photography

A committee of vultures

/ Roadtirementvintage / 14 Comments

On a drive today we saw many large black birds in a field next to a rural county road. I had my son stop the car for a better look and a photo op. The committee of vultures started to move away from the road,  some walking and some flying close to the ground before they settled down again.

And by the way, there are three different names for a group of vultures. Different circumstances dictate what name applies at the time. A committee is a group resting on the ground or in trees. A wake is a group feeding. And when you see lots of vultures soaring in the sky, wings outstretched with little or no flapping, well that is called a kettle of vultures.

Saw a goose on a drive around town

/ Roadtirementvintage / 15 Comments

Sher and I took advantage of our son again and had him drive us around town. There were lots of people out, mostly driving as it was rather chilly and windy. Not the best conditions for a walk.

I spotted this goose on a traffic island in a store parking lot. The goose just sat there when our car pulled up be side it, which allowed me to take these shots.  The goose’s mate saw us from across the lot and was walking (or should I say waddling) towards us as we pulled away.

Back On Track Indiana plan announced

/ Roadtirementvintage / 18 Comments

On Friday Governor Eric Holcomb of Indiana gave the long awaited news conference outlining the state’s plan to reopen for business. The official COVID-19 “lock-down” order expired on Friday. New regulations begin on Monday. If you are interested, the details are pretty clearly listed on the new website Back on Track Indiana.  It explains the five steps that the State has planned for the reopening of businesses.

The moon seen yesterday, has nothing to do with COVID-19. Just a pretty picture.

The Reader’s Digest version is pretty simple. It things go according to plan, July 4th is the date when Indiana is “back to normal”. This is if the previous four steps have worked out. The new normal, however, does include possible restrictions on nursing homes and K-12 school openings and still calls for social distancing.

What’s this do for Roadtirement? Well, dear friends, we are still basically under self-isolation. Not until Step Four of the plan does it mention the possibility of those over 65 and with underlying health conditions getting out in public, and then following social distancing guidelines. Are we going to even risk that? The coronavirus will still be out there. People will still be catching it, and will still be killed by it. Who knows when a viable treatment and/or vaccine will be available for all.

We will have to at some point decide when we will be willing to take the chance of catching the COVID-19 virus by getting out and into the public. There is so much we are wanting to do…

Feeding birds and umbrellas for social distancing

/ Roadtirementvintage / 16 Comments

The phone image isn’t the best, but you can see the cute (?) little English sparrow enjoying a meal at our recently installed bird feeder. You can also see the corn cob, now devoid of any corn kernels, sticking up from the tree. We put a nail in the tree, drilled a hole down the center of the cob, and voila! a squirrel feeding station.

This danged COVID-19 stay at home stuff is really, really getting old. We still miss going out to eat, going to a casino (we like the free play!) and being able to travel to see the kids and grand kids.

Oh, and we saw something different on a CNN internet report. There is a village in India named Thannermukkom that has given out 10,000 umbrellas. The idea is that if you walk around with an open umbrella, and others do the same, it forces you to not get close to each other. Not sure you are the 6 feet away, but definitely not shoulder to shoulder.

Stay calm,  remember the rules, and wash those hands and keep physical distance!

Got the fence put up

/ Roadtirementvintage / 25 Comments

Yesterday Roadtirement posted about our backyard projects. Our son got the mulch placed around the tree. I got most of the fence sections scraped and painted to go around the mulch bed.

This morning I set out the fence sections that were done. Turns out I just needed four more sections to complete the circle around the tree. It did not take too long to prepare and paint four more sections, let them dry, and install. You can see the result, above. The green stuff on the mulch is the seeds and such falling off the tree.

Hang in there, don’t be too bored, and keep using those safe practices

Our new bird feeder

/ Roadtirementvintage / 31 Comments

When we got the squirrel corn the other day we also bought a bird feeder. So far we have not actually seen any feathered friends at the feeder, but the drop in the seed level and loose seeds on the ground under the feeder do show that it has been used.

Speaking of birds, there is a Pileated Woodpecker living somewhere around our neighborhood. We have seen him a couple of times flying through. What a magnificent bird. We’re looking forward to more sightings.

Since we’re not traveling Sher and I have focused on getting our backyard into a more comfortable and enjoyable living space. BC (before coronavirus) we were traveling for much of the year. Thanks to COVID-19 that has changed drastically.

Got any bird feeders in your yard? What is your favorite bird?

Remember all that “stay healthy” advice! Don’t slip up!

Some backyard projects while Roadtirement is shutdown

/ Roadtirementvintage / 12 Comments

We had another day of nice weather today. The sun was out, temps did hit the high 60s and there was a moderate breeze. A good scenario for some backyard projects.

Work in progress

Ready for a border and flowers

 

 

 

 

 

One project was the placement of mulch at the base of one of the trees in our backyard. The plastic bags that package the mulch makes for a decent barrier to keep unwanted weed growth.

The old flaky paint must go

Spray painting the scraped sections

 

 

 

 

 

While our son was putting down the mulch, I was scraping old paint off some flower bed border fence sections. I spray painted them as well. Got about half of the ones I need done to circle the new mulch bed around the tree.

Next will be the decision on the plantings in the mulch. It felt good getting some outside work done today. And I didn’t watch any COVID-19 briefings from our governor or from Trump. That was nice….

Stay safe, get some exercise, social distance yourself and wash those hands.

 

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