Cat Island , St Catherines Creek and Bayou Cocodrie NWR

As we all know that right now that the Mississippi River is a little high right now. Only a little over 50 feet above normal and this picture is on the road leading up to the Cat Island Refuge. Only thing is the Refuge is about four miles from where this picture was taken and it's under about 30 feet of water , yes the entire refuge.

The Egrets love it just the same.

One of the projects we were shown was to see about a little repair of this bridge on one of the walking trails.

So after removing the dead fall and all the leaves we determined that there is just no way to do a simple repair. Total replacement is the key here.

Our resident Armadillo is just so cute and the cats just love watching it as it moves around the RV. 

This is the house on the Refuge where the washer and dryer is. As most of the area here at St Catherine is flooded the Black Face vultures have picked this area as their new roost area. 

They were not happy when we drove up the drive.

At a quick guess we figured there were about two hundred. I just couldn't get them all in one shot.

After a little bit they started to settle back down in all the trees around the house.

There is Spanish moss in most of the trees here.

It's just beautiful , when the sun shines through it, it looks like tinsel in the trees.

Our little visitor again.

The moon coming up.

This is home for the next three months. It's a little weird being under the canopy , but it keeps the acorns from falling onto our roof. It does however also kill our cell phone signal. Verizon is not very good in the area to start out with and the canopy doesn't help.

We have so many birds here and it keeps the kitty's very busy.

Yes, they are in pairs.

The Snow Geese are moving through Bayou Cocodrie  right now.

Hard at work .

One of my favorite places

Well we had a relatively good trip from the Outer Banks to Mississippi. Only a few minor problems. The usual stuff after sitting on the ocean for 6 months. Salt and sand do raise some heck with the nuts and bolts and electrical goods but all were overcome and we made good time into Vicksburg where we like to rest for a little. The Vicksburg Battle field is one of my favorite places.

My most favorite place on the NPS unit is the Cairo.

The huge tent they have placed over her is just amazing.

This Ironclad is over two hundred feet long and is 60 feet wide .

The ship sank so fast that all the personnel belongings were still on her when they raised it. The ships bell was still in it's mount.

So many artifacts .

To stand on her deck and look out the gun ports gives me a chill each time I do it.

When you look at this side of her you can see the huge hole that the torpedo torn in her and the reason she sank so fast . The good part was her whole crew was rescued .

One of the massive steam pistons that powered her giant paddle wheel.

A section of boilers that powered the giant paddle wheel . Each boiler consumed 1 ton of coal per hour.

A look up through the pilot house. Not much protection for the pilot.

Part of the winch that would raise the anchors.

Railroad track that was used to bolster the front plating of the bow.

The steam piston on the other side of the paddle wheel.

The two rudders that were used to steer the Cairo. what was neat about her design was that the water that came off the back of the paddle was channeled through a system to flush the toilets on board that were located just behind it.

And of course the Texas Monument.

Snow on Pea Island , 2016 already

We awoke this morning to 29 degrees and a wind out of the NW at 17mph with gusts to over 30 mph. Not to say but just a little cool as last week we hit 80 here. The pic is a little blurred as the snow and sand was blowing in the RV's door as I took it.

So we went to open the VC at Pea Island this fine day and we had been warned that the road in the refuge , Carolina 12 had many icy spots and to be careful. Well nature had taken care of that as the wind gusted it not only blew the snow all over the road but was still putting down a really nice layer of beach sand also. No problem with traction on the road at all. So when I was setting up the scopes I saw that our bird watering system looked so cool with the ice hanging off of it. No birds to be seen any where or visitors.

The snow starting to build up on the VC ramp.

As I took this shot it's not fog but snow blowing side ways over the pond behind the VC.

When the weather was still nice here we had a visitor working the RV pads .We think it's a Kestrel and it has been hunting our area now for several days . Of course it just loves sitting on our dish because it is one of the highest spots here and the cats are just loving it.

Just hanging out and waiting for some movement on the ground . We have seen the dives and a hit or too on the little critters in the short grass all around us.