Memorial Day Weekend - Day 4 (lots of pics)

Completely exhausted.  Cooked.  Done!

Today we went biking out in the swamp forests and salt marsh. I am so proud of Finn, he did it!

Finnegan

Hubby

Loch & Finn when we stopped for lunch

Really hot today, in the 90's with horrible humidity, but it was pretty much total shade out where we were, which makes for a much more pleasant riding & hiking.

The below photos are what our area of Southeastern VA is supposed to look like, before the swamp was filled in and cities and oceanfront hotels were built.  It's my little secret, most of the hikers and kayakers are well aware, but you would be surprised at how many lifelong residents of this area don't know this still exists in places.  I don't offer the info either, unless asked specifically :)

That being said, if you are ever here and looking for unspoiled swamp and salt marsh, let me know and I'll tell you where to go to avoid the nonsense and really see it the way nature intended.

  Check out the bark on this tree...

  

The Bald Cypress here are simply beautiful.  Here is the base of one, these grow plentifully here and are part of what makes our swamp waters the dark, tannic brown color.

More Bald Cypress

Today was a snake free day I am pleased to say, we didn't see even one.  I know there are some snake fans out there but when you live in an area with plentiful Water Moccasins and have children, you treat all snakes as if they were venomous!

An interesting side note:  there have been alligators as far north as just about 40-50 miles south of us for years now, but our first confirmed alligator in the swamp on the VA side was just last month.  It was a large one, 9-10 ft long.  I think it will be awhile before we have to worry about sighting one ourselves, but it's yet another thing to have in the back of our minds as we kayak and explore.  In a way though, it makes me smile... it means that the area is deemed hospitable to another species, and that makes me feel good.  

We followed nature from the swampy forest all the way out to the salt marsh that opens up to the sound.  The sounds then connect to the ocean.

More sun filtering in shows us lots lilypads, grasses and flowers

Massive ecosystem here, can you see the turtle below?

The first of the tall salt marsh grasses are these cattails, the water here will still be tannic and murky with a mucky bottom.

Below you can see where we left the forest and how vast the cattails are

The water is a tad more open between the next expanse of a different marsh grass.  Walking out into the open salt marsh there is full sun here and a wonderful tidal salty scent heavy in the air.  We are on a boardwalk at this point because it is all watery marsh below.

Below is a shot of the salt marsh.  The cypress dot the area less and less as the swamp gives way to the open areas leading to the sound, the bottom here will become gradually more sandy.  This is brackish water here.

Another shot of a young Bald Cypress, clouds and trees reflecting on the dark water

These are the things I will miss the most when our time comes to an end in Virginia.  Although here courtesy of the military, I realized today that not only was I born here (courtesy of dad in the Navy, too!), I've lived here for the better part of 22 years now, so I guess it really is my home away from home.

Last but not least...

It was our anniversary weekend!  It's been 9 years now and for the most part we can still find things we like about the other :)

Tomorrow we'll return to our regularly scheduled programming, the garden needs work!  G'night y'all!

Memorial Day Weekend - Day 3!

The Staycation is going well!  Beach today...

If the kids would put half as much effort into helping me as they did digging this hole, I'd be on easy street!

Here's Finn happily digging before we decided to surprise-bury him...

In true "bad parent" fashion, we buried him up to his neck and said "bye, don't let the ghost crabs eat your face tonight, we'll be back in the morning"...

After realizing we were kidding, we got this smile.

It didn't stop there, after dumping off the beach gear, we headed to the Y to their outdoor pool, more low cost fun!

Eureka, I think he's got it!  One thing I make sure of is that my kids know how to swim.  Not only is an essential life skill in a family that loves to kayak and canoe, it makes my life a whole lot easier.  Finn's a little rough still, but he's getting it, and they have been in swimming lessons for a year now.  Loch needs to be swimming more than once a week, since he has expressed an interest in joining the swim team here.  Lots of work to do!

 Cheap "staycation" dining tonight in the backyard.  Along with brats, I made up a quick potato salad and on a whim threw in some extra snow peas, it turned out really good, the peas seemed to fit well.

We are now finishing up the evening by burning some of the debris collected after the storm. 

It's now 7:15 pm and they are still doing something involving water out there, as I just saw a kid run by the back door soaking wet LOL, no doubt they will collapse into a heap pretty soon!  One more day of this....   :)

***

coming back to amend the post with a follow up - apparently they aren't done yet, since they tore through the house with a bag of marshmallows... went outside to take a photo and from the looks of their faces they will fall out any time after the sugar rush LOL...

