Sunday March 18, 2012-Caddo Lake NWR

We slept late this morning, 'til after 8 o'clock. Well, I say we, but I meant Stella. I had already been out to go unlock the gates a little before 7 but I came back home and drank some coffee and dozed in my chair until my snoring woke Tramp and he woke Stella. Cassie just looked up as if to say, "y'all go on but leave me alone".

We ate some breakfast and drank a couple of pots of coffee while I watched my car shows on Sunday morning. I used to watch these shows and I'd get all fired up about working on my cars and go outside and open the hood and look at all the wires and belts and hoses and realize that I didn't really know anything about these things any more. I'd just close the hood and come back inside and wait for next week's show so I could get all turned on about working on something again. Sometimes I'd wash the car or truck because that's all I can do any more.

We went out to ride four wheelers this afternoon. Todd and I had been talking about it for a few days, so today we went out and rode around. Stella and I rode on Big Red, a Honda side-by-side four wheeler. Todd and Sue rode on a Suzuki four wheeler that belongs to one of the foresters here at the refuge. We rode on the equestrian trails and removed a surprising number of fallen trees. This is something that the friends group here is supposed to do, but I guess they were having such a good time riding their horses, they couldn't climb down to move the trees. We saw plenty of evidence that the horse riders had been around, you know, tracks and such, but no trees had been moved. Thats okay, because we enjoyed our time outdoors. Stella let me forget my camera today, but I'll get some pictures another time and show you what we saw.

It was interesting to drive down some of the roads that we've not been on before. Its fun to see the remnants of buildings and try to imagine what went on there back when the Army was working around here. Then we went into a restricted area that is still controlled by the Army but please don't tell anyone! I'm sure that they monitor all these areas with hidden cameras and probably have a whole fleet of satellites floating around to record outlaws like us riding around in these restricted areas. There was probably some Army man somewhere peering at a computer screen, watching us ride around on four wheelers. Made me feel kind of naughty!

You know, today being Sunday, made me think of church. We haven't gone to church in a long time. Going to a funeral or to a child's program in church doesn't count. I mean going to church to listen to the preacher talk about hell and damnation. I haven't really missed the sermons as much as the singing. Yep, I miss hearing those old Baptist hymnal songs and I can still sing along with many of them. Or at least hum the tunes. I miss hearing the choir, even the old ladies that sang real loud and off tune. I mss the quartets that used to sing "Give Me That Old Time Religion" and so many others of the old songs.

No sir, I still talk to God, and tell him about the things I've seen and frequently ask him questions but I've felt for a long time that going to church all the time doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in the garage makes you a car. So much for me and my religious beliefs.

Maybe in a little while I'll go out and open the hood of my truck and look around. Its been a while since I've done that and the little check engine light came on the other day. Maybe I'll go look to see if I can figure out whats wrong with it, but I'll probably just take it to the Dodge dealer and let their computer tell us what needs to be done.

So long

Saturday March 17, 2012-Caddo Lake NWR

Another very nice morning here in the forests of the National Wildlife Refuge. We had our coffee and got dressed to go visit my Aunt Janie and her husband Gail in Center TX. There was little traffic on the road and we made better time than we planned, so when we called Janie a little before 11AM, she told us to come over to her house and we would go to lunch from there. When we got to their beautiful home, we had a nice but short visit before going to the Center Country Club for lunch. There were a few cars and trucks in the club parking lot because of a golf tournament but we were the only ones in the restaurant. Sorry but I forgot to bring my camera.

After lunch we took a ride around town before going back to their house for leftover birthday cake and coffee. We had a nice long visit, sitting outside on the back porch and enjoying the nice afternoon. Janie let me play with her I-Pad but I'm still not convinced that we need one. I can see some uses for one but I think we have enough electronic gadgets right now. My mind could be changed, so if you've got $500 laying around you can buy me one and then I'll know if I can use one for sure...

So long.

Friday March 16, 2012-Caddo Lake NWR

Todd and I were still sore this morning, so we took it easy early in the day. Todd was the contact person for a large dumpster that was to be delivered today, so he had to stay either at the trailers or at the headquarters building so he would have telephone service. When he had not gotten the call by 11 o'clock, we drove down to the fire station to see what was going on. Upon arrival, we found that Josh had been busy building a platform for a new diesel fuel tank and we helped him get it put into the containment vessel and put into place under the storage shed.

