You’ve Got to be Kidding

I have heard of scams on E-bay with people selling rv’s and boats really cheap.  They are obvious scams. 
What about this email I got from an add on Craig’s List for two chairs for $60.
Thank you for getting back to me. Though I am planning to use the services of a mover to pick up the item on my behalf all because am on a job transfer and short of time but I will send a Check through my Bank to cover the cost of the item. The check will be delivered to you by a reliable courier company within 3 working days. I will appreciate it if you provide me with your full mailing address,  final price for item, the Name that should be on check and finally a cell phone #. Kindly delete the posting because am serious in buying it.
Regards,
J.Earl
What’s up with this.  It’s obviously some sort of scam, but what is he wanting?  I haven’t replied and don’t intend to but I can't help but wonder what he's after?  Our address? 

This same guy responded with the same exact working on these chairs and also a garden tiller.  Strange!

The Dance

We were getting pretty worried about the foxes.  We have not seen both foxes at the same time for several days.  We're hoping they are both okay and we're just not seeing them both together.

After the gunshot, we had been pretty worried about them.  We normally see them later in the afternoon or early evening.  The dog food we had left them was gone, but we couldn't be sure who ate it.  Al had seen some raccoons hanging around too.

We made quite a few trips out to the pasture looking for the foxes....nothing. 

After dinner, Al decided to make one last trip to look for them, so I walked out there with him and we saw one fox!  Al did the "yea, the fox is there dance."  We still only saw one, but at least one is still okay!  I sure wished I had gotten a video of his little dance :)

Fox in Chicken Coop?

We have a few neighbors that have chickens (yes, we live in the country), and they don’t like foxes.

One reason we have been feeding the foxes is to keep them from raiding the chicken coops.  We have not seen both foxes at the same time in the past few days, so we’ve been a little concerned about them.

Last night, Al was walking around the pasture and heard a gunshot.   He was afraid someone may have shot our fox.  We didn’t see them last night but Al went out this morning and noticed the food was gone.  Hopefully they are okay.  I understand wanting to protect your chickens, and I don’t want the foxes to kill them, but why can’t you make a strong enough chicken coop to keep the foxes out? 

Good news!  Al found 2 new Bluebird nests.  No eggs yet but they’re working on them!  Our one nest with the 5 eggs still has only eggs, but they should be hatching very soon.

Bee Hive

I wanted to go outside and do some mowing today, but it got too hot before I actually made it outside.

It might have had something to do with the wonderful and long nap I took yesterday afternoon.  I wasn’t sleepy last night when I should have been in bed and didn’t go to bed until after 2am!  I can’t remember the last time I was up that late.  Anyway, this morning we didn’t get up until almost 9 am, so by the time we got ready to work outside, it was too hot. 

We puttered around inside a while then low and behold…felt the need for a short nap :)  Do you see a pattern here? 

It’s 4:30 pm and 97 degrees…way too hot to mow and I don’t feel like cleaning that pesky kitchen cabinet that I have been shoving things in lately.

So I decided to read a few blogs while  Al is watching the World Cup soccer game from hell!

What’s with all the trumpet and horn blowing?  It sounds like a damn beehive and it’s driving me crazy!  I don’t see how anyone in their right mind could sit and listen to that racket…it would drive me crazy/bitchy.  I may have to go find a shady spot to mow…I can’t take anymore of the beehive noise.

They Flew the Coop

Our little baby Bluebirds have left their nest. 

Al said he saw a bunch of them in a tree in the pasture, so that was probably them.  I understand that they need about 10 days after they fledge their nest to learn how to fly well. 

That puts our total of fledged Bluebirds at 21 so far, and we have 5 eggs up in the box by the motor home.  Hopefully, we can watch them fledge from the comfort of the motor home. 

I don’t know if they will start any more nests this year.  We now have 4 empty boxes.

We went for a swim then took a golf cart ride around to look for the foxes and when we were coming back a tiny baby bunny ran right in front of the golf cart.   I stopped immediately afraid of running over any of his brothers or sisters.  He was so little.  If you know how big a 6 week old kitten is…he was about the same size…and very cute.  We had a bunch of babies the year before last.  They sure are cute..another reason to feed the foxes!

Can We Come Out?

Another batch of baby Bluebirds almost ready to fledge.

