Georgia - Day 8 - in the Cordele campground, round 1

Cordele KOA, Cordele

Thursday, 9 through Thursday, 16 March 2023

I can divide this period into a few general categories.

RV life

For the first few days, the wifi here was frustrating, often working only intermittently.  I had my hotspot, but one of the amenities I expected here was a functioning wifi network.  I asked the manager, who apologized, said he was having problems with it too and had called the repair folks who promised to be out Monday.  Which was the day I'd planned to leave.  

But one advantage of this campground is that all the spaces are unusually wide - most places pack people in pretty close to their neighbors.  The campground is surrounded by mostly pines, but some years ago someone planted a whole lot of pecan trees here, and many campsites have one.  At the moment they're all still bare - pecans leaf out later than many other species - but they're still a nice presence.

So with the promise of improved wifi, I extended my stay an extra week.  I'd already used the laundry and showers, and they were just fine.  I had to work a bit to find a level spot on this campsite and I could see others wouldn't be any better, but since I could find a level place and everything else was okay, I decided to stay here to do some catching up.

One afternoon I had the door and windows opened because it was warm outside, so I could easily see that the people who'd just arrived in the next space didn't seem to have any idea what to do with their hoses and so forth.  The nice KOA manager spent a lot of time helping them get set up - and the folks told me later that he'd actually given them an extra sewer hose to augment the too-short one they had, and the manager's wife had gone into town to buy them a water hose, which they'd left home without.  

I went over and offered help when, later on, I saw water spewing from their hose connection to the spigot and the folks couldn't seem to figure out what to do about it.  They had a fancy Class A and, though I had zero experience with one, I was able to figure out how to get their hose on right and fill their water tank, which they'd arrived with empty.  They told me they'd just bought this RV and were on their way to boondock for several weeks with some other RVers.  I'm guessing that those others had to walk these folks through how to boondock just like the manager and I had here.  Boondocking, in my opinion, isn't for the novice or the faint of heart - doing without all hookups and amenities and relying only on what you're carrying with you is complicated.  But they were really nice people, so I imagine it'll all work out for them.

The next day that same site was occupied by a Chateau just like mine except the outside graphics were different.  I thought about going to talk to them but then saw the back window was covered in political stickers.  Some were somewhat innocuous: "I Like Ike" and "George W. Bush" for instance (they really had those).  But they all looked seriously Republican and, the way folks take politics these days, I decided to not push things.  Too bad.

Equinox here came early - on the 16th instead of the 20th - sunrise at 7:44 and sunset at 7:44.

Speaking of which, Sunday the 12th was the beginning of Daylight Savings Time.  I'd overslept until 4:30 this morning so I was already running late.  Then once I'd done the "spring forward" bit, I was even farther discombobulated.  And it didn't get much better as the days went on.  As a morning person, I find not having the sun rise until almost the beginning of the working day nearly depressing.  And of course, for one who prefers going to bed around 7:30, having sunset farther and farther after that is hard.  I've ended up not being sleepy until 8:30, and then oversleeping in the morning until 3:30 or 4:00.  

We all - including me - adjust to the gradual lengthening of the days every spring.  But this artificial move to a different time zone is seriously unnatural.  I've been gratified to find many more news articles this year than in the past that explain the scientific reasons why not only should we not make Daylight Savings Time permanent, but in fact we should do away with it altogether as being unhealthy for us.

Trips to town

This campground is 4 miles from the town of Cordele, pronounced core-DEEL.  In 2020, it had just over 10,000 residents, 8% lower than the 2010 census.  The signs at the edge of town say it's "The Gateway to South Georgia," but Cordele actually calls itself the Watermelon Capital of the World."  They hold a watermelon festival every summer.  I made several trips into town and gradually got to see quite a bit of it, though there were some places I never managed to get to.  For instance, they're proud of the nearby Georgia Veterans State Park, which I haven't visited.  The county courthouse is here in town, though I haven't found it yet.  And there's a motorsports park that is official enough to hold a sanctioned annual preseason race.  Instead, I visited various businesses and parks.

I picked up a new inhaler from the local CVS and, considering the way I've been feeling, I'll be using it a lot.

