May Pops Are Popping Up!

While walking through the woods yesterday I noticed these umbrella like plants and found out they are called May Pops plants.  Here it is March and they usually popup in May I was told.  I guess even the plants in the forest are confused about the weather as we are.  

Picture of the May Pop Flower above.  It was picked and brought inside.  Very pretty!

A 90 Year Old Lady Hunter

Saw this awesome picture on Facebook and had to share.  She happens to be Derek Lee Surface's grandmother.  I hope I will be deer and hog hunting in my nineties!  So proud of her in our great wild outdoors!  You go Grandma!

Joakim's Mountain Lion

Here is a great picture of Joakim Rausch with one amazing Mountain Lion.  It was shared on Facebook recently and was removed after complaints from Anti-Hunters!  Hunters please share this picture on your blogs and let them know that we are proud of our right to hunt legally in North America! 

According to my blogging friend, Kevin Paulson, his HuntingLife.com Fan Page 

has gone viral with 37K shares and over 2.3 million people seeing it.  He has spent the better part of a day deleting comments from anti-hunters, not all of them mind you but the ones that are too crude for kids to read.  3400 comments and counting, he said.  An article is coming out today about why we share these kinds of pictures and why we support all legal hunting in North America!  Please check out the article for a very interesting read. 

Stormy Weather Coming

Went by the Louisiana Circle today to see if I could catch a towboat passing by my hometown of Vicksburg, MS.  I just missed an empty towboat making the turn in the bend of the Mississippi River.  Here are a few pictures I took and made the best of it after the towboat had passed.

A pulled-out picture on a very cloudy and windy day.

This is a dead tree stump at the circle.  There was a sparrow on the very top but flew off before I snapped this picture.  Last year I was able to take a picture of a mockingbird on the same stump and it was published in our hometown paper.

As I was leaving, I stopped to take a picture of the flag atop the old Hwy 80 bridge and saw this little sparrow looking around on the guard rail.  

I guess it was checking out which way the wind was blowing.

The wind was very strong today because of an impending storms headed our way.  

Strong winds and storms are in the forecast for this evening and tomorrow. 

Brandon Radar - Weather 

Megan's Tom Turkey

This is a great big tom turkey taken by Megan and she is so lucky!   My congrats to her in our great wild outdoors!  You go girl!

My Monday Walk

Yesterday was a perfect day for a walk in the Vicksburg National Military Park and as I was parking my truck I noticed the American Queen bus in the parking lot.  I haven't seen the American Queen in a very long time and knew where I had to go after my walk. 

I passed two ladies with their hands full of dogs.  They were so cute!  

I took a picture of the American Queen bus and continued on with my walk. 

When I looked back I saw the tourist walking to board the American Queen bus to go through the park.

After my walk I made it down to the waterfront and took a picture of the American Queen stacks.  The stacks lay down as they approach the bridges and then they raised them back up.  

The paddle wheel of the American Queen as it was turning.

A majestic full view of the American Queen!  As I was leaving the calliope started to play.  I just love the sound and you could hear it all over town.  

Yard Wildflowers

The grass is turning greener and wildflowers are popping up all over the yard and here comes another cold front.  I also hope the fruit trees (plum, pear and peach) survives or at least maybe they have had a good head start to make it.  I don't know what these flowers are called but thought they were pretty enough to take a pictures of them.  

A pretty yellow flowering bush that gives a nice pop of color to the yard.  

Entrance To The Vicksburg National Military Park

Last Friday I took off to our Vicksburg National Military Park for a short walk on the north loop.  It looked like some work was being done near the entrance to the Memorial Arch.  At one time the Memorial Arch stood astride Clay Street until 1967 when, having been declared a traffic hazard, was moved to the present site withing the park.  

Park employees were cutting some dead limbs out of the trees.  As I approached the area I had to wait until it was safe for me to continue my walk.    

To the left is a service road and you have to stay to the right through the park.  

As you can see another steep incline.  You can get a great work out in the park!

The first monument you come to is the Minnesota State Memorial.

I took an up-close picture of this bronze statue of a woman at the Minnesota State Memorial who is representing the "Statue of Peace."  She is holding a sword and shield from both armies who have placed their weapons in her keeping.  It is a 90-foot vertical column on Union Avenue.

A great place not only to walk but to take your pets as well.

As you can see another incline to the Memorial Arch walking back out.  The park is approximately 16 miles of tour roads.  It includes 1,325 historic monuments and markers, 20 miles of historic trenches and earthworks, a 12.5-miles walking trail, two antebellum homes, 144 emplaced cannons, restored gunboat USS Cairo which was sunk on December 12, 1862, on the Yazoo River and recovered successfully in 1964.  The park includes the Vicksburg National Cemetery which is the largest internment of Civil War dead in the nation. It is the burial place for nearly 17,000 Union solders.

Vicksburg Youth On The Hunt

Breck Farrior of Learned, MS, got an early jump on turkey season by shooting this big tom at 6:19 a.m. on opening day of the youth only season on March 8.  Breck, 9, was hunting with his father, Bill, on a private lease in southern Hinds County.  The turkey weighed 19 pounds and had a thick 9-1/2 inch beard with 1-1/4 inch spurs.

My congrats to Breck on a fine looking turkey in our great and wild outdoors!

Continued - Short Walk (South Loop) In Park

Major General Edward Ord

General Sherman said of Ord,  "As his intimate associate since boyhood, the General here bears testimony of him that a more unselfish, manly, and patriotic person never lived"  He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.  

Across the roadway is the Vicksburg National Military Park Visitors Center.

Getting ready to go back under Clay St. to leave the park.  It was a beautiful day for a walk in the park.  I am fortunate to have lived my life in a town with hallowed ground that is well preserved for all our welcome visitors. 

Short Walk (South Loop) In Vicksburg Military Park

Getting ready to walk under the Clay Street bridge to the south loop.  

After you go under the bridge you have a nice incline to go up.

At the top you have another bridge to walk over for the trains to pass under.  Looking towards the east.   

Looking towards the west. 

   

I was lucky to see a train heading east and capture this picture.  After I waved and took the picture he blew his train whistle at me!

Looking out towards the Iowa State Memorial where I was headed. 

 Major General John A. McClernand 

This is a far off picture of Major General John A. McClernand.

To be continued....