More Birds & Boats

 

Have I ever said that the American Bald Eagle is my favorite bird?  Last summer I placed two decals on our Camper Van, each with a Bald Eagle on them.  Bald Eagles migrate to Florida for the winter, seeking open water and food.  Florida has year-round residents, but the winter months sees an influx of these northern migrants for nesting and feeding, with the Florida breeding season occurring from fall to spring.  I guess experts can tell the difference, but to most of us we have no idea if they live here year around, or if they are just another "Snow Bird".

This tree (above) has had an Eagle's Nest in it for many years.  It has survived hurricane strength winds,  but it always needs adjustments to the nest.  So far this year, I have only seen the one Eagle hanging around...it takes two to make a nest.  Still hoping a "mate" might come along so the nest can be fully utilized.

I see this same eagle flying over the coast between Anclote River Park and Anclote Gulf Park.  Along this mile long stretch of the Gulf of America, it is flying high over the other birds of prey, such as the Osprey the Turkey and Black Vultures.  Normally this nest would already have eggs or hatched eggs in it.  Sad to see it so empty.

Above he/she is in another tree close to the nest.  I wish I could tell the difference between a male and female...females are typically larger than the males.  But with only one hanging around, it is hard to say...my guess is that this is a male though, but I can't tell you exactly why other than saying, "It is a gut feeling...."

 

This is an Osprey's nest...it is a natural nest located in the parking lot of Key Vista Nature Park, another park about a miles driving distance from Anclote Gulf Park, but only 1/2 mile by the way the crow flies.  

This is the same nest, and you can clearly see that there are two Osprey present.  My guess is that there are eggs in the nest, but they have not hatched yet...should be soon though.  The reason I don't think they have hatched is because the Osprey don't seem to be feeding anything in the nest.  Also, once they do hatch, there is a distinct high pitch chirp that the little ones make...I have not heard that sound yet.
 

These Osprey nesting platforms encourage ospreys to nest and raise their young, aiding in population recovery efforts.  They keep the Osprey safe from sites like dead trees, which might be vulnerable to collapse, or hazardous man-made structures like active power poles. Like the Bald Eagle, the Osprey have a migration population, and a year-around population too.  The above nest, by-the-way, has had two adult birds in it, I just have not got a picture of both in there at the same time.  There are MANY Osprey nest, either on a platform or in a tree, all over Florida.  Every day I take Indy for a ride.  We drive between 8 to 14 miles...when it is 14 miles we visit four county parks along the Gulf of America.  There are COUNTLESS numbers of Osprey nests along this route.  Interesting note:  Florida is home to one of the largest osprey populations in the United States. Approximately 20% of the U.S. osprey population (excluding Alaska) nests in Florida.

        

 Great Blue Heron (left) and Wood Stork (right)

Along our route as we near home, we typically stop at the Public Library.  This time of year, there are many birds, such as these two above.  Now and then we will see an Osprey dive into the pond and grab a fish.  It is not unusual to hear of cars being hit by fish dropped by Osprey.  Once dropped, the fish becomes food for the seagulls and the large black birds.

 

 

At Anclote River Park, there are many boats that are anchored near the boat launching area, and along the river up-stream towards Tarpon Springs (the last one above is a boat that is anchored in the river, Tarpon Springs is located up river, which is to the left in this picture with the Sponge Docks about 2 miles away from this point.)  As long as the boats are not anchored in the river waterway, or too close to the docks, then there is no time limit and no docking fees.  Some of the boats seem to be there long term, others come and go.  A few of the "come and go" type seem to have people living on the boat, and they have skiffs that will take them from their ship to the shore.  There is a limit how long a skiff can be tied up to the docks.  

 

Above is another boat anchored along the river.  But behind it you can see some homes...which have there own set of docks with boats docked there.  There is well over a thousand properties in Pasco County which have private docks on them, while Pinellas County (think Clearwater to the far south to Tarpon Springs to the north end of the county) has nearly 15,000 private boat docks.  These homes in the picture are in Tarpon Springs, and are valued in the $800,000 to $3 million dollar range.  (Here is a random one found on Zillow: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2053-N-Pointe-Alexis-Dr-Tarpon-Springs-FL-34689/46960384_zpid/)  

     

Boaters returning from an outing on the Gulf...or perhaps travelers headed for a short stay in Tarpon Springs???  You never know...except the boat on the left was docked on the north side of the river in the Sponge Docks area when I drove through there the next day. 

