Watching the squirrel with the corn

/ Roadtirementvintage / 8 Comments

Yesterday during our “get out of the house for a change of scenery” adventure we somehow got on the subject of squirrels and feeding them. One thing led to another and we decided that we’d get some ear corn and mount it on backyard trees. Our son went into the Rural King store and got us a bag of ear corn.

We put one ear of corn each on two different trees in our backyard. When I first got up this morning neither ear had been touched. Then a second check a little later revealed that one of the ears was now completely devoid of kernels. The squirrel had moved to the second ear, which was on the tree closer to the house. It was grabbing a kernel and then burying it close to the tree. About every fourth kernel buried he would stop and eat one! The squirrel is, as I write this, continuing to take the kernels off this second corn cob.  Fun to watch, but now I have to decide how much corn to put out.

Oh, we also got a bird feeder. No action there yet. We’ll let you know…..

Stay safe and healthy friends! 

 

A pair of Mallard ducks and a walk

/ Roadtirementvintage / 11 Comments

Even the ducks obeyed and stayed 6 feet away

Sher and I and our son ventured out yesterday for drive and a walk in the sun. We found the weather to be near perfect with temps right around 70 with a moderate breeze. Cabin fever is really starting to set in so we thought it best to get a change of scenery. A lot of people were out enjoying the day. Everyone we passed respected the “social distancing” recommendations. We felt that we were safe in this activity.

Are you struggling with cabin fever? How are you breaking up the monotony of the stay at home rules of the COVID-19 pandemic?

Follow recommendations to stay healthy!

Yes, the 1st Earth Day was 50 years ago

/ Roadtirementvintage / 8 Comments

Big 4 Mountain, Cascade Range

Wow, April 22, 1970. Where were you on the first Earth Day? I was a freshman at a small liberal arts college in Illinois. I knew several fellow students who were really activist minded about the environment, anti-war movement and other social issues. My geology professor was already a hard core environmentalist. The Nation wide and world wide Earth Day marches were quite something to see/read about.

Here we are in the midst of a COVID-19 pandemic. There have been many reports documenting the effect that all of the stay at home orders have had on Earth. Have you seen the air quality/pollution studies showing the very dramatic decrease in smog due to few people driving?  How about the video of the kangaroo hopping across an Australian city and only seeing one car?  Geologists studying earthquakes are seeing subtle readings on seismographs that before have been hidden due to human activity.

I read somewhere that the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic is Earth’s way of scolding humankind and sending us to our rooms until we learn how to behave. Makes sense to me. It is my hope that the “new normal”, what ever that turns out to be, will show much more respect for Earth. Our existence depends on it.

— stay safe, wash your hands,  stay healthy —

Souvenir from a Jellystone Park

/ Roadtirementvintage / 10 Comments

A while back Sher and I met a lot of our family members at an RV campground near Cleveland, Ohio. We stayed at a franchised campground with a Jellystone Park theme. Yes, right from the cartoon series with Yogi Bear, BooBoo, Cindy and the hapless Ranger.  We had a wonderful time as this was a perfect place for family activities.

Souvenir ornament

Souvenir photograph

 

 

 

 

 

 

The “Airstream” style ornament , while Christmas themed, is now permanently hanging from the window over our table in the RV. This souvenir is cute, lights up and reminds us of that fun time we all had at the Jellystone Park RV resort.

Do any of you collect souvenirs from your travel adventures?

Please Remember to  Stay Safe and Stay Healthy 

Roadtirement’s colorful companion

/ Roadtirementvintage / 11 Comments

Meet our good luck Joker

This Joker has been our good luck traveling companion for quite a while. He has seen three different RV’s we have used: Two travel trailers and our current Class C motor home. Joker quietly observes where we go, what we see and also what we eat, as he hangs above the kitchen sink!

Just curious, do any of you  have a good luck object in your RV, car, truck, house or whatever?

Remember to  Stay Safe and Stay Healthy 

 

Home is where you park it… What?

/ Roadtirementvintage / 12 Comments

We received this cute towel as a nice gift this past winter from our Austin family.

“Home is where you park it” is a clever pun, really, referring to those who travel in RV’s. We have been in self isolation for the past eight weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Twice now I’ve started and run both the RV’s engine and the on board generator. Best not to let the rig set idle for too long. The cute thing is that our towel is still correct in what it states: The RV is in the driveway next to our house, our home.

Sher and I are really looking forward to the day when our “Home” will be parked in an RV parking spot that is not the driveway of our home base house.

Indiana extends shutdown and protests follow

/ Roadtirementvintage / 6 Comments

Here’s some colorful phlox for you to see before today’s Roadtirement blog topic.

Indiana’s Governor Eric Holcomb has extended the state wide stay at home order from April 20th to May 1st. However, some restrictions are being lifted. Most of the non-essential elective surgery procedures will be allowed to continue. This has been so the PPE supplies were available for health care workers treating COVID-19 patients.  Apparently dental appointments will also now be allowed.

There were lots of folks protesting the shut down in front of the Governor’s Residence in Indianapolis over the weekend. The participants were not observing “social distancing” and few wore face masks. I appreciate the protesters’ right of free speech, but sorry, that was a really stupid way of doing it. They got the TV coverage they were after. But, people, the pandemic is NOT yet over. You can protest and do it within the current health and safety recommendations.

Roadtirement’s tomato plantings

/ Roadtirementvintage / 16 Comments

One thing we have decided to pursue during our stay at home isolation is grow some garden plants. We went ahead and started some tomato plants inside, as per recommendations. Our son cut some plastic water bottles in half and used some self sterilized soil for the inside seed beds.

Photo taken April 10th

Photo taken April 19th

 

 

 

 

 

 

The April 10th photo shows the tomato seedlings. You can see in the April 19th shot how much the tomato seedlings have grown. In addition, the two containers in the foreground are peppers. We are hopeful that we’ll get some tomatoes and peppers after we transplant the seedlings.

We have a small garden plot in the backyard.  Hopefully we will reap the rewards of same. We’ll keep you posted…

When Roadtirement meets Indiana’s shutdown order

/ Roadtirementvintage / 10 Comments

Sher and I have been in a stay at home situation since we got back a month or so early from our usual stint as Winter Texans. Since our return to Indiana on February 25th we have been really in a stay at home mode courtesy of the COVID-19 pandemic. With our ages and my “underlying health issues” we have to be careful. So we thought we’d share some of what makes up Roadtirement’s self-isolation environment. What do we have,  how do we live day to day, and what’s some of the stuff we’re doing when we can’t go to the casinos, live theater or set up and sell at festivals and flea markets.

Pictured is a very nice and vintage hiking trails map from Tucson. The topographic map is dated 1967 and was published by the Southern Arizona Hiking Club. The map centers around Mt. Lemmon, north east of Tucson, in the Santa Catalina Range.  Mt. Lemmon is a very popular recreation area with miles of trails in the rugged terrain of the mountains.

Details of Mt. Lemmon w/trails

The map legend

We got this map when we were visiting Tucson a few years ago. I spotted it in a listing for an estate sale and was the lucky bidder. I did my graduate work at the University of Arizona in the early 70s and made many of the 2 hour trips from Tucson to the top. That sparked my interest in the map that now lives on our living room wall.

Do you have anything in your house or RV that reminds you of experiences from decades ago?