Monday. Quiet day. Hung out. Did some chores. Annie got a bath in the sink in the
campground laundry room. Took a drive to find Judy’s friend Sally’s new
house. Sally still lives in Lafayette, but owns a very nice new house out
in the country here. Seven acres. A pond. Geese. Ducks. Trees. Wild
birds. And a house on the top of the hill overlooking it all. Nicely done. Then we drove up the side of the cliff into the Monument. The swifts go
away for the winter, but they’re back now. We sat in the sunshine getting
buzzed by white-throated swifts and violet green swallows, and rock doves.
That’s right. There were pigeons(rock doves) flying in formation, imitating
the swifts. I’ve never seen pigeons look that aerobatic before. They still
look like pigeons, though. They’re not going to be mistaken for swifts. Dropped my birding binoculars. They made a big thud. They don’t focus very
well anymore. Maybe it was time for new ones anyway. We’ve had those for a
long time. We can share Judy’s in the meantime, but we’d better be on the
lookout for some replacements. We got Judy’s at a Sam’s Club store last
year. Maybe we’ll pass another Sam’s club somewhere along the way. Back at camp. Fished a little. I love this new light fly rod Judy got me
for Christmas. Rinsed some of the Leadville snow and road muck off the Bounder so it will
look nice tomorrow. Rags the cat made an undetected escape. When we close the screen door, it
latches tight, so he can’t get out. We have to remember to close the little
slide door that goes over the handle, though. If we don’t, Rags jumps out
through the handle-hole when we’re not looking. We didn’t realize he was
gone for about half an hour. Then we got to go outside with flashlights and
watch him do that stupid-looking bounding run all around us in the dark.
Then he let us walk up to him and pick him up. Every trip he has ever been
on, he has escaped at least once. We try to keep him in to keep him safe,
but I’m glad he gets his occasional adventures too. Tomorrow we’re off to the Western Colorado Conference at the convention
center in Grand Junction.