Tuesday, August 30, 2022

 The Tuesday team was in full attendance today.  Thankful that Grace and Avery were there to dig!  Bill and I walked the short end.

Nest #11R has not been disturbed and is ready for its inventory.

Joined the team at the first suspicious area.  This is area is one we are keeping an eye on in case it is a wild nest.  Nothing unusual. The crab trap was emptied.

Suspicious area #2 had coyote tracks around it but none right up to where we think the nest might be. We found egg shell pieces in the sand around the nest. They are on the ground to the left in the picture. The hole looked to us like a depression from yesterday's team digging.

We probed all around the area.  The ongoing summer winds has left that whole area with very soft sand as demonstrated by the probe.

Grace and Avery began digging (With Leslie's permission) in an area where the probe sank pretty deep but hard some firm sand around it. The walls of the hole seemed to be firm so they kept digging in the soft spot.  One small piece of shell was found while digging. Gave up when the hole was too deep.  

There were coyote tracks all over the place today.  None right up to any nest but lots of them!

It was a cloudy day with rain threatening that turned into a lovely day.  No new nest found  but still lovely.

Thursday, August 13

When we got to the island the first thing we noticed...hordes of mosquitoes! Definitely a nuisance!

Leslie came out with us today. I walked the long end and saw some places the ghost crabs were working but no other signs of activity. Looked for eggs and sifted through ghost crab throw up sand but found none. Lots of trash though.

Bill walked the short end and then picked up the large trash still on the island.  Leslie also filled her truck.

Leslie went first to nest #9 where she finished up marking yesterday's find.

Leslie then went to #10, probed, and found its exact location.  We then worked to put in poles and marked them.We coordinated two GPS locations and they matched them to info on nest card.

We went to 16R and compared the pix from 7/30/20 to the current pole situation.  There was a about a foot of sand on top of the nest.  We removed the extra sand, marked the secondary pole and inserted a fresh reed.

By this time the weather was threatening.  Thunder, rain and black out over the ocean.  We were ready to escape the mosquito army!

Flossie, Bill and Leslie

Thursday, July 16th

Today was a high maintenance day!  No crawls but lots of nest patrol.  Nest #1 which to due to emerge soon did not show any signs.  A busy ghost crab dug in around the DNR sign but not at the nest.

The ghost crab traps needed to be emptied at #11 and#12.  #11 is a common ghost trap feeding hole.  We found one egg on the surface there today.  Quite a few ants also.

The shell was again found in the debris the crab left. Looked for more egg shells but since it had rained on the island last night most were gone.  The egg shells were again buried.

Our new next #13 had someone decide that the pole needed to be moved.  It was off to the side and inserted in a large crab hole.  We relocated it 16' behind the nest.  

We put up the caution tape around nest #13.  I think it will be seen by horse and rider now!

Our fight against balloons goes on.  This one really did look like a jellyfish!

And as always nature is astounding!

Flossie and Bill

Getting to Colorado

As we mentioned in the last post, our drive to CO had lots of weather issues.  Rain, snow, clouds and wind that blew the motorhome all over the place.  I know my hands are stronger just from gripping the steering wheel.

We made our first stop in Winnemucca, NV.  We knew the trip across Nevada and Utah would be long so we used the Road Atlas (yes, we bought one because looking on the computer maps were a challenge!) to guess good places for a stop.  Winnemucca is one of the larger cities on the Interstate and we were tired when we arrived.  We decided to find a place to eat in the downtown and settled for  a Mexican Restaurant.  After all the scrumptious food in San Francisco, this was a major letdown.  We should have ask a local person where to eat!

The next day was another long drive to Salt Lake City.  On the way we passed miles of white ground that looked like snow but it wasn't.  We texted family to show them the white stuff and ask if anyone knew what it was.  David told us to stop the RV and taste it - we didn't!

You can't travel this part of the world without appreciating how much trains are critical to transporting merchandise, oil, etc. across the country.  It is hard to capture how many and how long the trains are!  The tracks are everywhere.

It was also fun to make Floss nervous as we approached the tunnels through the mountains.  She was never quite sure they were high enough.

There were also lots of refineries along the way.  They seem to be the only thing around for miles.  Not sure where the workers drive from???

We arrived in Salt Lake City and checked into the RV Park.  It was a beautiful drive into the city because of the snow covered mountains.

We had our worst weather in Salt Lake City.  It poured most of the day.  We did have a pretty view of a snow capped mountain from our motorhome.

Despite the cold and rain we got on a commuter train to get into Salt Lake City to walk around.  It is a pretty city and our pictures would have been better if the sun had been shining.  We had a scrumptious home made meal in a restaurant that was formerly part of the dining services for BYU.  We also toured the visitor center and all the history surrounding the Church of Latter Day Saints.

We knew we were in for a tough drive as we left Salt Lake City.  The clouds were ominous.  We hit snow and ice as we drove to Rawlings, WY.  We chose to get a hotel that night.  The motorhome was covered with a sheet of ice and Floss wasn't looking forward to sleeping in an igloo.  We did ask locals about a good restaurant for steak.  One woman laughed and said, "We don't have any in Rawlings!"  Another man however recommended a place and we had a delightful dinner.  We were grateful to be in our hotel room and warm beds for the night.

Because the weather was windy and more snow was predicted we decided to get off the Interstate and take 287 to CO.  I knew 287 as the road that goes through Fort Collins but I had never driven it through Wyoming.  It was fun to begin to recognize the road that we used to go to the Poudre Canyon, Vern's, Patty's house and other special places in our lives.

We drove through Fort Collins without stopping to see all my friends and colleagues there because we were off to Denver to see Lisa and Tom.  We arrived in time for dinner and the beginning of our visit in CO.