Life on the Refuge

We are really enjoying our stay on the refuge.  Last Sunday we had Chinese after Mass again and then drove across the river to downtown Shreveport.  There were some interesting buildings there, it is a real mix of some new buildings with a few old abandoned buildings and some older ones still being used.  Monday was a federal holiday so there were no paid workers here at the refuge.  I opened up the visitor's center and worked around the building and parking area picking up trash.  Some other volunteers came and opened the gift shop, so Janice and I rode around on the trails in the Ranger and picked up trash.  It has a really bad overheating problem, so we spent more time stopping and waiting for it to cool down than we did working.
Tuesday we went down the the boardwalk stores along the river here in Bossier City.  We visited a few stores and had lunch at Joe's Crab Shack.  We ate too much!  After some more shopping there we went out to the community college here for supper.  The culinary class there serves a buffet on Tuesday evening and we wanted to try it.  We were still pretty full from lunch, so we got ours to go and saved most of it for the next day.  Wednesday was laundry day at the laundromat.  After we got that done we went out to a huge pawn shop that we had seen the night before and a used bookstore.  Thursday, I worked on cleaning in the office and visitor's center and Janice helped them prepare for a teachers seminar for Friday.  Friday, Janice helped with the teacher's seminar and I helped one of the workers here change the oil and filters in the mower and then we took the Ranger apart and removed and cleaned the radiator completely.  Today I was working at the boat ramp.  There was a kayak fishing contest on the lake plus the usual other boaters.  Janice came down and we ate our lunch there and watched the kayaks come in.  Later this afternoon we took the Ranger out around the trails and it worked great with no overheating.  The Mardi Gras parades are starting here now, maybe we will get to see one.  The weather has been really nice here for a few days, it feels good to go out without a coat on.

Trip to Lower Cane

The southern most unit of this refuge is about two hours south of here.  It is called the Lower Cane unit and today I went down there with an intern here to break up some beaver dams.  They like to dam up part of the wetlands to make the water deeper which is not good for the trees. We loaded the Ranger (like a 6 wheel Gator) on a trailer and hauled it down there.  On the road in, we saw and impressive display of pelicans.  This picture is only a small part of them.

We drove on a road on top of a dike to get into the area.

After we got into the area, we unloaded the Ranger and drove down trails like these.

There are a lot of wild hogs down here, can you see the hog wallow near the bottom of this picture?

Here is a close up shot of it.  They like to root up holes like this to lay in.

This is our trusty Ranger that got us in and out again.

The first dam that we took out was just a small one.

The next one was built in the end of a culvert under the four wheeler road and was under water so I didn't get a picture of it.   The last one was a long one made mostly of mud and grass.  They will probably have them rebuilt by next week.  This is one of the common trees down here, they call it a mock orange and the thorns that you can see are sharp!

We made it back safely and after supper Janice and I took a moonlit drive in the Ranger to lock the boat ramp gates.  Happy Valentine's day!

A Little Ice Overnight

Late yesterday and overnight we got a little freezing rain here.  Schools and everything else are pretty well shut down here.  I went out and filled the bird feeders this morning and took a few pictures.  If you click on them to enlarge them the ice will show up better.

It is supposed to warm up this afternoon and we should have warm weather here for awhile.  We are looking forward to some nicer weather.

Red River National Wildlife Refuge

I have been busy here this week and it is still cold and rainy most days, so I haven't taken many pictures yet.  I have been doing a variety of things here.  I walk about a half a mile to the boat ramp each morning and night to unlock and lock the gates along with other small tasks.  We took off Tuesday and Wednesday during the day to sight see and do laundry at the laundromat. Today we went to a Chinese buffet after Mass and then we had a meeting here at the refuge. Yesterday I was helping at the boat ramp, so here is a picture of the view from my "office" at sunset.

59th Birthday in Bossier City

We headed north to Bossier City on Thursday.  It was a fairly short drive, with a few icy looking bridges along the way.  We finally drove out of the last signs of snow about 30 miles from here.  They have a really nice office and visitors' center here at the Red River National Wildlife Refuge and our site next to it is great.  We have full hookups and the lake is right behind us.  The workers here are really nice.  I am still learning all of my opportunities here, I have been unlocking the boat ramp gates in the morning and locking them at night.  Friday I worked with their intern putting up signs.  Saturday I was assisting fishermen with the rules at the new boat ramp in the morning and worked on learning the ropes in the bookstore in the afternoon.  It is raining a lot here today, when the weather clears up, I will try to get some pictures to put on here.