A trip to Otter Creek Park

Don and I went to Otter Creek Park (which is in Meade Co. Kentucky). We weren't far from home when we encountered a road crew cutting back brush and trees along the road. One of the men was holding a big rat snake (about 4 feet long). Here is the snake posing for his photo. Here is the guy who was holding the snake (should have gotten a picture of him holding it, ah, well) after he has let the snake go. Really cool, I was worried they might kill the snake, but this guy said he likes snakes. So that was really great.

When we got to Otter Creek we went to see the Lime Kiln that is near the Railroad tracks.
A picture of my shadow down in the creek below the railroad tracks.
This is some species of moth, I have no idea what kind. Does anybody know?
We stopped at the Visitors Center at Otter Creek Park and I got some photos of some of the residents. This pretty, blue eyed face below belongs to a Gar.

A snapping turtle.
A Musk Turtle.
A copperhead snake.
This is a little buck we saw in the park.

Spring wildflowers

The Celadine poppies are in full force now, extending up the hillside. Squirrel corn, a relative of Dutchmans Britches







An ant explores a flower.


A close-up of Larkspur
A close-up of Trillium
It isn't long before the Poppies are setting their seed. Their petals will soon fade.
The early spring bloomers flower before the trees leaf out. And the leaves just begun to emerge....

My 45th birthday clebration with my twin

Yesterday was my 45th birthday and, as I am a twin, this necessitated a trip to see my sister (Liz) so we could celebrate our birthday together. Her kids, Danny and Beth (with assistance from Beth's friend Rebecca) made a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.
As Liz and I are both 45, the kids thought it would be a good idea to have 90 candles on the cake -45 candles each. So, after a trip to Krogers, we had 90 candles to place upon the cake.

Lighting the cake was a bit tricky. Steve, Liz's husband tried with a blow torch, but you can see from Liz's expression, this was not working - the heat was lighting some candles, but melting other candles. So the torch had to be abandoned. Beth's friend Rebecca watches.

The candles were successfully lit with a long lighter. There was considerable heat coming off those candles. Beth and Joe are on the left, Danny holds his hand out to feel the heat.

The glow of a 90 candle cake.......

Liz prepares to blow out the cake - I helped too

The colorful remains of the blaze

Spring is finally here!

The day began in mist. And though there are no leaves as yet, it is spring. You just have to look a little closer to the ground....

Dutchmans Britches,

looking like little pants hung out on a line to dry...

To the left, I

believe, is
False Rue
Anemone, but
I could be wrong. The book I'm using is "A Guide to The Wildflowers and Ferns of Kentucky" I'm no expert. I do

know that the little

flower below with the curled back petals is a White Trout Lily.

Above is a Celadon Poppy. This is one of the first up, soon they'll be everywhere.
Below is Hepatica, I believe.... and at below that is Bloodroot. These are just the first wave of wildflowers. There will be many more in the weeks ahead. I'll try to post them as they make

their debut.....

Grab your 3D glasses!

Here is the granite panther that was commissioned by University of Northern Iowa. It was installed in December of 2007. The panther measures 6 feet high by 6 feet deep.

This 3D photograph was taken by Reginald Green email Reginald.Green@uni.edu