A Bit of Fun; A Lot of Work

Saturday, 31 March

This is how we each started the day …

Mui, with a bucket and a brush; me, with a walk on the Bluebell Trail.

After breakfast, Mui geared up to wash the coach while I headed off to enjoy the bluebells, which are at peak bloom.  Before you jump on my case for leaving Mui to do all the hard work, you should know that he prefers to not have me underfoot when he’s washing the Phaeton.  Besides, I did my share inside after I returned from my walk.

The FHU sites are doing brisk business here at BRRP.
(Most left later in the morning.)

Even though it was a brisk 46F (8C) when I left the Phaeton, all I needed was a light fleece for my fast-paced walk.  Once I got to the trail and saw the carpet of bluebells lining either side of the path, my pace slowed considerably, but I wasn’t cold at all.  And the best part — there was no one else on the trail.  I got to enjoy the small portion I walked in complete silence — just the birds chirping in the greening canopy and the squirrels scampering about on the ground.

Peeking up inside the bells!

The Virginia bluebells are also known as Virginia cowslip, Roanoke bells, lungwort, and oysterleaf.  They usually bloom around mid-April, bringing thousands of visitors to Bull Run Regional Park (BRRP).  The carpet of flowers certainly makes a spectacular visual feast, but there’s no way to really make the scene come alive with a picture, so I focused on the individual stalks of blooms instead.  I ended up taking around 100 pictures during my two-hour walk, but fear-not, I’m going to post just a few favorites.

From signage on the trail:

The blooming process starts with pink buds forming on the tips of the plants.  As the buds open, they change from pink to blue, going through an in-between stage that’s purplish.  It’s not uncommon to see all three colors at once on the same plant.  The blossoms bear a light, sweet scent.

Another bit of trivia from the signage on the trail:

Thomas Jefferson grew bluebells at Monticello, and 19th century garden writers sometimes called them “Jefferson’s blue funnel flowers.”

There were other things to entertain me on the trail as well; all worth a shutter click or two.

I can never resist a good reflection; or shelf mushrooms decorating the bark of a tree.

Eventually, I had to get off the trail.  There were chores awaiting and the morning was already half-over.  On the way back to the campground, other flowers in bloom caught my eye, slowing my progress, but I just couldn’t resist stopping to photograph them.

The dogwood (top left) is the only one I can identify.
mayapple (mandrake) on the bottom left; redbud blooms on the bottom right.
(thanks go to mBZ for the additional ID’s.)

At one of the occupied sites on the FHU loop, I just had to make another quick stop — this time to photograph squirrels playing 'ring around the tree.' They were statue still; unusual for these critters that seem to jump at even the smallest disturbance.

The squirrel on the left in the 2nd photo is the one whose tail is barely visible in the 1st photo.

When I finally made it home, Mui was almost done washing the rig.  His plan was to then use the 303 Aerospace Protectant and buff the Phaeton with his new rotary polisher.  He did the diamond shield on the front of the vehicle and decided to hold off using the polisher today.  Even though the sites adjacent to us were empty, and the sound didn’t carry far, he didn’t want to disturb anyone.  So, he’ll do the polishing later.  In the meantime a coat of wax and some elbow grease left the Phaeton with a mirror shine.

The polisher at work buffing the diamond shield!

If one ladder is too short, use the other one to get the job done!

While Mui was hard at work outside, I hooked up the iTouch to the Phaeton’s radio, cranked up the music to entertain myself, and went to work dusting and polishing and scrubbing and vacuuming and organizing the bedroom and bath areas.  I’ll tackle the living and kitchen areas tomorrow.

With chores done for the day, we headed to Reines RV to pick up a pair of windshield wipers.  They’re one of the few places in the area that carry products for Tiffin-made coaches.  At nearly $75 for a pair, these babies aren’t cheap, but safety first.  We feel better for having replaced them before this year’s vacation outing later this spring.

Replacing the windshield wipers is easy; the hit on the wallet ... not so much.

And thus concluded the second day of our season-opener at BRRP.  The electric heating element for our water heater is apparently on the fritz.  Luckily, we can use propane as an alternate means of heating the water.  Mui has already picked up a new element, so there’s a hint about what’s ahead for tomorrow.