There were 4 eggs in this nest.  This will bring our total to 21 once they fledge.  We have another box with 5 eggs.  It’s been a busy year at the farm :)

I love my Zinnias.  We always have plenty of cut flowers.  Last year I put Zinnia seeds all around the vegetable garden.  I thought it would make it look prettier.  Unfortunately the flowers got larger than I thought and spread a little…Al was not too happy my flowers took over his garden.  I was told NO flowers were going to be allowed in this years garden.  Well I didn’t plant any (honest) but it seems the seeds from last years flowers came up anyway…and you guessed it.  Al has flowers in his garden…again :)

He knows better than to kill them, so he just grumbles a lot!

 

bunny

dinner time

bath time for Bluebird

Yesterday, while I was inside reading blogs, I heard “Ivan the Terrible” squawking like crazy.  He’s our Mockingbird and he was after a squirrel.  It seemed the squirrel was in the peach tree trying to steal a peach and Ivan didn’t want him there.  I was a little concerned that the squirrel may have been after a baby Mockingbird, so I went outside and helped Ivan scare off the squirrel.  Once the squirrel left the area of the peach tree, Ivan went about his business. 

We certainly have a nature lovers paradise here and we will certainly miss it when we go on the road in the motor home.

A fox picture to end up with :)

Thief

We have a thief that’s been stealing our valuables.  We haven’t been able to get any help from the police either.

I don’t know how we are going to be able to solve the problem. 

 

Any suggestions???

 

 

This little guy just helped himself to a peach and then ran like crazy to find a nice nook to enjoy his meal!  The little stinker.  We’ve caught him in the act several times.

Foxes

Well we finished off the large bag of dog food that we had on hand, and  we had to make a decision.  Should we keep feeding our resident foxes, should we buy another bag of dog food or not?  What do you think we did?

It appears we have a youngster, and that they have started to depend on us.  They have been hanging out in the pasture every afternoon.  I think they’re waiting for their dinner.  I know we shouldn’t feed wild animals, but we have to think that by feeding them, a few rabbits may live and hopefully they will stay away from the neighbors chickens and live a little longer.  People around here will shoot them if they mess with their chickens.  Anyway, we’ve decided we need to start putting the food down at different times so they don’t associate the food with us.  I think that may be a little too late, but we don’t want them to be tame.

I think this one is the youngster.  Note the huge ears.



This is my newly mowed pasture!  Notice how high the grass is?  It just doesn’t stay mowed!

Goodbye

Flowers

Bluebirds Everywhere!

We have 5 Bluebird nest boxes that we put up on our property and they are well used this year.

Our 4th batch just fledged which make 17 babies.  There is one box that has youngsters that appear to be about ready to fledge and one more box with 5 eggs.  That same box successfully fledged 5 babies when we were camping in Keaton Beach.  I have to think this is the same parents because they normally don't lay 5 eggs.

So assuming the two nests we currently have successfully fledge that will bring out number to 26, so far for the year!  I think we're doing our part to help bring the Blue Bird population back :)

37 Years Ago

37 years ago today, Al and I got married in Bellevue, Nebrasksa.

We had met about 5 years before on the tiny island of Guam.  We had been friends for years and even double dated (with other people) a few times. Our fathers were both in the Air Force and both got stationed at Offutt AFB in Nebraska after leaving Guam.


After living on Guam two years, we got used to tropical weather and both of us hated Nebraska winters. We made the decision to move south once we got married.  Both of our parents lived there, but we were determined to start our lives together in warmer climate.  We got married in June and the following March, we packed up all of our "stuff" and moved to Tampa, Florida.  We had never even been to Florida and just picked Tampa out from a map.  We wanted warm weather and to be close to the water.  We never regretted our decision and loved Tampa.  We became avid scuba divers and did a LOT of diving in the Gulf of Mexico.

In 2006, we decided we wanted a change.  We sold our Tampa house and bought our "halfway house" in the country, in south Georgia.  Our intention was to live in Georgia a few years until we were ready to take off in the motorhome and become full time rv'ers.  It's half way between our regular life and our fulltiming life!  Our initial thinking was maybe 5 years in Georgia.  We wanted to own some land, have a garden, live in a rural area with no visible neighbors and get away from the hustle and bustle of a large city.  We also had just come through two very nasty hurricane years in Tampa.  The 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons were the worst we had ever experienced the whole 30 years we lived in Tampa. Those years brought a hurricane a week and we were on constant alert for the next one.  We didn't get hit directly in Tampa, but Hurricane Charlie had been predicted to make landfall directly in the Tampa Bay area. It was very close to making landfall when it suddenly made a southerly turn and hit Port Charlotte causing terrible damage there.

