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!

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.  Growing older isn’t easy some days.  Besides, I could use a little harmony in my life right now.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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