Memorial Day Weekend - Day 2!

 We haven't shirked all responsibility this weekend, we managed to get quite a bit done in the yard today in spite of very hot and humid temps, and knocked off at about 1:00 to get ready to other things that didn't involve sweating buckets!

My new friend - he decided to ride in my tool caddy around the garden while I planted a few annuals.  When I was done, I told him he had to go do some work and he hopped out into the pea bed :)

Ladybug eggs deposited on a pepper plant!

Hubby and Finn creating a place for my pumpkin plants, this area was otherwise a wasteland full of weeds with a perfectly good fence asking for vines.  He rimmed it in a few pieces of scrap lumber for me so my newly amended soil wouldn't wash away in the next big storm, and you know it's coming!

After we all got cleaned up, it was off to a picnic at Gina's house!  You may remember that Gina of Back Bay Botanicals is a fellow blogger that lives nearby.  Her place is fantastic and the kids always have a great time there.  We had a relaxing time just wandering around with some good food, her place is really pretty and perfect for a summer picnic!

Their new farm stand is nearing completion, and looks fantastic!  Those are all cutting type flowers, zinnias, etc growing in front so from the road the farm stand will look very cheery and inviting!

More Cornhole playing... I think the boys are going to want daddy to build a set!

I was pleased to find one of my "native land" brews for sale on base, so I had to grab some, in spite of the fact that we brew our own.  It's a nostalgia thing :)

One of the backwater canals of Back Bay runs right through the property there, very pretty -

No visit to Gina's is complete without the chickens of course!

Gina, Loch noticed you left the keys in it, haha!

The girls relaxing in the breezy shade

Gina made sure to instruct everyone where to bring their watermelon rinds when they were done!  Good times for us, good times for chickens :)

  

Tomorrow will start with chores no doubt, as we have a long list of things to do, but we are determined to fit some fun in as well.  Not sure what it will be yet, but we have to take advantage of the weather while we can.  It's hot out, but a little breezy and storm clouds are constantly passing by, dimming the sun a bit at least.  We actually had a bit of rain today and dark skies, but it passed quickly without incident.  I feel lucky about that since it seems everywhere is experiencing some very trying weather.  What's next - locusts???!!

Little Bit of This, Little Bit of That...

It's been awhile since my last post! Not much in the way of big things going on right now, but just a few small projects here and there that have been on the back burner for awhile.

Sailor/Farmer returned and was welcomed with his own home brewing equipment as a Birthday/Early Father's Day gift.

If he was only amused by my various sustainability projects previously, he is now paying full attention and loving it! Here he is cooking up his first batch of wort in the pouring rain last weekend. He and "N", his buddy tried to rig up some tarps on the pergola, but I think still got pretty wet that evening!

Cooking the wort...

We didn't do any camping or other adventures this year on Memorial Day weekend, but managed to have a couple of good cookouts with friends and awesome weather.

It's not a party until the Army guys show up in the food... (you can tell I have boys!)

And the following night at L & N's house...Crab Boil! Crab, Shrimp, Clams, Potatoes, Corn, YUM! Food was incredible, kids had a blast, we will definitely be doing more of this the coming summer!

Here's Big "O" enjoying some of the cuisine that was obviously prepared in his honor. "Family BBQ means me too, right???!!!"

Thanks to the help of a friend and some adult beverages, my husband got motivated to finish replacing the fence around the yard, and we hope to build new gates the coming weekend. I got my garden shed all cleaned and organized and it is now officially all mine, as my husband has his own shed and is cleaning his out as well and will no longer have to sneak stuff into mine!

An update to my tomato situation: the problem was indeed bad compost I had delivered! I tested the soil and it showed virtually no nutrients...NONE! Apparently what we got was composted mulch of some sort, and not the rich compost I asked for! So, after amending the soil in those 3 beds, and a few emergency boosts in the form of a foliar spray of seaweed, we are now growing again! Tomatoes are not frozen anymore, and and the new growth is green! We will just be a few weeks behind everyone on the tomatoes! I am just thankful the mystery is solved and it wasn't mosaic virus or mutated Swine to Tomato Flu! Now I just hope the downpours and severe weather of the past month can stay away...(at least until hurricane season!)