In less than the blink of an eye, I went from deep sleep to total awareness last night at 3:17 a.m. A wind blast hit the rig so strongly that I sat right up, and my hair was standing on end! The two slides were moving in and out, and the sound was deafening. I flew to the front of the rig to grab the keys to turn on the motor so I could pull in the slides. I’ve never rearranged things so quickly to pull in the slides as I did last night. Emma and I huddled together. I thought the slide toppers were ripped off for sure. That wind went on for what seemed like forever, and then the lightening, thunder and rain began. We had a real windy downpour.
We survived with no damage to the rig, but I had to hunt for some of my outside furniture in the morning. It seems everyone in the volunteer village has been up since the wee hours today. I thought of going to the community building for safety, but wasn’t sure I’d be able to get the door on the rig open, and if I did I thought it might tear my arm out of its socket. It was a scary four hours waiting for dawn.
By the afternoon, it had calmed down enough for me to give Roxanne and Annie a tour of the refuge. We started out at the Skillern Tract.
Two locals set up fishing along the bayou. There were about 2000 snow geese behind them honking away. What a grand way to spend the afternoon.
Here’s a teenage snow goose going against the flow of the adults. A rebel with a cause?
Found a pair of blue-winged teal in the marsh that had weathered the storm.
And a young white ibis on the overlook.
The storm had stirred up a new hatch of thousands of insects, but at least they weren’t mosquitoes. I hope my visitors enjoyed this quiet walk with nature along the trail. We then headed to the main part of the refuge.
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A slightly soggy adult red-tailed hawk was the highlight of the drive down those roads. I was surprised to see it sit so still for us. Guess it had a bad night too. I just can’t imagine being out in the midst of that storm.
Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later, Judy
