I woke up early on Saturday, and looked out the windows. The morning light was gorgeous...

Late Saturday afternoon I drove out to Datil and met Anne. We went to the Datil Halloween Party at the elementary school. I had something I had never eaten before, and don't know if I will ever eat it again. It is called Posole - a stew or soup made of hominy, with chicken, beef and/or pork, and seasoning. When I first asked for it, I received a bowl with basically no color. Anne had gotten some also, and hers had something reddish on it. So I asked for some but not TOO much, figuring that it was a hot sauce. It was!!!! I could hardly eat mine, and didn't know how Anne could eat hers as she had three times more red sauce than I did. But I finished it, hearing my mother saying, "Clean your plate. Remember the starving Armenians!"

We played easy Bingo, and I actually won some potpourri. They had a cake walk, where you play musical chairs, all of which have numbers on them. 50's music was played, and then when stopped, you sat down where you were. I won a cake! It was a store bought cake, marble, with orange frosting in a Halloween design. I left that area of the gym, found a family, and gave it to them. There were games for kids, a haunted house, costume contests for all ages, and pumpkin carving contests. It was a fun time.

I drove back to Lemitar, under a starry sky and a tiny sliver of moon. When I got back to the house, and got out of Matilda, I couldn't believe my eyes. It seemed like I could reach up and touch the Milky Way. It was beautiful.

Sunday, after spending some time on my William Project, I drove down to the Bosque Refuge, to see what had changed. I had decided to go there later than usual to watch the birds come back to the fields where they settle at night.

There were big changes. Basically there were no birds at the Lagoon, except for some ducks. But as I drove around, those fields being flooded were getting more and more full of water and birds.

Snow Geese had increased in their numbers. They were constantly lifting off, and then flying somewhere, and then coming back in.

Leaving that area, and following my usual route, I noticed that the colors were getting more muted and tending towards a deeper gold. But then, there would be a line of aspens which had been kissed by Mother Nature, and were bright as the sun. Sadly all this beauty will eventually be gone, and the trees bare, but it is a delight to enjoy it now.

I kept wondering where the cranes were. They seemed to have disappeared. And then I spotted a group in a field, eating away and talking to one another. Then more and more appeared in fields on what is called the Farm Route Tour...

Further on I could see and hear the cranes communicating with one another. Their call is very distinctive. There were cranes up on a service road and others in the field, and quite of lot of talking was going on between the two groups.

As I was watching the antics of the cranes, I heard distant crane calls and looking up I spotted a flock of cranes coming in to the fields...

The deep blue sky was filled with Sand Hill crane calls, as groups of cranes kept flying into the fields, not hundreds but anywhere from a few to a few dozen. I was rapt standing there watching this gathering occur...

Sand Hill cranes seem to be fairly independent and although large numbers of them gather in the same fields they don't "hang" together in a big group, as do the Snow Geese and the ducks. The cranes just wander the fields eating all the time, in small groups. I hadn't seen so many cranes together as I did this day...

The sun was getting lower and I wanted to get over to the Flight Deck to watch the birds coming in for the night, including the cranes. I noticed that the Snow Geese were lifting off in large groups and I stopped the car and got out trying to get a picture of this...

This area is the same area where I was headed, only further away from the Flight Deck. This field is still being filled, and as it is, more and more birds are staying there.

As I walked up the ramp to the deck, I could hear sucking sounds, and burbling noises, and squabbling. I went over to one side, and saw the cause of all these noises...dozens and dozens of Pintail ducks having their dinner...

Follow the leader...Can you spot the male?

How many ducks can you see?

A Sand Hill crane started calling and it seemed like he was warning all his fellow neighbors of a presence. I looked over at the trees and sure enough, there was our resident coyote sneaking around. Suddenly there was a whoosh, and all the ducks I had been watching, lifted up and flew to a safer area...

The coyote disappeared into the brush, and all was back to normal. Snow geese, Sand Hill cranes, and lots and lots of ducks gathered together for the night...

I stopped taking pictures, and along with about a dozen others, watched as the sun was setting, the cranes flying in from the fields where they had been gorging themselves. The Snow Geese pretty much had settled together where I had first seen them, but there was a smattering of them with the cranes. It was a beautiful sight. The eastern mountains were changing to various shades of pinks, as the sun went over the western mountains...

I said goodbye to the people I had been talking with, from Iowa! There are no coincidences. And they were from Hubbard which is near Webster City, which is near Fort Dodge. They were in a small RV and had been in Albuquerque, and had come down to the Bosque for a couple of days.

The Festival of the Cranes is November 15-20th. I noticed several new things happening because of this event - porta-pottys were placed near all the viewing areas. A viewing area which had been under construction was nearly finished. And of course, more and more birds are flying in every day from the north. Someone told me that there had been a golden eagle spotted twice. Apparently there has been no golden eagles in the Bosque for a long time. Also someone had spotted a teenage Bald Eagle.

As I drove out of the Bosque, the eastern sky was a stripe of pink, with a blue stripe under it, and then the mountains. Each time I looked to the east, the blue stripe became larger and larger. To the west, the sky was golden.

Life is good.

A hui hou,
I love you all,
Sally

By the way, I had no trick or treaters last night. There are no children close by, and if I were a parent there is no way I would let them walk on the road - too narrow and cars don't abide by the speed limit!