It was my first day back to work today, and even though it was just a half day it wore me out. Most of the volunteers were gone today on a field trip to a big camellia garden quite a drive away. I opted out of that outing because of all of the hours sitting in the van to get there and back. They all left at 7:00 this morning and still aren’t home.
Instead, since I was about the only one left around, I agreed to lead bird tours for an Audubon group from Venice, FL. There were about 48 people in the group so we divided them into two groups. While one group was taking the boat tour, I led the other group down Swamp Island Drive to try to see the red-cockaded woodpecker. This included a couple of short hikes, but alas the birds were all in hiding today.
I’ve never seen so few birds when I’ve been out on the drive. We had a good time for both tours, though, and I filled in the time with the natural history of the woodpecker and tales about the refuge in general. When I lead tours like this, I can’t bring my camera along so no pictures tonight.
Each tour was an hour and a half long, and I was about done in by the end of the day. It did feel good to get back into the swing of things though, and I’m glad I only have to work half days this week and next. The hip held up well to the hiking, so I sure got my exercise for the day.
Tomorrow, is my last meeting with the physical therapist so I’ll be ‘graduating’ from that particular experience before I head off to work the VC. Short post tonight, but it is what it is.
Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later, Judy
