Sharon's Summer.... so far

Okay, now about me. My interests are a little different. I am much more boring than John. I have spent time reading, gardening and critter watching, in between my excursions with John. As I mentioned several times the local critters appeared to decide that we weren't returning and decided to take back the neighborhood. I had 4 families of birds build their nests and raise youngins on the outside of the house. One robin decided the Wisteria arbor over my front porch was the ideal place for her babies. Another preferred the light on the back deck. A pair of flycatchers raised 3 babies right outside the window at my desk. The fourth, a pair of starlings found a niche on the side of the house. They were the noisiest and the messiest of the families by far. I locked the front door and made John, the dogs and any visitors enter and exit via the back door until the babies were fledged. You can imagine how well this went over... but God Bless him, he tried. All my fussing did allow me to check an item off my bucket list. I had always wanted to see a baby bird take his very first flight. I watched for 2 and a half hours as the last baby robin made the decision to use his wings. It was really neat. Here is a picture of the flycatchers through the window and the robin trying to decide if he could fly.

I brought home a cactus garden from Arizona. I was concerned how the weather of North Central Pa would affect the cactus, but I was rewarded with several of them blooming. What a pleasure that was. here is a picture of one of the blooms.

We have had an unusual summer as far as weather is concerned. The spring was wet, the summer very hot and dry. This created lots of flora around the place. My perennials did very well. Here is a picture I just happened to capture. I had picked some blooms for the coffee table and the sun decided to come through the skylight onto the flowers just as I placed them. I just had to have a picture of it. In the background is the view into the kitchen and out of the sliding door to the deck. I thought it was a neat picture

In July I went to Middletown NY to attend my niece Brianne's bridal shower. The theme was "Breakfast at Tiffanie's". It was nice to see my sister and nieces. Attached is a picture of the cake... a gift box, and also one of the bride to be. I went with my x sister in law Helen. We had a nice 3 hour ride over and 3 hours back. ..... plenty of time to get caught up on girl talk.

Well the rain has stopped, so I need to get moving. I am going to try to be a little more faithful in adding to the postings... I have to get in practice for traveling. My friend Wendy gave me "what for" for waiting so long to write and post.

OMG......I almost forgot.......  we now have our 4th.... fourth..... as in one more than 3... antennae on top of the motorhome. Any bets on how long it stays up there?

John's Summer .. so far

I have been very bad about keeping the blog updated on a regular basis. Here it is almost the middle of August and I haven't written anything for months. We are having a rainy day, the first in weeks, so I am determined to get caught up. I am dividing this into 2 postings... this one with John's doings and one with my endeavors. Of course the majority of these events we did together but it will become obvious as you read why I am documenting it this way.

As I mentioned in a previous posting, since we returned we have been explaining to the local critters that we still own the house and they must share the neighborhood with us. However the chipmunks seem to believe what's ours is theirs. John decided to sight in his riffle by using these pesky critters as targets. Here is a picture of the mighty hunter.

John's goal for the summer was to acquire a Jeep to take on our future journeys. While we were in Arizona, he found one for sale on EBay that he was very interested in. It turned out that the owner lived in Williamsport, Pa, less than 12 miles from our home. When we returned, the vehicle was still available, so it's now ours. Here is a picture of John and his "new to us" Jeep. The dogs love going for rides... top down...fur flying in the breeze...lots of smells. I have to admit, it's like having a motorcycle ride without worrying if John can keep it upright.  

We have been attending many of the fairs & festivals around the area. This is one of John's favorite things to do. For the first time we attended the "Billtown Blues Festival", an all day event of bluegrass bands. We went with several friends, taking along a day's supply of wine and food. Here is John doing what he does best... talking.

 

We have also visited John's brother and family at their "river lot". For those of you unfamiliar with our area in Pa, the creek we live on (Lycoming Creek) flows into the west branch of the Susquehanna River (about 14 miles from our home). Many residents in the area, rent "lots" (Larger than campsites) along the river for the summer season. This section is excellent for boating and fishing as well as swimming. John's brother Paul has a lot with a boat dock, pavilion and camper on it. He has a 25 foot pontoon boat that holds a dozen or more people very comfortably. We have had several lazy afternoons on the boat on the river and picniking. Here are 2 pictures of John experiencing the fun of a jet ski, for the first time, on the river.

Our time right now has been occupied by making some small renovations to the motorhome preparing for our journeys when October arrives. We cannot leave prior to that because John is going to work for his son Chris in late September, so he can visit Los Vegas for a well deserved vacation. In addition, my sister Erin's daughter Brianne is getting married on 10/10/2010 in Poughkeepsie, NY. So we will be heading north prior to our journey south.