Trash to treasure..

I did very little of anything the first week of the year, we had weather issues, a wind storm blew a tree on my fence I had to saw that off and have been burning it in the fireplace...there is still a lot of it on the other side of the fence to deal with....but after a week of reading about a Rare Sea Gull being at the Horry County Landfill   last Friday, I decided to go at the very last minute.

Stuffed some food in a bag and away we go....

I arrived at my location sort of late, since I really had not planned this trip I literally just said IM going and 10 minutes later I was behind the wheel.  2 hrs later I was in Conway. 

Passed this cool mural in their downtown historic district...snapped a photo when I had to do a U-turn'; Wilma sent me wrong!! 

This landfill is HUGE you could get lost in it....I went up to the little house at the entry and drove up and said, "Im here to see the bird."  The lady said "just drive straight up that road"...

                               There was just  a few MILLION gulls there...omg

I had hoped to drive up and see a line of birders with scopes set up and they would point me right to the bird....BUT that didn't happen right away. So I drove aimlessly around and found other birds.   Like the Lesser Yellowlegs..in one area where there was some ponds...

There was Bald Eagles in various stage of maturity...

But mostly it was GULLS...

Ring Billed Gulls, Laughing Gulls, Herring Gulls, Lesser and Great Black Backed Gulls 

An immature or female Herring Gull

And an almost Breeding Male Herring Gull 

Mostly Laughing Gulls 

Mostly Ring-Billed Gulls

Great Black Black Gull 

Lesser Black Backed Gull 

AND the star of the SHOW the Slaty-Backed Gull...a mostly Asian Species which ranges from Japan to Coastal Russia, Alaska and sometimes North America!  Found by a birder named Chris Hill on New Years Day ...AND thanks to a tip from one of the Landfill employees he pointed me up the right hill where he had seen other birders looking all week...and then I did run into a birder from Atlanta, and he pointed out the gull...this is how co-operation works. 

Not as big as the Black Backed but very similar...with a crescent shaped white on the wing tips...this is a non breeding male, and once he is a breeding male his head neck and chest will be solid white.  He has bubble gum pink legs and an orange spot on the lower bill...much like a California Gull...with pink legs. 

Good to get something positive...

And it's a four hour drive round trip so it fell within my planned Twitching Zone!

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

A Dedicated Friend...

In Memory of Jimmy 
2008 - 2022

Mom always called  him Jimmy Boy, He was loved and  he is missed.  Sis gave him a beautiful life.

He loved to hike, swim, travel, and cuddle, 

...and think of him as living

In the hearts of those he touched

For nothing loved is ever lost –

And he was loved so much.

Ellen Brenneman

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

2022 What Kind of Year will it be?

Monday there was an 3.3 Earthquake in our area...and that is the 10th quake we have had since Nov of this year...this epicenter was about 18 miles away from my house....In 1886 in the month of August a Quake destroyed Charleston, SC and killed 60 people.  They estimate it was a 6.9-7.3 in strength....the shock wave was felt as far away as Boston, Mass. 

I want to do a time lapse something I haven't tried yet, so soon I want to make one.

Tonight we have a red sky...and it seems peaceful.  I have felt quakes before and it normally sounds and feels like a big truck going by and vibrating the house...I did not feel the one today as I had just arrived at home from a day out and about but I had been much closer to the epi center earlier in the day by the river...

Anyways...one never knows what Mother nature has in store for us.  

Here's our State Bird, the Carolina Wren. My New Yrs Resolution is to use less plastic packaging in the future...starting NOW...I use as little as possible but there is a lot of room for improvement..

Like buying my vegs in bulk that is not prepackaged...BUT don't reach for that thin film...some stores recycle it but most don't bring your own paper "lunch" bag to put your fresh produce in...and if it's gonna be something heavy get some Paper grocery bags at the entrance to the store or bring your own to reuse from home.  AND do reuse your shopping bags or bring your own..

