The first elk calf of the season was found Sunday afternoon in the Elk & Bison Prairie in the gorgeous Land Between the Lakes region.

She’s a real beauty, and like all proud “parents,” there is a picture of the baby that’s proudly being shown!  Click the link below and feast your eyes on the little cutie.

Elk Calf at the Elk and Bison Prairie in Land Between the Lakes

I’m literally obsessed with animals – with a particularly strong love for cats (large and small), bison, polar bears, elk, raccoons, and possums.   I just can’t get enough of any of them.  I have 4 cats as well as quite a few raccoons, possums, and rabbits that I feed regularly.  We don’t let the last three groups inside.  Raccoons don’t clean up well after themselves and possums never wipe their feet.

Deer can be seen pretty regularly around most of Kentucky as well – but when it comes to bison and elk, I rely on one place:  The Elk and Bison Prairie in Land Between the Lakes. It’s a place like none other.

I applaud the effort and care LBL gives to their wildlife.  The Friends of LBL is a non-profit organization that assists with the education, improvement, and conservation of the USDA Forest Service’s Land Between the Lakes.

Get this – this is fun!  The Friends of LBL has a new program where you can adopt a symbolic bison or elk. The cost is $30, plus a shipping charge if the package is mailed, for each animal adopted.  

With the adoption you receive:

• An adorable plush elk or bison tagged for the year you adopted it.
• An adoption certificate.
• Information about elk or bison, depending on which you adopted.
• A collage picture of elk or bison.
• An Elk-Bison prairie brochure and a token for a free admission to the prairie.

The proceeds from the adoption support environmental education, conservation activities, and programs in the Elk-bison prairie of Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area.

The adopt a bison or elk program is brand new. They will be in Friends of LBL gift shops before Thanksgiving or you can order them through the Friends Administrative offices. For more information or to order, contact jrufli@friendsoflbl.org . For more information on Friends of LBL, visit their website at http://www.friendsoflbl.org/

I’m so on board for this one – I want one of each. Geez, Louise, how could you choose?

“Soon after, I returned home to my family, with a determination to bring them as soon as possible to live in Kentucky, which I esteemed a second paradise, at the risk of my life and fortune.” – Daniel Boone

Photo Credit: The pictures in this post are of the beautiful Bison and Elk at the Elk and Bison Prairie in Land Between the Lakes. I can’t even tell you how much I love this prairie. Each time we leave, I want to turn right around and go back.

Michael took the pictures as I sat in the seat beside him “Oooooh-ing and Ahhhhh-ing.” Ooooh-ing and Ahhhh-ing used to be an Olympic sport, you know. Until, that is, my expertise made a mockery out of the competition. Just as well, I was running out of places for the medals.

True story.

Two of my favorite towns to visit when we’re down around Kentucky Lake, Lake Barkley, and Land Between the Lakes are Aurora and Grand Rivers. Grand Rivers offers a great deal wit it’s Badgett Playhouse, Grand Rivers Fudge Factory, Patty’s, Lighthouse Landing, and Green Turtle Bay. It’s a beautiful little village with a lot going for it.

Aurora has a different “vibe,” yet I enjoy it every bit as much as I do Grand Rivers.  Aurora, Kentucky seems to delight in being very laid back. This community is home to my favorite Willow Pond Restaurant, one of my all-time favorite BBQ Restaurants (Aurora BBQ – Home of the Winking Pig!), the Dinner Bell, and one of my favorite spots to unload cash that’s weighing down my purse – The Hitching Post Gifts and Country Store. I’ve never…never… gone into this charmingly fun store without exiting with loot that I can’t wait to take home.

In addition to an endless display of Kentucky memorabilia – from t-shirts, jewelery, and hats to candles, figurines, ornaments, and cookbooks – they carry a remarkable variety of Yoder’s Homestyle jams, jellies, etc. They also have BBQ sauces that’ll send you over the proverbial moon.

On our most recent trip, I got a jar of Yoder’s Homestyle Sweet Potato Butter. Have you ever had Sweet Potato Pie? Well, this Sweet Potato Butter pretty much lives in that delicious neighborhood. So, whether you put it on buttermilk biscuits, cornbread, or toast, you get that same amazing flavor. Frankly, I can’t say enough great things about it. Their Apple Butter is also ridiculously good.  It’s great on toast, served alongside scrambled eggs and bacon.

The next time you’re in the Land Between the Lakes region, make a point of visiting the “down home” friendly people at the Hitching Post Gifts and Country Store in Aurora. If you time your day just right, you can work up an appetite at the Hitching Post, have lunch with the winking pig, explore the beautiful Kentucky Lake area, and then make an appointment with the best hush puppies on earth at the Aurora Willow Pond that evening.

