Musical chairs and an ending

When I set up the rig yesterday on a newly constructed pad at Balcones Canyonlands NWR, I had to raise the front of the rig quite a bit in order to be level...so much so that the front tires were about three inches off of the ground.  That's not an especially good thing to do for an extended amount of time, and I will be here for the next three months.  It puts a lot of stress on the hydraulic leveling system.  

Apparently, there was a meeting to discuss this problem this morning, and it was decided that it had to be remedied.  When I returned from my walk with Emma around 9:30, a half dozen volunteers and staff had descended on my site, and I was informed that I would have to pack things up and move to the other new site while the problem was taken care of. 

 Shortly afterwards, a big dump truck dropped off these mounds in the middle of the site I had just moved out of.

After lunch, a couple of volunteers arrived and began leveling out the site.  The idea yesterday and today was to use my rig as a Guinea pig to make sure the two new sites were acceptable.  The second site where I was set up for the day, was quite level and even afforded shade in the morning.  Shade is not really an issue now, but as spring approaches and temperatures rise, it will be nice.

After a couple of hours, the guys were finished and I moved back, once again, and set up for the third time in two days.  Now, leveling the rig did not require the front wheels to be off of the ground.  Good job, guys!

Later in the afternoon, Emma and I (and my camera) took another walk...

Cactus are plentiful in the Texas Hill Country.

The moon was rising in the East as we walked...

down the new road leading to the two new volunteer sites.

All the moving back and forth kept me busy today, but the two walks with Emma, before and after, gave me moments to reflect.  You see, just before my first walk with Emma, I received a call from my daughter, Robyn, that my mother had died in the very early hours of the morning.  So, it was a day of tears, new beginnings, remembrances, and more tears....

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