The eagle has landed...

Seriously, it has. Actually, they have! We took a little road trip the other day to Stella, MO to Eagle Days. It was a scenic drive down and the eagle watching was INCREDIBLE. We have been so fortunate to see eagles in the wild before but this was lots of eagles and not just flying. There were two in a field just sitting. Have NOT seen that before. And when we have seen them before there were only one or two. We saw two in a nest and we saw two flying; all in Florida. This trip we saw eight flying at once and then a few miles down another a couple dirt roads, bam, five more in another location. We also saw an immature eagle who had not yet gotten his distinguishing white head and tail. 

The little dot in the middle of the upper two barb wire fencing is the eagle.

We also saw several white and red tail among other variety of hawks. And, of course, as per our normal bird looking we saw lots of birds we could not identify. We are hilarious to listen to, I'm sure, as we try and determine a birds identity. It's a good way to enjoy sunshine in January and that's a fact! Bird looking is quite fun.

As we made our way back north we popped in to visit the local National Monument. I had been as a child but wow it has changed dramatically. In 2007 they built a new facility and it is truly world class. One of the finest National Monuments we have visited. Very well done, a nice hands on area as well as an educational area along with a true museumish area It really is a wonderful building. The park ranger on duty was so cordial, as well as chatty and informative. We enjoyed this little side stop for sure.

A day or two after our eagle outing we decided to make another little day excursion over to the local conservation area. It's another place I had not been since a child; and, it was not at all as I remembered. In fact I don't think we were in the area I had been to before. We had hoped to see eagles. We had read that last year they reported 25 eagles were in the area. We, unfortunately, did not see any. We did, however, see and hear several woodpeckers and a few squirrels along with a couple cardinals. It was still a very pleasant day. We also checked out the campgrounds. Nice primitive sites that would be quiet and peaceful something we will keep in mind should we like to go local for a little getaway.

Trying to find the woodpecker we could hear.!

Latest Happenings

It's been wintry. Like icy wintry. We actually spent an extra day in NE due to the ice. So when we returned to ROADA we quickly decided it was time to do some weatherproofing. We added some insulation to the sliding door and also used an insulation kit (made for a window but it worked well for our door). It was a good addition and we saw immediate results. Next we added more bubblewrap insulation in our cabinets. So far it seems to be helping. We still plan to add more insulation to the bathroom wall and also potentially to our back doors. Every little bit helps and we are hopeful these little adjustments make wintering a little easier. We also hope it will help to keep the heat out better in warm weather. 

CAUTION: MiRV at work...

HighPoints and Hot Springs

Howdy there! So we have decided that 2017 is gonna start us on hitting HighPoints. We aren't aiming to make all 50 in the U.S. in one year but we are going to try and make our way through the list as we travel around.

Driskill Mountain in Louisiana is our first HighPoint!

Mount Magazine in the Natural State was our 2nd HighPoint. (That's Arkansas for those unfamiliar with the state nickname.)

Hot Springs, Arkansas in front of BathHouse Row.

The weather was more than chilly on this trip but we made the best of it and still had fun! We enjoyed the time away and now we are looking forward to seeing Trigger again. She's growing way too fast, I'm afraid she will be walking before we make it to see her again. This child is on the move according to her mother and popping teeth like popcorn!

Stay warm out there; it's looking like we are possibly going to have a heck of an ice storm if the weather guessers are correct. However, since it's still a few days away it's anybodies guess if they are gonna be right or wrong.