Friday April 6, 2012-Caddo Lake NWR

We woke to cooler temperatures and nice weather. It turned out to be a great day here. Hope your Good Friday was good too!

Our "place" at the refuge. We back up to a wide grassy area with woods behind. So far, we haven't seen any "critters" in the woods, but the dogs won't go into the grass after dark.

Here is Stella with our "kids" Cassie on the left and Tramp on the right. She is standing in front of Big Red, the four wheeler that we have been using.

One of the many trails in the refuge. This one in particular is on the equestrian trail and was built on an old railroad bed that the army took out. As you can see, they took out not only the rails and cross ties, but also the rock bed, leaving the dirt which was leveled and packed down to make this trail.

I don't quite understand why the army demolishes everything when they leave a base. It seems to me that some other government agency will likely take over the installation and could possibly use some or all of the buildings. I know that some of the building that were built back during the 2nd World War were built with asbestos and used lead-based paints, so it is less expensive to just tear them down, but not all the buildings were built this way. Maybe this is a small part of why the government is BROKE!

Todd and I were supposed to work on the kiosk again this morning, but he still didn't feel well, so we put off the work until this afternoon. Our friends Gene and Linda were coming by today to visit us. They are staying at the Brushy Creek COE park that is nearby. When they arrived, they decided to take a bicycle ride through the refuge on the auto-tour route. I was very impressed when they returned and told me that they had ridden all the way to Starr ranch on their bikes. It's about 2 miles of rough gravel road down to the ranch but they made it! And that's not to mention the four or five miles driven on the roads to get to the gravel road. It's been so long since I've been on a bike, I wouldn't remember how to ride one. Beside that, bicycles and I don't have a good history. My first two got stolen and I got hit by a car on the third and almost died. Seriously. But, enough about my past history.

When they got back we loaded up in our truck and went over to Jefferson for lunch. We ate at Kitt's Kornbread again and it was very good. Gene and Linda had salads but Stella and I had the cornbread sandwiches and we all enjoyed our meals. We'll spend more time with Gene and Linda in September in Colorado, and I told them that I would get Stella to experiment with some cornbread recipes so she can make us some sandwiches when we all get there.

We returned to the refuge and took Gene and Linda on a tour of the refuge. Now keep in mind that this is a part of our duties here and I wasn't just trying to get out of helping Todd to build the kiosk. Driving around with my friends is important too!

I took them to some of the historic places on the refuge and they enjoyed the tour. I took them to the INF area where the Pershing missiles were destroyed, showed them where the Russian delegation stayed while the missile destruction was going on and then showed them the original trailer where the Russians lived.

When we got through with the tour, we returned here and they soon left for Brushy Creek. Todd had gotten help from Will but they were through for the day, so we went inside and relaxed until a late happy hour with Todd and Sue.

Here is a link that Todd sent me on the revitalization and rebuilding of the Starr ranch. You probably won't want to read the entire article but there are some good photos of the ranch and some of the employees that are still here. I would love to have seen the ranch property when it was still being used.

So long.

Thursday April 5, 2012-Caddo Lake NWR

We went out this morning with intentions of finishing up the kiosk in a few hours, but when we got started nailing up the front fascia board, Todd hurt his back and we had to stop for him to rest his back. He ended up going to the Urgent Care hospital in Marshall. The doctor (actually a PA) there gave him some muscle relaxants and he felt immediate relief.

On their way back to the refuge, they decided to stop at the KFC to pick up some chicken for all of us, so when they returned we had a nice meal out on the pavilion. It was a good way to end a bad day, but Todd should be back to normal tomorrow. We'll see...

So long.

Wednesday April 4, 2012-Caddo Lake NWR

We woke to a rain-soaked refuge. It had rained all night long and there was lots of water everywhere. We needed to get some good work-time in on the kiosk because both of our times here ending in a week or so. Todd and Sue leave next Tuesday and we leave Thursday, so we've got to get this thing built!

We got everything on the ground level completed today, leaving only the roof and roof trim to do. We were both getting tired of working on this thing but it will be worth it when we get done. I'll take some photos of it when it's through.

This afternoon we learned that tomorrow we need to go to Longview and pick up the Bobcat that Josh took in for service. WE went down to check the truck and trailer but when we got there, neither the truck nor the trailer had tail lights, brake lights or turn signals. This one is out! We thought about taking the service truck that we had been using all week but Gary changed his mind and told us not to go. It was just as well with us because we really want to finish the kiosk tomorrow. The weather should cooperate so we should finish with no problem.

So long.

Tuesday April 3, 2012-Caddo Lake NWR

We woke this morning to cloudy skies and a further threat of rain. We decided to just hang out and wait out the weather, so we ran some maps over to the Caddo Lake state park for them. We ran some other errands and checked out the auto tour route for downed trees but didn't find any.

We came back home and waited out the rain, since it had begun raining a couple of times. finally, a little before noon, the weather turned and the sun came out and so we went down and loaded up our tools and went back to the kiosk to work some more. We worked for about four hours when the winds came up and the clouds returned, so we put everything away and came back home. Just about the time we got back home, it began to rain in earnest!

I came inside and learned about the tornadoes that were hitting the Dallas area. I called Jennifer and Melissa and found that they were fine but a bit freaked out by the tornado warnings. Satisfied that the kids were safe, all we could do was sit inside and listen to the rain. Tramp and Cassie got real excited over the thunder but we didn't have any trouble until I had to go out and lock the gates. Let me tell you, it wasn't a good night to be out in the weather. It was everything I could do to get out and close the gates and I was almost immediately soaked, but I got 'er dun! I came back home and hung up my wringing wet clothes and snuggled in wearing my warm sweats. It continued to rain all night but we didn't have any really bad weather and that's a relief.

So long.

Monday April 2, 2012-Caddo Lake NWR

We got to work pretty early this morning, again trying to finish up the kiosk. We went to the shop to get the service truck and trailer with our equipment on them to start and talked to John, the forester here at the refuge. We had a chat with him about any new projects that need to be taken care of before we leave and future projects that are planned. As we got ready to leave, I told John about a suspected alligator nest at Starr ranch so we drove down to see it. John said it did indeed look like an alligator nest but was a little small but it could still be under construction and not yet in use. I guess we'll keep an eye on it and take some action when it is verified.

We worked steadily on the kiosk all day but the skies began clouding up and it started to rain lightly, so we put everything back on the truck and trailer and barely got the trailer backed into the shop when the bottom dropped out. It rained hard for an hour or so, and the four of us met up in the pavilion to plan the rest of the afternoon. We decided to go over to Marshall to eat at Cajun-Tex and then to go shopping.

I tried the Cajun food, etoufee and some kind of mystery meat fried pies. Everyone else had the wings, but my food was very good. We all enjoyed our food and then went our separate ways to do our shopping. We went to Tractor Supply and bought Tramp a new halter. His old one is now too tight, so we fixed him up with a new one that fits him.

We went on back home in another light rain, but it had stopped by the time we got back here to the refuge. I guess we're still catching up with last year's drought. Doing it in a big way up here!

So long.

Sunday April 1, 2012-Caddo Lake NWR

We all decided to take today off because we were tired from working every day, so we all just stayed inside for most of the morning. Around noontime Todd decided to take his four wheeler back to the shop because he thought John might need it but Stella and I decided to go for another ride on Big Red before we put it away. We rode down the equestrian trail but stopped after only going about half way and decided to go back home for a bit.

Todd had decided that he needed to do some more work on the kiosk today, so he and Sue had gotten the service truck out and hooked the trailer up to it and were working on it. Not only did Stella and I get to ride on the four wheeler, we picked up an ice chest that was full of water that had been left out on the trail for the horse people yesterday and removed a few small trees and limbs from the trails, so everyone got in a little work today. We got the Tahoe and took Big Red down and cleaned and gassed it up later in the afternoon. For a day off, we had all gotten in a few hours of work today. We met for our usual happy hour om the pavilion, closing out another nice day.

So long.

Saturday March 31, 2012-Caddo Lake NWR

We were up and on the move early this morning for the dedication of a new sign on the equestrian trail for Doc Stevenson. Doc is a member of the "friends" group here at the refuge and was instrumental in establishing the trails here. I met Doc a couple of weeks ago when he dropped by for a visit. He is a very nice man and a retired physician that lives some distance from the refuge.

I drove the auto tour route very early this morning when I went out to open the gates, checking for down trees or other obstructions in the roads but found nothing. We wiped the two side by side four wheelers down again and took them to the dedication site. Todd and Sue set up a small tent and the flags. When we got through with the last minute preparations, we returned here for a last cup of coffee before it was time to go.

There were several people already in attendance when we got there, but many soon arrived. A lot of horse people arrived with their horses for the scheduled ride after the dedication. I met the Sheriff of the county, Tom McKool and one of his Chief Deputies, Jay Webb. Sheriff McKool and I had a very nice visit and I learned that we have a common friend, Ken Head. Ken and the Sheriff were State Game Wardens but both are now retired.

When the dedication was through, Mark, the refuge director, asked me to drive one of the four wheelers to take one of the two reporters for a ride around the trails. I met Jane, a reporter for the Arkansas-Louisiana-Texas magazine out of Texarkana. We enjoyed the ride out in the country along the equestrian trails and only ran into a couple of problem spots, but the Rhino four wheeler did well and we didn't even come close to getting stuck. Jane took a lot of photos, many more than the editor will use, but she is prepared to do follow-up stories about the refuge. Please look for the article in the May edition of the magazine which is published on the first Monday of the month.

When we finished our trail tour, we returned to the visitors center and took a break. The friends group had furnished hot dogs and chips for everyone but we only got something to drink. I then took Jane and Gail, another friend of the park, on a tour of the park grounds. I pointed out several historical sites in the park as well as the Starr ranch to the two ladies. They enjoyed the drive and Jane took more photos. I will be very interested in what appears in her article in the magazine.

We returned to the visitors center and had a hot dog as the party dwindled down. It had been a very nice day and I enjoyed meeting Jane and spending the day showing her around.

So long.