All Day at Armuchee Elementary

Armuchee Elementary had a special day of teacher meetings on Friday and asked me to do four 40 minute performances -- one for each of their four grades. Gym performances for large groups are definitely not my favorites, but the ARS kids were well-behaved and attentive and the staff were enthusiastic and helpful.

I was especially pleased to have the help of our newest Bonner program intern from Berry College, Lucy Hicks, as my assistant for the day. 

Unsure of what exactly to expect I took a large assortment of mounts, furs, and several live animals and set up a display on three folding tables. In the end I used the same story for the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade classes -- "Yellowtail" and showed off the corn snake to all three groups. For the third graders I used a baby alligator and told my "Trouble" story. 

My only disappointment of the day was that I did not get to see Emily Turrentine, one of my newest nieces-in-law who teaches there or Vivian Davis, my friend and fellow Arrowhead naturalist who also teaches there. they were in meetings while I was presenting.

 

Building A Beaver

I've enjoyed teaching little kids about "adaptations" at local libraries this month by magically transforming a child at each event into a "beaver". I do that by giving the child the "adaptations" of a beaver:

• warm fur (a real beaver fur "cape")

• webbed back feet (swim fins)

• tough hand-like front feet (work gloves)

• oil for waterproofing fur (hand lotion)

• musk to attract the ladies and mark territory (air freshener)

• nictitating membrane (swim goggles)

• ear and nose flaps (ear plugs and nose clamp)

• big flat tail (boat paddle)

• strong, orange teeth (construction paper cut-outs)

Silly, I know, but we have some fun, and when we are through I think the kids have an idea of what we mean by "adaptations". 

The Cedartown Library has decorated beautifully for the holidays, including a very nice selfie backdrop. I took advantage of it with our beaver mount and two of the kids who participated in the program today. The first grader on the right was our "beaver" a few minutes earlier. And the pre-K fellow on the left is his brother. That's me peeking out from behind the beaver.

I'd love to come to your school, library, scout group, civic group, state park, or other group and bring an animal and a story. Message me for more info. I can bring our show anywhere in northwest Georgia up to an hour's drive or so away.

Snakes and Ghosts in Cave Spring

 I had a great time showing off a corn snake and telling stories to the kids at the Cave Spring Learning Center as they celebrated a Fall Festival day at Rolater Park. Hear are some pictures.

The kids sat in the grass and ...

...I stood under the shelter by a picnic table where I could display our snake poster.

I showed off our corn snake, Punkin.

I started the stories with the old standby: Dark Dark Night.

Then I changed my plans altogether. 

With a very mixed age group I decided I could tell my favorite ghost story: The Lieutenant's Jacket.

I finished up with a quick recitation of Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll.

Escapees

When I got to Arrowhead today I was surprised to find the alligator tank empty of gators. It took only a few minutes to find the escapees. The little guy was hiding right there under the wooden cabinet that holds  the gator tank. The big guy got a little farther. He was behind the box turtle enclosure. I recaptured two irritated reptiles in a matter of minutes. I returned them to the tank and adjusted the lids to make them more secure. But I did not notice, obviously, the real escape route.

An hour or so later I happened to glance their way again and caught the little guy in mid escape. I had not noticed that the floating island had come unmoored and had given the rascals a platform from which they could reach the opening in the lid. 

Who would imagine these guys would be such climbers?

 

Showing Off Arrowhead to Debi's Grandkids

My nephew Jonathan with his wife Jessica and their three children, Ellie, Oliver, and Zeke, are staying with us three nights as they visit to attend Beth's funeral. 

Today they walked with me to the church to move a couple of tables out of the sanctuary. 

The tables had been moved into the sanctuary yesterday to hold Beth's urn, some flowers, two of Beth's paintings, and her portrait for her funeral. 

As it turned out someone had beat me to it. I am so thankful to be a part of Trinity United Methodist Church. Our pastor, Nanci Hicks, did much not only to comfort us during our grief, and to preside at the funeral, but also arranged much of the mechanics of being ready for the event such as those tables, and ushers, and printed programs, and sound equipment, and live-streaming and recording of the service. She had the help of our wonderful choir director Kam Malone, our administrative assistant Lauri Pack, and Trinity stalwarts Sam Evans, Chuck Evans, and Thom Holt. And Debra Malone's musical talents and dedication added so much to the service. I could never fully express the love and thanks I feel for these people, and all the folks at Trinity who came to support us or who have called, and prayed, and sent cards to ease our burden.

When we walked back from the church we detoured over to the levee ...

