I had great plans for an exciting adventure this morning. After talking to fellow volunteer Barry, I was off to find and photograph things at a wading bird rookery that is located in St. Mary, GA. I was hoping to see all kinds of nesting birds around a pond that is located on the property of the Naval Submarine Base in St. Mary. It�s right near the Atlantic coast. The directions to get there were quite involved, and I rushed back to the rig to write them down yesterday afternoon.
The directions were great, but as I arrived at the entrance to Etowah Park, there was a locked gate with barbed wire on top and warnings to keep out. Shucks! There were birds flitting around all over behind that locked gate. I thought maybe there was another entrance a little further down the road, so I drove on. I drove past two signs that said No POVs allowed. Since I didn�t know what a POV was, I kept going. I didn�t get very far. The road dwindled down to a golf cart path bordering the golf course. Does POV mean personally owned vehicle?? Not being a military type, I quickly turned around before the base MPs found me.
I was disappointed to say the least. I filled the toad�s gas tank and did my grocery shopping in Kingsland before heading back home. On a whim, I pulled into the Verizon store. I have a dumb phone and explained that to the customer service lady. I wanted to know if there was a semi-smart phone that was available. I just wanted to be able to have an app or two on my phone along with being able to make or receive an occasional phone call.
You want what??
I presently have a Sprint dumb phone through my oldest son�s plan. That means I have to remember to send him money each month for it, and I�ve had next to no service for it since I�ve been here at Okefenokee. It�s a pain. My air card is through Verizon, and I�ve been able to use that here for my internet stuff.
She came up with a �smart� phone with 2G/month of Verizon internet along with lots of other features including apps. I don�t text, but all I have to do with this phone is talk into it to text. The price was reasonable for me using the 65 and older plan, so I went with it. Most depressing was the fact that she didn�t even ask my age to see if I qualified. 
So why did I suddenly decide to make this leap into the 21st Century? Well, we have an intern here who is most interested in learning more about birds. He, of course, has a smart phone with an app with all the bird calls on it. He will sometimes come over to chat while I�m outside in the evening with Emma, and we talk birds. When he whipped out his phone to play some bird calls, I was envious. I could sure use something like that if I�m going to do some breeding bird surveys (BBS) in Minnesota this spring. Seems only fitting that the birds have made me expand my comfort zone with technology.
It�s a learning curve for sure with the new phone, so guess I�d better start practicing flicking my finger across the touch screen. I also need to call my son, Daniel, to cancel my Sprint phone.
Thanks for stopping by� talk to you later, Judy
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