Summertime! 22 May 2003 Well, summer has hit the Gila. About time too, this Southern California girl was cold!! We've had warm weather for a few weeks now. It's much more comfortable, bordering on hot. Being 8000ft closer to the sun makes more difference that you'd think. It makes us watch the water supply a bit more closely since we're drinking a lot of water, and wanting to take more showers. I went for a great bike ride yesterday along some of the cow trails and running trails (for the fire camp down the road). It was a nice 40 minutes out of camp, and it sure felt good not to be sitting down at the computer for a while. Surprisingly, it's also been raining a bit. The afternoon drizzle cools things off and settles the dust a bit. Despite the few raindrops we've had, there is a fire ban for the entire forest beginning tomorrow morning at 8am. So of course, we've been having big campfires the last few nights. It's not nearly as dry as it was last year, but I guess with the combination of last year's drought and the somewhat dry conditions of this year, the Forest Service isn't taking any chances. Good thing too, in listening to the Forest Service radio I've heard several conversations between lookouts and dispatch discussing smokes and possible fires. Not to worry though, nothing is close to us yet. Nothing at all like last year's fires (one of which ended up burning 4 miles from our camp). The owls seem to have realized that it's warming up too, we've found our first set of owlets! And we're up to 14 nests - a project record! :) Behavior outings have become more exciting since we're all desperately straining our ears for owlet calls or our eyes for the slightest bit of owlet fluff in the nests. I swear I heard two owlets calling the other day, but couldn't see anything except for a very protective mom spread out over her nest. We're working on a new experiment to try on the owls too. Today was the first trial of our playback experiment. Basically, we're simulating the sound of a jet at close range (although we're not nearly as loud as the real jets) and videotaping the owls' reactions. It is giving us something else to test since we've been having trouble getting the jets to fly where we want them to, if at all. I had a great view of the lunar eclipse last week. It's great being out here without the city lights. I took both my cameras out to see what I could see. Hopefully I won't end up with two rolls of black pictures. :) My digital camera did ok, but without a big zoom, was only useable when the moon was still low. The critters and flowers are out and about as well. Lots of little fuzzy caterpillars around camp. They looks innocent enough, but I had one crawl up my leg inside my pants (ewwww!) and it turns out that their bristles cause you to break out in a rash. So I had a very itchy leg for about a week. Camp is also full of birds. I have a robin's nest in the tree by my tent. I noticed it a few weeks ago when I saw a small blue egg on the ground near my hammock. Thinking I had dropped some Easter candy over there, I went to investigate and discovered the egg with a small hole in the side. I was planning on picking it up later, once it had a chance to dry out a bit, but it has since disappeared. Mama robin is still in her nest though so soon I'm sure I'll be hearing little robins every morning. I was able to take a day and drive to Show Low, AZ (about a 3 hour drive) to pick up some mice. It was nice to get out of camp, but most of the day was driving. I did get to drive through Alpine, AZ which is home to the Lollipop Shoppe - world's best chocolates and ice cream. :) Yum! Robert (one of our camp managers, or babysitter if you will) always asks for 1 pound of fudge if anyone is going through Alpine. The best part about getting fudge for Robert is that the Lollipop Shoppe gives you ¼ pound free when you buy 1 pound. :) And their ice cream is so good. So, I had a nice little break sitting in the parking lot eating my ice cream listening to the mice squeak and fight in the back seat. For those of you in San Diego, I'll be home on Saturday!! I'll be in town for a week and will leave early on June 2nd. Nothing too specific planned - 3 showers a day, sleeping till noon (well, maybe not), and lots of my favorite foods. I'll be at the Ould Sod on Wednesday night if anyone would care to join me for a Guinness. Otherwise, give me a call at home or on my cell. See you all soon! Love and sunshine, Stef ;) top of page letters from camp