AstroGypsies

It was wonderful to see blue sky in the morning at Natural Bridge. I was up at an unheard hour, 5:30, Mike groaned and went back to sleep but I wanted to upload some of my pictures while no one was using the internet! You do what ya gotta do! Groot and Rocket were thrilled for the 2nd morning in the row to get an early snack!

I do love goats, so beautiful, so smart, soooo much trouble! Look at those innocent eyes…Ha! They are in with the chickens, whose coop says “No cooking!” outside. Something to cluck about. This KOA has had free run chickens but the owner told me they were on a time out after tearing up the rubber footings at several of the patio sites…bad girls! I went back to the pond where I’d seen the cedar wax wings hoping they were still there, it was humid, I was sweating, on the plus side I get all my hair curls back, I can see!

The day before, late, I’d wandered up the hill beside the trailer, looking for anything interesting, mushrooms, birds, dead bodies, whatever! Ha! It was a steep climb, it feels go to move around after you sit half the day in the truck.

Yes, I was the only one tromping about under the pines, no bodies to be found, today;) I kept following the call of a bird, sometimes I hear something that sounds familiar, and it is, when I finally see it! I should put the app on the phone that goes by sound! I often trip when I’m staring up at the trees, need to look where I’m walking more! I slowly descended the hill, it was slippery, covered in leaves to a small pond where all the chatter was coming from. A Pileated Woodpecker flew over, as did a Red Bellied but they were too fast for me. I stood by the pond and watched who came and went, bird wise, no humans around:) Little grey birds, chickadees, then that call, the cardinal! Knew it!

There is something about water, and in this case several Eastern Red Cedars (iNaturalist guy let me know!) that had the birds a buzz! Cardinals, Waxwings, Bluebirds and everything in between were having a feast! On the other side of the pond the goats were watching me from their fenced enclosure, and the giant gray squirrels, so much food here, so many oaks. Oaks. My achilles tendon, love them, but allergic to pretty much all of them, cough sputter, no acorns for me! The squirrels were enjoying them though.

I couldn’t dawdle all morning, we did have a few things to do but I decided to walk around the far side of the campground and up a hill where we once stayed before. It was a bit quieter than our present spot but not available for our stay. I saw a Red Bellied Woodpecker and Northern Flicker chasing away a smaller woodpecker I couldn’t ID…must investigate, and better than hanging around listening to a couple argue as to what needed to be done first for them to leave their site….runaway!!!!

I followed the woodpecker around for quite awhile on top of the hill, then I saw his red feathers just starting to come in. He was a sad pimply teenage Red Headed Woodpecker, no wonder they were picking on him, poor guy! There was a certain tree the birds were flocking too, even a few cedar waxwings were there with the bluebirds, jays and robins. Then some areshole stepped out of his RV and was having a loud unpleasant conversation with someone, could you not have simply stayed inside to puff out your fucking chest and rant on and on…bite tongue…all the birds flew away. I wandered back, managed to lose my $3 Giant Tiger reading glasses but walked down the hill past a woman in the process of giving an online yoga class, she smiled, I smiled back, no need to yell this early in the morning! Namaste!

It was time to get going anyway. Almost 11, check out time. The squirrels were glad to see Gamora go! The traveling mewberries said it was an OK park but too much traffic and those noisy $800,000 diesel pushers irritated them, me too. So no stars from them. I gave it a good rating anyway. Rocket did go out, sit on the picnic table, then come in. I knew how he felt, time for something a bit wilder, even if it’s only for a night. Warriors Path State Park here we come Tennessee! Saludos amigos!