A Hooded Merganser in my.....hood!

I actually took the photo of this little Hooded Merganser. Well just call me the bird lady. I taught a beginning bird class on Loon's and Grebes and it went really well. My PowerPoint presentation had sounds, videos, and photos. I wish I could just upload the whole thing here, but I certainly don't want to bore. I do have a website to advertise my birding classes and it has generated some buzzzzz. It is http://www.meetup.com/Discovery-Coast/ (you might have to copy and paste the URL) and I also got some magnetic signs for the doors on the car. I'll try to post those later. It's too dark and too cold right now. I've been out doing some bird watching here of late. My most amazing find was a couple of Surf Scoters in breeding plumage. Fabulous. Saw lots of Glaucous Winged Gulls the other day too. Probably around 100 of them in one place. We are not short of Gulls around here, but this gathering was super. I'm trying to get out a couple of times a week. It's supposed to snow here this evening and maybe tomorrow morning. It's hard to tell around here. It could just pass to the north of here. Yep....see what old people do.

Me and my guitar....wasn't there a song?

You know I hate this photo, but I just have to say....I bought a guitar. See the tag is not even off of it yet. Nope....I don't know how to play. Some 20+ years ago I was learning how to pick, but I never got chords down very well. So I'm going to try to pick it up again. It's a pretty nice Fender Acoustical and I got a decent price on it. Not really expensive. I didn't have much of a case on the old guitar but this one is pretty cool. I'll try and let you know how it goes. Well unless it doesn't go well. Never admit to defeat. Just kidding. There will be some loud strumming going on in the hood here soon. Yep....just me and my guitar.

some photos from the fall experience

Okay, these photos are not necessarily in the order that the events occured. This first photo is of ice skaters in downtown Oklahoma City. It was night so I didn't get very good photos with the little digital pocket camera. But still thought the colors on the ice looked nice.

Ah, the Atchafalaya (sp?). I've seen it before, but had never seen it in winter. I thought it was beautiful. I was hoping to see some alligators, but no such luck. Too cold, too wet. Not the right place or time. I wish that we had more time, more money, and more good weather. But hey....the Atchafalaya. I just love saying it.

Normally, I have this really strong desire not to ever have my photo taken, but thought I would post at least one. This one was taken in Louisana on part of the Creole Nature Trail. This is the place I saw a Roseate Spoonbill but didn't get a good photo of them. Pretty cool bird. There were plenty of mosquitoes and flying critters. We also went to a butterfly preserve along the Gulf Coast, but hard to get photos of those too.

We have lots of Blue Heron here, but it was nice to see them here in the swamps of the Creole Nature Trail. Lots and lots of bird watching.

We took this little ferry ride across a swampy area to take a drive along some of the Creole Nature Trail along the Gulf Coast. This was interesting to me but probably not much interest to anyone else. I'm mean I lived in Seattle for 10 years and rode numerous ferries. But the ones in Seattle are gi-normous. This ferry ride in Southwest Louisana lasted about 5 minutes.

I had forgotten about the houses along the gulf coast being built up on pillars. This one was really out in the middle of nowhere. Just driving along.

This was the entrance to the Pintail Duck Drive. This is just out of Lake Charles, Louisiana. It was just swarming with all sorts of birds, not just the Pintail Duck. Of course most of it was too far away to get good photos, but the drive through was fun.

On our drive back to Washington we drove through massive amounts of rain in California. I thought this tunnel just north of the Golden Gate Bridge was hilarious. We did see a few rainbows. I took 539 photos in three and half months, but most were not worth posting. You have to take photos to get photos. I might post more down the road.

Well I finally made it back to the beach. I was so happy to see my little stretch of beach. I looked at my camera and saw that I have taken about 430+ photos in the 3 1/2 months I was away. Nope, Im not going to post them all here. I'll probably delete more than 1/2 of them. It seems for every 50 photos I take I get one or two good ones. I think it is time for an upgrade on the camera. I just love tech toys. I have a new IPAD to play with and I'm just lovin' it. It doesn't totally take the place of the laptop, but does have some very nice features. The size is super easy to handle. You know smaller than a laptop but bigger than an IPhone. I'm so lucky. I will probably post some of my photos later on. Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday time.

