Special visitors

At the end of two days working in the VC this week, two ladies that I think are pretty special rolled into the refuge yesterday afternoon.  Sue and Mo had decided to spend a few days with me on the refuge.

Since I was working, they even offered to provide a spaghetti dinner when I got off of work.  Hard to pass up an offer like that.  They brought all the fixings over to my site so we could enjoy my marvelous view as we ate and chatted.  If you don’t know them, that’s Sue perusing the ducks on the pond through my scope with Mo in the background. 

Then this morning, John and Sharon (of heyduke50 blogger fame) joined us for a tour of the managed ponds and fields where I normally do the bird tours. 

                     We saw the usual cast of characters like this snowy egret looking for breakfast.

American coots were more than abundant, as usual, along with some redheads and canvasbacks.  Buffleheads, ruddy ducks, eared grebes, Canada geese, northern harriers, meadowlarks, and loggerhead shrikes were also spotted. 

                                                               Mo, Sharon, Sue, and me.

John was kind enough to take a picture of the four ladies on the tour as we stopped at one of the ponds to view the beaver slide.  It was a gorgeous morning to be out and about.  It was kind of like a mini blogger-fest tour.

The highlight, bird wise, for the tour was spotting this great horned owl who posed for us.  I had heard it hooting in the wee hours of the morning as Emma and I sat outside, but this is the first one I’ve actually seen on this refuge.

Later in the day, Sue and Mo and I did a tour of all of the overlooks along Red Cloud Mine Road.  I brought my scope along so we were able to look down on lots of wintering waterfowl in the lakes beside the Colorado river.  I often sit on my patio and observe visitors driving that road through my scope.  At the last stop, Smoke Tree Overlook, I was able to zero the scope in to find my rig which was three miles distant.  That was kind of cool.

I fixed dinner for us tonight, and had a bit of a problem keeping the Weber Q going in the very windy conditions long enough to cook NY BBQ chicken.  It’s best enjoyed hot off of the grill, so I really only fix it when I have company.  A whole chicken is just too much for one person, and it loses some of its zing if reheated… the crispy skin gets soggy and such.

                                                Get a load of those talons!  Glad I’m not a rodent.

Tomorrow we’re going to do the Painted Desert Trail, and maybe a little kayaking.  It’s nice to spend a couple of days with special friends laughing, chatting, and enjoying the great outdoors.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy