That being said, I am going to turn my writing attention to the more positive experiences and the oddities. Although there are a couple of high drama moments that have played out over the summer that are worth mentioning. That will be in following posts.
May - June 2017
We continue to get settled in even though it has been weeks since arriving. The work schedule is pretty grueling and leaves little energy to photograph and write about our experiences. Hence me writing about things five months in arrears. Slowly but surely we are getting a rhythm down and recording little tidbits here and there.
Victoria Campground was "remodeled" in 1988 and it was a very well done project. Whoever did the engineering for upgrading the ancient campsites to a more modern camper (read big RV's with lots of power requirements) knew what they were doing. It is really, really nice in this campground. However, they didn't do or were not allowed to give the same attention to our driveway. We have two skinny lanes for entering the park, one lane to park in for registering and one lane for passing through to the campground. The registration lane will hold two truck/trailer combinations and then there might be room for a car behind that. That works okay if your check-ins are spread out over the whole week and the whole day of each week but it never works out that way. There is usually a rush of campers starting mid-afternoon on Friday and lasting until 9:00 pm. We'll have them lined up out in the (very narrow) street that serves not only as our entrance but also the entrance to the private marina and the Corps of Engineers boat ramp, day use area and public beach. The street turns into a jumbled up mess of RV's, trucks, bass boats, giant speed boats, and party boats every Friday afternoon and pretty much all day Saturday.
This little gate house is where we spend 15.5 hours a day. |
It is odd that we are located in such a densely populated area yet there is virtually no cell phone signal. The Verizon signal is just enough to barely get a text message, a voice call is impossible. AT&T does just enough better to hold a voice call if you are standing in the right place. Getting a good enough quality link to get on the web with our jetpack is an exercise in futility. The Corps has done nothing to bring modern communications to the campground either. There is a single, traditional land line to the gatehouse that can be used to only dial the headquarters office or 911. Our computer link for operating the national reservation system is via an ancient HughesNet satellite dish. Data transmission rates are reminiscent of dial-up modems and we loose our connection altogether when a thunderstorm rolls by to our southeast.
Our internet link is via the big dish on the roof and our TV link is the little dish on the tripod. |
Our commute to work. |
We are also getting familiar with the animals that call the campground home. One morning, walking to work I heard faint squeaking noises as I went by the post that held our "On Duty" sign.
As I approached I noticed that the core of the post had a hollow rotted out and the sound seemed to be coming from there.
It was dark in the bottom of the hollow but once I got some light on the subject, four little black-headed chickadees came into view.
The nuthatches wasted no time in getting comfortable with the bird feeder.
We have goldfinches but their visitations have been erratic. Some days we'll have a dozen and then not see one for several days.
There are several mated pairs of cardinals hanging around. I bet we start seeing juveniles soon.
Animals of the feathered persuasion are not all that we are seeing. This little lady has been showing up regularly since discovering the bird feeder. Based on the girth of her belly and the splay in her hips I expect we will be seeing a fawn with her soon.
She is an accomplished bird feeder eater. She can drain nearly the whole three pounds of seed in just a few minutes.
The Canada Geese have their families well on the way. We've got at least three mated pairs with about twenty newly-hatched waddling around.
One critter that we have not seen lately is a squirrel that I wrote about in a previous post. We had even gone so far as to name him. Stumpy disappeared only days after that post and has not been seen since. However there have been many to come in his place. The squirrel-proof bird feeders are driving them crazy and it is very entertaining watching them trying to noodle out a way get those seeds that are so close yet so far away. There is one exception. Walking home one evening we noticed something on the feeder but it was too dark to make out so we whipped out the trusty iPhones and turned on their flashlights. Much to our surprise there sat a big-eyed flying squirrel having his way with the bird feeder. This guy was so small and light he did not trigger the spring loaded doors and was enjoying a leisurely midnight meal. We had never seen a flying squirrel before, got to put a notch in our journal for this one.