Hargrove Annual Report for the Year: 1997

Snail Mail:    6100 Bend of River
                    Austin, TX 78746-7201
Phone:           (512) 327-5611               FAX:       (512) 367-4878

We had another fine year, one that included more traveling than usual. Hope you had a good year as well. Notice that this year’s letter is coming out a tiny bit later than last year. If we keep up this trend long enough, we may skip 2020 altogether. It sure is easier to handle the letter after all the hubbub of Christmas is over.

March, 1997: Guatemala (with Victor Emanuel Nature Tour)

It isn’t easy to get to Sierra de las Minas. We flew to Tapachula, in Chiapas, where Linda snapped a picture of her intrepid explorer. [Photo] Then, we took a tour bus to Guatemala City and then about two hours more to the village of San Augustine, where we waited a few hours for the four-wheel drive trucks. That’s not a long wait in Central America. When they finally arrived, we spent three hours on a backbreaking “road” to get to a hacienda with all the comforts of home except running water and electricity at night. The next day, we hiked the final six kilometers to the top, climbing one kilometer in altitude at the same time. At the top, about 8000 feet, we had a magnificent view of a male Resplendent Quetzal, one of the most spectacular birds in the world. As a bonus, we got to watch a Horned Guan for over an hour. The Horned Guan is one of the rarest, shyest, and silliest looking birds in the world: The size of a small turkey, it has feathers on its beak and a ridiculous knob on top of its head.

Heading back into Guatemala City on Good Friday, we stopped for the traditional Easter procession. Armies of men, and women, carried huge floats. The largest float was a full city block long, but most were only half that size. They were so tall that some attendants carried long poles to move the electric wires out of the way. We watched fascinated as the armies of small brown people carried huge statues of patrician, European-looking Marias. A few floats also had statues of Jesus.

April-November, 1997: All over

We behaved as empty nesters finally comfortable with their status. First, we grabbed our last chance to visit Dodge and Lorna Engleman, whom we met in New Guinea, in Panama before they moved to the United States. We spent a hectic three days trying to see all the wildlife in Panama. Highlights: a 3-toed Sloth [photo], 2-toed sloth, monkeys, and a kinkajoo, as well as about 300 species of birds.

We were blessed with a spectacular, wet spring that gave us the best wildflower show in years. Charles visited in May and accompanied us to Utopia, Texas, for a long weekend, taking advantage of aunt Mary Larue’s hospitality once more.

For the Fourth of July, we dashed out to Santa Fe to visit Jim’s sister and brother-in-law, Flo and Hugh, and see their new house. We did some birding, some shopping, and some restaurant hopping. That seemed to be a theme of the year, come to think of it.

Late July found us in Maine. We took a quick trip to Seal Island to check on the progress of a Puffin project sponsored by the National Audubon Society. We thought that one of the nesting birds on the island, Leach’s Storm-Petrel would have to go on our “smelled only” list. However, a helping hand coaxed the bird out of the burrow for a better look. [Photo] Then we got the royal treatment courtesy of an old family friend. Stayed at an old house on Mount Desert Island with a lovely view of an old bridge.

Labor Day weekend found us in Seattle, where we met Michael Carmody of Legacy Tours. He took Jim, Linda, and Leslie (Linda’s Sister) into the Cascades in a great, cold, and wet, hike into the woods looking for Ptarmigans. They eluded us as they have in the past, but we did see Blue Grouse, Ruffed Grouse, and Chuckars. Hoary Marmots, rodents that look like a squirrel on steroids, screamed at us from a rock right beside the road. Then it was back to Seattle for Lisa Rosenberg’s wedding, the original reason for the trip.

Thanksgiving found us and Claire lounging around Port Aransas until all hours of the morning. Football was forgotten as we dragged Claire out to see the Whooping Cranes. We saw 39 Cranes from the boat, a fantastic sight. Just 20 years ago, we were thrilled to see 8 or so on the same trip. There are now more than 180 birds in the wintering flock. Using the new Great Texas Birding Trail, we saw beautiful waterfowl and soft-shelled turtles.