It’ll be a day you won’t forget.  Just be sure to remember the apple butter!

Oh, how I love possums! Or as many people call them, Opossums. We have a possum that makes nightly visits to our yard and has for several years. I’ve named her Margaret and anxiously look forward each night to her visits. I leave food out for her as well as for the raccoons: William Shakespeare, Agatha Christie, Louisa May Alcott, and Dean Koontz. Um, I like to read…) that also come each night. Adorable!

They love the cat food that our cats share with them but they also go wild for grapes, breadsticks, popcorn, corn on the cob, and just about anything else I give them. You haven’t seen cute until you’ve watched a possum or raccoon eat an ear of corn!

Possums are totally misunderstood. They’re actually very, very neat little babies. Margaret actually washes her hands in a bowl of water I leave out. She also likes to turn it over intentionally and paddle through it. I’ve watched possums bathe themselves as meticulously as any cat. They’re also much cuter than most people seem to realize. If you look right at their little faces, you’ll see just how cute they are. I can’t say much for their tails – they’re kind of unattractive, but then again they may say the same thing about humans. Whatever, Margaret, whatever.

The Nature Station at beautiful Land Between the Lakes is having a program called Pocket Full o’Possum at 2 p.m. on August 26th. You can visit with the Nature Stations resident Opossum as she eats and learn more about her. If you go, look at the face – I dare you to tell me she’s not cute! You’ll find out how she carries her babies in her pouch (did you know possums are North America’s only marsupial?), how she “plays possum,” and find out how much she loves persimmons. Persimmons, huh? I’ll have to toss a few to Mags.

Speaking of tossing, when Margaret first came, she had a boyfriend (“David” – I have no explanation for that). He was a pretty big guy and a little bolder than most possums. He’d sit under my husband’s car and I could put food on the ground nearby. He’d waddle out and eat it, then go back under the car like, “Now what’cha got?” One night, I had leftover breadsticks from a Spaghetti supper. I saw him under the car, looking toward the door. When I opened it, he came out a few inches. I went out and tossed the breadstick his way and he caught the thing in his mouth! I could’ve made him a YouTube star if I had a few more hands.

Sadly, David died last winter – I think he was really, really old. When I found him on our patio, I hoped he was just doing a remarkable job of “playing possum,” but unfortunately he wasn’t.

Possums have a reputation for being mean which is something else I’ve never witnessed. Margaret sometimes has company over – some nights I look out and there are three or four possums. Any time I’ve ever encountered one, they either freeze in fear or scurry off. They don’t seem to want a confrontation of any sort, ever.

Learn more about this misunderstood and adorable animal on August 26th at The Nature Station.

I was just writing on my Recipe Blog how much I LOVE this time of year. Everything about it! The crisper air, the baking, approaching halloween, and knowing that Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the bend. I feel as anxious and excited as a fat cat sitting in front of a plate of tuna.

This year, excitement for something else is joining the mix – adding a bit of catnip to the fat cat scenario. Grand Rivers Variety! will be putting on a production of Bus Stop from September 4th to October 4th. Click HERE to read a synopsis as well as grab access to the schedule.

The amazing musical and comedy production, Variety! Music Memories, and More is also playing. It’s a whole lot of fun, for all ages. Anyone who loves singing, dancing, comedy, and walks down Memory Lane will love this show. The cast is amazingly talented and full of so much energy and life. You’ll have the time of your life. Speaking of which, I wish the hilarious Greater Tuna was still playing! The performers who made all of these larger than life characters come to life put on a show I’ll never forget.

Fortunately, I have a Tuna Christmas to look forward to. I believe the first show will be on November 20th, so I believe you’ll know where to find me if you need me. That’ll be exactly a week before Thanksgiving – cool. They’ll actually be putting on a show on Thanksgiving night. Can you believe the bravery?! I’d be so filled up with stuffing, sweet potato pie, mashed potatoes, sourdough rolls, pumpkin pie, turkey, green beans, and cranberry salad – the laughter would kill me.

There’ll also be a Variety! Christmas show and I can’t wait for that. Can you imagine how beautiful the scenery and singing will be? Wow.

Okay, okay. I’m pulling myself out of Christmas and I’m putting down the Turkey leg. There. Happy?

Be sure to mark your calendar for Bus Stop today. Grab your tickets and make an appointment with the night of your life.

The Homeplace is one of my favorite places in the Land Between the Lakes region. It’s a beautiful, peaceful setting and I always look forward to my visits with the cattle, sheep, pigs, and chickens. PLUS it’s close to a bison range and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE bison. They amaze me. I also love The Homeplace’s gift shop because shopping is something else that amazes me. (My poor husband can attest to that.)

