Oh, My - Mudding (Mistakenly), Mosquitoes, and Melodrama - Wed., Nov. 4, 2015

I'm going back a few days to catch up on a few things...

Melodrama: What a crazy last few days! With the storm that sounded like a tornado, we found out Saturday morning five trees had snapped or lost limbs in the RV park. Two partial trees fell on RVs: one broke a skylight and one other thing on the roof; one was held up by a telephone pole so the tree didn't damage the motorhome. Another branch was held up by part of a tree so it didn't fall on a pop-up tent camper, a different tree fell on a someone's Dish, and a dead tree blew over breaking part of a fence.

The RV park was able to find an arborist to clean up the trees on that same Saturday. Everything looks good again in the park.

Then, on Monday, I was driving out of the RV park and a fire truck with all lights flashing was coming into the park. When I returned I stopped in the office to find out what the fire truck had been doing in the park. Apparently a squirrel got on a transformer which caused the transformer to explode (and the squirrel too), and that started a fire in the tree by the transformer. The fire was put out quickly.

Monday I took my car to the mechanic for its inspection so I could get my registration sticker. Then I went to the Tax Assessor's office (where we obtain our registration sticker) to get the sticker for my car and the license plate tag for our 5th wheel. It was an hour wait, but I got it all done.

Mitchell Lake: Tuesday, four of us from the RV park went to Mitchell Lake Audubon Center for bird watching. Whose idea was that anyway? Oh, it was mine.

Here's what our morning was like. At 8:00 am there was heavy fog. Would we be able to see any birds? Bravely, we headed to Mitchell Lake Audubon.

I thought we could park by the poulders (ponds) and hike the roads (about three miles) to see birds. First, we were told by the receptionist at the Audubon Center that not many ducks were around because the water was too deep, and wading birds weren't around, also because of the deep water due to the recent rains. That was okay, we decided we'd hike about and see what we could find.

Upon stepping out of the car it immediately became apparent that mosquitoes were big, swarming and hungry. We put on organic bug spray. It seemed to be working so we set off to look for birds.

We saw some type of parrot, but it didn't sit still long enough for a photo to identify it. A beautiful white pelican swam by alone, and there were a couple of pied-billed grebes as well. Other sightings included a caracara, northern shrike and a tufted titmouse.

Lone white pelican

Pied-billed grebe

Dewy early morning spider web

Mosquitoes: The mosquitoes were out of control. They flew in swarms around us and they were big black ones. Menacing looking. The organic mosquito repellent was not working. Lisa and I decided to walk the 1/2 mile back to the car. Randy and Lydia decided to walk to the lake. Lisa and I would drive and pick them up. Bad plan.

Mudding: When the receptionist told us the roads were muddy, I thought we could ride the high ridges and stay out of the mud. Nope. That wasn't the way it worked. The ridges of the road, which are normally hard and grassy, were soggy, slippery, deep mud. It was like driving on ice, only soft, with the risk of high-centering on the mud. Once we got going, I didn't want to stop for fear we would not be able to get out. There was on particular spot that almost got us, but there was enough forward momentum to get us through. Whew.

We saw lots and lots of white pelicans sitting on these booms in Mitchell Lake. A few cormorants claimed a share of the space. At least the fog lifted!

Some of these are not like the rest!

White pelicans

Birdhouse looks exactly like Visitor Center!

Today's Audubon visit did not go according to plan. After we finished, we took Lisa home so she could work. Lydia, Randy and I went to eat.

After lunch my friend Susan and I went to see "Sicario." Yuck, not my kind of movie. Too much violence and corruption.

I was happy when today was over. Every once in a while a day like this slips in and it makes me appreciate the good days so much more.

All for today. Maybe the world will look rosier tomorrow.