Finally, we convinced Charles, Claire, and Leslie to join us on a trip to Oaxaca.

January 1, 1998: A small village in the mountains, Oaxaca, Mexico

It wasn’t supposed to be cold. We weren’t prepared, and shivered in the cold wind that blew down the slopes. The sun was just a memory. Even Michael Carmody, again our guide, had put on a jacket. A Oaxaqueño approached carrying a bunch of roses in one hand and shears in the other. Even he wore a jacket. After a round of como esta and feliz año nuevo we admitted that we came from the Estados Unidos and that we were looking for birds. Charles volunteered Somos locos. Our new friend, Daniel, invited us to have hot chocolate in his house. Michael frowned, but the three of us agreed with alacrity. Once inside the house, Michael accepted a bowl of chocolate and grabbed a place by the fire.

Our host introduced us to everyone in the family, then pulled out an ancient Panasonic Video Camera and, not aware of the family dynamics involved, asked Charles if he could fix it. Charles examined it carefully, with Jim peering over his shoulder, and pronounced it unfixable. Jim nodded sagely. After a round of photographs, we left them to celebrate the New Year and turned our attention to important matters: finding some rare birds. Ifni, the god of birding and blind luck, rewarded us. About fifty feet from the adobe house was a small orchard that harbored two “lifers” and several more good birds. Then we drove our sturdy Suburban even farther up the mountain in a successful search for Dwarf Jays and Gray-banded Wrens.

Linda still loves her job as a nurse practitioner for two family practice docs in south Austin. She has adapted to life with Jim at home and herself as the sole breadwinner, mentioning her new status only sporadically now. Her routine begins with a pre-dawn aerobics class, followed by a gourmet breakfast featuring fake eggs, grapefruit juice, and a cappuccino with skim milk. Jim calls her Linda Coffee Cup Seed: Travel mugs usually don’t make round trips.

Jim, downsized once again after only three months on the job, complained, “I didn’t even have time to screw up!” So, this year he really did retire, or as he puts it, “I went from unemployed programmer to unpublished author in one day!” Now he spends his days watching the stock market and working on his magnum opus about programming, birding, sex, and violence. He’s trying to figure out how to work a bridge tournament into the plot. He did manage to do a small bit of consulting just to stay on top of things. His tennis game is improving.

Charles continues to live in California, ignoring many hints that the Austin job market is tight, full of computer game companies, etc. He is proving to be a true scion of the family by taking up cooking on a grand scale. One of his specialities is chicken with 40 cloves of garlic, a dish even Jim, ailliophile extraordinaire, has never attempted. He has taken to touring the wine country north of San Rafael and still finds time for fencing. He remembered how birding worked during the trip to Oaxaca, and proved that younger eyes are a distinct advantage.

Claire complains that she has to study all the time in medical school. She took advantage of her last long vacation for several years to backpack her way around Yucatan, Belize, Guatemala, and Chiapas. Accustomed to negotiating the room rate at various locations, she acquired some formidable bargaining skills. When we finally got to the main task of our visit to Oaxaca, purchasing whimsically painted wooden animals, she showed us just how the job was done. One of the artisans complained privately to our guide that we were “too tough.” Claire contented herself with a couple of full days of birding, catching a few naps while we searched for some rarity. “It’s the pace,” she explained, “I can’t walk that slow.”

Commensals: No major changes to report concerning the animals that live with us. The raccoons have quit coming in through the pet door so long as we provide enough food outside. The cats have adapted to Jim’s stay-at-home lifestyle by climbing into his lap at unpredictable times. Most of the time, this is innocuous, but when Queenie climbs into your lap, your lap disappears! The vet recommends Diet instead of  Adult Lite food for the regal one.

Hope you have all had a happy holiday season. Thanks for waiting patiently for this annual letter. Come visit us in Austin!