New Florida Blog is Online

We've arrived in Florida after six days on the road...we traveled from Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Thru Iowa, Missouri, Tennessee, and Alabama...all new states for us..
Spent a night in a great hotel on the beach at Panama City Beach in the panhandle of FL...
Spent two days with good friends and their family near Orlando...
And yesterday we landed in the area we'll be staying for a month or two
With hubby's brother until we find where we want to settle...

http://findingfloridaatfifty.blogspot.com/  ...Here's the link to my new Blog!

I truly hope you'll continue to follow me there as I explore Florida!

Moving On..and Over and Down

Big life changes seem to happen in threes, don't they? They do for us anyway...

A lot has been happening the past 2-3 weeks...plenty of stress is involved, but ~ great news ~ tomorrow we'll be signing an updated real estate contract and our house will be closing escrow in a month... and we'll be moving to Florida finally! The Huz and I are hot and heavy with the sorting, packing, yard sale-ing, stressing, freaking out, etc. etc. that comes with moving long distance.

So, Huz retired in July, the house will be sold in Oct. and we'll be moving to FL in Oct. I think that's enough excitement for one year, LOL. This will be our third long-distance move/house sale in almost 29 yrs of marriage...big surprise, it doesn't get easier w/ age or experience!

We've had seven...uh, interesting years in the Black Hills...and survived seven long, hard winters, which is the main reason we must move on now that Huz is career-free ...that and the fact that we both were born with sand in our ears and miss the beaches terribly...BUT...

I discovered my love of nature photography here in S Dakota and had a wonderful time traveling the Hills capturing the birds, beasts, and botany in the area, starting in '05 when all I had was a pocket camera and a strong interest in the wildflowers when we walked our then-dog in a nearby canyon. I had especially fabulous photography years 2008-2010 and feel so blessed!

This is my last regular post for JEllen in the Black Hills and I thank all of you so very much who have been a visitor to my little space in Blogspot-o-sphere. I'll be creating a new Blog once we move and sincerely hope my regular visitors will follow me there! I'll be covering more subject matter besides nature...everything of interest that I come across in the Sunshine State is game!

I'll do one more post with a link to my new Blog, hopefully in Nov. Keep on Blogging!

Silent Sunday

Summer's Last Stand

Autumn is definitely in the air...we're still having nice, sunny weather in the high 70's to low 80's but it's supposed to come to an abrupt end Wed., dropping to the 60's. Autumn is very short-lived in S Dakota (sigh) before we start seeing s**w...last year we were real lucky, no white stuff until the very end of Oct. Well, not that we plan on being here for at least part of winter....

Anyway, we had company earlier this week, an ex-co-worker of hubby's and his wife were heading for Oklahoma and stopped in for a couple days. I did the tourist guide thing for them, including a drive thru the wildlife loop at Custer State Park...

It's that time of year...the bulls are checking out the females...we came upon two separate herds, both mainly females and calves, with a few bulls among them sizing up the gals for more procreating...

This bull is just chillin' with a female he seems to fancy...

...But this wiry red-haired calf isn't necessarily his offspring....junior was looking a bit nervous...I would too with a one ton hooved hunk of meat breathing down my neck...

Many of the "wild" (my ass, pardon the pun) burros have foals...they are cute but the traffic jam tourists cause due to burro gawking is slightly annoying...you can pet the burros, that's how wild they are...they block traffic looking for handouts...mom trains the foals in this fine art...

...Most of the buffalo calves have turned brown by now...

Life's rough on a sunny day in a state park...for now...little does he know, in about two weeks he'll be getting a hot iron brand pressed to his rump! The annual buffalo round-up is Sept. 26th this year.

Hazy August Daze

I finally ventured out with the camera Sat., and naturally it was an overcast day...the days before and after were sunny and clear...I'm just really out of it this year...and am also trying to pretend that summer isn't winding down...but the curlycup gumweed and goldenrod are in bloom...

I meandered around the usual farmland area to see what nature had to offer...

I thought I'd found a flock of lifer birds but they turned out to be yellowy-colored house sparrows...

(Update: Thanks Hap, you're no doubt right about this being an immature or female bobolink! I knew something was off about ID'ing it as a yellowy sparrow! LOL)

Sigh...a flock of European starlings...in their winter color no less...yikes...

The wild cucumber is in bloom...this vine took a hold by a nail on the post...

The Eastern kingbirds are still around...

...Some with plenty of 'tude...

An American kestrel was out hunting...

Two bucks ran across the road in front of me, into the underbrush...I tried to get a focused shot, focused on the buck and not the grass but that didn't happen...

Sunflowers and chicory are still in bloom...the blue and yellow are pretty together, even on the side of a dusty dirt road.