So today, for our anniversary, we aren't really doing much.  We thought about going out for dinner somewhere, but that would involve a drive into Tallahassee and we're not sure we want to bother. Maybe we'll stay around the house.  We got started yesterday working on some repairs on the house and now that we're on a roll, we don't want to lose our momentum!  We are trying to get the house ready to put on the market so that we can start our new life on the road.

99 Degrees

Boy is it ever hot!  I checked back on the blog and found we had a heat spell last June as well with it getting to 100 degrees.  I knew we had some cool weather mid summer, but in looking back, it was early July.  I'm waiting!!

We're trying to work inside and I'm letting the mowing go.  It's just too hot, even at 7pm. I figure the grass will still need mowing next week!

Last evening was a little cooler though as some clouds threatened to bring some much needed rain.  It never rained, but we did get a little cool breeze.  We took advantage and took a little ride on the golf cart and a little "fish" watching .  The "fish" are actually large bullfrogs but since I'm deathly afraid of frogs, we prefer to think of them as fish :)

 Here is a long distance picture of our resident fox. There were actually two there, but I could only get one photo. It's a little fuzzy as I was zoomed in from a very long distance.

Our raspberries are doing well and the blueberry plants are small but have a lot of berries on them. We just need more plants!

Here is our harvest. Potato's apples, and berries.

We Have Water!!!

Yesterday afternoon, we called a "Well Guy" that we knew.  We didn't expect a call back on Sunday afternoon but he did call back and offer to come out about 7pm.  We explained we would be fine until Monday morning.  We sure didn't want to pay Sunday rates and we were fine since we had 30-40 gallons of fresh water in the motorhome.  Thank Goodness!!  We were able to get showers in the Rv and Al filled up a few buckets of water from the pool for flushing the toilets in the house.


 The well guy came out first thing this morning and fixed it within 2 minutes!  Evidently there is a reset switch on the bottom of the relay where the capacitor is located.  We didn't even know the reset button was there as it's hidden...like on a garbage disposal!  He said the capacitor can sometimes go out and even though it was working, it would be best to go ahead and replace it.  No problem!  We paid the $90 and were very happy that was all it cost!  I had nightmares of having to replace the pump or something really expensive.  We were very happy!

I mentioned yesterday that I had just read a blog post of someone who had been having well problems, but I couldn't remember which blog...since I had read a few that day.  It turned out it was Mike and Pat's Travels.  Check out the problems they have been having with their well!  And by the way...if you're looking for a new fifth wheel and truck to pull it...they have a beauty for sale!  They also have a RV lot for sale.  Check  out their blog.

Thanks Mike and Cindy for your suggestions.  Well issues are new to us.  We had previously run into this well guy and he came out once to check our water quality.  He seemed real honest and never even charged us, so we felt we could trust him. As it turned out, we could and he got us taken care of.

It's so nice to have water again.  It's one of those things you don't realize how much you depend on...until you don't have it!

The next thing we're going to do is completely fill the freshwater tank in the motorhome.  You never know when you will need it.  All you need is a power outage and you have no electricity to pump your water.

Well problems

This morning I read a blog about someone who was having problems with the well on their property.  I felt bad for them because they were without water.

This afternoon, we have no water and evidently have a problem with our well.  Since we are "city" people, Al isn't very familiar with the workings of a well.  He went out to look and see what he could do, but then we started having some lightning so he had to come in.

Of course, now I have the urge for a nice long shower.

We have about half a tank of fresh water in the motorhome and a pool full of water....thank goodness!  Good lesson...keep the motorhome water tank FILLED.

It's funny that since we don't have water, it is really bothering me.  I have to keep reminding myself that I have everything I need to survive and at least the air conditioning is working fine, but something is really bothering me, for some reason.  I guess it might have something to do with the fact that it could be a big bill!  I think a new pump is very expensive and our well is pretty deep.   Relax Karen!

