Tuesday at Belton Lake

 Tuesday, December 29

Only three more days left in this crummy year. It should have been a wonderful year--the year of my retirement and my improved life habits and our expanded travels. But none of that came to be--Coronavirus ruined it all. We're unwilling to go into public places other than the gas stations, donut shops, and groceries like the HEB we snuck into a few days ago. I've had a bit of a cough and been worrying about that, but it seems to have disappeared.

I'm fighting a very sore right leg, but I can't blame that on Coronavirus. I have no idea what caused it, but my suspicion is that it came from driving Ed's truck so far. I was distracted and tense for both of our two drives and I barely noticed the scenery. Basically, I just sat in one place and drove. On a normal, expected, and relaxed long drive, I'll adjust my position and play with the cruise control to move my legs around a lot. But these last two times, no.

The flock of turkeys were over at our previous campsite (from the last trip here) in the morning when we walked the dogs. It was about 7:15 and the sun hadn't peeked out yet. It was very windy with a cold front working its way through. The sunrise was scary orangish-red and the rain is expected to start at about four p.m. We will see.

Anyway, after our walk and my morning coffee outdoors, we came in for breakfast. I'd barely gotten the ingredients out of the refrigerator when I glanced out the window and saw this:

 

I guess they know human habits!

 

 

 

Later I took Molly on a long walk, out and around the cliffs to the boat ramp. We detoured at the Turkey Roost Group Camp and took the Scout trail there. I'd said in my campground review that there were no trails here, but that was a mistake.

It was a nice little trail once I got past all the trash at the beginning. I think the prevailing winds from the parking areas and the group camp are directed so as to deposit a lot of airborne trash at the edge of that woods. We enjoyed the trail, but I needed to go pee out all that coffee I'd drunk for breakfast so we only went part way along. I'm not sure how far it went, but it couldn't have been far--the park ends a little ways from the lake and there is a private residence back in there, plus the screen shelters.

During my walk I picked up a Walmart bag and used it to carry a handful of trash that I picked up on the road. I drew the line at plastic water bottles that were still full of water--they're too heavy to carry without pouring the water out first, so why bother when there's plenty of other trash to fill my bags?

Sadly, before the bag was full I found another empty bag, so I picked that up. It didn't get full before I had finished my loop and returned. Which is good. Mind you, I wasn't aggressively climbing around in the undergrowth to retrieve litter. I was just hitting the easy pickings.

The only birds I saw for the duration were vultures, yellow-rumped warblers, and a  possible titmouse by the boat ramp. I didn't get my binocs focused quickly enough for that one.

After lunch I took both dogs on a long walk. Zack got plenty of excitement from all the deer. He acted like a teenager, pulling and straining and practically leaping in the air. He survived for the long loop around the campsite--halfway down to the water to avoid the campers, alone the road to the gate, then along back through the grass. With a lot of smelling. I wrote: I hope his legs hurt as bad as mine do tonight.