These last five are the more typical fishing boats.  Some days, especially weekends, the parking for vehicles with boat trailers at the park is around 90 spots on asphalt, and another 50 or so on grass...I have seen where all the asphalt spots are taken...at $10 per day per spot, although you can buy a yearly pass.  You cannot park all night and stay in your vehicle, but I am sure some do.

We have had seasonal/typical winter weather.  Tonight will be in the upper 30's, with temps in the 50's tomorrow.  By Thursday we will be back in the 50's at night, and in the low 70's during the day.  Today, due to the cold, there were only a handful of boat trailers parked, and only one boater pulling out of the water, while we drove through.  I expect the same for the next few days, but with temps in the 70's next weekend, I am sure things will pick back up. 

To Tehachapi California

 

It was a toss-up as to if we dry camped, or get into a campground at Tehachapi.  I decided on the latter.  Here we are in spot #1, 25' (little more like 28' in my opinion), and all we hooked up was electricity.  We dumped our tanks at the rest area in Tulare...when we got to the Flying J just north of Bakersfield I found that the container that holds the sewer hose had come open and we lost our hose out on highway 99.  

I KNEW this was something that other owners had complained about, and I thought having a clip on it, which you can see in the bottom right of the holder, would prevent this from happening.  Apparently I was wrong.  I will need to be more prudent to be sure the cap is on properly, and then clip it.  Thank goodness they have a Walmart here in Tehachapi, so we are good to go. The new hose is only 10' long, not 12' or 15' like the one that came with it, so it should be easier to put the lid on the storage container.

The backup camera sure makes it easy to backup into spots like this...

Here is a panoramic view of the north side of Highway 58 in Tehachapi.  You can see the smoke which has been very prevalent from before Fresno all the way here.  Normally you can see the mountains to the east as you travel Highway 99...not today.

We are at the Mountain Valley RV Park, a 27 site campground which can hold rigs as big as 60+ all the way down to the one we are in which they claim is for no larger than 25'.  The price is $43 with the AARP discount. There is an Airport right next to the property, but it has no lights and is for small planes, so no noise from there at night.  It is a very quiet park, especially since the train tracks are over by Highway 58.  Tomorrow....Wickenburg is our destination.

And the answer is YES...Indy misses her Aunt and Uncle and the green grass of the backyard there in Citrus Heights.

 

NEVER Thought We Would Be Homeless

We run into homeless folks all the time here in Holiday Florida...never thought we would be joining the ranks of being homeless.  But you know, it just takes one event in your life to turn the tables around.  Might be a fire.  Might be a Squatter problem.  Might be that you just can't afford the taxes, insurance and HOA fees.  Perhaps a United Airlines plane flew over and dropped an engine on your house.  In our case it is none of these...it is . . .

After having our motorhome for ten years, driving 90K miles (give or take), it was time to make a move.  After talking to the representative we were dealing with to buy another motorhome, it became apparent that we were going to be lucky to get $5K for the Isata due to a list of items that needed to be repaired.  Areas of the paint needed attention.  The slide awning ripped on our recent trip home.  The fresh water tank sprung a leak sometime last summer.  A check engine light came on somewhere in Texas on our way home, although it did not affect the operation of the engine, although it has been using just a little more oil these past few years than it use to.  The Radio/GPS busted a couple of years ago.  The carpet needed to be replaced throughout.  And the generator has not worked for about four years.  I am sure there are other items, but that list alone makes it an "AUCTION" motorhome when you deal with an RV dealer.  

Golden Coach RV Park & Campground

 

It looks like we were very lucky to find this RV Park in Cromberg, California.  The park has about 60 sites, and most all are currently full.  Many of the campers are either long-time seasonal or full-time users.  (Had a guy walk by with his dog and he said he lived here full-time.  However, the reservation website says the park is open from May 1st through October 31st)

Outside our front door is this view, which is where the owners Cathy and Mark live, and they store the equipment used to keep the park in shape.  

