DECEMBER 2015

here  we are in florida and the weather has been just beautiful...arrived in Lakeland on dec 20th and set up the rig then we found our way to winter haven and took lisa out to dinner...good seeing her and she seems to be happy about the move..work is going well they both got good bonus's and gift cards...

spent Christmas day with them and YES we did go swimming and it felt good...I did have some pictures to prove it but guess what somehow I deleted them...oh well..

on dec 23rd we moved on to where we are going to be for the next three weeks in Zephyrhills...have toured around the area also have gone on a couple of bike rides doing 10-12each time...knees seem to be working a-ok..i do have a problem getting off the bike so lad has to come to the rescue but not a problem..i just need to work on that..

have volunteered at the RESTORE which is kinda like a salvation army store that sells stuff...furniture-clothes-house hold goods-books you get the picture...kinda dusty work but it is different and we are meeting some really great people..

the campground that we are staying in also has a pool and the best thing after working all day is to come back to the rig change into our swum suits and hit the pool..nice and refreshing and really makes a person feel so much better...

as you know tonight is new's years eve and don't want to be on the roads down here..they are bad enough during the day...the campground has a party with music starting at 8 and we plan on attending best thing is we can walk...all we have to do is bring a snack to share and BYOB...not a problem

so life is good where we are and god bless...sure hope 2016 will be filled with good things..

THANKSGIVING 2015

our thanksgiving this year was spent in watertown, ny serving dinner at the salvation army...our grand daughter shasta is the head cook at the salvation army and like last year we decided what better way to spend the holiday with family than to go where they...this year they did things a tad different last year they had lots and lots of volunteered so this year when they got a call about volunteering they assigned them a time in 2 hour block.  we happen to get 10--noon as we had told shasta that we needed to be on the road back to ithaca no later than 3 as we had company arriving on friday..

they served over 600 meals not all at the salvation  army but they also deliver meals around the county..of course they did not ask us to do that as we don't know our way around...

of course we had no left overs and why does  anyone cook a turkey why it is for the left overs like turkey sandwiches...i had a turkeythe freezer so we decided to cook it in the garbage can cause we hadn't done that in several years and it was kinda a nice day---no snow---so we did and it turned out just fine...

so now we are still eating sandwiches and other favorite ways to fix the left overs..

hope everyone reading this had a wonderful thanksgiving..

DEER SEASON 2015 DAY 3

 we have now gotten to day 3 of 2015 deer season and i get a call from the woods fro lar letting me know that he scored again and he needed the bulldog to help bring the deer out of the woods...he told me where we had to go and i said you had better come and drive it as i wasn't sure how to get there ...so he marked the cleaned out deer and and marked the "SPOT" with some toilet paper and came back home...

got the bulldog and off we went on an adventure  to bushwack thru the pucker brush to the spot to where he had left the deer....i never would have found him and may still be driving around looking..

got the deer loaded up and off to the butcher we went after a hot cup of tea and cookie..

so life is great  and we are thankful

today schedule is to pick up the 2 deer from the butcher and then spend the rest of the afternoon wrapping the meat then going to the freezer and make room for the both ofthem...

OPENING DAY 2015

saturday nov 21st was the opening day of gun deer season here n ny and you know who was out  before sunrise to get his good spot to wait for the white tails to come for a visit...he went to his favorite spot in the pines and sat for a couple of hrs...saw nothing then it was time to move..went up the hill to the really big oak tree (oh it has been there a couple of hundred years and borders ours and a  couple others neighbors property)...then he saw some movement out of the corner of his eye so he turned a wee bit to get a better view of  what might be there...what he saw was 2 bucks looking at each other and watching what the other one was doing...lar picked a spot and thought which ever one of you gets in the spot i will take a shot...well the 8pt got there and lar shot..one shot and it was down...

we now have  a plan that he is to call me so i can take the bulldog out to help him get it back to the house...lar called at just the right time as i was about ready to finish up the pumpkins muffins i was making and had not turned on the oven yet...so finishing  that job was on hold time to get my shoes on find some orange to put on and head for the woods...can you believe i had a heck of a time starting it but finally it was running so off i went...where the deer and lar were was in a perfect spot right along our road in the woods so hardly a drag..the deer loaded in the bulldog and back to the house we went...i had called the butcher before i left the house to get on the list as some years he gets so many he has to turn them away..that done...

so now the deer is at the butchers and we won't starve this winter..

so all's well at 464 and soon we will be heading south...

life is good--god bless

COSTA RICA

we have now returned from our trip and had a great time...left costa rica and it was 90 and by the time we landed in rochester it was snowing...go figure..

we saw lots of beautiful flowers--birds--monkeys--visited 4 different locations..spent three days in each place..went from the pacific side to the caribbean side then on to the rain forest and yes it did rain but it sure didn't put a damper on what we wanted to do..a couple of times it stopped while we were off the bus and then started up again  (wonder if  mother nature was on our side)...

also went to a coffee plantation--pineapple farm and also an organic farm...the pineapple were delicious and dose not taste like we can buy in our stores...the coffee bean are hand picked because they only pick the red ones and they all ripe  at different times ...

visit a local school and had student guides to show us around also they put on a short program for us..showed us there dancing and also sang their national antheum then we sang our to them...the classes start early morning and the elementary goes first then around noon they go home and the junior and senior come in...the teachers teach both sessions..there schools are run different than ours in NY..

costa rica has less that 3% unemployment...no army...and all those we spoke to are proud of their country..very little crime..san jose was sure a big city and lots of traffic but when you left the big city and got out into the country it was different just like here...

a good time was had by us and we met some new travelers which we hope to see again...

good to be home and we are now trying to catch up to get ready to take off again in the middle of dec...

turkey season started before we got home but lar went out on monday and go a bird...

and this is just some of the 2,000 pictures we took...map of costa rice and the red line is the roads we traveled...