The bulk laundry det. in plastic jugs,...or those pops in plastic wrap just don't buy it you can still buy detergent in a cardboard box...that is bio-degradable, and sustainable,  and most of the time recyclable. You can premix in water to be sure its dissolved prior to adding it to the tub of your washer....AND there's other alternatives online the little sheet that you simply toss in very little packaging involved but it's pricey.  

...a young Buck was hanging out behind the fence on Christmas Day...

This  really fine White Throated Sparrow paused from his work of seed picking...

 ...and a Golden Crowned Kinglet showed off his gold crest but moved...

I have enjoyed the ease of the steam in the bag, but Im not doing that anymore...I will buy fresh and steam it the old fashioned way....
Some products I eat like Veggie Sausage comes  in those NOT recyclable zip top bags, I plan to phase that out and find my own recipe for making my own veggie sausage veggie burgers, etc.  

the Kinglet liked the sound of my camera as it tried to focus on him...

Lake Bee has been closed for over a year so they finally opened it back up and put in a brand new deck. They put in a new dam overflow, made repairs to the earthen dam, repaired the shoreline, and tore down the old deck.   The old deck was made of that composite stuff it did NOT hold up....and they closed it for a year before giving up on it....

I was glad to see the area open again I was able to walk back to the wetland where there is/was a small beaver dam...I want to stop in the HQ one day and ask about their policy on Beaver, because I see signs of beaver, 
 then I see signs of disturbance of their dams also....

Are they welcomed or not is my question? 

We had a wide variety of weather events this week and today it's raining, I saw this Red Shouldered Hawk in one of the trees so snapped this window shot...he didn't sit long, by the time I jockeyed for a better look he was gone...

I hope everyone has a peaceful New Years Eve and Day.

2022,  sounds like it came out of a Sci-Fi story but it's for real.  Sometimes it feels like we are living in a sci-fi story, if only we could see into the future.

We can plan, we can prepare, we can try, and we can do our very best and at the end of the day we have to accept the reality of the choices we make across the board. 

Happy New Year and may we each have Many More!

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

Winter!!

Tuesday was the shortest day of the year less than 8 hrs of daylight...unless you live in Fairbanks Alaska, where it was only 3 hours and 42 minutes. 

 Hello fellow bloggers, this blog will post on the eve of the holiday so I wanted to get it written up a little early so I could just chill and enjoy my eve with nothing pending, it has been an easy week but I will share some bits of my week with you all...

(dont forget to hover for more captions)

I have been cutting some of my home grown salad greens here and there although winter is not my favorite time of year for greens, but I grew all this so I need to start eating it, so I made up a salad...the Arugula is very hot so it has be tempered with some other green like Spinach, Simpson, and Romaine.

The pot of Cilantro is also an added benefit, I add it to soups, chili, and sometimes in the salad as well it provides a nice punch for the pallet.  I enjoy having a little food growing around my place even if its only greens.  

A sunny days brings every one out to warm up...

I'm over run by these chubby critters...this is why you see wire cages around all my pots

Sweet Annie

One day I drove out to one of my favorite fields...Its full of dried Sunflower heads, 

I picked one up off the ground...

I see various birds but it's private property so I normally can't get much of a look at the birds just distant views, 

this come came home with me...

Didn't take long....

And I keep hoping some Goldfinch will come by...

One dirt road goes through the field area so I can bird from the van window This is part of my 5 mile radius 

Back at home...

A window shot of the Hermit Thrush 

The Wise One

You can always count on finding some beautiful flowers at the cemetery  

Not to mention some fun birds hanging out 

This cemetery is a rural one and the land next to it, the AG fields back up to, and on this day I found a bright spot in the brown drab....

The Little Palm Warbler...even tho this is not the State bird of Florida it should be..they are so plentiful there and I'm glad to see them increasing in numbers here also. 

This photo has two kinglets in it, hope you can find them....hover to discover

And a curious Eastern Bluebird ....

One of my very favorite Sparrows can you guess what it is? 

Hover for the answer. 

We expect a high of 70 on Christmas day sooo that sounds perfect to me. 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.