May 29, 2017. Jellystone to Weborg - Herdmans to Wildlife

 

 

May 29, 2017.  Jellystone to Weborg - Herdmans to Wildlife.  Five nights back, Annie was awakened by a scratching noise.  She laid awake for a long time before getting up to locate the source.  She was telling about it the morning after.  I laughed at her for being such a fraidy-cat.  I told her it was probably a water bottle in the trash can which was not tightly sealed after it was crushed.  The crinkling sound she heard was the bottle expanding as air seeped back in, said I.  Smugly, I retrieved a crushed water bottle and loosened the cap.  As air filled the bottle, it made a crinkling sound.  I smiled knowingly.  "That wasn't it," Annie exclaimed in a huff. 

This morning, I popped the hood to refill the DEF container.  Atop the air filter, I found an acorn with hull shavings indicating a critter had been under the hood munching, likely late at night.  I brought the acorn hull to Annie, showed it to her and apologized for trivializing her reaction to the night sounds she heard.  I am really getting tired of apologizing to that woman.  She is going to have to be right less often, or I will have to stop being such an overbearing bore.  Wonder how that is going to work out for me?

You wondered why I posted the second picture, didn't you?  Look at it again.  Do you see the turquoise color in the center?  See the skin tones?  That is Annie riding shotgun in Harvey shot through the windshield.  At first blush, the picture seems to be simply a reflection of the sky.  I thought it was cool to see Annie in the clouds.  It is almost angelic, isn't it.  

After two days of watching the Herdmans, we were ready for a change of pace.  I had an email exchange with my youngest this morning in which I reported that at 6:00 AM, the two-year-old girl was walking around in her full-body pajamas in the dew-soaked grass.  A few minutes later, she had popped opened the cover to the gas nozzle of the Suburban and was trying to figure out how to screw off the gas cap.  I turned away from the window before she succeeded.  I don't know what she planned to do when she got the cap off.  I could imagine her dropping in some rocks or grass cuttings.  I didn't want to know. 

The couple which occupied this site before us had scattered some bird seed and orange halves on several stumps at the rear of the campsite. We watched and photographed the wildlife for more than an hour.  Several squirrels, chipmunks, warblers, cardinals, blue jays, red-winged black birds and Baltimore orioles visited the smorgasbord.  The few pictures shown above were culled from nearly 100 photos.  That proves the old adage about photography; take enough pictures and some of them will turn out. 

We wanted a change of pace from the chaos of Jellystone.  We got it.  From the Herdmans to wildlife is like moving from NYC to Nevada.  Oh, yes, the solitary goose is still here. 

Goodnight.