A month already gone?

Another slow week it got better on Thursday when the rain stopped, and it got cold.  I wanted to go to Lee County...so on the way I stopped at Bethany Cemetery.  

I heard a Red Bellied Woodpecker and other birds foraging.     

      And then he flew down on the ground with a Yellow Shafted Northern Flickr 

They hung out together and flew off together also....And there was a lot of Eastern Towhee around males and females...

There was White Throated Sparrow also...here is a female. 

Then I couldn't take the cold wind much longer my fingers stopped moving... so I got back in the van  and headed  to on a wetland nearby.  

Newsome Pond

On the way out this Northern Harrier was riding the wind, and looking for a meal...

I scanned the lake and saw a flock of Ring Necked duck along with some Canada Geese...

pretty far back...

they were spread out about 35 in all....

And some Yellow Rumped Warbler in the trees, 

And although it looked old, I found some Beaver Chewed wood...with teeth marks...see in the middle of the wood.

but no beaver....

Chinaberry Tree. 

and a nearby horse farm that was all closed down has been purchased and now there's horses there again they all had on their blankets against the cold wind...

 I was hoping for someone to get this place and finally it's in good shape the fences mended, the weeds gone, and horses in all the paddocks. 

A Turkey Vulture watched me, 

And an Eastern Bluebird perches nearby...

trees are budding...

But I had enough of the cold wind so home I went I hope to do more exploring tomorrow...AND ground hog day is on the way Im not ready for Summer but Spring will be nice...

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

New Beginnings...

As mentioned in my last post Im going back thru old posts replacing photos when I can find them...but the  years, 2013-15 seem to be the hardest hit area...so MANY of those posts will remain like the frame  of a house burned down...thank you greedy YAHOO. 

 This digital world; easy come easy go eh?   

                                                    saw this in the mechanics junk yard

So my van's in the hospital and won't be let out till I pay the ransom That's why I don't like dropping off a vehicle to a mechanic at an end of a week, but that is how it goes.  So I went nowhere.  Its been gone a week today...It took 4 days just to tell me, it needs some work and he has  to order the parts and Monday was a holiday so that slowed the process. 

Im currently working on a Florida 2016 post  It was good to remember that trip with Casey riding shotgun with me...I sure miss him.   Every single time I walked him in FL someone would warm me about small dogs and alligators.  I guess I looked stupid to them...lol So I've been jumping around in the old posts...found a few old photos in Facebook..,here is one. 

                                                        
                         he was so small and vulnerable...but he had the heart of a lion
                                           and the soul of  an ancient gentle butterfly.

Around the Homestead

Annie yesterday 

Annie today

Thank you Annie, but you keep it...

She chews up stix for fun

and bark sometimes

The sun brings out the cold blooded herps...

Spring is not far off the Plants are ready 

Daffs creeping up thru the leaves

Flossie

 I have more photos of Annie than Flossie, because she follows me around, Flossie has mobility issues so she stays put more..

Her chronic leg troubles from the old ACL tear and now even a front leg seems gimpy and gives her pain. They are in their senior years now and they are happy to just lay around out in the yard and bark at the occasional things going by on the road, sometimes it's a horse and rider, sometimes its a walker with a dog off leash and sometimes its the UPS man they always bark at his truck whether he stops or not...Fed Ex too,  Dogs are so smart. 

                                                                   
                                                                            Flossa-rator last spring 

I nicknamed her Flossarator cause she is like the terminator when it comes to stubbornness, She never gives in...she just defiantly grins and walks away.  

The yard is a buzz with birds getting ready to hi tail it in a couple months...I'm going to miss these little Red Breasted Nuthatches and the little squeaky call...the sunny day brought them all out to the feeders.  

It's good to have them around.  I've started getting the yard cleaned up for Spring... my fruit trees are all setting buds, I guess I should fertilize them now, Give a boost to hopefully bloom...If the deer don't come to browse on them all will be good.  

