Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge

It's been a busy day for me.  Once Jim got up this morning I dressed and went for a walk.  You see, the last three days we worked and I didn't get much walking done.  So far today I've gotten in almost 7000 steps!

Laundry, cooking and dishes occupied some of my time and I spent time this afternoon folding and delivering our weekly resort calendar (which helped with my steps!).

Jim cleaned up the bird feeding station.  Not sure what messed up the suet feeder but it was really messy and of course that means the water dish was yucky.  We get Green Jays, Kiskadees, thrashers, Altamira Orioles, wrens and a little yellow-green warbler?  Doves and grackles are a given and a squirrel or two.  We both enjoy the birds that visit!  We've even had javalinas visit

The other day we went to Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge  The day was nice, just cool enough to be comfortable in jeans.  Unfortunately we didn't see much wildlife, just a few water birds.  My main reason for going was to get my National Park Pass.  Currently they are $10 but sometime this year the price is going up to $80...This is a bargain!  This little card gets you into all of our counties National Parks!

From the website...

The National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass Series 

A pass is your ticket to more than 2,000 federal recreation sites. Each pass covers entrance fees at national parks and national wildlife refuges as well as standard amenity fees (day use fees) at national forests and grasslands, and at lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. A pass covers entrance, standard amenity fees and day use fees for a driver and all passengers in a personal vehicle at per vehicle fee areas (or up to four adults at sites that charge per person). Children age 15 or under are admitted free.

Run don't walk to your nearest Park and get your pass before the price goes up!  The website will show you the nearest one to you

The day was a bit overcast so I didn't take many pictures.  The one above has the most color and it's just some fungi

No matter where you go in the south you'll find Spanish Moss

Not a lot of green to be seen this time of year

At first glance this tree looks dead....but it's not!  It has some leaves starting to come out

This Great Kiskadee stuck around long enough for this shot

This Harris's Hawk was not in the right place for a good shot

We're both spending time reading, especially when the weather turns cool.  Oh, I think I forgot to mention the truck....after the first repair job which fixed the issues at that time we had it back about three days.  Had driven it a couple times with not problem.  Then we left to go out to lunch one day and wouldn't you know the durn thing died!  Just died, engine quit and would not restart.  Jim called road service and they towed it away.  Not sure how many days that took but they replaced the fuel injection module (?).  Seems to be doing just fine now but still has an oil leak.  Another job for in the future.

All is right in our world!