Wednesday, March 9…Turn Around (Bonnie Tyler)

   By 9:30 a.m. the temperature was up to 54 degrees…perfect for doing yoga outside where the sun is shining and the birds are chirping.

   Never been a fan of doing yoga in public.  I enjoy the subtle way it helps me maintain flexibility and awareness of how I move but let’s face it, it can be very awkward to get into some of the poses. So it’s taken me outside my comfort zone to be doing this outside where any passing dog walker, camp employee or exiting camper can see what I’m doing.  But I find that closing my eyes is the best way to block them out…as long as I can maintain my balance, that is. Face planting is not a show I want to be starring in, that’s for sure. 

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   Oh, happy day!  We’re seeing action on the cell cam…getting notifications!  I set it to video and what comes to my phone is a picture with a video icon in the corner…that means it’s taking videos. Yay!  However, we have yet to figure out how to view the video.  There’s more learning in store.  We’ve come this far…technology will not defeat us!!

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   Went to Catalina State Park for our hike today.  On the way there Kim mentioned that the route seemed familiar…had we been there before?  I didn’t think so until we turned in the driveway then both of us realized that we met Bill and Mary Trupiano there last year for a walk. 

   I had picked the Alamo Loop hike based on the description on the All Trails website…I read the reviews and people said that it wasn’t clearly marked but the app would show you the way and besides it was a great family hike.  Pulled it up on the phone app so we’d be able to track ourselves.  Wrong!  The tracker thought we were sitting the truck the whole time…turned it off since it wasn’t going to help us.  And there was no Alamo Loop marked on the Park map. 

   Romero Trail looked good on the map so we headed in that direction. We were heading into the Bighorn Sheep Management Area which intrigued both of us. It started out fine but it took me about 1.25 miles to realize that whatever trail we were on wasn’t one I wanted to see through to the end. The change in elevation was vastly different than described on All Trails and this certainly didn’t fall into the ‘easy’ category…more like high end moderate.  I didn’t care what beautiful and wondrous sight might be waiting for us; every hiker that came back from reaching ‘the pool’ tossed around intimidating words like rugged, steep and rocky.  Ummm…I don’t think I want to go up any farther because I’m a not a fan of the coming down part.  I told Kim he could go on if he wanted and I’d wait right where I was but I couldn’t continue on. We turned around. 

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   Visited Montrose Pool on the way back which was located in a canyon and presented as more of a creek than a pool this time of year.  It was a quick and pleasant enough side trip although Kim mentioned he didn’t think it too impressive.  Based on the height of the water debris I’d say that during the rainy season it would be a lot higher and faster and maybe then he’d be impressed.

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   So we didn’t find Alamo Loop and turned around before reaching Romero Pool but we still logged over 3 miles and the view from Romero Trail was amazing.  The temperature was in the high 60’s but felt warmer on the open trail with the constant sun.  Thankfully there was a cooling breeze to counteract the slight sweat I had going. 

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Dusk photo

Night photo

   How to solve the problem of the cell cam videos occupied me on the drive back to camp. Started looking in the settings and enabled the ‘Check-in’ button and when I went back to the video folder there were two videos.  Yahoo! Clicked one on full screen and I was able to see that there was movement on the nest at 6:20 a.m. which was the male bringing food to the female then suddenly the male flew off. The other video shows the sitting owl swiveling her head around. Even at a distance of 30 feet the camera is sensitive enough to pick up that small movement. This is the kind of stuff I was hoping to see. And I've already changed the recording time from 10 seconds to 15.  

   I was able to save the videos to my phone then Bluetooth them to my computer.  Now we can watch them on a much larger screen and the detail is amazing even in the low morning light with that 30 foot distance.  We’ve been playing with editing the two videos we have gotten…just seeing if they can be cropped without losing resolution, etc. 

   I’ve activated more of the videos but they haven’t shown up yet.  As I was bemoaning the fact that I couldn’t access the other videos Kim encouraged me to be patient, said that it might take a few hours for the videos to download to the phone.  Patience is not a strong suit of mine but I don’t have a choice in this one.  If the other videos aren’t viewable by morning perhaps a switching out of the SD card will be in order.

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   *Yesterday I noticed that the port-a-john alongside the road is gone.  Wonder if it’s become a piece of art on another road or in someone’s yard.

   *The Traveling sheep were moved to a field farther back from Hwy 87 on Saturday.  Yesterday when I rode by I couldn’t see if they were still there or not…setting sun was directly in my eyes.  Next time I’ll have to go earlier.

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   Today’s 40 Days of Lent challenge was to do a chore that isn’t mine.  Wasn’t able to complete this one because when camping we don’t really have set chores…unless we’re setting up the camper or packing it to leave.