Happy Cinco de Mayo! (Spanish for "5th of May")

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

What do you ask is "Cinco de Mayo"? Well, according to Wikipedia:

A common misconception in the United States is that Cinco de Mayo is Mexico's Independence Day; Mexico's Independence Day is actually September 16 (dieciséis de septiembre in Spanish), which is the most important national patriotic holiday in Mexico.

Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for "5th of May") is a regional holiday in Mexico, primarily celebrated in the state of Puebla.

Birds at Durant Nature Park (Lake #2)

Went for a quick walk with the camera during lunch one day last week to Durant Nature Park. Take a look at a Great Blue Heron who didn't really want his picture taken.


I also spotted a few other interesing birds including this lone Solitary Sandpiper on Lake #2. My guess is that it must have stopped for a rest during its migration to colder parts of North America.

Durant Nature park is a short drive from I work and is always a nice place to take the camera and do a little hiking. Here is a nice writeup about the park by John I. Connors of The Carolina Bird Club.

Kayaking B Everett Jordan Lake (North Carolina)

Today we joined the Johnson's on B Everett Jordan Lake for some kayaking. This was our first trip out in the new (red) Wilderness Systems Pamlico Excel Sport Tandem kayak. We had a blast. The weather was beautiful and the traffic on the portion of the lake we kayaked was very light. We put in at Farrington Point and spent about 4 hours or so on the water and traveled about 8 miles.

The highlight of the trip was the spotting of 18 bald eagles! In addition we saw a pair of Orchard Orioles, a pair of Prothonotary Warblers, and a Scarlet Tanager, among many other species of birds.

Several of the pictures here are of our friends Mike and Lisa in their new (green) Old Town Dirigo Tandem Plus kayak.

Run... Get the Ball... Run Back again... Cool.

I could get used to this "fetching" thing, how long you been at it?


Hehe, I got mine, where's yours?


Yo, where'd you go, I'm not done yet:


Hmm, I could probably take that from you:


Hey get moving, we don't get the treat until we take it back to him... Let's go:


So you can see Scruff and Henry both had a pretty good time together playing fetch as they settled in with each other. Well that is until Henry got a little upset over which fetch toy Scruff was "allowed" to play with. And for the record, Henry can outrun Scruff by 3 to 1 any time, any day but Scruff doesn't really give a hoot about that.

Hey what you doin' up there?

Scruff saying hello:

A new addition named Scruffy...

It seems that we have gained a new family member. Scruffy.... Scruffy Guffey that is....

We found Scruffy on the web while searching for a new best bud for Henry. Who is Henry you ask? Henry is our canine wonder dog rescued from Virginia on SuperBowl Sunday January 2007.

First we have Henry:


Now on to Scruffy... We rescued Scruffy by working with a very nice organization in West Virginia named The Boone County Dog Rescue Group operated by Patricia Bragg. Click here to go to the "About Us" portion of their website. Or contact them at the address below:

The Boone County Dog Rescue Group
c/o Patricia Bragg

P.O. Box 273

Jeffrey, WV 25114

And now on to more about Scruffy. Scruffy Guffey that is ("Scruff" for short). Since Scruffy is an "adopted name" we decided to keep it for now but time will tell if "Scruff" decides to start out with a complete new identity.

And here is Scruffy:

"Scruff" is a mix as you can see. We figure some Border Collie, and some "other" breed. He was a friendly gentle soul right from the start and has bonded incredibly well with us and Henry. He loves attention and he thinks that playing with a tennis ball in the yard is well... kinda fun I guess.

"Scruff" became a Guffey on Friday April 11th, 2008 when a very nice volunteer named Russie agreed to meet us near Wytheville, Virginia.

As it turns Wytheville was about half way between here and there. So off we went with Henry to go get the new guy. All went well and we met around 7:30pm. We visited for a while with Russie while Henry and "Scruff" sniffed around checking each other out. Before long we were back on the road and arrived home sometime after midnight.

We took a few pictures in Wytheville and will post them within a week (they are on a different camera in Alabama at the moment - won't go there yet though).

Pics coming soon ... Check back later.

Thanks Trisha and Russie!

Almost a year since we started the blog and ... nothing?

Hmmm, it's been almost a year since I created this blog and as you can see, not much here....

Well my goal is to change that and I start today.

The other half of the Guffson's are back in Texas again this year (right now) chasing birds. Follow them on their journey at http://blog.reddrum.com/ to find the White-Collared Seedeater and other interesting feathered creatures.

Guffson Texas Birding Trip

Haven't had much web opportunity to post stuff.. but the birding trip is a huge success with lots of new life birds for us all.  We are a day behind but moving along nicely.  South Padre Island and the general vicinity is next and then home.  Thousands of pictures and stories to tell.  More later I guess...

Today is the day!

It won't be long now. Today is the day... More to come.

Guffson Texas Birding Trip::

Notes and details to follow...