Thanksgiving with the kids. Making ice-cream at Becky’s the day before, Becky gone to collect food for the food bank with the older two kids, Judy off on errands, Brian and I watching the younger two at the house. Conner stands on a chair next to me while I mix the ingredients. It takes me a while. He gets down and pushes his chair around me to the other side with purpose, but the maneuver doesn’t really register until I realize he’s eyebrows to elbows into the open sugar canister on the counter. I wipe off the counter. Brian wipes off Conner. A little while later, Teigan is quietly watching a video, when Judy returns, removes Conner from the upstairs bathroom, turns off the water in both sinks, puts away the toothpaste and electric toothbrushes, and cleans him up again. It’s a quiet morning. Becky and the older two return and the house is back to full volume. Thanksgiving Day, Matt, Kari, and Alex join the fray. Turkey, kids, football, pie and ice cream. Happy Thanksgiving all.
Lathrop state park
It was a good stay at st vrain. Forty-one birds. Buffleheads, hooded mergansers, night herons, golden eagle, bald eagle, prairie falcons, kingfisher serenade, blue jays, scrub jays, juncos. But enough of these cold weather birds. I know, the weather has been fantastic; temperatures in the sixties and seventies, but nevermind that, we’re leaving anyway. Look at the weather map of the country. We’re in a blue state. We’re headed for red states. Got a date with a gilded flicker. A leisurely start. A two hundred mile day, from Erie to Walsenburg. Another night at Lathrop State Park.
Weather
Moving from blue to red.
St vrain
Did I mention how difficult it is to hook up our tow car? Not that it’s difficult to hook it up, it’s just different. The mechanical connection of the tow gear from the motorhome to the tow car is the same as with every other car, takes about a minute. Hook up the safety cables. Hook up the air line for the brake assist. From inside the car, still have to find neutral in the transmission just like every other car. It’s the last part that’s difficult. Taking the key out. For every other car, we had to be sure the key was in the proper accessory position so the steering wheel wouldn’t lock and the front tires scuff off as we towed them sideways. In this Jeep, it’s different. Confirm that the transfer case is in neutral. Pull the key out. Walk away. The steering wheel doesn’t lock. Years of training to check and recheck the key position in the tow car. It’s not easy to overcome. Pull the key out and walk away.
St vrain state park
We have never gotten the extended kingfisher serenade that we get here. Two kingfishers, perched in the tall trees, stopping to fish now and then, chattering/rattling all day long. We see flocks of chipping sparrows in Colorado in the summer. We only see a few in winter. We were watching a couple in a bush here, reddish head, dark eye-line, when one turned and we saw the central breast dot. Chipping sparrows don’t have a central breast dot. Back to the book. Chipping sparrows go away in the first part of November. American tree sparrows show up in November. American tree sparrow. A new bird. I’m sure it’s not that we’ve never seen it before, but it’s the first time we’ve identified it. A new bird for November.