Making a winter run

Since this was a holiday weekend, I  suggested that my family take a drive out to one of the state parks. We ended up going to Meramec State Park, which is about 75 miles from our house. My parents and I picked up my sister Joanne, who lives just two minutes from us, and the four of us hit the road. We had just had a quick bowl of cereal, so we stopped for a second breakfast at McDonalds after about 40 minutes. We read the paper. We worked on crossword puzzles together. We noticed the restaurant was starting to serve lunch...

Fortunately it was only another half hour or so to get to the park. We took a side road first, the "spur road", which took us up onto a high ridge with pine trees. The woods around there are mostly deciduous, which are bare and gray at this time of year, so the deep bright green of the pines was really eye-catching. The bare trees meant that there was a long view through the woods on either side.

We had to turn around at the end of that road and go out the same way, but from there it was only a minute to get to the visitor center. We've been in there many times, but we always have to walk through the exhibits! Favorites are the huge chunk of rock full of gastropod fossils that are partly crystallized and very sparkly, and of course the giant aquarium. While we were looking at the fish, a group that seemed to be two or three families traveling together, with a whole bunch of kids, came in - so it was fun to watch them looking at the fish!

We left the visitor center and Dad thought he made a wrong turn - so he overcorrected and made an actual wrong turn, and we ended up at a picnic area we hadn't been to before. We might as well get out and look around while we were there... and fairly quickly ended up in a creek bed. That happens a lot with us.

(I will be putting photos in at this point, and while most of them were mine, there are several that my dad took with his camera. This means there will actually be pictures with me in them!)

That's me on the left and Joanne on the right.

Critters!

This week my dad finally started putting birdseed out again. We usually feed the birds in the winter but the supply had run out and it took a while to get over to the hardware store. He still has to fill the feeders but he tossed seed out on the patio, on the back steps and on the cinder blocks out near the grass. The immediate result: squirrels!

We got some birds eventually, too, but the squirrels have been crowding the patio in their eagerness to forage here. Not only do we have sunflower seeds, but Dad also got some corn still-on-the-cob, and even tossed out some hazelnuts that he said had gone stale. Time for a party!

There are six squirrels that I can spot in this picture - two by the steps, two in the cinder blocks and two in the yard just beyond that. 

I'm not sure where that greenish tinge at the bottom came from...

Anyway, here's a closeup of the squirrel in the block. There have been times when all four holes were occupied, with a squirrel on top as well! (Also note the flattened remnants of the pumpkins I put out after Halloween...)

Finally, here is a picture of something I gave my mom for Christmas. I bought it at the Miner's Castle visitor center. It's a ranger doll, and it looks just like me!

Well, it's mainly the hair that makes it - this is pretty much what mine does if I don't tie it up or braid it. You should see it when I've just washed it and then brush it out - POOF!!!

It's my very own little avatar, that my mom can keep with her when I'm away park rangering this summer*. I just have to be careful not to do anything to upset her, in case she decides to start sticking pins into it...

*I am still applying for National Park seasonal jobs for this year, but my default assumption is that I will get a position somewhere!