Then we were joined by Jonathan's brother Matthew and his daughter Lillian (yes, another Lillian) as well as Debi, Gregg, Andrew, and Sheila in three cars for a caravan to Arrowhead so the kids could visit our animals. The kids had a great time visiting with Lucky the Gopher Tortoise...

Beauregard to baby Alligator...

Corny the Corn Snake

and Ringo the King Snake.

Foundation Camp 2022

 I had a great time with the young men at Foundation Camp at Georgia Highlands. I told my tall tale "Yellowtail" about my pet Copperhead. And I showed off two great snakes to have around the yard: a Corn Snake aka Red Rat Snake and an Eastern King Snake. I am on a one-man crusade to convince folks to give up their fear and loathing of these beautiful and valuable and harmless critters. Many thanks to 100 Black Men and Georgia Highlands College for sponsoring this great camp program.

Here are some pictures posted by the camp director, Dr. Jon Hershey:

The Corn Snake prized by farmers for his rodent control skills. 

Some say he gets his name from hanging around corn cribs to hunt mice. 

Others say his belly looks like Indian corn. 

The Eastern King Snake is just as good at rodent control and has this added benefit: he is immune to the venom of pit vipers and can kill and eat them!

To Cedartown and Cave Spring with Tess & Ali

We are blessed at Arrowhead to have the assistance of two wonderful Berry College Bonner Scholars, Ali and Tess. Today I got to spend a couple of hours with them on a ride to Cedartown and Cave Spring and back. Since neither had visited those places before we took a short break to visit the cave and spring at Cave Spring. Back at Arrowhead we met up with Vivian and got a picture of our entire "staff". 

Tess & Ali

Tess, Ali, Terrell, & Vivian

Field Day for Alto Park & Cave Spring

I had packed the state truck late Thursday afternoon with

• six tables and a chair
• assorted mounts
• boxes of animal shells, furs, and skeletal bits
• posters about snakes, turtles, local endemic species, and frogs
• tablecloths
• and other stuff

I also put a green treefrog, a barking treefrog, and two gray treefrogs together in a terrarium and an eastern kingsnake in another terrarium.

And I took it all home with me for the night to save time Friday morning. Of course the live animals came in to a table in our mudroom for the night. 

Then it was up early (for an old retiree) to Alto Park Elementary before eight to set all the above up under a big metal awning and against the brick wall of the school. Alto Park and Cave Spring elementaries combined at Alto Park for Field Day this year. During the day every student in the two schools in grade level groups would rotate through for a 45 minute show and tell session. Since "adaptations" are a major theme that runs through lots of grade level -- and is an old standby theme for my lessons -- I featured my usual schtick of chants, featuring, usually, a different animal with each group:

"Have you noticed that animals often have superpowers? Scientists call animal superpowers "adaptations". It's a big long word but really its just anything about an animal that helps it live. So stand up right where you are and ...."

Me: "Repeat after me." Most Kids: "Repeat after me."

[Me as an aside: "Alright teachers, y'all are getting paid today -- you folks show me some rhythm; sway!)

Me: [Swaying] "I said, repeat after me!" Almost all kids & teachers: "Repeat after me!"

Me: "An adaptation...." Kids: "An adaptation...."

Me: [Shrugging] "Is anything...." Kids: "Is anything..."

Me: "I said it's anything...." Most Kids: "I said it's anything..."

Me: [Jumping] "It's anything!" Most Kids: "It's anything!"

Me: [Right arm out] "About a plant..." Most Kids: "About a plant.."

Me: [Left arm out] "Or an animal...." Most Kids: "Or an animal...."

Me: "That helps it live." Most Kids: "That helps it live."

Then we talk about the "superpower" adaptations of one or more of the animals that I have specimens or mounts of: 

• Kingsnakes are immune to viper venom
• Beavers have are "born to chew" look at those teeth; they never stop growing!
• Treefrogs have suction cups on their toes so they can climb anything, like Spiderman!
• Etc.

Soon sweat was soaking through my polo shirt and one little girl pointed out that I had a "smiley-face" on my chest; she was talking about the sweat marks!

The principal at Alto Park is my niece LaDonna Turrentine and she dropped by to give me a hug, and unbeknownst to me snapped this picture which documents, if you look carefully, the "smiley-face"!

One of the Cave Spring teachers turned out to be one of our "Big Fibbers" from our first Big Fibbers Festival in 2015, so I snapped a selfie with Gretchen Dodson. And there's that "smiley-face" again.

One treat of being with Cave Spring is getting to see my compatriot, Vivian Davis, who works with me after her day job teaching, at Arrowhead. Alas I didn't get a picture with Viv.