HOME FOR AWHILE

 we arrive back in ithaca sept 21st around 7pm after being away for 3 weeks...had a good time visiting family and friends long the way also a couple more national parks...


the last few days on the road we visit friends in south bend ,in who are getting ready to move to florida and they probally already have arrive at their new home...we at least had time to catch up on happenings and also some other long time habitat friends joined us for lunch we have not seen russ and peg for s few years...

then on to  indianna sand dunes lakeshore national park and of course we earned another junior ranger badge...after that we headed to adrian, mi and yep meet up with more habitat friends for dinner ...we forgot to camera so we didn't take a picture of this renuion..

now it is time to really start heading east and we wanted to make a stop in ohio to a national park we have often driven by on our way home and heading to flaconer to visit with lar's mom...she has passed so we decided to make a stop at the cuyoga national park...

lar sent out an e-mail saying where we were and low and behol

d we recieved an e-mail for friends back home letting us know that they were in the same park and only a couple rv sites down the row...we had been out for a walk around 7 and they arrived around 7:30 but by then we were back in our rig..so we didn't know they were there till the next morning..funny how things work ..so after breakfast the now 4 of us went off to the park..frank had heard about a steam engine and rides we would take on the train...so then it was a train ride fit into the schedule of things to do...then don't you know the day had been good weather wise except when we got off the train...it poured and i mean hard so we all took a shower again this time in our clothes ahhaha...just another one for the adventure book...


so the next day we went to visit lar's brother jake and sal outside pittsburgh...had a good visit with them and hadn't seen them since lar's mom funeral..

come monday morning it was time to head back to ithaca and it was a long day not one we usually do in the rv...got home in one piece tried but happy to be back...so now the rig is all unpacked and ready for winter all it needs is an inspection which will be while we are gone again but this time by plane...heading to costa rica for 2 weeks next sunday...

so life around 464 in busy but we are both good and trying to keep it that way....

GRAND RAPIDS/HOLLAND MI

we find ourselves in holland , mi and the state park here...on our bucket list is to go to all the presidential library/museum and gerald ford is here in grand rapids...so yesterday we spent the morning there then off to the meijer gardens...had heard alot about them form relatives here so we thought why not...one thing we didn't take into account was they you need at least a whole day to see it all...msaybe next time...

we called habitat friends from dade city jerry and sarah..so sunday of fto breakfast with them had a great breakfast then they took us on tour of the area as we had never been here...saw lots of the area..also took a tour of some of the habitat houses they are building here...i must say we would be very happy living in one of them...some very nice houses..some of the nicest ones we have seen...a lot of thought and enery has gone into them...we were told that the heating and electic bill for one month is about 100.00$$...now won't that be nice and easy to take....they mortage is 700. a month...

we have seen more in michigan than we expected to see so it is on our lis to return to...

life is good...god bless

SLEEPING BEAR DUNES NATIONAL PARK

 we arrived here in the national park area on tues...we had planned on staying at the park but when we called they were filled up so we found a nice park outside the park...it is very quiet and we have full services which we would not have had at the park...which is good cause we needed to dump..

yesterday was a glorious day so off to the park we went...we had been heard about 30 or so years ago with the girls and they spent their time running up and down the dunes...i must say it is not the pace we remembered..then there were only the dunes but not they have several museums in the park which of course we attended... of course we also worked on a junior ranger badge...we were stumped on one of the questions and when we had to booklet checked we asked the ranger the answer she had to think several which seemed like minutes to come up with the answer...we never would have..so i guess we learnt something...we always do...

now today is a different story...we had found a few bike trails and thought today e would take the bikes off the rack and go for a bike ride...we could if we wanted to get wet..we would have to drag out the rain po

nchos so instead we are cleaning and doing paper work...hope to adventure out later in the day when hopefully it might stop raining..

life is good god bless

MICHIGAN

We are on the road again...left enfield sept 1st and headed to jamestown where we spent our first night at brother bill and netta had a good visit ...judy was out of town so we didn't get to see her..


thenext day we headed to dundee, mi where we spent the night at cabella's in their parking lot and of course we had to shop..lar bought a new pair of short hikers but that was it...

then on to royal oak, mi to meet the new great grand niece...jessica and darwin's new wee little one...on thurs andy also came over and was the b-b-q chef had a good visit and it has  been nice to see them all..haven't seen them since sylvina passed away so it was good to touch base again..on fri we went out to dinner at an ethopian restaurant where lar was in his glory as they did NOT serve dinner with any silverware

