Another 3:30AM morning. At least it was much nicer out there today. I stayed out in the field until 11AM today. I decided that that was enough. I saw six birds today. Three hens appeared in the field in back of me during the morning. They were all hens, I am sure, and I was unable to interest them in my calling anyway. I think I saw a Tom down near Hwy 57 again. He was way to far away, and I was unable to interest him in my calls either. I guess I was just not sexy enough.

Then on my way out, I scared two hens who were foraging in a grassy area between my stand and the road. They took off like a shot.

It was really a beautiful day with sunshine and no rain at all. A lovely little brown wren came to see me later in the morning. He flitted in between me and my blind and just explored and chattered for a while. If he saw me, I did not frighten him. I made a point of sitting very still so as not to frighten him as he was just adorable.

When Bart was a little boy, he got a stuffed yellow bunny for Easter. That bunny became his "security blanket". Bunny was special though. He eventually became gray and shapeless and smelly. I noticed that sometimes when he would set Bunny down and there were other little people around, they would pick Bunny up and hold him until Bart came back to get him.

Finally, we went out to the Borrego Dessert on a jeep run. We belonged, as a family, to a club the went out to play in the desert at least once a month. We stopped just before going off road to the camp area to gather together, and then headed into camp.

When we got to camp, we realized that bunny was missing. Tragedy!!! I was trying to convince Bart that another stuffed animal would work when a couple of the older kids who had gone out on mini bikes as soon as we hit camp, radioed that they had found Bunny. Joy reigned. We waited eagerly for them to return. As they pulled into camp, Donnie reached in back of her minibike to give Bunny to Bart. Tragedy again!! Bunny had been resting on the tailpipe and was on fire. We made a decision to bury Bunny out there in the Borrego Badlands and move on with our lives.

One side note. A year later we were discussing going back to the Badlands and Bart said that perhaps we could dig Bunny up. He was a loyal little soul and has not changed much.

Love

Mary