A walk in the park led to some extra bark for my backyard.
Here’s what happened: A week ago, my Mom called with a spur of the moment invitation to spend the day hiking with she and my Dad and their dog, Joy.
Initially, I dutifully declined their offer (my to-do list was a mile long that day) but as soon as I hung up the phone I found myself hitting the redial button to say, “Hey, that sounds like a much better way to spend the day than banking and bill paying.”
So, off we headed to Sweetwater Creek State Park, which has beautiful trails meandering alongside a river rippling with little cascading waterfalls.
There’s also the remains of an old mill along the trail.
And of course, there were the obligatory turtles on logs. I think I will call this picture “And then there were three.”
Oh, funny turtle story. As I was taking pictures of these basking beauties, a man stopped and asked me if I could tell him the difference between a Cooler and a Slider, to which I replied, “A cooler is for carrying beer and a slider is a greasy burger.” Sheesh…does he think I’m stupid or something?
Anyway, I didn’t get any bird pictures while at the park, but I did spy a lovely dead branch which I promptly confiscated to add to my collection. Confession…I have a bit of a dead branch addiction…but it’s not a problem…I have it under control…really…
My Dad snapped a picture of me holding my new acquisition.
My prize perch is now securely bungee-corded to by deck, and my backyard birds have already begun investigating it. Like this Carolina Wren, who started at the lower level…
…then made his way to the middle level…
…and then investigated the tip top – which happens to be my favorite spot.
Really though, when you see what lovely photo opportunities this branch provides, you can understand my obsession, right?
And by the way, I have a birthday coming up in October, and I’m pretty sure dead branches make wonderful gifts…just saying!
Backyard Bird Nerd 
A Lovely warm family story Kathy, and a wise choice for a better use of time, with parents. Birdless days do occur from time to time, but turtles are good too! Love the Carolina Wren photos, this bird looks very similar to the English Wren I saw there a few months ago, especially in tail and rear markings.:-)
Hiking with people I love beats out chores any day! 🙂
good for you Kathy! cherish those moments!
A nice hike! I like your new acquisition. Very useful too 🐦
Beautiful post, and sometimes I drag big branches out of the woods too! Plus, October baby here! Hehe, we were separated at birth, Kathy. Thanks for sharing your beautiful photos. I see where you get your good looks from. Happy times. 💛💛💛
It really was a fun day. And which day in October belongs to you?
the third one, how about you, Kathy?
the 11th. 🙂
One of my childhood good friends was born that day too. :))))
Lovely post! 💕 What a beautiful landscape!!!
It was such a lovely park…I definitely want to go back again. 🙂
That looked like a beautiful day for hiking and what a wonderful place! Great photos, and it looks like you have the same camera strap as me. 🙂 I LOVE that strap! Wonderful photos of the wren taking advantage of your new acquisition!
I love the strap! I got it off Amazon and I love that it is soft and has pockets for spare batteries. And it was super cheap too. 🙂
Exactly! 🙂 I also love that it’s long enough that I can carry my camera cross-body so it doesn’t thunk against me with every step. LOL