I woke up early and should have got up, but instead I slept until 7:15 or so. The sun was up in the east, but it hadn't yet come over the hills to shine on our campground. When it finally reached the lake, it was way pretty.
Dog walking, dog walking, dog walking. Story of my days, dog walking. And yes, all those deer pellets on the ground all over the campgrounds do indeed mean there are a lot of deer here. They're cautious, but not all that afraid.
I fixed myself breakfast--eggs and rice--but while I was searching on the phone for a bait shop nearby, I saw mention of donuts. Ed had already mentioned that he never got donuts anymore because he didn't get hungry for breakfast, such as donuts, until around ten o'clock. And at that point, the coffee is all gone. But it was about eight o'clock and we were about to head out for minnows, so why not?
We ended up at Shipleys on the edge of Temple. I had a Kolache but it wasn't very good. I gave some to the dogs, and they had no complaints. Note: Shipley's has a bavarian cream filled donut, Ed's favorite.
After that we puttered around getting ready. It took longer than usual, mainly because the boat had slipped a little on the trailer and a chain (I think) was hanging up the motor support rod. It took both guys and a jack to accomplish removal, but they got it out.
There were a lot of cumulonimbus clouds hanging low, with rain and threats of rain in all directions. But no lightning--we never saw a bit. Eventually we found a spot with crappie and Ed caught one. I got a small but doughty bass. I lost a lot of minnows and that's about all she wrote. There were a lot of fish, but they were small ones, and what big ones we saw weren't biting.
As we were going along a cliff face I heard that bird song agaub, a soft whistled whee-whee-wee-we getting softer at the end. And I saw the bird--wrenlike, seemed larger than a Carolina wren but it was at a bit of a distance so I couldn't judge. Very white throat. So it was almost certainly nearly ninety-percent sure a canyon wren. But I want to see it again to be sure.
We quit at about four o'clock, I think, and I returned to some very bored dogs. But I made it up with a biscuit and a couple of long walks. Mollydog is very interested in roadrunners; also vultures of which there are tons and tons here. I watched one vulture land in a tall tree and get attacked by a couple of mockingbirds--they succeeded in driving it away pretty fast.
And of course Molly loves deer. There were plenty for her. And she discovered that deer pellets taste pretty good, it seems.
Sadly, the campground was filling up with people. Almost all the empty spots that showed as reserved on the reservations page were finally filled. But there were two of what I'd considered to be prime spots with water views that were still open. Either someone was a no-show or someone canceled after I made my reservation--I would have liked one of those spots! It became hard to go walking over to the cliff's edge--too many campsites lined the way. I finally walked back to the entrance and came down the edge beside the fence to take this picture:
Country music. Kids on bicycles. Mom's yelling "you better stop that or I'm going to pop you one!" And dogs everywhere. But hey--that's the weekend crowd in July at a popular lake near Temple/Killeen/Belton. And I won't even mention the light show on the side of one RV--that was plain silly.
But soon we were cozied up in our family nest, all the family we could get to, anyway, and we cared not. We were together--we were home.
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