We were on the first ferry departing Fort Morgan on Sunday morning. We saw Sandwich Terns, Pelicans, and a few other shore birds on the ride to Dauphin Island.
We are staying in the bunkhouse at the Sandhill Crane Refuge for a few days. After we unloaded our stuff, we went to lunch at The Reef and ran a few errands. When we returned, we realized the a/c unit in the apartment was not cooling. The apartment is cool enough for most of our needs, but too hot to sleep in, so across the hall we went. The single beds in the rooms just weren't going to work for us. That was remedied by throwing an air mattress on the floor. It looks like we are in a college dorm room. Well, we kind of are. Lauren will be in chainsaw school, aka Chainsaw Massacre, for the next few days, and we both will take CPR/First Aid on Thursday.
Lauren got a stroll in on the Dees Trail this afternoon while I was tidying up in the bunkhouse. He saw a few cool critters and an Eastern Towhee singing his heart out.
We woke up in the wee hours on Monday morning on a flat air mattress. Not the good nights sleep that we were hoping for. After Lauren left for chainsaw school, I walked the Dees Trail and updated the plant markers. It was an enjoyable walk with lots of Red-headed Woodpeckers and other critters around. I spent the rest of the day just piddling around.
After Lauren's 10 hour day of Chainsaw Massacre school, we went to Academy to purchase boots that would meet the requirements for class and buy a new air mattress. We were tired and starving so we went to the first place we saw, Twin Peaks where Lauren realized he had lost one of his credit cards. After a few phone calls we found it at The Reef. He had left it yesterday when he paid for the bill. Whew!! It has been a really long day.
The instructor for the class had a mishap today when a tree he was cutting inadvertently knocked his hard hat and glasses off. The hard hat was found about 20 feet from him, the glassed were never found. Luckily, he only had a black eye and minor abrasion.
Tuesday, Lauren had another day of Chainsaw Massacre. He only had an 8 1/2 hour day today which was spent in the Valentine Savanna where they practiced their tree cutting techniques. There was one mishap, when a tree someone else was cutting did not fall the way they expected it to. This caused Lauren and some others to take off running. As Lauren was running, his foot got caught in saw briars and he face planted in the savanna. Luckily, the tree did not fall anywhere near him and he escaped with only a minor abrasion on his arm. At the end of the day, he is an official Sawyer for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
I, on the other hand, got a few chores done for the Sandhill Refuge and met with the a/c repair guy for the bunkhouse apartment. After a lot of effort, we finally got the unit pulled out and found the culprit. A dirt dobber had occluded the fan from turning with his nest. It was an easy fix except for removing and replacing the unit.
This afternoon, I got on the mower and mowed at the visitors center. The grass was so high, that it took me 2 hours to mow what usually takes me only an hour.
We got take out for dinner from Killer Crab and ate on the back porch watching the rain pouring down. There will be no more mowing for a while.
Wednesday, was a more laid back kind of day. We jumped off the SUV and scheduled tire installation for in the morning. We did a little more piddling, which included retrieving the credit card from the reef and exchanging the new air mattress that had a slow leak. We waited on the rain to quit to grill burgers this afternoon. Madison and Hefan did the fixings, and we grilled the burgers. The Croak Crew still got it.
Thursday, we had CPR/First Aid class at the Fire Center. This was the first time Lauren had ever taken this course and he was really into it. Afterwards, we headed to Crossroads for a few days.
Friday, we had a wellness visit. It is nice to hear the nurse practitioner say during our visit, that she is not use to seeing healthy people. We both got our computer stuff done for our background checks, which is step one for obtaining our computer access cards for the refuge. Lauren got the yard mowed, which is amazing considering the rain that was all around but missed us. This afternoon, Anita and Lucy came to spend the night. It was great evening spent with my sister and niece dog.
Saturday, I heard the pitter patter of Lucy's steps while laying in bed. As soon as I put my feet down to get out of bed, she was jumping for joy. A great way to start the day!
After Anita and Lucy left, Lauren and I worked on some more computer training that is required for our access cards for the refuge. It was quite a long and boring task.
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