Paul Lester Photo

Man! You just missed him! A little while a go there was a pretty big alligator right over there!
-Anonymous fisherman

On the way home I saw a sign that said “Ashley River Access”. I hadn’t known that there was a river nearby, so I went to investigate. Upon getting out of my car and walking towards the river, one of the fisherman there said the above quote to me. He saw my camera and thought that I’d like to take a picture of an alligator. Mind you, I’ve never seen a gator other than from the safe confines behind some glass at the zoo!

I want to go back out to the river tomorrow morning and get some shots, or perhaps another morning, but I think that I’ll stick to the the little fishing docks and not go off into the tall grass! Yikes!

While I was there, I stopped and talked to a few guys who were fishing. They invited me to fish with them and said that they are there every single day at about 6:30 PM. Looks like I’ll need to bring my poles down with me. That sound like a lot more fun than sitting in a apartment and watching TV or reading.

Notice how far away I was from the gulf! (Point A)
The water in the river, believe it or not, is brackish. That is it is a mixture of salt and fresh water. The nearest inlet is about 12 or 14 miles away, yet, I could see the tide coming into the river! I never knew that the salt water came so far inland!!!

I’m looking forward to exploring this river in the mornings and fishing it in the evenings.

There are two sides to every coin, or every cloud has a silver lining, perhaps. I have a book that I like by Dr. Dwayne Dyer. It’s called “Change your thoughts. Change your life.” It’s not about positive thinking or anything like that, but it is more about accepting things that come your way. Our days, categorized as good or bad, have to do with the way we think about them. In reality, it’s just another day.

I’ve been here for only a few days, but I miss my family and my normal routine; however, it’s not so bad because I’m not letting my thoughts get in the way. Yesterday, I stepped out of my normal ‘shell’ and went to Folly Beach, SC. It was a nice outing. The weather was about 88 degrees and, as usual at the beach, very breezy. I walked around, took pictures, and generally had a good time, even though I was by myself.

My inclination would have been to come home, hang out in the room and read, but I want to break that ‘habit’ and take full advantage of this time away from home. Being away from home does have its advantages:

• I can drink milk or cranberry juice straight out of the bottle! No glass required! It’s a guy thing! I had to laugh when I did it yesterday!!!
• I don’t have to clean up if I don’t want to!
• I have no evening duties of cooking, cleaning, or running the ever-busy shuttle service for Mr. Tony Lester.
• I don’t have to watch chick flicks if I don’t want to!
• I can find stuff where I left it!!!

Certainly, I miss home, but I think that once things get rolling at work where I have a normal work day, whatever that is, I will fall into the swing of it and keep myself and my camera very busy! For these few first days, I get to come home at lunch time and read blogs and grab a bite to eat, as it is only about 6 minutes away from work. Starting next week, I’ll be in my apartment and will not be able to go home. Most of the guys eat at their desks and leave after 8 hours, which is fine by me. I prefer it, but didn’t want to do any serious grocery shopping this week as I have to leave this place on Friday and didn’t want to haul additional stuff to the apartment.

Note: A couple of pictures from Folly Beach, SC. I’ll post more later. I’m pressed for time at this moment.

Having been away from home for more time than not in the last 3 weeks, I’ve become accustomed to staying in a hotel room. This is my first morning in Charleston and as my apartment is not ready, I’m stying in an extended stay ‘suite’, which is just a fancy name for a hotel room. The only difference being that there is an additional 50 or 60 square feet for a ‘full kitchen’, which consists of a 2 burner electric stove, a microwave oven, a small sink, and a refrigerator.

Last evening as I was about to pull into the parking lot of this hotel, I noticed a sign about 1 block from here: “Intown Suites. $229/week”. Hmmm, I thought. $229/week, that comes to about $916/month, all inclusive. At first, the idea had merit. I decided to check into it. The first thing that I did when I got to my room was log onto the Internet connection and check it out. What I found was that these were efficiency suites … in other words, hotel rooms. They looked identical to the place that I’m staying right now.

After an honest assessment, I wondered if I could live for 3 months in 200 square feet or less. Renting the ‘suite’ for 3 months would probably save me about $1200 over the 3 month period, but I’m not sure if it is worth it. I’ll have to think about it. The difference in size is about 550 sf. The apartment being 750 sf, the room, 200 sf.

Also, as I am by myself, there is the consideration of some type of community. Here, everything feels transient. People are here for a week or two, perhaps longer, then they are gone. At least in an apartment, people tend to stay for longer periods of time so, if you are inclined, there is a chance to get to know your neighbors. Also, staying in such a small box seems to make the time drag, at least that’s what it feels like having spent so much time in a hotel room; however, all of that said, I’m not a world traveler used to spending the majority of my nights in a hotel room. I do like to have space spread out and make myself comfortable and having only a bed and a chair seems to limit the choices greatly.

I know that there are some of you out there who have traveled extensively or are doing the same type of work/home thing that I’m doing. I know that Thomas has been doing it for quite some time. Any thoughts?

Well, I’m off to my first day of work. More tomorrow.

Every once in a while I’ll notice a dead bird carcass in the backyard. As I have a feeder, I have a number of birds visit daily. They are, of course, a pleasure to watch; however, it becomes a feeding ground for those who like birds for other reasons, mainly food.

On occasion, when I’m lucky, a hawk will stop by; however, this morning that was not the case. While Hobbs was out looking for the perfect place to make his contribution to the recycling effort, I noticed a regular visitor.

This cat can be seen on the prowl almost daily, stalking the birds near the feeder. The birds are pretty much aware of him, but every once in a while, he gets one of them. Usually, as soon as I walk out of the door, he’s gone. This morning, he was far enough away, on the neighbor’s fence, that I didn’t spook him. He stayed long enough to let me get my camera and take a few shots. This was an ideal hiding spot. He was partially obscured by the tree and had a direct line of site to the bird feeder, which, if you followed the fence would be directly down the fence line to the right.

One time I let Hobbs out, he caught site of the cat, gave chase, and cornered him at the front of the house. I had to pick Hobbs up and take him back in the house. He’s no match for this fellow, to be sure. The last thing that I wanted was to have to rush Hobbs to the vet with several claw lacerations all over his body! Hobbs is a lover, not a fighter. Like most Schnauzers, he has a big heart and is brave to the point of stupidity. That doesn’t make up for fighting skill!

I kept changing angles to get different shots, getting ever closer. Finally, he’d had enough and decided to go hunt elsewhere … at least until I went back into the house.