I Really Do Work With A Bunch Of Turkeys!

It's Friday, and I have been in training all week. Part of the week, I was the student. Part of the week, I was the instructor. Either way, training is always exhausting to me. On top of that, I have also been doing tasks outside of the classroom---cleaning, organizing, straightening of the entrance station; last minute things to get the campground kiosk and the entrance station ready for opening day, which is Friday, May 15th.


One of my tasks today was to ride out to the entrance station with the campground host to unload a pickup truckload of wood for our wood stove out there. We use it as our heat source on cold mornings. The weather here has been unseasonally warm, and very warm compared to last year. This time last year, we still had snow on the ground. It was below freezing every morning. We had to wear our winter coats every day.




This year, though, it is warm and sunny and gorgeous. Just the right weather for courting. Just look at that guy! There were a couple of girls out there too, but they ran for the woods as soon as they saw our truck. Not Old Tom, though. He was really strutting his stuff, right down the middle of the road like he owned the whole place. OK, so he DOES own it, we are the intruders here, but he was making it clear that it was his and we could just wait.



Just look at him. He took his sweet time going across the road. He puffed up his chest feathers, and spread out his tail, and made a LOT of noise. At times, he would turn around to look straight at us, and hiss (or croak, some awful noise), just to let us know just who was boss.


He finally got over to the side of the road, but just look at that self-assured, high stepping strut! I only wish I had a video camera, because he did look like he was doing a little dance, The Turkey Trot, maybe. He dipped, and fluffed his feathers, and turned around in circles.


After he got to the other side of the road, he was not finished. He didn't run off immediately looking for the girls. Oh, no! He wanted to intimidate US and show off for THEM, showing them how brave he was.



Finally, we slunk off down the road, and let him think he was The Bomb! What a treat for a tired old lady on a Friday afternoon!

Spring In Georgia

Jim and I have been volunteering here at Unicoi for three winters. We are usually gone by the 1st of March, as we really do need to work and make some money. But, this year, we are still sitting here, waiting to hear the final word on the job at the Grand Canyon. Because we have always left so early, we have never been here in the springtime.

In the last two weeks, the campground came alive with campers. The whole place has been full, including the tents camping area, and today all of the platforms at the Squirrel's Nest were also occupied. The place is simply buzzing with people. I sold all the firewood we had today. And the excited fishermen bought nearly all of the red wigglers I had, too.

Little children were wading in the creek, which surely must still be ice cold. It is such a change from the gloomy winter days, when we hardly see other people all week.

I'm going to try to get some pictures tomorrow, just so you can see the difference just a couple of weeks make.