3-11-18 to 3-17-18 (Week 2)

Sunday
We came home yesterday to mow the yard.  Mother Nature delayed our plans when she dumped a bunch of rain this morning. Anita came over this afternoon and spent the night with us.  It was great to catch up with her.  We  always have a great time when we are together.

Monday
The sun was shining, the wind was blowing, and the grass was growing.  We dove in and got most of the yard mowed and some of the leaves picked up, even though Lauren bogged the mower down several times. 

Tuesday
Last week,when we took pictures of the Sandhill Cranes, they were way out there.  We decided to buy another camera lens that could reach out and capture them.  The lens arrived at the Refuge shortly after we did today. We took a few pictures, playing around with the new lens and was ready for Castille to fly over.  It was another no show day.

Wednesday
We were not scheduled to work at the Visitor's Center today, so we cleaned out some brush at the campground.  We hung the wild bird feeder that Momma gave us for Christmas many years ago and our Hummingbird feeder.  Within the hour, we had several birds feasting on the bird seed.

We found a string in a tree and hung the metal eagle that I gave Lauren for his 55th birthday.  The only problem, the eagle is now swinging around close to the bird feeders.  We have seen less birds feasting since we hung him there.  Hopefully, they will get use to him.   If not, we will have to relocate.

It was buy one get one free buffet at Sicily Pizza today.  We met Carol, Charley, (their granddaughter - Christina), Carole and Roger for dinner.  The buffet was very impressive and tasty.

When we returned, we went to the South Gautier Unit of the Refuge.  We saw 3 Cranes immediately upon entering Fire Tower Road.  We also saw an adult and juvenile Eagle, and something, we haven't seen in a long time, an Armadillo.

We returned at dusk and entered our gate code to get back into headquarters.  As Carole says, we now live in a gated community.

Pictures right here:

Thursday
We had the Visitor's Center opened and was almost finished cleaning the glass doors when Carol, Charley, Roger, and Carole arrived.  We are rocking.

We spent the morning with Melissa on the C.L. Dees Trail, learning about the Carnivorous and other plants.  We are amazed to learn about the plants.

We took a ride to Biloxi High School to pick up their Jr. Duck Stamp entries.  Man, what a school!

We toured the North Gautier Unit of the Refuge this evening and saw a Sandhill Crane immediately as we entered Brown's Trail in the fire lane to our right.  Shortly after, we spotted another Crane to our left, ole Sticky Bunz.  We saw the nesting goose, 2 Blue Herons, and an Eagle flying around on Valentine Road.  We also saw 4 Cranes fly over and a 5th Crane joined them way off in the distance.  We saw 6 Deer, one of which was a Buck.

Spotting 7 Cranes makes for a pretty good evening for the Crane Whisperers.

Pictures are here:

Friday
We had planed to clean the signs on the C.L. Dees Trail this morning.  About the time we got our tools together, Angie asked if we wanted to go with her to check out the Dusky Gopher Frogs, an endangered species of frogs that have been introduced to the Refuge for the last few years.

Angie gave an informative lecture on the frogs.  She got very aggressive toward a spider and a dragon fly when they threatened to enter the uncovered tadpole tanks. She is very protective of her tadpoles.

It is rather ironic to us, that there are endangered species of frogs and cranes at this refuge, considering cranes eat tadpoles.

We had a Home School Group of 31 arrive around 10 am.  Carol gave a great presentation about Indian Culture.  Afterwards, the kids had fun making Indian crafts.

We spent the rainy afternoon making magnets and bookmarks to sell in the Bookstore.

Saturday
Anita came over to spend a couple of days with us to celebrate my birthday.  She sat around with us this afternoon at the Visitor's Center and got to see us in action/inaction.  It was a pleasant day of work.

Ferny Kat loved the gifts Aunt Nana bought her.  Two feathery bell toys and a fountain water bowl .  Ferny Kat was fascinated by the water fountain on her bowl.  I thought she was gonna drown herself drinking from it.

We walked the C.L. Dees Trail after we closed the Visitor's Center then spent the rest of the afternoon, sitting outside enjoying nature and each other's company.

Our 2nd week on the job has been great.

Pictures: