The Chicken Coop Project

When we arrived in Pennsylvania in early April, Dotty, my sister, told us that we had a project, if we wanted it. 

I was excited when she said that we could remove the old chicken coop and yard, and make it disappear. 

Latona was a great help! We made it disappear!

On the Road Again!

Here is the update for the Daicey Duo!  (Known also as Linda and Latona)

Well, we decided to leave Rio Hondo a bit early and head to Pennsylvania. Here is where my sister and her husband live and where my 98-year old mother resides. We have been very careful as we traveled and have maintained social distance from Texas to here. We know we will shelter in place here and maintain a quarantine while we wait out the time to return to Maine.  Our sadness includes missing the friends we had hoped to visit as we made our way north.  Of course, we missed the spring migration and had to say goodbye to our Traveling Sisters Sharon and Pat.

We managed to pick secondary roads for the most part and thank God for Wal-Mart. Most places were closed tight as a drum and would not allow camping.  We thought we might find state parks and KOAs since our friends stayed in them just a week before as they headed north. But no luck except one night!

Several things happened as we traveled.  On our second night, first night was a Walmart parking lot, we followed the signs for the Natchez Trace Parkway beginning in Natchez, MS. We left Texas and planned to stop on the Trace.  We followed a sign that said “Campground A” and after several miles of rough road we found a place where there were about ten spots with several vacant sites. We chose #5 and found that this was a full hook up campground.  We dumped our tank, hooked up electricity and filled our water jugs. We waited for someone to come and collect our fee in the evening, but no one came. We thought in the morning someone would come but still no one came! What a gift for us!

Now on the Trace and having a great travel day!

It was wonderful to travel with spring!  We had loved it when we walked with spring on the Appalachian Trail. Now we were seeing Redbud, Dogwood, and May Apples as we drove.

The next day, in a Walmart parking lot, now in Tennessee, we had another treat. We love seeing the buggies when we travel in the Pennsylvania Dutch Country so what a surprise when I saw this.

We traveled along in Tennessee and stumbled upon Jack Daniels in Lynchburg.

We went into Kentucky and after lots of twists and turns, we went into West Virginia, the mountain state for sure. We did a bit of a marathon and made it to Hagerstown, WV and tried many places to stay. Again, we ended at a Walmart parking lot. Twelve hour day and I forgot to turn off the lights in the bright parking lot. The next morning was a call to AAA and after an hour we were off to Pennsylvania.

We had to skip my brothers house, but made it to my sisters house around lunchtime. Said hi to mom
but stayed clear for now. We are happy to be here and now will shelter in place and hope to keep everyone safe.

Here is a picture of where we are sheltering in place!

                              We love being with my sister and it is a good place to be for now!

We

And a bit more!

One thing to share is that we are experiencing the Corona Flu here in the campground and until April 6 we will be evaluating the progression of the pandemic and decide whether we should start our trip north or not. We are blessed to have good friends to share meals and movies with as well as times with their dogs. They let us do laundry and have showers in their rig since the buildings are all closed here in the camp. Here are Chelsea and Snappy playing and in their baby carriage 😍

We are almost out of toilet paper however!*****


But we continue to visit World Birding Centers since we can easily keep the social distance as suggested. One we visited last week was the Edinburg Wetlands and here we picnicked and got some pictures of the Ringed Kingfisher, Purple Martins and the Chachalaca.

Here are some mor bird pictures from the past few weeks.

Cormorant

Osprey

Cardinal

Group of birds with reflections

Mangrove warbler

Pied Bill Grebe

Bewicks Wren

Summer tanager

Least Grebe

Avocets

Tricolored heron with wind in top feathers

Snowy Egret

Killdeer

White-tailed Kite

Ruby-Throated Hummingbird(can you see it)

Bird collage

We feel grateful for the opportunity to find new and creative ways to spend our days. For example, for dinner last night we made Jambalaya -  a first!

We are having fun!,❤️❤️

What Do We Do (part 2)

Well, here I go again! As I was thinking about another post, I realized that we have done a lot of interesting things that are somewhat particular to Texas.

We went to a town called Port Mansfield that is famous because the deer have made it home. People now feed them and the cycle continues.

Another day, we visited Oliveria Park with Sharon and Pat. The park is in Brownsville, and the parrots fly around,  and land eventually in the eucalyptus trees at dusk. They roost there for the night. It sounds like a jungle when several hundred wild parrots land.

Now, spring has really started here in the Rio Grande Valley and we 
are amazed as we anticipate the Yuccas and the Prickly Pear blooms. Here are a few of what we are seeing.

                     We are surrounded with beauty in nature!   
We are also surrounded by surprises like the times we have seen bobcats. Here is a photo of the day that a mother and two almost full-grown young ones jumped in front of us and ran off. We captured a fuzzy picture. If you count the legs you can see them all.
Another day we saw a coyote feeding with a crowd of vultures, and of course the alligators are ever present!

There is also an antelope that was brought to the area by the some of the ranches so that hunters would have a large prey.  The are called Nilgai and we saw this female with three young.

As you can see, we are using our zoom to bring the picture closer. They are about the size of the moose (in Maine) and apparently the meat is very tasty. They are a smart animal and make the hunt quite challenging. 

I am going to cut this short with a great picture of the one who has walked beside me for a long time, and with me over many lands. I love her❤️❤️.