A great week -- again! I am blessed

“If you study birds for only a season, you’ll be enraptured, and birds will give you a lifetime of enjoyment.” 

–   Ornithology professor Dr. Everett Myers

NATURE

Hummingbirds have come from must be miles around! I have two nectar feeders out – for a total of 5 “spigots”. I’ve counted at least 14 at a time, jockeying for position at the feeders. I was surprised to see two female hummers perched side-by-side using the same spigot at the same time! I refill the feeders at least three times a day. Thankfully the park keeps me supplied with granulated sugar.

READING

Friend Hilda and Amazon.com to the rescue. Being blessed with a lot of reading time during the heat of the day, I made quick work of the five books I brought.

Meow, meow!

For four weeks I’ve been hearing that there was a feral cat roaming the campground at night. But I never saw nor heard it – until this past week. I was getting ready for bed when I heard a cat and stepped outside Jeremiah. A black cat ran a short distance and then stopped to look at me but would not come closer. The cat is all black except its back feet and a spot on its chest are white. No, I am not tempted to have another cat yet.

PEOPLE – It takes all kinds

Sun worshipers. They arrived in a car that parked at a campsite in the loop within eyesight of my site. Next time I looked their way it was one of those classic double-takes – they were lounging near the picnic table – a well-tanned and scantily clad man and woman. She in a very brief black bikini and he in what appeared to be a black jock strap! I will say they both had super fit bodies. There were gone when I woke up this morning.

Three couples – three RVs. The women are sisters from Florida. They spent the day keeping cool in one of the RVs, while the husbands sat outside to enjoy cold beer.

Triathlon man participated in nearby Sumner Lake’s triathlon on Saturday morning; he was #55. He has a sleek, lightweight racing bicycle.

Grandpa and grandson from Galveston have made this park their first night on their trip. He travels in a restored old camper. Grandpa, a tugboat pilot, takes a grandchild each summer on a trip.

Parking problems. A couple with a medium-sized trailer came for the weekend. After eight or ten tries getting backed into his reserved site, he gave up in disgust and went to a pull-through site. The site he chose was already reserved by another camper and there were no available sites, so he went back and tried again and again. Wife had a walkie-talkie and was trying to help. It soon became obvious he did not know how, and things became tense and he blamed the trees and the site! They ended up in a pull-through site in the primitive loop. Later that afternoon a camper with the same size trailer backed in on his first try!

I scanned the incoming reservations list – Site 7, Lucille Billings – and gasped. Could it be…? Our family lived next to a Billings’ family during my ages 10 to 18 years. They had three children, a daughter named Lucille who was just a bit younger them I. Could it be her? I anxiously awaited her arrival and promptly went to the site when an RV arrived. Could it be her? She opened the door and I introduced myself, asking her if she grew up in Glendale, Arizona. She grew up in California.

FISHING

Between the lake being so low and so muddy, many folks have been frustrated in their fishing. So I was surprised when the lady across the way caught a 28-inch Walleye that weighed 6 pounds!

TRASH PICKUP

n      Dairy Queen – here I come!  This has been a good week; I found a dollar bill, two quarters and three pennies. My DQ total is now $2.74!

n      Good luck? Let’s see – a rabbit’s foot brings good luck. Would four rabbit’s feet bring four times the good luck? And what would a rabbit’s tail bring? On one of my campsite cleanups I thought I was seeing a cotton ball near a bush. Picked it up – and discovered it was a soft, fluffy cottontail rabbit’s tail – but no rabbit attached!

n      Two empty 50ML bottles of “99 Bananas” liqueur; 99 proof, 49.5% alcohol! These were found at the rowdies’ campsite. It was these campers that required two phone calls to the ranger on duty after midnight on Saturday.

n      Two used coffee filters.

FIRE BAN

Finally, with half the state burning, the park system has a ban on charcoal or wood fires. Today’s project was to “gift wrap” all 50 campsite grills.

Today’s beautiful clouds!

PERSPECTIVE: Life is a matter of perspective. For a worm, digging is a lot more fun than fishing.