A Tribute to George

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Blog 02-18 A Tribute to George



I must have been anticipating my trip today because I woke up at 5:30 and decided it was time to get the coffee going and have a shower. All that was accomplished by 8 am. You know how some days just go like a dream and others it seems like nothing works? Today was a struggle. On my walk with Oscar I went to Ginny’s and the vet had called her to say that George was worse and he took an x-ray and there was a large tumor. There was no choice but to end his suffering. I said good-bys to Ginny and Kat, they left to go to the vets.



Most of my stuff was stowed by then, just had to unhook. The sewer line gave me fits. I couldn’t get the one part off where it attaches to the ground so I had to ask a neighbor. Between the 2 of us we figured it out and I was ready to head out by 10 am.

First stop was to get propane at the local Ace hardware. I pulled into the parking lot and was about to back into a parking place when someone drove behind me on my right. As I was backing up I heard a bump! A few maneuvers and I was able to get into the parking place and ready to get my insurance papers and see how bad it was. No one was there! I asked a person in another car and they said the driver of the pickup got out and looked for damage, got in and drove away. Isn’t it supposed to be the hitter that leaves the scene of an accident? Great for me.

Then I got all lined up to get propane and the guy couldn’t find the fitting for rv’s. The customer before me must have it on his rv. No propane for me.

Next stop was Walmart. That was successful but took forever. I was able to locate another propane dealer just up the road. He was on the opposite side of the 4 lane highway so it was up and back, then up and back again. But I did get propane, good thing I was almost out.

It is now 11:30 and I’ve gone 6 miles! The gps said my trip was 3 hrs but there was so much traffic it took 5. Don’t travel on local roads on a Saturday! The last part of the journey was beautiful scenery. There were horse farms and rolling hills and dark fences. I got to Manatee Springs State Park at 3:40 pm, checked in and got to my campsite to find my next door neighbor with a terrible barking dog. Then the rest of the crew came home (about 8 of them) and proceeded to drink and get obnoxious. They were so loud you could hear them all the way on the other side of the campground. They could have invited me to join them!



I set up camp, fed Oscar and headed out to see what was around. I found the trail to the springs and there was a group of scuba divers going into the water. The water was so clear you could see their feet very clearly. It also has a blue-green tint to it. This pond is very deep and has caves, that is what they were doing, cave diving. I walked a little further and there was a huge old live oak covered with Spanish moss. Picture-

There was another pool with more people swimming so I watched them for a while then moved along. There on a bush just 3 feet away was a cotton mouth moccasin just hanging out on a branch. Picture Too close for me.

The path let to a board walk through a swampy area where I saw 4 deer foraging. Picture

The board walk led to the Suwannee river where some kids were putting kayaks into the river, some with not much luck. They ended up in the river with the kayak on them. Much laughter and jeering from the other kids followed but eventually they all made it. Then a manatee floated by. They have not been seen as of late so I was thrilled to see one on my first try. There were turkey vultures by the tons in the tall trees along the edge giving an ominous air to the scene. Here I am with no telephoto lens. So tomorrow morning bright and early I am heading for the board walk with all kinds of photography equipment.

Back to Pennelope as the light was fading, dinner and blog writing.

The weather today was supposed to be rainy but all we had were clouds. The sun came out about 4:30 and it was beautiful. I walked Oscar at 7:30pm and it was 76 degrees. Not bad for the middle of February!

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Photos

Lioness and George
George is a doberman with dwarfism.

the spring where people scuba dive
The pond is covered with little tiny plants. when the divers are in the pond the plants move aside, when the divers leave the plants return.

Comments

[marg]

bump
i read the blogs out of order. i thought it was my m.o. to back up til i heard a clunk. so sorry to hear about george. i felt bad for his buddy as well as his owner. and glad you have friends to have fun with. love,me