We got up a little earlier than yesterday. I made instant coffee to go and J started a mug of tea steeping. We packed up our computers and left in the Jeep around 6:50 with me driving one-handed. (You may read about my sprained right thumb on the blog entry for May 22, 2010.)

I had Clif Bars for breakfast while driving.

We drove to the Swift Fox den we discovered yesterday in the Pawnee National Grassland. A fox was out by the den resting in the tall grass (left). After a while, it slinked down into its den and we waited for it to come back out. After an hour or so without seeing the fox, we drove to the top of the nearby hill to look. The other fox was out on the ridge, but it was an adult and we were particularly interested in photographing kits. We went back by the near den, and the fox still wasn't out so we left.
We drove around looking for another active Swift Fox den and stopped to photograph some birds along the way: Lark Bunting, Horned Lark, Meadowlark, and Eastern Kingbird (left).
We found another Swift Fox by its den, and there was less tall grass around it which would make it better for photography. It was resting when we found it (left), and it didn't mind us photographing from the Jeep on the road. However, when we tried to get closer, it ran away, then paused to watch us. Because it was further away than when we found it, we just let it go.
We went to the Post Office in Briggsdale to pick up our mail, then ...

We went to Gray's Café in Ault for lunch around 12:20. I ordered a Bacon Cheeseburger and J ordered a BLT, then we went online through their fast WiFi signal. I looked for another place to get an iPad, and ordering one through MacMall or MacConnection would let my mother get one faster than through the Apple Store. After I ate the tasty burger with a huge pile of fries, I called MacMall and ordered a 64GB Apple iPad 3G and AppleCare for my mother. Then I called Apple to cancel the order I had placed through them and I started a blog entry while on hold. After I cancelled the order, I worked on the blog entry some more. We left after they closed at 2:00 because we were enjoying the fast WiFi connection and the staff was mostly cleaning up in the kitchen.

We loaded up the Jeep in Ault at $2.619/gal — not bad for being out in the boonies.

We stopped in Nunn to photograph some baby Blacktail Prairie Dogs right along US-85 by the grain elevator. The prairie dogs mostly disappeared into their burrows when we pulled up in the Jeep, but one youngster stayed out (left). We waited and moved to different burrows, but weren't able to get any better images. Shortly before we left, a car pulled up right behind us. We left and drove off the main highway to put our camera gear away, and the car followed us and pulled in right behind us again. A woman, probably part of the neighborhood watch, got out and approached us. She said she had gotten a call that we were driving around taking picture of people's front yards, and she wanted to check with us before calling the police — OK. She asked if our 500 f4s were telescopes and if we were taking pictures of people — they weren't and we weren't. Our answers satisfied her, and she and her "deputy" left in their car. The moral is, don't take any wildlife photographs in Nunn — the busybodies will come out and harass you. :)
We returned to the RV and I finished the blog entry. I downloaded the images I took today then downselected them. J installed Photoshop CS5, and it runs noticeably faster than CS3. :)

We had dinner around 6:15 of leftover pasta and fresh corn on the cob — mmm.

We left around 7:10.

We went to the first fox den we found, and there wasn't a fox by it. We waited a bit then drove up the hill to look around. Both foxes were out on the ridge, and we decided to walk out to them. We drove back down the hill, set up, and headed out. We got fairly close before they got spooked and ran off. :(

We returned to the RV. I had some Asbach Uralt, my usual amount, while doing some computer work.