How's your navel?

One of the things I like about the Rio Grande Valley is all the citrus. I have a fifteen pound bag of navel oranges hanging on the ladder on the back of my motorhome, and I take two of them out each day to squeeze for fresh juice in the morning. That bag lasts me about two weeks or so and only costs $4.00. I go directly to the orchard (Baker's Acres) to get them and also pick up tangerines and lemons. Lots of vitamin C. ;)

This morning, fellow volunteers Diana and Janie and I went on a five mile bike ride on the back roads of the refuge. Five miles doesn't sound like much, but the wind was blowing about 35 mph and was only at our backs for a short time. If I keep this up I should have "thighs of steel" before too long.

I spent the afternoon trying to fix the drapes that cover the front windows of the motorhome. After three years, quite a few of the plastic hooks have become detached and it poses a problem closing the drapes along the runner. I washed them up and tried using super glue to put the hooks back on. Mostly it worked, but there are three hooks I'll have to redo.

For the first time in my life, I bought a mango the other day. I wasn't sure what to do with it so I got on the internet and looked up recipes. So, tonight I'll be trying a mango and shrimp salad. Besides citrus, this area also has fantastic fresh gulf shrimp. It should be very tasty.

It's back to work tomorrow. There's no one signed up for the bird tour, so I'm not sure what I'll be doing other than attending a volunteer meeting in the morning. We had record temperatures in the high eighties today, but the weather is supposed to really take a turn for the worse over night. I think I'll even have to put on jeans instead of shorts tomorrow! It's a rough life, but I'll muddle through.

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

A good day for tinkering

It was another very windy day in the Rio Grande Valley, so after our morning constitutional I decided to work on some of my photos. Back in September of 06 I was one of the camphosts at Lewis and Clark State Park in Washington. The Putzes (how would you like that name?) were the other hosts and the wife, Linda, gave me a disk that she said would help edit my photos. I put it in a drawer and didn't think much of it until today. After I loaded it onto the computer I started tinkering around with a few photos to see what I could do. I tried several different things and can see that some of them will get old pretty fast. At any rate, I've included a few and would like to know what you think. Some of the pics I've posted before, but gussied them up a bit. ;)

A White Ibis on a calm day.


Harris's Hawk

Don't call me a pig!

That wonderful Bobcat.
Bottoms Up!



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

Another Minor Defugalty & a Thrill

While I was driving the horrible road out of the refuge about two weeks ago, an oncoming car kicked up a rock that hit my rear window behind the driver's seat and shattered it. I was able to get an auto window company to come out to the refuge last week and replace it for much less than the insurance company quoted me. I felt pretty good about that until today when I got into the car to go to the grocery store twenty miles away. As I turned the engine on, I reached back to put on my seat belt and it wouldn't budge. I yanked on that belt for about ten minutes to no avail. Now what? I asked Jay, the volunteer next door, if he could help me out. After a while he was able to get it loose. Apparantly some of the glass had fallen down through the belt holder and wedged it tight. I guess I should have had some Wheaties for breakfast today. ;)

I had been trying to do my laundry as I usually do on Sunday mornings, but was unable to get to the washer and dryer. Another volunteer couple had the same idea and monopolized the laundry room for over six hours. I can't imagine that they have anything left in their motorhome that hasn't been washed today!

Oh well, so I pressed on to Port Isabel for groceries and stopped at the video store and rented "Bucket List" to watch tonight. I hope it's good. It has been a long time since I rented a movie.

After I returned, I decided to take a ride around the wildlife car route. I had Emma jump in the back and off we went in the late afternoon. I had my camera with my new lens along and hoped to get some nice wildlife shots. I was not disappointed....

I was thrilled to get this picture of a bobcat! There are two different cats on the refuge. One is the endangered ocelot and the other is the bobcat. It is next to impossible to see an ocelot. Seeing and getting a picture of a bobcat made my day. What a hoot!

Of course, I saw plenty of waterfowl and will end this entry with a parting shot...

Bottoms Up!!

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

Bird Tour, Lulu, and the dumps

We had two folks for the bird tour this morning; a couple from Green Bay, Wisconsin. It's been very windy and chilly for the last two days, but today conditions started to get better. We spent four hours birding the Bay side drive and only had the heat on in the van for half of it. We probably saw about 50,000 ducks today, mostly pintails, coots, and redheads. I always enjoy hearing the sandhill cranes and I was not disappointed today. One of the highlights of the trip was seeing five ten point bucks along the trail. We got some really nice views of them since they were more interested in the does in the area than in us. The early starting hour of the tour means we are the first vehicle around the wildlife drive and get to see more than people arriving later. I spent the afternoon recuperating from a slight stomach ailment that arrived last night.

Just before Thanksgiving, the president pardoned at least one turkey from becoming a feast bird. On the Laguna Atascosa Refuge, we have a wild turkey that feels she has been pardoned and takes full advantage of her safety here.

This is "Lulu" and she can be seen daily at the visitor's center admiring herself in the reflection of the glass doors or trotting (doing the turkey trot???) around the RV pads. She is especially interesting to Emma.

