First day out, we drove all the way to Albuquerque, NM. We spent the night in a motel on the north side of the city, and we got up early the next day to drive 45 minutes north to Tent Rocks State Park. We missed the best light of the morning, but still spent 4 hours hiking the main trail. I had to use a cane that day because my hip (thigh) was ( Read more... )

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Last weekend (was it really only last weekend? Wow, that's so hard to believe...) Kate and I took a few days off to go to visit Lake Murray State Park. We invited meganwaters2004  and my friend, Andrea, for a sort of non-official no-weenie weekend. meganwaters2004 bowed out, but Andrea came for the weekend, and I must say that it was the most relaxing time I've had in months. I ( Read more... )

meganwaters2004 has been a good friend for a very long time. Her husband, Preston, was a good friend, too, though in my life, he was more the weenie who couldn't come on no-weenie camping expeditions. I say that with a laugh, because Preston and I had some good times together, too. Kate was closer to him since they spent more time together when she lived in ( Read more... )

So, more pics from the yard yesterday, a chicken pic (Xena and Gabrielle demonstrating why we named them Xena and Gabrielle), and random pet photos.


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Thursday, my friend, Andrea came for a visit. She stayed the night and spent most of Friday with us. We stole some plants from Stanley Street house and burned webworms at Sundog House. The webworms this year are very bad, especially in our walnut trees. So, we sprayed them down with lighter fluid, then lit them up. Whoosh! Most satisfying, if you ( Read more... )

For around ten years, my brother, Mark, has participated in the annual breeding bird survey sponsored by the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. My mom used to do them when I was growing up.  They have specified routes in every state that have to be surveyed sometime in the month of June. The start times (time of day) for doing the routes are the ( Read more... )

I forgot to mention in the first big muckin' update that Auntie and Fred are proud parents of four racing-striped poof-balls with orange legs.  Guinea chicks are very susceptible to moisture and wetness, but they managed to survive the tornadic storm and subsequent yard flooding, so who knows, they might have an outside chance to make it to ( Read more... )

Kathy gave me a Lowe's gift card for my birthday, and yesterday I went and spent it (and a lot more). I purchased a white flowering dogwood, a Persian lilac, two flowering quince, a hosta, and several feet of edging for building beds. I also grabbed a runner from a wild rose at my parents house, and several day lilies of a variety that I didn't ( Read more... )

I took some bird pics after the last snow/ice storm


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