It’s safe to park next to me now :)

I was hoping to post pictures of how I do the salinity testing on the refuge tonight, but there was a fly in the ointment with that plan.  I’ll have to do that next week. 

I picked up fellow volunteer, Jim, to take him along with me since I would be doing a back road that hadn’t had much use since hurricane Ike hit.  It turned out that the only pictures I could take were from the safety of the refuge vehicle.  We’ve got several white-tailed kites on the refuge right now.

We did one test on the back road, but were accosted by thousands of mosquitoes.  I was wearing a hooded sweatshirt, and had to put the hood up and pull the strings to only leave a small area open on my face.  My only other exposed skin was my hands.  After that one trip out of the suburban, we decided to forget about the rest of the tests.  I’ve never seen the mosquitoes that bad.  Sitting in the car, the windows were covered with them!  We itched our way down the road and could only take pictures through the window.  (white pelicans)

                                                                                Great egret.

Last night I posted about the woes I’m having with water pressure in the rig.  Many people responded with suggestions.  That was just what I was hoping for.  All of us here had tried everything we could think of.  I had already changed hoses, removed the water pressure regulator, and cleaned the new water filter.

The other guys had checked all the connections, filters, and washers.  We remained stymied.  I was still reluctant to fill the fresh water tank and just use the on board water pump for showers.  I really don’t want the water from here in that tank.  I know it has gone through all of my pipes, but I can’t think of any way of getting that kind of crud out of the tank after I leave.  I use that tank for drinking water when I am not here.

As Emma and I sat outside this afternoon with no one around, I decided to try the one suggestion I hadn’t done yet.  Several of you had commented on it, so it certainly couldn’t hurt to give it a try.  I told Emma to cross her toenails as I removed the water filter from the holder.  I put the holder back on without the filter and turned the water back on.  I then held my breath as I went inside, stepped on the toilet pedal, and pushed down the sprayer lever.  Viola!!  That little sprayer just came to life!

So now it’s safe to park next to me because I’ll finally be able to take a shower.    Isn’t is amazing how some of the littlest things in life can make your day?  The toilet bowl sprayer works once again today, and yesterday I got to have two pieces of turkey breast skin with a little salt on them.  (a once a year treat for me)  Life doesn’t get much better than that!

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy