Monday, April 1…Rocket’s Tail (Kate Bush)

    Today started out sunny but quickly clouded over, then the rain started.  Kept us in the camper but I made the most of it by starting the packing up process.  I feel like we don’t have a lot of stuff crowding our living area, but that’s been a matter of having a place for everything and keeping everything in its place.  That’s been working for the last 45 days but it’s a different story when we hit the road. Everything has got to find a home.  Nothing loose to roll around, fall off or bang into. This is usually when I find that we really do have a lot of stuff hanging around.

    Despite being able to start the packing, there came a point when I had to stop. Couldn’t pack the sleeping bag or air mattress because we need them tonight for sleeping.  Same with the blankets, sheets, etc.  The best I could do was arrange the space under the bed so the bedding will fit in easily tomorrow…the air mattress will be stored along the side of the bed. I rearranged the overhead shelves, putting the air fryer and Instant Pot under the bed. On the way out here, both fell from where they were stored…right onto my bike.  Didn’t hurt the bike but the Instant Pot sustained some major cosmetic damage. The air fryer appeared to be okay after its 6-foot tumble. Kim rigged a way to store the table and chairs where one of the couches used to be.  They’ll be secured with a rachet strap so the bikes should be safe. I’ve worked it through in my head where the rest of loose items will be stored so it should be easy in the morning to get the living area emptied so the bikes can come in. That’s the theory anyway.

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   After I did what I could in the packing area, I worked on the owl that I’ve been needle felting. This is my second attempt at making a burrowing owl. The first ended in a critter named Chad. He looks like a bird but is definitely not an owl. So, I was feeling some pressure to get the second attempt correct. The owl body turned out okay, but the legs were problematic. Needed to find a way to make him stand without legs. With a little artistic direction from Kim, I fashioned something that started out looking like a fried egg but ended up looking like a passable burrow…as long as it’s viewed on the level and not from above. Not sure I nailed it but at least it looks like an owl, which is more than I can say for the first attempt.

   We’ve all been thinking of names; my mom had a name picked out but forgot it. Kim came up with a couple of good ones, but I kept coming back to Hootie, which is a very appropriate name for an owl.  But Hootie made me think of Hootie and the Blowfish, which made me think of Darius Rucker. So, for now the owl’s name is Darius.

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   Mom and I went on one last errand run to Coolidge; on the way I detoured to the hawk nest on Hauser Rd. From the road we could see something white in the nest; I wondered if it could be a piece of trash the hawk had brought in.  Nope!  It was a snowy white baby hawk. I’ve been thinking this was a red-tailed hawk nest because the first time we saw it the bird had its back to us and it was identical to a red-tailed hawk I saw online.  However, this time I got a front view and it sure doesn’t look like the breast of a red-tailed. So, I reached out to the FB birding page and hopefully someone can help me out with the identification of the bird. But to see that little white head above the nest…that was cool!

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   This afternoon when Mom and I were getting ready to head to town, the kiddos were walking toward me from the clubhouse and waved and called to me.  They said that they were going to come say good-bye to us later.  My announcement that we weren’t leaving until tomorrow was met with big smiles and clapping. I told them that we’d make sure to stop over before we left.

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   Took the cell camera down today. Sometime during the night, a coyote came under the fence and that was the last wildlife picture/video. Gonna take me forever to go through the videos on the card, but I’ll have lots of time on the drive home to sort through them.

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   Maya, Miley, and Malachai were outside playing tonight…Casey came out to get them as it was getting dark. We were watching a nature show when Maya and Miley started yelling for us to come outside because the launch was happening. This was no April Fool’s Day joke…a fireball was streaking across the sky! The launch of which had been postponed until sometime in April was a go for tonight.

   We assumed that ‘sometime in April’ meant later in April and since we wouldn’t be here to see it, nobody thought to check the launch schedule. I am so grateful the kids alerted us…for one, my mom got to see the ‘fireball’ and the vapor trail that snaked back toward to the edge of the western sky and two, we got to say good-bye to the kiddos and Casey.  As we were talking, the kids said they couldn’t say good-bye tomorrow because they were leaving on a trip…at three in the morning.  So, I gave them each a painted rock and a stamped envelope addressed to us; told them that I hoped they would send me a letter when the birds left the nest. Then I gave them each a hug and said farewell.  I should have asked where they were going…wonder if Tomas has that second job interview in Indiana.