May 24 another rainy day in Alabany

Still waiting for repairs on our coach... we did receive some good news today. The adjuster showed up early this morning, it pays to throw a fit every now and then, and the transmission company is in the process of rebuilding our transmission rather than waiting on the insurance to suggest a factory rebuilt. Should only cost $1500 - $2000 rather than the full $6,500. Maybe we'll get out of here early in the morning.

Bethlehem is the town we're currently located in, which consists of the Hamlets of Delmar, Elsmere, Glenmont, Selkirk, Slingerlands, North and south Bethlehem.

Since we can't do anything else, we did some exploration. We found a few city parks to check out in the rain. 1st, Elm Ave Town Park, the largest park has ball fields, picnic areas, 3 swimming pools and 2 splash islands. in addition to Robins and Starlings, we found Hairy woodpecker and Song Sparrow.

We followed brown binocular signs signifying wildlife viewing to Hollyhock Hollow Audubon Sanctuary.

http://www.auduboninternational.org/hollyhock-hollow-sanctuary

The former estate of a local university professor,  the sanctuary consists of 140 acres located along
Onesquethat Creek, where we found 3 Mallard. Pretty sure they're not domestic park ducks. Would have been a great place to walk except for the rain. I managed to pish up a Wilson's Warbler, Chipping Sparrow, and 3 other UFO's . 

The butterfly garden was magnificent, sunshine would probably produce miracles. 

We had real Chinese carry-out for lunch from a little shop called West Wok, Spicy Shrimp and Moo Goo Chicken with fired rice and egg rolls. Check that one off the bucket list. 

Learning lots of New York geographic terms:

             Norman's Kill - Norman - Dutch for Norwegian

                                 Kill - Dutch word for creek

             Vly Creek  - Vly - Dutch word for swamp