Heat

It has been extremely hot here the past few days.  It's 97 degrees today and supposed to get to 99 tomorrow.  The humidity is over 90% so it's sticky and miserable.  We've been staying inside this afternoon taking naps and watching movies :)

We did go to a local Blueberry place and picked about 3 pounds of Blueberries at a cost of $1 a pound. Pretty cheap.  It was around noon by the time we got there so didn't have the stamina to pick a few gallons.  We wanted some fresh ones for blueberry pancakes in the morning.  We'll probably go back and get enough to make some jelly or maybe even some Blueberry wine!

We made a little water mister for our birds.  They love the birdbath when it's hot and we thought they would like a mist of water...they do! 

We've got two houses with already hatched Bluebirds in them.  I feel so sorry for them in this heat as the houses are in the sun.  You have to place them far enough from trees that snakes and other critters can't get into the nest from above.  I wish I could figure out a way to give them a little shade.  Poor babies.

A Survival Story

I thought this was a very nice story.  Click on the following link.

A Survival Story

Birds and Flowers

You can sure tell it's "baby" season here.  We have more nests and baby birds.

We have two Bluebird nests with eggs, and one with 4 babies.  We have LOTS of adult Bluebirds flying around from previous nests. They are getting more used to us and don't panic when they see us.  When we first moved here, we would see them up on a power line and if we got anywhere near, they would fly off.  I think they now realize we won't hurt them.

We have another Carolina Wren (Nancy) nest in a flower basket on the front porch.  When the eggs hatch, we will have to sneak in on the front porch so as not to disturb them, or use the back door!  They are such sweet and interesting birds, we always enjoy having them nest on the porch.

We think there is a Brown Thrasher nest  in the front Holly.  We've seen mom and dad (Ike and Tina) flying in and out a lot, so we think they're feeding babies.  We haven't found the nest though.  The bush is very thick.

Al is back in Tampa for a few days, so I am trying to do some house work and of course my daily mowing.  I usually try to take the mower for a ride every evening.  I enjoy it, but am having to watch my grip to avoid any more issues with my thumb.

Some pictures of my Hydrangea bush.  It's actually about 4 different plants and I guess they are all different because they are different colors.  They are beautiful early in the summer, but as it gets hotter, they tend to droop.

I believe this is a type of Ginger.  The pink flowers just sprout up from the ground and then later the leaves appear.  We have them all over the place and I always forget about them until they pop up!

Cut flowers from my flower gardens.  I love Zinna's and have tons of them.  There are always plenty of flowers for cutting, unfortunately the kitties LOVE to EAT my cut flowers (and of course spill the water), so I usually just leave them on the porch where I can see them!  It's safer that way :)

Something is Missing?

Well, the Blueberry pancakes we had yesterday were so good, Al volunteered to run into town and pick up some more syrup and sausage for breakfast this morning.

I got the pancakes on, and was just ready to take them out of the pan and realized I forgot something.......it was the Blueberries!  There was no way I was having regular pancakes, so we quickly made up a new batch of pancake mix and I put the old ones aside to feed the fox!  Of course that messed up my rhythm and I burned the next few!  We finally did get to eat some unburned Blueberry pancakes, with Blueberries in them...but it was quite a job.

My thumb is feeling better.  We finished mowing the pasture today and I do think it was my grip on the handle of the mower.  I tried to hold on a little differently.  Al is real worried...he's afraid I might have to quit mowing!!

We were riding the golf cart through the newly mowed pasture and we saw a fox resting in the shade.  When he saw us coming, he got up looked at us and just kind of  pranced off like a playful puppy.  He was so cute.  Wish I could have gotten his picture.

We've been putting out scraps in the far part of the pasture.  Someone has been eating it and we were pretty sure it was the fox...and tonight we found out for sure.  We went to put some pork chop scraps and saw two foxes by the food pile!  Maybe we have babies?  

Blueberry Pancakes...

We picked 3 gallons of Blueberries yesterday and boy are they delicious!  The bushes were loaded with berries and it was easy to fill up our jugs quickly.  It's a good thing because just as we finished it started raining.  We had planned a trip into the big city of Tallahassee so we headed to Sam's Club and Petsmart for some kitty food.  We had to dodge rain showers most of the afternoon, but by the time we got most of the way home, it started to rain HARD!  The wipers just couldn't go fast enough and we had a difficult time seeing the road.  Unfortunately there weren't any good places to pull over.  We were close to home so we just kept going.  We were sure glad to get to our driveway.  We have a private driveway into our property that has some little streams running under the road.  Sometimes when it rains hard the water runs over the road.  We decided not to take a chance there, so we went to the side entrance to the property which is a well maintained gravel road.  We are lucky we have both options.

