We're on our last days here.... actually we finished working on Friday...
Bill started March 25th and by April 10th worked 94 hours I sort of started March 26th and my last day was April 10th... I worked 77 hours. Not bad for just over a 2 week non-scheduled stop over.
But let me tell you.... this place is great. If you happen to be a volunteer it just might be the place for you. Okay... sometimes the mosquitoes are bad, but.... oh my... the birds! And this year we weren't even here for the warbler migration. And the folks are great to work for.
And the food.... what can I say? We went into Lake Charles yesterday to buy some boudin. Don't know what boudin is? Well... think of a sausage with rice, pork and the most savory seasonings you can imagine.
This is kind of the "Before" and "After"
If, by chance, my friend Juan is reading this... yes, I do occasionally use that in house grill thingy that we bought at the RV show in the Valley in Texas.
And... darn! grilled boudin and fried okra is outstanding!
We were here for 3 months in 2005.... yeah, 10 years ago... but, you know what? It was like coming back the next day.... old friends are still good friends. Glenn and Dianne are as if we just left for the weekend.
I knew my main job would be working the Visitor Center for a week or so. Now, I'm an outdoor person, so after raising the flag, turning on the exhibits and such, I wondered what I could do for the rest of the day. Dealing with the 100-150 visitors a day isn't hard at all.... even the buses of tourists and the groups of school kids on a field trip are a piece of cake...
But I found out from the previous volunteers that the screen saver on the Visitor Center computer was of "Birds of Louisiana"...... but didn't show the ID of the bird shown...
So I used one of my own programs to add each bird's ID to the photo...
The photo above shows the results...
That way, even if a person isn't familiar with the bird, they can easily see what it is.
That didn't take me long, so I'll admit I spent quite a few other hours just checking out the volunteer duties, cleaning doors and stuff like that.
No problem....
Bill & I are both quite flexible when it comes to volunteer duties.... he even drove to Lafayette one day to run some refuge errands.
The refuge manager invited us to his house for a cook-out yesterday. What's so interesting to me is that he and his wife are doing so many of the same things Bill & I did before we hit the road.... things like making wine, and beer.... and gardening..... and he wants to make cheese. Boy... did we ever hit it off!
On our way home we came across this field that's being flooded... not sure if they'll be planting rice or what.... but the shorebirds were loving it...
Yellow-legs
Greater? Lesser?
I don't know, but Man.... do those yellow legs stand out!
Tomorrow we'll be starting our travel east... then north....
We're not in a big hurry, but plant to travel along the Gulf for a while... eventually wind our way up to the Natchez Trace (maybe a bit of back-tracking here).... and make it back to Ohio... then after a bit... on to Maine.
But it's such a great time being here again....
Thank you, Cameron Prairie NWR, for taking us in for a couple of weeks...
We hope we did y'all good here.
That's All For Today!
I'm glad to see you enjoyed your time there; you certainly both gave it your all. We're still in Okaloosa Island until Wednesday morning, in case your Gulf travels have you passing by our door!
ReplyDeleteWe love boudin.
ReplyDeleteWe are headed back to Ohio right now. We are in TN. Stop over in KY tomorrow and be in Canton on Tuesday. Safe travels tomorrow.
Guess what I had for dinner today? Louisiana boudin with a couple of fried eggs. Yum, yum, it don't get much better than that!!
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid I'd prefer a shrimp po'boy to boudin. You done good!
ReplyDeleteWe too made beer and wine at home for many years, but going fulltime too we sadly had yo give it up.
ReplyDeleteOh yes love the boudin and all that southern food.
Travel safe and enjoy the ride.
Labelling those bird images is a major accomplishment. Good going! That looks like a Lesser Yellowlegs to me -- straight, pointy bill. The Greater has an upturned, blunt-ended bill. The first time we saw one was in Connecticut in the '80s. Our guide said, "Look there's a yellowlegs." Jerry asked, "Oh. A yellow-legged what?" A few minutes later, we saw a black duck. Jerry asked, "What kind of black duck." Our guide said ... slowly, "An American Black Duck?"
ReplyDeleteGreat attitude Sharon! But you can keep the boudin and I will take the okra! :))
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a child, we camped on our annual vacations. My parents' rule: leave it cleaner than you found it. I'll substitute "better" for you.
ReplyDeleteI've never had boudin but it sure does sound tasty! I'll have to start looking for it.
ReplyDeleteSafe travels.