We returned to the trailers and Todd finally made contact with the company that was to have delivered the dumpster and learned that it wouldn't be out until next week some time, so our waiting time this morning was wasted. Oh well, it's not like we are highly-paid government workers sitting around with nothing to do...

Todd and Sue decided to go to town to buy groceries and invited all of us over to the pavilion for hot dogs later in the evening. We had a nice time eating with our friends here

Another good night on the refuge.

So long.

Thursday March 15, 2012-Caddo Lake NWR

Today Todd and I decided to mow. We went to the fire station and loaded the John Deere and a Kubota Zero-Turn onto one of the trailers for us to mow with and a weedeater to trim with. We are required to wear the orange and yellow safety vests, although most of our mowing was done away from any traffic, but it's a safety issue that outdoor workers must wear. At least we didn't have to wear a hard hat!

We mowed everything on the refuge except around the fire station. We even went down to the Starr ranch and mowed there in case anyone wants to go out there for a picnic. Come to think of it, they can use the boat ramp again, now that we've gotten enough rain to raise the level of the lake.

Mowing is tiring! It took us most of the day to get everything mowed and by the time we got through, both of us were tired and sore from riding the mowers. I still like the smell of fresh-mowed grass along with the wild onion and garlic that we cut. I don't like it enough to buy another house that must be mowed, but I still kind of enjoyed the work today.

We didn't have a happy hour today but we did sit outside drinking a cup of coffee before turning in.

So long.

Wednesday March 14, 2012-Caddo Lake NWR

Wednesday was a pretty slow day for work around here. I helped Todd make some signs for Texas Parks and Wildlife and I went down and helped Ron make a bench to go out at the Starr ranch for some of Linda's training that will be held there.

In the afternoon, Ron and I went into Marshall to pick up pizzas for a meeting. When we got back, we joined the others in eating the pizzas and I went down and helped Todd again with the TPWD signs.

We enjoy these slow days.

So long.

Tuesday March 13, 2012-Caddo Lake NWR

We woke to nice temperatures again this morning. We have been sleeping with the windows open and the a/c off. It's nice to listen to the nighttime sounds-except for the train horns!

We were supposed to have helped with opening the covers over the weevil ponds that are behind our parking area but instead it was decided that we needed to add more water to the holding tanks that water the weevils. These weevils eat the Giant Salvinia plants in the lake but the treatment is still under study, so there is a new graduate of LSU that lives here and monitors the weevils. It took much of the morning to get a fire truck loaded with water due to mechanical difficulties but we finally were able to get it done.

We went into Marshall and got some propane tanks refilled. I knew that the refuge would pay for our tanks to be refilled but last week when we ran out of propane, there was no one here with a credit card, so I had to pay for our refills. The propane up here is cheaper than we've been paying, so it was still worth it to have them filled at our expense because we were completely out of propane and we were out of gas, so no heat and no using the oven or stove to cook.

We also went to the Lowe store and bought some supplies for other projects and went to another building supply center to get prices on some lumber for a project that Todd and I will work on next week.

We went to lunch with several of the refuge employees at the China Buffet. The food wasn't bad, but it wasn't the best we've had either. The food didn't have a lot of taste and we won't go back there. We were all very full when we got back and I think everyone went home and napped for the afternoon. I know Stella and I did!

So long.

Monday March 12, 2012-Caddo Lake NWR

Today began a little chilly this morning but not too bad. We had breakfast and began our work day. I went to the office and talked to Gary for a bit and was soon joined by Todd. We all decided that it was too wet to mow and likely would be for several days. Gary told us that if there was nothing to do, then do nothing. What a concept! Rather than look for busywork, or hang around the office, getting in the way of those that do have something to do, go back home until something comes up.

We went to the fire hall, where we found Josh hard at work. He had come in early this morning to remove any down trees. He and John had found a few and had cut them up already. He had also found an email that had come in about the burning season, and was in the process of gathering data to respond to it. Since he hadn't given us any chores, we did as Gary suggested and came on back home.

Since it was almost lunch time, we got together on the pavilion for a short coffee get-together. Todd had made arrangements with the two Texas Parks and Wildlife techs that work here to go with them to look at some wood they had for a sign. After they picked out the wood to be used, they returned to the office to make the sign itself and he and I will build the wood frame in the next few days. We also plan to go to Marshall to order lumber for the kiosk project that we will begin soon.

It turned out to be a beautiful day and certainly warmed up! We have been able to leave the windows open on the trailer, but we will soon have to start using the air conditioner. It's better than the snow that is still on the ground at Todd and Sue's home in Michigan...

So long.