Thursday evening walk…cicadas and frogs competing with their droning
evening songs…river level so low, I don’t remember seeing it like
this…pond almost dry…bats swoop to snag water bugs off the surface of
the slowly moving water…temp almost 10 degrees cooler than home, but
still hot…and no fireflies…when have we not had fireflies at dusk on the
Frio? – 2011…
Thursday evening supper out…picked up newspapers at the Italian restaurant…black bear killed in Mountain Home area…whoa buddy…spied a black kitty on our way to the river tonight…tried to convince Mike it was a bear…hysterical to hear him respond…”No, it’s a kitty!” Still, we will be watching our step on the early morning run/walk…no need to surprise (or be surprised by) creatures more exciting than cats or ducks…
Sunday morning – how did it get here so fast?...second pot of coffee still perking…(STILL!)…old tortillas cut up and waiting to become duck and perch food…ants washed out of the recycling …stuff everywhere, but packing commenced…need to make a tally of animals…2 lizards…one toad…loads of croaking frogs… masses of cicadas and dragonflies (but few other insects)…lots of buzzards…two armadillos…one roadrunner…many cardinals…25+ deer on the drive back to camp Friday night (some exotic – and at least one raccoon) one black kitty…4 mallards...2 mean domesticated ducks…almost as many bats hunting on the Frio at dusk as coming out of the Devil’s Sinkhole (a different variety, they tell us)…one owl hunting bats…loads of perch and minnows…a few bass…a couple of turtles…few people and one idiot jumping off the cliff (not one of us).
The business folks in Leakey tell us that it has been one hard season and they are more desperate for rain than even we are. The lack of trash on the river speaks of how few folks even tried to tube…or came to camp…sad all around. Three of our swimmers are on the river for the last swim…they will be up soon and ready to shower…then it is back down to the river for photos and sad farewell…oh, and there is one bike…and one boat…
Thursday evening supper out…picked up newspapers at the Italian restaurant…black bear killed in Mountain Home area…whoa buddy…spied a black kitty on our way to the river tonight…tried to convince Mike it was a bear…hysterical to hear him respond…”No, it’s a kitty!” Still, we will be watching our step on the early morning run/walk…no need to surprise (or be surprised by) creatures more exciting than cats or ducks…
Sunday morning – how did it get here so fast?...second pot of coffee still perking…(STILL!)…old tortillas cut up and waiting to become duck and perch food…ants washed out of the recycling …stuff everywhere, but packing commenced…need to make a tally of animals…2 lizards…one toad…loads of croaking frogs… masses of cicadas and dragonflies (but few other insects)…lots of buzzards…two armadillos…one roadrunner…many cardinals…25+ deer on the drive back to camp Friday night (some exotic – and at least one raccoon) one black kitty…4 mallards...2 mean domesticated ducks…almost as many bats hunting on the Frio at dusk as coming out of the Devil’s Sinkhole (a different variety, they tell us)…one owl hunting bats…loads of perch and minnows…a few bass…a couple of turtles…few people and one idiot jumping off the cliff (not one of us).
The business folks in Leakey tell us that it has been one hard season and they are more desperate for rain than even we are. The lack of trash on the river speaks of how few folks even tried to tube…or came to camp…sad all around. Three of our swimmers are on the river for the last swim…they will be up soon and ready to shower…then it is back down to the river for photos and sad farewell…oh, and there is one bike…and one boat…
