Out and About

 

Yesterday was the perfect day to be out and about. We finally got a reprieve from the wind. I also renewed my subscription with XM and wanted to be in the car listening to Watercolors and taking pictures. And, of course, the dogs wanted to go for a ride. First, I had to gas up, OMG, and then stop at Pat’s for a large diet coke. I’ve been trying to decide whether the water level in the lake is the same or lower than last year at this time. Right now, I think it’s lower, and I haven’t heard any promises of abundant runoff from up north. The people in the know are predicting that we are in the beginnings of a drought. I sure hope they’re wrong. We’re only 4 or 5 years into the recovery on our last one.

This is a shot of Dam Site Marina and the Butte looking directly north. They are working on fixing the old road, and the detour afforded me this shot.

Here are two pictures of the boat ramp at the Marina del Sur launch area. Gary and I used to take off work early on Friday afternoon to sit and watch relationships and marriages go up in smoke as weekenders put their boats in the water.

The ramp is this long and wide to accommodate the traffic and fluctuation of the water levels.

This is the marina complete with gas tanks (another OMG), store, and slips. We had our boats here for about 10 years. I always said that it was the most expensive country club that I ever belonged to. Oops! English teacher ended a sentence with a preposition.

A week or so ago when I was down at Percha Dam, I neglected to share these pictures. This is a great campground in among the huge cottonwoods.

This Percha Dam on the Rio Grande. I understand the fishing is great here.

These are some trees on the birding trail where someone decided, a long time ago, to put some bird houses.

These are my two latest bird pictures taken in my yard.

A Crissal thrasher:

A black-backed male gold finch:

I’m not sure whether a birder who is more experienced than I am would be able to tell if I identified these birds incorrectly just from my pictures. I wonder what I could put in the bird seed to make them slow down, so I can get better pictures. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.