One Year Behind A Lifetime Ahead!

One year ago, on May 19th, Lesley and I got married and to celebrate our anniversary we decided to take a few days off of work and head north into the Ozarks of Arkansas . Fairfield Bay off of Greers Ferry Lake was our destination. It sits 80 miles north of Little rock and is a nice little mountain area. We left after work and stayed over night in Little Rock, AR before we headed to the condo. We knew we were getting close when the roads became windy two lane adventures with a steady upwards climb.We arrived and set out to explore our new surroundings. We decided that we should go find the swimming areas and parks around the lake so we could relax, read, slackline, and of course swim. Well, that was the plan. We quickly realized that the tremendous amount of rain Arkansas and other northern states have been getting has all but cut off access to Greers Ferry. We ran into one submerged road after another. This set back led us on an exploratory journey that involved paved roads transforming into dirt roads and eventually requiring a little four wheel drive, I didn't complain, the truck loves the opportunity to show off it's 4x4 and diff locker skills. We did manage to make it to the marina by taking a lengthy trip around but soon realized that the 14 extra feet of water had put the picnic facilities and most of the marina under water. This didn't really frustrate us that much because we knew that we would find a lot of other fun things to do... and we did. We discovered that only a short 35 miles north of us was Americas first national river designated by the Park Service, the Buffalo National River. Over 100 miles of river and trails through the Ozark mountains sounded like our type of adventure. We got up early and made chocolate chip pancakes , packed up and drove to the park. After conversing with the park ranger about such things as climbing in the area and good day hikes we filled up the water and trekked off down the trail. Not too far down the trail we ran into our slimy little friends the snails. They were streaking and sliming their way across the rocks, this was only the first wildlife encounter of the day. We saw our first Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea) it was a beautiful little blue bird that squeeked in the under brush. After consulting the Parks bird guide I discovered that the Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) was common in this area. This is my totem animal and the source of my power I'm sure. I looked and listened very hard and although I'm sure I heard him calling out to me with his pecking I never was able to catch a glimpse. .. yet beware Dryocopus pileatus I'm coming for you. The unsuccessful hunt of the Pileated woodpecker made us hungry so we hiked back out and found our way down to the river for lunch and a swim in the beautiful clean, cold, Buffalo River.
We had our sandwiches and jumped in to cool off; Les would say that it was a little too cold but I think it was perfect. I haven't seen such a clean river in a long time.After swimming we made our way to another trail to do a little bird watching. It was an old homestead and it was fun to see all of the old buildings and birds.The day was a success and we took a slow drive back to Fairfield Bay stopping in the little town of Leslie (I like to think it was spelled Lesley) to look at the little Ozark town. Back at the condo we relaxed by reading, knitting, and relaxing. The next day was the 19th, the big day. We had more pancakes for breakfast and then relaxed. Throughout the day we celebrated our wedding by popping a bottle of champagne (an original bottle form the rehearsal dinner) and having a toast. We also made a top 10 list of the best parts of our first year of marriage, of course the wedding and honeymoon were off limits, and we read them to each other. And then the coup de grace, the eating of the wedding cake. We lit special candles that were given to us by our friend Tom for our wedding and then dug in, it was as good as I remember it. We also had a bottle of wine from the wedding day that we were able to enjoy as the full moon came up over the lake. I do have to say that I think our first anniversary was a success and I can't wait until the next one.

Not your Nintendo "Duck Hunt"

Ah, the Mottled Duck. The mottled duck is the only duck that is adapted to breed in the marshes of the south. The Mottled Duck is in danger of displacement because of loss of coastal marshes as well as competition from introduced Mallard species. Well Ducks Unlimited was interested in the possibility of these ducks nesting on coastal marsh terraces that DU built to help stop saltwater intrusion into the marshes. To do this Du gave me the opportunity to participate in a "Duck Hunt". I had the opportunity to ride in an air boat out to the terraces and swing PVC pipe at the weeds in hopes of flushing out some Mottled ducks and then locating and documenting the nests. We left late Sunday night and headed to Lafayette, Louisiana because we had an early start on Monday. Monday morning we met at the Estuarine Habitats and Coastal Fisheries Center at the University of Louisiana Lafayette to meet the rest of the crew from the USGS, Louisiana Dept of Wildlife, DU, Texas A&M, and LSU and head south to Pecan Island on the coast of Louisiana.

