Wednesday, March 31...Take a Picture (Filter)

Morning musings:

8:30 a.m. After getting ready to greet the day Kim realized he was feeling a touch of that ‘I really don’t want to move’ tiredness that he had after the first vaccine.  When I got back from my walk his pillow was out on the couch and already scrunched into the best sleeping position.  That clued me into how his day might play out...Kim is usually not a napper and the pillow is always on the bed.  He also says he has a slight headache...we’ll see if that gets worse through the day.  Interestingly I was told to treat a headache with Tylenol or aspirin but not ibuprofen because ibuprofen will interfere the immunity building process. 

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   Checked the ‘bait pile’...all gone.  Brought the card back to camp and plugged it into the computer.  Oh, happy day! We’ve got pictures!! Hope there’s something besides weeds on there. The computer didn’t play them in order, however.  First picture was of a coyote wandering in which was cause for excitement but as it turns out that wasn’t the first visitor of the night.  Such exclamations of joy when a javelina butt come into view. A javelina!!!  Yeehaw!!  And it looked like it was just passing through.  It seemed to sniff at a bone but didn’t stop, just wandered on through.  There were different time stamps for the coyote(s).  Not sure how many came in but there was a block of photos taken from 8:11 to 8:39.  Another block from 9:01 to 9:29 p.m.  In the first section of pictures, the coyote was approaching from the left...then in the second block a coyote snuck in from the right.  But there was no mistaking what they wanted....the bones!  It took 11 days but we got wildlife on camera! What fun!

**And it must be noted that the date and time on the pictures is wrong; it's 12 hours off due to not changing the time to PM.  The camera recorded the action as being on the morning of March 31 but it was actually the evening of March 30th. 

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Evening edition:

   Kim was sleeping soundly on the couch by 11:15 a.m.....today’s bike ride was girls only. I would’ve taken Louie if I had the room to secure him.  I was planning to use my passenger seat to stow some groceries not a little monkey.  Moxie and I left for a ride about 12:30; arrived back at camp just before 4:15 to find Kim still sleeping.  The bathroom door was open so I figured he got up at least once but then headed back to the couch.  I positioned the fan so it could keep him cool as the day heated up.  He woke up shortly after I came in...sat up looking dazed and then horrified as he realized what time it was.   At about 4:30 he stepped out the door realizing it was the first time he’d been outside all day.  As the evening progressed he seemed less tired but said he still felt flat. Headache appears to be gone also.  Hopefully that’s the worst of the vaccine reaction.

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   Had some errands to do in Coolidge then Moxie and I rode the Tom Mix Loop.  Stopped to see Tom Mix, drink a Gatorade and watch for animals.  Continued on my way...stopped on Park Link to get a picture of a hawk on a saguaro. No traffic from either direction at this point.  I’m standing there with camera pointed at the bird when an elderly gentleman in a small pick-up truck stops and tried to roll down the passenger side window to ask if I needed help.  I watched as he tried various buttons then shrugged his shoulders and put his hands out like “I don’t have a clue”.   He seemed surprised that he rolled down the driver side window instead.  At this point I lift my camera and loudly say that I’m okay, just taking a picture. He smiled at me and pointed to the passenger door. I opened the door and again said that I was okay, just taking a picture.  He smiled and said “Oh, you’re okay then?”  Yes, sir, I am...thanks for stopping though. Closed the door and he went on his merry way.  The whole encounter still makes me smile.        

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   Power was out for about 4 hours. Made for a dark campground once the sun went down. I don’t know if it was a campground problem or an Arizona Power issue.  Thankfully our interior lights work on battery so I wasn’t sitting in the dark but no coffee and no fan until about 9 p.m. when it came back on. Even with windows, the door and the back ramp open it was getting a bit warm in here. We would have made do tonight because it is cooling slightly outside but I’m grateful the power has been restored.   

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   Went out to Park Link Road to check the raven’s nest in the saguaro cactus.  But on the way Kim detoured into the Dairy Queen on exit 219.  I’m not really an ice cream fan but I do like a Peanut Buster Parfait.  We’ve stopped there a couple times recently but it has been crazy busy.  Apparently 5:30 p.m. on a Wednesday is their slow time.  He wanted to get me a Peanut Buster Parfait, extra peanuts please...the extra peanuts are important he tells the girl.  That was a right tasty birthday treat.

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   Thanks to the size and technology of Kim’s new camera we were able to employ a new strategy for peeking into the raven nest.  His camera has the same wi-fi capability as mine: camera pairs with phone via its own wi-fi network...what the camera lens sees shows up on the phone screen...the user can then take pictures using the phone as a remote.  Pictures are stored on the camera card. 

   This camera is small enough to be screwed onto the end of the old selfie stick, whereas mine is too

heavy for that.  So we taped the fully extended selfie stick to Kim’s snake stick, attached the camera and then Kim held the entire apparatus while I directed the action depending on what I was seeing on the phone.  High tech for sure!  As we approached the nest I thought it looked like some remodeling had taken place...it appears to be taller.  I’d have to compare last year’s picture to this year’s to be sure but not sure it’s worth the effort. Anyway, there are five pretty eggs nestled deep in the nest. And, of course, I had to take a picture of our set-up.

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   Kim has roused himself enough to do some imaging...not a lot of Arizona nights left.  He needs to take advantage of all clear nights.  He’s quite pleased with how the equipment is behaving and the images he’s getting so far. Tonight is a new target called the Hamburger Galaxy.  Go figure on these names....

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Bike miles today:  98

Total miles:  1860