Yep, George has arrived along with his people, Pam and Stan. Emma and George get to see each other once or twice a year, and their meeting this time was a little calmer than usual. George generally just doesn’t know what to do with Emma’s exuberance, but this time Emma wasn’t as berserk as usual. After five years, can she actually be mellowing out a bit? I just can’t believe that yet. She just must have had an off day.
My sister Pam, and brother-in-law Stan, arrived late yesterday afternoon to spend a few days with me here at Okefenokee. When they arrived, Pam was a little bit under the weather from a shrimp and grits lunch they had in St. Mary’s before arriving. I can certainly understand the grits part of that meal being unsettling…YUCK!
She was feeling a bit better by evening, so we took a short drive down to the refuge boathouse to watch last night’s sunset. It was pleasant, but not spectacular.
Early this morning, I was off to Waycross to have my three month checkup about my hip replacement at the Mayo Clinic. The x-rays were good, so some of the restrictions I’ve been on have been lifted. Good news for sure. The doctor told me to come back at the one year point for another appointment, and I had to tell him that was not likely to happen. 
I’ll be leaving Georgia in another week. I’m ready to blow this popsicle stand!
After I got back to the rig this afternoon, I took Pam and Stan on a tour of the refuge. Along with the alligators and the Chesser Homestead, I was able to show them the nest of a pair of red-shouldered hawks. Not sure if the eggs have hatched yet, but it was fun to watch the male bring in a catch to hand off to the female on the nest. The male is on the right, and the female is on the left hovering over the nest. In the raptor world, females are often larger than the males.
I had a little problem last night. After doing the dishes in the evening, I got ready to take a shower. As I turned on the hot water, I heard a familiar bang, and lo and behold I had no hot water. This has happened two previous times in this rig, so I knew what that sound meant… the check valve on the water heater had blown. That means the water is hot, but there is no way to get it through the pipes and out the faucet. Dang! So, I heated a kettle of water for a marine bath, and washed my hair under the kitchen faucet with cold water. I sure hope the guys at Thibodeaux’s can finally make a permanent fix to this problem when I get there in about ten days. In the meantime, I’ll be roughing it (sort of). 
THE END!!
Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later, Judy
