Mammoth Visiting Grandkids, Day 2

Tuesday 22 Mar 2022

My enthusiasm of the day before was much dimmed. A bad night's sleep will do that to you.

Our visit yesterday was...not good. But we've had worse. The baby is one and a half years old now, but when we came into the house she pitched a screaming fit that lasted for a half hour. She didn't show the reaction I'd expect, either--not like she was scared of us, but more like she was scared of us to the point of breakdown. It was weird and unexpected.

And the boys don't talk. I'll try harder today, I promise. Yesterday I was so freaked out by the girl's screaming, I basically ignored Ethan. Assuming he'd warm to us after a minute. But I should have realized he was trying to play with us and didn't know how. I suspect he vaguely remembers us--it's only been a few months, after all.

Thunderstorms came through in the night in scattered fits. I don't think our campsite got one drop of rain, but parts of Killeen sure did. And other parts did not. Weird, but hey--this is Texas. If only if only my garden got some!

And now it's fiercely windy. It was very awfully windy yesterday, but today it's much worse. A cluster of birds--coots and redheads, I guess--is hanging out across the lake, on the sheltered side. Yesterday I saw four pied-billed grebes and a Pelican. Plus two kestrels, some meadowlarks, grackels and such.  Some kind of long, slender shorebird. Sounded like a yellowlegs but I didn't see any yellow.

Some campground pics:

LATER
Molly and I had our long walk. The stopwatch said 1:10 or so, but I stopped it when I was chasing down a Bewick's Wren in the cedars. Not a golden-cheeked warbler, of course. It could have been...but it wasn't. The song was all wrong.

Funny thing, when we were off in the hills with a wind-break, it was pleasantly warm. I took off my hoodie a couple of times. But back at camp, the wind was blowing so hard that I couldn't close the Mammoth door. The weather app said 19mph but I could swear it was 30 at a constant speed. I guess we were in some sort of wind tunnel.

After that we went to visit and I got May to come up with a list of things she'd need to tide her over until Edward gets back. Which we still don't know when. "Sometime" in April.