♫ I get along with a little help from my friends ♪

Actually, I get along with a lot of help from my friends, but I’ll explain that a little later.  First, I want to talk about the new things that I saw on Sunday.  I had the bird tour first thing in the morning, and there was the usual cast of avian characters.  For several weeks, I’ve been hearing about an American Bittern that has been hanging out down where I give the tour, but had not been able to spot it.

To my happy surprise, it made an appearance for the tour.  This bittern went into his ‘hiding’ stance as we approached in the vehicle.  They typically raise their beak skyward hoping to look like a reed in the middle of a wetland, and stand stock still.  I’ve posted pics of bitterns from several different states in the past, but that doesn’t lessen the thrill for me to spot one here. 

Then working the VC in the afternoon, we had another surprise.  A visitor came in to tell us there was a snake in Digger, the desert tortoise’s, habitat area.  I grabbed my camera and dashed outside.

Sure enough, a Western Diamond-backed Rattlesnake had curled up under the creosote bush in Digger’s pen while he munched away on broccoli close by. 

We cautioned the visitors about getting too close to this most poisonous rattlesnake.  It had the diagnostic large black and white bands on its tail before the rattle to differentiate it from the Mohave rattler.  Don’t know if it’s fact or fiction that each set of rattles signifies one year, but if true this snake was eight years old.

There are some openings in the wall of the tortoise habitats, and eventually this diamond back made his way out of the pen, through the picnic benches, and back out into the desert.  It was pretty exciting, but also makes me think with the soaring temperatures, it’s about time for me to get out of Dodge.  I really don’t want to see too many more of these reptiles.

A short time later, my friends Bridget and John Hatch arrived for a visit in their motorhome.  Some may remember that I volunteered with this fun couple last summer at Tamarac.  They just finished heading up the parking crew at the Escapade in Tucson, and are on their way for a volunteer assignment at a refuge in Oregon. 

It’s my opinion that John can fix just about anything on an RV, and when we firmed up their coming I asked John if he would help me with a few needed repairs on my rig.  He asked me to send him a list so he could be prepared when he arrived.  Today was the day.  First up was a repair to my outside awning.  That was a challenge, but it’s working just fine now.  Next up was a little ‘oops’ I had putting out a slide a while back.  It got hooked on a cabinet door and tore off the oak trim on the slide.  Everything is back where it belongs, and looks good as new.

The third of the four things on my list was the back-up camera that had stopped working.  John’s a tall guy and was trying to squeeze himself into a very small space.  He got the side view turning cameras working, but never could get the back up one fixed.  I want to mention that I had tried to fix all of these things myself, but was unsuccessful.

Last but not least was my off again/on again problem with the leaking fresh water tank.  John spent a lot of time under my rig on his back figuring this one out, but fixed the problem by installing a new sliding valve shut off thingy.    Other friends had tried to fix this with no luck. 

While John was working away in the 93* heat, Bridget and I got to do some visiting, and I played gopher helping out where I could.

The least I could do was fix dinner for them.  We had a variety of sausages and a whole lot of grilled fresh asparagus.  You can’t be in the Yuma area and not enjoy fresh asparagus.  We had a great time catching up until at exactly 6:30 the mosquitoes descended on us with a vengeance!  OMG!  Within a minute’s time  I had 16 bites on my legs, arms, and ears.  We bid a hasty goodbye until the next time we meet.

I am so grateful for being able to get by with a little help from my friends!

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy