Sunday, August 27, 2006
Dust and Ashes
Another highlight was this morning. We went to the Seven Lakes Chapel in the Pines and heard "Dust and Ashes". Angie had picked up one of their CDs about a year ago and we have all but worn it out by playing it. We have been trying to catch one of their performances for quite some time.
It was a fantastic service by husband and wife team Tom Page and Mary Lou Troutman. Tom is a United Methodist pastor and he delivered a message based upon the parable of the prodigal son. Needless to say, most of the service was music.
We were able to talk with them and there is a good chance that they will return to sing at our church. You can see their itinerary for the rest of the year on their website at http://vizion.com/daa/
Jordan Lake
One of the highlights of the week was a trip to Jordan Lake which is a large lake about 1-1/2 hours drive north of here. It is just east of Pittsboro on US-64. We launched the boat at Farrington Point at the northern end of the lake at about 4:00 p.m. and went northeast from there abour 3-4 miles. There were egrets,
great blue herons, ospreys, cormorants and of course the noble bald eagle. I took the fishing equipment but we spent all of our time exploring and viewing wildlife. We ate our supper at a quiet secluded spot near some willows. We returned to the launch ramp at dusk and thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon and evening. We didn't take any new pictures because we already have some to show from previous trips. The picture at the right is an osprey.Saturday, August 12, 2006
More Fun & Butterflies
This week has been very interesting. It started on Sunday evening when we got called out to look for a missing 89 year old gentleman with Alzheimers in Aberdeen. We did hasty searches in all of the likely travel routes until about 3:30 a.m. We resumed about 9:00 a.m. with thorough searches by sending out teams ot 4-5 into 2 block areas. The man was found at noon sitting in someone's back yard about 3/4 mi. from his home. He was checked out at the hospital for dehydration among other things and was O.K.
On Tuesday evening went to a 3 hour talk on hurricane preparedness. It was given by the National Weather Service and Moore County Emergency Management. It was very interesting and informative.
On Friday afternoon I just returned from my 1/2 mi. swim when my pager went off for "chest pains". I was soaking wet but put my jump suit on over my wet bathing suit and we helped prepare and load the patient into the paramedic ambulance. On the way back, we got a second call for a diabetic emergency. Went to that one and monitored the patient until a second paramedic unit arrived to transport her. Just got back home and took my jump suit off when beep-beep-beep. Sick call. We responded, evaluated the patient, and decided that we would transport, BLS. Had him loaded and we got another call for minor auto accident. The original paramedic unit was returning from the hospital and they were able to handle that call without us. So, I wandered around in a wet bathing suit for about 3 hours - yuk! It sure felt good to get into dry clothes.
Today, we had a Palmedes Swallowtail show up in our back yard. They are quite rare in this area.
On Tuesday evening went to a 3 hour talk on hurricane preparedness. It was given by the National Weather Service and Moore County Emergency Management. It was very interesting and informative.
On Friday afternoon I just returned from my 1/2 mi. swim when my pager went off for "chest pains". I was soaking wet but put my jump suit on over my wet bathing suit and we helped prepare and load the patient into the paramedic ambulance. On the way back, we got a second call for a diabetic emergency. Went to that one and monitored the patient until a second paramedic unit arrived to transport her. Just got back home and took my jump suit off when beep-beep-beep. Sick call. We responded, evaluated the patient, and decided that we would transport, BLS. Had him loaded and we got another call for minor auto accident. The original paramedic unit was returning from the hospital and they were able to handle that call without us. So, I wandered around in a wet bathing suit for about 3 hours - yuk! It sure felt good to get into dry clothes.
Today, we had a Palmedes Swallowtail show up in our back yard. They are quite rare in this area.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
Heat & Butterflies
This week has been hot. So, it's August and it has been hot clear from the Rockies to the Atlantic. Our daytime temperatures have gotten up to the 98-99 degree mark. Time to drink lots of water and Gatoraide and get chores done before 9:00 a.m. Friday morning I had the oil changed and the tires rotated on my truck before 9.I don't know if the heat has anything to do with it or not, but we have been inundated in butterflies. Mostly Eastern Tiger Swallowtails on both yellow and black form. I also found out by surprise that some of the black ones are also Spicebush Swallowtails. I took a picture of a black one thinking that it was a tiger and upon inspection of the pictures, realized that it was a Spicebush.
The underside of the Spicebush was so beautiful that It got is picture taken twice.
BTW - Click on the pics to see them in full size!
