We Did It

It was a concentrated effort...but we pulled it off!!!  "Wild Things" that is.

This event was held on the property here in Lacombe, Louisiana.
The property was once owned by one of Louisiana's governor, and was turned into "Bayou Gardens" where many camellia trees were planted, as well as other beautiful plants.  It is 110 acres.

We were warned there would be over 5000 people in attendance. We had a total of 5500!!!

This is where it began...at the information booth.  Programs were passed out by volunteers, Cheryl and Kevin.

David Stoughton, park ranger, was the man in charge, and he did a wonderful job.

The flow of traffic was pretty much non stop.

Our job was to help the exhibitors to their station.  It ended up being me as Wallace was asked to get the hay ride trailer moved out front.

Wallace with the first ride of the day.  He had a helper who rode in the back with the people.

This is Rae Nell and Vern...they also helped with taking loads out to the site.

A request to take some pictures of the youth art contest, then I sneaked upstairs for some shots.  This is one of the  parking lots for the handicapped...in the background was another parking lot that filled up quickly.

Then Cheryl and I were asked to man the drink station.  Bending down and up many times from about 11:30 until 2:30 took its toll. There were four big ice chests loaded with drinks, and we did a great job of not letting the lines get congested.

In the front view from above...food and drinks with a band playing.

Following are some of the activities.

Pellet gun shooting.

Canoe and pontoon trips.

Bird house building for the children by Home Depot.

The kids lined up to play with the fire hose.

It was a great day for all...now let's see what is on the agenda for next week.

Until next time...

Ready for a Hayride

After putting insulation around the edges of the trailer (gotta protect the riders), picking up a trailer load of hay on our trip to Covington, placing the hay bales around the edges of two trailers and moving them under the shed to keep them dry...whew, we are ready for the hay ride.

So, jump in beside me and let's go for a ride.

Until next time...

A Review

Instead of repeating things about this refuge, you can go to our blog from last year...September through December.  We will be adding new things to come...so keep checking back.

This year we will be having the 17th Annual Wild Things.  Last year, the government was shut down and this was cancelled.  We are expecting 5000 to attend.

We have been busy getting things ready.

If you are in the area on the 18th, come by and join in the fun.

Wallace is pressure washing the area...you can see the difference where he put the initials of the refuge (has not been cleaned yet).

We trimmed many branches from a couple of these oaks, some of the branches were on the ground.  All the crepe myrtles have been cleaned of suckers, these you can see in the background.

This is just some of the cleared brush we hauled out to the burn pile.

Then we moved to the backyard where we trimmed several areas. These are some of the camelia trees.  After trimming, we spread pine straw underneath them.

Friday is our fun day, the day we do the brochure run.  It is a day of travel mixed in with trash pick up.  Some would not think it is fun...we do, and we do a good job of it...even if I do say so myself.

Until next time...

Went Right to Work

Our first assignment was to take fellow volunteers on the brochure run and show them the ropes.

We are pictured here picking up new trash grabbers.  We need those as we make our rounds, not only filling brochure racks, but we pick up trash as we go.

Uh oh, we had to call in the big guns for this mess...those grabbers can't take care of THAT!!!

This is our start at the Big Branch Marsh area.

Well, it looks like we need another camera to catch these litterbugs.


So we continue on our route to another refuge...Bayou Savage.

And this is what we find there!

Again, we reported this find and others will have to take care of this.

The trash can was overflowing in this area.

We ended up with a whole truck load of trash by the end of the day, I wish I had gotten a picture.

Southeast Louisiana National Wildlife Refuge is made up of eight properties including the 110 acres where we are parked and call home...Bayou Lacombe Center.  This property was once privately owned and then known as "Bayou Gardens."  A wide variety of camellias, azaleas, and other flowering trees and shrubs were planted.

It was also a Catholic High School in the fifties, and later a seminary retreat center for the church.

This property is also where the visitor center is located not too far from where we are parked.

This Great Blue Heron posed for us

and we came upon this Box Turtle by the side of the road.  This is one of my favorite turtles...I love the way he can totally close up for protection.  The plastron told me he was a male, and one of the biggest ones I have found.  After the photo, I placed him down the way he was traveling...and said live on!!! 

Until next time...