On Sunday, August 24th, The Homeplace will have their annual “Puttin’ By the Garden” program.

From Leisure Scene: A Publication of the Marshall County Tribune Courier:
Summer fruits and vegetables had to be preserved for the winter months; however, before home canning became popular, preserving was a slow, tricky job. Visit the ladies of The Homeplace as they “put by” the garden and orchard harvest. Program free with HP admission.

The program is at 1 pm at the Homeplace. If it’s like it has been in past years, there’ll be amazing fruit and vegetables out on display. I swear, theres always produce that blows your mind.

If you like for your mind to be blown in another (slippery) direction – at 1:30 pm, at the Nature’s Station, there’ll be a Snake-y program. You get to meet some of the Nature Station’s resident snakes up close (AYYYYEEE!) and learn more about them. Rumor has it that these reptiles have a rotten reputation that they really don’t deserve and that people like me (with a little thing we like to call phobic fear) needn’t be so terrified. Yeah. Right.

Seriously, the program would be very educational and maybe (just maybe) if I’d ever made friends with these things I wouldn’t be so frightened of them now.

The program is free with Nature Station admission.

It’s actually a real shame that these programs overlap. Most people, I believe, would really enjoy BOTH, but they have to make a choice.

Also, if you’ve never been to The Homeplace before, don’t make the mistake of thinking that it’s a place children wouldn’t enjoy. Not only have our girls always love it, I’ve never seen an unhappy, non-laughing, non-playing kid there. Ever.

About a week ago I wrote a post extolling the virtues of Docker’s Bayside Grill. You remember, Onion Ring Mecca. (I tried to get hooked up with some during Marina Day, because I’d been thinking about them all week, but they couldn’t “come out and play” – so I settled for chips. That’s okay, I don’t mind when they play hard to get.)

We left home early to make sure we got to Docker’s in time for breakfast this time. Good move. No, great move.

My husband ordered the omelette to absolutely end all omelettes. This thing was an absolute work of art. It was HUGE and when I threatened to kick him under the table, he actually parted with a bite – delicious!

I got a biscuit, gravy, and hasbrowns. The gravy was so amazing I’m not even fit to describe it. It’s next to impossible to get good gravy out, but this gravy couldn’t have been better if it’d been served by Johnny Depp, himself. (Did I mention he’s from Owensboro?) The biscuit was spectacular, too. If you order gravy and biscuits – and I strongly recommend it – be sure to order the “2 biscuits” option because they’re very generous with their gravy, you’ll want plenty of bread to grab every drop.

The hasbrowns were perfect, too. Not over-cooked, not under-cooked – just perfect. I loved that about them and I told them so. Even the coffee was Heavenly!

Make it a point to find yourself in Grand Rivers, Kentucky on your next available morning. Then point your empty stomach in the direction of the gorgeous Green Turtle Bay Resort & Marina. (Take your morning paper with you if you think anything’s fit to read.) When you get to Docker’s Bayside Grill, sit facing the window and the spectacular view it offers, order your breakfast and coffee and get ready for it. “It” being the ridiculously silly smile that’s about to spread across your face.

This silly grin is another reason to sit facing the windows. You don’t want anyone else to see you like that. The windows, however, are so used to that face they think that’s how humans are supposed to look.

A photographer buff can be certain of one thing when they take their camera to Land Between the Lakes – there’s something amazing to photograph just about everywhere you look.

That’s going to serve one talented shutterbug well.  Entries are now being accepted for The 2008 Land Between The Lakes Photo Competition.

The competition is open to all photographers – all that is required is the completion of a registration form and an entrance fee.  The entrance fee is $20 – $15 if you’re a member of the Friends of LBL.

Contest Categories:

• Mammals – Portraits and Behavior
• Birds – Portraits and Behavior
• Small World – Tight Close Up and Macro
• Connecting People and Nature -People enjoying the LBL
• Habitat – Landscapes and plant life from wild areas
• Digitally Enhanced

Submitted photos must, of course, originate within the Land Between the Lakes. The entry deadline is September 15, 2008. Prizes totaling $3,500 will be awarded on October 25, 2008. The grand prize is $300.  Can you san Santa money?!?!

Click HERE for the contest rules and registration form.  Good luck!

As I’ve already written, when we moved to a larger server, we lost a lot of posts and reviews. As luck would have it, the longest review I ever wrote (for the Grand River’s Variety! Music, Memories, and More show) was amongst the casualties.

Eh, that’s life. Frankly, if that’s the worst thing that happens to me this month, I’m thrilled – and blessed. Besides, there’s more words where those words came from, so I’ll just rare back and do it all again!

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