A mixed bag of tricks

Holy cow, did we ever have batch of thunderstorms roll through overnight!  It didn’t make for a very good night’s sleep, but I did sleep in until 7:00 this morning.  I’ve also noticed that this rig doesn’t rock and roll as much as my old one.  That’s a good thing.  :)

I’d like to welcome Susan to the list of folks who read my blog.  Normally, I personally thank them on their respective blog sites, but Susan doesn’t appear to have one.  So, I hope you find my posts interesting.  :)

After the rain stopped, blue skies prevailed, so Emma and I spent the morning outside.  I decided to finally tackle a chore that I’ve been putting off for way too long.  In my old rig, I had one of those thirty gallon tote bins that I used as a sort of end table.  It was a catch all for all sorts of things.  I really don’t have a place for it in this rig, and it’s been sitting at the foot of my bed for the last five weeks, which really hinders my making the bed each morning.  It’s hard to get around.  So today I went through it’s contents and eliminated about twenty pounds of unneeded stuff.  I really whittled it down, and was able to store the remaining few items in it and put it in one of the basement compartments.  It’s amazing how good I felt about finally getting something done that I’ve been procrastinating about.  Sometimes, you just have to make yourself do something.  :)

The wifi connection in the park was out today which really interfered with my morning blog reading.  :)  I think it was because the park office was getting a new roof, but who knows.  I was able to catch up online this afternoon.  Along about 4:00, I decided that Emma and I should take a late afternoon ride in Yellowstone, thinking that maybe there wouldn’t be so many people so late in the day.  Ha!  That sure wasn’t the case. 
I was hoping to see a variety of wildlife in the late afternoon.  Thwarted again!  There wasn’t much around, and most of it was quite a distance away.  These cow elk were on the other side of the Madison River…
as well as this family of Canada geese.
This was the best I could do for today.  I sure would like to photograph a bear, or a wolf, or a moose, but I’m thinking I won’t get much of a chance to do that now that the very busy season at the park has arrived.  :(  And you won’t find me getting out of the car to climb up a hill to see a bear.  I’m just a bit smarter than that.  :)

The 4th of July is almost upon us, and I think I’ll sit tight in the campground for weekend.  The roads may not be very safe.  While I was in Yellowstone this evening, there were two emergencies.  One was a single car accident.  What a mess that car was!  I think the other one was even more serious.  There were all sorts of emergency vehicles along the side of the road, and a stretcher waiting for someone to be brought out of the woods.  Ugh!  I hope someone didn’t have a horrible encounter with a grizzly.

I think I’ll be okay to take a side trip away from Yellowstone tomorrow, but after that I’ll be a homebody for a few days.  I’m told I will be able to see the fireworks at the rodeo on Saturday night right from my rig.  I love fireworks, so I’m looking forward to that!

Thanks for stopping by….talk to you later,  Judy

Blue Bill Point

It was an interesting journey today to get to the Army Corps of Engineers' Blue Bill Point campground on Fort Gibson Lake in  Northeast Oklahoma.  I traveled on US 69 the whole way.  It's a four lane highway that goes through quite a few towns along the way which is certainly more interesting than driving an Interstate.  But, I have one thing to say about Oklahoma roads....when they're good, they're good, but when they're bad, they're horrible!  After today's drive, I fully expected to find just about every screw loose in the rig.  Dang!  About 30% of the time I was tightly gripping the steering wheel trying to avoid all those lumps and bumps. 

Anyway, I eventually bounced my way into the Blue Bill Point campground, and was thrilled with what I found.  Compared to last night, this is heaven.

It's a big long site with electric and water.  You can see how far away the nearest campers are.  I could also stay here three nights for less than what I paid for last night.  :)

This is the view of the lake that I have from the picnic table.  I really do like the Army Corps of Engineer parks.

Although it was overcast for my drive (which I don't dislike), the afternoon was just gorgeous.  I especially enjoyed the fact that it was a Sunday afternoon, and most people left.  I've gotten used to the quiet and peacefulness of  National Wildlife Refuges. 

Lest you think that I have forgotten the birds, I've included a few pics that I took while I sat out on my patio this afternoon.  :)

A pair of scissor-tailed flycatchers made good use of the electrical wires to scan the skies for flying insects.

I had a good time watching two male orchard orioles battling for the attention of one female in the big trees on my site. 

There were also numerous Baltimore orioles singing their hearts out all over the campground.  There were also warblers and vireos flitting about, but they were too fast for me to catch them with the camera.

and of course, there was a pair of Canada geese that made their way through the grounds after most of the campers had left.  I'll be staying here two nights.  I may snoop around  Wagoner, OK, tomorrow to see if there's anything interesting.

