I’m in Denver. Our long-time Office Manager, who did that and everything else, is suddenly gone. I’ve flown to Denver to help recruit another Office Manager, and keep up with everything at the office in the meantime. We’re in Busy Season. Everyone else is already fully occupied doing audits. I checked a bag at the airport. For a while, I thought maybe my bag was going to fly to Denver without me. I’ve been feeling the burning ache precursor to a kidney stone for several days. It struck me while I was at the McAllen Airport waiting for my flight. Kidney stones are painful enough to distract you from whatever else you meant to be doing at the time. I ended up on my knees on the floor hunched over between some chairs at an unattended gate. I didn’t need any help. No-one offered any. I just needed to let the paid pass. If anyone noticed me, they probably just thought I was praying for a new Pope; and maybe mumbling something in Latin. Kidney stones come on suddenly, and they can go away rather quickly as well (although not as suddenly as they come on). The stone passed. The searing pain let up, and I heard the final call over the P.A. for Steve Taylor at Gate 1. They had just given up on me and were determined to scold me at the gate, but after a quick explanation, they relented and unlocked the door to the jetway and let me board. The flight was uneventful and I’m happy to say my brief stay and plane change in Houston was practically boring by comparison to McAllen. So here I am in Denver. I’ve met with Ken tonight. I’ve toured the new offices. Tomorrow I go back to work at the Denver Office of Taylor, Roth and Company.
Osprey
It’s not fair
We walk the sub-tropical forests on this side of the Rio Grande. We get to see and hear all the birds and other animals this habitat has to offer; deer, javelina, bobcats, coyotes. Saturday we went to Sabal Palm Grove Refuge east of Brownsville. It’s on this side of the river, but the other side of the border fence. We got the Crimson-collared Grosbeak we had gone there to find.
Here, we have to wait for a Mexican bird to wander across the border, then we all run to see it. There is matching sub-tropical forest on the other side of the river, but continue south and the habitat continues to change. There are mountains, plains, and tropical forest with the attendant changes in wildlife. Wouldn’t that be cool to just go see the birds where they normally live instead of waiting for one to accidentally cross the river? Wouldn’t that be exciting to cross over and wander through everything over there? It would be exciting; too exciting. The U.S. government just issued another travel advisory for Tamaulipas, the Mexican state immediately south of us. No roads in Tamaulipas are considered safe for travel. Drug Cartels. Shootings. Kidnappings for ransom. If you must go, don’t show any conspicuous signs of wealth. Don’t drive a nice car. Certainly don’t drive a nice motorhome bus like ours. No trouble on this side of the river, but we can’t drive across and stay in the bus. We can’t even drive the Jeep across on a day trip. Can’t all these people just stop for a moment and consider the impact this has on me??? It’s just not fair.
Here, we have to wait for a Mexican bird to wander across the border, then we all run to see it. There is matching sub-tropical forest on the other side of the river, but continue south and the habitat continues to change. There are mountains, plains, and tropical forest with the attendant changes in wildlife. Wouldn’t that be cool to just go see the birds where they normally live instead of waiting for one to accidentally cross the river? Wouldn’t that be exciting to cross over and wander through everything over there? It would be exciting; too exciting. The U.S. government just issued another travel advisory for Tamaulipas, the Mexican state immediately south of us. No roads in Tamaulipas are considered safe for travel. Drug Cartels. Shootings. Kidnappings for ransom. If you must go, don’t show any conspicuous signs of wealth. Don’t drive a nice car. Certainly don’t drive a nice motorhome bus like ours. No trouble on this side of the river, but we can’t drive across and stay in the bus. We can’t even drive the Jeep across on a day trip. Can’t all these people just stop for a moment and consider the impact this has on me??? It’s just not fair. I’ve been thinking..
I probably haven’t sent out enough bird pictures lately.
Great Kiskadee. Green Jay. Golden-fronted Woodpecker. Green Kingfisher
Great Kiskadee. Green Jay. Golden-fronted Woodpecker. Green Kingfisher Girl Scout cookies
It’s that time of year again. We buy the cookies from our granddaughter in the Girl Scouts. Becky sends the cookies to us. We try not to eat all of them. This year we found a great way to save ourselves from Girl Scout cookie overload. We donated a dozen boxes of cookies to an auction at Sandpipers to benefit the adopt-a-family campaign at Christmas. Girl Scout cookies can churn a lot more cash than just the price of a cookie. The Girl Scouts buy the cookies from a vendor and mark them up. We buy them from the Girl Scouts for $3.50 a box. We give the cookies to the auction. They all just sold for $10 to $15 per box, the entire amount going to purchase presents for disadvantaged families next Christmas. There is a lot more going on than just the price of ingredients.