This is the satellite imagery of the study site.


We made the drive and I got to see some wonderful parts of Louisiana that I had never seen before. When we got there we loaded up onto the air boats and took off. "Taking off" in air boat is easy the "air" in air boat must mean airplane, because an air boat is an airplane without wings that drives backwards. They are so loud that I wore ear plugs and a headset. The boats went over the land just as easy as water. The boats preceded to drop us off on the terraces so we could swing our sticks. We did manage to locate about three live nests, one recently hatched nest, as well as a handful of deprecated eggs. It was a lot of fun. I forgot how much I enjoyed the field work. Hopfuly I will get to do a little more duck hunting in the future.

Ganesh, & Micropterus salmoides

Namaste! नमस्त "I bow to you" A traditional Hindu greeting, which is appropriate considering some of our recent adventures. This past weekend Les and I were treated to a most exciting event, the traditional Hindu marriage of one of Lesley's high school friends Purna. Purna Manchandia was arranged to marry Raja (pardon my spelling and inability to recall Raj's last name) in a traditional Hindu wedding ceremony at the Swaney Hindu Temple in Shreveport, LA. The wedding was a series of celebrations lasting about three days. It involved Mehndi parties, the groom riding up to the brides house on a horse and knocking on the door with a sword to ask for the brides hand, and the wedding ceremony.. oh and two receptions. We went to the ceremony which was interesting itself. The horse and carriage left the Manchandia's and took a 45 minuet trip to the temple where it arrived to dancing and music. Note the video!


The ceremony was very unique and indeed a cultural experience. Most of it was conducted in sanskrit and I couldn't really understand it but it was very colorful and enjoyable. After the ceremony we went outside under the tent to a traditional Indian meal, i.e. vegetarian... it was sooo good! I could have kept on eating had I not nearly stuffed myself to the point of exploding.

The whole weekend was a nice change of pace. The farm has that "Rural" magic that can turn a normal relaxing activity into more of an existential experience. I went fishing catching a few "monster" Bass and even a Bream. I don't know how to use the spin casting equipment the farm had so I used it like a fly rod, I may have looked ridiculous but I caught seven fish. Everything was perfect; the water, the wind, the sun, and the atmosphere. Just think, everyone, about one year ago you guys were all heading to Gilliam Louisiana to celebrate our wedding. Look what it's like this year, not as much activity but still just as beautiful. I know this is a shorter blog with out much detail but do enjoy the pictures and be assured that another blog will be coming along shortly. Note on the last picture. The old barn has been given a needed face lift.
Purna's Wedding

