The rest of the month of January 2023

 Jan 8:  we are finding our way around the house and property.  Lots of closets, cabinets etc to go through looking for stuff.  Eric found a chaise lounge chair to take his afternoon rest on.   Nice and shady with a bit of breeze.

Of course our first place to visit on Sunday morning was Estero llano Grande State Park.  Between birding, walking, looking through closets, shopping and enjoying our home we spent the remainder of the week. 

We managed to find some fire wood for our cute little chiminea on Friday night.

Jan 11: a snake day!

Coral snake is very venomous, in fact if you get bitten by one there is no anti venom available!  Be careful out walking in Texas!

Saturday Jan 14: we had lunch with Kim G, Ann W and Randy at Franky's Flav'z BBQ for a fun visit.  then they came over to check out our new digs.   We had a bit of an issue in the guest cottage as something was dead (assuming in the attic) and smelled up the place.  The owner came on Sunday to check it out. She brought really strong air fresheners that seemed to help.  could not find the critter!

Beautiful nights by the lake including lots of planets and stars

Jan 19:  we got our 400th bird of the year today!  Beginning the year in Costa Rica really skews our numbers!  we have 169 in the USA which is about 20 birds behind our average for Jan 19.  

Fire Pit #2 is a gas fire pit, we bought some lave rocks to fill up the bowl.  Easy to use and looks good!

Our house from the other side of the lake!  

Armadillo 

1000's of Blackbirds!  Looking for a few Yellow Headed Blackbirds, Cowbirds and Brewer's Blackbirds amongst the Redwing Blackbirds

Jan 24:  Began the month at #4 in the World, thanks to Costa Rica. Today we are at 108, dropped off the top 100!  we will never see that again!  it was fun while it lasted...

by Jan 23 we were at 98

and Jan 24 at 108

Fri Jan 27, a very calm night with pleasant temps, time to light up Firepit #3

We are really enjoying this property and all it has to offer. The neighborhood is pretty quiet, a bit of music can be heard from across the border on Saturday nights when we are sitting outside. 

Jan 31: Oh boy!  42 deg when we woke up this morning!  It's 80 deg cooler in Birchwood at -18!  What the heck...  We did manage to get a nice walk in at Santa Ana NWLR.

Sunset over Mexico