Peach tree Sapling

The Purple Finch female still looking gorgeous

The last time I went to what I call the Sparrow Fields, they had put in a sign in book in a mailbox here's what I found when I opened it,,,

                                         

                                                                 Click middle to play

The inauguration went very well I thought, I hope all learned a lesson, when someone is obviously lying, NO One should agree with that, IT has to be called out for what it is, this includes the news media.  Extremists from both sides need to realize we live in a bubble, it will never be perfect; harmony is the one thing we can hope to achieve.  A call to action that harms one over the other is NOT the way. We dodged the Fascists bullet this time.  We got a taste of what a Dictatorship would feel and look like, LIES and half the voting population actually fell for it.  I hope there is a reckoning for them to come out from under that veil of lies. 

there she goes again..

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

Stardate: 01:15:2021

Saturday I headed out to try out the scope...really exciting.  It works great and is easy to use and not heavy thanks my friend.. 

There was Canada Geese and some Mallards on the far shore, I certainly would not have seen those ducks as they were mixed in with the geese, in fact they were out of camera range, this enriched my birding experience.

way out there on the far side,,,

My main goal on this trip tho was to work with the scope and then take a hike....

my path outlined in red. 

                   

I moved the van to the start point, a approx 3 miles round trip hike.  I've now  officially done the entire Tate's Trail its  not a long trail it could easily be hiked in a about 2 hrs if you keep moving one way,  it's not a loop trail so you would have to turn around hike back all total about 7.4 miles, but if you're like me I stop to bird, to take photos, I cant seem to keep walking lol...so it takes me forever...this 3 mile hike took me 2 and 1/2 hours,,,LOL. 

Im in it for the Journey. 

This trail is also called the Lakes Trail as it connects 3 of the different lakes, in this section I will pass by 2 of the 3...

lake 12, 

An Eagle soared overhead.

Yellow Rump Warbler seen along the way

Back to the map on the way back after my turn around point at the creek crossing, I stopped at the green circle to have a snack and a rest before finishing up the hike..

This bend in the trail has 2 nice benches for a rest so this was my lunch spot just some P-nut butter crackers, a moon pie, and some water...

                        Lunch break back of Pool D, had a ring necked duck floating around...

have spent a lot of down time during inclimate weather going back and replacing the photos in SOME of my old posts that Flickr destroyed.  It's a slow  and tedious process and I think I will run out of data storage on Blogger,,,,so Ive open up a few other flickr's under fictitious names to try and obtain the 1,000 free photos storage limit..but mostly Im uploading right to blogger.  I don't know how much storage they will allow me.  

Red Bellied Woodpecker
 

 The lockdowns along with other factors have put a knot in my tail for a while, travel wise but hopefully I can resume normal at some point in life before I kick the bucket...

Pine Warbler

I have been slowly contacting each Rep member who voted YES to contest on the Electoral College Vote count  because public opinion matters to politicians...we must out shout the other side I guess...I don't know....and I also wrote to the 10 brave Republican's who voted to Impeach. IM doing this via twitter, which I rejoined to use for a political voice...it seems that is where the action is.  I was happy to see Tim Rice of my state was one who voted Yes on Impeachment.  It matters....this is how Unity begins. 

Tufted Titmouse

Red Breasted Nuthatch 

we had  ONE good day of weather this week on Thursday ,,,and the birds were all busy trying to get at the yard feeders so I followed them around trying to get them in candid shots when they waited for their turn. 

Purple Finch female

Male,,,

Ruby Crowned Kinglet

Downy Woodpecker

Annie found herself a delicious mushroom to eat...

She dug it up  Is this a truffle?  I know people use dogs to find Truffles, she is always out mushrooming...she is very good at it, but she eats them immediately  and does not share with me or Floss. It had a brown outer covering, but looked bigger than a ping pong ball,,

Pine Siskin (FOY)

American Goldfinch 

Chipping Sparrow 

My Van in finally in the shop to see what this noise is I am hearing,.I hope he can figure it out.  So Im homebound for  now.  

For your viewing pleasure a

Tufted Titmouse whistles a few notes for us,

and Annie eats her Truffle..

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.