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Borrego Springs, CA

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

The Oregonians arrive

Just before sunset last night, Sue and Mo from Oregon arrived for a quick visit.  Of course Jeremy, the cat, and Abbey, the dog, accompanied them.  As they were setting up, Jeremy came out of their rig and wandered over toward my front yard to investigate.  I told Sue, I wasn’t too sure that was a good idea since ‘wild child’ Emma has never encountered a cat, and she was outside on her tie out.  As we walked over to check on them, I was surprised to see that Emma was just casually giving Jeremy a sniff.  That’s when Emma decided she wanted to play, and rose up and pounced on Jeremy.  Jeremy was not pleased with this action.  Can you remember the ‘Thrilla in Manila’ in 1975 between Mohammed Ali and Joe Frazier? 

Well, that’s what ensued.  Did I mention that Jeremy is 17 years old?  He was puffed up about three times his size, and holding his own as growls and cat screams filled the air!  What a tussle.  I was afraid that at his advanced age Jeremy might have a heart attack or something.  We dashed in to separate them, and that’s when Abbey joined in to protect Jeremy.  Oh my goodness!  Not a very auspicious start to our meeting.

Luckily, no animals were hurt in this getting to know each other encounter, and today Sue told me that she thought that little melee had invigorated Jeremy. 

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Things calmed down after that, and we were able to enjoy a nice glass of wine on my patio.  Sue had invited me to supper in their rig, and what a treat that was.  The food is always extra tasty to me when someone else does the cooking.  Smile

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This morning, we all headed out early for a quick tour of the refuge before they needed to get on their way to Louisiana.  Sue was hoping we could see some of those big flocks of snow geese that I’ve shown pictures of.  I aim to please on tours, but first we had to admire all the dowitchers working the wetlands.  We were able to encounter several large flocks of snow geese, but I’ll leave it to Sue to show those pics.  We probably saw well over 10,000 snow geese this morning.

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Can you guess that it was a little more than just breezy this morning?  This little snowy egret was lucky to keep its feathers on! 

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We stretched our legs along the boardwalk hike on Shoveler pond, but had to really hang onto our hats.  If we didn’t, they would have taken off and been lost in the marsh.  I think Abbey wanted to take a little swim, but Mo kept her on the straight and narrow.

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By reading Sue’s blog, I knew that she really wanted to see some roseate spoonbills on their winter trip.  Emma and I had gone out yesterday to scope out where we might find them, and sure enough they were still in the same place today.  Score!  We found a flock of about 45 right toward the end of our time together.  I was pleased, and I think Sue was too.

It was great meeting and spending some time with these fun cyber friends.  Safe travels, Sue and Mo, as you make your way to Florida.

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                                                                             THE END!!

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

21 comments:

  1. What fun... meeting other RVers (and bloggers)..... sounds like Emma made a great impression on them ;-) Happy you were able to show them exactly what they wanted to see....

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  2. It's great to get company, and I'm glad you got to show them some of the birds. Emma certainly keeps the action going!

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  3. What a truly wonderful morning, Judy. The birds were incredible. I can still hear the sound of those geese calling and I will always remember that wild flash of pink when the "big pink birds" took to the air. goodness knows when I will get the blog caught up, but when I do, I'll post my spoonbill and geese photos for sure. thank you sooo soo much for a great morning. And yes...Jeremy is just fine...and says Hi to Emma.

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  4. What a cool photo of the roseate spoonbills. Great job.

    Another wonderful day of enjoying the good life.

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  5. Nice time! Sue and Mo sure were lucky to meet up with America's Best Bird Tour Guide (ABBTG). You sure are for the birds... :cD

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  6. I especially enjoyed your comparing the pet fight to Ali-Frazier. Merikay and I went to the closed-circuit TV coverage of one of their fights while she was carrying our first baby, and we ran into her obstetrician at the concession stand between one round and another. He looked a bit concerned. She was pretty well along in her term. I think he was worried that the excitement of the fight might lead to labor. Years ago!

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  7. Sounds like a great meet up. Once we look up where Anahuac NWR is located we can figure out when we can go there. Maybe late March or April. Thanks Bird Lady of Blogland, I love your blogs.

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  8. Sounds like you had a great meet-up. I know Sue was hoping to see the roseate spoonbills and told her that if they were at Anahuac, you would be sure to find them for her. That poor Snowy Egret looks like I did when I stepped out this morning ;-)

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  9. That flock of Rosate Spoonbills is just beautiful! Sounds like you had a great visit:)

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  10. Sure and Mo are sure covering a lot of ground. How nice you were able to meet.

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  11. That many roseate spoonbills in one spot--awesome!! Glad no fur was lost in the melee!!

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  12. Looked like a great day and I'm sure Mo and Sue really appreciated the tour and seeing all those birds!

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  13. How wonderful for two of my favorite bloggers to meet up and enjoy some time together!

    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
    Karen and Steve
    (Blog) RVing: The USA Is Our Big Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com
    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

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  14. Love it when bloggers get to meet each other. Love the roseate spoonbills too.

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  15. You sure have a way of helping folks check off the "wish list" of birds that want to see. What a nice evening and day you all had...well, except maybe Emma, Jeremy mad Abbey.
    I'm adding the Rosetta Spoonbills to my next visit!

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  16. An interesting post. It's been quite windy here in England. Some nice photos.

    Thank you. Love love, Andrew. Bye.

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  17. Well here I am again with tour envy. You are getting to be the hot spot there in Texas for folks to visit! Can't wait for my turn. Those are wonderful pictures of Sue and Mo and of the birds. Looks like another great tour you gave! They are lucky ducks!!

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  18. I bet that was quite the introduction. I would have loved to meet up with them here in Tucson but was down for the count at that time. Cool that they got to see all the beautiful birds on their list.

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  19. Nice to see folks in person that you "visit" with on the computer! Sounds like a grand time for all... inc the four-legged critters! Emma's lucky that Jeremy didn't, uh, kick her in the, uh... well, you get the picture! (Teeth, that's what I was going to say!) :-)

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  20. Fun time, any time you can meet an Oregonian, do it!!! Mo and Sue are having way too much fun and getting way too far away from home. Turn them around and send them back before we start getting more sunshine!

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  21. Ever since seeing those Roseatte Spoonbills, I have been an ardent bird watcher for them...We are heading for Goose Island SP next Wed, and I am sure they will be around there..

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