Sunday, November 18, 2012 (Oxbow BLM Campground, Palo Verde, CA)

Late last night while Steve was still awake watching TV (I was asleep), the mouse trap snapped...however, when he finally got up to deal with it, the trap was empty.  The little fellow had escaped...back out the way he came in, I hope!  I was awake by this time; hearing Steve resetting the trap.

We had no sooner turned off the light and were settling down for a good night’s sleep when...snap!  This time, Steve had a mouse to deal with...so outside he went to dispose of “Mickey” and then reset the trap.  We both had a hellava time getting to sleep after all that...it must have been well after 1:00 a.m. by the time we got to sleep.

When I got up this morning, the first thing I did as I turned the coffee on was to check the trap...empty...good!  Steve has decided to also stuff some steel wool in the corner of the slider from inside...maybe that will stop the critters.

Today we are going to visit the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge.  After our usual start to the day, we headed out shortly after 11:00.  We went to the Visitors Center...which was closed...on a Sunday?  Apparently it's closed weekends...very odd. 

There are two trails at the Center...one is a short hiking trail; the other an auto tour...so we started with a walk on the Desert Trail (notice the yellow sign?  "Beware of Rattlesnakes")...

A nice little walk but nothing special...but a great view across the green fields to the rugged mountains...

Now it was time to take the auto tour...it is a big 'square' route through the farm fields...

You are not allowed to get out of your vehicle with the exception of a walk through this nature trail...which we did...

It took us to a waterfowl viewpoint...

Lots of varieties of Ducks, Snow Geese, and Canada Geese...

...and even a closeup of a three beautiful butterflies...

It was a lovely trail...a small oasis of trees.  Other than all of the geese and ducks at the viewpoint, we didn't see any other wildlife.

As we got back to the truck, 4 military helicopters flew over in formation...

We continued on the auto tour...there are a lot of these special homes (made out of drainage pipes) for Burrowing Owls...

...and we even saw some Burrowing Owls...they are quite small...

And we saw Sandhill Cranes...

...and a Blue Heron (this is for you, Angie!)...

On our way home, we stopped at a store in Cibola...this is a picture of a nice area beside the store...

Here are some campsites across the road from where we are...it's more like a small lake that they are on...

We relaxed for the rest of the afternoon...some canoer's paddled down the river...

...and then as the sun went down behind the trees and it cooled down, Steve brought out the 'Campfire in a Can'...a perfect way to end our short stay here...