Florida

No pictures yet. We arrived at Tyndall AFB near Panama City yesterday afternoon around 1:30 CST. The rain threatened but held off until we went to bed. It is nice to break out the bermudas and to take long walks with the dogs. I also enjoy the unique sound of "my" F-22's. We have already met a number of folks who have been here with us before. We are in "overflow", but overflow at Tyndall is better than regular sites at some other places we have stayed. It is well graded with new crushed stone, 50 amps and water (no sewer).
Our first night out we stopped in Lake City FL at a Passport Park that we have used before. It has an enclosed dog run that is very convenient. The first day was around 300 miles and the second was 230. It was a little longer than necessary because we elected to use the coastal route 98 through Apalachicola instead of I 10. There is a long stretch of modest beach houses built up on pilings. It seemed as if every other one was for sale; some by realtors, some by owner and some by banks. Apparently the economic situation has hit here pretty hard.
We'll leave on the 3rd for a Fort Benning Fam Camp a little west of here in Destin.

The blizzard of 2010

It is a snowy Saturday morning in Hanahan, SC!! They had a trace before we moved here, but the last snowfall of any consequence was in December of 1989 right after hurricane Hugo. The pictures with the bluish cast were pre-dawn pictures with a battery that needed charging. The other two are the holly bush by the front door. In one of them you can make out our resident mocking bird. There are different sounds as you open the door. There are youngsters squealing over their first snowball fight. I expect that the snow won't last the day, but it was pleasant to wake up to...especially since I won't have to shovel it. Last evening I grilled a steak outside, and, by way of contrast, this morning we watched the dogs romp in the snow.

Center for Birds of Prey

A Christmas present from neighbors was some "Tourist in Your Own Town" passes. They are used during the tourist doldrums of January to maintain some traffic. The last post regarding Charlestowne Landing was one visit. Yesterday we drove up the coast on route 17 to the town of Awendaw. There we visited the Center for Birds of Prey. It's a non-profit using a lot of volunteer labor with the mission to rescue and return to the wild (if possible) raptors or birds of prey. In 2009 there were almost 400 with about a 50% return to the wild rate. Most had lost out in a conflict with a car. They do have a recently assigned non-raptor mission. They are also a federal avian oil spill center. They received some oil spill fines, and were asked to set up a treatment facility for birds that are victims of oil spills. They were selected for their location and their rehabilitation successes.

Basically, however, they only deal with the carnivores of the bird world. Since we spent a half a decade at the Air Force Academy, we have seen a lot of falcons and their performances. Most were peregrines, but we have seen every thing from kestrels to golden eagles. Yesterday was a bit different. We saw free flying owls and kites for the first time. An owl can fly low over your head and you will not hear a sound. Kites are birds that feed mostly on large flying insects, so their maneuverability and their ability to eat on the fly are different than most raptors. The last picture is a kite. We also learned more about the Cooper's hawk. Note that we live on Cooper's Hawk drive. The Cooper's hawk eats other birds, not rodents. It is a forest hawk. It doesn't soar over open fields. It, therefor, has smaller wings and is much more maneuverable than, say a redtailed hawk. The owl in the tree was taken while he(she?) was flying free. The kite picture is not as sharp as the others, but it was a challenge to catch him at all.

After the visit we went to the nearby Sewee restaurant. This place was a general store for fifty years and is now one of those iconic, down-home restaurants. Local, fresh seafood is their forte. Rustic it is. The rest rooms are entered from outside! Amongst other items, I had a few fried oysters that were simply outstanding. They were crisp and tasty on the outside and absolutely succulent on the inside.

Charlestowne Landing

Today we finally saw the return of some Carolina weather, so we decided to tour Charlestowne Landing. This is the site of the first colonizing settlement in the area in 1670. Ten years later they moved across the Ashley River to "Oyster Point" to establish what is now Charleston. Although it was no where near as good a deep water port as Charleston, the earlier site was more defensible. We probably walked four miles, so the pups won't get their after supper walk tonight.

The first two shots show an old plantation building as seen through the tunnel of live oak and Spanish moss. The next shows the scale of one of those oaks, and the last, of course, is the two pups. Belle turned fourteen today and still runs around the back yard (almost) like a puppy.

RV Status

What! A blog with no pictures? For those of you who may be interested in the status of the Allegro Bus, we returned it to the storage facility yesterday. It had been at ProTech, a truck/RV repair facility in North Charleston since we got back in October. The big issue was repairing the damage I did when I scraped a stone column on a side trip to the Yankee Golden Retriever Rescue League. Some canopy parts had to be replaced, some fibreglass work was needed on the upper passenger side. I also had them do a complete wash and wax. Other miscellaneous tasks included the replacement of the sacrificial anode in the water heater and the attendant flushing. I know, I know...I could have done it myself, but as long as it was there... The dash heater had failed as had a step solenoid. Another big step was to replace the four, lead-acid coach batteries with absorbed glass mat (AGM) batteries. They have a greater capacity AND they are sealed! They were $200 each, but they eliminate the frequent chore of adding distilled water to that battery bank. So, it is back in storage at the RV/boat storage lot at Charleston AFB. We are not going to Red Bay, AL this spring, so the next outing will be Huntington Beach State Park in April at Murrell's Inlet, SC. Then there will be the annual visit to Gaffney, SC where the Freightliner chassis was built for standard preventive medicine. We'll head north in May with our first stop from the 15th to the 19th for a 50th reunion of my West Point class. It felt good to drive it again, particularly since everything is now in top notch shape again.

Critters in the back yard

It has been a long time, three weeks I guess, since I have posted. I tried a couple of times, but couldn't make adequate connection to the internet. I got a replacement Verizon aircard and determined that the laptop itself was slowing down. The laptop spent a few days, including Christmas, at the Geek squad getting a treatment of electronic Drano. A virus was found. I got it back, and the computer was quicker, but the aircard wasn't. An external antenna is on order. One needs about -75dbm of recieved signal strength to work properly. The best I can get anywhere in the house is 10 db short of that.

Both the deer and the eagles were here last week. It is pleasantly amazing that in such an urban environment that we can enjoy their presence. The Baxter and Belle picture was taken a couple of evenings before Christmas. We hope you had a good one, and we offer our best wishes that you have a fine 2010.

The leaves are turning!

Well, it's not a sugar maple, but it is a Bradford pear. We planted it three years ago. It is covered with white blossoms in the spring and its leaves turn red in LATE fall. If you enlarge the picture you can see the Christmas lights on the fence.

Since we are not traveling, there are fewer occasions to update the blog. But one came along today. Baxter's picture and story are featured on this week's home page for Yankee Golden Retriever Rescue. Check him out at www.ygrr.org.