Wild Irises Starting to Bloom in a Georgia Bog

In late March, I flew on a plane again, for the first time since October 2016 (when I returned from South Africa).  I have not missed flying, and feeling like a prisoner (thanks airlines) much at all.  Instead, I've been driving back and forth from our "summer house" in Olympia WA and our regular place in Monterey, CA.  In the summers, I've been trying to visit swimming holes in Oregon, WA, and CA.  The ipad app "Swimming Holes of Oregon" has been an invaluable tool. 

I flew to Savannah, Georgia, to visit my old pal Andy.  Andy works as a field biologist for the Georgia DNR, always part time, as he does not want to work full time.  His job now and for the past 15 years or so has been to survey kites, a bird of prey.  Kites are rare -- not quite declared federally endangered.  He spends all day, every day, for four months boating and hiking to find kite nests and surveying kites.  There are not that many.  The rest of the year he travels or has held jobs where he walks around and looks for indigo snakes. 

Andy has been exactly the same since I knew him in the second grade when we used to wander around in the woods in Atlanta looking for snakes and turtles.  Still doing the same thing.  The government somehow lowered his pay from ridiculously low to insanely low!  He never has cared much about money. 

He always seems to get government or nonprofit housing.  I've visited him in a few places where he's worked, and the government housing has always been adequate, even really nice, in the middle of wildernesses -- perfect for folks like him.  I am kind of stunned to see how much money is spent on this, both state and federal funds, and nonprofit funds. 

He lives and works now in a swamp-filled, snake-infested wilderness reserve near Savannah with too many ticks and mosquitoes for me.  I attach a photo of irises in a bog there that are just starting to bloom.  These wild iris are just starting to open.  In a week or two it will be incredible.  I will have to come back at the right time sometime.  Mosquitoes ate me up, and three tick bite areas have lasted over two weeks now!  I think that it was almost worth the insect bites to see wild irises like this.  Insects don't seem to bother Andy at all.