Behind us is one trailer, and they have a doggie fence out their door.  This evening they were entertaining another couple, and there were two dogs, a rather large dog and a dog Indy's size.  Perhaps she might have a doggie friend while we are here.  As we sat out a couple of times today in the partial shade of the trees, mid-80's temps, we saw about eight or nine dogs.  No grass here, but there is a patch of grass on the other end of the park.

Here is another view of the driver's side of the motorhome.  You can see we don't have a campsite next to us, it is a bunch of tables and large fire pit.  We will have to see if it is used on the weekends while we are here.

The biggest surprise were the Redwood Trees interspersed among the Fir and Pine trees.  We happen to have many Redwood Trees right at our campsite!

The Park has a small store, showers, laundry, and an official US Post Office.  I will give more information about the area in my next blog. 

We are here through Labor Day, we may extend a week or so, time will tell.  The cost, about $20 per night for the monthly rate, full hookups, just can't be beat.  And the weather is so much milder than down in the Sacramento Valley.  I think we are really going to enjoy our stay here.

Finally Camping After a 1st Birthday & Mom in Hospital

We made it up to Truckee yesterday...here for four days (on our second day right now), and then headed to Golden Coach RV Resort in Cromberg, 15 miles outside of Quincy.  More on the camping later...first...

Addie had her first birthday in mid-July.  Mom, who had been fighting another UTI attended it and had a very good time.  Also there was Marcia, Michael & Anna (parents of baby), Shelley (my first wife and mother of my children), and my daughter Stephanie, who had a birthday just a couple days later.  I have many pictures of the day, but the parents are very 'shy' about letting close-up pictures out on the Internet due to hackers who use such photos to do nasty dirty things to them.  We all had a great time, and watching her eat her first watermelon, which was in place of a birthday cake (sugar is not yet one of the foods she has had yet...once you go down that path there is no end to it, says my son.)  She finally held it, took a bite, then made Michael take a bite of his...they have these games they play.  Looking at pictures of her dad at year one, Addie is a spitting image of him. 

The very next morning the Assisted Living Home could not get mom out of bed, or even very alert.  They called an ambulance which took her to Sutter Hospital.  Test after test, looking for signs of stroke, heart, cancer...it all came down to her having a UTI.  Click on this Google Search "UTI Delirium" and you can see how a UTI can make an elderly person very 'out-of-it', to say the least.  They put her on a IV drip for antibiotic and when the culture came back that it was a E. coli variety of a UTI.  A person's body contains  E. coli bacteria that normally live in the intestines of healthy people ... most types of E. coli are harmless.  When they get into the urinary tract, well that can hurt anyone, and can kill an elderly person.  Five or six days later and she went back to the group home.  Seems each UTI puts a dent into her memory, so her dementia is getting worse with each one, and with each month that passes by.  She is 93, pretty much the last of her generation.

So, here we are up at Granite Flat, one of our favorite campgrounds close to Sacramento.  Good Verizon for the aircard (only two bars, but we are seeing speeds in the 10-20 Mbps range, good enough for our needs.)  We liked it better when it was all 'first come first serve', but that changed a few years ago.  First about 2/3rds of the park was by reservation...now all of it is.  However, 'if' you come in on lets say a Monday, and find a spot which has no reservation until Friday, you can pay for two nights, then go online and pay for the later two nights...which is what we did.  $11 a night with the America the Beautiful Lifetime Senior Pass.  We are closer to the highway 89, but the noise never seems to bother us much, especially at night when there is very little traffic.

One of the things we wanted to do was to get away from the Valley heat.  It is 84 here near Truckee, it is 97 in Citrus Heights.  Our low tonight will be around 46, Citrus Heights will be around 65.  Since we have been out this year, the weather could not have been better for the month of June...then July came and Citrus Heights hit a high of 109 and 105 or over about 4 other times.  A few nights got down to the low to mid 70's, and we had to sleep with the A/C going all night.  One thing about RVing, the AC is very loud and it can be hard to get a good nights sleep with it circulating on and off all night.  

