New Years Eve 2014

Wednesday Dec 31, 2014

Wow what a year, it sure did fly by so quickly.  Started off the year in Needles Ca, volunteering at Havasu Wildlife Refuge.

we did spend time site seeing and birding

time with friends and family

glad we were able to visit with my Uncle Jim who passed away this past summer.

made it home after seeing the Grand Canyon

We arrived home in mid April to about 3 feet of snow.  Spring did not arrive in NW Wisconsin and Summer was late.

In June we had Twins!

In July, Kathy hosted high school friends

Summer was busy with friends and family visiting.  We had a few vacations that were very fun, including a visit to Montery with Ray and a pelagic bird tour out of Half Moon Bay and our wonderful trip to Jamaica.

In August we upgraded our rig from this

to this

In Sept, Eric hosted his neighbor/high school friends

Left home on Oct 27th...

we end 2014 where we began it in Outdoor Resort Palm Springs, but now we have some snow in the hills!

As for birding:  Our life count is 419, we got 105 new ones in 2014 with the year count at 345.
not a Big Year but we are happy with our numbers.

Of course there are always chores and projects to be accomplished, we did a pretty good job getting them all done.

Its time to look forward to 2015.  Since we are not volunteering this year we plan to roam the Southwestern section of our country for the next 3 months.

We are heading to the Salton Sea area tomorrow, hopefully the wind dies down by then.

Happy 2015

Slim down, hiking

Friday Dec 26:

Time to get the extra pounds off!  This season always manages to put a few pounds on the body.  The fitness room was empty!  I guess I am the only one in the resort that gained weight..

Eric went around the resort 3 times on his ski/skates.

Went for a hike/bird walk at the Morango Valley Preserve.  We hiked about 4 hours, did not find any new birds but a nice day for hiking.  The weather in the resort was around 62, at the preserve it was 50 and windy!  needed my knit hat and heavy jacket but did not realize the temp difference.  Oh well it was still a nice walk and the sun was out!

We found this fixer upper, well maybe beyond fixing..

beautiful views

the snow capped peak is the highest in So Cal

and of course gas prices are coming down....  so far the cheapest we have bought.

Dinner from the local Mexican grocery store, great chicken with the fixings.

Saturday Dec 27:  had to go out for breakfast today.  we did a repeat restaurant but not repeat on meal.

Elmers:  Eric had buttermilk pancakes, pretty good and I had the Tilamook cheese potato pancakes with applewood smoked bacon!  was planning on getting the German pancakes but this look sooo good!  might have to go for New Years day to get those German pancakes...

off to hike off our food!

Quite a few people hiking at 9:00 am.  Eric either needs new boots or needs to dump them out before we begin to hike. he had a rock in his boot!

it took us about 3.5 hours to go 4 miles..  we do walk slow but we seen a lot of birds, some Big Horn Sheep, beautiful rock formations and flowers

although a bit cool, it was great for hiking in the canyon.  

Christmas

Dec 24, 2014

Spent a little time at the pool until the sun hid behind a big cloud.  Time for a walk around the resort to look at our birds, ran into a fellow birder.  He is a full time RVer but from Washington.  He shared some info on where we need to got next and then dropped off a 2014 CD with his bird pictures!

Christmas Eve lunch at home:

dinner at Ray's,  Eric, Ray and Jon

Jon, Me, Ray

Jon's famous 3 layer salad that is oh sooo good

Jon and Dean

 Ray and me

We had a delightful dinner with ham, squash, veggies etc.  then some pecan pie ice cream from Trader Joe's...

Dec 25, Christmas Day

we received our mail yesterday so waited until today to open our cards.  love the pictures and letters.

Windy cool day, no pool time but good for walking.

Picked up Ray and John to go see the lights on Candy Cane Lane and the Simmons Family lights

then dinner at Lulu's, Lamb shank for me, seafood pasta for Eric

The restaurant was pretty busy but the service and food were both fantastic.  It is always special to spend time with family but extra special at the Holidays.  We are thankful that we were able to spend this holiday with Ray and his friends.

Visiting with friends and chores

Monday Dec 22, 2014

Eric had his blood tested, numbers are coming up!  it will take a few more months for them to be back to normal, but he is feeling so much better.

We then headed to Menifee to meet with friends from Wisconsin, Kim and Fred!  They are staying in Chula Vista near San Diego, Menifee was about 1/2 way between us.

Lunch was good, company was great.  A few laughs and stories about being on the road.  They are recent full time RVers, and something always happens.

After we said our goodbyes, Eric and I went to Perris Lake to look for birds.  We did find one new one!  A Cassin Kingbird.  We found diesel gas for $2.95! A quick stop at Morango Casino, (no luck) then for a walk downtown Palm Springs before going home.   A long day but so much fun.

Tuesday Dec 23

chores today: change oil and rotate tires, clean inside RV, made reservations for Tucson Jan 21 to Feb 26, took a walk to the cemetery and our last pool time of the year.  temp was in mid 80's today, calling for a cold front to come in for the rest of the year.

We made our reservations to fly from Tucson to MSP in Feb.  We plan on being home for about 2 weeks.  The 12th thru the 15th we will spend in Duluth at the Sax Zim Bog Birding Fest, the 21st Eric plans on skiing the Birkie from Cable to Hayward Wi.  looking forward to seeing our home and friends and getting some good fried chicken!