McGee Creek, Sunday

I slept pretty well, falling asleep after only one potty run and waking up surprised that I'd actually been asleep. It was awfully hot and we expected to be able to run only one air conditioner, so at bedtime we shut off the front one and only used the one in the bedroom. We followed the advice of a neighbor to switch the water heater from electricity to LP and that seemed to make things much better.

The bedroom A/C is extremely loud but that seemed to help me sleep. I started off with the sheet, the comforter and a blanket, but ended up casting the blanket aside. No nightly noises were heard, but that's just what you have to expect sleeping in an electrified tin can. (Sorry, Mammoth)  The problem with all that sleep was that I didn't get up nearly as early as I'd hoped. Normally we open the shades on the east-facing window but when I tried, our neighbor had some sort of white outdoors lights that made the bedroom bright as day. People should think about their light leakage.

It would have been good enough to open the other shade, the lakeside one, but we forgot. Nevertheless when I arose Ed had already gone through the first pot of coffee and the sun was fully up, but the pine covered slope to the east kept our patio well covered.

As we breakfasted out on the patio, the clouds were building up and the humidity intensifying. We hastened to load our fishing stuff and pop over to the covered fishing pier.  A sweet family of about six were there but were fine with me bringing my dogs on.  So I did.  We fished until the rain came.

Yes, again. Rain.   Of the sixth trips taken so far--this was the seventh--it's rained on three of them and this one made four. I will redub our machine, Mammoth the Rain Magnet. Or maybe Mammoth Rainmaker.


The rain continued until three o'clock or so. Watching TV, Ed napped in his chair.  The clouds cleared out gradually, and by late afternoon a breeze and bit of sun had dried off our picnic table and most of our patio. It was too nice to sit inside, so I guilted Ed on accompanying us around to the restroom and the boat launch. I would have liked to go farther, but our feet just turned us home.

Red-headed woodpecker, several. At fishing pier, chickadee and titmouse and an odd little bird in the low trees, long beak, active but not frantic, white wingbars but otherwise drab.  Could have been a female pine warbler--plenty of pine trees there., both tall and short.

I did see an almost certain chipping sparrow by the water. They're common as mud back east, but we don't have them at home. I'd been hearing them. And later a bald eagle flying across the lake. The day before a flock of five egrets--probably great egret--on the other side of the lake. One stopped on a dead tree but the others flew on, and soon he hastened  to join his flock.

Turkey and black vultures. One turkey vulture stopped on a dead tree nearby and the sun hit him beautifully. I never realized how brilliantly red their head was, nor how white the beak. He was a beautiful bird.

Notes: This campground is nice, but there's no fishing on this side of the lake. It would be a good place to do what our neighbors did--launch their boats at the nearby launch, then tie them up on the single remaining pine tree between the campsite and the lake shore.  There were a lot of tree stumps near the water--I assume the park crew had to cut them because they posed a danger to campers. I hope so, anyway. If they did it to create an enticing view, they blew it.

The other campground, Buster Hite, was way too crowded--it's not worth trying. But at this one (Potapo), any of the sites by the lake would be great and even the ones across the road would be okay. Love the patios! I think the big thing here is family reunions. At the Buster Hite campground every campsite seemed to have at least three vehicles. Usually a 5th wheel or trailer, a boat, and three pickup trucks. We're like the only "singles car family" around.

The covered fishing pier is nice, but on the weekends too crowded.  We eventually gave up and went home, grilled veggie skewers and steak, made baked potatoes in the microwave, and lounged.  Best kind of evening.