Workamping in Ohio

   

The horses on the ranch

 

Hillsides covered in trillium

Morels, it was my lucky day!!

     Ohio was a lovely place to be this year.  Rolling hills with beautiful spring wildflowers and delicious mushrooms greeted us when we arrived back in east central Ohio. We spent the spring, summer and fall at a private campground not far from Mark's family. Mark worked on the grounds crew. He spent his time cleaning up campsites, mowing and weed eating. I tried out working in the general store, then at the front desk, before I found a spot on the activities team. Mark thought I played more than I worked. I had so much fun, leading archery and water yoga. I got to do activities and read nature books with kids in the nature center. I planned crafts and lead hikes. I helped make some short movies (and co-starred with bigfoot's daughter!) and got paid to go canoeing. My schedule included leading line dancing each weekend, and Mark is much better at that than I am, so he took over for me and did a great job! Not sure what job could be better than this one was!!

One day the activities staff took a hike to harvest some chicken of the woods!
We did bring some campers with us too!

     We enjoy being surrounded by nature, and we were not disappointed. The raccoons were everywhere in the spring. They especially liked to scavenge in the campground dumpsters at night.

Part of Mark's job was to let these guys out of the dumpsters each morning.

I also learned that they like chili, when I caught one in my chili pot after we set it outside to cool off. Deer roamed thoughout the campground, and the songbirds nested in cabin siding, above lights and just about anywhere they could get into.

Baby birds that were in a hole in the cabin next to our camper

Did you know that Bigfoot is commonly spotted in eastern Ohio? I had fun searching for him with campers and might have spotted a place that could have been his bed on one of the hikes I led (like I said, I enjoyed my job here)!

Part of the activities staff at the Luau party 

      The weather was good, lots of warm sunshine and almost no biting bugs (a nice reprieve after last summer in Maine). The lily pads at Salt Fork State Park seemed to bloom for about 2 months!

We filled our bellies with fresh blackberries, (I think I forgot to put any in the bucket) and even had a small grape harvest at Mark's Dad's house . I grew a small garden.

I enjoyed my little garden. The kale did great!!

We had fun fishing and enjoyed fresh bluegill from the pond on Mark's Dad's property.

  We found an Amish auction, with a cash and carry table, and we enjoyed their fresh produce all summer.

There was lots of good produce at the
farmers market, and cinnamon rolls too!

   

The pumpkins and squash were beautiful!

     We were lucky to be able to watch 3 monarch caterpillars transform into beautiful butterflies this fall in the nature center.   I brought the first caterpillar in and must have had eggs on some of the milkweed I brought in later to feed it,  because we were very surprised to find the second and third caterpillars in the terrarium.

All ready to form its chrysalis

A perfect chrysalis

All ready to come out!

The next morning the chrysalis was black!
 Was the butterfly dead or ready to hatch?

It hatched!!! Here it is before it unfolds its wings!

This one is ready to fly now!

    Watching a butterfly take its first flight was pretty cool!

    Both our kids had big summers this year, although we weren't able to be with them for these milestones in their lives due to COVID 19. Kari spent 15 months working and traveling around New Zealand with her fiance Jess. When they realized that they wouldn't be able to have the wedding they were hoping for in the US, they decided to get married in Punakaki, (Pancake Rocks), New Zealand. We are so happy to welcome our new daughter-in-law, Jess, into our family. 

     We had fun while Kari bunked with us, for a month, while she looked for a job.  She is now in Dallas, Texas for her new job. Jess was able to fly over last week on a 6 month visa. They are waiting patiently for Jess's green card so that she can live and work here permanently. (She is from England, across the pond.)

     Ben finished his PhD in biochemistry, in July. We were able to watch his defense on Zoom.

After finding his first industry job, he bought a house in the Durham, North Carolina area that he shares with his boyfriend, Anthony.  Both kids are doing well, and we are excited for them both as they start their careers.

We got to celebrate Mark's dad's birthday with the family!

    

There were adorable baby goats at the family farm!

The summer was challenging as we had hoped to visit family and friends more while we were in Ohio this year. But there will be time for that in the future. We were very fortunate to have had a beautiful place to live, jobs, and good health during all of this. We hope that everyone is staying healthy and safe, and we look forward to life getting back to a new normal in the future.