“Take only memories, leave only footprints.”
Chief Seattle
Today we decided to take our dog, Penny for a walk at Phinzey Swamp Nature Park. First, a little of the history before I get into my tale to tell for today. Hold on as this story is worth the wait. This beautiful swampy park has eleven hundred acres, but the swamp is estimated to have about seven thousand acres and covers a good part of the land from Doug Bernard Parkway, Gordon Highway, and the Savannah River. At one time, this area was used as cattle pastures and for farming. From 1950 to 1973, the land was used as a beef farm run by Gracewood, a state run health institution and was then nicknamed “swamp farm.” In 1973, the city of Augusta built a wastewater treatment plant and started tightening up their environmental laws. It was not until the 1990’s when Phinzey Center for Water Sciences (then named Southeastern Natural Science Academy was cleaned up and is now a recovering ecosystem. It is a beautiful area now and well worth a walk.
So back to our story. We decided to take Penny, our Chocolate Lab for a walk on this sunny day. Note that she is a LAB. We enjoyed walking around the dirt trails to the area that has open fields and wild life galore. We observed a Blue Heron, dragon flies, a red shouldered hawk and nest, Osprey, and beautiful wetlands. Fortunately, we did not see an alligator that day which was a good thing in what was to come. The gift store and small museum were interesting, and the picnic area was nice and clean. What a beautiful place with Spanish moss in the trees and so peaceful and quiet with a feel like we were far from civilization. This is a great place to go and bring a lunch or snack or grab a cold drink in the store.
We then came upon the boardwalk section and strolled the area observing the wild life in and out of the water. Never having been here before, this was all new to us and we were enjoying this park. We passed a few people and observed an older couple having a picnic lunch in one of the covered little rest areas on the boardwalk over the swamp. In the picture above you can see it in the background. We both said we hoped that would be us one day. They were so cute.
Joe is looking over at the water and yells to me, “Hey, come look at this huge snapping turtle.” At this time, Penny and I strolled over and stopped to see the turtle, which was the first time we actually stopped walking on the boardwalk. That was a big mistake. Well, I saw the turtle and so did Penny. Well, being a lab, she decided to jump in the water and take a swim with her leash still attached to her. I screamed, “PENNY.” Joe and I are panicked not knowing how far Penny is from the shoreline, so we ask the older couple how far and they say it is a good distance from where we were.
Joe excitedly blurted out, “I better get her as she is acting panicky. Here is my Keys and wallet. I’m going in.” In he jumps with a splash into the swamp to save our Big Girl knowing full well there are snakes and alligators in there as well as large snapping turtles. How scary. He tries to pick Penny up and realizes he would have to raise her over his head a whole two feet and she weighs over a hundred pounds when she is not wet. Joe is struggling to get her up with my assistance trying to pull the leash. It was just like a Three Stooges act, where I would pull the leash at the wrong time when Penney was not in the right position. We finally after a good amount of trying, got our synchronization together and got Penney up.
Then came the big problem. Joe was wearing jeans that weighed him down and when he went to pull himself out, he could not. He cried out to me, “I’m going to throw my legs up and when I do grab them and help pull me up.” Once again being the coordinated person that I am, I would reach out after his leg was on the way down. By now the cute older couple had come over to see what was happening. I beckoned to Joe, “Just take your pants off.” “Oh My,” exclaimed the little old lady. Then she chimed in, “George go help him.” Well George was like a hundred years old
and smartly stated he would not be of much help. We tried and tried and finally Joe got his leg up high enough that I could grab his pants and help him get back up on the boardwalk. What a site we must have been with Joe and Penny walking off the boardwalk soaking wet. I am sure not many people go swimming in Phinzey Swamp, at least not on purpose. When we walked off the boardwalk with Penny, we found out the older couple was wrong. Old George thought it was a long way to reach the shoreline when it was a very short ways from where we were just out of sight. Maybe we should have realized for a man his age, a short distance could seem long. Penny easily could have swum to safety. Joe was worn slap out but okay and Penny just thought it was another nice swim in a swimming hole. Fortunately, no alligators, snakes, or snapping turtles visited Joe or Penny that day.
So that is my story and I’m sticking with it. We laugh about it now but that day it was scary and not funny at all. We will remember Phinzey Swamp in a very different way than anyone else. Anyone else out there get into the swamp?
Heather told the tell exactly as it happened. As I and penny rested I thought my heart would explode.
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