Poland Spring Campground

Our Spring Special campers pulled out Sunday . . . the campground looks too empty without them!

For our last weekend we had horse drawn hayrides with No Baloney Pony

Also on the schedule was Kids Games, Basketball, Arts and Crafts and a Horseshoe Tournament. Our local church, Poland Community Church, put on a spaghetti supper as a children’s education fundraiser. Spaghetti and meatballs, salad, rolls, drinks and dessert, all for $5. Can you believe it?

After supper we showed Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium. A wicked good movie!

Here’s some photos our spring specials have sent us . . .

From the Emery family . . .

A fabulous catch . . . that turned into an awesome supper:

Maxwell and an admirer!

And here’s some photos from the Jordan Family:

This little guy’s soaking up the rays . . .

And so’s this BIG guy!

Can you see the feet on him???

Yesterday, I went to vacuum the pool and I found this little cutie in the skimmer:

I thought he was an albino frog, but I’ve since discovered he’s a Cope’s Gray Tree Frog.  I really wanted to keep him!  Soft and calm, he crawled up and down my arm easily. When I put him on a tree, he looked all around. Within a few minutes he’d turned a dull brown.

These guys, along with the peepers and eastern gray tree frogs, sing to us all night long!

Here are some awesome images captured by one of my Spring Special campers, Patti Rethi.

copyright 2008 Patti Rethi

copyright 2008 Patti Rethi

copyright 2008 Patti Rethi

aren’t they gorgeous? She let me look at all the amazing photos she’d taken this spring and it was awfully hard to choose which ones to post here.

Tis the season for turtles! Every year about this time, adult turtles trek 200 to 500 yards up hill from the lake looking for sand to lay their eggs. The playing field, campsites, the edges of the road - you never know where you’ll find them.

And it never fails . . . once a spring, kids will come tell me how they found a lost turtle, and took it back to the lake. Imagine their surprise when I tell them the turtle will just have to make the trip all over again.

Then, once the eggs hatch, baby turtles can be seen trekking downhill, instinctively knowing where the water is.

And at least once a spring, kids will bring one to show me

These two have camped with us so long, they knew exactly what they had to do. They enjoyed studying this baby turtle for a bit before bringing him to the lake to let him go. I know from experience how hard it can be to set this tiny little creature free in a 290 acre lake! Thank you, guys!

Not only were they brave, but these two marked the spot where more eggs were laid took keep them from being stomped or crushed.

I love the turtle season! And I truly appreciate how my youngest campers are so protective of the turtles who share this plot of land with us.

A couple days ago, Dave was cutting trees when he heard the unmistakable sound of the pileated woodpecker. Rat-tat-tat-tat echoed loudly through the woods. We’ve been trying to catch this incredible bird in action for years, but they’re elusive. Seeing us, the woodpecker would hide itself on the opposite side of the tree and we’d go round and round in circles.

But Dave outsmarted him this time, by having JMoney (our maintenance man) move around the tree while he stood still with the camera.

Pileated Woodpeckers are 16 to 19″ (according to this website) with a wingspan of 26 to 30″.

They drill rectangular holes in trees to find ants. These holes can be so deep, smaller trees will sometimes break. Usually, I’ll see wood slivers dusting the ground at the base of the tree before I’ll see the hole he’s been working on.

We’ve also had this visitor to our feeder this past week:

a baltimore oriole! I love these birds . . . one of my fondest memories was Grandpa standing at the foot of his apple tree, calling to them. They actually answered.

I only see them in May, when they eat the oranges I put out for them. I believe they use the nectar to build their gourd shaped nest.

A few weeks ago, Dave and Ben saw this guy hanging around the bird feeder:

It’s kind of hard to see him clearly, but we think he’s a Red Tailed Hawk. He’s a sit and wait predator . . . obviously sitting and waiting for the squirrels and birds that visit my feeder. We only saw him that week, then he was gone.

Today is Friday, and I’m expecting approximately forty check-ins! Most are taking advantage of our Spring Weekend Special. Five consecutive weekends, for one low price. Campers arrive on Friday’s and go home Sundays, but leave their equipment right on site (storage really). We do this again in the Fall; click on our website on the right there, and go to our Campground Calendar to read all about it.

Happy Mother’s Day to everyone out there! Check back late Sunday or early Monday for some pic’s from breakfast and arts and crafts . . .

Every Fall, after we’ve said goodbye to our campers and the grounds are quiet, a few visitors of a different variety show up.

This little guy was seen behind our house by Ben. In all our years here, this is the first time we’ve actually seen a fox:

The loon adults hung around until the beginning of November. Without the people coming and going, they’d come quite close to shore:

Squirrels foraged for food:

And bedding:

It was such a beautiful fall,

I watched the gray heron . . .

and the geese and ducks until mid November!