An unwelcome assignment

I got a call from Stephanie, the volunteer coordinator, last night asking if I was up to helping them out at headquarters this afternoon.  As understanding as she has been, I couldn’t say no.  So, I spent about five hours sitting at a desk answering all the incoming calls to the refuge.  That was about the limit for my back.  Doing office work ranks at the very bottom of what I like to do as a volunteer.  I learned very early in my retirement volunteering career that I’ll never knowingly sign up for office work.  It’s just not my cup of tea.

The new headquarters, located on Lake Anahuac, is gorgeous.  I posted some pictures from the pond located behind the building a couple of weeks ago. 

I took a break midway through my stint, and decided to walk the trail down to the lake.

Wasn’t sure I’d be able to do the whole thing, but it turned out my back cooperated.  There is a wonderful boardwalk that goes down to the lake edge.

The boardwalk meanders through a cypress swamp.  It is very peaceful, and today there weren’t the hordes of mosquitoes attacking that there were a couple of weeks ago when I tried to take this walk.  I could see that I would want to take this enjoyable walk again.

I thought I was going to get a good shot of a pileated woodpecker, but the darn branch got in the way of his head.   By the time I inched forward to avoid the branch, the bird had taken flight.  Shucks!  You can see that the cypress are draped with Spanish moss.  What a delightful 1/2 mile round trip walk this is.

I survived my time in the office, but I’d much prefer to be picking up litter along the refuge roads and spend my time outdoors.  I’ll be doing that some time before my stint in the VIS on Sunday.

On a totally different topic, have any of you heard of star parties?  I think it’s where an astronomical club camps out to watch the heavens, but I’m not sure.  Has anyone done this?

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy