Holiday Season Events

Hello from Gautier MS. We are in recovery mode from all the holidays and other events in our lives.

After all our Thanksgiving travels, we rested the next weekend, well, at least we didn't travel too far. We watched the SEC Title game at home. At least Tom did, Sally doesn't watch Alabama on TV, she went to a MS Surge hockey game. She had a good time, Tom had a good time, Alabama won and life is good.

We went to New Orleans for the first celebration of Grady's (grandson) birth.

There was cake and ice cream and food galore. Grady took a while to get the idea, but eventually he ate most of his cake! At least, the part that didn't end up in his hair.

It was also a festival of young children. Several of Steven and Katie's freinds have small children, so there was a lot little folks. Thanks to the Murphy's for putting their house in such danger with all the little ones (and the older folks).

The next weekend was a visit to Gordo Alabama for the Hall family Christmas. It was held at Carol and Perry's. Their daughters did a wonderful job of decorating - very warm and inviting. They have a lot of talent!

Once again a lot of fun and fellowship with family. We are glad we can gather with our relatives.

We left the family gathering and headed down to Ft. Walton to meet with our friends from Dayton Ohio. It was fun to try to play a joke on Mike as we helped his wife set up a surprise visit from his son. The weather sort of messed up the joke, but the son's arrival was still a surprise.

Finally, we celebrated Christmas in New Orleans. The Murphy's host a large family gathering and graciously allowed us to tag along. It was a great day - warm and sunny enough for a pleasant walk. Grady had another big pile of presents. He was fascinated with his little spotted dog - when you put the ball in the dog's mouth it would spin around and bark. And he was very handsome in the cable sweater that Grammer knit for him.

Preparing Christmas brunch at the Murphy's.












After working December 26th, we drove down to Florida to celebrate a late Christmas with Sally's Dad in Florida. This time the, all the fruit was ripe. We carried back a couple of big boxes and shared it with the folks in Gautier, New Orleans and Anniston. There's still a little left, but since the big freeze down there, that's probably it for the year.

As you can tell, we did a lot of family and freind visits in the five week holiday season. Next is New Years. Perhaps we should make a resolution to stay off the highwasy so much. We do not think that will happen. It is so good to see everyone. We hope all had a fun and safe holiday season. Till next time...

The move to Gautier (go-shay) MS

Surprise, surprise, we have moved again back in November. We enjoyed helping out in Eufaula at the NWR, but we have moved to the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is the first designated area specifically for an endangered species, the MS Sandhill Crane. There are about 117 cranes surviving today, up from 30 about 40 years ago. It is a difficult process returning a population of wild animals. They have to be trained to avoid predators, they have to be taught to eat, then put out to socialize in order to breed, then turned loose to fend for themselves. All of this, and more, have to be done without allowing the animal to get used to humans. It is sometimes a comical activity, but more often tragic. The area is close to I-10 and the feeding
grounds are on both sides of the highway. Animals have not learned to adapt to something large going 70 miles per hour.

The housing area is good, considering this area was part of the devestation of Katrina. The Visitor Center where we are most of the time is new and very nice. Come on down and see it (and us). We are alternating with another couple, Linda and Ron. They are long term full-timers, quite fun to be around. We have some interns living in a trailer next to us (once again, the grounds have not be fully developed since the storm.) We are just outside the construction for new employee housing for interns on the refuge. These things just take time. We are really enjoying working with the staff. Doug and Emily really work hard to see to our needs. They show a lot of appreciation for our work also.

There are two visitor centers on the refuge - this one is at Grand Bay. It's also a estuarine research reserve (NERR) operated in conjunction with NOAA and the state of Mississippi Department of Marine Resources. A wonderful building filled with research labs and classrooms for scientists studying the are where freshwater meets the gulf.

The wet pine savanna at MS Sandhill Crane Refuge.

 Pitcher plants on the savanna.

The bayou behind the RV parking area.

We did our annual Thanksgiving travel on (of course) Thanksgiving Day. We drove from Gautier to Tuscaloosa to Eufaula. There was about 9 hours in the truck, thank goodness we like each other. It was great seeing Tom's relatives in Tuscaloosa, this years crowd was small, but intelligent. :<)). Thanks to Margene and Frank for hosting the party. We always enjoy the company there.

Getting ready for the Thanksgiving meal.

The drive to Eufaula was uneventful, just the way we like. Sally enjoyed the annual shopping trip and the Mexican Food and Chritmas party was indeed fun for both of us. We are sure there were three generations (maybe four) represented. The annual trivia game ended without an official winner (but the men had one more pie piece than the ladies).

There have been two trips to New Orleans to see Stephen, Katie and Grady. The last trip was a cooking expedition for us. We brought halibut from Alaska, simmering sauce from Killer Seafood in Florida and fresh Gulf of Mexico (caught in Louisiana)shrimp. We thought it was good feast, we hope everyone else enjoyed it.

Speaking of Killer Seafood, we took a trip to Crystal River to see Sally's family.

Suzie was down from Peoria and her son Zach with wife Samantha and baby Annalyn came down from Atlanta. Karl and Anne and Whit were once again exceptional hosts. We enjoyed a Mast Brothers Gospel concert (Karl is the bass for the group). It was a wonderful time. On our way back to Gautier, we stopped for lunch at Killer Seafood in Mexico Beach Florida.



In general, we have had food, fellowship and fun since our arrival to Gautier. Christmas time is now upon us. We often stop and count our blessings. We are very thankful for the family, friends and the health we enjoy. We wish the best for all in this holiday season and beyond.