Return to the nest
Being a "winter Texan" may appeal to folks from climes far more wintery than our slice of heaven in central Arizona, but for me, I'm ecstatic to be back home where the sun shines, the skies are brilliantly blue and alligators don't roam. I have no doubt that if I resided in a place where snow falls and remains in dirty mounds for months and lakes freeze solid, I might appreciate south Texas from January to April, but I don't live in those places. After our wet, windy and cold jaunt to the Gulf Coast, I satisfied my curiosity about South Padre Island as a snowbird haven. Don't get me wrong: south Texas is a great place to visit, but I'm not pulling up stakes any time soon.
We made our escape with an even icier storm nipping at our heels. First stop on our run for home was to visit kin in San Antonio, special people whom we had not seen for a crazy long length of time. John & Karen invited us to park Woofie at their house so we could have time with them and Karen's mother, Sue - my special friend/former mother-in-law. It did my heart good to be with them!
One more sleep-stop after that in Anthony, New Mexico: there I noticed white-winged doves, which reminded me that we had identified them at Port O'Connor and forgotten to include them in the bird list. I wonder if we spaced any others?
As we pulled into a fuel station somewhere in the hill country, we ran across a bird that would be impossible to forget - an emu. Although it was confined behind a fence, it obviously had miles of ranchland to roam. Despite that, its need seemed to be for companionship; it paced up and down a small section of fenceline watching the comings and goings of people at the rest stop.
I certainly could not resist getting up close and personal. Even though the emu seemed drawn to people, at our approach, it displayed behavior that felt less than inviting by drawing its head back, seemingly the better to snatch my nose from my face or my fingers from my hand. I could be wrong, not being privy to emu emotional expressions; however, that beak was pretty intimidating, and I'm pretty sure it was frowning at me.
We somehow managed to hit Tucson in the middle of its renowned gigantic gem & mineral show when lodging maxes out as thousands of people descend for an orgy of rock selling and buying. It made finding a space to rest our heads for a couple of nights a tad challenging, but the señor was up to the task. We don't feel a need to return anytime soon to that "interesting" park; at least we were off the streets.
A much-needed visit with our friend Laura was the impetus of our Tucson stay, although we managed just enough time upon arrival to stretch our legs after so much riding while checking out the avian life at the Sweetwater Wetlands. We were a tad disappointed that many of the ponds were dry, but we identified some birds to add to the trip list before giving up due to cold wind: Gambel's quail, Abert's towhee, white-crowned sparrow, cinnamon teal, Cooper's hawk and ruddy duck.
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