Thanks for stopping by....talk to you later,  Judy

Early morning visitors and more geese arrive

Right at the crack of 6:00 a.m., Emma began her early morning jumping on and off the dashboard and muttering. It turns out there were more than rabbits and deer in our yard. My oldest son, Daniel, and his canine companion, Buddy, had arrived! They had driven all night from Denver to get here.

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Emma and Buddy had a marvelous time playing together most of the morning. It was good to talk to Daniel and we really enjoyed our time together. Finally, about 11:00, we decided to go on a tour of the refuge. I put Emma in the motorhome so she could cool down from the 95* temps, and recuperate from all of her carryings on this morning. Then, Dan and I hopped into the car with Buddy in the back, and did the driving tour. As we were going down the road, we passed a refuge pick-up truck with the YCC students inside. I knew that they had been on a mission today to pick up another load of young Canada geese this morning, so I pulled over just in time to see them offload all the new inhabitants.

At first, the young geese seemed reluctant to exit the trailer. One or two took a tentative step to freedom...

And it wasn't long before their brothers and sisters followed suit....

Soon, the first batch was heading for Silver Lake....

But, there were still more inside...

A few of the older goslings were on the left, and the youngest were on the right...

After watching the older ones, the littlest ones made up their minds....

"Time to get out of here!!!"

In no time at all, they paddled and flapped their way to a more secluded cove on the lake. None of these geese can fly yet, but it won't be long. Once they learn to fly, chances are good that they will return here to the refuge after migration and hopefully nest here next spring.

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While I was watching the unloading of the geese,

Dan took Buddy out in the nearby field for a run so Buddy wouldn't make the goslings more nervous.

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After we covered all the refuge roads and sights, I took them down the road with the catfish impailed on the telephone post that I showed a picture of a few weeks ago. When Dan saw what was left of the remains of the fish, he suggested he stand next to it to give an idea of just how large this catfish was.

So, here it is...that was some big fish.

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We returned to the rig and I fixed a shrimp dinner on the grill, and then Dan and Buddy once again hit the road. Dan wanted to make it to Minnesota tonight so he could rest up before his busy week ahead. Emma and I bid them goodbye, and hurried back into the rig to cool off. We'll be seeing them again in a few days.

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Thanks for stopping by....talk to you later, Judy

Sultry...

The last two days the temperature has reached 95* in the shade! I think the humidity about matches that as well. Sultry really describes how it feels; like you could cut the air with a knife. Even Emma has taken to just laying in the shade.



A couple of days ago, I sent an email to a few people. I got a reply from my friend Susan in Minnesota, and she inquired if I realized that I had used the term "you all" in the email. Her comment was, perhaps I had spent too much time in the south and needed to get back up north. Well, Susan, I have spent much of the last two years in the south, but if I were really a southerner, I would have said y'all. ;)

Emma and I went on a slightly shortened daily hike this morning because it was already 85* by 9:00. Afterwards, I hopped in the car to do a little sightseeing. I drove to John Pershing State Park, but didn't do any of the hikes because of the heat. I'll save those for a slightly cooler day. I then went back to revisit the John Pershing Historic Home and visitor's center. I watched the movie that I had missed last week and found his life very interesting. Since the visitor's center is also a state welcome center, I was able to pick up quite a bit of information on what to see in the state.

I also asked the attendant if he knew where I could get some seasoned firewood. While I was viewing the movie, he checked with the maintenance person and came back with the name and number of a person that would deliver a load of wood right to my site. I may give him a call tomorrow.

Yesterday evening, I glanced out the table window and saw five Canada geese parade through my site. It turns out that about two hundred geese will be arriving at the refuge this week. We really don't have any resident geese here. The hundreds of thousands that use the refuge in the winter all migrate here from the north and leave to return north in early spring. So where are the 200 coming from? They are being transported here from Kansas City and from Six Flags in St. Louis. It seems they have resident flocks that are becoming real pests there. So, instead of just killing them all, they are rounding them up and shipping them here. I'm not sure that's such a good management technique, but then I'm not making those decisions. :) It does seem to me that eventually there could be a huge resident flock here and then how will the habitat also support all the migrant flocks that arrive each fall? Hmmm... So now, besides the raccoon, numerous rabbits, squirrels, and the deer, Emma will have two hundred geese to raise her blood pressure. The geese range in age from fluffly young to adults.

Well, if it cools down a little this evening perhaps we'll take a walk and see if we can find the new arrivals. I'm not sure what I'll do tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by....talk to you later, Judy