Tuesday, March 15

STATEN ISLAND PRESERVE.

Day 155 – It started raining last night and rained through part of the morning. We did the rest of the laundry, then headed in to Lodi to Sprouts for some grocery shopping. We finished our chores, had lunch at the RV, and then headed out for some fun.

First, we’d gotten a call that the part Rob ordered for the RV steps had come in, much earlier than expected, so we headed back to Lodi and picked up the Controller for the automatic step. Then we drove to the Staten Island Preserve, a large tract of land managed by the Nature Conservancy. We were hoping to see a few Sandhill Cranes before they flew away for their northern migration.

“Staten Island is recognized nationally as an important site for wintering waterfowl and is unsurpassed in the Delta as wintering habitat for Greater and Lesser Sandhill Cranes.” This was copied from the sign near the entrance to the Preserve. In the winter and early spring they fill the farmlands with water for the birds. When the birds head out to return north, the water is drained and the regular crops are planted.

We drove through the Preserve at our normal snail’s pace and saw NOT a single Crane. We did see other things and those pictures follow. When we were back at the RV, we checked to see the migration flyway of the Sandhill Cranes, and depending when they left here, we may see them near the CA/OR border in a couple of weeks.

Rob replaced the old Controller with the new one and VOILA, the steps are working like new once again. That was a relief because if Mr. Fix-It’s controller replacement did not work, something more major probably would’ve needed to be done. The high today was 71 degrees, and by evening the clouds had cleared.