I found one of the local liquor stores - Sonny's Liquor - which was in a sort of strip mall that fronted on an alley.  But its address was on the main street a half block over, so it took me a while to figure out where it was and how to get there.  It was a small store, with most of the hard liquor behind the counter on tall shelves.  I went there twice and both times the owner (maybe) helped me - a tiny woman with a strong accent from India or so.  Once the bottle I wanted was a big bottle on the very highest shelf, and when I realized that, I told her I'd choose a more accessible one.  But she climbed up on something I couldn't see behind that tall counter and managed to pick up that heavy bottle, even though she had trouble reaching it.  When I found out how heavy it was, I told her I didn't know how she'd managed to get it down without dropping it.  Very nice woman, though I had to work a bit to get her to talk much.

The town has 3 grocery stores, and they're all in a row together for some reason.  On one end was a Walmart, on the other end was a pleasant local store with a good selection, and in the middle was a Sav-A-Lot, which is a chain I've come across but not tried before.  I'm not much for those huge discount places, which is what those stores have been in other places.  Here, it has almost no stock, and I'm guessing that when the Walmart moved in, the Sav-A-Lot started to wither, and the local store - Harvey's - held onto all the non-Walmart folks like me.

On one trip, I was listening to Here And Now on NPR and they were interviewing the author of a work about how to master things.  He learned to master a variety of skills, such as baking and boxing, and spent time with magicians learning how they mastered their craft.  The book really sounds interesting - another one I'd like to read when I settle down.  It's called The Real Work: On the Mystery of Mastery by Adam Gopnik.  There's an excerpt of the book at this link.   https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/adam-gopnik-book-real-work

I found several parks in town (for walking Dext), but one - Lions Club Park and Fairground - was always chained shut.  We went to the 19th Avenue Park a couple of times, but it was really tiny - just a neighborhood park with a couple of picnic tables and some playground equipment and some winding paved paths.  So we mostly went to Turner Park, which was larger.  It too had some picnic tables and playground equipment, but it also had tennis courts and the clubhouse for the local Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and much longer winding paved paths.  Both these parks had lots of trees and were very pleasant.

And one trip to town was for grooming for all the critters.

Critters

Beginning with that grooming trip: partly it was to get Dext a bath and partly it was to get the felines' claws clipped.  Dext had been rolling around on his back really often lately, and it finally occurred to me that he might be dirty enough that his skin was itching.  Online I found 3 grooming places in town and tried the 2 less popular ones first, figuring they'd be more likely to work us in.  But when I looked on Google maps to see if they seemed respectable - well, they didn't.  In fact, the building where one was supposed to be located was a wreck (the roof was caved in) and had old semis parked in front of it.  Anyway, I called the popular one and he agreed to work us in 2 days later, which was perfect.

Dext came out looking like a cleaner, less hairy version of himself - and at his first chance he started rolling around on the grass.  So much for my $40.

I found a vet's office to clip the cat claws.  They'd scheduled me when they had a lot of other things going on and, though I'd warned them it would take 2 people, they said all but one was busy with other animals.  We started with Lily, and that was a big mess.  I don't have the knack for holding her down in a non-moving position, so she was able to completely intimidate the person with the clippers with her hissing and clawing and attempts to bite and so forth.  That person finally ended up begging another staffer to help, and they got all the kitties taken care of.  The kittens didn't like it much and acted like this had never happened to them before, though I think this is clip job #4 for them.  All in all, I think that's one vet clinic that's glad we were just passing through.

One day Dext vomited most of the morning.  I'd have worried except I knew that the day before he'd eaten a chunk of another dog's poop that was old and mixed with grass.  I was really peeved then so not wildly sympathetic while having to clean up the mess.  Although it was a little funny watching the kittens try to figure out how to deal with it.  I was afraid they'd try to eat it, but instead they just wanted to bury it.

Dext followed the several rounds of that with loose bowel movements when we got outside - pretty standard for him when he's eaten some kind of garbage.  He finally seemed okay in the afternoon - and then really irked me by trying to find something else to eat.  I mean, sure he was hungry from having lost his breakfast, but he just does not connect that discomfort with eating yucky stuff.

One evening I was trying to fix my own dinner after having fed all the others, and the kittens kept trying to get to my food.  Over and over I was yelling at them - I think I was really yelling - and they just ignored me until I physically moved them away.  But once I went over to close the door (I thought the pollen outside might be why I was having trouble breathing) and then saw the kittens leaning over the table to get to the ham and cheese and I SCREAMED at them.  That actually scared them enough to make them run, and it lasted long enough for me to finish cooking and eat my food.  I'm so glad I never had children - I'd be buried in guilt feelings.

