Juggling lemons: Hickory Hammock Dec. 2017

Hickory Hammock is an <a href="https://baboowaba.blogspot.com/2016/12/hickory-hammock-equestrian-campground.html">old favourite of ours</a>. We drove in to find the place empty. So strange as last year it was quite busy. We even hoped we might see some of the same people as last year. The new host came to introduce himself. I think his name is Tom. Having a conversation with him turned out to be quite difficult as he is quite deaf and doesn't seem to read lips. The host last year was quite a character and where his trailer was parked was full of junk. Now the place is clean with no remnants of all the garbage and apparently, the previous host is now in prison for drug trafficking. It takes all kinds to make a world!

During the weekend the place filled up more with hunters and partyers. There was music still playing loud at 2 am but of course, the host wouldn't hear any of that being deaf and all. The next morning we were woken up by gunshots that sounded so close it made one wonder if someone was being shot at. Then the airboats start running. Not such a quiet place anymore!

We did meet two lovely couples: Rhonda and Jeff from Tampa, Florida and a nice young couple from Nova Scotia, Sam and Thomas. Thomas works from his trailer through the internet. He does computer animation for a company. Yes, cartoons! Apparently his work is mostly super heroes.
We had parked the trailers so our doors would face one another. Our awnings almost touched creating a very nice shaded area for us to sit and talk. Sit and talk we did a lot of since there isn't much else to do. Unless of course you decide to paint your fridge which I did one day after painting some Christmas decorations I had bought. It breaks the monotony of all that wood!

I did a distressed look in a soft aqua colour.

Glen and Michelle saw an armadillo but I didn't. We did see a few Gopher Tortoises, even one in her burrow (or hole)! We could hear Barred Owls at night calling to each other and then another kind of owl which we think was a Screech Owl.

Gopher Tortoise

Tortoise in her hole. We see her back end. Hard photo to take as the hole was quite deep and dark.

This is the hole. Notice the footprints leading to it.

Red-Bellied Woodpecker

The cows that reside in fields located on each side of the entrance road are beautiful and always fascinate me. They live in such a natural environment with natural shade provided by the large live oak trees and water in the form of ponds. A lot of cattle egrets are always seen following the cattle wherever they go.

We walked the trail where last year we could pick wild delicious grapefruits but were told that a lot of citrus fruits were knocked down by hurricane Irma so we didn't find any.

The grapefruit tree.

The large open area across from our site turned into a great place to let the dogs run and play.

We enjoyed our time there but the days are so short at this time of the year that it made for very long dark nights. We would feel like going to bed at 7:30 pm! Thank God I had downloaded quite a few movies on my tablet!

In the morning branches were adorned by beautiful dew covered spiderwebs that looked like sparkling decorations.

Meanwhile, Sadie the Greyhound was forever trying to get comfortable in her x-pen. She dug the hard ground until it became a soft bed of soil. Then, she kept rearranging her "bed" and would end up in quite funny positions.