I saw a bird, and said out loud (to myself), "Let me get a look at what that blackbird is doing." I looked, and I saw--it was NOT a blackbird. It was an oriole! Orchard Oriole, almost certainly. The more orioles I see, the more I notice how much like blackbirds they are. Which makes sense--they're close relatives, after all.
Since I'd gotten out of bed shortly after dawn, we were able to get the boat out early. At one point I looked at the clock and it said 9:00, but that might have been in the truck on the way. We tried a couple of spots and fished in a cove for a long time with no bites. Finally we headed out into slightly deeper water--about 15', and lit into a whole covie of hungry crappy. I must have caught twenty-five--wish I'd been counting. One was a nice size--about 12-3/4". but the others ranged in size from 11" all the way down to "absolutely tiny". I also caught a bass--I'm thinking hybrid striper--and we each had an odd looking bass that we decided must be smallmouth. They weren't all that big but they were a lot of fun to catch.
In the skies above there were several Great Blues, a few Great Egret, one Bald Eagle and one very strange long-necked AND long tailed bird that flapped and glided, way up in the sky on its way to somewhere. What was it???
Various weather authorities had predicted rain for the afternoon, but I don't consider a 40% change of scattered thundershowers "rain". It sprinkled a little on us while we were getting ready and then stayed overcast and cool for a long time. We were fine until 2:00 or so, when the sun came out with a vengeance. That was part of my motivation in leaving early--getting back in time to let the dogs have some vacation, too, and avoiding the blast of evil sunshine that tried to dry us into dust. The wind kicked up, too.
But when we got to the boat ramp the water was calm and nearly current-less. I was able to drive the boat up to the trailer in one try! Crooked, it was, but on there! Small victory for me.
Aside: I have a tendency to get all mad at myself when I do stupid things out of distraction or incompetence, but so far this trip I've only done a few. Letting Zack loose while a neighbor's dog was out and I was distracted with Molly; confusing Ed's truck keys with mine; losing my brand-new reading glasses in the grass, first thing!!! Sheez. Not to mention spilling water all over the floor when I was trying to fill up our fancy octagonal-shaped ice cube maker. I didn't realize I'd left so much water on the floor, and Ed, coming in later, through we had a leak in the refrigerator. I followed up that brilliant exercise with putting a water cup in--sideways--with the leak-proof lid open.
We got back to let the dogs out of prison at about three.
The rest of the evening was pretty much routine, with a lot of dog walking thrown in. I took Zack for sure, I remember, and then Mollydog got a long walk without seeing any interesting birds at all. How is that fair? No deer, either. We saw plenty of people--I've have to wager that this campground is pretty near capacity. Some of the tent camping area is free, which is a bit of a shame because this park has some of the nicest tent camping I think I've ever seen.
I was tired but not nearly the dead man walking I'd been the day before. I hope Mollydog got the exercise she deserved. I'm sure I did--even without jogging, simply moving my legs up and down on these hills has got to be an exercise.
Dinner was leftover chicken and stuff. Odd note--on the last trip I forgot to take chocolate for a snack, so this time I was careful to assemble a bag of candy from my snack stash at home. But it tasted awful. The reason seems to have been that it was stored in the snack cupboard during the trip up and the first day...and that cupboard just doesn't stay cool, even with the air conditioner on day and night. After I put the bag of candy in the fridge, it improved. But still not what I'd hoped for.
Sadly, I don't remember the rest of the evening very well. Despite the crowds, the noise died down nicely after dark and I only saw one camp fire. Maybe all of the young people were worn out from swimming and boating all day in the sapping sunshine. I sure was!
Later, though, when we stepped outside to see the stars before bedtime, people's decorative lighting was still brightening the sky like Times Square. What is the matter with people? Doesn't anyone understand turning off your outdoor lights in a public campground at bedtime? Is everyone out here scared of the dark? It wouldn't have been all that dark, anyway, what with the light at the boat ramp and the bathroom.
It's just sad. I could see the Big Dipper, the Little Dipper, most of Draco; Lyra with its bright star Vega, and almost all of Scorpio. How cool it is to see Scorpio again! (Note to self: bring the star book next time you go camping!) But I could barely make out the glow of the Milky Way.
No comments:
Post a Comment