How to... in Mississippi

Tax season is over! It was long and painful, full of long days and early bed times. But now we get to focus on exploring our new state and trying to make due with the landscape we have. As noted in an earlier blog entry we are now bona fide slackliners and the more people that you can round up to slackline with the better. I have succeeded in convincing some fellow Ducks Unlimited employees to take up the slackline banner and follow me into the world of balance and zen. Every day at lunch we go outside set up line and work on our skills. Ryan is hooked and will always be game for slacking in the middle of the work day but I have also convinced Corey, Billy, and Felicia to make attempts at balance as well. Planting season ended on the farm this last month too, which signals the departure of Ross from Louisiana back to his home in Montana. Before he could get on the road though, he needed to make a pit stop in Jackson, yes I know this is not the direction to MT, to say hi to his Mom and sister. We had a good time setting up the slackline, surprise surprise, and visiting about all things relevant. Ross was also kind enough to help us finish up the fabled book case that we have been working on for many, many, many, many moons. But the bookcase now sits appropriately in the office looking very rustic and unique. With tax season over Les had a chance to relax by going to the spa with her mom for a little pampering she has nice orange toes now... I like it. I digress, This weekend was interesting, we had plans to head to Baton Rouge to visit an old high school friend of Lesley's; these plans fell through so we decided "lets go camping "( note, we said this in unison with big smiles on our faces!) With only two days to plan we had to get moving. Step 1. Find a place to camp. This is a little more difficult than you might think. Mississippi , unlike ... say every where in the west, has very little public land. Most land is private and the National Forests are extremely segmented pieces of land that have private land spread within and around it. They are also small. It is hard to find a good camping site because of this and there is little information floating around about where a good camping spot would be. Through some research and some phone calls to the NF we decided on the Bienville NF at Base camp 1. This camp site is on the 23 mile Shockaloe trail and close to the town of Forest, MS. Step 2. Pack up our Toyota sleeping machine with all of the essentials and hit the road on I-20 east. Mississippi is RURAL, I mean RURAL. I know Jackson is rural but leave the confines of the "deep south" and you really get into the "DEEP SOUTH" you can almost hear the banjo pickn' and blues singing in the stillness. It almost brings on an acute sense of claustrophobia. Give me the wide open west any day. We made it to our campsite just as the sun was setting we drove around the loop and saw , nothing. Not one other person was there I liked it, it made Les a little nervous. One thing to note about Mississippi is that though hunting and fishing are integral parts of every day life other outdoor pursuits such as camping and hiking are not so important. Again I digress, we managed to get our camp set up and cook a little jambalaya for dinner we ate our fill and called it a night. The "Toyota Sleeping Machine" did a great job of housing us and before you knew it the sun was coming up. I got out of the "Machine" and went to gather water and start the coffee. I also decided that this was the perfect time to set up the Slackline. It was a long loose line that was fun and challenging and it was great to be in the woods au naturale. ...And this lasted for about one hour. Just about the time Lesley was waking up the clouds were rolling in and it was looking slightly menacing...drip, drop, drip. The rain came rushing in and we moved our selves into a little shelter to try and ride it out. It was breakfast time after all and this was a good spot to stay dry and cook. We had a great breakfast of poached eggs, sausage, and tea. The rain didn't let up as quick as we would have liked and after checking the Iphone (Cheating while camping I know) for the weather update the rest of the trip was starting to look a little bleak. around noon the rain let up a little and we went back to read and do a little slacking. The wildlife were also starting to come out a little after the rain had forced them to take shelter. I watched intently the work of an ant fighting a little spider, Ant 1 spider 0, and then drag it away to enjoy the spoils of victory. (Look Close at the Picture) also giant spiders had taken refuge on the slackline. Just when we were getting comfortable though the strange red necks in their flat bed trucks and mini vans came storming into our campsite . In a very clandestine manner they all got together in the mini van to partake in , what I believe were, nefarious activities designed to shake our confidence in our chosen camp site. Due to the red necks and the weather service's flash flood and sever weather warnings we packed up and moved on. We headed first into the Bienville Wildlife Management Area to see what wildlife we could, as it turned out our little turtle friend was about it. We were getting a little distressed at this point because we had been forced out of base camp 1 by foe and weather and were now trying to salvage a quickly eroding trip. Being in rural Mississippi we decided to go to another portion of the forest called Marathon Lake. On the way we were treated to views of some of the local pride in a local holiday celebrated no where else. You guessed it Confederate Independence Day! The Flags, Confederate, were flown at half massed for such an occasion. you see some back woods excitement just by leaving Jackson for a little while. It is also a fact that state government celebrates this holiday and all state agencies shut down an extra day. After visiting the Marathon Lake Recreation area for some ornithological studies we headed back west to make one more pit stop at Roosevelt State Park, open on Independence day yeah. After our touring, and our disappointment in our camping trip we decided to make our way back to Jackson . ..and then the rain started... Well, we are back and I had the time so enjoy the pictures and we will see what the next trip holds.

Spring Time.

