The Bugman cometh

My good friend Bugman Jack rolled into town Thursday afternoon.  After he got set up at a private campground in town, he headed over to Harris Beach State Park to deliver his surprise gift to me.  My heart was aflutter!  What could it be?  Knowing Jack, I knew it had to be something very special.  Well, here it is:

  I was surprised, but what the heck is it?  I can’t remember its official name, but I’m going to call it my poop wrench.  Now isn’t that just something every woman dreams about?  (kind of reminds me of when I got an iron for Christmas one year from my ex)  Anyway, it’s designed to help me disconnect sections of my dump hose more easily.  I’m sure I’ll be thrilled to have it when I go to disconnect.    If nothing else, Jack is a practical fellow.

I started out yesterday morning setting up the scope and stuff at the secondary place to meet the junior ranger candidates.  Had a nice group of them, too.  However, shortly before their arrival, the ocean fog rolled in.  That makes the presentation a bit of a challenge, but we did get a small window of ten minutes of the fog clearing so they could actually briefly look through the scope to see the birds.

After that, I headed down to the overlook where Jack met me and helped me set things up.  The fog had once again returned, so Jack headed off to investigate the tide pools while I manned the overlook.  The above photo is the only one I’ve gotten of Jack so far.  The fog eventually cleared, and I’ve got a story about what happened then, but I’ll save that for the end of the post.

We didn’t get to go out for dinner yesterday, as I had a full schedule for the day which included getting ready for my first power point program for campers on the breeding seabirds of the Oregon coast.  That presentation takes place at the state park amphitheater at 8:30 at night.  I’m pretty worn out by that time of the day, but it needs to be close to sunset so the slides show up on the screen.  It went pretty well for a first presentation, but I forgot a few things since I didn’t want to just read from a script.  I’m sure I’ll get better as the season progresses. 

This morning, I was back to the overlook.  It was a gorgeous sunny day, until I noticed another fog bank rolling in about 9:30.  What follows is a sequence of photos taken over only four minutes in time to give you an idea of how fast this fog rolls in.

It just amazes me how quickly things change on the coast.  Jack was supposed to meet me again this morning, but I think he looked at that fog, and maybe went back to bed.

Now, for the rest of the story.  After the fog cleared yesterday, I ended up with a total of thirty visitors for the day.  Jack was with me at the overlook, and certainly can not be described as shy.  He’s a talker by nature.  Just before time to close things down, two ladies were looking at the banner with the pictures of Bird/Goat Island with all the species that can be seen.  I approached them and asked if they would like to see the birds.  One of them looked at my pockets and asked if I had them with me.    Okay, not exactly, but if you’d like to look through the scope over there, I’d be happy to show them to you… 

We had quite a chat with these ladies, and Jack related how he and I had met 6 years ago in New Mexico.  (the 6 is important, I think)  He then went on to say that in his travels we had crossed paths 6 more times in Texas, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oregon, Minnesota, and Georgia where we had gotten to hold wild baby alligators.  The ‘pocket’ lady appeared to be quite fascinated by this. 

Eventually they went on their way, and we packed up the equipment and brought it up to my car.  Jack and I bid adieu, and I started to head off to work on my presentation.  As I backed out of the parking spot, the ‘pocket’ lady came over to my car.  She said she just had to ask me one more question… “Is that how you two have stayed married for 60 years by only letting him visit you six times???”  I swear, I nearly bust a gut!  As composed as I could manage I replied, “Good Lord, he’s just a friend.  We’re not married.”  She seemed satisfied with that answer.  I’m thinking that has to go down in the annals of most unusual questions asked a volunteer!  Sometimes, fact is stranger than fiction.

Haven’t heard from Jack at all today.  I’m thinking he’s just chilling… but then again, he’s a Navy man down by the port of Brookings, and you know what they say about Navy men in every port…

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy