Got the brains cells working today

My schedule for today was for a half day of getting the volunteer paperwork done, and an orientation to my duties while I’m here.  Ha!  That half day ended up taking eight and a half hours.  Didn’t surprise me.  Just about two weeks ago, a new National Wildlife Refuge Visitors Center opened in Manteo that highlights nine refuges in the North Carolina/Virginia Coastal area.  What a spectacular center it is!  I’ll be doing a separate post on it in the near future. 

I went through most all of the exhibits today so I’ll know what I’m talking about when I’ll be the only person running it this coming Sunday.  That could be very interesting.

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Most of the photos tonight are from the incoming storm that hit last evening.  Almost every night since I’ve been here, heavy rains have pelted us beginning around 7:00.  Yesterday’s storm had huge billowing clouds preceding it.

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Abbey, the volunteer coordinator, and I made a trip out to the Pea Island NWR visitors center after I had viewed all of the exhibits in what is called the ‘Gateway Visitors Center’.  I’ll be running the Pea Island visitors center on Saturday.  We got there around noon, and there had already been 142 visitors.  That’s such a far cry from the visitation that is experienced at Anahuac NWR or Mississippi Sandhill Crane NWR, that I have to get pumped up again for non-stop action on Saturday.  There is a book that lists everything you have to do to open up and close down, so it should go pretty smoothly for me on Saturday. Fingers crossed

IMG_9499I just had to take a break tonight from writing this post to pull in the slides, and batten down the hatches.  Tonight’s storm is a doozy with high winds and such heavy rain that it is almost pitch dark at 6:30.  I sure don’t want the slide toppers or window awnings ripped to pieces.  Better safe than sorry in my estimation.  Emma is shaking away between my legs under the table.  Storm cloudSad smile

Okay, that little minor crisis is over.  Temps are supposed to be more pleasant tomorrow after this front moves through.  I sure hope so.

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Because of the ocean, the marshes, and the wet areas on this refuge, dragonflies are everywhere.  This blue-eyed example landed on my extended stay hose.  Dragonflies don’t bite, and are reported to eat many mosquitoes, so I like them!  I just wish they ate chiggers! 

One of the new things that is at the Pea Island Visitors Center since my last time here is a hands on display for kids that includes sand, shells, and other things found along the beaches of the Outer Banks.  Abbey said it gets a lot of use, and it looked like it needed some more items to beef up the display.  You can be sure that I jumped on this opportunity to volunteer to walk the beaches to find more items for the display.  I’ll probably be doing that next week.  Sweet!

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I wanted to be sure to show you my navigator for a portion of today as I drove around for various tasks.  I think he’s telling me to step on the brakes, and make a left turn.  Surprised smile

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

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