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Tuesday, April 21, 2020

Weird day in weird times

Not my normal day. Started out normal enough. Photographed the duck on its nest this morning. I think there may be another duck nesting in the other nesting tube, but can't be sure. It's so well-hidden deep inside. Here's the one I know for sure. She's one week into the three week incubation.


It's normal for me to take an afternoon nap, but this afternoon I took a very long nap. I was wiped out for no reason that I could think of. Woke up about 7 PM and knew I wouldn't be tired for many hours, making it difficult for me to get up early in the morning and go water at the oasis before it got too hot. So I decided to go down this evening. Had the whole highway to myself. Fifty years ago that wouldn't have been unusual, but just a few weeks ago traffic was bumper to bumper... when the parks were open and it was spring break. And no pandemic frenzy yet. So it felt a bit weird and nostalgic.

Nearing Elephant Mountain, in the late afternoon light, I noticed a lovely looking oasis off in the distance on the side of Elephant Mountain. It stood out in the barren landscape. Strange I hadn't ever noticed that before. Just the lighting, and time of year I guess.




Cruising along, enjoying the sunset on the barren highway, amid the barren land.


As I drove up to the house at the oasis around 9 PM, in the dark, three things happened simultaneously. Talk about weird! Walking into the courtyard I heard an Elf Owl squawking nearby (not unusual), as I noticed a light on in the kitchen (unusual). Guess I had left it on when I left 3 days ago to go to town. And just then I got a drastic case of diarrhea. I'm a person who never ever gets diarrhea. Like maybe 50 years ago in Mexico when I got dysentery. That's it. 

This episode only lasted about 20 or 30 minutes, but I'm trying to figure out what caused it. All I can come up with is that Hugh ordered some barbecue from someone in town that delivers. We ate that for lunch. Then later I crashed for hours, then the diarrhea. Oh well, I'm fine now. Didn't like that food anyway. We had decided we wouldn't order any more from them. I never worry about food, other than MSG, because I never get sick from food. We had ordered food from them once before with no problem. Of course, we're only ordering food because of the self-isolation. I personally prefer to cook, but my husband likes to eat lunch out a lot. 

Yesterday I figured this wasn't going to end any time soon so I made us extra masks to keep in all the vehicles. On the way to the oasis I stopped at the store for something I had forgotten to get during senior hour. It was shocking how people weren't social distancing or wearing masks. Never going again, except during senior hour. Then everyone wears masks and stays at a distance. These young people just don't get it.


Migration is in full swing. It'll be excited to see what birds I discover while watering in the morning.

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