Nature in the campground

During our first night here we had some serious rain, and it kept raining off and on all the next day.  We ended up with half an inch of water outside the RV's door - I have rubber boots but Dext just had to wade through it, which he doesn't like to do.

A few days later we had some very serious lightning in the morning.  When lightning hits close by, I've noticed it makes a very loud crack; thunder is what we hear when the lightning is farther away and I guess that loud crack is the thunder when it's right here.  Anyway, that crack was so loud it scared everybody, me included, and the kittens ran around the cabin looking for a safe place to hide.  Dext stayed right by my leg, while I patted him for a while to calm him down.

We had a range in temps, and it didn't always feel like the formal temperature would suggest.  For instance, one day it was supposed to get up to 62°, and it felt a whole lot chillier than the 70° the next day.  In fact, several mornings we needed the heater for hours, with all the critters hanging out in front of it when it was running.

While we were here, spring was gradually coming - as it is wont to do.  

These are really common, but I was interested in how
the tiny red balls become tiny white balls that become
bigger white balls and then burst out into fluffy white flowers.

I didn't realize for days that these are flowers on a chinaberry tree. 
I haven't seen one in a while, and it took old chinaberries lying
on the ground for me to figure it out.  Really pretty flowers.

I was sitting in the campground's dog park one day, waiting while Dext enjoyed lying in the sun, and I noticed a squirrel in the tree right above us.  She was in constant motion, running to tree after tree, breaking off 6" or 8" pieces of twigs that held 5 or so new green leaves, and bringing them back to a large conglomeration of sticks.  I came to realize those sticks were an enclosed nest and that she was lining it inside with these leaves.  I watched her go nonstop for about 15 minutes before Dext decided to leave.  When we got back to the RV, I looked it up, which is why I know it was probably a she, and that she was preparing her nest.  I'm sorry that I won't get to see the babies - they nurse for about 2 months before they're ready to leave the nest.  I never saw this before and feel lucky.

The squirrels here have skinny tails, though online photos show they don't usually.

Eastern gray squirrel

It seems especially odd to me because this place is a paradise for pecan lovers (e.g. squirrels), and surely pecans have enough nutrients to produce fluffy tails like the one in the photo.

Miscellaneous

I got 10 posts done during this period and still have 5 more in Florida plus 8 more in Georgia.  Still a lot of catching up to do.

I started finding it hard to keep track of what day it actually is, because when I write the daily posts I'm immersed in that time and tend to think any given day is the day I've been writing about.

For quite a while now, the stream of water out of my kitchen faucet has been gradually diminishing.  This happened a couple of years ago, so I know that the cause is a clogged filter in the faucet and that the only remedy is to replace the entire faucet assembly.  The filter can't be reached without (apparently) breaking the outer casing.

Then there was the time I set Jimmy's food down on the floor, only to find there was a small puddle of water at the base of the cabinet under the frig.  After Jimmy was done, I inspected and discovered that it was dripping through the roof of the cabinet and leaking out into the cabin floor, due to the freezer thawing, due to the frig not staying cold even though it was set on its coldest setting.  The nice KOA manager suggested a local company that advertises in the campground's brochure and, hoping to get both problems fixed, I called a couple of times but so far no result.

Despite the freezer not working right at times, when I put a bottle of white wine up there to give it a quick chill, and then forgot and left it in overnight, the wine froze solid.  I have no idea whether it'll even be drinkable, but I didn't want to throw it out without giving it a try, so it's sitting in the frig thawing out slowly.

My asthma has been pretty bad, and I have indeed been using the inhaler.  I'm almost beginning to believe I've developed - if not allergies - sensitivity to pollen in my old age, which I think is incredibly rude.  Why on earth can't I just spend the last 25 or so years of my life not having to worry about such things when I've already had 70+ years without them.

Once when I was filling up my gas tank I noticed I'm now down to only 1 hubcap.  My poor RV is looking like a total refugee - dirty and straggly.  Poor little thing.  It deserves better - but I haven't stayed in one spot long enough to give it better, plus not having enough money for such frivolities as hubcaps.

Since I'd been here so long, and since I was sort of in the neighborhood, I decided to take a day trip up to Macon.  I've wanted to visit that city for a long time because (this will sound dumb) my sorority was founded there.  So while I was waiting for Dext to be done at the dog groomers, I planned a trip up there, and I'll go tomorrow (Friday the 17th).