 |
Welcome to Our Photo Gallery & Travelblog
|
||||||
|
|
April 2007: Heading North into Kansas & Iowa
30 April 2007: Tom is staying in Iowa while I visit my folks and family in VA. Warm, spring days are here. I went in search of fire pink wildflowers and found some just blooming along Blue Spring Run Road. Photos will be uploaded when we get the DSL Hi-Speed Internet working again. While I was photographing the red fire pinks, I was also wearing a red top. As I was concentrating on the macro shot, I heard a buzzing. Having recently had a bad reaction to a wasp sting, I backed away, from a beautiful ruby throated humming bird that was nose to nose with my small camera. I was so stunned that I forgot to snap a shot. What a missed opportunity! I am making myself feel better by saying that I did not have the right camera or setting to get a decent photo of that hummer anyway. Sour grapes. I came back from my foraging for wildflowers with a TICK in my hair. Ugh.
25 April 2007: April showers continue ... The wasp sting has caused my lower right arm to swell from wrist to elbow, turn red, and feel hot to the touch. I went to a clinic where the doctor dug out some broken pieces of the stinger and gave me a shot of steroids to stop the itching. Ten hours later, it's still itching, but the swelling has gone down. Tomorrow, I must PACK for my trip to VA. I'm watching American Idol Gives Back, raising money for so many poor children in the world. 23 April 2007: We were going to cook-out on Sunday, but we cooked-in instead because of thunderstorms. The storms have gone and blue skies and warm spring temperatures have returned. We enjoyed our time with Lisa, Chris, and Minx, a stray cat adopted by Lisa and Chris who looks like Harry Cat with a poodle haircut. Minx is a very calm, cool cat who makes himself at home on the couch and socializes well with other animals. Ouch! I woke up this morning being stung by a wasp. It was trying to crawl up the sleeve of my nightgown and in my morning slumber, I smacked it. It stung me. I killed it. After lots of whining and a little Benadryl, the itchy welts have gone away. 18 April 2007: We ventured out to Pella, Iowa, home of Tulip Time, a working windmill, and Pella Windows & Doors. We sampled their Dutch bakeries and bought meat to grill this weekend. We had a good day in warm spring weather. 16 April 2007: What a difference a few days make! It was a beautiful spring day with warm temperatures in the low 70's and a cloudless blue sky. I spent the day enjoying the sunshine with the cats and watching the birds get busy. Robins, starlings, blue jays, and several kinds of woodpeckers are courting. I spotted a male downy woodpecker and a red-bellied woodpecker. I thought that I followed the rattatattat of a pileated woodpecker, but never spotted it. After reading about this bird, I may be hearing another kind of woodpecker because this bird is not common in Iowa. There are 180 species of woodpeckers! A huge hawk flew through the campground in the early evening. It was awesome, but scary for the cats. View images of backyard birds. Tomorrow is a laundry day. Dirty clothes sure pile up fast in our laundry chute. On a sad note, a massacre in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains at VA Tech, not too far from where my parents live, has left 32 people murdered, 15 injured, and a suicide by the shooter. This is being described as the worst mass killing in US History. The investigation continues ... 14 April 2007: The snowstorm that wasn't. We're on the road again ... We left the farms, factories, and Ft. Riley in Junction City, KS behind today as we drove from Abilene, KS to Lincoln, NE. As we crossed over the state line, smooth highways turned lumpy and bumpy bouncing our boobs and bladders all the way to our overnight campsite. Spring has not sprung here. A few trees have budded, some dandelions brighten the grass, and the early spring tulips and daffodils have been beaten down by cold wind, icy rain, and snow flurries. 13 April 2007: Most of the work was done on the RV. The two employees working on our "house" were both out sick today. We took it as it was and towed back to Abilene to wait for the predicted spring snow storm for this area. Like any remodeling, there's quite a bit of dust and dirt to clean-up. If the snowstorm is bad, we'll stay put until Sunday when the sun will shine and the temperatures will be in the 60's. If it wimps out, we'll head north toward Des Moines tomorrow. The cats are happy to have their people back. Harry is hoarse, probably from crying to get out of the condo. :-( 11 April 2007: Weather continues to be cold and rainy with possible snow this weekend! Progress continues on the RV repairs. Cats are doing well in their condo. We visit them daily. We will have the RV back on the road on Friday, heading north to Iowa. 09 April 2007: Up at 5:30 AM to get to the RV shop by 9 AM. It will take at least a week for the extensive list of work to be done. So, our RV is in the shop for a few days. We put Harry and Sadie safely in their cat-condo and headed to a hotel in Manhatten. Tom's got a bug and not feeling great. At least here, it's quiet and he can sleep. We can also walk to restaurants and shops. We will go to the RV everyday to take care of the cats and check on the maintenance progress. We hope to have our "house" back on Friday so we can get to Des Moines over the weekend. As we drove today, I saw a flock of wild turkeys in a field. With the clouds spitting icy rain, it feels more like Thanksgiving than spring. After spending three months in Florida, a swamp, Kansas actually seems quite hilly. 08 April 2007: It's still cold and Harry Cat has a cold. He's been needy and sneezy for a few days now. He's eating and purring so he'll be fine. Extreme changes in temperature make us all suffer in some way. For me, my sinuses rebel. For Tom, his lungs gather fluid. Sadie Cat, hmmm, she just sleeps in her caves more. Flood in the basement! Shower drain broke lose and flooded the basement. Tom's cleaning it up. Good thing we're near an RV repair place. ;-) We're off to have brunch in the historic Kirby House. 07 April 2007: While I was hoping to be identifying spring wildflowers as we drove through Kansas, I saw patches of snow where the wildflowers should be. Temperatures hovered around 30 degrees today, warming up to a high of 40 this afternoon. We're in Abilene, Kansas which was an old stage coach stop in 1857. The town grew rapidly when the cattle traders started using the stockyards here. The Chisholm Trail ended in Abilene and brought in travelers making this one of the wildest towns in the Old West. Old Town Abilene houses buildings fashioned from that time including the C. W. Parker Carousel, a working carousel with handcarved pieces from the turn of the century. Abilene was also the boyhood home of President Eisenhower and his Museum and gravesite are located here in the Eisenhower Center. Tom and I visited these attractions on previous stays here. We're just a few miles away from Junction City where our RV was built and will be in the shop next week for maintenance. My sinuses are rebelling against the weather and Tom has a bug. The robins are busy and a male finch just chirped a happy song to let me know that spring will be here soon. 06 April 2007: Snow Day! Wintry winds, snow flurries, and sleet kept us off the road today. We caught up on our TiVo'd shows and napped. We are so ready for a house. We're back to thinking about building "green." 05 April 2007: March may have left like a lamb, but April was another story. Temperatures reached near 90 degrees in Denton, TX, on Monday this week, cooling down on Tuesday to normal spring temperatures. As we headed north on Wednesday, the temperatures dropped even further and snow flurries greeted us in Wichita, Kansas on Thursday. When we pulled into the RV park, the temperature read 32 degrees and snow was falling. Cold temperatures will be with us for awhile. We left late spring behind in Texas to find very early spring in OK and KS. The leaves are just coming out on the trees, the redbuds are blooming, and a few bluebonnets were blooming in OK, but nary a wildflower did I see once we arrived in Kansas. The spring allergens and pollens will continue to torture our sinuses for weeks now! However, I will enjoy the quiet without the air conditioners running constantly. |
||||||
To view more of our photos or to purchase prints and gifts,
|