A few times in the past we spent a bit of our summer in Quincy at Pioneer Park.  They were full for the number of weeks we wanted to stay.  But Golden Coach RV Park, just 15 miles to the east in Cromberg, is about 800 feet higher than elevation than Quincy and 1,200 feet lower than Truckee.  So Cromberg will be a bit cooler than Quincy, a bit hotter than Truckee, but way cooler than the Sacramento Valley.  And they have a monthly price of $625, and she (the owner) prorated the rest of our stay through Labor Day at the same rate, just under $20 per night for our stay.  And it is full service, which means electricity, water, sewer, along with showers and pay to use laundry.  "IF" we need to run our A/C, it won't be needed at night because the lows will be around 50 degrees.  And as Verizon goes, the owner said they put a new tower right across the street from!  Verizon is great, AT&T is not...so we will be in Internet fast zone for sure!

Our original goal was to go up to Southwest Oregon to spend 6 weeks or so at Huntley Park.  The same day mom went into the hospital, a fire started just outside Agnes and this fire has grown to over 22,000 acres and is only 3% contained.  The fire is now 5 miles from Huntley Park, but we axed the idea of going there when it was 14 miles away and only 4,000 acres.  So plan "B" is what we are doing, and we feel we are going to like Golden Coach RV Park as we did Pioneer Park in Quincy.

Could not resist few more picture of Addie...she is opening up her first book delivery of her book subscription that her proud grandpa (me) and Marcia provided for her birthday, along with a kid friendly book case, one in which she can sit on as she gets older, for these and other books she will get.

Grandma Shelley and Great Grandma Dorothy.

Very proud Aunty Stephanie. (Addie is looking at a book that was already in her collection. The girl loves books, she is going to go a long way, such a smart child.)

And this girl here celebrated her third anniversary being adopted into our home on July 4th.  She loves to growl at all the people that she hears and sees passing by our campsite..but so far, no barking.  She is a good little girl for sure.

Indy -- Three Years Later

 

We got Indy kinda by luck.  Sister Sandy had seen this dog on Nextdoor around 10 am on July 4th.  Showed picture to me, and we showed picture to Marcia, and the order was given...."Go Get Her, I (we) Want That Dog!"

Look at what now I see as fear in her eyes.  Confused, she walked around the backyard with her tail under butt for the first 36-48 hours.  The 4th of July noise did not seem to phase her...probably because she was so very scared already.

She started to calm down, and by the night of the 5th she got a good night sleep...she bonded with me first, and her tail started to stand up in the air, an occasional wag of her tail, and her morning and afternoon treats from Arny and Sandy began.  She started to growl when I held her at anyone who came toward us...she still does this to this day for people she does not know, and sometimes for those who she does know.

Another thing that helped her was that Bubba was still with us for her first 3 months or so.  Look at the difference in her looks after being groomed, and having been with us for 2 weeks!  

And our travels began...  Now she is our only dog, bonded with both Marcia and I extremely well, and has a special bond with Sandy and Arny and other relatives.  She LOVES her cousin Parker, her special boy dog friend Jack who lives next to Sandy and Arny, and just about any other dog she comes across.

Above are a couple of more recent pictures of Indy.  She is such an important part of our lives.  

So tonight there will be a HUGE celebration in honor of our country ... and to us, in honor of our little Indy.  And how will Indy handle it? 

She will be higher than a kite!  She is a VERY sensitive dog when it comes to loud bangs, and other loud noises.  This is the first year we are trying ThunderWunder for the 4th, but we initially tried it out this past New Years Eve.  I gave her one at 10 am, will give another around 7 pm, and another around 10 pm...maybe 11 pm.  We hold her, wrap her in our blankets, but the next large BANG brings her back to being a terrorized dog.  

Hope YOU ALL enjoy your 4th of July.

Note:  Mom is doing well at the "Home".  We feel so much better knowing that she is getting good care, she is still close to Sandy and Patti, and her overall mental attitude is so much better.  She is getting up for breakfast each day since she has been there except for one.  She came over to Sandy and Arny's house last Sunday for a Lamb dinner.  And she is looking forward to being at baby Addie's first birthday party.