Saturday, December 1, 2012

One verdict is rendered

Today was my scheduled “Knock on Wood” bird tour.  As I expected, no one showed up to take advantage of this marvelous opportunity.  Sad smile  So instead, I took Kathy, the intern, along with me to ride the tour route anyway.  She was very interested in learning about birds and becoming a ‘birder’.  I switched out the 15 passenger van for the electric cart, and we were on our way.  We barely got started before we received a call on the radio to return to the VC.  Two young ladies had shown up an hour late for the tour.

IMG_0635

There were lots of turkeys around early in the morning, but they were gone by the time I took the tour out.

The day turned out to be a cloudy one, and the birding was rather subdued.  We had a nice time, and since they were interns from a different facility and interested in plants, I showed them our pitcher plants.  Couldn’t seem to find the toothache grass today, though.  By the time we finished it was lunch time.

I was supposed to spend the afternoon roving, but was requested by Gracie, the volunteer coordinator, to work the VC this afternoon.  So that’s what I did.  During a lull in visitors, she gave me the verdict on whether or not I would be able to stay on the refuge during my recuperation from surgery.  The answer was no.  I was very disappointed, and could feel my face reddening as she gave me the news.  It seems to be a matter of liability in case I might fall or something during the recuperation process.  I guess I can understand that, but I was sure hoping I wouldn’t have to pack things up and find a different place to stay.  Crying face

I do have a couple of possible locations in mind, and will pursue them more diligently when I finally get a surgery date.  That news kind of put a crimp on my day.

IMG_1072

On a brighter note, a couple of days ago Kathy found these tracks not too far from the volunteer village.  We think they are from a bobcat.  That’s cool beans. 

I have to tell you what happened last night that nearly gave me heart failure.  About 10:30, after my drama with the huge bug in the rig, I hooked Emma to her leash for her last outs.  I flicked on the outside light, and down the stairs we went to the outside.  As we reached the ground, there were loud raucous squawking sounds and a huge bird swooped down just above our heads.  I about passed out, and Emma was so shocked she didn’t even bark!  She just cringed.  As I looked at it flap by, I think it was a great blue heron.  I have no idea why it would be roosting outside the RV.  It took us a few minutes to calm down enough so Emma could do her business, and I could go to bed!

The plan for tomorrow is to spend a good deal of time boating through the swamp.  I’m excited about that, and hope to have some great pics for tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy