Another late night which meant not an early morning.
Despite being up since 5:30 a.m. yesterday, I just wasn’t tired last night; I
did take a nice snooze on the way back, so maybe that took the edge off any
need for an early bedtime. Kim and Gabe played a rousing game of UNO on the
Switch, then both settled into reading until the morning hour caught up with
them and they needed sleep. I stayed up another hour or so. My introverted soul
enjoyed the quiet time alone at the table, looking at pictures I’d taken and getting
caught up on reading what’s going on in the world. Criminy, that alone would be
enough to keep a person awake for days.
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The lunar
eclipse, a.k.a. the Blood Moon, was supposed to be visible about 4 a.m. out
here. Kim was up to see it, but Gabe just couldn’t get up to see it, despite
setting his alarm and Kim saying something. I had no plans to get up, although
I heard Kim quietly opening and closing the door. I fully participated in last
year’s lunar eclipse, setting my camera on a tripod to get pictures of it. My
attitude about this one, although maybe faulty, was seen one, seen ‘em all, so
I stayed buried in the blankets.
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It’s interesting
to watch birds after they’ve been on the feeders…whether it’s a suet cake, a
seed ring, or the nectar feeders. A majority of the time, they flit to a nearby
branch where they swipe their beaks back and forth in an effort to clean
it. Some just fly off, maybe not caring
if they have food on their beaks. Or maybe they prefer to clean up in private.
This observation comes from having nothing else to do but watch the birds…at
home, I don’t have this kind of free time to take note of the little bird behaviors.
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This afternoon,
Gabe wanted to take a few hours and walk around Coolidge…by himself. This is
how he explained it: “It’s not that I don’t enjoy hanging out with you guys,
but my social calendar is drained. I need some time alone.” Say no more,
young man, I understand completely! Why do you think I stayed up a couple of
hours after you and Grampa went to bed? I was recharging my battery after spending
all our time together over the weekend..
So, we drove to
Coolidge and dropped Gabe off at Wal-Mart, after telling him that there’s not
much to Coolidge. It didn’t matter; he just needed the time away. About 3 hours
later, he texted that he had seen all he needed to see…Kim went to pick him up,
I stayed behind to attend to the laundry and compose letters to send to Jack
Bergman, Elissa Slotkin and Gary Peters, my representative and senators in
Congress.
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Temperature was
in the mid- to high-80’s today. But sitting outside in the shade, it was fairly
comfortable.
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Kim wanted Gabe
to have the Hot Dogs Alvarado experience. We both enjoy the way the Sonoran hot
dogs are prepared at our local food truck. That’s all they do and they do it
good. It’s one of those things I’d never try to duplicate back home…the other
thing is a Piggy Cookie. Anyway, Kim
asked Gabe what he thought and his response was that it was good but he didn’t
think it was anything special but maybe we oversold them a bit so his
expectations were too high. What?! This from the kid who thinks nuking a
pre-made container of mac ‘n cheese is supper?
Went on to say that he likes how he cooks them on the grill. I agree
that grilled hot dogs are good…there’s something about those grill marks. However, these are all about the toppings and
the way they toast the bun on the griddle.
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The telescope
came with us to Texas, although there wasn’t an opportunity to set it up. So,
after supper, in the dark, Kim and Gabe set up the scope down on its cement
pad. Supposed to be a clear night…and clear nights shouldn’t be wasted.
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Last year we
didn’t see any trace of Dean, the neighborhood bike rider…a.k.a. Sam Elliott. Didn’t
drive, only rode a bike and would stop to talk if he was riding to town when we
were out walking…interesting man. So, this year, when I was out walking a day
or two after we arrived, a bicycle riding man was heading in my direction. Sam
Elliott! Nope, it was a heavily bearded Native American or Mexican based on
the brownness of his skin. I really couldn’t see if it was Sam Elliott in the
second it took for him to pass me. Saw the same man again but couldn’t say for
sure if it was or wasn’t him. Kim was with me the third time and thought it
might be him, but I still wasn’t sure. But we both agreed that the real proof
would be hearing him talk. So, we have the month of March to determine if the
bearded, possibly tanned bicyclist is Dean.
