The Yearling Trail and More Whoopie Pies!

On Thursday, January 12th Billy and I went over to the OHV Center to ride the ATV.  We went out on the Violet Trail with tools to cut and clean up any fallen trees or branches from the high winds we have had.  We ran into Kathy and JC working on the trail.  JC had already cut down I believe three trees.  Later we ran into Bill and Jane.  As the picture depicts, they were dead tired and sweaty from cutting trees and bushes.

Sunday found us traveling to Jan and Al's for lunch once again with Bill and Jane, and of course some more "Sweet Jane's Whoopie Pies"  (http://www.sweetjaneswhoopiepies.com/).  Whoopie pies are considered a New England phenomenon and a Pennsylvania Amish) tradition.  They're one of Maine's best known and loved comfort foods.  These treats are more like a cake than a pie or a cookie, as they are generously sized and go great with a tall glass of milk.  Whoopie Pies are a baked cake like a cookie with a creamy frosting spread between two of the layers.  Around 1930 the Amish women first made the wonderful treats from leftover cake batter.  According to Amish legend, when children would find these treats in their lunch bags, they would shout "Whoopie."  Needless to say Billy shouted "whoopie these pies sure are good" throughout the evening!

Monday was MLK day so we went with Jane and Bill to hike the Yearling Trail (http://floridanature.wordpress.com/2009/03/21/the-yearling-trail-a-visit-with-jody-another-time/)   We hiked through a young sand pine forest and saw Calvin Long's cattle dip.  After another 1.4 miles we came upon the remains of his homestead that is hidden by trees.  Then we hiked to a gigantic sinkhole, a seep spring where water dripped off pure limestone walls in the bottom of the sinkhole into catch basins which provided a trickle of water for the settlers.  Dogwoods are growing along the steep slope, and it was the first time that I have seen hickory trees and "hicker" nuts in years.  We walked on and saw the OLD cemetery where the Long family are buried.  Afterwards we were tired and hungry so stopped off at Square Meal for a lunch of hamburgers!  Man, this diet that we are on is GREAT!

We had planned to launch a surprise attack on North Georgia and Caroline, Brandon, and the Paradise family until we found out that they were all sharing the flu.  No thank you, we will have to visit another time.  So on Tuesday we drove to Panama City to pickup our boat.  It was grand to see the old neighborhood again and visit with the neighbors.  I have a much better appreciation for our forest's natural habitats now and really enjoyed seeing the growth and hearing the many birds.  Our house and yard looked great from the outside, and the ducks remembered me until Maggie remembered they were there and chased them all away from us.  Friday evening we went to our favorite restaurant, Rodeo's, with our neighbors DeVaughn and Melva, and Bruce and Fran.  Afterwards Billy and I spent the night at Tyndall Air Force Base in base housing on Beacon Beach (where we put the boat in to go to the Gulf of Mexico).  We were appointed a three bedroom, two bathroom, and four large screen TV's house for much less than the price quoted to stay in a motel for the night.  The receptionist told us that it was the "distinguished visitor space" so we tried to act as distinguished as possible.  We are glad to be home in The Forest and Life Is Good Today!.

Jimmy working hard in the OHV Center

Caught Jane and Bill "Working" in the Forest.  Really, they were taking a break from sweaty hard work!

DeVaughn, Fran, Melva, Bruce and Billy at Rodeos!