...it was most interesting and very good...lots of lentials different colors and fixed in a different way......

on sat we moved on to roscommon to visit stu...arrived here around 3  and have been enjoying the visit..off to church yesterday then we adventured of to a farm which was from around 1930 had a tour and heard alot about why the farm was settled and made into a museum...to original man who founded was from attica, ny....also was a guard and good friend of president lincoln..

tomorrow we head towards sleep bear dunes national park...

hope to be able to post more about our sept adventure...

 this was dinner for four...and we had them fill up to plate a couple of times

lar rin hes glory no silverware

GARDEN

this year has been quite the year for our garden...early this spring and the start of summer we've had alot of rain and the garden looked like it...some days it was full of water and we thought that the seeds and plants were just going to float away...so we have been surprised that we are now beginning to reap the harvest from it...

we are enjoying cukes--zucchini--onions--radishes--lettuce--to name a few..

the corn is just beginning to make tassles and we hope in a week or so we will be able to pick some...i have even made some pickles this year and haven't in a few years due to the harvest of the cukes...our tomatoes have gotten the blight i think-- so the tomatoes will be few and far between...no canning of any of those not enough...oh well there is always the grocery store...tonight we will have fresh dug potatoes for the first time...no new peas to go with them thou...one thing i can remember as a kid  is new potatoes and fresh peas with a cream sauce that my mother would make to make you die for...mmmmm good...

the apples from our trees dot the lawn already it appears that we may have a good crop it they stay on the trees...haven't seen any deer under the trees eating them yet..but the rabbits are..

trying to get caught up on projects around the house before we take off for sept...home for a week or two then off in oct for 2 weeks..home then hunting season starts ...;leaving for florida before christmas as lisa and andy are moving there the end of this month...

lots of things going on here in upsatate ny...

 life is always good

LONG TIME

it has been some time since i have  put anything on our blog so it is kinda a rainy day so i thought it might be a good day to put something on the blog...

this spring we watched a pair of barn swallows make a nest on our back porch and lar has keep a picture record of them...when we would walk out the back door we even talked to them...the parents didn't like us so much and they would dive bomb us to drive us away so off we went to do what we were on the way to do...

it has been fun watching them from eggs to fledging ..that we never saw except we know when they did it...one morning i went out to hang clothes on the line and they were all 4 of them sitting on the edge of the nest..i told them it was time to jump and in the house i went to finish my coffee...about 1/2 hour later out went lar and they were gone...with lots of barn swallows flying around  the back yard...no mosquitoes...so they had left the nest...

life goes on in the country

FRIENDS

habitat friends are here from virginia and also from pa.a couple have been here in our driveway and the others are in the hickman's driveway...we  have all built in dade city and thought why not have a renuion in ithaca..so we have been busy seeing the sights of upstate ny for the last few days...

have toured the ithaca falls--cornell--ic--and the area around...made a trip to the curtiss museum which lar and i had  not been to the new one...which was a whole day of adventures...then on to bath and the national cementry where larry and mem had a friend buried this spring to visit the grave site...

we have checked out most of the state parks around they only one we  have hiked into as of yet has been taughannock falls which was an easy hike for me..not sure i want to do all the steps in the other parks...

yesterday off to corning we adventured to go the corning glass and also the rockwell museum...again lar and i had not been to the new part of corning glass so we found it most interesting of course we ran out of time to see it all and we were there early...the to lunch most of us had great reubens after lunch it was the rockwell museum and of course had to make a visit to the corning store...most of us bought something and lar even bought himself a new pie plate...

it has been a fun visit and we are even seeing things that have been on our list but don't have time nor do we take it when home...so this has been good for us...just marking things off our buckets lists...

we have had out our list to visit the new museums but hadn't gotten there now we have...

also this week i was discharged from PT but it is still recommended that i do exercises at home which i have been doing...

life is good and busy..

humnmer at one of the feeders

 mem finally made it to the falls

 walking across the bridge at the end of the hike

 the falls

 barn smallow and it;\'s nest on the back porch..it has 4 eggs

COUNTRY LIVING

yesterday while eating lunch lar shouts out look out the window and there was a mama wood duck and 6 babies sneaking across the back yard...as some might know our yard she was very close to the apple tree...we watched her for a wee bit and i said where's a camera when you need one..oh lar says right in front of you on the table..so he picks one up and opens the back door very slowly and quietly goes out on the porch and snaps a couple of pictures....

then a couple of weeks ago we had a mama turkey and a pheasant in the back yard at the same time checking each other out..then this week i was  working in the garden and heard a swish above my head only to look up to see the turkey coasting over the garden...landed on the other side and took a walk in into the woods...we think she must have a brood some where near by as we have seen hr often of course we have no idea where or even if we just think it...

so life in the country sure can be entertaining at times....

 then with a new app tyler helped us load on to the tablet we found out what this bird was that we found in the garden...an oven bird...the name of the app it called "merlin" you can find birds hear sounds etc and the best part is that is is FREE