A Time for Birds

When Gerri & I lived in our sticks and bricks home, we managed to have our backyard certified as a National Wildlife Habitat. We had many bird feeders out and attracted a wide array of birds. Naturally, we brought that passion for birding with us into this lifestyle. We brought with us a bird feeding system we purchased from Wild Birds Unlimited, www.wbu.com . The site we are in has a lot of birds around so we set up our pole system, put the feeders out, and they started coming.

 
Today we decided to sit out and watch the birds eat and play in the area. You may think we are nuts, but we truly enjoy watching and feeding the birds. As Linda Payne said to Gerri today, “it just doesn’t get any better.” So we saw the Titmouse, Cardinal, Bluebird, Purple Finch, Chickadee, and a Red-bellied Woodpecker and others. Not only did I enjoy a great day with Gerri, but we had a beautiful day on the patio and saw some beautiful birds.
Life is Good and I am so lucky to be able to share it with my best friend who is also my wife. As I write this outside under a sky full of stars tonight, we are surrounded by the sounds of tree frogs, crickets and bull-frogs. Maybe it doesn’t get any better!!!
As we travel, it is our hope to see many birds in this lifestyle that we have never seen before.
We want to thank each of you who choose to take your time and read about our experiences and journeys. You are very kind and we very much appreciate getting to know you through your comments and your journeys. Take care and safe travels!

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Birds Around Our Campground Feeder

None of these birds are new to us, but it is a joy for us to have them join us in the campground. We put up a feeder and they are coming to eat and we are enjoying their company. May not seem like much, but they are really neat.

I found this Cardinal at a step in the campground, he's really bright red.

Be Still ……

Tonight was such a good night; I just wanted to share it. The campground is nearly empty and the weather was incredible. Gerri & I decided to just sit out under the stars and enjoy. We talked for a while and then we just sat and listened. We heard the gentle breeze and felt its freshness against our faces. We listened to the crickets and tree frogs in the not so distance. We could still here a few birds chirping in the trees……does it really get much better. There were a few clouds in the sky, but for the most part the sky was clear and the stars abundant.

I thought about the verse that says to “be still and know that I am God” and I thought wow! So many times we get so busy or always on the go somewhere, even in this lifestyle that we forget to be still and listen. My words cannot express the peace and relaxation that filled us this evening.

How incredibly blessed we are to have this opportunity to experience evenings like this. I hope we always keep our perspective and hearts set on this type of lifestyle, and not get so busy that we do not stop and listen and know!

Take care, be still and know……

Life is Good!

A Busy Day but A Mellow Night

Today Mike and I were in the mood for some good barbecue. There is a really great place downtown Pine Mountain called Three Little Pigs.

They smoke their pork next to their restaurant and when you drive up, you really get that great hickory/barbecue smell. The meat is pulled with no sauce added to it, but you can order whatever type sauce you want to pour over it when you order. You get about half a pound of pulled pork with your sandwich along with chips and slaw for $5.25. There is not a lot of inside seating space, but you can eat outside at picnic tables if you choose. As you can see, the sandwich is loaded with pork.

 

We were not planning on staying as long as we have here but some things came up that we felt like we needed to extend our stay. Since we had not planned this, jello happens, we decided to move to a shady area off the beaten path in the campground. As the season gets more into May, it’s getting hotter, so the shade will be nice. We could not get the motorhome level and finally called Newmar Tech to get some ideas. It seems the back airbags would not let the air out enough and our front end had to be raised too high to make it level. So we got some wood planks we had made to put under the tires and put them in the front to build up the front end to be more level. The Newmar tech said it sounded like the shutter release valve may not be working or could be clogged. So we are going to try a couple of things this weekend and if that doesn’t work we will order the valve and have it put on so the air bags in the rear can release all the air to level. Glad we found this out before we were in the middle of nowhere and were fair game for a repair service.

Well by the time we were all set up, we were exhausted…… maybe we’re getting older or out of shape??? Anyway Mike built a good fire and we just melted away in front of the fire. By the time the fire was just flickering, I think we were about out too. It was good to be mesmerized by the fire and ambers in the fire.

All is well and Life is Good !

What the winds blew in

We have certainly had our share of the ugly weather lately. The worse part seemed to be behind us as the front moved through the area Saturday evening late and then on into Sunday morning. What it left behind were the awful winds. Gusts that traveled somewhere between 30 to 40 mph. In a sticks and bricks, this wouldn’t be a big deal, but in an RV, the sound is horrible. You just have to wonder what in the world is being destroyed on the roof??? Earlier this month we moved the motorhome to this beautiful spot in the new section of Pine Mountain RV Resort. Everybody “claims” this is the best spot in the campground with the best view, BUT what they didn’t tell us or didn’t know is, that it sits up a little on a rise and therefore the winds are just a little worse here. We haven’t been able to put our awning out more than a few hours at a time since we have been here. A couple of times we have had to chase our trash can as it blew across the campground spreading our contents everywhere. The wind has politely folded up our lounge chairs a couple of times and we wouldn’t dare put out our patio mat.

Yesterday during one of the lulls in the wind gusts, I was looking out the window and noticed this beautiful bluebird just sitting on top of our bird feeder pole. I quickly grabbed my camera and took a few shots before he flew off. For those of you that have traveled extensively and have been lucky enough to be in birding areas during the “right” time of the year may not appreciate my excitement. For over five years I maintained a backyard habitat in our stick house. I was able to attract so many of the area birds….many different varieties, but never was able to attract the gorgeous bluebird. We lived in the city and we had lots of trees in our yard….not what the bluebird likes. So I tried but failed to attract my love….the bluebird. So there he sat yesterday just taking in the area and surveying his kingdom. Being out in the open away from trees and in the country finally paid off in bringing the bluebird to my feeder. Now we are both anxious to do more birding. As soon as the weather clears we will journey to Oxbow Meadows Environmental Learning Center in Columbus. This is a regional hands on nature center maintained by Columbus State University and they have bird watching trails.

The sun is scheduled to reappear on Wednesday so we are planning to make a day of it at Oxbow Meadows. We are excited!!

Stormy Weather

The weather has just been awful since around 4:00 a.m. That was about the time the thunder and lightning woke us up. We both got up and checked out the weather website. We found on the radar screen that the entire southeast was under a heavy red colored ban of storms. It didn’t look like anybody was going to escape this front. The one bit of information that was the most disturbing were the threats of tornadoes. That led me to think about the story our friends Gene and Judy Curp told about the night they evacuated to the bathhouse for shelter during such a storm. I began to plot out where we would go if things got really bad. Wouldn’t you know it…..this campground has tons of campers this weekend and there are only two bathhouses. How do you say….not everybody is going to get in???? We stowed the satellite, folded the patio chairs and went back to bed. The good news was the wind wasn’t as bad as it has been in other storms so we didn’t pull in the slides. We went back to sleep but this weather front hasn’t finished with us yet.

Since we can’t get outside today we decided it would be a great day to just stay at home and watch a little TV, read, and do a little computer stuff. I will do a little laundry and clean the bathroom/shower. A nap might be nice a little later.

There will be days like this….even in an RV. We certainly hope these severe storms moving through the southeast pass on quickly and folks remain safe.