Des Peres Park, St.Louis

I was reminded yesterday by a faithful reader of this blog that I had not posted anything on this site since April 10.  A thousand pardons to all my readers!  However, we have been quite busy, I think even busier than when we were on the road!  And the weather has been a bit disruptive to some of our activities.  The second night after we had arrived in St.Louis we spent in my sister Julia and her husband's basement waiting out an ominous spring storm which was accompanied with tornado warnings.  A tornado did touch down in a municipality near us in Hazelwood.  We made a trip to Farmington a week later, and then received a call from the authorities at the campground where our rig was parked.  The message was that it was necessary to move our home because there was a chance that the levy near the park could possibly be breached by the rising Mississippi River.  We are now located in St.Charles, Missouri, and as yet the the Missouri River has not proven to be a threat to our home.
Our dental and medical visits turned out to be more numerous than planned, which has also demanded more of our time.  Thankfully some of those issues are now being resolved.  Our daughter Melissa came in for one week-end to assist with her cousin's shower.  It was good seeing her again, as well as two other sisters from out of town.  A couple of funerals also made for more unexpected social activities, and a visit from my brother Marcus who resides in Ohio.   However, it has all been to the good, and catching up with family and friends is important for us.  Through all the unexpected twists and turns of our lives God has been gracious.

John and I have always enjoyed our visits to Des Peres Park.  Our first visit to it was about twenty years ago when our son Daniel played in its soccer fields.  The park went through a lot of changes after that and was not the pretty park which it is presently.  We were surprised this time, also, to see guinea hens running running all over its grounds.  I believe they were present in the past, but kept locked up in a cage.  In the park there is an interpretive sign explaining their presence in the park.  The sign said that the hens are "very noisy birds which look like AWOL army helmets as they run across the yard". 

The sign went on to say that the birds are good for controlling Lyme Disease-bearing deer ticks.  They eat lots of small bugs, including bees and yellow jackets.  Interestingly enough, if kept penned where they can view their surroundings, when released they will not stray from their home.