Finally Some Rain

We did finally get some rain yesterday. The forecast was for it to begin at 11:00 AM and be done by 11:00 PM, but it didn’t really get going until just before 11:00 PM and was soon over. I’ve been hoping to get some rain to test the water bars and drainage ditches on the trails. This morning I was out the door early to survey the trails and I found the ground had pretty much soaked up the rain, no erosion damage. While coming back on the Buckskin Trail I spotted this Common Chuckwalla soaking up the morning sun. This is the third day in a row I have seen him. As a side note, today is the last day of February, which means Jeanette and I are finishing up our third month of our volunteer service here at Buckskin Mountain State Park. We weren’t sure we could stay put this long, but we are loving it!

Hiking Suprises

Yesterday’s Nature Hike contained, well for lack of a better word, many surprises. First was the number of hikers. I had not done any extra promoting, like knocking on doors to remind people there was a hike, so I was surprised when a record 17 people showed up including two French-speaking people from Quebec and two German-speaking people from the Netherlands. The second surprise was to find our first Beavertail Cactus in bloom. It was not there the last day I hiked the trail. Next was my first sighting of a Chuckwalla, up to this point I have only seen the small Side-blotched Lizards. And then the event that confounded me for the rest of the day was when the two people who had lagged behind all the way, causing the whole group to wait up, opted to not take the loop back, but extend their hike. I guess one needs to expect the unexpected. Speaking of surprises, it’s supposed to rain today!

Birding Change

At the beginning of  yesterday’s Bird Walk it was a little disheartening to look out and find an almost empty river. Gone were all our winter visiting ducks; American Widgeon, Ring-necked Duck, Gadwall, and Common Golden Eye. These are all ducks I could depend on seeing daily. Evidently they have all taken off for their journeys to the north. Some Mallards have stuck around for handouts at the RV park across the river. Coots are still here in good numbers, I doubt they will ever leave, and we spotted a couple of Pied-bill Grebes. In the end the local birds, that is to say, the birds that are permanent residents here, showed up in good numbers and we ended up with identifications of 21 different species.

Ahhh---Shade!!!

Tuesday afternoon we grabbed an opportunity to move the coach to this site with some great shade. Although our old site had a good view of the river and canyon wall, we were exposed to the afternoon sun. With the increasing warmer tempatures here in Arizona, too much sun was causing us a problem every afternoon. Now we have the luxury of some nice afternoon shade!

Exploring

There is such a fine line between work and play here at Buckskin Mountain State Park that I some times am not sure which I am doing. Everyday I put on my boots, shoulder my possibilities bag, and strike out on the trail. I knew yesterday was play because I had Buster and Jeanette with me, and we had a very fun morning exploring beyond the formal trails of the park. You can check it out a little closer in the Trip Journal.

Jeanette the Magician

Jeanette receives an appreciative pat on the back from another grateful camper for magically pulling an available campsite out of the hat. Daily she has to perform some sort of magic in providing campsites in an increasingly full campground here at Buckskin Mountain State Park. Campers come and go every day, and the rangers some times refer to the hectic exchange as the Buckskin Shuffle.

iPod Touch

Yesterday, last night, and today have pretty much been absorbed in purchasing and getting running two iPod Touches for Jeanette and I. I haven’t seen a need for one until recently when people started showing up for my Bird Walks with them and then they were able to show the group what the bird we were trying to identify looked like. Last week my interest heated up to a full boil when Bill Geible was here and showed me his iPod Touch with the birding shoftware even with audible birdcalls. I had to have one. Combined with our Verizon MiFi, which we already have, we will be able to access the Internet, which opens up all kinds of possibilities. Jeanette and I will be using each of ours differently, while I will be using mine a lot for birding, she will enjoy being able to down load and play game apps. The one thing we will both enjoy equally is being able to easily check our e-mail with out dragging out our laptops and waiting for them to load.