson, IN is where we bought the unit. We had heard their service department was very good, and it was! We told them when we arrived this and asked them not to "let us down" and they did not. They did a wonderful job. They pulled our unit into the bay the minute we arrived and worked on it all day until every job and every concern we had was attended to.  We thanked them when we left on doing such a speedy job and they said they knew this was our home now and wanted to get us back in it as soon as possible. The only trying part of the day was killing 4 hours, walking through Walmart. I was looking for a blue vest to put on and see if they would employ me for that time we were there :)  I can tell you where everything is in the Anderson Walmart now!  I am not a shopper but we wanted to stay in the area as we didn't want to use any more diesel fuel than we already had.  I called Keystone while we were there and expressed our concerns about being in the unit only 4 weeks and now this problem. I also said it cost us $100 in diesel to bring it to the dealer to be fixed and that if it happened again in the 'very near' future we would like to be compensated for fuel and she said that would be an option for us. That was nice to know. I told them all the good things we loved about the RV and I could hear her typing the whole time I was talking. :)
I would have blogged sooner but we were having internet issues and now they are resolvd so I'm back!

OK, now on to the title of the blog today. This entry is going to be different than my usual wildlife photos. I thought you might be interested in seeing what happened to a camper here in the park on the Sunday night before we left. We were all gathered at the office having a pitch in dinner. A lady came walking up to the door and was crying and said they needed help as her husband had the camper stuck in the gate house drive. Hmmm.... he was stuck all right.  I wanted to tell you the pictures were all taken by Iphones and not cameras so the quality will not be as good. 

Can you see the problem????

If you said it didn't fit, you were right.

 

See the sign that says Keep Right...he didn't.  We were told he did not want to go to the right (where golf cart is)  because of the speed bumps. They cause the items in the shelves to be jostled.  I think he has more problems than dishes being out of place now. 

This was taken on top of the roof and as you can see he broke the beam that measures 10 x 10 and moved the entire building on its foundation.  He tried to back out before help arrived and that caused more damage to trailer and gate house.

You can see the roof how it buckled, and the steel plate that was holding the big beam in place was bent in the middle.  The speed limit was 25mph.  You can determine yourself if you think the magnitude of the damage was done under that speed limit.  Hmmm????

In the first picture you can see the yellow cone that hangs down to remind people of the height. And you can see the sign in this one also. It was asked why they didn't make this taller when they built it but apparently it was constructed in the 70's when RV's were not this tall.

We talked that the trailer probably suffered major structural damage. Wondering if they will total it?

I guess he was frustrated with the Forest Service for not putting a warning sign on this side of the gate house also.  Again....hmmmm!  He came in the front entrance and had to go to the outside lane of the gate house to keep from having "This" happen. The beams didn't magically raise several inches in the few days he was here.

We all make mistakes and dumb ones at that. At least I know we have. We all started telling stories about the dumb things we have done while waiting on the wrecker to come and pull him out. It turned out to be quite funny. Found out even the "pros" have made some blunders of their own.  I won't mention any names here of course ;)

Here we are parked in the barn lot (which was quiet to sleep in. NOT ). We stayed at the house to spend time with Hannah before we came back. I always thought this place was quiet and peaceful until trying to sleep with the animals. The turkeys and geese partied until wee hours of the morning. :)  In my next blog I'll share the wild life photos I captured in the pond and bushes. 

It looks like a used RV sales lot.  That is Hannah and Dan's trailer they just bought.

I want to wish Kevin a Happy 70th Birthday.  He is the Assistant Manager here at the park.  They surprised him with cake at our safety meeting yesterday.

Happy Birthday Kevin....cute hat!  :))))

See you should never stick your tongue out at the photographer....they can get even.

That's about it from soggy, rainy Hardin Ridge.  Hope everyone has been healthy and happy while we've been away, I hope to catch up on some blogs now. 

     So from Hardin Ridge in Hoosier National Forest best wishes everyone.