Ok, I know it's about time to update the blog, and I know I have been slacking, um.. quite literally as you will see below, but this is the next installment. I will provide a retrospective of the last month. Les and I have been very busy at work, Les more so than I due to Tax season. She has been working 10 hour days and 6 hours on Saturday too. I do my best to take care of her though. When we do have some time off together we have been trying to relax. One of the ways that has manifested is bird watching. We have turned our deck into a little wild life refuge full of birds, bugs, and a mammal or two. Over the past few months it has been fun to watch the birds come and go and change from wintering to breeding plumage. The American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis) has gone from a muted yellow brown to a bright yellow and black. Of course the Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) have changed very little but are non the less a lot of fun to look at. We have a finch bag full of thistle that, along with the Goldfinch's the House Finch's (Carpodacus mexicanus) like to play on. And then we have our big feeder that plays host to a wide variety of species including the Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) and the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus). The deck, where the seeds fall, also collects some fun birds like the LGB (little grey birds) or more commonly called Dark-eyed Junco var. slate color (Junco hyemalis). Well I digress and I'm sure this is all very exciting to all of you. One last note on birds we have also received a very large wood pecker trying to cling to the feeder its name is the Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) he is about 10 inches tall and impressive. Our herb garden has been discovered by a little squirrel and I have no idea how he gets to and from the deck three stories up, just industrious I guess. On we go... We were able to make it to the farm a few weeks back to visit with Lesley's brother Ross and his girlfriend Adrien while she came to surprise him during corn planting. It was a lot of fun to hang out with them. We managed to go on a good 10k around the farm in training for the Crescent City Classic, and we also just wondered around and relaxed. Most of our chickens have succumbed to the food chain, which is ok, but Lesley's grandfather thought with the pond being built that it might be nice to have ducks. He went out and picked up a couple and then with Adrien in town she went and picked up a few more and also some replacement chickens. They are cute and our one lone Dominicker will surely bring them up in the wise ways of the farm. The old barn is also receiving a face lift. A brand new roof is going up along with the replacement of the truss' supporting it. It will be nice and the barn will last a lot longer now.
The Crescent City Classics 30th running was held this year in New Orleans. Lesley, Tucker and I thought it would be a good event to train for and compete in. We kept up our training miles and then by narrowly avoiding a set back, on Lesley's part, ran the run. One week before the race Lesley's office decided it would be time to start working on Saturdays due to tax season. This was not going over well at the Johnson house but Lesley is a very convincing woman and managed to get the day off. Race day was very nice and the French Quarter was clean and sparkling. We followed our group led by some purple balloons to the start and then we were off , slowly,dodging about 20 thousand walkers, poor planning on the CCC's part, but once we were about half way through the 10k we managed to set a good pace. It was fun to run around the city and end in the football stadium in City Park were we had free Jambalaya, Abita beer, and a concert by Cowboy Mouth. We also were able to squeeze in some time to enjoy the food of New Orleans after the run and then a walk through Jackson Square where the Azaleas (Rhododendron) were blooming. We did leave pretty quickly after the race because the next day was Easter. Easter was unexpected this year because it was so early. We did have a chance to dye some Easter eggs and have a great lunch with Lesley's mom, Tucker, and Baker. They also treated Les and I to an Easter egg hunt with the eggs we dyed. I won of course, but don't ask Lesley if I cheated and stole an egg or two from her basket.
The past few weeks since Easter have really bogged down with work. I have been working a lot with our new Geodatabase at work trying to pull all of our spatial data together and organize a logical spatial model and Lesley has of course been working day and night it, seems, on taxes. She may not admit it but she does enjoy the work and is learning a lot, she's my little CPA. We have taken up a new hobby in our spare time called Slacklining. Because Mississippi is flat, and there are limited opportunities for non hunting and fishing recreation we decided a cheap fun way to cross train and play outside would be to balance on a 1 inch wide piece of tubular webbing strung tight, but not that tight, between two trees, or anything solid. Once tight the fun begins as you try to walk across it. The slackline swings side to side as well as bounces up and down like a trampoline. It really is hard at first but we're starting to catch on and it's beginning to be a lot more fun... in fact I think i'll go slack a little now.. enjoy the video and we'll talk to you soon.