Thanksgiving 2010....it's different!

Okay...so I decided to go to Lake Charles Louisana for Thanksgiving. But on the way I did a quick stop by Turner Falls....by Ardmore, OK. It is in the Arbuckle mountains in south central OK. It actually looked a lot different than I remembered as a kid. It was kind of wild and didn't have so much cement around it when I was growing up. But it was still good to see it in the late fall. I imagine it would look better in late spring and early summer. The first time I ever went to Turner Falls I was in the 6th grade and went to a Methodist Church camp there. I don't really remember that much about that experience, but I do remember going.

Have you ever been stuck in traffic in Dallas, TX. It can be quite daunting. The little VW in front of us had Washington license plates. I thought that was kind of hilarious. I was so glad to be through all of that mess in Texas. Well at least Dallas. I really like the drive down through southeast Texas. It was really beautiful I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was really surprised.

One of the goals of the trip was to try and fit in multiple Wildlife Refuges. Many of you know that I'm an avid birder and I was in 7th heaven. We have tons of blue heron at home, but it was nice to see them here. I also got to see some Roseate Spoonbill but wasn't able to come up with a good photo. There were also hundreds of Egrets. I also got to see lots Snow Geese.








Also took a drive over to Southwest Louisana and got to see the Gulf of Mexico from there too. I've seen the Gulf lots of times but not this particular place. I realize how nice the beach is where I live. It's really cold up in Washington, but I really do miss it. Heading off to Memphis, TN tomorrow morning and hope to have more photos up soon. Hope everyone had a good holiday.

Still here in Oklahoma...???? weeks and counting

Well I'm still here in Oklahoma. I think it's been 11 weeks. Somehow I've lost track. This is not exactly what I had in mind when I came here, but I'm hanging in there. We've been able to get out and do something I call Sunday drives. We've been to Red Rock Canyon (west of the city), Mt. Scott (Lawton, OK), we've been up to Lake Hefner a few times, been to Lake Overholser, we've been to Deep Fork Wildlife Refuge (Henrietta, OK) and we've been to Ft. Worth, TX. Fort Worth was for a doctor appointment for Letha and we did find a really interesting vegan restaurant there. Yummo. I've not really seen that many of my family members since I've been here. I've seen my sister Franci at the local Y and I've seen my Aunt Marilyn a few times. But all in all family is pretty much absent. Don't quite understand it, but it's okay. Well I know why, but..... oh well, I'm prepared to let that go. Some days it's just tedious and some days lots of fun. We have been down to Norman, OK a few times too. We have found two really good vegan stores right on Main St. in Norman. We also got library cards for the Norman Pioneer library system. Works just like our little Timberland library at home. We actually have had some fun exploring Norman, OK. Right now the plan is to hang in through the winter unless something changes. Can't believe it's been so long since my last post.

Oklahoma - 2 weeks and counting again

I was just here in May and June when I came for a family reunion, Goody's graduation, and my 45 year HS reunion. Well I'm back and it's really been two weeks and counting. RG is not doing all that well. I do believe that Goody is a bit stressed out and RG is cranky by not being able to do the things exactly like he is used to. It really is a journey. Things change everyday don't they.

It was interesting driving down here to OK. We spent the night in Boise, ID and the next day drove to Cheyenne, WY and then got up and drove on in. Should have taken 3 days instead of two to do it. I was pretty tired when we arrived and I don't think I've fully recovered yet. One thing I've pretty much noticed is how much the heat and humidity affect me. We are in a beautiful house and it is high tech air conditioned, but just being outside for a few minutes is a bit much. Right now we are staying through the winter. Goody asked for my help and I'm more than glad to be here for her. Today I was out and about for a bit and kind of got homesick for a brief moment. I missed the smell of the salt air, the fir trees, even the moss and slugs that I complain about when I'm home. Yesterday it rained for a bit and I actually went outside and danced around in it a bit. Silly I know, but just felt like I had to do it. I've not posted in sooooo long, but I've had a lot of stuff going on. I think things are settling down just a bit. Well you probably should never say that because something will come along and just shoot it to pieces. Yessssireee!