Forestry and Gold Mine

Eddies Boy Scout Den went to a Georgia Forestry site and learned about trees today. We learned different ways to identify them and took a hike through the forest. We had a guide with us to help us. At the end of the hike, we saw this black snake. This was a zoomed in picture, because I was far away from it!





During the hike, we learned that you can blow bubbles through a piece of red oak wood, because it is very porous.









Here the boys are learning to identify trees by the type of leaves it has.










After we left the Forest, we went to the Dahlonega gold mine. It was a real working gold mine back in the early 1900's, but is now just a tourest trap! We all panned for gold. It took some time and patience.











Here is the two small specks of gold that I got while panning.








After we panned, we took a tour down into the mine. The mine is about 85 feet below ground level. It was cold and someone mentioned there might be bats, so we were all on the lookout for them! Didn't see any, thankfully. In this picture, the whiter looking rock is quartz and it is estimated that there is about 5 ounces of gold in that piece of quartz. It was an interesting tour.

Memorial Day Weekend Camping

We went camping over Memorial Day weekend. We camped, so naturally it rained! We are thinking of asking the Governor if he could pay us to camp and then the drought would be over! It poured rain (a real gullywasher) the day after we got there. It also rained while were were setting up.






This camp site had many levels, the lower level really got a lot of water.








The LeSieur family came on Saturday afternoon. They set up a tent on the lower level.









Ed wanted to wash the camper before he put it away. I think he is taking a shower here!!













Washing the camper with Eddies help. Eddie loved using the power washer!









Eddie had a soccer ball that went dow a drain and got stuck. If the gullywasher would have come a day later, the ball probably would have been washed out!








Kaila and Roxanne sitting outside enjoying the nice weather.











We played dominos one afternoon. Dustin even joined us for one evening.

Eddies Boy Scout Crossover

Eddie is officially a Webelo II Boy Scout. We had his Crossover Ceremony on Saturday evening.


He got a compass after crossing over.






This is Eddie crossing over the bridge during the ceremony.








He participated in an egg launch. He had to wrap up a fresh egg in a 4x4x4 box any way he wanted to. (Of course we used the UPS packing method) and the egg survived!











This is the launcher. He is pushing on a bicycle pump to put air into the 2 liter bottle that is half full of water. On the top of the bottle is a wire basket with his box in it. He pushed and pushes until the air pressure builds up and the bottle and box launch 75-100 feet in the air. The box will come off of the bottle and then the boys check to see if it landed safely.

Ed's New Toy

This is Ed's new toy. It is a Harley Davidson Road King. He sold his other motorcycle a few years ago when we bought the camper. This sure is helping with gas mileage! 35 miles to the gallon!







He is just coming home from work! The kids love to ride, especially Eddie. When Eddie knows he is coming home he runs and puts his helmet on!

Happy Mothers Day

We would like to wish everyone a Happy Mothers Day!

To the left is the gift I got from my children. Photos of them on canvas! They are great! I hung them on the wall going up the steps so I can always look at them! I love them!

The Lizard

We were outside tonight and Eddie noticed two lizards on the outside wall of the garage. He wanted to catch them. He was not able to reach them, so he enlisted the help of Dustin. (these pictures are out of order, but I tried twice and could not get them in the order I wanted, so I quit and I am just going to tell the story).

This is the picture of Dustin and Eddie trying to put the caught lizard into Eddies jar.
This is Eddie, Dustin and Roxanne trying to find the lizard. Roxanne really wanted it (I think she wanted to eat it) and the poor lizard was probably hiding and shaking!







Dustin now has the lizard trapped between the wall and the bucket and wondering what do I do with it now???? (Eddie was trying to find something to put this lizard in. I told Eddie the lizard was NOT coming in the house or garage, so it would have to live outside in what ever he put it in).






Dustin trying to trap the lizard in the bucket while Eddie steers it in the right direction with a long handled light bulb changer!!









Dustin trying to find the lizard who is hiding behind the light. Eddie has told Dustin to just "flick" it from behind the light and he will catch it in the bucket! (Notice how far away Eddie is standing from the light where the lizard is hiding!)

After they had the lizard trapped in the bucket (top picture), they attempted to move it to a mason jar Eddie found. However, the lizard was smarter then these two and didn't get into the jar, but jumped/escaped onto the ground and ran like you know what!!!