Early morning visitors and more geese arrive

Right at the crack of 6:00 a.m., Emma began her early morning jumping on and off the dashboard and muttering. It turns out there were more than rabbits and deer in our yard. My oldest son, Daniel, and his canine companion, Buddy, had arrived! They had driven all night from Denver to get here.

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Emma and Buddy had a marvelous time playing together most of the morning. It was good to talk to Daniel and we really enjoyed our time together. Finally, about 11:00, we decided to go on a tour of the refuge. I put Emma in the motorhome so she could cool down from the 95* temps, and recuperate from all of her carryings on this morning. Then, Dan and I hopped into the car with Buddy in the back, and did the driving tour. As we were going down the road, we passed a refuge pick-up truck with the YCC students inside. I knew that they had been on a mission today to pick up another load of young Canada geese this morning, so I pulled over just in time to see them offload all the new inhabitants.

At first, the young geese seemed reluctant to exit the trailer. One or two took a tentative step to freedom...

And it wasn't long before their brothers and sisters followed suit....

Soon, the first batch was heading for Silver Lake....

But, there were still more inside...

A few of the older goslings were on the left, and the youngest were on the right...

After watching the older ones, the littlest ones made up their minds....

"Time to get out of here!!!"

In no time at all, they paddled and flapped their way to a more secluded cove on the lake. None of these geese can fly yet, but it won't be long. Once they learn to fly, chances are good that they will return here to the refuge after migration and hopefully nest here next spring.

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While I was watching the unloading of the geese,

Dan took Buddy out in the nearby field for a run so Buddy wouldn't make the goslings more nervous.

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After we covered all the refuge roads and sights, I took them down the road with the catfish impailed on the telephone post that I showed a picture of a few weeks ago. When Dan saw what was left of the remains of the fish, he suggested he stand next to it to give an idea of just how large this catfish was.

So, here it is...that was some big fish.

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We returned to the rig and I fixed a shrimp dinner on the grill, and then Dan and Buddy once again hit the road. Dan wanted to make it to Minnesota tonight so he could rest up before his busy week ahead. Emma and I bid them goodbye, and hurried back into the rig to cool off. We'll be seeing them again in a few days.

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Thanks for stopping by....talk to you later, Judy