Thursday, December 26, 2013

A Very Merry Christmas

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Two days before we leave, and I “FINALLY” get a decent picture of one of the large woodpeckers that is in the neighborhood. (Remember, click on pictures for larger image)  From my research, with the red near the beak, this is a male Northern Flicker Woodpecker.  Merry Christmas to me, my first Flicker.

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Did I mention that on Monday I groomed the dogs again?  With the southern sun, it was best to move the patio table over by the motorhome for electricity and sun…did not even think about how I was right under the hummingbird feeder.  Suddenly I hear this humming and thumping of wings and I look up and think, “Oh, if I only had my camera.”  Well, today I sat under the feeder, and got these two shots.  Should have thought about this angle much earlier…although it is a hard shot to get.

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While there, the squirrel shouted out to me, “Hey, what about me?”  So I took some pictures of one of the many squirrels that feed at the squirrel feeder.

ChristmasPresent

This was our third Christmas together.  The first Christmas we had just bought our American Eagle, and pretty much considered that our present to each other.  Last year, coming off our first major trip where we visited some 22 states and drove around 10,000+ miles, we decided to forego giving each other anything.  This year we first agreed upon doing the same….but then Marcia let me know about ten days ago that she had found something that “I” really needed, and although I was not expected to get her anything, she was getting me something.  Ok, put on the thinking cap Dave, because this just ain’t going to cut it.  What is a good gift, something which can be used in the motorhome and in the condo?
2a
How about a Creative ZiiSound D3x Bluetooth Wireless Speaker System?  Bluetooth, so there is no wire connection to the laptop.  She can take the speaker into the bedroom, plug it in, turn on her iTunes on her computer, BAM, she has nice music in the bedroom to take her nap by.  Reading reviews, I knew the sound would be good….but I did not know it would be that good.  It is Great.  Toss in the perfect Christmas Card which I found…yep, I am a Christmas Hero!!!
2b
What did she get me?  An 18-Piece Complete BBQ Set with Aluminum Storage Case.  With our outdoor BBQ that attaches to the motorhome, well, this will be perfect.  When done, clean it up, close up the case, put it away until the next BBQ.  WHAT?  No card…shame on you Marcia….lol   (she told me I needed to remove that part, so I did….hero no longer….LOL)

dinner

The rest of the day was full of family, food, more family, more food, opening of family gift giving (each person draws a name, but we knew we were in for it when my sister Sandy was going around the room handing out little “Santa Gifts” singing, “My house, my rules”….so the sisters gave Santa gifts to go with the one individual gift.)  Heard from each of my children.  This is the first time in 24 Christmases that the three kids were not together for Christmas.  Pretty hard on their mother, who is in Salt Lake City with the two older kids, while Ryan is still in Arkansas due to work commitments on the 24th and 26th.  So YES, it has been a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS.  Hope you all had a nice day too.

6 comments:

  1. Nice day.
    The squirrel picture is so cute.

    Happy New Year....full of good health and lots of adventures!

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    1. It is amazing how just a slight move in the camera position, like a dozen steps to the Southwest, and everything looks a little different.

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  2. Great gifts and all the more appreciated because they are so perfect for your lives. I like that sound set up. Thanks for the tip. Looks like you are going to be doing a lot of BBQing in your future. Good plan Marcia! We had Northern Flickers at the farm and hummingbirds too. It is so nice to have them both for neighbors.

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    1. Yep, we both got each other good gifts for each other...great for our RVing lifestyle. I saw another, redder Woodpecker flying around too....but too far off to get a good shot. Have to get it next time since we leave tomorrow.

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  3. Glad you had a nice Christmas ~~Liz

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