Just No Place

Feb 13, 2010 by Naomi.

There is just no place like home. No doubt about it. I had a wonderful three weeks in sunny Oxnard, California. Well every day was not sunny. Some days were more than cloudy. They were wet. Like a steady rain wet. But not like some rainy places I’ve been. Montgomery, Alabama, for instance. Wooooeeee. Clouds there really knew how to rain one day. Couldn’t see the car across the parking lot from the store entrance. And just to be sure I would feel welcomed home, rain fell when I landed in Richland. I suspect it rained all night although I only stayed up to sort the mail that piled up while I was gone. I did not stay up to record rain data. I woke early and cuddled back into bed on Saturday. That’s a day to sleep in, right? Oh no not this Saturday. It was the second Saturday and that means a special day at McNary National Wildlife Refuge Education Center. Actually that was the reason I couldn’t stay longer in Oxnard. February 13 was the national bird count day. Forty folks came to view, count and verify fourteen bird species as well as the number of individual birds within each specie. Sounds like a heck of a job. Would have been tiresome and boring if it wasn’t so much fun. I mean really. And without goodies as rewards either. Parents had to drag their kids away after I locked the doors. On second Saturdays volunteers keep the Center open from 9am to noon and I am a stickler about those hours. If visitors come at ten minutes to closing they get ten minutes in the building. No more. Just like a bank or any business. I had stuff at home to do. Even with the clouds I was in the front yard cutting off the old plant growth so the fresh green shoots will look their best. My neighbor brought over several packages of frozen hash brown potatoes because she saw me outside. She works at Lamb Weston and brings potatoes home. I don’t know when I will get them eaten. If I’m smart (and that’s never been proven) I will ration them to keep a trim waistline. And there are weeds to take and leaves to rake and rugs to shake. There is just no place like home.

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