Got the crap scared out of me last night

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.

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