We munched on fresh blueberries all afternoon and I started flash freezing them on a cookie sheet.  Once they are frozen I vacuum seal them with my Food Saver Vacuum sealer.  It sure keeps the berries fresh so I can eat them all year...or until they run out.

This morning we had sausage and Blueberry pancakes for breakfast.  They were SO good!  I want more, but we didn't make it to the store and we are out of sausage and pancake syrup!  Poor planning, huh?   Unless....maybe there is some syrup in the motorhome??

I went to bed last night with my left thumb hurting really bad.  I've had this problem lately and hadn't been able to figure it out.  It almost feels like it's dislocated.  Al mentioned that maybe it is because of mowing and when I thought about it, I think he is right.  I've been mowing a LOT lately, most every day.  I think my grip on the handles to the zero turn mower may be the cause of this problem.  By the time I got up this morning, it was killing me and I couldn't even use my left hand.  I think I may need to re-adjust how I drive the mower.

Blueberries and Blue Birds

We’ve had a busy week and today we are heading to Wacissa Florida to pick Blueberries. It’s about 65 miles and is on our way to Tallahassee where we also have some errands. We’re getting the Blueberries from a U-pick place. You can pick a gallon of berries for $10.  Hopefully the prices haven’t gone up.  There are a couple places closer but these are the BEST Blueberries.  We eat all we can and then flash freeze them and them use my Vacuum Sealer to keep them.  That thing works great and the berries are good a year from now!  Blueberry pancakes for breakfast tomorrow!!

Yesterday we made 14 quarts of Jalapeno Mustard.  It’s sweet and just a little hot, although Al did make 3 quarts extremely hot!  We have a lot of people who look forward to getting some each year, so I made extra.  It’s good on sandwiches, hotdogs, as a dip, or just to have a bite!

Our other project was pickles.  Al had planted Dill and Cucumbers, but didn’t plant enough Cucumbers, so we had to head to the U-pick farm for them.  It’s $7 for a 5 gallon bucket.  We picked cucumbers, Jalapenos, green peppers, eggplant, and green beans.  We got two 5 gallon buckets of those, and also bought some fresh Vidalia onions and a wonderful cantaloupe.

We packed about 4 gallons of multi sized cucs in a 5 gallon bucket.  Layered in the fresh dill, garlic, pickling spices and cucumbers, then poured the vinegar mixture over the top.  You put a cloth on the top and in 2-3 weeks you can start eating the small pickles.  The larger ones take up to 5 weeks.  We actually sampled one small one and it was already getting a good flavor.  They have to be refrigerated afterwards, but I think I may try to “can” a few jars since I don’t have that much room in the frig.

Between all this, and of course trying to keep the grass all cut, we have been very busy.  I started the pasture again, which is about 5 acres.  It’s quite a job.

We have tons of new baby birds and nests.  Our 5 baby blue birds fledged and we are seeing them hanging around with the parents.  It’s quite amazing to see all 7 at one time.

There is a new nest starting where they hatched with one egg as of yesterday.  We have another nest box with 4 (I think) newly hatched Bluebirds and one most nest with 4 eggs.  We certainly have a lot of Bluebirds!

We have a nest on the front porch with 4 Carolina Wren eggs, and I have seen some newly fledged babies as well.  We call them “Nancy.”

We’re pretty sure Ike and Tina have a baby in a nest because we see them all over searching for food.  These are Brown Thrashers and they usually have 4 separate nests each season.  These are the birds that always nested in our arbor until a snake took up residence.  We haven’t found their new nest spot, but I feel sure they will use the same one all season unless something gets in it.

We have TONS of Cardinals, but we’re not sure where they nest, but probably in the woods.

We have a couple of foxes and the other day we heard what we thought may have been some youngsters playing.  It kind of sounded like a few puppies playing.

Spring and summer is busy here!

I have a lot of blooming flowers and I have taken some pictures.  Will post some later.