By the time two o'clock rolled around I was one exhausted septuagenarian. I loaded all that stuff back on the truck, stopped by the house for some lunch and a quick errand, then drove back to Arrowhead to unload and begin the process of putting things back in order. Called it quits at about six. 

It was a good day but this old night owl, who rarely crawls into bed before midnight, was under the covers and snoring about nine. 

Gleaning Facebook: Today

 This is the first Mothers Day of my seventy-five years when I have no way to visit with or even call my Mother. Just two days before her stroke she posed with the first bloom on these hibiscuses I had planted in her front yard. How she would light up when I walked in. My parents were not perfect, of course, but their love for me and my siblings was unconditional and sure and lit their faces. How I miss my mother.

--------------

Gary the Wiener Dog raises another of my granddaughters... John Carlin: He's had his ears tugged at by the best of the best.

-----------------

Grazing our gopher tortoises under uncertain skies this afternoon…

-------------

Look who showed up for the Clocktower Tour...

Bitsy Burton and Nina Burton Berg

Dekie Hicks and some of John Schulz's family

King of the Snakes

Back at Arrowhead for a Field Trip ... a great group of students and teachers (including my fourth-grader-grown-up-to-be-a-real-certified teacher little Lauren Hooper!) from Pepperell. Afterwards Lane, our new groundskeeper, showed me where a little injured Kingsnake was hiding behind a plank at our Tortoise enclosure. I checked him out --- looks like he's getting ready to shed, but seems to have some damage to his tail -- and Lane snapped a picture of us. In nine years at Arrowhead I have never seen a venomous snake, but I've seen lots of these guys; maybe that's the reason the Copperheads and Rattlers stay away? 

Behind my head you see one of our two new bat-houses, just erected a few days ago.

It's beautiful weather for trips to Arrowhead, teachers, scoutmasters, etc. Text or e-mail me and we'll schedule one for your class, troop, etc.

Gleaning Facebook: Arrowhead at Sunrise

Sometimes I get to see Arrowhead at sunrise…

Bob Doster
Good pic

Angela Greear
Lucky YOU 

Terrell Shaw
Nobody but me and the great blue herons. 

Leigh Whittenburg Callan
Terrell Shaw my kind of place, my kind of peace! Thanks for sharing.

Danny Shaw
Terrell Shaw they are marvelous and beautiful

Frank Norris
Wow!

Howard Smith
Beautiful

Anita Stewart
You are so lucky to have such beautiful experiences in nature.

Marilyn Murdock McLean
I miss this place!!

Kathy Wilson
Beautiful!

Gleaning Facebook: Tribefest

 It seemed like all of Floyd County crowded through the upper level of Armuchee's old gym between 10 and 2 today. What fun to get to show off our animals from Arrowhead at Tribefest and to see so many old friends and former students. I love my Armuchee "family". And I am so pleased with our new Arrowhead intern from the Berry College Bonner program, Ali Jakobsen, who was an enormous help on this busy weekend. And after Thea's kindergarten sang for the crowd, she and her mom, Vivian Davis, joined us for the rest of the time. So good to be with them at the Arrowhead booth for this event. Poor Shoestring, the Corn Snake, was her usual imperturbable self as she was held and petted far longer than I should have allowed, to the delight of MANY trick-or-treating kids and their parents.

A Last Minute Idea

Last minute idea. Chuck Meeks of the Rome - Floyd Library is videoing my storytelling for the library's summer program. We've videoed stories during the pandemic with only imaginary in-person audiences but now that Viv and I are fully vaccinated we'd love to have a live audience of kids. So here's a last minute open call: Do any of my friends have some youngsters ages 6-10 who'd enjoy a story at Arrowhead tomorrow (Thursday) morning?

We'll be in the Ed Center at Arrowhead and will start at 10 am tomorrow June 3. Accompanying adults will sit at the back. Attendance presupposes permission for child to appear on library video.

Please text or pm or e-mail* me with age, grade and name of kid(s). I'll be happy with eight or ten, but will cut it off at about 20 or so if we are so lucky as to have a big response. We'll likely video two stories of 20 minutes or so each with a short break between stories.

Then, weather permitting, I'll be thrilled to lead a nature walk around the lake for those who'd like to stick around for it.

Or bring a fishing pole, some bait, and your Georgia fishing license and fish with your kid at our beautiful lake afterwards.

Spiny Softshell Mama

 Mama Spiny Softshell Turtle never learns, bless her heart. She is laying her eggs in the driveway again this year.

These turtles look prehistoric to me.

Thea is a budding wildlife biologist.