Robins & such

I know, I know – it’s been a while!  And I have absolutely nothing to show for it!  Doing my bathroom cleaning – just hanging out in the Tetons!  Yup – it’s gorgeous!  People come and go through the park – the family groups are fun.  They are usually very tidy and respectful.  They play family games like the one involving an Oreo.  You put it on your forehead and try to get it into your mouth by moving your face and eyes.  Umm – Emma and I tried it – NOT so easy, although I’ve seen people do it – one gal even did it twice!  Talented facial muscles. 

Right now I have a family group from Utah, a guy from Pocatello who is here because his son is at the Boy Scout camp next door, and has a broken arm….. My other campers have 5 little MSR backpacking tents.  Although they arrived in a car with Montana plates – it’s a rental – they are from New York and South Carolina.  Intrigues me that out of a group of 4 men and 1 woman – Nan is doing the driving!  Gotta love it! 

I’m attaching a series of pix of my robins – this morning I woke up to an empty nest.  It feels kind of odd!  A week ago I woke up to find that one of the babies had disappeared.  I guess this is Mom’s doing – she winnowed out the one she considered the weak link – kind of creepy. 

Mark had planned to be here next week, but Richey’s, in Corvallis, called him on Monday and asked if he could work.  At this point he can’t turn down two months of $10 an hour.  So – he’s staying put.  My back has been getting steadily worse since the mowing – which was some six weeks ago.  I’m going back to Bend mid September, with my rig in tow, to spend a couple of weeks before my hearing.  I think it would be judicious of me to go see my Rheumatologist and my Orthopedist.  Ugh.  I’d like to forget all of this stuff, but it won’t let me.  Sleeping has been a problem but last night I used one of the features on my cell phone which is basically a white noise creator.  I actually chose the sound of a train running along a track and you know – it actually helped!  Fewer drugs, and more sleep!  Would have been even better if Katy hadn’t decided to get up at 1AM and Spencer at 4!  Like having babies again………

So, that’s it!  I’m enjoying the simple life, and poor Jim and Charlene are going to have to mow, and if any tables get painted this year, it won’t be by me!  Oh – Jim built benches up at their campground, and a lovely display table, and last Saturday night, for the first time in some 30 years, we had an official ‘campfire’ up there.  Well, no fire actually, but a bear presentation by two specialists.  Pretty cool!  My contribution was a Tupperware pitcher for fruit punch.  :)  Charlene even made homemade oatmeal cookies – yum! 

Haven’t seen any moose in a while, saw a very small doe in the meadow the other day – and no, I didn’t get a picture of her – the dogs started barking at her and she departed.  I have been big on mouse eradication lately – oh boy, is that fun!  NOT!  OK – so someone who reads this blog suggested I use mouse poison – something about how the always take it back to their nest and said person has NEVER seen a dead mouse.  Yes, well, I humbly disagree.  I’ve been using poison in the basement of the rig, and have now had to ferret out a total of 9 dead bodies.  I’ll be really graphic and tell you that one had been visited by flies, who had laid eggs, and yes, I had maggots crawling all over.  SOOOOOOOOOO!  No more mouse bait!  I took everything out yesterday – I would bet there are more little bodies behind the paneling that creates the basement, but I am NOT going to tear the trailer apart – they can sort of mummify on their own.  I did get the rest out – God I hate that job!  Everything is cleaned up – and I’m intermittently going to put the kind of trap in there that lures them in and incarcerates them and then you throw the whole trap away.  Unfortunately the traps are 3.50 each and not in my budget right now.  Mark loaned me money to buy this ultra-sonic thing for the trailer – you plug it in and it makes an inhospitable environment.  I know I’ve had brief little visits during the night – but instead of having mouse poop all over the living room, and such, I only have a teensy amount by where they come in.  So – it seems to be doing it’s job.  One night last week (before the device) I was watching a movie mostly in the dark – with a dog on each side when they just stood up barking like mad.  This poor little mouse had ventured in – and as I know they do – ran along the kitchen wall, across the back wall and then, in desperation, diagonally back to whence it came.  The dogs were on that spot and just going crazy.  I put some poison on and found the poor baby outside the next morning.  I will say – I am totally over dead mice.  I actually don’t mind them in their own place – they are really cute and pretty much harmless, although they like to try to make nests out of TP I’ve discovered.

OK – now to the pictures!  Sorry I digressed so much, but you might as well get the whole scene up here!  And I repeat – poisoning mice in a somewhat enclosed environment is a TERRIBLE idea!  LOL

The babies at about 4 days

About a week

About two weeks

Suddenly there are two

Getting bigger

Standing on the nest, flapping their wings and snatching bugs out of the air - yesterday

And now, today,  they’ve flown the nest!

Jim, Allison and Dave at our bear talk

And last but not least – this picture of Katy, taken about 1AM, explains graphically why I sleep alone……….and why Emma complains there is dog hair in my bed – ya think!?