♫ ♪ “Some Days are Diamonds” ♫

♪ “Some Days are Stones” ♫  Do you remember that tune from John Denver?  Well, today was definitely a Diamond day for me.  Along about 9:30, Gay and Joe came over to my rig to pick me up for a tour of the refuge.  Gay and Joe write a blog that I follow, and I’m always up for a meet and greet, and a chance to show off the refuge.  Little did I know what a great day it was going to turn out to be.

When they arrived, they brought me a bag of black oil sunflower seeds for the Hard Rock Bird Café.  What a surprise that was!  Then they fawned over my ‘wild child’, Emma.  Okay, I think I’m really going to like these folks.   

That was just the beginning.  Next, we all hopped into their Jeep and headed off on a grand circle tour that I had planned.  First stop was the new Visitors Center in Anahuac.  This was my first time to ever ride in a Jeep.  I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to crawl into it, but Joe provided a step stool for us vertically challenged individuals.  To my surprise, Gay is a tad shorter than I am, so that step stool goes with the Jeep.

After our ‘virtual’ ride in an air boat to view the movie at the VC, we headed for the refuge.  When I take folks on a tour of the refuge, I put my interest in getting pictures on a back burner so they can best enjoy what they see.  As we made our way around the Shoveler Pond Auto Drive, it became apparent to me that Gay and Joe are my kind of people.  They drove slowly, and stopped often for photo opportunities.  All the while, we chit chatted and shared experiences.

After doing most of the roads on the main refuge entrance, I directed them over to the eastern Skillern Tract where temps had risen enough for us to get out to walk around some.  It was a treat for me to have visitors interested in photographing all the birds we found.  Here we were chasing after getting some shots of a vermillion flycatcher.  I’ll be interested to see the shots that Gay got.  Note the camera strap that Gay is wearing.

We then walked the handicapped accessible trail to an overlook of the marsh.  The bird highlight of the day for me was the orange-crowned warbler that was working the fencing boards of the overlook.

Joe asked me what I thought this little bird was doing.  My answer?  Picking off spiders and such from the areas under the railing.  This little guy systematically worked each crevasse.  Obviously a good strategy for finding a meal.

Unbelievably, after admiring Gay’s Blackrapid camera strap, they had me try it on to see how I liked it.  Then, they gave it to me!  I was going to order one from Amazon, but they insisted I take the one they had as they would soon be in Tucson, AZ, to buy another one.  This is a fantastic contraption that saves your neck from the weight of a camera.  I couldn’t believe their generosity.  You hear about people giving you the shirt off of their backs, and this was similar.  What a wonderful couple.  I was humbled.

We had such a good time, I wished that they were staying in the area longer.  It was one of those instances where you immediately hit it off with some folks and things just gel.  I sure hope we are able to hook up again many times somewhere down the road.

Then when I got home, I had another surprise waiting for me.

Daer Grandma Bell,  You mabee don’t whot to go to our house, Beecause we may have ghosts?  But you can come if you want.   from Seth

In my mailbox was a letter from my second oldest grandson Seth.  He is in first grade.  Isn’t it just precious?  How do you answer a letter like this?  Ghosts?  On my!  It just makes me chuckle every time I read it, and I’ve reread it a lot!  I just love Seth.  He got his heart’s desire of a pet rat for Christmas.   We had a long discussion about this in a phone conversation.  I’m glad I’m going back to Minnesota next summer so I can see him again, but in the meantime, I need to answer this letter…

It was definitely a Diamond day!

                                                                                THE END!

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy