This section of the campground was small, with only 29 sites arranged in a rough circle on the edge of the lake. Tuesday night we were literally the only ones there. The only other site being used was for the camp hosts, and they never came in – at least, they weren’t there when we took our last walk at 6:15 PM yesterday, and they weren’t there when we took our first walk at 4:00 AM today, so I figured maybe they only came on weekends. No other campers.
Then for a while during the day today we had the entire campground to ourselves – not just the camping area. Nobody at the cabins, nobody launching a boat, nobody at the playground, nobody at the picnic area. I know because we walked to these places. It was really peaceful.
Of course, that didn’t last. In the afternoon the camp hosts came back and started running around doing chores. And an RV with Connecticut license plates came in and, luckily parked on the opposite side of the circle from us, hidden behind some trees so whatever they did, we didn’t see it.
We saw a whole flock of butterflies – or whatever you call a group of them. Small white butterflies who were enjoying the wildflowers. Including the dandelions, which surprised me. (Actually, I looked it up and apparently a group of butterflies is called a kaleidoscope. Which I guess makes sense. Sometimes it’s also called a swarm, but to my mind that’s what bugs do, not butterflies. And to continue it, a group of caterpillars, which are the raw materials of butterflies, is called an army. And a cluster of butterflies resting on a tree is called a roost. And now we know.)
I heard a nuthatch and a kingfisher, though I didn’t see many birds.
When I knew I’d be taking Lily to the vet in Mitchell, I opened up her mesh carrying case – her crate – the day before and left it sitting around in hopes she’d get used to it before the traumatic event. And it worked. When it came time to visit the vet, all I had to do was zip the case shut because she was lying in it.
Since I knew she liked it, and since I was hoping to build her confidence back up for it, I left it up after the vet visit. Today, she spent all afternoon there, so apparently it’s something she’s really comfortable in.
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| Here's proof. (She looks sort of orange in this photo, but I think it's the combo of her multi-colors with the black mesh.) |
Did you know that some people believe that during WWII, the Nazis built settlements on the Moon and Mars? I learned that in a footnote (and then looked it up to confirm it) to an amazing Open Letter that was written by the Maricopa County (AZ) Recorder. He used a clever combination of humor, facts and common sense to explain why the 2020 election was properly conducted.
Although he quotes both Jane Austen and lyrics from Frozen II in his text, the footnotes are some of the best parts, where he cites to Albus Dumbledore’s predicament and The Importance of Being Earnest. He sounds like a hard-line conservative and I’m not sure how many issues I’d agree with him on, but based on this document, I might still be willing to vote for him, were I in his district. You might want to take a look at it. https://www.politico.com/Open-Letter If I were still teaching English, I’d want to use it as an example of persuasive writing.
We had occasional sun this afternoon and I kept thinking I should take a photo of our end of the lake. But it seems to be a long, meandering lake and we were only at one end of it and couldn’t see beyond the next curve. I decided to wait until we leave tomorrow in hopes I could get a better view elsewhere in the park.
My arm is still hurting, even though I’m just 2 days shy of it having been 7 weeks since Dext dragged me across the ground. I’ve finally decided that a physical therapist would be telling me to start using it again as much as normal, instead of babying it as I have been doing. So I’m trying to stretch for things, for instance, with my left arm as well as my right. And yes, it hurts, but the pain is nothing like it was some weeks ago. I figure I’ll try to do what I used to do, but be willing to take my time about it, not reach for things suddenly, no jerking, but instead to slowly stretch out my arm. I think that will make a difference over time. What a strange thing to be living through.
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