Locust Grove, K through 6th
graders and North Hopewell Elementary K through 6th graders in the Red
Lion School District made Deanna and I feel right at home. Deanna has
a cousin who lives in Red Lion.
Also in the Red Lion School District, we visited
Dover Library for one presentation and Pleasant View Elementary K through
6th grade. This is where we learned about Nixon Park. The very next day
we went there to explore. Nixon Park is a natural beauty with trails and
ponds and a nature center as well designed as any we have seen. And we
have seen many. They had a well worn copy of Every Autumn Comes the Bear
and one of Rabbits and Raindrops in their library. I signed both books.
I took some photos of the outdoor trails. Some are displayed here. It
felt good to spend some time in the quiet woods. Deanna noticed the nuthatches
in the trees and on the feeders and it reminded us of our feeding stations
at home.
The very next day we visited two schools
– Chanceford Elementary and York 21st Century Hannah Penn. At Hannah
Penn, I spoke to a group of 6th through 8th graders in an after school
program.
At
Weigelstown Elementary the K through fourth graders had been reading the
Big Jim book and asked if I would sing it for them. I had to ask Deanna
to hold the book up for me. I had forgotten the words. Its been quite
awhile since I sang “Big Jim and The White Legged Moose”.
Kralltown Elementary School, also in Dover area,
enjoyed meeting Deanna and hearing about her in my wildlife stories. After
a wonderful visit with children and parents at Springfield Village Library,
Deanna and I decided to take to the woods again and try out a brand new
digital camera and telephoto lens. We discovered Rocky Ridge County Park
in Mt. Zion. While hiking up a trail through the brush and wetlands that
lead to the observation deck and overlook of the surrounding countryside,
Deanna spotted two deer. One was a buck. I got a picture with the 300
mm lens. It looked to us to be a 6 point buck. Perhaps you can enlarge
the photo shown here and count the points yourself.
We hiked in the Rocky woods. There were many families
also enjoying the day outdoors. Parents, children, young couples, older
couples, people and their pets, all walking the trails. It was great
to see them all outdoors.