EASTERN SHORE

this is what we've been doing since we left town..we headed to woolford, md on the eastern shore of the cheaspeake bay to visit some friends we hadn't seen in several years..bill and sandy sharpe ..bill and lar worked at xerox  for many years..

first thing we did ws eat blue crabs that bill caught out in front of their house,,,mmmmm..then off to go do some blue fish fishing..caught only 5 but had fun chasing the birds,,,now that is how you fish for them watch the sea gulls and when yu see a bunch of them diving you know they are after fish..so off you go in their directin with the hopes of catching some......

that was on wed afternoon  then on thurs we took off again in the boat to go to lunch..great lunch..then back out on the bay to do some more fishing...no luck but as sandy said it was like sitting on the back porch watching the world go by..it was a tad rolly polly and next thing you know lar looses his lunch over board...still no luck catching fish...

friday was spent just hanging  out waiting for some old friends that used to live in spencer or she did...and lar and bill went to black water refuge to put up a deer stand for bill..

norm and dorrie arrived and we ate crab cakes mmm then out on the boat to try some fishing again..no luck..

left sat morning and we are now in the city of haymarket and today we plan on visiting the marine museum at quantico..

so life is good and we are being a tourist again..

CLOUDS

lat night was thursday and lar goes to the fire house for meetings and training..he called around 8 or so and said go outside and look at the clouds and also take some pictures...so out i went and this is what i saw..funny the clouds that were bright were in the east and not the west where the sun sets..not non the less that were different..

on wed we recieved over 2 inches of rain in about a hr and helf...things in the area were sure flooded and our lawn is still very wet in spots...

way too much in a short time didn't have time to soak in ...but this is what the weather has been like all over..

PHEASANT FAMILY

some of you know that for the last several years we have had a male pheasant come to our bird feeder..he also has brought a couple of hens along with him...this spring he had only one with him most of the time...he appeared that they were falling in love and carrying on right in front of our eyes..

then for some reason  they weren't coming around..i could hear him once in awhile so i knew he was still around..

yesterday around 10 give or take a minute or two lar said come look  '"PHILPOT" (that's what we called him) and 'PHILAMENIA"  are out in the back year near the pear tree..so i went to look then they started coming up from the hedge row...by the time they were in the yard there must have been a dozen or more little pheasant's running around...

so now we know the rest of the story they have been busy raising their family...

it is fun watching them and are glad they made an appearance...

SUMMER TIME

so what do people do in the summer ..go to family renuions and this is what we did this past weekend..the 'TRACY FAMILY..it is held local as most of the family still live in the homer/Cortland area ..oh there are some thru the USA but most still live in Cortland county..


this year it was probally the smallest group that gathered but we all know how summer goes..lots of plans and it is hard to fit everything into them..it was fun and good seeing the cousins and siblings..


so far our summer has been uneventful just trying to get things done before  we go away in sept...heading to the eastern shore of the cheaspeake for a fews days visiting some old Xerox friends and lar hopes to eat crabs one of the seafood he can...then we plan on heading to the newmarket battle field ..somethings lar has wanted to do every time we pass it on I-81 heading south but January is not the time to visit a battle field ..who knows about the weather...so what better time than sept...we also have other stops we would like to make along the way..we have several friends along the way we hope to see/visit but no real plan yet..just put that together as we go along..


then  it will be back home to start getting ready for hunting season and next January southern trip..not sure exactly what we will be dong after January we have a 2 week build scheduled in dade city then 2 weeks in Alabama near gulf shores but those 2 week will be R&R from there no really plans except to go to round rock and meet the new great grand nephew/niece then to hopefully meet up with some friends near Houston, tx not sure of date -place-where -ect


way tooooo much to do and see but life is good

CATSKILLS RUNAWAY

here we are in the town of catskill and have been there for a  couple of days..

left home on tues and headed to verona, ny where we knew we could get into the turning stone resort for the night.(yep it is a casino and NO we did not go to it)...the first night  a storm came thru that caused alot of damage and has been confirmed that it was a tornado...the campground was on the lower edge of the storm we had lots of branches down and a tree..we even brought in the slides and of course the awing and we noticed the next morning that a couple of rigs lost their awings...there was also 4 deaths in the area...t

then on wed coming across NY we heard that the albany area had also had one of the damaging storms go thru..so the god lord is watching out for us and keeping us out of the p

ath of the storms

we have visited the NY fireman's museum and very interesting museum and the price was right as lar is a volunteer and i am a member of the aux so we got in for free...there is also a nursing home for firemen...

yesterday we went to the martin van buren historical site took a tour and had a great guide she sure knows about martin..and YEP we got another junior ranger badge..

today we move on  to moreau state park where we will be going to the carlson family renuion (lar's mothers family)..this family does parades and you'd have to attend to see this parade not like you've ever seen before..who knows what ever else might be planned for th day..

life is good

VISITORS

last week we had visitors from wisconsin--florida...why you might asked 2 states..well they have a home in florida and a rig in wisconsin and were passing thru on their way to maine where they are going to be working at the KOA in bar harbour  for the summer...they arrived tues  but had had a problem in the way called a flat tire on the rig after getting that fixed and another new tire they decided not to push on the enfield but found a KOA enroute to sit back and unwind...can't blame them been there done that..

then lar and i met them on the outskirts of ithaca and tom and lar went to a tire store to get 2 more new tires and christine and i headed to enfield....then on the way up one of our hills the truck started to over heat and both tom and lar looked at each other and said that's not good...after getting to 464 and they had callled the local chevy dealer  they unhooked and took the truck over to trumansburg where it was diagnosed with a radiator problem...so it stayed there for a couple more days while they flushed it out and fixed the problem...but in the mean time we also had other habitat friends coming for dinner tues afternoon..good seeing them all...

so we just kinda hung out around ithaca  for the next 2 days waiting for the truck ;to get fixed...so off we went to the ithaca beer company--(of course we had a had a beer)...then to the famous "QUILT STORE" which is one of the top 10 in the northeast...and NO christine didn't buy 1 thing ..oh she found lots she would have liked but sat on her pocketbook ahhahahaah..

a trip to the falls especaily since we had had a hard heavy rain the night before so the fall were just a rolling which make it more interesting to see...finally they got the truck back and were on their way by thursday and are now in maine..

so we had a great visit with them and also therese-jon-and don...

life in good in the country

BACKYARD WILDLIFE

 4 years ago we first started seeing a male pheasant come  to our bird feeder and we think it has been the same one each year this year he has brought a female along with him and we have watched them all spring ..for the last couple of weeks we have only seen her once or twice so we are hoping she is sitting on a nest..he comes the the tree almost everyday by 5am and  crows and cackles of course to wake us up and he does a good job..

last night we got over 2 inches of rain so today was a day for inside jobs like clean house hahaha...finally i got a chance to sit down at the computer and lar was at the dinning room table looking at the mail..all of a sudden he says tracy  come quickly and quietly so i tried ...there under the tree was a fawn and it's  mama...by the time lar got his camera out and ready to take a picture they had decided to walk to the woods..lar's first for the spring but my second fawn to see..oh it is always exciting to see the wee little ones...

so a quiet day in the country has turned out to be rather exciting..

what better way to spend a rainy day inside..watching wildlife in the back yard..

liffe in good in the country