One of the more mundane tasks I have to do weekly is the dumping of the grey and black water tanks. I usually schedule this on my calendar, but this week dump day came and went without my notice. So while I was doing the dishes this evening, Emma and I noticed an unusual odor filling the rig. Emma sniffed it out. The grey tank was obviously full and backing up in the shower. Yuck! We hot footed it outside and quickly emptied the tanks. Then it was back inside to clean the shower stall. These minor disasters are what keeps life interesting. ;)

Anyway, I had some difficulties with my internet signal last night so this is being posted on Sunday, even though it was written on Saturday.

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

Bad Hair Day

One of the challenges of living on the road is getting a good haircut. I wear my hair short, so you wouldn't think there could be much that could go wrong with a cut. Think again. I usually stop at a local Wal-Mart to get a trim about once a month. When I was on my way to the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque in October, I stopped in Aztec, NM, for a cut. In less than ten minutes, the longest hairs on my head were about an inch long. A little severe, but then you generally don't meet anyone you know while traveling.


Fast forward to the end of November and I drove to the Wal-Mart in Port Isabel for a trim. I told the hair dresser that I just wanted it a little shorter. I'm not sure she spoke English, but I think she was related to the woman in Aztec. When I returned to the refuge I received some interesting comments from the other volunteers: "Wow, you sure did get a hair cut!" "Where did you go, so I can go somewhere else?" "Boy, I thought your hair was short before!" and finally..."I didn't know you had those cowlicks". After their initial shock, they're parting shot was "Oh well, that's the good thing about hair, eventually it grows out." There's nothing like good friends to make you feel better. ;) My reaction to all of this was to go inside and put on some earings. Don't want anyone confused as to my gender......

This is the picture I was trying to upload the other day showing how we light up the engines each night. So far it has worked.

Yesterday I worked eight hours at the hunter check station. We had about 230 hunters on the refuge yesterday and it is always interesting to talk to them as they come in after a day out in the wilds. I respect the fortitude of these archery men and women. The count is up to about fifty animals taken so far. Last year 75 animals were taken during the archery hunt and we have four days (and a busy weekend) left this year.

The animals aren't totally at their mercy though, many of them head over to the unit where hunting is not allowed.

I'll be working the check station again this afternoon and evening so I'd better start getting ready.

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

The Windy City?

I grew up in the "Windy City" of Chicago. Let me tell you that today rivaled the winds on Michigan Avenue. The hunters were complaining and we had no takers today for our guided bird tour. Even the gulls were hunkered down in flocks in the water. The ospreys dotted the fields surrounding Laguna Madre and just hung onto the ground. I usually lead bird tours every Wednesday and Saturday, so today Diana, a volunteer that drives for the tours, and I spent the day scouting areas to find birds for this month while the hunts are on. Normally we take visitors on the back roads of the refuge for the bird tours, but during the hunt only one unit of the refuge is open to the public (a unit where there are no hunters so you won't get shot).

These are a couple of the white Ibis that we saw today. They didn't seem to be bothered by the winds. We didn't find anything too exciting, so the four hour bird tours in December will not be as exciting as tours in other months.

As a solo, I put in 32 volunteer hours per week. In exchange, I receive a full hookup RV site in the Volunteer Village. The accomodations at Laguna Atascosa are some of the best sites in the National Wildlife Refuge system for volunteers. We have a volunteer building called the Outpost that has showers, laundry, cable tv, a full kitchen and an area to use for potlucks, games, and other activities. During the month of December, the Outpost is also used as the hunter check station, so our use of the building is somewhat limited during that time.

One of the not so nice things about this site is that if you don't lift the hoods of your vehicles and light them up at night, you stand the chance of having wood rats (pack rats) invading your motors and chewing up all your wires and insulation. So, the nine volunteer RV pads are pretty lit up each night. That really helps when it's time for last outs for Emma. I still take a flashlight though, since there are things that go bump in the night like snakes and coyotes, rabbits and toads! Oh My.

Well, I'm having a real challenge trying to upload photos tonight so I guess I'll end for now.

Thanks for stopping in....talk to you later... Judy

Bows and Arrows

Today is the first day of the eight day archery hunt on the refuge. Most hunters are here to pursue the white tailed deer, but can harvest as many feral hogs and Nilgai as they can shoot. Nilgai are Asian antelope that were brought to the area 100 years ago. Of course, they escaped and are now found throughout this area. They are big and can weigh up to 700 lbs. Along with the feral hogs, they have a detrimental effect on the refuge, hence there is no limit on the number of these animals taken.

Volunteers help man the hunter check station, so I headed over to the Outpost a little after eight to help get things set up. All hunters must check out each day when they leave the refuge and we record their license number and whether or not they were successful. We askeach hunter "Did you get anything?" and they usually answer "Yea, about 50 ticks!" Yuck! Glad I'm not out hunting. At least a dozen animals were taken today. The refuge supplies a cooler to keep the field dressed animals in during the hunt. It's not like Minnesota where you hang the deer from a tree in your yard to cool. Temps today were cool for here, but still in the mid 70's. Notice the bicycles in the back? Hunters must park on the road and bike or hike into the refuge to hunt. They come up with all sorts of trailers to hook onto the bikes to haul out the game back to their trucks.

Emma has a few things to say about today:

Hi Scruffy & Rascal,

Wow!!! What a workout my nose got this morning when I took my human on her daily constitutional! All those trucks parked along the side of our walking road and what smells there were! It made my hair stand on end like a javalina. I guess it was that stuff the hunters put on them so deer can't smell them. I was in doggie heaven. Now if I could only find a way to get off of this leash....

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