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Borrego Springs, CA

Saturday, October 15, 2011

A refuge trail and a revelation

After a scrambled egg breakfast (need to be using things up from the fridge before they go bad), Emma and I headed out for Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge.  I stopped at the visitor’s center to get my NWR passport book stamped, and to find out about any hiking trails and the auto tour route.  For quite some time now I’ve been interested in purchasing another hooded sweatshirt with a zipper front.  The couple I have are getting rather worn and dingy.  It has been a fruitless quest up until today.  I found exactly what I was looking for at the visitor’s center, and it even has the refuge logo emblazoned on it.  The day was starting out well!

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The ranger gave me maps, and after seeing me hobble into the center suggested the Harmony Trail for a hike.  Turns out I’ve got a little ‘hitch in my get-a-long’ today.Disappointed smile  Growing older isn’t easy some days.  Besides, I could use a little harmony in my life right now.

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Harmony Trail is a one mile loop through mixed forest with a few ponds along the way.  It was a fine day for a hike in the woods.

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Emma was as happy as I to be out and about.  My hip suggested I take advantage of this bench about half way along to enjoy the pond view, and I listened.

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I also heard blue jays, squirrels, woodpeckers, and the crunching of leaves as Emma investigated all the new smells in the area.  When we got back to the car, I was ready to continue the auto tour route.  It’s really not as scenic as many refuge routes I’ve been on, but it’s a little early in the season for the migrating waterfowl to be here.

_MG_3637As we crossed the Wolf Creek Causeway over Crab Orchard Lake, there was an avian blockade straddling the road.

_MG_3642I wondered if these three were union officials sent to oversee the ring-billed gull picket line.  Smile  In a daring move, Emma and I crossed the picket line and continued our journey.

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The road soon ended, and we turned around to retrace our path.  Tomorrow some of the back roads will be open for self-guided tours, so we’ll probably be back.  It was an enjoyable morning well spent.

A while back when I was having a conversation with my son, Daniel, he was surprised that I could not access my DVR’d programs through DISH even though I didn’t have the satellite hooked up.  I didn’t think much about that until this afternoon.  The last few nights I’ve been watching a few DVD’s since the local stations don’t have much that I’m interested in.  Well, this afternoon I decided to see if I could access the DVR’d stuff without the dish set up, and it turned out I could.  What a revelation that was to me.  And to think, it only took five years for me to find that out.  Duh!

Oh yeah, the highlight of my day today was seeing a bobcat cross the road in front of me with a big ol’ rabbit in it’s jaws!  Cool beans!

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy 

22 comments:

  1. It is always a special treat to see a bobcat. I love them!

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  2. i lived in Illinois and not a lot of beauty there but you found a slice of it... the cat with the rabbit was a highlight...

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  3. A nice day outing and in a peaceful and natural setting. Glad you and Emma enjoyed!

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  4. what a nice day! Those benches can be a God-send! yesterday, i went back to your first blog post. it has beef neat to go along with you on you travels. another good thing about being sidelined a bit.

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  5. been neat - not beef neat. lol

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  6. It did ya good to get out into nature today. Glad you enjoyed it enough to talk about going back tomorrow.

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  7. Oh I'm so glad you liked it! We live right across from the refuge and have a daily view of deer, turkeys, herron on the pond, and many varieties of birds. We hear about the bobcats, but have only had a fleeting glimpse of one out behind our house. It was a beautiful day, and I'm glad you and Emma were able to relax for a while. I love the pics! Next time you come through, you'll need to let me know so we can take you to the real hill country. We have a multitude of wonderful wineries, too! heyduke50, you need to see this part of Illinois sometime!

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  8. I'm sure it was nice to get out for a short stroll while enjoying the scenery. I wish you luck dealing with Samsung...I had to file a BBB complaint to get a refund on a brand new fridge that NEVER worked.

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  9. That's a nice feature of DVRs, that you can watch them even when you don't have a signal. We enjoy our Tivo!

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  10. glad you managed to get out and explore!!...nothing like some fresh air to make all the problems seem small!!

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  11. You had quite a day! I love photos with the landscape reflecting in the water. So peaceful. It must have felt good to get out and about again. And for Emma, too. :)

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  12. Sounds like you had a really great day; the bobcat would have been my hi-lite too.

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  13. Terrific photos and commentaries. Thanks.

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  14. A peaceful and beautiful day. Just what you needed. Add in the sweatshirt you were looking for, seeing the bobcat, and getting to watch the DVR programs and it was pretty near perfect! Cheers!

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  15. That sure looked like a beautiful walk in the woods especially the spot by the pond.

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  16. You let that bobcat get away without a picture:(

    I often wondered why we did not get a DVR with the direct tv setup, then I could have avoided all those annoying commercials.

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  17. You're so funny! I hope you don't make a habit of crossing picket lines!

    Safe travels.

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  18. Enjoyed reading about your outing! If I saw a bobcat, I'm not sure i'd recognize what it was! Lol..

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  19. Seeing the bobcat would have been so cool!

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