A mystery solved

Yesterday and today, I worked the hunter check station on the refuge.  The staff member, Kay, that runs the station has to get there before four in the morning to check the hunters in.  That’s way too early for me, and I also prefer not to drive in the dark, so I leave the rig around 8:00 to drive the 15 miles over there.  My main job is to help with the identification of the birds and to assist with the gizzard removal documentation for mottled ducks.  That means I’m most needed when the hunters are done, and coming off the refuge.

I was a little late getting there this morning.   Sunday seems to be a popular day for cattle drives along FM 1985, so the best thing to do is just pull over and wait for it to pass.  At least they were coming toward me this time.  I seem to usually get stuck behind these drives which means I can only chug along about 3 mph, and get to experience the joy (?) of fresh cow pies gushing under the tires.

It wasn’t long before I was engulfed by the moaning and groaning and plopping herd.  This was the view out the front windshield.  Fortunately it was a smaller herd so I was soon on my way once again.

It was a simply gorgeous day weather wise today, with bright blue skies, no wind, and surprisingly no mosquitoes.  However, that usually means a slow hunting day, and that’s how it turned out.  With the bright sun, I did get to take some different kind of photos today.  I centered on taking pics of the beautiful feathers of some of the birds taken.  The hunters are generally proud of their accomplishments and are more than willing to give me time for photos and show off their birds.

On the home front, yesterday the refuge’s assistant manager/game warden followed me back to the rig after the hunting was over for the day to see if he could help solve the problem of the low water pressure our rigs were experiencing.  After detaching the hose and pressure regulator, we were able to determine that there was plenty of water blasting out of the underground connection.

So, I decided to replace the pressure regulator with a new one.  After checking the faucets inside the rig, it didn’t make any difference…it was still just a trickle out of the faucets.  We tried the same thing with Bob and Terry’s rig with the same results.  If Bob took the pressure regulator off of his hose, the water flow was good, but not so in my rig.

The staff member left, and Bob and I just had to scratch our heads.  We both decided it was safer to leave the pressure regulators on, because no one wants to blow out the plastic water pipes in the rig should full pressure somehow resume.  With a shrug of his shoulders, Bob returned to his rig, but this mystery just plagued my mind.

After dark, as I was playing a computer game, and staring at the kitchen faucet, a light bulb finally lit in my brain.  I grabbed a pair of pliers and unscrewed the sprayer.  Sure enough, it was clogged with sand-like granules.  I then did the same thing with the bathroom faucet, and it was even worse.  I then tried each faucet, and it was like Niagara Falls! 

I called Bob and told him what I found, but his faucet thingies were clean.  I think the fact that both of us had problems on the same day just threw my thinking off.  At any rate, all is well now and it’s another lesson learned.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy