I Still Hate Solo Days

Late last night Steve asked if he could have the day off.  I tried to talk him out of it, but he insisted he needed a day away from the beaches.  I really hate doing them by myself.  It takes so long, and after all the heat and sun exposure, I always feel like I need the next day off.  To make me feel better, he promised he'd do some serious chores, so, of course, I gave in.

I was up at 5, cooked up a large breakfast, and loaded the Mule up for a long day.  I packed all of my accessories - the nice camera, binoculars, snacks, big water jug, towel, my Five Fingers, and my iPod.  Soon, I was on the road, dodging large branches and deep puddles.  I decided to work North Beach first, assuming I'd be done early enough to avoid the flooding tidal creek on the north end.  As I drove north, I checked on the nests.  NB2, the nest that emerged yesterday, didn't have any more activity.  I found my first of three crawls on the north side of the tidal creek.  It had to be relocated, as did the other two.  The first crawl was in an area of dense, dead wax myrtles.  There was no evidence of a body pit, just tracks, and a mess in the sticks and sea wrack.  I guessed there was a nest, so I probed around.  I quickly found the nest, and got to work.  The next two nests were close together, at the north end of the dead myrtles, a very common spot.  These nests were added to Sea Turtle Row.  After I finished relocating the nests, I finished my patrol and headed back to check the remainder of the nests.  It turns out that NB4 had an emergence, though I only counted 4 or 5 crawls, and only 3 making it to the water.  I wonder if we missed it before, or if tonight will be a big emergence.  Only time will tell.

On North Middle Beach, I loaded up the bicycle with enough supplies to replace the screens we used yesterday.  I tried to ride the bike, but with the high spring tide, the sand was too soft, and I frustratingly had to walk most of the beach.  I found three false crawls, all on the north end.  After I dropped the supplies off at our spot, I was able to ride a little bit.  By the time I reached the Mule again, it was nearly 11:00, and very hot.  I hid under the shade of the Mule, completed my data entry, and rested with a lot of water and some snacks.  Once I was recharged, I hit the south end.  South Beach didn't have any activity, South Middle had only a false crawl, but I did have screens to remove, some much more difficult than others.  After this long, hot day, I finally arrived home around 2:45.

As I pulled up to the house, I saw a red-faced Steve pushing the lawn mower around.  He spent hours clearing the tall grass from around the property - a must to too keep the bugs down.  He received help from Codey, who cleaned off the roof.  It had a foot deep layer of tree litter, which is obviously bad for the roof.  Steve also cut up the screens Mark delivered yesterday, hopefully they're enough to finish out the season.  Steve also gave himself an overdue trim.  Shortly after our showers, we realized that the looming storms were nearly upon us so we raced to the houses to feed the multitude of animals.  Then we packed up some food and headed to Andy's to visit the cats.  They're both so sweet.  We're glad to have them around, though some days it just makes us miss our cats more.  Meeka, we're half way there...